Volume 46 Issue 5, February 3, 2016

1 6 / EELL EESSTTO OQ QU UE E / SEP 2015

NEWS Battle of the clubs

04 Exploring the popularity trends of clubs

06

23

OPINION

Pouring through El Niño The local effects of a global weather pattern

12 14

LGBT+ sex exists

As our world changes, sex ed needs to change as well

24

Embracing our hyphen Chinese New Year, a new opportunity

Weight a second

15 Is body image the right mo-

25

Let’s talk about religion How religion impacts students’ perceptions of sex

Let’s talk about the figures

Trends in sex education across the country

Let’s talk about the disparity Sex education in two countries

tivation for fitness?

Valentine’s Day for them

16 Are gender roles in romance

A&E

outdated?

17

The elephant in the room Looking through a wider lens

10

Love actually

Apptitide Taking a closer look at technological student creations Out of the blue We’re all Barbie Girls

At your convenience 7/11 stories from behind the counter and beyond

28

SPECIAL

20

26

08 20 Let’s talk about sex education Examining changes in sex education curriculum

In lieu of Valentines Day, couples share how they met

Searching for Chinese

30 New Year

How Chinese New Year is celebrated across continents

21840 McClellan Road Cupertino, CA 95014 mv.el.estoque@gmail.com Editors-in-Chief: Alina Abidi, Kristin Chang Managing Editors: Maya Murthy, Malini Ramaiyer, Sharon Tung, Vanessa Qin Copy Editors: Daniel Lin, Sanjana Murthy Webmaster: Itay Barylka News Editors: Amanda Chan, Avni Prasad, Andrea Schlitt, Caitlyn Tjong Sports Editors: Kalpana Gopalkrishnan, Pranav Iyer, Karen Ma, Aditya Pimplaskar

2 / EL ESTOQUE / NOV 2015

Entertainment Editors: Ananya Bhat, Neha Patchipala, Ilena Peng, Anushka Tyagi Opinion Editors: Pranav Jandhyala, Tal Marom, Isabel Navarette, Emily Zhao Beats Editors: Aditi Desai, Dylan Tsai Visuals Editors: Fatima Ali, Om Khandekar, Justin Kim Graphics Editors: Elizabeth Han, Hannan Waliullah

Special Report Editors: Trisha Kholiya, Anjana Melvin, Priya Reddy, Mingjie Zhong Business Editors: Tal Marom, Ilena Peng Public Relations: Shriya Deshpande Staff writers: Vijeet Chaugule, Ada Chen, Jennie Chen, Bill Cheng, Vivian Chiang, Ankit Dua, Aanchal Garg, Sneha Gaur, Sandhya Kannan, Aditya Krishnan, Emma Lam, Stephanie Lam, ZaZu Lippert, Amita Mahajan, Akshara Majjiga, Nanda Nayak, Issra Osman, Renee Pu, Chetana Ramaiyer, Priya Reddy, Sarah Robinson, Zach Sanchez, Derek Shao, Andy Tu, Miloni Vora, Kingsley Wang, Devika Watave, Jessica Xing, Sebastian Zhang, Grace Zhou Adviser: Michelle Balmeo

32

Musical musings More than Miss Congeniality

SPORTS 33 34

New year, new fitness

Students recap their New Years resolutions to stay fit

Daily practices

Students describe rivalries with competing schools

36

Family of athletes Devoting their lives to sports has brought the Bishop family closer

39

The time I flopped Winter sport athletes recount deceiving the referee

Mission Statement El Estoque is an open forum created for and by students of Monta Vista High School. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the journalism staff and not of Monta Vista High School or the Fremont Union High School District. The staff seeks to recognize individuals, events, and ideas and bring news to the MVHS community in a manner that is professional, unbiased, and thorough in order to effectively serve our readers. We strive to report accurately, and we will correct any significant error. If you believe such an error has been made, please contact us. Letters of any length should be submitted via email or mail.

They may be edited for length or accuracy. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at El Estoque’s discretion. We also reserve the right to reject advertising due to space limitations or decision of the Editorial Board that content of the advertisement conflicts with the mission of the publication.

Letter from the Editors Our teachers trust us with removing a pig’s brain. With performing CPR on a dummy. With mixing highly acidic chemicals. They trust us with fictional stories about murder and death, and true stories of war and genocide.

But when it comes to sex, that trust tends to fray into suspicion. With traditional Sex Ed, advice often warps into warnings. But if we were to assign this school year a theme, a fitting one might be inclusivity. Or change. Or breaking tradition.

In the past several months, we’ve seen all three. Walls have broken down in front of us in terms of gender expression and equality: a new Homecoming court nomination system, a gender-neutral field hockey team, an all-inclusive bathroom next to the A building lockers.

We’ve seen the ends of traditions and the starts of new ones, and beginning Jan. 1 this year, the law has caught up to us. On pages 20-22, we explore the evolution of sex ed, and the new California law that focuses on, among a handful of other topics, positivity. But positivity isn’t often associated with sex ed, and we are sometimes reluctant to attach it to change at all. We remember the elementary school days when the blinds were drawn every time reproductive organs were projected on the board, when secrecy was the core tenet of hygiene.

We remember middle school days filled with graphic videos about diseases not unlike the kind Spanish teacher and Gender Sexuality Alliance adviser Joyce Fortune watched twenty years ago, or the kind of black-and-white negativity

THINGS OVERHEARD AT LATE NIGHT “Wait, you’re sick! Stop eating the Oreos!”

“Potato chips are just not photogenic.”

“Do we really need to include Alaska and Hawaii?”

we laughed at in movies.

Because we’ve all learned about sex, at some point in our life, as a cause and effect relationship: you do something and then something bad happens. And it was always about minimization: how to make the bad thing a little less bad, how to prevent that bad thing. As if badness were default. Sure,

ALINA ABIDI KRISTIN CHANG LETTER FROM THE EDITORS we were young, and simple concepts were the easiest to grasp, but they’re also the hardest to shake off. So when sex ed is suddenly about “might” instead of “will” and “can” instead of “must,” it requires more than just new worksheets and diagrams. It’s about uprooting the ways we think, and the ways we think about thinking. It’s complicated. As we learn about all the ways that sex can be complicated, we’re also learning about the ways sex education has to be complicated. Whether it’s how we teach the at once simple and complicated concept of “yes,” explored on page 23, or how we define what sex is, explored on page 12, we’re moving away from fill-in-the-blank.

We might never be able to let go of the trauma of seeing that up-close photo of gonorrhea, or forget how the word “regret” hovers in bold across middle school sex ed movies, but that change is already too late to make. We’re here now, and we’re at that age where sex is both a taboo and an obsession. We’ve seen it in every teen movie: how sex is that infamous “it,” how whether it happens or doesn’t is suddenly the major plot point, how it is the subject of endless hallway rumors. If education is supposed to do anything, it’s to take something off its pedestal and show us how it works. To make it seem like just an it. And part of that process is about letting go. Letting go of our desire to italicize, to make sex seem like the scary, inevitably bad thing we were warned about, or the glorious, life-defining thing it is in the movies.

Education is our behind-the-scenes. It’s our inside look, our lens — and we’re supposed to trust it.

Just like our schools might finally be ready to trust us.

3

Survival of the fittest Club membership and leadership affect popularity of clubs STORY BY SHRIYA DESHPANDE AND STEPHANIE LAM ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ILENA PENG

W

HEN SENIOR AND FOUR YEAR DECA MEMBER Gloria Zhao received this year’s rooming arrangements for DECA’s annual Silicon Valley Career Development Conference, she had to look at the sheet again to make sure it was the right paper. All the names were listed on one piece of paper.

In previous years, the list had usually taken up two entire pages.

To Zhao, the transition from multiple pieces of paper to only one signified a crushing realization for her: DECA membership was decreasing.

DECA is not the only club that has experienced changes in membership over time. Almost all clubs on campus go through a continuous cycle of receiving and losing members. The result: a rise and fall in club popularity.

“PEOPLE JOIN CLUBS because they think they can get something in return out of it, whether it’s for college applications or for a community they can be apart of,” Zhao said, “When people see the return that they are looking for is not there, they start to not want to join that club [anymore].”

Zhao believes that the most important part of any club’s success is dedicated

members. They are the driving force that keeps the spirit of a club alive in the future.

“I think people just don’t know that, it takes the members themselves to make a club great,” Zhao said, “And it’s not the club that give members greatness, it’s the members that give the club its greatness.”

Although members leave their clubs for various reasons, one reason, according to an anonymous senior and former Speech officer, is the competition for officer roles between seniors and non-seniors. Although the senior believes that this is not the case with Speech and Debate, she believes that competition for officer roles can be the cause for declining memberships.

“It’s not common for regular members [to leave] because those members who don’t get an officer position the first year they try, stay in the club and try again,” she said, “But for people that are kicked [off the the teams] that’s definitely a reason to leave.”

Current Speech officer sophomore Nikash Khanna also noticed that the dedication of a member depended on whether or not that that particular member was an officer.

Khanna personally left other clubs where he did not have an officer position, so he could dedicate more time to clubs where he had that leadership role.

However, even members who have

previously dedicated much of their time to a club are not guaranteed to stay in their club. This was the case for junior Tanvee Sinha, who competed in DECA conferences and attended the Saturday study sessions throughout her freshman and sophomore years, but left DECA in her junior year. Her decision to quit was due to the fact that she was required to attend conferences which she felt were expensive. The new rule that members had to be enrolled in business classes also influenced her decision.

“I didn’t take Business my freshman year was because I was doing DECA,” Sinha saod. “I was already doing business outside of school, so there was no reason for me to take it in school where I could utilize my time better. Doing [business] in school, I guess, really hindered the interest [in DECA] because people don’t want to take on that other class.”

It’s important for members to be active and committed, but the fall is not just due to the lack of student participation. One factor that decreases club growth is the absence of strong interclub relationships with members and officers. ¨The fall of a club is [due to] lack of communication between officers and members, lack of events, lack of promotion and meetings,” Sinha said. “The officers have

IF YOU WERE AN OFFICER, WHAT WOULD WORRY YOU THE MOST? BASED ON A SURVEY OF 30 STUDENTS

?

LACK OF MEMBERS

50% 4 / EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE/ F E B 2 0 1 6

LACK OF ACTIVITY

36.67%

LACK OF FUNDING

6.7%

OTHER

6.7%

to be really involved with their participants for the members to still be interested.¨ ACCORDING TO co-president of Model United Nations senior Nupoor Gandhi, if a club is successful in accomplishing strong communication and commitment, it can help a club rise in popularity and prestige.

Gandhi explained that MUN has gained popularity due to strong officer leadership and structural changes.

“I think [the change] has been very gradual over the years,” said Gandhi, “[For example] my freshmen year, the club was a mess, we really only went to one conference, a lot of them got cancelled. [This year] we’ve implemented a lot of new changes, like more training programs, the officer team is working a lot harder.”

Strong leadership is not the only important factor for the club’s success.

MUN’s co-president senior Eric Lee finds membership to play an essential part to MUN’s qualification for the prestigious North American Imitation Model United Nations conference in Washington D.C. and their competitive improvement as a whole.

“It doesn’t really matter what the leadership tries to throw at the students,” Lee said, “It takes members who really do care about what they are doing, and members who will talk to their friends about [the club] and actually spread the word about what they are doing.”

MUN is not the only club to rise in popularity. For years, according to senior Gayathri Kalla, head editor of Monta Vista’s student run publication, Verdadera, had been inactive on campus.

“If you asked anybody [my] sophomore or junior year [about Verdadera], he/she would be like, ‘Yea, I’ve heard of it...somewhere,’” Kalla said. “The club kind of just fell apart [my junior year]. Nobody was really pushing forward, taking initiative to get things done, get things rolling…It was pretty saddening.”

The inactiveness of the club led her and others to improve the quality of the magazine their senior year. The other factors that helped Verdadera achieve a known presence on campus status­— as with MUN — was the new leadership and dedication of their members.

“This year, people are actually talking about Verdadera. I’ve actually had teachers and students say, ‘I saw one of your staff articles,’ or say, ‘I liked the topic you talked about.’ When we ask for submissions, people are really willing to add in their opinion.... before [Verdadera] was just kind of there, now it’s becoming something that people actually talk about.”

Changes and challenges are presented to clubs every year- these changes and challenges determine how successful the clubs will be and if they can last through the constantly fluctuating interests of students over the course of several years. Only the fittest will surive. e

NEWS

Members of MUN pose outside of Stanford University for a group photo. This year MUN qualified for many prestigious competitions, including the North American Imitation Model United Nations Photo used with permission of Nupoor Gandhi

Verdadera’s first issue of the year, Competition Culture.

Verdadera has produced three physical copies and published one online edition of their magazine.

Photo by Andrea Schlitt

Junior Mahima Parashar and senior David Wu hand out food to BBC members. DECA host the BBC camp every year in order to help recruit more members.

Photo used with permission of MV DECA N E WS / 5

Pouring through El Niño Examining the widespread effects of El Niño STORY BY ADA CHEN AND GRACE ZHOU

Giant puddles in the middle of the Academic Quad, the sound of droplets pounding against the roof, wet and muddy socks tossed into the laundry — these are all signs of El Niño, a series of climatic changes that are hitting the Equatorial Pacific because of fluctuating ocean temperatures, a phenomenon that takes place every seven or so years. These changes can be seen on a large scale, but they are also evident on the MVHS campus.

El Nino Rainfall Comparison

Napa

Napa Kentfield

Kentfield Oakland

Oakland

San Francisco

San Francisco

Salinas

Salinas

King City

1997 El Niño Rainfall (in.): July 1 - December 5

King City

2015 El Niño Rainfall (in.): July 1 - December 5

data taken from National Weather Service and Weather History and Data Archive

6 E/ LE E L SETSOTQ OU QE UE / FEB 2016

Opposite ends of the spectrum L e a s t A f Sophomore Kristy Maanavi f “If it’s the weekend, and it’s raining, I it really peaceful. But if it’s early e find in the morning, and I’m trying to get to c school, I feel more annoyed. Depends t on the situation.” e d

Junior Bennett Zhang “I’m in cross country, so we do off-season practice now, and since it’s raining, it’s a nice change from the usually sunny and super hot weather that we run in.

[The rain] definitely clears out the air, and makes it cleaner and nicer to breathe.”

M o s t A f Sophomore Jasmine Wang f “I don’t like biking to school [when it’s e raining]. It’s a big hassle for my parc ents [to drive] because they have to sit t through traffic every day…. I check the e weather, and internally cheer when it d says that it’s going to rain.”

The basics Normally, in the Pacific Ocean, the wind pushing the water brings up cold water from the depths of the ocean, and pushes warmer water toward the west. During El Niño, because the winds get weaker, the cold water is left at the bottom of the ocean, and results in an overall increase in temperature for the ocean. AP Environmental Science teacher Andrew Goldenkranz states that the increase in ocean temperature then brings about warmer and wetter weather.

Although it seems like Cupertino should welcome the extra rain, especially after the long drought, the sudden influx of rain may actually bring undesirable consequences instead. The

biggest detriment would be to the dried-out soil.

“We want [soil] to act like a sponge: to hold water well. Just think of a sponge at home, and if you threw a whole bunch of water on a super dried-out sponge, it’s not going to soak in very well,” Goldenkranz said. “It would immediately start to run off, and the ground is going to react in exactly the same way.”

Clubbing through the rain Rain causes disturbances to different clubs who hold activities outdoors. Some continue to do what they normally would, while others are forced to cancel activities until the rain subsides.

For example, Biken Club usually has rides every Sunday morning on either the Steven Creek trail or up to the mountains. However, when it’s raining, it’s too risky to bike in the rain.

“It’s not safe for people to bike, especially if you’re going downhill, it’s easy to slip,” co-president junior Rishit Gundu said. “Visibility safety is a big issue, because there’s wind and rain in your eyes and face.”

Ultimate frisbee, on the other hand, continues practices and after school games on Friday even if it’s raining. However, they need to make certain adjustments.

“Attire is important. When it rains, it’s ideal to have cleats, and if you don’t have cleats, you’re going to be slipping a lot, because it’s going to be wet,” director of public relations sophomore Ryan Loke said. “Rain Monta Vista Ultimate Frisbee Club plays also makes the disk kind of wet, during a game. The club meets rain or which makes it harder to throw shine. Photo used with permission and catch because it’s slippery.” of Ryan Loke.

“GGB refracts in rain droplets” by Brock Inaglory. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

NEWS / 7

APPTITUDE

Four avid coders build applications for both personal and public use STORY BY DANIEL LIN

J J

roblem solving. It’s a term frequently associated with programmers. So when junior Mahesh Murag, an avid coder, saw how tedious it was to calculate grades manually, he wondered how he could solve the problem.

InTheLoop, a Google Chrome extension, is the solution to Murag’s problem. With his partner junior Akhil Palla, Murag built the extension to supplement the typical School Loop interface with a variety of features, from the ability to mimic the addition scores to the function to customize the background of the interface. Since its release in December, InTheLoop has gained approximately 1,600 users.

Despite their success, the two have met obstacles along the way. In a world where internet privacy is of great concern, many have questioned the confidentiality of their data.

“We understand that privacy is important so we don’t save anything,” Palla said.

Overall, both Murag and Palla found building the application very rewarding.

“Seeing the response I got actually reminded me why I make apps in the first place,” Murag said, “and why I spend this many hours.”

8 / EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE/ F E B 2 0 1 5

aK alari

it y

P

InTheLoop

d Us ed with permission of A

J J

5

Sc J he ar du vi le s r

The last bell of the day rings and students file briskly out of classrooms, eager to bury their heads in books, partake in after school sports or attend club meetings. But for a particular group of individuals, coding is how they spend their time. For them, intricately writing lines of code, undertaking the painstaking process of debugging software and optimizing algorithms are simply part of another day in the life of a developer.

R

MVRT Scout

obotics requires a comprehensive knowledge of opposing teams, intricate inventory tracking and diagnostics. However, collecting such data can be a challenge.

Junior Aditya Kalari has developed a range of applications to aid these processes, one of which is the Android app MVRT Scout, which allows team members to record stats of opposing teams.

“Instead of looking at long spreadsheets of data that we had to manually update,” Kalari said, “we can look at charts and their performance over time.”

The application generates graphs which can show performance trends at a moment’s glance, as well as display the ranking of competing robotics teams. The application also relies heavily on Bluetooth connection, so not all team members will have to depend on a WiFi connection when scouting.

On how he learned to program applications, Kalari said he did not come with prior knowledge, but learned by doing.

“No experience,” Kalari said, “you just come here and learn.”

S

Jarvis Scheduler

enior Lee Mracek has been programming since the fourth grade.

Today, Mracek is a senior enrolled in Middle College, a program for students to spend a year at De Anza College, but still tries to find time to code in his busy routine.

The hassle to schedule classes at De Anza College inspired Mracek to build Jarvis Scheduler, a web application, with his friend Max Ovsiankin.

The Jarvis Scheduler allows students registered at De Anza College to search through a catalog and select classes they want to take. The program then processes the input and builds comprehensive schedules based on the requested classes.

A particular feature of the application is the ability to scrape data from ratemyprofessors.com and rank schedules.

What used to be a tedious scheduling process can now be done in a matter of minutes with the Mracek’s web app.

“A lot of people in the same program I am in have used it,” Mracek said, “and have all said that it basically saved them literally hours.”

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We’re all Barbie Girls

Diverse Barbies could create a new definition of feminine beauty

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HEN I WAS SIX YEARS OLD, End of story, right? Not even close. bie Standard is changing. On Jan. 19, Mattel someone managed to sneak me a The thing about Barbie is that you man- announced an unprecedented expansion of Barbie doll for my birthday. It was age to get brainwashed even when you’ve the Barbie doll. Finally, a beautiful woman hidden in a glittery bag and furtively handed never really had one: my parents tried to can be tall or petite or curvy, can be one of to me just after they arrived at the party. keep me away from her unachievable beauty a plethora of skin tones and can have one “Hey, Maya,” I remember them whisper- standards, but they did not succeed. To give of 18 eye colors. Representation is difficult ing, “I brought you someyou an example, a few weeks to grasp until you manage to experience it thing special, but I don’t ago I was looking through a firsthand: that warmth of recognition can’t know if your parents will series of old short stories I’d be duplicated by someone’s imagination. like it. Why don’t you look written and came across one There’s a power inherent in the realization right now and see if you about a princess and a witch. that you matter, that there are other people want it?”

There was half a page worth who look like you and that they are pretty.

I peered into the bag of long, overwrought deThat you are pretty, too. and saw a doll. I blushed, scription of the princess, but There’s a new generation of kids that will and went to go hide the basically, it all boiled down grow up being able to find dolls that look box underneath the sofa, MAYA MURTHY to this: an absolutely beauti- like them in the toy section, who won’t have to buy myself enough time ful princess with long golden to use scissors and markers to make Barbie OUT OF THE BLUE to make sure my parents hair, and her sparkling blue look a little more like them. I don’t know never found that I’d maneyes that glistened like the whether anything will change: Barbie is, at aged to get a Barbie. ocean. Her alabaster skin was the end of the day, just a piece of plastic.

Looking back, this entire interaction feels pale and spotless, and she was beautifully But it’s a definitiely start. And a pretty more illicit than I remember it being at the thin, graceful and willowy like a goddess. good one, at that. e time, but whatever. If the only banned subThose incredibly terrible similes aside, stance I ever try to get past my parents is a you know who that sounds like? Barbie. plastic doll, I think I’m in pretty good shape. And you know who You see, I wasn’t allowed dolls growing that doesn’t sound up: they were, as my parents would say, a like? Me. Growing form of indoctrination. (No, they didn’t use up without the doll that specific word. I was six.) Traditionally hadn’t been able to girly items were ways of forcing compulsory save me from the femininity on girls that couldn’t even speak, cultural indoctrinaand cemented them in a place of weakness tion. Barbie, whether for the rest of their lives. The Barbie dolls of or not I’d owned her, my youth perpetuated an ideal my parent’s was still my own didn’t believe was worth idealizing — an un- version of the peak comfortable focus on being beautiful before of feminine beauty. anything else, with beauty defined as thin We all know that and white, blonde hair and blue eyes, some- real people don’t look thing I would never have myself. So instead, like Barbie — actumy childhood was populated by books and ally, when someone blocks and PBS Kids, things that empha- manages to photosized intelligence and kindness regardless of shop a woman into how I looked — I wasn’t allowed pink cloth- the Barbie proporing, wasn’t allowed to dress up as a princess tions it looks super or a witch on Halloween, never watched a gross. But that’s difDisney Princess movie, and of course, never ficult to understand owned a Barbie. as a kid, and when Until my sixth birthday, when I was snuck nothing else exists to one in a bag and managed to hide it under counteract the imposthe sofa. I lasted two entire days before one sible ideal, the Barbie of my parents cleaned underneath the couch Standard takes root. and found it, sending my one brush with Which is why I’m femininity to Goodwill the next morning. so glad that the BarILENA PENG l EL ESTOQUE ILLUSTRATION

1 0 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / F E B 2 0 1 6

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Apply to College - Prepare for Life

LGBTQ+ sex exists.

Elizabeth Han Illustration

As a part of a more inclusive school environment, sex ed needs to change as well

1 2 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / F E B 2 0 1 6

Editor’s note: We use the labels straight and non-straight, knowing it implies both a binary and that straight is the default, for lack of more precise or sensitive language.

H

IGH SCHOOL IS A TIME FOR self-discovery – to figure out who you are and what that means, to learn how to function in the real world as an adult.

Those four years mark a rough transition into adulthood, and the knowledge assimilated during this transition will inevitably touch on sex. A good sexual education provides a clear understanding of how to navigate the murky waters of sexual activity. It’s slightly trickier than reading a Sex for Dummies crash course book It all comes down to the effectiveness of the student’s school in immersing students early on in a well-established sex ed curriculum. An effective sex ed course focuses on the mechanics of sex as well as on how it impacts a relationship. Rather than focusing on purely the “stick-into-the hole” explanation, it expands to recognition of consent and additionally gives options for protection to ensure both physical and emotional safety.

At MVHS, we have a decent sex ed course, or, at the very least, one superior to the average national course quality that is characterized by personal choice in the curriculum by respective teachers. Teaching about sex is often relegated to a series of fear tactics — stories and graphic pictures of the consequences of sex, be they an unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection.

Children learn nothing more than that sex is something to fear, and are then left to live with their own raging hormones in ignorance, doomed to the inevitability of a terrifying situation that could have been avoided.

This is the reality of most high school students in America, where parents are more concerned about maintaining the purity of their children than allowing them to learn the information that could, quite literally, save their lives. Anyone who has gone through the sex ed unit at MVHS knows that this is not like our situation. While there are the scarce few who opt out of participating, the vast majority of us go through the process: the infamous condom on the banana, the drug store field trip — the whole nine yards.

However, there is always room for improvement. While the current curriculum at MVHS far outstrips that of almost any other high school, it manages to ignore a wide swath of students: our LGBTQ+ community. We enter high school having watched the “Miracle of Life” videos and get fed into a sex ed curriculum that follows it up with

warnings of accidental pregnancy and daunt- and sexualiing lists of STIs that get transmitted through ties without straight sex. Sure, it’s thorough, but it pos- expla ining sesses a gap in consistency. While the world of the pure straight sex is very thoroughly explored, any- m e c h a n thing out of its range is often only mentioned ics of how OPINION in the context of disease. sex and Statistically, 12 percent of American teen- p rote c tion agers will engage in non-straight sex by the work with non-straight people. This obvious ages 18-19, most of them without having been absence stigmatizes non-straight sex and thus taught about how to do it safely. Although this non-straight people by making it something to may seem like a relatively low percentage, be hidden, even in a classroom where teachthere are approximately ers are so open about 41,844,000 youth between every thing else. the ages of 10-19 residThis gap in our T/F “Non-straight” ing in the United States, so sexual education, sex has a higher STI 12 percent is quite a large between students chunk of people. Dangerous transmission rate than who might engage misconceptions about nonin straight sex and straight sex. straight sex persist in the students who might minds of the public, such as not, is unacceptable, T/F Female condoms the idea that protection isn’t simply because it needed between two peoare only for oral protec- creates a divide ple with vaginas. Perhaps between the students tion. this is due to the insidious, we believe should be yet common, idea that sex taught sex ed, and T/F Trans women, on between two people with those who should vaginas isn’t traditional, and modern hormone ther- not. The internet will therefore isn’t “real” sex. always be a resource apy, cannot get pregBoth statements are for students to turn false. People with vaginas to, but everyone at nant. aren’t immune to STIs and this school deserves are certainly not devoid learn about sex T/F Anal Intercourse is to of methods of protecting from a trusted adult, insular to gay sex. themselves from said STIs. rather than being Vaginal condoms and barforced to comb riers are available for both secretively through oral and tribadal (genitalwebsites as if there is genital) sex, just as penis condoms are — they something to be ashamed of. just aren’t talked about as widely.

An easy addition to the curriculum would Our school prides itself on its inclusivity of be to teach non-straight sex alongside the curLGBTQ+ students, as it should. MV Gender rent lessons. Additionally, expanding the sex and Sexuality Alliance enjoys the support of ed course to cover two weeks regardless of our administration, and this year in particu- the teacher, would allow for a more in-depth lar has heralded institutional changes that at- understanding of the wide spectrum of sextempt to erase the gender binary from spaces ual experience for every student. Green Acres where it serves no purpose. Even if this senti- Middle School in Visalia, California follows a ment is not always put into practice, the over- similar concept, holding a two week-long onall ethos of the MVHS community is one of campus seminar covering both straight and acceptance, regardless of labels. non-straight sex. Furthermore, it is offered in We can applaud this achievement, but this a convenient location for students during accannot be where we end. Acceptance on its cessible times, so attendance isn’t particularly own becomes useless when it exists only as an difficult. idea, rather than a physical, structural change A broader sex ed brings our actions in line in a system that propagates inequality. There with our sentiments and signals that we as a are no gold stars offered for common decency. community are willing to change in order to The system fails LGBTQ+ students in sex create a more educated and accepting gened, where students are expected to sit through eration. But beyond that, it is the moral thing two weeks of information they might never to do. use and then walk away without the proper Our current sexual education curriculum information they need to stay safe themselves. stands at an imbalance. An inclusive Sex Ed Biology teachers mention LGBTQ+ identities would simply equalize the scales. e

OPINION / 13

Embracing our hyphen Chinese-Americans should understand their culture and history STORY BY EMILY ZHAO

What is your cultural identity?

8% Very Asian 23% Whitewashed 69% In between

F

rarely speak to their parents about Chinese culture/history

or Chinese-A mer ic ans, it’s t hat t ime of t he ye a r to gat her w it h fam ily f r iends, re ceive re d envelop es and e at an abundant dinner. Some Chinese-A mer ic ans may lo ok for wa rd to t he event, and ot her s reluc t ant ly go to t he pa r t y b e c aus e t hey don’t have any ot her choice.

Rega rdless of which c ategor y t hey b elong to, one t hing unites t hem— t heir t ies to t he r ich histor y of China.

Crowde d st re et s, shops and lines, p e ople yelling into t heir phones, spit-st aine d st re et s, r ude customer s er v ice. T hese a re all t hings you probably have exp er ience d if you v isite d China, and it t r uly is any t hing but app e aling. But while t hat may b e t he c a se, Chines e-A mer ic ans shouldn’t let t heir impressions or shamef ul v iews of t he cult ure prevent t hem f rom le a r ning more ab out t heir nat ive histor y. Mayb e t hes e off put t ing a sp e c t s stem f rom t he lack of p er sonal space t hat resident s have, or t he p over t y t hat an im mens e amount of p e ople have exp er ience d which put s t hem into sur v ival mo de.

O f cour se t hat’s over simplif y ing t he circum st ances, but it’s wor t h put t ing our s elves in t heir sho es.

Our cult ural ident it y isn’t e a sy to solidif y when we g row up in t he m iddle of t wo completely different cult ures.

Ident it ies.Mic, an online public at ion, analy zes t he conf lic te d ident it y t hat an A sian-A mer ic an exp er iences

1 4 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / F E B 2 0 1 6

56%

college in esc ap e of ent rapment.

But t hey all ma ke up t he pro cess of discover ing our cult ural ident it y, and pa r t of t hat re quires op en-m inde dness and explorat ion of Chines e cult ure, f rom t he inf luence of Conf ucianism to t he 1.5 m illion p e ople k ille d dur ing Mao Z e dong’s Cult ural Revolut ion to t he signific ance of a r igid fam ily st r uc t ure.

Fift y-si x p ercent of ChineseA mer ic ans st ate d t hat t hey ra rely sp e a k to t heir pa rent s ab out Chines e cult ure or histor y. T hat’s to o many m isse d conver s at ions and opp or t unit ies t hat could’ve help e d us achieve a b et ter under st anding of not only Chinese t radit ions but also t he dy nam ics in our relat ionships w it h our pa rent s. We should st ill ack nowle dge t hat some pa rent s may not b e ver y w illing to sha re ab out t heir exp er iences, or t hat we may not find t heir stor ies interest ing at all. But t here’s honest ly no ha r m in re aching out w it h genuine intent ions.

W hen Chines e New Ye a r rolls a round, t r y init iat ing a discussion ab out t radit ional Chines e cult ure, or inquire ab out t he legend b ehind t he fest ival. Ever y fam ily ha s it s ow n stor y. Just like we b elieve t hat our pa rent s don’t k now much ab out who we re ally a re, we probably don’t k now much ab out our pa rent s’ exp er iences and histor ies eit her.

T here’s no r ight or w rong way to cult urally ident it y our selves. But one t hing’s for sure, Chinese-A mer ic ans should b e w illing to go out of t heir comfor t zone and ma ke an effor t to le a r n more ab out t he 5000 ye a r s of histor y t hat ex tend pa st t heir lim ite d lives. e

while g row ing up in t he U.S. A nd t his applies to all im m ig rant s’ children.

“On t he one hand, we’re encourage d to embrace A mer ic an cult ure and she d t ies to our A sian her it age,” Ident it ies.Mic s aid. “On t he ot her hand, we’re exp e c te d to maint ain our et hnic ident it y and ke ep our pa rent s’ t radit ions alive.

Failure to live up to eit her set of exp e c t at ions c an somet imes le ad to fe a r of reje c t ion or ost racism — even an ident it y cr isis of sor t s.”

W hile t his se em s exag gerate d, it c a r r ies some t r ut h to it, and finding a place in b et we en t hat ma kes us fe el go o d ab out our s elves or even pr idef ul is wor t h ke eping. In a sur vey of 90 st udent s, 23 p ercent of Chines eA mer ic ans cha rac ter ize d t hem selves a s “whitewa she d,” 8 p ercent a s “ver y A sian” and 69 p ercent a s falling somewhere in b et we en. A long t he way, what t r uly ma kes us fe el go o d ab out our s elves is probably going to change, and we’ll exp er ience t hat “ident it y cr isis.” In t he f ut ure, we a re probably going to cr inge at our cur rent va r ious behaviors—for i n s t a n c e , alienat ing our p a r e n t s , hat ing on C h i n e s e c u l t u r e , are somewhat w ishing to go connected to somewhere Chinese culture fa r away for

70%

32 %

don’t want to remain in touch with Chinese culture/history

PHOTO BY CREATIVE COMMONS ILLUSTRATION BY ZACH SANCHEZ

Weight a second Is body image the right motivation for fitness?

By Zach Sanchez and Miloni Vora

A

STORY BY ZACH SANCHEZ AND MILONI VORA

S WE WELCOME THE NEW YEAR, many of us are resolving to change our bodies, and personal health. According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology, two-thirds of American New Year’s Resolutions are fitness-related, but we often question where this motivation truly lies: for our health or for the mirror? Controversy has raged over whether the pursuit of body image is an acceptable incentive for improving personal health and there are convincing reasons for and against this fitness lifestyle. While it is a good motivator, fighting for the ideal appearance must be done carefully, without following potentially disastrous shortcuts or plummeting into dissatisfaction or despair.

As long as it keeps me fit Although many dislike the idea of conforming to societal standards of beauty, it does play a significant role in our lives. If the desire to look like a 1990s Brad Pitt is what motivates us to go the gym or to eat correctly, is that such a bad thing?

With 2 in 3 Americans considered overweight or obese (National Institutes of Health) and 1 in 4 American deaths caused by heart disease (Centers for Disease Control), we should take every opportunity possible to catalyze health improvement, even if that means giving into a pressure that demands pursuit of the “perfect” body. While self-love is important to our mental well-being, we cannot deny the massive threat obesity and poor diet poses to everyday Americans.

But is that mentality working out?

What we often forget is that body image is just that: an image. The picture of a 00 waist with rock hard abs is an idealized version of a

body everyone “must” have. We fail to realize that the only type of body we must have is a healthy one, and a picture perfect body does not mean that a person is healthy. According to Warwick fitness consultant, Nadia Ellis, although muscle building does burn fat, the true key to a healthy body is cardiovascular exercise and a healthy diet. People, however, take unhealthy, and sometimes drastic measures to

lose or gain weight, including taking drugs to lose weight in a short period of time. Although this seems to be a convenient alternative to the physical exertion required to lose weight, these pills take away the health aspect of fitness. Senior Ameya Pandit set himself weight training and exercise goals for his body. He explains that a certain body image comes with a lot of commitment and hard work. Although he’s not opposed to people using dietary supplements to lose weight, he explains that it’s not the most surefire method.

“Eventually [people] are going to have to

go the hard way of dieting and going to the gym, because otherwise you’re just going to be relying on pills and as soon as you’re off the pill, you’re going to go back to the original eating habits and exercising routines again” Pandit explains.

Pandit also uses exercise to relieve stress and maintain a healthy body physique.

“Your body feels great because you’ve accomplished something,” Pandit said.

According to Women’s Health magazine, exercise also helps strengthen joints and helps prevent heart disease as well.

But why have a healthy heart when you can look like a Victoria’s Secret model in just a few days? According to the Food and Drug Administration, dietary supplements have claimed lives in the past. Many dietary supplements and weight loss products are not approved by the FDA but even the ones that make the cut are meant to be used sparingly by people 18 years and older who are obese or have weight related health conditions.

Let’s keep fitness fit These negative effects of pursuing a certain body image may seem extreme and unlikely, but the insecurities that stem from it definitely are not. This is not to say that we should not pursue a certain body, but only that we do this for our actual health than for the “perfect” body. But with this resolution comes a certain concession, that we are all different and thus have different healthy body sizes. We can improve our health through a few basic changes: exercise, a well balanced diet and the realization that beauty and health do not always equal the same thing, and that’s okay. e

OPINION/15

Valentine’s Day for her them

FOUR ANSWERS

Staff and students discuss the changing gender roles in Valentine’s Day STORY

V

BY

ADITI

DESAI

alentine’s Day. A stereotypical day where males shower their partners with chocolate, flowers, and love. However, some students are countering the stereotypical male-lead nature of the holiday and are encouraging a balance of gender roles. Five MVHS students and staff members share their opinions on Valentine’s day gender roles and its possible shift.

Personally, [my views] don’t have anything with me being agender, or a female, but it was just the person I am. I feel that once people become more comfortable in coming out with their sexual orientation and gender identity [other people] will be more accepting of gender roles [in Valentine’s Day]. Society has accepted more of a male-dominance role [in Valentine’s Day], so if we wanted to switch that, that would be to have people of different sexualities or people of different gender identities to step up to the dominant role.

agender: a neutral gender identity under the non-binary and transgender categories Junior Olivia Wu

Senior Emaan Khan In my experience, my boyfriend doesn’t care about the need to buy me chocolate or anything else because it’s not about that for us. It’s about being with your loved one and celebrating your relationship. On the last Valentine’s Day we both decided what do. It was just a day to spend together and there weren’t specific gender roles. However, on social media there are still people posting that “I don’t have a boyfriend” and “Valentine’s Day is not for me” that encourage stereotypical gender roles.

1 6 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / F E B 2 0 1 6

Valentine’s Day] is more male-dominant because it is expected that the guy gives the girl chocolates and flowers, and the women just waits for him to provide that.

I feel like there should be a shift because if you are [in a relationship], you expect the guy to do all of this romantic stuff, and if he doesn’t, then you are ashamed or disappointed in him. When in reality, it should shift in both ways. The woman should do something for the guy and the guy should do something for the woman. Try shifting it around. Maybe let the girl plan out the activity and the guy plan out the location so that way it is more even spread. For example, in mini-golf, the guy has to teach the girl to play, but in dancing, a female can take the lead more.

Junior Justin Singh

Student Advocate Richard Prinz I’m not into traditional roles.

Don’t always buy into the cultural consumer dominant views on “this is a box of candy and I give it to my sweetheart”. I think it would be much better if it was fluid and more open and isn’t defined by biological [aspects].

I would really like it to be more on the human level.

Our gender roles are learned but are also confining. A lot of it is about the male giving things to the female. To go against that, females would have to take a more dominant role. It’s about having the courage. Don’t let [others] define who you are, you define who you are. e

Through a wider lense

There’s underrepresentation in Hollywood, just not the kind you think STORY BY PRANAV JANDHYALA

W

ILL SMITH WILL FOREVER BE THE GREATEST ACTOR of all t ime.

His p or t rayal of a homeless fat her in t he P ur suit of Happyness and his he a r t bre a k ing off-scr ipt scenes on T he Fresh P r ince of Bel A ir a re, in my opinion, t he g re atest displays of ac t ing k now n to man. So when he faile d to re ceive a nom inat ion for his stella r p er for mance in Concussion, I wa s piss e d. Not just b ec aus e I felt he deser ve d t he nom inat ion. I did. But his exclusion f rom t he prosp e c t of an awa rd along w it h t he exclusion of many ot her black p e ople w it hin t he film indust r y s e eme d to indic ate to me, a s well a s many a round me, t hat t here wa s an issue going b eyond t he success of my favor ite ac tor.

W hen he joine d his w ife, act ress Jada P inket t Sm it h, in a b oycot t against t he Ac ademy Awa rds ceremony for t he lack of diver sit y among nom ine es in major c ategor ies t his ye a r, I joine d in supp or t for t heir c aus e. I vowe d not to watch t he Osc a r s unt il I b elieve d t he film indust r y represente d A mer ic a more holist ic ally, for t he film s we watch must represent t he so ciet y we live in and t he colle c t ive cult ure we all cont r ibute to. T his wa s, of cour s e, b efore I lo oke d at t he dat a.

T he film indust r y c an and should b e a ref le c t ion of A mer ic a and t he st r ug gles all of us face. T here is,

however, a key difference b et we en hav ing t he film indust r y represent t he A mer ic a we live in and hav ing it repres ent cer t ain a sp e c t s or pa r t s of A mer ic a t hat we, w it h p er sonal bia s es of our ow n, want it to repres ent.

T he Econom ist re cent ly rep or te d t hat t here is under represent at ion when it comes to Af r ic an A mer ic an Osc a r nom ine es. However, it is prop or t ional under repres ent at ion. T he numb er of black ac tor s w inning Osc a r s t his cent ur y ha s b e en prop or t ional to t he size of t he black p opulat ion in t he U.S. In ter m s of t he repres ent at ion of Af r ic an A mer ic ans, an analysis of t he dat a reve als t hat t he Ac ademy ha s done an ade quate job of ref le c t ing A mer ic a a s a whole.

Grante d, t hese pa st t wo ye a r s have b e en pa r t icula rly bad, w it h no p e ople of color b eing nom inate d. But t his s evere under represent at ion a re small dat a p oint s in t he contex t of even t his pa st de c ade and a re ba s e d on subje ct ive t a stes of memb er s of t he ac ademy who judge ba se d on mer it alone.

Grante d, 94% of t he memb er s a re white. A nd t his is somet hing t hat ha s to change, not pr ima r ily for Af r ic an A mer ic ans but ot her g roups t hat suffer f rom even wor se under represent at ion. If consumer s want t heir film s to ref le c t t he so ciet y t hat t hey live in, we ne e d to approach issues of repres ent at ion w it h a w ider lense.

You’re not re ally going to se e a

PRANAV JANDHYALA THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM g roup of white, sout her n conser vat ives w it h blue colla r jobs protest for incre a se d repres ent at ion in mov ies even t hough t hey a re one of t he most disprop or t ionately under represente d in all of t he me dia. T he Econom ist st udy cites t hat A sians and L at inos a re ac t ually under represente d according to t he size of t heir p opulat ion in so ciet y. T he pressure t hat t he Ac ademy faces w it h rega rd to properly and prop or t ionately represent t hese g roups, however, is fa r we a ker.

Inst it ut ionalize d p over t y and p olice br ut alit y a re definitely pressing so cial issues t hat esp e cially affe c t Af r ic an A mer ic ans. But t hese t hings also affe c t L at in A mer ic ans at compa rable rates.

T he fo cus on represent ing different g roups in so ciet y ha s shifte d away f rom logic and dat a. We ne e d to pressure t he Ac ademy to ref le c t t he A mer ic a we live in, it s st r ug gles, it s imp er fe c t ions, and it s cult ure c andidly and w it h a r t ist r y. But we ne e d to ma ke sure we prevent our selves f rom pushing our indiv idual agenda s in t he mov ies we love and cher ish. A r t is inherent ly ab out indiv idual agenda s, but if we t r uly c a re ab out issues of repres ent at ion in t he me dia, we ne e d to lo ok t h rough a w ider lense. I’m sure t hat’s t he k ind of movement Will Sm it h would want. e

OPINION / 17

201 5

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1 6 / EELL EESSTTO OQ QU UE E / SEP 2015

Score Name 2400 Donhee Han 2400 Sungho Park 2400 Jayanth Bharadwaj 2400 Nicholas Zhang 2400 Claire Li 2400 Nathan Lee 2400 Joseph Hong 2400 Bhavya Malladi 2400 Ravi Bethamcharla 2400 Harman Brah 2400 Jihan Yi 2400 Smitha Nagar 2400 Cynthia Chang 2400 Chris Wang 2400 Alyssa Zhao 2400 Katherine Chen 2400 Fendy Gao 2400 Jeffrey Wang 2400 Titus Wu 2400 Hanah Lee 2400 Augustine Chemparathy 2400 Monami Mukherjee 2400 Andy Zhang 2400 Ashima Katakwar 2400 Bethany Hung 2400 Bhavesh Patel 2400 Cari Gan 2400 Catherine Tu 2400 Derek Feng 2400 Erica Hwang 2400 Harsh Wadhwa 2400 Kaiwen Zhou 2400 Kelsey Ichikawa 2400 Michael Prattipratti 2400 Nikitia Thareja 2400 Preetham Gujjula 2400 Ryan Sim 2400 Sara Cao 2400 Shivani Chandrasekheran

School Year Leland 2015 Leland 2015 Mission SJ 2015 Westlake 2014 Trabuco Hills 2014 Harvard-Westlake 2014 University 2014 American 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Washington 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Arcadia 2014 Arcadia 2014 Arcadia 2014 Dougherty 2014 Troy 2014 Claremont 2013 Dougherty 2013 Mission SJ 2013 Villa Park 2013 Mission SJ 2013 Almador Valley 2013 Mission SJ 2013 San Marino 2013 Dougherty 2013 Arcadia 2013 Irvington 2013 Northwood 2013 Saratoga 2013 Monta Vista 2013 Dougherty 2013 Mission SJ 2013 Harker 2013

How much do we know?

LET’S TALK ABOUT

SEX

LET’S TALK ABOUT

SEX EDUCATION

Story by Alina Abidi and Mingjie Zhong

Exploring the evolution of sex ed and ourselves

T

HE ONLY TIME SHE TALKED ABOUT read their textbooks before awkwardly sex ed. When Spanish teacher and Gender Sexuality Alliance advisor Joyce Fortune SEX WITH HER PARENTS was when asking, “Are there any questions?” was in school, the key word was “don’t.” sex “No, obviously,” Dronamraju said. it came flying through her mother’s When she came to MVHS her junior year, was taught alongside drugs and alcohol in bedroom window.

On a sweltering Saturday afternoon, she was shocked by the progressiveness one scare tactic filled unit.

Don’t do drugs. senior Ramya Dronamraju opened all the and openness of the Don’t drink. windows of her apartment. But she lived in a sex ed program. Our Don’t have sex. curriculum is far complex of tightly packed houses and plenty “It was just all of neighbors, and debris floated in and out. more modern than about ‘Don’t do abstinence-only An empty contraceptive packet landed on the The former policy allowed teachthis, don’t do that,’” at other the frame of her mother’s white windowsill. syllabus ers to send home letters asking Fortune said. “We Her mother stormed into Dronamraju’s schools in the world, for parent permission for students thought it was kind bedroom, waking her daughter from an the country and even to participate in Sex Ed. of a joke. We didn’t the state. But this year, afternoon nap to demand an explanation. talk at all about the “What is this?” Her first question. it will still undergo emotional side or the She held up the empty packet labeled a mini-revamp along interpersonal side of “contraceptive pill.” Dronamraju remembers with all other Calif. relationships.

And they didn’t talk to us at public schools. this first, steely question clearly, its hard Previously, a significant discrepancy all about a gender or sex preference. There implication not lost on her. Dronamraju, who hadn’t yet put her glasses on, didn’t know in sex ed instruction throughout the state was zero.”

Fortune’s fear-based sex ed experiences existed because of the varying preferences what she was seeing or what to say. of individual districts and schools. Assembly still ring true. Lerner notes that her freshmen A barrage of questions followed.

I found this in my bedroom. Why do you Bill No. 329, a new legislation — which came have not had positive sex ed experiences in have it? Why did you use this? What were into effect Jan. 1 of this year — not only middle school, and that attitude surprises makes Sex ed a mandatory part of California her more than a lack of knowledge about you doing at home? Where did you go? school curriculum anatomy. Students turn in papers with Within the next in grades seven to sentences written like “I’m not going to have two days, she was twelve, but also sex. It’s just bad and dangerous.” at the doctor with But for Kennedy Middle School teacher moves the program her parents to check in the direction Khadija Iyer, alignment the intactness of The current policy regulates that of comprehensive her hymen. Only parents have to contact schools s exualit y after the medical on their own if they want their child e duc at ion reports confirmed to opt out of Sex Ed. with an Dronamraju’s story opt-out did her mother ease policy. This her anger. She still grounded Dronamraju. e ind som But despite all the questions, the one places a greater focus on human

ence beh c o d n e it in lim relationships, communication, e e Dronamraju’s mother never once asked was to th Th be related n to a c d sexual orientations and other, s a n h the simplest: “Did you have sex?” o ti e ques ay hav students m “We don’t use that word,” Dronamraju broader topics of sexuality. exposure “If you’re into progressive said simply. ics. ow do certain top tions like ‘‘H s e u q y ill This was her freshman year in Hyderabad, sex education, it’s kind of a wish s are iology “There ave sex?’” B h s n e k India — 8,500 miles and three years list,” said Biology teacher Lora ic h dc s still roosters an said. “That’ m n ia rr away from present-day California. Her sex Lerner, who has been teaching ja a H oya me a teacher Po ow much ti h education was, in a word, lacking. She recalls sex ed at MVHS for 13 years. t u b , n o that sti answering a great que a clearly uncomfortable teacher going over a “It’s pretty much everything e m ti d n e s sp curriculum on puberty, but entirely skipping you can think of that you want to question I going to mparison] o c h ic [in h n w to positively teach people about o e ti the sexuality portion. The teacher simply ques e to judg ent? [I] hav pointed to a sign of the male reproductive sexual relationships.” portant.” about cons the most im re Positive hasn’t always a k system, a sign of the female reproductive in th ones I system, and then told the students to just been a word associated with

WHAT IS OPT-IN?

WHAT IS OPT-OUT?

IONS T S E U Q T N E INNOC

20 / EL ESTOQUE / FEB 2016

THE

with the district’s curriculum outweighs the negativity students may walk away with.

“We teach the curriculum that the district gives us, and abstinence is what the district wishes for us,” she said. “So if that comes across as negative, then I’m not gonna teach anything else because I’m going to stick with what the district is asking me to teach.”

Iyer has been teaching sex ed for 22 years, all at KMS, and the curriculum hasn’t changed much over time. There’s little room for her to make her own judgements about what to teach, but she mostly agrees with the curriculum.

T

H

Q&A

BOX

BY H ow d ANN o din AN Poo o WA s aurs ya H from LIU h a LLA a j j t v a h e rian, e an s ques H e x? A this onym t i o c c n w o the s are o a r d us so in S in th ex Ed u awkwa questio ne of h g to biol is fa ogy rd, u nit.T n bo e bo te vo s h xes: x joke e three ed by al , wher rite qu acher e l bio s, tre e type stion no lo s nds and of ques gy teac legitima s he curio te t us in ions can rs durin g quir b e fo ies. und

JOKE

QUES

HE INADEQUEATE SEX ED PROGRAM at Dronamraju’s “Ther school in Hyderabad is e s omet are a lot certainly not confined to India. and compare times imes the of joke q Of all the educational curriculum y’re g uesti I contraceptive prices. ’ m o Biolo l mandated in the United States, gy te ike ‘I’ve h ood jokes ns — “Did people not stare at you? a e , oth sex ed is possibly one of the think cher ard t er L That was my first question,” Dronamraju t h least standardized. A national in [th hat some ora Lerne at before said.

“It’s such a big taboo, right. I was t r e ,” i m s box] a e standard doesn’t even exist trans to be s people id. “And I so fascinated...How did you tell your mom l a t e p — the sex ed curriculum, u it to s o real q that you’re going to buy condoms?” omet utrageou t things u or lack of it, is largely up to s, bu hing T estion.”

But despite the progressive assignment, t t h h I’l at I th local administrators or state Mast e most ink is l students like Natarajan still feel the stigma u a legislatures.

According comm to L rbation in our community. o n e q r to the Guttmacher of unco ner, sin uestions “Even though people have lived here for a c m . A these?

Institute, can b fortable, e studen ccord while, it’s there,” she said. “It’s embedded in four states e ext rapol a legitima ts may ing the culture. If you ask how many people had ated m a n d a t e from te questi be that open and honest conversation with their on that any sex ed the jo parents, I can bet you that it won’t be a lot.” k e . program must include And at MVHS, it isn’t. In a survey of 87 negative information on sexual students, 69 percent have never talked to orientation. This means that the LGBTQ+ their parents about sex. community either does not exist in the Sex goals in her own classroom is to normalize ed curriculum of these states or exists solely the idea of different sexual orientations. as the object of negative scrutiny.

For this reason, she first touches on these In contrast, California’s new law, AB topics earlier in the year, discussing 329, directly states that schools must sexual orientation and gender “affirmatively recognize” different sexual expression during the orientations. At MVHS, a school with genetics unit. She later ar appe f a growing LGBTQ+ community, some expands on these subjects o hat y t larit s students feel that the current curriculum has and their cultural and rend ing popu t room for improvement. From a survey of 83 political implications during w ia. are

he e gro y or med h ere t is t r h MVHS students, 45 percent believe that the the Sex ed program in May. n T t o d e i

e n g tre ndin gend y n soc sex ed curriculum at MVHS is not inclusive “Normal is variation,” depe topics i obvious r and olog n toward toward the LGBTQ+ community.

Lerner said. “[It] is important nde sion,” Bi ears ost ertai e c g m GSA secretary junior Ethan Yao cited for us to not just talk about this res he ix y out “T ons ab nder exp Five or s stions], a lack of coverage for less common stuff during sex ed, like it’s this “ i t e . [que ns ques y and g rner said orientations such as asexuality, and an weird little box we can only talk t no questio it e s t L o n e a id ts or alm t more emphasis on the binary. However, Yao, along about for two weeks.” uden e her L ere] teac here [w rted to g ause st ics] with other GSA officers, acknowledge that t a ec op teachers are trying their best to be inclusive. ago, w I’ve st sues, b [these t he Y CHANCE, ONE OF s t i o To counter unintentional exclusivity but n d those g about one of Dronamraju’s friends in India n n i y l of non-binary students, Lerner says that arou st think s most happened to be a former MVHS ju n.” the freshman biology teachers have been student. The friend told Dronamraju hat’ are nd t s I’ve see a e working as a group to design a more inclusive about the Biology assignment in mor change curriculum in recent years. One of Lerner’s which students head to a drugstore gest

TION

S

D

TREN

NS

IO T S E QU

B

big

SPECIAL / 21

Dronamraju doesn’t see the shock value of someone being sexually active, especially if they’re being safe, but she knows that some people do.

“Every parent’s biggest fear is that their neighbors will find out,” she said.

I

N RECENT YEARS, THE TOPICS covered in MVHS’ sex ed curriculum have been expanded in both breadth and depth.

Subjects like sexually transmitted infections, communication and contraception are not new additions to the curriculum, but the freshman biology teachers have discussed relationship education, gender identity and gender expression even more in the

classroom. In the past school year, Lerner also began to teach students communication skills and protection around sexting and issues that have arisen due to advancements in technology.

Students rarely opt out of the sex ed program. Lerner and Iyer each only have a maximum of a few kids per year who do not participate, and often have none.

“Our feeling has always been that most parents are thrilled that we do it, because they don’t want to.” Lerner said. “So it’s usually the other way around, they’re like: Please. Take care of this.”

Senior Aishwarya Natarajan believes that if that relationship and openness with your

parents doesn’t exist, the conversation has to begin somewhere.

“You need to have [the talk] with someone in your life,” Natarajan said. “Not from someone on television. Not from your best friend, but from someone who’s educated on the subject, who can give you all the facts you need, who’s constantly there to support you and give you the correct information.”

If parents are uncomfortable talking to children about sex, as they often are, school may be the last time, or the only time, students have a chance to learn and to ask questions.

“If it doesn’t start with school,” Dronamraju said,“society can’t progress.” e

BIRDS AND BEES

Students tell stories about the“ birds and the bees” talk and who it’s better to hear from

STORY by emma lam ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH HAN

T

HE TERM ‘BIRDS AND BEES’ seems to be describing animals in nature, but instead is used to say something more explicit. Most people know this term as a discussion in which teenagers are told information about sexual reproduction and relationships. Some people don’t get the sex talk from their parents, their friends become one of their few resources to learn about sex.

Many students trust their friends as much as their parents, if not more. Although students may not know all of what has to come with “the talk,” friends usually tend to make it easier and less awkward. Some may feel that the age similarity between them can make “the talk” easier, while others find that talking to their parents gives them a better understanding of sex education and the talk.

Sophomore Krithika Rao remembers the talk her mom gave her like it was yesterday morning.

22 / EL ESTOQUE / FEB 2016

“She told me her experience about how she got Sex Ed,” Rao said. “She began talking about if you see a boy and you get nervous it means you have ‘feelings for him,’ [...]That’s around the time it got weird.”

But it’s not as though Rao disliked how her “Birds and the Bees” talk went.

“My dad came into my room and all he said was ‘boys are bad,’” Rao said.

“With your friends, it’s all open[...]With your parents, it’s more informative, but it’s weird because you don’t view your parents as your friends.”

Rao has her own spin as to why the talk is awkward with adults. Rao explained that with parents it’s weird due to the age difference and discomfort that accompanies discussing sex with people that are close to you.

Nevertheless, Rao would deal with the awkwardness of talking to her parents instead of receiving incorrect information ffrom her friends.

Sophomore Natalie Standridge got her talk rather young, in second grade.

“My mother came into my room,” Standridge said. “And she came in holding this huge book, and I’m over here thinking

to myself ‘What is it?’”

Standridge said that her mother told her stories every night, with one catch: these were about the human body. She didn’t have a clear idea of what was going on until her dad came into the room one night. Her dad screamed at the top of his lungs and proclaimed that all she had needed to know about sex was what was “down below.”

Her parents were very nonchalant about it after the incident, and proceeded to answer any questions she had.

“Getting the talk from your parents is going to be a lot more informative than getting it from your friends. [...] you won’t be getting the big picture,” Standridge said.

Standridge believes that both is better than getting it from one side, because you’ll have knowledge of a little bit of everything when it comes to sex.

Not all talks about the “Birds and the Bees” will come from parents, sometimes it will come from friends. Yet, regardless about who talks about sex, the “Birds and Bees” talk will continue to be a part of teenager’s lives. e

w

LET’S TALK ABOUT

Students discuss the effect of religion on their view of sex S T O R Y BY E L I Z A B E T H H A N

S

HE LOST HER VIRGINITY IN A CAR, IN THE SUMMER OF 2014.

It was never planned, like any other first experience — but at that very moment, she felt ready, secure in the arms of her then boyfriend. So after some awkward minutes of him tugging on a condom, she was no longer a virgin. Yet she still held one identity close to her heart: Christian, a follower of God. The MVHS senior, who asked that her name not be used to protect her privacy, was born into a family of devout Christians. Her friend senior Yanni Gan, states that her parents are firm believers and frequent churchgoers. The senior always knew the rule concerning sex in the Bible. No sex before marriage. Never, until you find a husband.

Freshman Juhee Yang, who describes herself as a devoted Christian, explains the belief.

“From our point of view, sex is considered like a gift and a blessing that God gave us to reproduce,” Yang said. “For us, it’s something that shouldn’t be taken lightly… [or as] mere momentary pleasure.”

Other religions often enforce a similar idea — sophomore Razi Mahmood, who practices Islam, remembers premarital sex as looked down upon according to religious books.

Though neither Mahmood nor Yang denounce sexually active peers, they themselves hope to keep their virginity until marriage.

Yang owns a purity ring, a symbol of virginity until marriage. Many of her Christian friends have their own rings as well — others who have difficulty resisting the sexual

marriage was okay.”

Occasionally, a Christian friend or two would remind her of her past belief. She recalls one girl — she dumped her boyfriend solely because he wanted sex. The senior was shocked by her friend’s extreme decision, but it was expected. temptation go as far as to send in prayer “She was like, ‘Oh my God, gross. Slut,’” requests, in hopes of mitigating lust. the senior said. “I understand how she views “I heard my friends [from church] saying, other people. Not as sluts, but she sees them ‘I’ve been having thoughts of [sex] a lot in a negative way.” recently,’” Yang said. “I hear prayer requests The senior admits that her life would differ like that often. They’re hoping that they can if she had continued her visits to church. overcome that temptation.”

Perhaps she would still be a virgin, living by Yet for the sexually active senior, the rule the Bible and owning a purity ring herself. was one more restriction amongst many that But she doesn’t regret her past decisions. she simply couldn’t She believes that follow. Looking back her time away from now, she wishes that From our point of view, sex church allowed her her parents had taught to widen her views is considered like a gift and her how to protect overall. She says she herself, rather than a blessing that God gave became more opendrilling a big “No” on minded, rather than us to reproduce. sex itself. passively imbibing Various factors Christian beliefs her accounted for her entire life.

- F R E S H M A N J U H E E YA N G choice to be sexually Now, she has active — for one, she only returned to church returned to church, upon strong request from last April after a five-year absence due to her her devout parents, who still have yet to find sports games overlapping with masses. out about her sexual life. Her connection with “I knew that she was always religious,” God weakened over the years, and further Gan said. “It’s just that she didn’t follow regulations from the church frustrate her at through with going to church every week. She times. She still strives to become a better wasn’t the stereotypical church person.”

Christian, embodying the Christian morality.

The senior’s desire to be a sinless Christian However, one principle remains unchanged: lessened as her attendance at church she will continue to be sexually active, in spite drastically decreased. Fellow church members of remaining a Christian. faded away into memories — new friends “The main part about being Christian is appeared in her life, who lived in ways far the belief in God… and I do,” the senior said. from Christian ideals. “[But having premarital sex] is just something “A lot of them liked to go to parties,” the I don’t see eye-to-eye with the church. I think senior said. “Being around that environment it’s an important part of growing up.” e sort of made me think that having sex before

“

LET’S TALK ABOUT CONSENT To clarify some doubts or refresh memories from freshman biology, read the answers to some often misunderstood questions about consent, asked by MVHS students.

BY SANJANA MURTHY

Q: Is consent still valid if both Q: How do you know when some- Q: Is consent necessary for kissing or partners have been drinking?

one hasn’t given their consent?

A: If you’re so drunk that you A: can’t count, then you probably also can’t agree to have sex with someone. In other words, even if both partners are drunk and have given consent, it would still be considered sexual misconduct.

ELIZABETH HAN l EL ESTOQUE ILLUSTRATION

If you have to ask this question, chances are, the person hasn’t given their consent - it should be pretty self-explanatory.

The absence of a “no” does not mean “yes” and consent can never be presumed or implied.

other things that aren’t specifically sex?

A: In this case, “better late than never”

doesn’t exactly apply. Legally, it’s not required, but there’s never anything wrong with asking for permission before popping someone’s personal bubble, and doing so can establish trust and comfort early on in the relationship.

*Information from LMU Campus Awareness Resource Education Services

SPECIAL/23

LET’S TALK ABOUT

THE FIGURES

A

story by trisha kholiya

lthough considered taboo in our community, sex is a topic that is important for students to understand. The ninth grade health education unit allots a time in which students can learn key components of sex and ask any questions that they may have. However, sex ed requirements vary from state to state, so sex ed is often incomplete or simply not present.

LEGEND Sex ed not mandated Must be medically accurate Abstinence stressed

*According to the Guttmacher institute as of Jan. 1

“

HOMOSEXUALITY

Students have a really hard time, or a lot of misconceptions around what it means to have feelings for people of different sexes. So what does it mean to be homosexual? Does it mean that you’re attracted to somebody all the time?

Sometimes? So what does it mean to have those feelings?

- Biology teacher Lora Lerner

47%

...

of high school students had sexual intercourse

Negative information on sexual orientation

80%

of these students have had no formal sex ed before intercourse

*according to the CDC in 2013

since 1991, pregnancy rates for women aged 15-19 dropped

61%

*according to the CDC in 2015

24 / EL ESTOQUE / FEB 2016

LET ’S TAL K ABO UT

THE DISPARITY I

WALKED OUT OF A PHARMACY with a completed worksheet in my hand.

The worksheet, recording the prices and functions of various sex protection products, was from my Biology class. I remembered how difficult looking at these products used to be for me and appreciated that I could receive sex ed and still be comfortable.

In seventh grade, before I moved to Cupertino from Shanghai, page 84 in our new science textbook riveted the entire class. In front of me, my classmate, smiling with anticipation, excitedly flipped through the book to show me the anatomy of the human reproductive system.

I looked away.

This was the first, and last, sex ed given by the school.

On that day, everyone held their breath as the science teacher walked in. Each book was open to page 84, and we just couldn’t keep the sly smiles off our anticipative faces.

Without speaking, the teacher pulled out a DVD and clicked “play.” For the next 40 minutes, we watched a video about the reproductive system. It was the first time that we were able to sit with people of similar age and learn about the structures and functions of reproductive organs, and much to our delight, how a girl could swim with the help of a tampon.

As we gasped in excitement over the unfamiliar terms, the teacher sat beside his computer with an indifferent gaze.

The teacher didn’t teach us anything himself.

The next day we moved on to the next unit. Although we hadn’t learned anything from the teacher, the video still felt like an adventure. But there was something missing in it. We still had no idea how to apply what we had learned to life. What about sexually transmitted

infections? What about consent? What about protecting ourselves in different situations? The video had content, but it wasn’t enough. We needed sex ed that was carried out by real people, from whom we could learn the appropriate attitude, who we could relate to, and who we could ask those questions that we had pondered. And when the teacher wasn’t comfortable teaching it, there was no way for us to understand how to deal with issues related to sex properly.

The eighth grade Biology book didn’t mention sex. The tenth grade Biology book at my Chinese high school didn’t bring up the sensitive topic. I knew that the video was the only sex ed I was going to get from school.

So it was up to us students to decide what to say or what not to say, how to respond or how to not respond. Often, some people in my school in China would come up with risqué jokes, and many w o u l d giggle and secretely spread around the jokes. Others would look away and feel nauseous and try hard to keep the disturbing images off the mind. I had no appetite for days, especially when eating a hot dog.

I started at MVHS as a junior and took freshman Biology, which provided me a second chance to learn sex ed.

I was very shocked by the terms that came up in class and the straightforward assignments, like asking pharmacists about sex protection products.

And most of all, how we comfortably discussed our questions and related what we learned to our lives.

Initially, I had been suspicious about whether I was going to make it through the unit, but to my surprise I was able to develop a brand new mindset with the help of my Biology teacher, Lora Lerner,

Renee Pu

How I was shocked by two different kinds of sex ed Illustration by Renee Pu. and the way other students encouraged each other to explore the topic. I discovered that it is okay to talk about sex because there is nothing shameful about it. The reproductive system is part of a person’s body just as the circulatory system is, and sex can be an important part of a romantic relationship. Being able to understand sex and to discuss it is an essential aspect of protecting ourselves and learning to make the right decisions for our lives.

In my old shool, we were kept away from the topic to protect innocent children from the adult world, but students are eventually going to grow up and experience society. They’ll even go through the very obstacles that adults are unwilling to talk about. Understandably, sexuality may be an uncomfortable topic for people from more traditional cultures, but sometimes taking one step out of the parents’ and educators’ comfort zone is what they need to do for the benefit of the children in the long run.

And by talking about sex, we’ll understand it more. We’ll understand how to take care of ourselves and be responsible for our behaviors, so that we can stay away from the dangers that concern the people who care about us.

So that we are actually protected.

I feel grateful that I now understand what we should learn from sex education. But, I still have to work on being comfortable about talking about sex. When we were given a fill-in-the-blank question in Literature with the correct answer “penis”, I could only secretly suspect the answer and write down an alternative answer, “the brain?”, instead. I didnít even think about writing down the word “penis”. What if I thought wrong? What if it was inappropriate? When the teacher showed us the correct answer, I eventually realized that it was time to move on from the conservative culture of my past.

For me, talking about sex takes time and a lot of courage, but I appreciate the chance to discuss it and be educated. And writing about it, as I found out, is just as hard, and as helpful, as talking. e

And by talking about sex, we’ll understand it more. We’ll understand how to take care of ourselves. So that we are actually protected.

SPECIAL / 25

At your convenience Photo by Kristin Chang

7-Eleven stories from beyond the counter STORY BY KRISTIN CHANG AND NEHA PATCHIPALA

T

HIN TRAILS OF STEAM HISS UP He trusts them to pay him back. They always absurd, yet he’s always surprised by how from the grill, framing his face. Out- have, no matter how small the amount. much they care. Sometimes, though, surprises side, there’s the dull thud of backpacks “Sometimes someone will even give me are much less pleasant: once, a woman was hitting the pavement, a pile mounting higher ten cents found on the ground,” Singh said. outraged that a prepaid credit card she bought and higher. Bobby Singh, without a glance “They’ll find it lying [in the store or the park- for $1 at another 7-Eleven was $1.25 at this downward, puts the quarter-pounder in ing lot] and pick it up and give it to me.” location. She tried haggling with him, but a box and slides it across the counter. The He laughs, shaking his head. Walking into when he wouldn’t yield, she furiously dialed boy pays, then flicks a quarter into the dirty the store just to give him a few cents seems for the police. tip-dish beside the register. Singh Singh wasn’t at all intimidated. quirks a smile, then waves forWhen the police arrived and he exward the next kid, who knows him plained what happened, they were by his name: “Hey, Bobby.” sympathetic, and the woman soon left, Singh has been working at much to his relief. Singh tries to keep 7-Eleven for three years now, his interaction with the police miniand though he’s known for starmal: even when a student is caught tling kids — he yells for the kids stealing, he doesn’t call law enforceto move up in line, sometimes ment. Instead, or arguably worse, he making them jump — he’s also a calls the parents and shows them the stable presence, someone many tape. And every day there are at least regular students recognize. a few students who try to buy beer or Though not all of them may cigarettes, even though they don’t have know him by name, he recognizID. He can always count on that. es many of them and remembers Every hour the store is open, there’s their orders: he’ll take one glance, Photo by Kristin Chang a monitor, immediately noticeable disappear behind the counter and upon entrance, warning customers then re-emerge with a full meal that they’re being watched. Two stuready. Though adult customers are dents wave as they walk in, almost inmore likely to exchange greetings voluntarily. with him — one man gives him Singh’s presence at 7-Eleven is a 7-Eleven Employee a handshake before disappearing constant; he’s always somewhere, the “[The happiest moment of my life was] the into the aisles — students are students say. He’s often doing three first time I saw snow in Canada. I went to Calmore energetic, spilling over the things at once: talking on his cell gary and there was a snowstorm… those were counters and chatting animatedly phone, chatting with his co-workers my happiest holidays so far. It was very difas they walk through the aisles. and serving someone’s lunch. Two ferent from what I expected it to be like. It School hours are his favorite. slices of pizza, one taquito. As he chats was up to our knees and we couldn’t really They’re always the busiest, with on speakerphone, laughing at a joke no see anything other than the roads and snow. hundreds of dollars spent each one else can hear, Singh makes it all All of the houses were hidden in the snow.” lunch. Occasionally, though, if seem like one orchestrated movement. a student is a few dollars short, “It’s like a family,” Singh said. e he’ll give the student a discount.

BOBBY SINGH

2 6 / EELL E ES STOQUE / FEB 2016

C

F

A&E CUPERTINO RESIDENT Ben Price

Photo by Kristin Chang

CUPERTINO RESIDENT

“When I was younger, I thought of 7/11 as a really forbidden place. It’s really colorful and full of all the stuff you’re not allowed to eat, but once in a while, like after we’d behaved at church or something, my dad would drive us here. And my brothers and I used to have a really disgusting tradition where’d we go get a Slurpee and see who could create the wackiest combos and colors, like mixing in the coke flavor with blue raspberry and then shaking it up so it turned as mud-colored as possible, and then in the backseat screaming, “Oh my god, we’re drinking poop, ew!”

Felix Campioni

“I used to choose my lottery numbers based on my birthday and family birthdays, but then I realized that’s what everyone probably does...and I figured being self-centered about that sort of thing was bad luck. So then I decided, why not choose numbers in a fun way?

So I’ll count the number of cars in the lot, or the people in the store, or I’ll look around my [environment] until I see a number, on an ad somewhere.

There’s one number I always play, but that’s a secret. I can’t reveal it. All I can say is that it’s my wife’s age, the age she would be if she were still alive.”

SOLD A BLOCK AWAY

9

lotto tickets

in

1/2 hour

$10,000

worth of tickets sold

DAILY

during Powerball

60 - 80

Photo by Kristin Chang

Taquitos sold during lunch rush SENIOR Timothy Bagachev

HIGHEST WINNER IN THE STORE

$10,000

“I’ve had one of my friends come in a banana costume and we got shopping carts and came here. He just went into my closet, saw a banana costume and then wore it. They used to sell bananas here and we went in and bought bananas.”

Photo by Kristin Chang

A & E / 27

Love Actually

Student couples remember how they first met STO R Y BY S N E H A G A U R A N D N A N DA N AYA K

"The Awkward Couple"

Sophomores Ollie Venzon and Cathrine Ying Photo by Sneha Gaur ADVERTISEMENT

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S

ophomores Ollie Venzon and Cathrine Ying’s relationship isn’t just another relationship that formed by meeting through friends — they bonded over a cooking video. Taking the “Applied Electives Wheel” in 7th grade together, Ying first started talking to Venzon to complain about the terrifying cooking safety videos. From then, they began to speak more, and got closer through the years, but they never paid much attention to the shift in their relationship; it just happened.

“It was a very gradual thing,” Ying said. “We started develop“IT’S PART OF ing crushes on each other and just wanted to cuddle with each other.”

THE CULTURE Even though they’ve been AT THIS SCHOOL. friends for years, Venzon and Ying describe their relationship as awkIF YOU TRY ward. However, it’s not the kind of TO SPEAK UP, awkward that needs to be filled with meaningless conversation— YOU’RE SEEN AS it’s enough to have each other’s CAUSING A COMcompany. Yet at school, their relationship is treated like a phenomMOTION.” enon with both of them being non Sophomore Cathrine Ying binary and pansexual.

Since coming out, they have both found that most Monta Vista students are ignorant when it comes to supporting and addressing the LGBT community. Students at MVHS tend to throw around homophobic and transphobic slurs such as “faggot” or “tranny” without realizing the context behind these words. Ying and Venzon try to stand up and explain the years of oppression and violence that the slurs carry, but instead, they’re told to lighten up, to stop being so sensitive.

“It’s part of the culture at this school. If you try to speak up, you’re seen as causing a commotion. People say ‘Oh, it’s not that big of a deal,’ but it really is,” Ying said.

While at Running of the Bulls last year, Ying and Venzon stood in

P

line to get their pictures taken, when they whispered about the loud group of boys behind them. However, when one of these boys heard them, he angrily turned and called them “faggots.” Unsettled, Venzon and Ollie told a teacher nearby about the incident, but the teacher merely told the boys “not to use offensive language” and walked away. Venzon and Ying do not blame the teacher, understanding that she didn’t have enough time to reprimand the students. But, they do believe that if students and teachers made the effort to learn the history behind these words, MVHS would become a more tolerant campus, accepting of all people regardless of their gender or sexuality. With all these arising dilemmas and situations that the couple must face, they feel that they do not know what their relationship should look like.

“We’re just figuring it out,” Venzon said.

“But I’m glad that I’m figuring it out with you,” Ying added, resting their head on Venzon’s shoulder.

O

ctober 8th, 2013— little did senior Ajay Merchia know he was about to meet his future girlfriend.

After arriving at school, and locking his bike in the stands, Merchia looked up to notice another bike, with its lights still on. In an attempt of goodwill, he walked over to the bike and tried to turn the lights off. Unable to do so, he stood there, bewildered, trying to turn the lights off without looking like a bike thief. After two minutes of futile effort, Merchia turned around to walk away— but just then, the bike owner, current senior Radhika Dhomse, walked back. Merchia stood speechless, unaware of what to say. ‘Does she think I’m trying to steal her bike? What should I do?’ Merchia wondered. He decided to walk up to her and explain his actions. However, it didn’t come across the way he wanted it to. He mumbled a sentence under his breath, but Dhomse didn’t even hear him.

But after several other chance meetings, they started to talk to each other.

“The Unconventional Couple” Seniors Radhika Dhomse and Ajay Merchia Photo by Sneha Gaurr Dhomse, however, believes it wasn’t a “love at first sight” moment. She admits to having mixed feelings toward Merchia when they first met.

“I’m very rude to everyone, so I was very rude to him too,” Dhomse said.

“I was especially rude to him, because I had this closely knit friend group, and he was barging in on it.”

Merchia however, had strong feelings for Dhomse, and he kept giving her subtle hints. The first time, he said, “I think I like like you,” to Dhomse, she reacted negatively, saying “Ew, that’s gross, we would never get together.”

Flustered and embarrassed, Merchia, adjusted his statement, saying that he meant it in a purely friendly way. But it all changed at a New Year’s party at Merchia’s house.

Dhomse, who attended, went upstairs to talk to Merchia’s younger sister.

There, Merchia’s sister let out the secret — Merchia had had a secret crush on Dhomse, on and off for the past three years. Dhomse, who had, just a month ago, started to have feelings for Merchia, was in total shock. She then went forward and confessed her feelings to Merchia, who admitted he felt the same way about her, and on New Year’s Eve, the couple started dating.

“The Perfect Couple” Seniors Julia Cho and Josh Kim Photo by Sneha Gaur

A

t Lincoln Elementary School, where handball dominated recess, senior Julia Cho recognized senior Josh Kim for his skill in the game, scurrying to the back of the line whenever she had to play against him. They weren’t friends then —they just acknowledged each other’s presence. But after discovering that they attended the same Sunday school, middle school and Korean school in sixth grade, they started to get closer.

“Everyone at [Sunday school] thought I liked her,” Kim said, remembering his classmates’ teasing nature. “But I was also bad at hiding it.”

Despite going to different high schools, Cho and Kim, who attends Bellarmine College Prep, easily continued their friendship since they lived next to each other and still saw each other during Sunday and Korean school.

“It was a constant back and forth,” Cho said.“It wasn’t like we completely lost touch.”After spending holiday break with her in tenth grade, Kim planned to ask her out. They have a tradition of eating sushi together at Harumi, a restaurant across Valco, and then watching a movie at the nearby AMC. After each movie they watched together, Kim steeled himself to ask the question resting on his mind, but each time, he chickened out. Eventually, he mustered up the courage.

“It was hard because she’s my first girlfriend. I guess the first time’s always the hardest,” Kim said. “But for that movie, I told myself I was going to do it no matter what.” e

A & E / 29

What is Chinese New Year?

Did you mean: Christmas, Thanksgiving, July Fourth Students reflect on personal change through a changing New Year STORY BY JESSICA XING AND SEBASTIAN ZHANG

T

HE ROOM BLAZES WITH laughter, the smell of dumplings drifts across red walls, the television flashes with dance, fiery blues and yellows paint the night sky, the moon shines gold upon the rooftops — this has been replaced with homework and a half-occupied dinner table, unadorned walls and quiet skies. The past glows weakly behind a phone call to China and the annual television special that’s accompanied childhood.

When some students moved to the United States after growing up in China, they experienced similar changes to their Chinese New Year celebrations, but responded differently. Students discuss their once-beloved holiday: why it’s so different here, how their identities have shifted, what commercialization has brought.

MOVING FROM HUNAN to America two years ago, junior Larry Chang felt his Chinese New Year spirit drain away. He brought up school as a central cause.

In China, he had two weeks to relax and travel; now, with so much work to focus on, the time and energy to celebrate has washed away. He and his friends, who also came from China some years ago, don’t talk about the New Year when it comes.

Chang felt that some Chinese in the area don’t seem all that connected to their native culture.

“Even though there are Chinese,” Chang said, “they all celebrate Christmas, not Chinese New Year.”

While Christmas calls for widespread celebration, Chang hasn’t seen Chinese New Year being honored on campus

30 / EL ESTOQUE / FEB 2016 EL ESTOQUE

beyond his Chinese language class. He ascribed this to the power of American culture — a force that ancestry struggles to compete against.

“This is America,” Chang said, “People who come here become Americanized and celebrate American traditions, not Chinese New Year.”

Chang pointed to another reason for decreased spirit. Like other newcomers, he had to leave much of his family. His past feasts with parents, aunts, cousins became eating dumplings with only his mom and brother. With so much family missing, the mood was simply no longer the same.

While Chang struggled to leave behind those 15 years that shaped his identity, he, perhaps unavoidably, began adopting American culture over the next three years.

He grew more comfortable speaking English, watched videos on YouTube, which doesn’t

exist in China, replaced Chinese television shows with American movies.

But he remains Chinese at heart. While open to ideas like celebrating Christmas, he has found that merging into American culture must take time. He will continue adapting to the land he now stands upon, but hopes to one day return to the home where a piece of heart calls.

SENIOR EDWARD WANG TAKES A break from doing homework to go out for dinner with his mom and dad. Then he turns on the television to watch CCTV’s Chinese New Year special. It certainly doesn’t compare to the celebrations he had back in China, but Wang doesn’t complain. After all, he already had Christmas break to spend time with his parents at home and visit his family in China, and then there’s the summer to see them yet again. And that’s not all. Coming

Illustration by Sebastian Zhang

Photo by Jessica Xing

Chinese teacher I-Chu Chang believes that Cupertino Chinese haven’t lost the New Year spirit. She said that as early as mid-January, Chinese supermarkets begin selling New Year decorations and food — a reminder that the day is coming. Not enough time and small party size are the main reasons people may not celebrate as strongly. to America has introduced new wonders to him, like stuffing himself with turkey on Thanksgiving and watching fireworks on July Fourth.

Like others who moved from China, Wang noticed the Chinese New Year energy dissolve under the pressures of school and work upon coming to the United States. He pointed to the Americanization of Chinese people as another possible cause of the weaker atmosphere.

He said that Chinese New Year is personal by nature, most people celebrating inside their homes with family; yet, he still felt a chilling absence of cultural spirit in Cupertino. This was a largely intangible void created through smaller absences, like the silence that replaced the sounds of firecrackers.

But even with such abrupt changes, he did not long for the past or wish for more; in fact, he preferred that organizations in Cupertino not do anything to promote Chinese New Year, despite it being so much less emphasized than what he was used to.

His reasoning? Wang felt that upon entering another country — a world of exciting new cultures and practices — it was his duty to adopt their traditions, rather than hold onto a life left behind elsewhere.

Wang no longer considers Chinese New Year as important to his identity as it was before. He still values it, but chooses to focus more on traditions widely celebrated in the area. While his Chinese roots have slipped into the background, he doesn’t

feel himself growing more American either.

Rather, he sees himself as part of the entire world, taking in new cultures as they come, regardless of their origin.

“I feel like I am just a person on earth,” Wang said, “People all need to rest, relax, celebrate holidays.*”

IN THE PAST TWENTY YEARS, China has faced unparalleled amounts of change — so according to junior Ritta Liu, in the face of a changing China and a new life in America, the old energy of celebrating the New Year has shifted on both sides of the globe.

For Liu, much the New Year spirit — as well as its signs of change — was embodied in watching CCTV’s New Year’s Gala, a ritual for her and her family, and a cultural icon. One of the most watched television shows in the world, it attracts 800 million viewers every year.

“They would prepare the show months ahead, because literally everyone will be watching,” Liu said, “If you appear on that show, you are the very best — everyone who appears on that show is really popular.”

Liu had nothing but happy memories of celebrating the New Year in China. However, she felt uncertain about what she would see if she went back.

“Not everyone’s like me — not everyone’s into Chinese New Year, so some people don’t really see it as big as a deal as it was before,” Liu said, “[China has] become more modernized.”

Liu said that this was a result of commercialization — a growing number of businesses beginning to capitalize on culture. In the past, for the next two months after the New Year’s Gala aired, viewers passionately discussed their favorite performances. But then new shows appeared, dividing viewers into watching different shows. There became less to talk about, and the spirit in the CCTV gala couldn’t carry on.

Liu also said that because of commercialization, people began to see the New Year less as a meaningful celebration and more as an excuse to spend money excessively, even on non-holiday items. As a result, China has seen a slight shift from celebrating family to cashing out.

As for how the New Year compares in Cupertino, Liu noted that it is less commercialized in this area. With people focusing less on hanging up decorations and such activities, they care more about spending time with loved ones. There also becomes a stronger focus on beginning anew into the New Year.

Like others from China, Liu agreed that New Year celebration is weaker here in Cupertino. But to her, that does not mean that American influence is completely taking over Chinese culture.

“The traditional families still acknowledge [Chinese New Year],” Liu said, “...It’s still a big thing. You just don’t have as big as a celebration, but it’s still a big thing.” e *Translated from Mandarin Chinese

LEVEL OF CULTURE Do you celebrate Chinese New Year? *from online survey of 28 students

36%

say NO

How do you generally feel about Chinese culture? *from online survey of 20 students

65%

say INDIFFERENT

*All students self-identified as Chinese

A & E / 31

More than Miss Congeniality A pageant girl’s take on pageantry through Beyoncé’s ‘Flawless’ I know when you were little girls you dreamt of being in my world

and thirty seconds performing a talent of your choice. And 5 seconds in which you find out who won the crown.

A pageant is judged on more than beauty.

It’s confidence and quick thinking.

I’m a “pageant girl.” Pageants have a glamorous reputation, with those crowns and gowns that so many little girls want.

I took some time to live my life but Yet it’s not something I tell people about. don’t think I’m just this little wise But the more I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t have a good You know that familiar feeling reason for keeping it a of dread you get when teachers call secret from my friends. The out a student to answer a question? only reason I could think Imagine answering that question of was the stereotypes; in front of 400 people, or better yet, particularly the stereotype several million people on television. that all pageant girls have A video of an unfortunate Miss no brains and only care Teen USA contestant stuttering about looks. And standing ILENA PENG and calling our citizens “U.S. in their heels, I can tell you firsthand that couldn’t be MUSICAL MUSINGS Americans” has nearly 65 million views. What if I got an farther from the truth. impossible question like the During my three years one my friend received last with the Miss Santa Clara Organization, I’ve walked away with two best interview year on gun control?

I paced backstage listening to the awards, one talent award and the title of beat of the music, desperately trying Miss Congeniality (nope, not the Sandra Bullock movie.) And most recently, I was to stop the images of everything that the first runner up to Miss Santa Clara’s could go wrong from running through my head.

Outstanding Teen 2016.

Over a year of preparation and full Fairly decent, I suppose, but not all that days in the theater all vanish when glitters is gold. the two-hour show goes by in what feels like five minutes. Then I’m left Don’t forget it, respect that standing backstage waiting to go Although Miss America and Miss Uni- onstage and hear the results, hopeless, verse are eloquent, intelligent public figures knowing that nothing I do from this with glamorous lives, people forget that moment on will make a difference.

I can’t remember if I slouched beauty is always more than skin deep. Mewhile walking, if I smiled during the dia views pageantry as no more than glittering evening gowns, sky-high platform opening number, whether I had made heels, and bikinis. But although us pageant eye contact with the judges during the girls do think that everything is better with onstage question. What if I messed rhinestones, there’s more to pageants than everything up and received nothing at all, left to stand on stage feeling like a what the public sees on television.

The notion that pageantry is all about failure? All of this and more was runswimsuits and having the perfect body is ning through my head as I stood on a lie. Some pageants, like the one I was in, stage, failing to hear my name called don’t even have a swimsuit portion. And for the third runner-up or the second.

When I heard my name called for for those that do include one, it’s not about being thin; it’s to see whether they’re fit, first runner-up, I sighed in relief. Like whether they can display and accept their all the girls there that day, I wanted to go home with a crown; I’m not goflaws, masking them with a huge smile.

But what pageants do have is 30 pages ing to lie. But I was able to perform of paperwork, 15 years of life accomplish- for myself and enjoy the experience. ments in an one page resume, an 8 minute The first two years I competed, I job interview with 6 judges, one minute felt like it was for my parents, or my

3 2 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / F E B 2 0 1 6

teacher. This year, I told my parents not to come watch the show. No one was there to watch me. Lonely I know — but in that way I realized that enjoying myself onstage was far more important to me than a crown will ever be.

Don’t get it twisted, get it twisted Three years ago, I was an awkward thirteen year old playing dress-up in my heels and gown.

Now that pageant image is a part of me.

Regardless of all the labels that come with being a pageant girl, I’m proud to call myself one. Pageant girls are dancers, rappers, singers, musicians and educators. The media has already twisted pageantry’s image; don’t get it twisted more. e

ILENA PENG l EL ESTOQUE ILLUSTRATION

NEW YEAR, NEW FITNESS

SPORTS

Students look back on resolutions to get fit STORY BY KAREN MA PHOTOS BY JUSTIN KIM

O

NCE SENIOR ROYCE YANG stepped into the clamorous weight room, a wave of insecurity washed over him. Looking around, the exercises done by the primarily male students seemed routine and almost effortless. But he had a promise that couldn’t be fulfilled by itself, and so, he got to work.

2015 has come to an end and students, teachers and family members are taking the opportunity to not only have a break from strenuous studying and demanding deadlines, but also to improve their lifestyles for the new year. These improvements include setting the ever so familiar goal of getting fit or simply exercising more. As usual, many MVHS students are not ones to slack off, especially on setting targets for 2016 that are ambitious and require commitment. And, in the end, a resolution is a resolution — a decision to do or not to do something. Whether that fitness decision lasts a week or a lifetime, it’s a means of motivation and a step towards improving someone’s well-being.

choices can be done without altering one’s schedule.

“It might be harder to make time to work out,” she said. “But every day, in the lunch line, making healthier food choices, you don’t have to have time to do that.”

In spite of the seemingly excessive time required for exercise, Aghababazadeh believes that fitness not only improves physical strength, but also mental strength by overcoming problems of laziness and a poor mind-set. Though it may be more of a challenge now, she is determined to make time to exercise in addition to eating healthy.

“No matter how fit or unfit you are, you’re the only one who can push yourself to do that last rep, that extra crunch, to sprint the final lap,” Aghababazadeh said. “Sure, you might see some inches off your waist, but you’ve also gained the mindset to work hard and do what you couldn’t do before.”

MAKING TIME

Sophomore Albert Yang, who is currently in PE Weight Training, strives to accomplish a more specific, challenging resolution. He feels that, though weight training has enabled him to push himself outside his comfort zone and work hard, running would help improve other aspects of his cardio.

“I think it’s really important because fitness stays with you your entire life,” Albert said, “so there’s no reason to not get fit, and it helps you feel better about yourself.”

His goal is to run two miles every Wednesday and Saturday morning. However, even he himself can detect self-doubt through his surface determination. He acknowledges

It had never crossed freshman Rana Aghababazadeh’s mind that her workload would affect her ability to make time for exercise until high school. For her, the beginning of 2016 signaled a change in her eating and exercising customs. She realized at the end of middle school that she needed a method of maintaining her fitness outside of school PE. “Just having a healthier lifestyle,” Aghababazadeh said. “Not necessarily losing weight, but becoming more fit, changing my eating habits.”

The transition from middle school to high school brought about an increase in her workload and a resulting inconvenience for things like working out or getting fit. She does, however, believe that tasks such as making healthier food

THE MILESTONE

the dedication and self-control required for getting up twice a week to run on mornings when he could be sleeping.

“I think the main obstacle will be my own attitude and motivation for achieving this New Year’s resolution,” he said.

And, despite his conviction, he believes his chances of not going through entirely with the resolution are “80 to 20”. Factors like running exactly two miles, making enough time to run and even being able to get up are almost solely reliant on his mindset and condition that morning.

“But, I will do my best, and in the end it’s my best the counts,” Albert said. “So no matter what the end results are, I will have tried my best and that’s what matters.”

RECURRING RESOLUTIONS While many are generating new objectives for the new year, Royce takes the opportunity of now being a second semester senior to work towards a recurring resolution of getting fit. In his prior years in high school, his focus was almost entirely centered around academics and coping with the stress and competitive nature of MVHS. “All the past years, the ‘I’ll go out to exercise every day’ never happened because ‘there’s too much homework’,” Royce said.

This new year, after reflecting on his previous years of high school, he hopes for a change. His goal is to lose 20 pounds before college starts by taking the time to engage in more physical activities, such as going to the gym, running on the treadmill and playing badminton, one of his favorite sports. Just like the year of 2015, Royce’s former attitude is now behind him. e

SPORTS / 33

M

any sports players are famous for their devotion to their pregame routines. Dribbling the ball twice before shooting; stepping into the racing blocks, then out, then in again; bouncing up and down prior to the start of the race — routines to make sure that whatever they do in practice, they do at the real game.

Without faltering in their devotion to sports, some players also hold a responsibility to stay true to a different practice: their religious beliefs.

Whether they dip their heads before races, wrestle to represent their religion, or exercise clad in full bodywear, some athletes have found a way to practice their sport and their religion at the same time.

DAILY PRACTICE Underneath discrimination and ideological conflicts, students find a way to marry [religion] and [sports] STORY BY DYLAN TSAI AND SHARON TUNG

Faith training Ramadan is strict fasting observed in the daylight hours throughout the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

From dawn to dusk, Muslims read the Quran and stay away from eating and drinking. The first couple of days are difficult for sophomore Yumna Moustafa, and she practices Taekwondo without being able to eat afterwards. It might seem that fasting impedes her Taekwondo abilities, but Taekwondo actually helps Moustafa focus her mind off fasting until she can eat at the end of the day.

“I do know some people who are like, ‘I feel great,” Moustafa said about Ramadan. “I don’t feel tired, but I don’t feel very excited either.”

Throughout the year, Moustafa also follows the Muslim practice of making optional prayers to God. Even when she played basketball and there often would not be much time to pray before games, she would still find time for a quick mental prayer for the game to go well.

Most immediately apparent of all are her clothes which, among teams dressed entirely in shorts and T-shirts, always cover her entire body save for hands and feet.

“Some people ask me ‘does it ever get hot?’” Moustafa said. “People think I’m dying, but I’m actually not.”

While playing sports, Moustafa wears thin clothes, covering herself with thin scarves, light long-sleeve T-shirts from Gap and barely noticeable cloths underneath any short clothing. So, no matter how her clothes stand out, Moustafa is not suffering.

While it is not stated explicitly in the Quran, Moustafa and her family believe that Islam advocates good health. As such, Moustafa’s parents involve her and her siblings in sports, such as Taekwondo and basketball, so they can be more physically fit.

“I think that’s just the way the religion is,” Moustafa said. “[Islam] is a religion of peace and it wants to keep you healthy.”

EL ESTOQUE 34 / EL ESTOQUE / FEB 2016

It just helps me collect my thoughts and just know that it’ll be okay.

Senior Michelle Hsieh

Knotted on the mat Sophomore Anahit Falak, three-year wrestler, has never cut his hair or shaved his beard. Strands of hair occasionally fall here or there, but in general, his hair does not affect daily activities. He prays almost every morning and spends a few hours at his Sikh church to help out.

His Adidas hair net doesn’t cover all of his hair, so he has to wear a face mask to cover his beard in accordance to the regulations placed on high school wrestling. The hair net is light, so Falak does not feel it while wrestling. Beards can give the wrestler an advantage; assistant coach Max Rosefigura recalls a wrestler in college who would purposely grate his beard against his opponents, drawing blood.

Falak doesn’t know any Sikh athletes in mainstream sports. However, Falak is happy that out of the six Sikh people he nows in MVHS, four of them are on sport teams around the school.

“That way, people are getting used to Sikhs playing sports,” Falak said. “With basketball or wrestling, I hardly see any other sikh person playing sports. It’s good exposure, letting others see people of other ethnicities or religions come into play.”

If people are not barred from playing sports due to religion, Falak believes people will be able to learn from new opponents and connect with each other to form a bond as a team. Different people can bring their own unique set of skills to the team.

“If there is no diversity, you will be playing the same people over and over again,” Falak said. “You’re not going to get better.”

Holy water

(Top) Sophomore Anahit Falak holds his face mask. Photo by Sharon Tung.

(Left) Sophomore Yumna Moustafa lifts a weight dressed in shorts and cloth to cover her skin. (Bottom) Senior Michelle Hsieh sits cross-legged on the pool deck. Photo by Malini Ramaiyer.

Months before CCS swimming, senior Michelle Hsieh had already begun to clasp her hands, bow her head, and pray. A devout Christian since birth, Hsieh is almost as devout of an athlete, both a current varsity tennis player and a swimmer since around age five.

She spends four to five hours a week at church, attending services on Sundays and Youth Group on Saturdays. Outside of church, Hsieh also shows her faith by fulfilling her responsibilities as co-president of Roots Christian Club and, more importantly, by praying.

Hsieh prays in her everyday life as well as in her sports life.

CCS for swimming was an important enough event for her to begin praying not only directly before her race, but months in advance.

“I would pray before a big event or if I need guidance or just strength,” said Hsieh. “It just helps me collect my thoughts and just know that it’ll be okay.”

Of course, church and sports don’t always align perfectly.

On Sundays, Hsieh sometimes has to miss service in order to attend a meet. But rather than being discouraged, Hsieh frequently reads the Bible on her own and occasionally meets with friends for Bible study. “[Having to miss church] doesn’t take away from my Christianity,” Hsieh said, “because being a Christian just means that you believe and you can read the Bible and pray on your own.”

With her swim season approaching, Hsieh will have to endure hardships and setbacks. But without fail, Hsieh will always maintain a swim with confidence — the confidence from her prayers.

“Even though obviously I’m not always perfect in what I do,” Hsieh said, “having that mindset helps me…in sports at least.” e

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RUNS IN THE FAMILY Growing up with athletics has brought the Bishop family together STORY BY AKSHARA MAJJIGA AND PRANAV IYER

A

S A FORMER DIVISION 1 VOLLEYBALL PLAYER, Cary Bishop wanted to find a way to continue his passion for the sport after college. Cary contacted one of his friends who told him that he was running a volleyball league made up of corporate teams.

“After practice, we’d go over to this pizza place and these guys were always talking about this girl named Irene,” Cary said.

Coincidentally, Irene Economy also joined this league while working for her first company out of college.

Cary and Irene first crossed paths during an advanced volleyball class. From there, their relationship blossomed. And decades later, due to their shared love for sports and the outdoors, a family of top-tier athletes formed. The Bishops.

When asked for a word to describe the

family, Irene didn’t hesitate.

After graduating, he enrolled at “Goofballs,” she said.

Stanford University, a top 25 cross The Bishop siblings, Kevin, Ryan and country and track and field school, and Kelly, as well as their parents, have grown up has worked his way up to becoming an elite experiencing a variety of sports. Since they college runner. were young, Wit nessing they had been his immense WE’RE A FAMILY THAT HAS introduced to, success, Kelly TO BE DOING SOMETHING has followed among others, d o w n h i l l her brother’s ALL OF THE TIME WHETHER infootsteps. skateboarding, WE LIKE IT OR NOT. volleyball, “I watched s w im m ing, Kevin become running, biking, really good at skiing and JUNIOR KELLY BISHOP running,” Kelly scuba diving. said, “so then Overtime, they I [thought] each found maybe that their niche in a few sports and have pursued could be me.” them with dedication. Although their Inspired, she found a passion for running athletic paths have diverged as they and since then, has achieved similar got older, there has been a lasting accolades to Kevin’s at MVHS. As a junior, connection between them. she has already achieved success in CCS and “Having all been introduced to has competed in the California State Meet the same sports,” Kelly said. “we for three years. understand how hard each other is While both Kelly and Kevin have invested working.” their lives into running, their middle sibling, At an early age, class of 2012 Ryan, followed a different path. A graduate alumnus Kevin became a competitive of the class of 2014, he was a captain of runner and found his passion. By the the MVHS boys volleyball team that was a time he graduated from MVHS, he CCS title contender. But after breaking his had achieved first place in the 3200 leg his freshmen year at UC Santa Barbara, Meter race and second in cross he put volleyball aside and instead pursued country in the CCS championships. an alternate sport, downhill skateboarding.

Irene Economy serves the ball up at a family game of volleyball.

The Bishops play volleyball together every Thanksgiving morning. Photo used with permission of the Cary Bishop.

3 6 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / F E B 2 0 1 6

Kelly Bishop and her father Cary Bishop pose for a picture together during a 50 mile bike ride for fun. Since she was young, her family went on bike rides to spend time together.

Photo used with permission of the Bishops.

Kevin Bishop runs leads the pack during an indoor state track meet. Photo used with permission of the Cary Bishop.

I THINK OF HOW LUCKY WE ARE THAT WE HAVE TEENAGERS WHO WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH US. PARENT IRENE ECONOMY

Graphics by Ilena Peng When Ryan was five, he received his first skateboard, and as a child, much of his free time was spent boarding up and down the small hill next his house. Now that he is at UCSB and just minutes away from the Santa Ynez Mountains, he is in the perfect spot to pursue his passion.

“It’s kind of out there from most people’s points of views,” Irene said. “He just never let it go. He loved it right away, from when he was a dinky little kid.”

The Bishops’ passion for sports has forced them to make sacrifices that they have learned to appreciate. Since the age of three, Kelly and her brothers have accepted that Sunday is their homework day, and this mindset has helped them achieve their goals.

In this family of athletes, there’s always someone to look up to: a cousin at the Olympic Trials for swimming or a relative winning a regional skiing competition. But their biggest fans will always be their parents and siblings. “[Seeing them succeed] is just the best.

It’s addicting,” Irene said.

“As time goes by, you start seeing the highs and the lows,” Cary said, adding on.

UNBROKEN TRADITION The Bishops prefer to eat their Thanksgiving meals guilt free. And, as a family of athletes, what better way to burn the calories than waking up early for a game of volleyball. Since the kids were old enough, the Bishops have headed to a sand volleyball court in front of

SPORTS / 37

Valley Church for a game, trading out partners and sitting out to cheer each other on.

“Every Thanksgiving morning, we wake up knowing we’re going to eat a huge meal,” Irene said. “We head out that morning and play just as many games until we drop.”

As Ryan and Kevin have gotten older and moved out of the house, their time with the family has been more limited. Still, their love of sports has had a major impact on their family time. A few months ago, Kevin, Kelly, Cary and Irene trained together for a triathlon at Pacific Grove. Though they all had different goals, whether it be just finishing the race or reaching a certain time, they ran the race together, and Kelly and Kevin waited and cheered for their parents to cross the finish line after them.

“I think of how lucky we are,” Irene said, “that we have teenagers who want to spend time with us.”

NEVER STOPPING “We’re a family that has to being doing something all of the time whether we like it or not,” Kelly said.

The Bishops have always lived an active lifestyle. Kelly first became involved in a sports team when she was three and started swimming. Since then, her dedication has amazed her parents.

“After a bad race, you and I would be kind of devastated,” Cary said, “and you’ll see Kelly talking with her coach and she’ll be smiling and they’re deconstructing the whole event.”

Once the Bishop siblings graduate, Irene and Cary don’t know how they will spend their weekends: no swim meets to go to, no track meets, no volleyball games.

“You start to realize that yeah, this is a whole lot of fun right now,” Cary said, “but things will change when they’re off on their own.”

But for the meantime, they will be glad to live every moment of their children’s ADVERTISEMENT

38 EL ESTOQUE

FEB 2015

Ryan Bishop goes wakeboarding on a yearly trip to Tahoe. The Bishops go on family trips, specifically to try their hand at new sports.

Photo used with permission of Kevin Bishop. success.

And they’re not that worried. As Kelly said, “Someone’s always doing something and that makes for interesting stories.” e

FLOPPED STORY BY KINGSLEY WANG

It’s a common sight to turn on the TV to a sports channel and see a grown athletic man rolling around the ground while crying like a little kid. When the footage is replayed, it shows that the same player on the ground was a victim of a slight shoulder brush from the opposing defender.

Congratulations: you have just witnessed a flop.

The NBA defines a flop as an intentional fall by a player after little or no physical “contact by an opposing player in order to draw a personal foul call by an official against the opponent.”

Because flopping has many incentives, like a chance for points, all contact sports are victim to this phenomenon. Three MVHS athletes share their experiences with flopping.

Graphic by Mingjie Zhong

The game winner

THE SMART ONE

The situation was tense for freshman Aravind Meyyappan; his AAU basketball team was down three points in the final 45 seconds of the game. During a timeout, Meyyappan’s coach shared their gameplan to win: they needed to draw as many fouls as possible and go to the free throw line. Meyyappan received the ball and began a desperate drive to the basket. Someone from the other team brushed Meyyappan’s shoulder and that was all Meyyappan needed. He flopped, got the foul call and sunk the game winning free throws.

However, this is not a memory he brags about and is now reluctant to do during games.

“I really think you should not be proud of flopping,” Meyyappan said. “It is kind of like the dark side of sports where people try to get points just by flopping.”

As a center back on her soccer team, sophomore Mansi Reddy and her back line are the only defense between the other team and her goalie. As a result, she is fully aware of the strategies behind the right times to flop.

During the senior night game last year, Reddy was put face to face with a formidable adversary. Not only was the girl larger than her, she was also in scoring position. Not wanting to take her chances, Reddy decided that a flop was worth the hassle.

“I think it would have been better to get a call than to let them have a shot,” Reddy said.

Although Reddy received a yellow card for flopping, she deprived the other team from scoring the goal.

Reddy is not the only one who believes in strategic flops.

“Our coach tells us to make sure we do the smart flop,” she said. “You should not flop for no reason. It should be strategic and be something we can use as an advantage.”

For the past three years, freshman Itay Rabinovich has played for De Anza Force. However, players at his level still resort to flopping if the situation calls for it. Rabinovich himself has used that tactic.

Around two years ago, he was playing in the finals of a tournament. There were three minutes left in the game and the score was deadlocked at 1-1. Rabinovich received the ball, took it himself and reached the opponents 18-yard box. He was surrounded.

The clock was down to one minute and his teamates were out of reach. Rabinovich was alone. As the game came to a close, he resulted to one last trick he had up his sleeve: he fell on the ground and impersonated a foul. Rabinovich heard a whistle; 8his flop had drawn a foul.

Although he received a game changing opportunity, Rabinovich frowns upon flopping.

“I really don’t like doing it and I really don’t like people who do it,” he said.

THE FLIP FLOP SPORTS / 39

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