Volume 51, Issue 2, November 7, 2020

VOLUME 52 ISSUE 2 // NOVEMBER 2020

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Immigration

Following the immigration journeys of different families at MVHS

21840 McClellan Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014 elestoque.org mv.el.estoque@gmail.com Editors-in-Chief: Ayah Ali-Ahmad, Oishee Misra Managing Editors: Justine Ha, Andie Liu, Robert Liu, Brian Xu News Editors: Devin Gupta, Rachel Jiang, Jefferson Le, Tina Low Opinion Editors: Tyler Cho, Shreshta Ranganathan, Leanna Sun, Krish Dev Feature Editors: Michelle Chen, Anushka De, Iman Malik, Tanish Mendki Entertainment Editors: Ishaani Dayal, Vivian Jiang, Claire Wen, Annie Zhang Sports Editors: Jayanti Jha, Collin Qian, Anjali Singh, Lance Tong Graphics Editor: Iman Malik Design Editor: Tyler Cho Business Editor: Vivian Jiang Website Editor: Devin Gupta Staff Writers: Ritu Atreyas, Diya Bahl, Sophia Chen, Melody Cui, Mikaylah Du, Suraj Gangaram, Gavin Hung, Anna Jerolimov, Minjae Kang, Nishat Kazi, Justin Kim, Sophia Ma, Arjan Madan, Shivani Madhan, Gauri Manoj, Kripa Mayureshwar, Abdullah Memon, Amber Milesi, Riya Ravuri, Anika Sharma, Jannah Sheriff, Aditya Shukla, Neysa Singh, Irene Tang, Prisha Tiwari, Shivani Verma, Mira Wagner, Matthew Yoshimoto, Sean Yagi, Nika Zamani Adviser: Julia Satterthwaite Mission Statement: El Estoque will accurately inform our community through well-researched, unbiased and indepth accounts of the student body and staff, news and developments and taboo topics prevalent in and near MVHS. Investigating various voices and credible perspectives, we hope to foster active discussion, effect positive change and spread awareness of timely, relevant content. As a trustworthy and reliable source of information, we strive to be accountable, adaptable and ready to correct and address our mistakes. Constantly striving for improvement, we will uphold integrity and ethics to be respectful and empathetic to our sources and our readers. We will exercise our press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and California Ed Code 48907 while maintaining a community passionate about our work and journalism as a whole.

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Dear Cupertino, It’s me, Oishee. We met nearly eight years ago. You didn’t make the best first impression — after reluctantly abandoning everything that felt familiar to me back home in India and a 22-hour flight later, I didn’t like you, and the thought of calling you “home” seemed laughable.

Yet, you grew on me. As a first-generation Indian-American immigrant, I’ve lived with you while simultaneously navigating my hyphenated identity. I’ve lost some parts of my Bengali heritage — the language doesn’t come easy anymore, and I don’t remember the last time the Indian clothes left my closet. I’ve retained some aspects, though — my day feels incomplete if one or more of my meals isn’t Indian food, and my car is more familiar with Bollywood music than it is with hip hop.

It’s me, Ayah. You being a 21-hour flight from Lebanon, from half of my heritage and identity, hasn’t entirely convinced me to call you home ever since I moved to California. My father left Lebanon as a child after surviving a war, and left me, as his daughter, with a sort of urgency to preserve the history he brought to America.

But you make it so hard. You’re far from family, there are no good Arab restaurants within a 50-mile radius and you have even white-washed my once thick-accented father. And because of your flaws, I have always been “that cousin” who cannot speak the native language, and my mother being white only adds to the disconnect.

Yet, your scattered neighborhoods — with their myriad of cultures and people from around the globe — has helped us both come to terms with our own distant identities.

Our experiences as immigrants, or children of immigrants, may resonate with some of you. Likewise, in this issue of El Estoque, our Features package on immigration tells some of the stories of the MVHS community — like the Kaminitz family’s move from Israel, the Westilius family’s move from Sweden and the Castro family’s move from the Philippines.

In an era where immigrants are not only placed in boxes with oversimplified portrayals of their experiences, but also constantly vilified by politicians and the media, sharing and learning about these stories is more important than ever. And fighting for concrete change that grants immigrants the rights and lives they deserve is even more so.

Dear Cupertino, you probably didn’t feel like home at first. But now, you’ve become a home away from home.

With love, Ayah and Oishee

COVER ILLUSTRATION | OISHEE MISRA

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PHOTO | JUSTINE HA

Oishee Misra

Ayah Ali-Ahmad

TABLE OF CONTENTS EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

23

Immigration

BY DIYA BAHL, ANUSHKA DE, MIKAYLAH DU, JUSTINE HA, SHIVANI MADHAN, IMAN MALIK AND MATTHEW YOSHIMOTO

Following the immigration journeys of different families at MVHS

PHOTO COURTESY OF HANNAH HO | USED WITH PERMISSION

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Where can I eat out?

18

“Arrest the cops that killed Breonna Taylor ”

48

Pet Instas

66

Faithful to the Bay

BY DEVIN GUPTA AND RACHEL JIANG

BY ROBERT LIU

BY CLAIRE WEN AND MELODY CUI

BY BRIAN XU

New guidelines allow businesses to open with modifications

Companies and celebrities are profiting off tragedies

Students share about the Instagram accounts they created for their pets

Students recount their experiences as fans of the San Francisco 49ers

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more coverage on

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New

Normal

By Ayah Ali-Ahmad, Devin Gupta, Rachel Jiang, Kripa Mayureshwar, Riya Ravuri, Nika Zamani

C

OVID-19 has caused many small businesses and organizational buildings to close down. Among those are salons, restaurants, worshipping centers and food businesses. This

package explores the different ways these businesses have adapted to the unexpected circumstances created by the pandemic and reopened their companies and organizations.

where is the closest salon? how salons have stayed afloat through the last seven months

By Ayah Ali-Ahmad

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n March 16, a shelter-in-place order closed the majority of “nonessential” stores in Santa Clara County. However, on October 12, the County shifted to an Orange Risk Tier and has since started to reopen businesses –– beginning with restaurants and stores, then indoor pools, salons, museums, gyms, outdoor bars and more. Indoor businesses had stayed closed for five months, reopening once for two days on July 14, only to close again for another two months.

Now that indoor businesses have reopened to the public after months of minimal profit, there are a multitude of rules and regulations business owners must enforce to keep customers and employees safe. For instance, businesses that are personal care services like hair salons and spas have stringent rules including capacity Customer of Bishops Cuts gets a haircut while wearing a mask. limitation, social distancing, cleaning of equipment between clients, additional Photo by Ayah Ali-Ahmad personal protective equipment (PPE) “It’s kind of funny, because all of when the order to close all stores was for employees, physical barriers and us in school and in the industry, we enforced, Gutierrez had to stay home. prohibited duel-booked appointments. are taught sanitation,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez speculates that the lack of A s s i s t a n t “Usually there’s just business since their reopening may be manager and stylist two people, but we caused by a few reasons, such as fear of at Bishops Cuts have the divider set contracting the virus or inability to pay Kathleen Gutierrez up. We sanitize the for a haircut. says that these chairs after each “I don’t know if it’s [because] people regulations have client. Always new are scared. Maybe the economy –– people of students said restricted how drapes and capes. can’t afford the luxuries, because it is a they have gone to a much business We sanitize the luxury,” Gutierrez said. “It has been rough they have, but for shampoo bowl after for all of us. We changed our hours as salon since they restylists, it is not a the client gets up. well. But now, the past couple weeks I’ve opened in July drastic difference We are keeping the been noticing a shift up a lot. I’ve been according to a survey of 247 since she says doors open just in pretty busy all day with the rest of my they are trained in case. We also don’t stylists. So it’s slowly picking up, but it’s MVHS students* school and work let anyone sit in definitely not anywhere near what it was to always be highly the waiting room pre-pandemic.” sanitary.

Many anymore.”

With the reopening of salons, senior of Santa Clara County’s mandates are Gutierrez says she did not anticipate Gwyneth Do was able to get an overdue already in practice –– changing capes the severity of COVID-19, not realizing she haircut a few weeks ago, saying it was between clients, sanitizing tools and would have to close her salon for over essential as her hair was getting too long. cleaning stations between usage were five months. Before quarantine, Gutierrez She also plans in the future to get a touchnorms even before the pandemic. says her schedule was always busy. But up done for the highlights she got the day

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before the shelter-in-place order. For Do, getting a haircut did not feel like a risk, since the stylist and herself both took a fair amount of precaution.

“I called in beforehand to make sure they were OK with me coming in,” Do said. “And when I set up an appointment, I just went and it was pretty chill, because there [weren’t] that many other people in the shop. They just cleared out the space so that I would be the only customer. And me and the hairstylist both wore a mask.

We both were both pretty safe about it.”

Another business, Passion Nails and Spa, recently reopened as well. Rose Tu has privately owned the salon for seven years and has been a beautician for 20.

For Tu, as a small business owner, closing her salon for months hurt her financially –– she says she only had enough to pay utilities. With only 25% of customers allowed in the salon at once and an estimated 95% of clientele no longer coming, Tu says she may need to close her store soon. Her landlord is allowing her to leave before her lease expires .

“My landlord understands that it is really hard for all the small businesses because we are making nothing right now compared to before,” Tu said. “I am just going to hang in there month to month to see how it goes. I only have 5% of my income coming in compared from before, but that is still better than nothing. Right now I am not making any money to pay my rent –– I still have to pick my pocket to pay my rent. But it is better than nothing.”

As a small business owner, Tu was able to get the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, which helped her pay rent and her employees.

For Tu, though, the possibility of closing in the midst of the pandemic would make her situation more difficult — there is not a lot of demand for all of the salon equipment that she would have to sell, which she would rather not have to hold on to. But, in the chance she does close, she would not mind because she plans to retire from her career as a beautician in 2021 to travel with her husband.

“It doesn’t make me sad because all those years that I have been [doing] manicures, I enjoy what I’m doing and I’m happy to make all my clients look beautiful,” Tu said. “[But] right now, all my children are growing up and moved out and I want to have some time with my husband.

Because being a business owner, you cannot travel, you cannot do anything, you have to [stay] there all the time. And now my kids are older, I don’t need to work so hard to support my kids.”

In slight contrast, Gutierrez says that because Bishops Cuts is a corporateowned business, their The barber is stationed in between dividers. employees could file Photo by Ayah Ali-Ahmad for unemployment and remain relatively financially stable. She another month?’ So it was kind of nerve recognizes that her situation is better wracking. It is like going on a vacation in comparison to other private-owned but knowing at any moment you could go salons. Still, she wishes that salons had back home.” opened sooner Gutierrez says that for those previously since they could or currently working at salons, they will only open under likely make it through the pandemic Orange Risk Tier, because the inconsistent nature of the unlike restaurants career is routine –– there are busy seasons that could open and not so busy seasons. She is hopeful sooner. about the future and accepts the present “We’re very lucky as it is to help her get through these few here because I know months, and advises others like her to do that’s definitely not the same. the case [for] 90% “The only thing that I kept telling of the salon[s] –– my friends is, we got in this industry for they didn’t qualify a reason,” Gutierrez said. “I would tell for unemployment them, just remember why we got into until way later than it. And I personally think everything can we did,” Gutierrez said. “What I didn’t always get better. I also offered a lot like, and I know a lot of stylists will agree of my friends if they needed jobs when with me, is our industry was kind of we opened, come work at my shop ... I strung along a little bit. Restaurants got just hope everyone can keep their head guidelines to open, stores got guidelines up and just know that this isn’t forever, open and it was almost like sitting on hopefully. And it can always get better.” edge every week. When the governor would make his announcements, [I was] thinking, ‘Is he going to say it’s OK to go back? Are we just going to hang out for

It is like going on a vacation but knowing at any moment you could go back home.

Hair Stylist Kathleen Gutierrez

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where can i pray? how various bay area religious organizations have adapted to COVID-19

By Nika Zamani

T

he shelter-in-place order that was enforced in March due to COVID-19 left many California residents worried and unprepared for the future. The unprecedented time called for many to pray for the health of their family and the betterment of the world. The state-issued order required all religious buildings to temporarily close down facilities for the health of the community, resulting in religious leaders having to find new ways to keep their religious groups connected — both literally and spiritually.

In August, West Valley Muslim Association (WVMA) began offering outdoor Friday prayers at their Saratoga mosque while following specific guidelines to Members of WVMA pray outside while social distancing keep their members safe. Each Photo by Kareem Syed | Used with permission that certain members of the mosque most difficult demographic because person is required to register beforehand in order to not exceed the find it difficult to maintain a strong they’re always pushing to try to be relationship present [on Zoom].”

100 person limit, with the bring their own While transitioning to the constant M u s l i m use of online video platforms may be prayer rugs and community. stay six feet apart difficult for some elders, pastor of New “ [ S o m e Life Church, Chris Hoch, noticed that the from others. elder folks] elders in his Christian community were Due to feel like there able to stay consistenly connected with the limited is some sort groups that they were a part of prior capacity that of deficiency,” to COVID-19 through the church’s own the mosque can Syed said. online platform. accommodate, “ [ T h e y as well as New Life Church offers all of its b e l i e v e ] services through a platform called C O V I D - 1 9 that they’re “Church Online,” which allows the the restrictions for not actually church to create pre-recorded programs age and prefulfilling their that are simulated as live programs. existing health conditions, WVMA’s Community Outreach religious obligation by not being able to These programs are posted on YouTube Youth Director, Kareem Syed, observed physically be [here]. They’ve been the and Facebook and allow members to

[They believe] that they're not actually fulfilling their religious obligation by not being able to physically be [here].

Community Outreach Youth Director Kareem Syed

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Congregation Beth David livestreams their Torah service from the synagogue

“We just recently hired a new Rabbi educator [for] Hebrew school, and [we weren’t] confined to [finding] teachers who come to the building,” Menkin said. “[The Rabbi educator has] teachers in other states who are going on Zoom and working with the kids online, so [there is talent] that [the Rabbi educator] can draw from that would not be available if we were purely hiring from a pool of local people.”

While the new systems impact each age group differently, the ultimate goal of keeping the community safe remains the top priority. Religious communities have had to adapt to a new normal and continue to look for new ways to maintain the strength of the relationships within their community.

“If you say that you’re agreeing to a higher calling or standard, that means that [you] need to be extra vigilant,” Syed said. “It is going to be difficult sometimes, from a faith perspective, to not be able to [pray] in person, but nothing precludes [you] from praying wherever [you] want.”

use the chat feature during the services, are more [likely to] be vulnerable in terms which Hoch believes is an added benefit. of having a conversation with people.”

Hoch noted that the elders tended to While both the mosque and the church be better about routines and had no have had differences with grappling problems engaging with their community engagement from different age groups, over video platforms. However, he Hoch believes that the end result is a net noticed that the youth handled the issue gain in the amount of connectedness of technology considerably differently. among all religious buildings across the “Initially, our middle school [and] high nation. Elizabeth Menkin, President of school student group was probably more Congregation Beth David, states that connected,” Hoch said. “I think there has having virtual services is in some ways been a little bit of Zoom fatigue set in beneficial because it permits for activities [and now they’re] ready to transition to that are not locally based. something different.”

WVMA, on the other hand, observed the opposite for its youth. Syed describes his virtual meetings with the young Muslim community as “positive work,” and noticed increased consistency with the number of attendees at each meeting.

“You don’t have to travel — you can just pop in for half-hour for a discussion or reflection,” Syed said. “I feel like it's been more meaningful because people are more relaxed. You’re [in] your PJs, in your room, and because of the New Life Church creates engaging content for their online Sunday services. [comfortable environment], you Photo by Chris Hoch | Used with permission NEWS | NOVEMBER 2020

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where can i eat? new guidelines allow some businesses to open with modifications

By Devin Gupta and Rachel Jiang

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n Aug. 28, Governor Gavin Newsom announced guidelines for reopening businesses across the state. The new ranking system assigns one of four colors to each county based on its COVID-19 case numbers, allowing some businesses to open with modifications, such as new social distancing and hygiene practices.

According to the County Public Health department, Santa Clara County is ranked “Moderate,” meaning 2% to 5% of COVID-19 tests are positive — there are one to four new cases daily for every 100,000 people. Cupertino also has provided reopening guidelines

that require testing employees, spacing tables by six feet, wearing face masks and providing contactless shopping options.

Senior Aditi Singh makes weekly visits to cafes and boba shops like Cafe Lattea and Tpumps. She has noticed that these two shops have plastic shields between the cash register and the customers, and that employees do not touch customers’ credit or debit cards in order to minimize contact, as per the Cupertino guidelines.

Similar to Singh, junior Tara Suresh has also been eating at restaurants more often. After the implementation of safety guidelines, she began to eat out more often. According to Suresh, the

safety guidelines helped her feel more comfortable eating outside her house.

“In the beginning of [COVID-19], we wouldn’t go out to eat, but we would order in,” Suresh said. “A couple months ago, [restaurants] started having it all outdoor and all the tables [were] six feet apart, so then we started to go out to eat more frequently.”

In the midst of people returning to restaurants and using delivery systems, food businesses are adapting to the new conditions and constraints. Jason McKinney, CEO and co-founder of Truffle Shuffle (originally a truffle distribution company), is one of the many business

Jason McKinney (left) and Tyler Vorce (right) prepare for a cooking class.

Photo courtesy of Jason McKinney | Used with permission

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owners who has shifted their business have so far hosted cooking classes with have to be ready. And you have to know model to adjust to the pandemic. over 75,000 people and sold almost that it's not the universe saying, ‘Don't Truffle Shuffle is a home-run business 35,000 cooking kits through these keep moving forward’ — it's the universe stationed in Oakland. McKinney and his cooking sessions. testing you to make sure you're ready for team wanted source high quality truffles “We've committed ourselves to the next level.” to chefs in restaurants donating a meal Businesses like Truffle Shuffle have and businesses. for every single adapted to COVID-19 by changing their Additionally, he plans ingredient kit entire business model, which is why to open his own that we sell,” Singh predicts that restaurants and cafes restaurant with the McKinney said. will remain permanently changed even profit he earns. “[In] addition after the pandemic. She also believes of students said they At first, McKinney … every single that businesses in general will prioritize have gone to eat at a was concerned that person that we've health after the pandemic by taking restaurant more than his business would hired [for Truffle precautionary measures. once since March not be scalable Shuffle had been] “We've all been so accustomed to according to a survey of 239 because only so laid off due to the staying away from each other,” Singh MVHS students* many restaurants and global pandemic.” said. “[With] distancing being very … chefs would need to According to healthy and clean and [sanitary], it's buy truffles. Later, McKinney, part going to be really hard to assimilate he made a deal with of what helped back into the normal routine of what was Whole Foods to introduce the truffles on Truffle Shuffle adapt was preparation. before [COVID-19] and the lockdown. All a global scale.

With his business FedEx account, he of a sudden, we have a sudden awareness “We're talking thousands upon already knew how to pack materials of other people's germs. It's going to thousands of jars [of truffles],” McKinney and deliver them to houses for cooking really hurt to get rid of that even after said. “We have our houses stacked with sessions they [COVID-19].” jars and lids of everything. And we had were instructing.

Customers, like a couch [full of] cases of jars and had McKinney and his Singh and Suresh, [other] jars under the table … and then team also promoted and business COVID hits.” their business by owners, like Truffle When they started the collaboration, reaching out to Shuffle, must find shelter-in-place had just begun the day journalists and new ways to adjust the truffles had arrived. As restaurants technology experts. to the challenges started closing, McKinney and his team Despite facing COVID-19 imposes. were left with an empty bank account many challenges, “I think [we at and jars of truffles that would potentially McKinney says he Truffle Shuffle] have go unsold. However, this soon changed and his team never the model of how when he realized he could change his gave up because to be successful in business model. they wanted to give the post [COVID-19 “We got a phone call from a … country customers the best world], but I don't club called The Battery in San Francisco, cooking experience think that's because and they wanted to know [if we] would do possible. we're [specifically] a virtual cooking class,” McKinney said.

“There's a book very intelligent …

“And we're like, ‘What if we sent everyone called ‘The War or visionaries,” everything they needed to cook with us, of Art’ … and it Truffle Shuffle teach truffle McKinney said. “We step by step, including the truffles?’” talks about [how] cooking class through Zoom. just saw how happy McKinney and his team began to act on whenever you're Photo courtesy of Jason people could be this new approach — providing cooking about to break McKinney | Used with permission making meals at sessions for customers as a means of through to another home and decided also selling their truffles. Immediately, level of your life, there's [an] invisible we wanted to continue to spread that they sold out their first batch of truffles, resistance, and it tries to … keep you in joy no matter how many obstacles would ultimately saving their business. They your place,” McKinney said. “You just come our way.”

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NEWS | NOVEMBER 2020

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how to order groceries online many have made the switch to online grocery shopping due to COVID-19

By Kripa Mayureshwar and Riya Ravuri

O

nline grocery shopping generated about four billion dollars in March 2020 in the U.S. By June, that number shot up to 7.2 billion. With the growing number of COVID-19 cases throughout the country, many individuals made the switch to online shopping due to safety concerns regarding in-person contact.

Although grocery stores have implemented social distancing protocols due to the shelter-in-place order announced on March 16, social studies teacher Eric Otto believes that most shoppers don’t always follow the guidelines that are supposed to be enforced within the stores. Otto doesn’t want to risk entering a store with the possibility of interacting with shoppers who aren’t following proper social distancing procedures. “[At the beginning of shelterin-place], you'd be looking left or right when somebody coughed, wondering if they were wearing a mask or not,” Otto said. “People don't adhere too much to those separators on the floor, people [go] the wrong way in the aisles and sometimes you have way too many people in the aisle [in] very close quarters. That, to a certain

degree, persuaded me to order online.” so much demand for everyone who was Similarly, sophomore Kashish Naggar doing online shopping [...] [But online feels “uneasy” grocery shopping] is shopping inprobably more safe store and prefers because obviously, shopping online there's less human through Costco interaction when of students said Wholesale.

She you're doing online their families buy believes it’s the best shopping than in 50% or more of their way for her family a physical store, groceries online to access produce because you're not according to a survey of 243 without worrying seeing the workers MVHS students* about their safety. and the customers Junior Parmi and stuff. ” Shah alternatively Conversely, when believes that facing Otto orders through the risk of contracting COVID-19 is worth Safeway, he believes that the groceries the efficiency that physical grocery arrive much faster than they would have shopping provides if he had gone to the grocery store. He — as long as she states that if he had physically picked out takes the necessary all the groceries, the process may have precautions to stay taken him over an hour and a half. safe.

“I’m becoming increasingly busy, “When we want having to adapt to teaching remotely groceries, it seems and the amount of time that [it] takes, way easier to just and it's still an ongoing process when it drive and get them comes to the time investment,” Otto said. from the store, than “It is really helpful for me to just spend waiting a day or two 30 minutes online ordering and having it to get the groceries delivered to me.” [from Amazon However, Otto admits that shopping Fresh],” Shah said. within the actual grocery store provides “When we usually a benefit that online shopping cannot go shopping, we — being able to specifically pick and want it right then choose the best items available, instead and there, so [in- of relying on the “luck of the draw.” As person shopping] is a vegan, Shah notes that shopping inmore time efficient. person herself allows her to choose the [Groceries ordered items that best suit her diet because of through Amazon Fresh] were taking a lot the emphasis she places on eating fresh of time to come here because there was fruits and vegetables.

I don't think we'll continue with online groceries after the pandemic is over. I personally like inperson shopping better because I feel like there's more variety and options.

Sophomore Kashish Naggar

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"When you do online shopping you “I don’t think we’ll continue with don't know [for] 100 percent sure if you're online groceries after the pandemic is getting the nice and fresh produce, like over,” Naggar said. “I personally like inthe good apples,” Shah said. “But when person [shopping] better because I feel you're actually in like there's more person, you can variety and options. look at the fruit It's easier [to buy and see if it's good items when I] see [quality] or not." a visual of what I of students said Another large want.” contributing Despite their their families now factor to Naggar's differing viewpoints, only buy their preference for inOtto, Shah and groceries online person shopping Naggar explain according to a survey of 243 is being able to that they would MVHS students* visually see the ultimately prefer initems she's buying. person shopping.

By ordering online, Otto shares that she says that she’s uncertain of the items he looks forward to physically shopping she’ll get and this can end up being as soon as he feels comfortable, but bothersome. the benefits of online shopping are not

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something he will forget.

“When the time comes and I feel safe, I'll probably venture out to the grocery store more often than ordering online,” Otto said. “But I don't think I'm going to abandon ordering online altogether, because there's times when I get really, really busy, [so] it's more convenient to select what [I] want and have it delivered — that way [I] can utilize [my] time and move on to other tasks.”

ILLUSTRATION | KRIPA MAYURESHWAR NEWS | NOVEMBER 2020

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THE STRANGERS WE KNOW Examining the benefits of friendships that develop solely online during quarantine

BY SOPHIA MA

T

he chatter echoes, and the circles of people huddle closer among themselves — laughing, playing games and enjoying each other’s company. The different activities that each group does, whether it’s playing Dungeons and Dragons, doing each other’s makeup or getting boba at a nearby cafe, allows each group to have their own way to bond.

The definition of a friend group varies from person to person. For some, it may be the small group of close-knit people they eat lunch with. For others, it may be the teammates in their after school sports teams. And for the rest, maybe it’s clubmates or extended family such as siblings and cousins — the list goes on.

Yet, as we shifted into quarantine in March, the normal routine of meeting on campus and repeating the daily cycle of school, homework and sleep was abruptly halted. The same faces we saw every day became less familiar as we moved from rows of desks to rows of boxes on Zoom screens. And so many of our lives, and with them our friend groups, experienced major changes.

ILLUSTRATION | SOPHIA MA

Face-to-face interactions with friends are now far less frequent, so the opportunities for What platforms have you made connections on? putting yourself out there and getting closer Instagram (37.7%) Other (9.4%) to people have become Tiktok (7.2%) less common.

But forming relationships in-person is not the only way to meet people and forge new friendships.

As we spend countless hours indoors, more are using online platforms to meet new Discord (32.8%) people. According to a survey of 239 MVHS Snapchat (12.8%) people, 144 (60%) of *According to a survey of 144 MVHS students respondents have made

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new connections or relationships through online platforms during quarantine, such as Instagram, Discord, Snapchat and Tiktok. These allow people to communicate with one another despite not being in person. Other entertainment apps like TikTok allow people to reach a wide audience, sometimes throughout the world, and connect with those who have common interests.

For some, quarantine has led to degrading health, a feeling of loneliness and a drift between friends; in fact, according to a study done on the impact of social isolation due to COVID-19, results showed that more than one-third of adolescents and almost half of young adults have felt high levels of loneliness.

Though social isolation and loneliness

OPINION are not quite the same things, these long exposures of separation from society seem to have allowed people to fall into depressive states and face a drop in health conditions. Through technology, however, a silver lining of shelter-in-place can be found — an avenue through which one can make new connections. And often, making these friends is what can help alleviate loneliness, reducing some of the negative impacts of the quarantine.

Yet, there is a general societal belief that online interactions lack emotion, and are too different from physical interaction. According to psychologist Will Reader from Sheffield Hallam University, “face-to-face contact” is “absolutely imperative” to maintaining close, genuine friendships. But for some, those online can understand you more than the ones that you’ve met in person. Connecting online can reduce direct judgement and awkwardness. Those who have gone through the same or similar experiences can provide their own insights and help you get through rough times. A “face-toface” meetup is just one of many ways to solidify trust, and is not always necessary.

It’s true that there is only so much a few lines of text can convey, and the tone or personality of online friends can be difficult to decipher through their text messages. But these barriers are not unique to online interactions; they plague all friendships, no matter the platform.

Some people argue that legitimate friendships cannot be formed online, but this is not the case. Though it may be conceived as dangerous, as anyone can be behind the screen, if precautions are taken, it becomes much easier to connect with people over online platforms. By withholding personal information and only sharing it with those you trust, many dangerous situations can be avoided. Being aware of the potential consequences of anonymity online is

important to staying safe — cyberbullying and catfishing are among the potential dangers — but this barrier does not mean that making actual, genuine relationships is impossible.

Getting through this seemingly isolated period can be a struggle, and although having time alone is necessary and healthy, we all need social interaction to thrive. Going online to play video games with people can almost simulate an in-person gathering. The collaborative nature of some games — Fortnite, Among Us and Valorant to name a few — provide a more direct connection through teamwork and communication through voice chats, rather than just textbased interactions, which can make these online interactions feel more real. Online friendships can fill the void that screams for human connection.

The age of social media is often criticized, but this aspect of effortless connectivity is something that should be recognized. Distance is no longer a constraint, as friends can be made from across the world, and friends who have moved away or old friendships can be maintained through these online platforms. Getting to know people from different places can introduce you to different perspectives and in turn, help expand your worldview.

As we move increasingly towards using online platforms to communicate and reach out to one another more often, the idea that a friendship cannot be made out of it should be diminished. Friends group can be the people you eat lunch with, the people you play sports with, the people you do club activities with — but they can also be the people you talk online with.

ILLUSTRATION | SOPHIA MA

OPINION | NOVEMBER 2020

15

COLLECTION OF STORIES Examining the importance of recognizing diversity in the immigrant narrative

I

t’s difficult to imagine what our us to neglect the diverse experiences of community would be like without those who don’t share this cookie-cutter immigrants, who, according to the background. And not only that, it also World Population Review, make up over oversimplifies the experiences of those half of the population in Cupertino. who, to some extent, do fit this narrative.

Within these immigrant families and This narrow view of American individuals lies a mosaic of vibrant stories immigrants contributing to the workforce and unique experiences whose nuances changes our perception of immigration aren’t represented by the stereotypical into one that is solely economic, when in view of an reality, many immigrant. i m m i g ra n ts But this make the idea is often choice to OPINION OF THE EL ESTOQUE come lost when to we consider America EDITORIAL BOARD commonly for other held views about Silicon Valley — that reasons, whether it be in hopes of our community is filled with immigrants, providing their children with a better predominantly from Asia, who moved education or to seek asylum from here due to job opportunities in the conflicts in their home countries. In this technology industry and now work issue of El Estoque, the Features for companies like Amazon and package unpacks the diverse Google. While it is true that set of reasons that families Silicon Valley has its fair share from all very different of people who fall into this category and fit this narrative in some part, assigning this ove rge n e ra l i ze d view to every immigrant causes

STAFF EDITORIAL

places, and very differnt backgrounds, chose to start over in the United States.

We can see perseverance through the experiences of Edwin Brito and Edna Amecuza, who worked to earn a master’s degree and start up a business while waiting for an opportunity to immigrate from Mexico. We can see determination through the hardships that Le Ho overcame as she struggled to find her own identity as a refugee from Vietnam.

We can see bravery through the gripping fear that struck Sami Kraja as she was informed that she would be deported back to Serbia for using a fake passport.

By expanding past the lens of our school community, we can see that the rhetoric around immigration still remains an issue. Our president has described Mexican immigrants as thugs and rapists who are “bringing drugs … They’re bringing crime,” and even if he assured us afterwards that he does not believe that everyone crossing our southern border is a criminal, this rhetoric still paints a dangerous and false generalization.

First, it generalizes the people that pass through the U.S.-Mexico border into one specific ethnic group, Mexican, while the reality is that these immigrants from many different Latin American countries, each bringing their own unique cultural identities and experiences.

According to an article

by Pew Research, in

ILLUSTRATION | OISHEE MISRA

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EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

‘‘

2019 only 20% of those apprehended at generations of immigrants who relocated This doesn’t mean that other the border identified as Mexican. It also to this country. immigrants are free from developing these promotes anti-immigrant sentiment that, Considering the prevalence of these biases either; although it may be easy to given the President’s influence, results in stereotypes, it will pin the blame on action, which is why 545 migrant children likely require a great n o n - i m m i g ra n ts , who were separated from their parents deal of time and effort it is important at our southern border under a 2018 to challenge these to `realize that immigration policy remain stranded, issues. But that doesn’t anyone’s words or their parents unable to be tracked down. mean that we can’t actions, no matter To some extent, though the United work to challenge these the intent, may States has come a long way from its microaggressions in contribute to these ALTHOUGH THE past history of discrimination against our community. The sentiments. Thus, LEGISLATION MAY immigrants — like the 1790 Naturalization first step is recognizing it falls upon each Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act — that these stereotypes and every one of HAVE BEEN A THING these macroagressions have morphed are a part of our society us to reflect on OF THE PAST, into microagressions where we tend to that needs to change. our potentially THE BLANKETING overlook the varying perspectives of In the Anti-Defamation prejudiced views NARRATIVES THAT each individual immigrant. Although League’s Pyramid of and grow in our IT ENFORCED the legislation may have been a thing Hate, an illustration understanding, not of the past, the blanketing narratives that outlines the making judgements REMAIN, ALLOWING that it enforced remain, allowing similar progression of biased about people based SIMILAR THEMES AND themes and laws to return with different behaviors in society on the way they look LAWS TO RETURN packaging. And whether or not our from less serious to or the places that WITH DIFFERENT perspectives on immigrants are overtly extreme, stereotypes they come from. We PACKAGING. racist or even just oversimplified fallacies, fall at the bottom of can rise above this this ultimately culminates in ignorance the pyramid. But if issue by discovering about the legitimate reasons as to why left unchecked, the the power and immigrants move to America, like those acceptance of attitudes could lead to connectivity that comes from sharing that came on H-1B visas as highly-skilled the acceptance of biased actions, and and listening to others’ stories, from workers or then biased- promoting discussion rather than cutting asylum seekers. motivated violence it short. We can become more mindful When we fail to and beyond. So of others by educating ourselves about recognize the although some may different cultures and circumstances diversity that view stereotypes that may have prompted such decisions. comes out of like the model Rather than making assumptions about our immigrant minority myth to others solely from surface-level details, experiences be harmless and by taking the time to broaden our and boil things unable to result perspectives, we begin to take a stance down to simple in anything against prejudice, one perspective at a not born in the United States stereotypes, serious, it is time. At the end of the day, no matter *According to the World Population Review based on the important how likely it seems, immigration is color of people’s that we not a one-size-fits all, and we are skin or the places that they come from, confront them in order to doing our immigrants a disservice if we forget a major aspect of America’s prevent discrimination from we try to argue otherwise. unique identity — one developed over the further escalating.

53.4% of Cupertino residents were

ILLUSTRATION | OISHEE MISRA

OPINION | NOVEMBER 2020

17

“Arrest the c who killed B Taylor” Companies and celebrities are profiting off tragedies

BY ROBERT LIU

T

he tragedies of 2020 — like ones pertaining to raciallymotivated police brutality — have heightened longtime discussion on racial injustice. Carried by the tides of news media and social media coverage, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd became household names, and the link between race relations and police brutality is now at the center of national discussion.

According to the Pew Research Center, just last month, over 81% of social media users reported friends or family members speaking up against racism through social media.

Many companies have also joined this discussion of racial inequality.

While some brands have used their influence to increase awareness, the rapid commoditization by others — in the name of profits — threatens to thwart progress and meaningful discussion.

Influential figures like Breonna Taylor are being reduced to magazine covers, merchandise and memes, ultimately belittling the movement and trivializing its nuances.

One culprit of this is Vanity Fair’s

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EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

September issue. Its cover is decorated with a painting of Breonna Taylor, clad in a soft teal dress, with her hair loosely arranged into neat congruous swirls. The painting’s pastel colors exude a mellow and easily palatable tone, especially for White consumers. This is unsurprising, considering the glamorous lifestyles and high fashion synonymous with Vanity Fair’s target audience.

However, there is no denying the overwhelmingly positive intentions of the issue. Guest-edited by journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates, it offers a powerful and revealing account of the Black experience in this country. But the cover itself reduces Taylor’s personhood into a seemingly idyllic image designed to attract sales and subscriptions. No longer is her story — or the complex conundrum at hand — relevant. Rather, Taylor’s legacy is exploited to evoke sympathy in readers, influencing them to believe that purchasing or sharing the magazine will help the fight. The painting does not do justice to Breonna Taylor’s legacy or address the important questions in her aftermath; it simplifies that discussion

into a temporary fad.

Indeed, the phrase “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor!” has become an almost obligatory social media chant. Many celebrities now use it to show support for Breonna Taylor while capitalizing on her followers. Some are even blatantly unapologetic in doing so — for example, actor Lili Reinhart posted a photo of herself nearly nude on a beach, proclaiming that with that photo, she had “gotten [her audience’s] attention,” and it was time for her audience to “demand justice” for Breonna Taylor.

While that behavior may not be common across the board, those motives are. The national cries for justice and equality hold the potential for immense change, but its buzzwords and images are also a hotbed for clever marketing.

And when those phrases and images are circulated so frequently and uncritically by corporations and celebrities seeking not justice but attention, they inevitably lose their meaning.

In some ways, these efforts are working. According to an Ace Metrix study, a recent McDonald’s advertisement

cops Breonna that mentioned George Floyd was seen reducing complex issues into palatable as empowering by 57% of viewers. But images for consumption — does not do some saw it as exploitative — both the these issues justice. Companies have McDonald’s advertisement, and a recent the responsibility of using these images one from the consumer goods company ethically, especially given the popularity Procter & Gamble, earned greater of the movement and the influential “exploit” scores than empower scores. nature of their advertisements.

In addition, 41% of Black Americans This lesson extends beyond the said they don’t corporate world. believe these Posting content brands actually in support of a understand movement can t h e i r be helpful, but e x p e r i e n ce s , we must be wary as opposed of our motives to only 34% and their of the general consequences. population. believe brands don’t actually Blindly — and U s i n g sometimes Blackness in understand their experiences harmfully advertisements *According to an Ace Metrix study — parroting is not a new content to trend. In the past, brands like Mrs. sympathize with certain groups in hopes Butterworth and Aunt Jemima relied of gaining their support, without actually heavily on caricatures to attract attention. taking the time to understand their plight Pivoting to Black Lives Matter creates a and what they are fighting for, is not facade that their stances are evolving, only performative allyship, but actively but the fundamental consequence — opposes the goals of that movement. In

41%

of Black Americans

a digital sphere saturated by these posts, it is crucial that we not just monitor, but call out and subvert these trends as they occur. When posting about Breonna Taylor, consider linking petitions or places to donate; when creating artwork or profiting in some way off of her, consider donating earnings to the NAACP or similar organizations.

Many of these insidious patterns pass us as harmless advertisements. We must keep a critical eye on the advertisements and posts that inundate our digital feeds.

The racist and insensitive posts we normally spot may not always be obvious; seemingly normal content can just as badly perpetuate harmful stereotypes, even if paradoxically, the movement that the message purports to support opposes those stereotypes. It is critical that we address, educate and fight against the injustices that cause tragedies — not capitalize off of them.

OPINION | NOVEMBER 2020

19

ILLUSTRATION | SHRESHTA RANGANATHAN

GIRLS SUPPORTING GIRLS Examining how TikTok pushes a mysogynistic mentality

BY SHRESHTA RANGANTHAN AND IRENE TANG

O

n Sept. 27, social media influencer and TikToker Cynthia Parker celebrated her 16th birthday by posting a TikTok. Despite the special occasion, Parker’s TikTok comment section was flooded by negativity. There was criticism about her appearance, with people saying she looked much older than 16 and poking fun at her lip fillers and eyelashes. As users flooded her comments with “Happy 30th!” and other similar remarks, Parker eventually disabled the comments.

TikTok is a platform that has made powerful strides in educating Generation

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EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

Z to be more self-aware and less ignorant.

In order to combat internalized misogyny and sexism, the catchphrase “girls supporting girls” became a trending mindset amongst the users in the app to encourage women, especially younger ones, to uplift one another and their content.

However, as seen in the Cynthia Parker example, the idea of “girls supporting girls” doesn’t seem to apply to every girl on the app. The movement simply seems to be a facade to make us look accepting when in reality, we aren’t there yet.

If the platform claims to uplift one

another, it can’t be selective love.

There needs to be support for women regardless of whether or not they fit the ideal standard set by TikTok. Some creators are supported and uplifted by their fanbase, such as 16-yearold Charli D’amelio. Currently amassing the highest amount of followers on TikTok, with almost 94 million followers, D’amelio has been warmly accepted by the TikTok community and is consistently supported regardless of how she looks on a particular day. Contrasting the overwhelming amount of hate comments on Parker’s page, D’amelio’s comment

sections are mostly flooded with praise Furthermore, it is wrong to blame and encouragement when she films the a creator for expressing herself on a exact same TikTok as Parker. Thus, she platform meant to be for her. It’s so much experiences a phenomenon that has easier to attack others’ insecurities when been labeled the “D’amelio Privilege.” the commenter has the luxury of hiding This goes to show that the concept“girls behind a screen. supporting girls” is There should be no indeed selective. exception among MVHS There is a huge gap students, as many of us of how both girls use TikTok on a daily are treated because basis. It’s important one fits a certain to be mindful of the standard. Although toxicity within the app the Cynthia Parker and ensure that we all incident is excused take a stand and combat as being a joke and the negativity present IF THE PLATFORM insignificant, the on the app. Starting [TIKTOK] CLAIMS TO people who made from our own actions, UPLIFT ONE ANOTHER, fun of her seem we can ensure that it IT CAN’T BE SELECTIVE unaware of how rude doesn’t spread among LOVE. and demeaning of students and impact how their comments their mental health. were to a young girl.

Some actions to It’s also clear that take could include Parker’s comment sections are more blocking or reporting any users who use focused on the creator’s body and face TikTok to tear others down. Start using rather than her content, unlike D’amelio’s. the comment section to influence the Moving beyond these hurtful algorithm by creating positive feedback actions’ emotional impact, this behavior loops. Encourage influencers who highlights a deeper-rooted issue in our promote body positivity and shine light society: internalized misogyny. Despite on taboo features that are looked down being conditioned to always uplift and on like stretch marks and not having support others, internalized misogyny thigh gaps. By interacting with this type exists among us, whether or not we of content we can influence the algorithm are conscious of it. Everyone has a and spread awareness. preconceived notion of how a girl should The purpose of the “girls supporting act and look and people act accordingly. girls”movement is to empower and If someone doesn’t fit the standards of remove the stigma around internalized being “likeable,” people can use all types misogyny by openly talking about and of excuses to justify their contempt educating ourselves. However, when the and behavior, while supporting and movement turns into girls supporting defending people they personally love. some girls instead of all of them, it has Some make the argument that the opposite effect and perpetuates receiving hate is a common experience misogyny by spreading the idea that only that every creator has faced, and if an girls who fit a certain standard are worthy individual is willing to put themselves of support. We need to understand that out on social media, they should be people can grow and we must start ready to accept that. Just because hate is viewing creators as people, instead of normalized on the internet, doesn’t make an outlet of hatred and insecurities. We it more acceptable. should put aside the unrealistic beauty It’s not reasonable to request anyone standards, the toxicity, the selective to simply get over the harsh comments, validation, and support everyone for who let alone 16-year-olds who are getting they are. attacked on something they can’t control.

In addition to that, posting on social media is such an integral part of Gen Z culture, so it cannot be expected for others to simply not have the desire to post.

‘‘

W

ILLUSTRATION | SHRESHTA RANGANATHAN

Charli D’amelio 16-year old Charli D’amelio blew up late 2019 on TikTok after posting dance videos to the popular dance “Renegade”.

Currently, she is the most followed creator in TikTok with 96.4 million followers on Tiktok and 32.1 million followers on Instagram, and has already built a successful career at a young age, collaborating with many famous brands and celebrities.

ILLUSTRATION | SHRESHTA RANGANATHAN

Cynthia Parker The 16-year old rose to fame mid-2019 on TikTok where she would post dancing and lip-syncing videos. She has amassed 3.6 and 1.1 million followers on TikTok and instagram respectively.

OPINION | NOVEMBER 2020

21

H

HAS YOUR OPINION OF J.K . ROWLING

be e n aff e c te d by he r cont r ove r s ial Tw itte r comme nt s about t rans pe ople?

‘‘

Seven of El Estoque’s survey respondents fill out the “other” option

“LET us just PRETend daniel radcliffe WROTE I have always THE AWARD-WINNING HP regarded SERIES.” HP universe the as “Harry Potter will always be a legendary series no matter what happens. People are too sensitive on Twitter.”

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EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

‘‘

I think I realized how stereotyped some characters are and how she adds in characters from different places for “diversity” but doesn’t actually give them any character, they are just there?

“I grew up reading Harry Potter, and even though the author is speaking out about her horrendous beliefs, Harry Potter is still dear to me. I learned a lot from HP and I grew as the characters grew, and so the story doesn’t seem to change with J.K.R.’s opinions and sudden realizations of embedded transphobia in HP isn’t popping out to me. So, I’m just disassociating J.K. Rowling from one of my favorite childhood series.”

a diverse place.

The vague nature of which the ethnicity, gender orientation and sexuality of the characters is written allows for the readership to easily associate with the characters or be able to insert themselves into the world of HP very idealistically.

“I can’t support someone who doesn’t support the queer community — that would be like me not respecting myself.

But even if I wasn’t queer, it’s still disgusting. I can’t look at her the same way again.”

“

Although from her own explanations of her opinions it doesn’t seem that she’s transphobic out of malice, the fears she’s stated are either completely unfounded or exaggerated. So obviously I’m going to lose respect for her, since she’s either not that great at critical thinking or she’s fear mongering. How much I respect her would vary depending on which it is.

WHAT Does it take for an T N E D I S E R T N E N A

PERM

immigrant to become a

IT WAS HEAVEN FOR US

Uriel and Seffi Kaminitz, Noa Levran and Anna Kaminitz take a photo in Philadelphia

PHOTO l COURTESY OF ANNA KAMINITZ

Following the Kaminitz family’s immigration journey from Israel to the U.S.

BY MATTHEW YOSHIMOTO

A

ll that Noa Levran could see as the sun set was a distant street light amid the darkness of her surroundings.

After one of her routine trips to the local market, she walked down a dirt pathway to her Philadelphia residence, carrying a few grocery bags in her hands.

Suddenly, the utter darkness filled with twinkling lights that blinked all around her, shining just bright enough that she could make out the outlines of the surrounding trees. Unaware of what these lights were, she examined closer and instantly recognized them — dozens of fireflies. I feel like I’m in a Disney movie, she thought. It’s so beautiful.

This, along with many other “magical” first encounters in Philadelphia made Levran grateful for deciding to immigrate from Nahal Oz, a small town of about 350 people in Israel. She had immigrated with her former-husband Seffi Kaminitz and their two children, Uriel and Anna, who were ages six and four at the time.

Levran’s main reasons for immigrating to the U.S. were the democratic and

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EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

progressive principles which she believes And I think that basic respect for people is the country is based on, alongside her something that I’m looking for in my life.” aspirations for a Seffi, however, brighter future had other for both herself reasons for and her family. immigrating. In “In Israel, June 2008, the there’s a lot of Kaminitz family’s human rights first year living problems in my in the U.S., Seffi eyes, [but] it was pursuing his I THINK PHILADELPHIA really depends master’s degree [AND ITS NATURE] IS on who you’re at the University UNDERESTIMATED. IT WAS talking to,” of Pennsylvania.

JUST MAGICAL — IT WAS Levran said. “I Along with being was always an able to receive JUST SO PERFECT. advocate for an Ivy League MVHS PARENT human rights education, Seffi NOA LEVRAN in my own life, felt that the U.S. so the situation was a place of in Israel always opportunity and bugged me. It an ideal location was a relief to for his family to get out of Israel, reside in. and in America, it’s really democratic “I always wanted to come to America,” here, and it’s fine to be whoever you want. Seffi said. “My parents also lived here for

‘‘

Z

a while, so I had this dream to come to the U.S. and experience the American life. It’s also just a personal growth kind of thing.

It wasn’t just for my career, as it was also to see how life in America [was, since it has] many more opportunities and is a much bigger country then Israel [and] a lot less crowded.”

But this dream to work and live in the U.S. was not simple — the immigration process took a total of eight years.

Despite being approved for a green card in September 2015, as of October 2020, the Kaminitz family is still waiting for American citizenships.

“I was stressed out, to be honest,” Levran said. “It was a very hard move, [but], I like the adventure, so it covered the difficulties. [In] the first few weeks, you don’t even have a house, so it’s hard, but it was exciting — I was really excited.”

Levran’s son, Uriel, echoed her excitement when immigrating to the U.S. and similarly discussed his desire to move on different occasions, despite only being six years old. Levran believes that he gained his fascination with the U.S. from her and Seffi, as they had frequently mentioned their longing to immigrate.

Anna, however, does not have much recollection of the immigration process because she was young at the time. Yet she does vividly recall a specific moment in her Philadelphia preschool which was largely filled with Jewish students, the religion which most Israelis practice.

PERCENT OF U.S. RESIDENTS FROM

ISRAEL According to the U.S. Census Bureau

“I didn’t know any English, so the first day, I sat at this desk and just colored this Donald Duck coloring book,” Anna said. “I was confused, but I knew that the staff was welcoming. Everyone knew that we were new from Israel, so people were nice, but I don’t think that any kids approached me or anything. I was just by myself. I didn’t know how to talk to anybody.”

Levran thoroughly enjoyed her two years in Philadelphia, especially the nature, the openness of the community and the suburb where they lived, which was a “beautiful, fairytale-like place” in comparison to her small town in Israel.

“It was heaven for us,” Levran said.

“Everybody’s so nice to each other on the street [and there were these] big, beautiful, complex, amazing trees. I think Philadelphia [and its nature] is underestimated. It was just magical — it was just so perfect.”

Despite Levran’s love for the city and the East Coast in general, the family decided to continue to pursue its original dream — to make it big in the U.S. In order to do this, Seffi and Levran looked to Silicon Valley as the “mecca of technology.”

In November 2011, PHOTO l COURTESY OF ANNA KAMINITZ the Kaminitz family took its Uriel Kaminitz, Noa Levran and Anna Kaminitz take a picture at next big step in the their Jewish school in Philadelphia

0.3% U.S. and immigrated to Sunnyvale, CA. At first, Levran was hesitant to move due to her comfort and satisfaction with her Philadelphia residence, yet as a family, they decided that it would be best for them to move to the Bay Area.

The difficulties that the family experienced upon moving to Sunnyvale paralleled those they faced when first immigrating to Philadelphia, but instead of what Seffi referred to as a “soft landing” in Philadelphia due to the high Jewish concentration, Sunnyvale had a much smaller Jewish population.

For Anna, the trend of feeling alienated was heightened in California as it had been in Philadelphia because of the dramatic difference in the Jewish population between the two communities. In order to combat this disconnect, she regularly attended Jewish and Israeli Youth Groups.

However, Anna and her family still felt a detachment from their Israeli culture, and despite trying to celebrate Jewish holidays, there were still many differences between Sunnyvale and Philadelphia.

Even now, Anna only truly feels connected to her culture when traveling back to Israel for vacation, and even then, she feels that her natural ability to speak Hebrew, the national language of Israel, has substantially worsened.

“When I’m an adult, I really just want to keep in touch with my culture,” Anna said. “If I had kids, I would want them to know [Hewbrew and] Israeli culture.

When [I am] not in that country, but then [decide to travel] there, I realize how much I don’t even prioritize [the culture].

It’s something that I should definitely be proud of, instead of it getting lost.”

FEATURES | NOVEMBER 2020

25

PHOTO | COURTESY OF EDIN KRAJA

The country that saved me

Sami Kraja is greeted by her brother at the San Francisco Airport after travelling there a few years after her immigration to Chicago.

Following the Kraja family’s immigration from Montenegro to the U.S.

BY MIKAYLAH DU

T

hey noticed. The O’Hare International Airport officials recognized the fake passports when they tried to pass through the checkpoint in Chicago and detained Sami Kraja and the two other women with her. An agent later came into the room to tell the trio they were going to be deported back to their country and the terrified women started tearing up as they tried to explain their situation.

Sami and her travelling companions were from Ulcinj, Podgorica, Montenegro, where a war was being waged. During that year in 1994, Montenegro — along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia — was one of the six republics of former Yugoslavia.

The conflicts among the republics started in 1990, when Slovenia requested independence and Croatia followed after Yugoslavia’s former President Josip Broz Tito died. Then, Serbia wanted to declare independence as well and the conflicts

26

started to escalate into a war.

During the war, military service was mandatory for men in every household so in 1991, Sami’s husband, Bilal, had to go to a military base and secure the borders.

Until that point, regardless of nationality or religion, Sami remembers that everyone in Yugoslavia had lived together in unison as family. However, Serbia’s goal in Montenegro was to wage an ethnic cleansing of Albanians, and Bilal, who is Albanian, faced discrimination at the base, eventually even getting shot and wounded.

He escaped back home, but the Serbian military swept every town to check if any men had neglected to report for duty, forcing Bilal to stay in hiding.

Besides the discrimination he faced, he couldn’t go into a war to kill someone who had been like family. Sami was also forced into hiding because the Chetniks, the Yugoslav Army, would rape women.

EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

“If they found a woman alone, they would rape,” Sami said. “I had to go underneath the house and be in hiding because someone [called] me to say … the Chetniks went into [one of my friends’] house, killed her father and raped her. We were very scared.”

Sami and Bilal no longer felt safe in Montenegro and decided to leave the country. Bilal had family in the U.S., so they decided to go there despite being sad to leave their home. His grandfather obtained fake passports for them and Sami left for the U.S. first.

After hearing the women’s explanations, the official made a phone call to confirm that their stories were true and that they would not be safe if they were to be deported back to Montenegro.

He released them afterward, but told them they would need to appear in court later because they had entered the country illegally.

They left the airport and Sami was PHOTO | COURTESY OF EDIN KRAJA awed by the differences she saw. The dark, rainy sky outside was illuminated with light and she saw large highways and bridges extending throughout the city.

Ulcinj was a small town, so everything felt huge to her.

“I just looked around and said, ‘I am in America,’” Sami said. “I always remember those lights every time it rains. And if I am driving [on] a highway, that memory keeps coming back.”

Three weeks later, Bilal arrived by plane, and thirty days after her arrival, Sami and Bilal went to court for their first hearing. Bilal’s uncle paid $3,000 for the lawyer, a hefty expense, but he was insistent that they obtain a reliable lawyer.

They were asked to provide paperwork showing evidence of their hardships in Montenegro and explaining why they came to the U.S. illegally and what would happen if they were sent back. Bilal showed his wounds from the military as proof of the discrimination he’d faced Junior Edin Kraja and his mother Sami Kraja sit on a staircase in New York.

Although he was brought up in the U.S., him of things he did five years ago. But and collected letters from his friends who were not only from Montenegro, Edin believes he has stayed connected Edin believes that this method has made but also Serbia. The judge reviewed all with his parents’ culture. He grew up him stronger.

“For example, for soccer, it’s not always the documents and ruled Sami and Bilal speaking Albanian, eating Albanian food, listening to Albanian music and his yearly the easiest,” Edin said. “In any sport, an would be allowed to stay.

Twelve years later, Bilal returned to visits to Montenegro have allowed him to athlete faces rejection many times and it’s hard to keep your head up and keep Montenegro, but Sami decided to stay in experience the culture firsthand.

“The culture going. I would say because of that culture the U.S. with that my parents I’ve never looked at [rejection] in a their young [and grandparents] negative way — I know what I did bad[ly], son, Edin. They have taught me so I’m just going to [improve] and do it communicate … certainly ties better the next time.” by phone and in when I go over Sami credits her struggles in try to visit him there and I see Montenegro and her immigration to the in Montenegro it way clearer,” U.S. with teaching her persistence and every summer.

Edin said. “And perseverance, qualities she always tries “For me, everybody knows to teach Edin. going back THIS IS A LAND OF everybody so I “When you fall, you don’t just sit there home at [that] just love going — you obviously pull yourself together OPPORTUNITY AND FOR point was just there because I and you try to get up and then walk to i m p o s s i b l e ,” ME TO JUST ... TAKE THAT can stay out — your destination,” Sami said. “And that’s Sami said. ... FROM EDIN, I DIDN’T I’ll literally walk how I feel like life is. [When we immigrated “This is a land FEEL LIKE IT WAS RIGHT. home at 2 a.m. to the U.S.], we fell. But we slowly tried to of opportunity And it’s fun, we push and tried to find our journey and and for me to MVHS PARENT walk home on where we needed to be.” just get up and SAMI KRAJA the beach and leave America, it’s just nice and a country that calm.” once saved He also believes me, back to a that compared to country that has American kids, his been impacted upbringing was so much by the war and take that opportunity from Edin, harsher — when he makes mistakes, Sami doesn’t let him forget. She still reminds I didn’t feel like it was right.”

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FEATURES | NOVEMBER 2020

27

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIAN MONTEJANO-CASTRO | USED WITH PERMISSION

(From left to right): A picture of Edgar Mababangloob, Marygrace Castro, Edwardo Mababangloob, Gloria Mababangloob, and Ed Mababangloob in the Philippines before Marygrace immgrated to the U.S.

TEARY EYED

Following the Castro family’s immigration journey from the Philippines to the U.S.

BY DIYA BAHL

A

s she stepped foot into Disneyland, educational specialist Marygrace Castro felt amazed and became slightly teary-eyed.At that moment, her sole wish was that her mom and her brothers could be there with her to experience the joy and satisfaction of being in the U.S. Marygrace, as a 29-year-old from Las Pinas, Philippines, was excited after choosing to immigrate to the U.S., yet scared of what the future would hold since it would be her first time away from family. She had been recruited by an American director of special education who visited the Philippines and she immigrated to the U.S. in 2002 under a teacher exchange program with a J1 Visa –– a visa given to those who are exchange participants in a program.

After arriving in Bakersfield, California, Marygrace worked as a special education teacher under Kern County and finished her credentials a couple of years later, one of which led her to becoming an orthopedic impaired specialist. She is now working for the Santa Clara County Office of Education.

Her husband, Pierre Castro, had a drastically different immigration experience. He immigrated to Los Angeles, California at 13-years-old — his

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EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

parents had decided to move because the majority of his extended family had already immigrated there. His family decided to return to the Philippines while Pierre was a young adult, and he went along with them but 10 years later, he chose to move back to the U.S., this time alone. He is now in the driving school business, along with working in the insurance field.

Pierre and Marygrace were both presented with struggles that immigrants in America often face. For Marygrace specifically, learning how to balance her hyphenated identity was a challenge.

“Having the [Filipino] accent was a difficulty for me, but what I did was I watched the news,” Marygrace said. “I watched the news in order to learn more English. The good thing is I got the liberty to come to Cupertino, where I believe we are in a safe place since we are a mixture of all ethnicities, so it was more OK. However, managing the assistants/ helpers I had and students when I first came here was definitely a struggle.”

Contrastingly, obtaining citizenship was not a struggle Marygrace faced after immigrating to America, because she got married to Pierre, who had already been a U.S. citizen.

Marygrace recalls being scared when

first arriving at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). After a nearly three hour bus ride to Bakersfield, Marygrace and her fellow teachers were introduced and placed in different Filipino households, where they stayed until they could afford to live by themselves.

Marygrace explains that in order to properly assimilate, there were many aspects of American culture the teachers needed to learn beforehand.

“We had training about what to expect and how to act in America before we left because we do some things in our culture that might be misinterpreted

by Americans.” Marygrace said. “For example, the way Filipinos usually greet people or introduce themselves. We call it, ‘beso-beso’ which is cheek to cheek, and we had to learn that it wasn’t a thing Americans did.”

Pierre also discusses the major differences between living in the Philippines compared to living in California. According to both Pierre and Marygrace, one such disparity was that in the Philippines, both of their families had maids who would do the general household chores for them. When they arrived here, however, they had to adjust to taking care of themselves by washing their own dishes, clothes and completing

various other household chores. Other differences Pierre and Marygrace noticed included the cleaner streets in the U.S., and more pleasant California weather. Since the Philippines is usually very humid, Pierre and Marygrace recall sweating all the time while living there, but this changed after immigrating to the U.S. Being foreigners in a new country, Marygrace and Pierre experienced several comical situations when first immigrating. Because he immigrated to the U.S. as a young teen, Pierre had to adjust to the norms of American high school. He didn’t struggle with language during the beginning of his arrival, but he highlights a language-related experience which he remembers to this very day.

“Because I was an immigrant, they put me in English Language Development (ELD) class for a week because they thought I couldn’t speak English,” Pierre said. “However, in the Philippines, I always spoke English, and I was already fluent. Once they noticed I was sleeping through the classes, they finally moved me to regular English classes.”

According to Marygrace, her and her husband’s immigration has created a beneficial impact on their children since it has taught them more about their culture and where their family originally comes from.

Sophomore Marian MontejanoCastro, daughter of Marygrace and Pierre Castro, believes that growing up

in a family with immigrant parents has music and spending quality time with served as an advantage because she has each other. been exposed to many different values Marian believes traditions like these and traditions and cultural of Filipino practices such c u l t u r e . as speaking Visiting the Filipino have Philippines has made her also taught her more invested a lot about her in her culture. co m m u n i t y, M a r y g ra ce’s as well as has first language made her was Filipino/ I HAD THREE GENERATIONS WITH grateful for Tagalog, and where she lives she was able ME. I HAD MY GRANDMA WHO today. to pick it up CAME TO HELP ME WHEN I WAS “When I was because her REALLY YOUNG, SO I HAD MY growing up, mother spoke GRANDMA AS SUPPORT. I went to the it around Philippines a the house.

SOPHOMORE MARIAN lot,” Marian G r o w i n g MONTEJANO-CASTRO said.

“Once up with I went for immigrant around eight parents has months, and a l l o w e d I was able Marian to to see their learn many community important and was able to talk to people and learn values which she continues to cherish to all about my culture. Growing up here, I this day. was able to learn about all the diversity “I’ve learned to stay close to your and about other people’s cultures, and community and to your family,” Marian it’s really exhilarating because there’s just said. “No matter where my mom went, such amazing and different people here.” she always tried to stay connected with Marian continues to practice numerous my family from the Philippines, so I’ve Filipino traditions that have been taught learned that it’s really important. I’ve to her by her parents and family members. also learned to stay hard working. My One such tradition is called the “-ber mom had to get two credentials when m o n t h s .”

I was born, and having to work and PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIAN MONTEJANO-CASTRO | USED WITH It occurs learn with the child is really hard, so I’ve PERMISSION throughout learned that hard work pays off.”

S e p t e m b e r, Marygrace positively reflects on her October, journey of immigration to the U.S., and November encourages others to work hard in order a n d to reach desired goals just like she and D e ce m b e r, her family did to get to where they are in which now. She says she feels blessed to be Christmas is here, and is especially grateful to those celebrated who initially hired her. for all four “I would say to be more successful, months. When you need to study and work harder,” Sept. 1 rolls Marygrace said. “I have been telling my around, her daughters to study hard so that later, if family begins you want something, you’ll be able to getting ready get it, but it’s necessary to work hard for for Christmas [success].” by decorating their house, p l a y i n g (From left to right): Pierre Castro, Mikayla Castro, Marygrace Castro, Marian Castro, and Gloria Mababangloob recently going out for dinner. C h r i s t m a s

‘‘

EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

29

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PHOTO | COURTESY OF EDANA CORONA HERNANDEZ

dreams come true Edwin Corona Brito and Edna Hernandez Amezcua went to San Francisco on their honeymoon and fell in love with the city.

Following the Hernandez family’s immigration journey from Mexico to the U.S.

BY ANUSHKA DE

W

hat will happen at customs?

That was Edwin Corona Brito’s first thought when he landed at San Francisco International Airport with his family. His wife, Edna Hernandez Amezcua, was holding the hands of their two children, now freshman Edana Corona Hernandez and senior Edrick Corona Hernandez, who were six and nine years old at the time. Each family member carried a single large bag with everything they had brought from their life in Mexico City. Amezcua wore two jackets and carried stacks of immigration papers, unable to fit everything into her one single suitcase.

Amezcua and Brito had visited San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada on their honeymoon years ago. They were struck by how much they felt the lifestyles in those places differed from their own — ­ the cities were cleaner and there was a general precedent for following rules and order that they had never experienced

32

EL ESTOQUE | OCTOBER 2020

in Mexico. They decided to fill out an application for the Federal Skilled Worker program to try to immigrate to Canada permanently and received a score of 62 — five points under the necessary score of 67, which is determined based on their age, education, work experience, English and/ or French language skills, adaptability to the new country and whether or not a valid job offer was available.

Undeterred, Brito and Amezcua shelved their dreams of immigration and Brito started his masters degree. The two had their son, Edrick, in 2003 and their daughter, Edana, in 2006. They lived with much of their extended family, including Brito and Amezcua’s parents, held comfortable jobs and saved their money.

The family travelled to the U.S. during winter, summer and Easter holidays and each time Amezcua arrived at a hotel, she would pick up the newspaper to read the prices of the homes. The couple observed the lifestyles of people in the

U.S. diligently, from the schools available for their children to the feasibility of finding a job, always assessing whether immigrating was an actual possibility for them. While they lived in Mexico City, Brito was insistent on speaking English to his children at home to the point that Edana thought her father didn’t know how to speak Spanish.

Amezcua decided to start a graphic design business and one of the people who pushed her the most was her fatherin-law — ­ but before he would loan her any money, he insisted that she present to him a detailed business plan. She attributes his insistence on the creation of that business plan as one of the factors that helped her business expand and give her the opportunity to start working with international clientele, including some customers from the U.S. Brito, meanwhile, also faced changes at his job which led him to start working for his wife at her company. One of his

main tasks was to communicate with their immigration attorney and start planning for their possible journey to the U.S, which they hoped would be made possible by the American companies Amezcua had begun working with.

“The [second-to-last] company I worked at [in Mexico] decided that it was time for us to stop our relationship and I was angry and frustrated at that moment, because it was not something that I decided to do,” Brito said. “But I think that was the sign that it was a moment to change. After that, I worked for our own company and it was like a door closed for a window to open. It was a moment to look forward for another option, and that option was coming here [to the U.S.]” As the family continued saving money, Brito finished his masters and because of Amezcua’s relationship with U.S. companies and Brito’s degree, as well as a final push from Mexico’s deteriorating security, the family saw the opportunity to immigrate to the U.S arise. Amezcua’s brother-in-law, who had lived in the U.S. for 20 years, helped the family begin the immigration process in 2010.

Brito began to search for jobs at U.S. tech companies and began interviews over the phone. The family hired an immigration attorney to guide them through the stacks of paperwork. They visited the Centro de atención a solicitantes (CAS) to deliver their paperwork, get their fingerprints scanned and pictures taken and request

an L-1 Visa — ­­ a nonimmigrant visa that wrong because there’s police and military allows foreign companies to establish officers everywhere. It was definitely a offices in the U.S. — under Amezcua’s very scary process.” graphic design company.

Brito and Amezcua remember being The next asked about why step in the and how long they process was wanted to come to scheduling the U.S. and what an interview their intentions with the U.S. were.

They Embassy. felt lucky — Brito and the hardest Amezcua were question in the apprehensive interview was prior to the a request for a IT WAS A MOMENT TO interview — single sheet of LOOK FORWARD FOR they knew that paper that they ANOTHER OPTION, the consulate had to find from AND THAT OPTION WAS could ask them that five inch COMING HERE. any number stack.

Their of questions one year visa MVHS PARENT EDWIN based on any was approved CORONA BRITO part of their in 2012, one application, and a half years from their after beginning the travel history to pplication process. their education.

The family “You would started packing have to wait for the trip one in this big conference room [that was] month before they left, and Amezcua told just like a school gym with a lot of chairs her children to take only their favorite and booths,” Edana said when recalling possessions. The last person Amezcua the visit to the U.S. Embassy. “It was spoke to at the airport before leaving horrible [because] as a little kid you’re her life in Mexico City behind was her standing there and you feel like you’re father-in-law – she thanked him for his going to go to jail or you did something support in starting her business because

‘‘

IMMIGRANT STATUS

74%

of immigrant parents at MVHS

*According to a survey of 208 MVHS students*

6%

18%

Permanent Resident Working Visa

U.S. Citizen

Other Other

2% FEATURES | NOVEMBER 2020

33

PHOTO | COURTESY OF EDANA CORONA HERNANDEZ

Edana Corona Hernandez, Edna Hernandez Amezcua, Edrick Corona Hernandez and Edwin Corona Brito pose for a photo while living in Mexico City a couple months before immigrating. fell in love with the city.

it was her business that had given her the opportunity to obtain the visa, and he told her to take care of her family.

They landed in San Francisco airport on July 30, 2012, and Amezcua was filled with the excitement of starting a new life. Amezcua was also terrified because she knew that she would have to start conducting her business in English and she was not fluent, but she remained full of hope for the life she was about to begin.

The family headed to Amezcua’s sister’s house as soon as they landed, and a month later, their children started school at John Muir Elementary in the ELD program. Edana remembers the culture shock of moving from a school in Mexico where she was the only girl out of the 11 students in her grade to a world where she says other girls bullied her and the intense competition in the U.S. Edana’s initial difficulty with school was an ironic first experience — education was actually the biggest factor in Amezcua and Brito’s decision to immigrate to the U.S. Brito believed that the U.S. puts an emphasis on entrepreneurship, leadership and critical thinking in contrast to Mexico’s education system, at the time which put more value on training students with the mentality of becoming an employee. Brito saw many of his younger cousins gain foreign study experiences in countries such as Russia and Switzerland and noted how they had different mindsets — the same kind

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EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

“[This process] definitely gets challenging sometimes, but as long as we remember why we’re here, I’ve never really been disappointed with what we did,” Edana said. “I’ve always seen this as a very important experience in my life, and it’s taught that you can go wherever you want, you can be whatever you want as long as you really work hard for it.”

Brito and Amezcua believe that one of the most significant things they have learned in this process is the ability to accept that whatever happens will happen. They fought for their right to live and work in this country and to give their children the opportunity to live and think differently for years. Now, they believe that if it is their fate to continue to live here then that is what will happen — otherwise, they will go wherever the next chapter of their journey takes them.

“We have learned that we can do things — everything is possible,” Amezcua said. “One day, I found a phrase in Target that [said] ‘Dreams Come True.’ And it’s real. It’s real because we dreamed to come here, to live here. We dreamed to be different because it was so important for us to be different [than] the rest of the family. I think [we have learned] that if you have your objectives in your mind, you will be successful.

And I think that dreams come true.”

of mindsets he had hoped to allow his children to develop.

“A mindset where you’re thinking beyond frontiers was something that we wanted to give [our children]. We expect them to not limit themselves and think about staying [in the U.S.] all their lives. They can be anywhere and they can perform their goals — they can think globally,” Brito said. “The [idea] of working anywhere was not the way of thinking in Mexico at that time and now, I THE HARDEST THING think we need to do TO DO IS TO BE TRUE TO things differently.”

YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY Despite the WHEN EVERYBODY IS benefits of WATCHING. immigrating, onstantly renewing MVHS PARENT EDNA their visas has been HERNANDEZ AMEZCUA grueling on the family for the past seven years. Neither Edrick nor Edana can work or apply to U.S. universities without applying for student visas, an obstacle that Edana knows few of her classmates will face. The process is expensive and tedious, but Edana does her best to support her parents.

‘‘

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMAN DESAI | USED WITH PERMISSION

A BLUER SKY

From left to right, senior Aman Desai, Ranjit Desai, Priya Desai, and Pooja Desai pose together in Machu Picchu, Peru.

Following the Desai family’s immigration journey from India to the U.S.

BY IMAN MALIK

I

t was 1988. Ranjit Desai was 22 years old and on a plane to New York’s JFK airport. The pilot gave the passengers a short tour of the skyline before landing — Ranjit recalls the excitement he felt upon seeing the Statue of Liberty from his window seat. Back home, his parents had dropped Ranjit off at the airport and given him the usual advice: stay in contact, take care and be safe. When his feet touched the ground, the first thing he registered about the U.S. was its scale. To him, it was literally the conversion factor from kilometers to miles brought to life.

Everything was much bigger — even the sky seemed wider.

Arriving in the U.S. was a big moment for Ranjit. It was everything he had dreamt about and more. Growing up in India, where he immigrated from, his first impressions of the U.S. came from

stories he had heard from friends, books, movies and the news. Ranjit had formed preconceived ideas of what America would be like, but only after landing did he realize that it was so much more than he anticipated.

After meeting his brother at JFK, Ranjit planned to fly to Texas to begin his postgraduate studies in electrical engineering and computer science at UT Austin. Education was a major factor for Ranjit in his decision to immigrate — he was interested and excited about the research happening at American universities in his field.

“In graduate school, you’re taking in the university atmosphere, you’re making a lot of friends with people from all across the world and you’re exposed to a new way of thinking,” Ranjit said. “You have to cook for yourself and you have to learn

how to manage your own life in a new country. Just learning about the culture, discovering life in the U.S, I think that was also a lot of fun.”

Priya Desai, Ranjit’s wife, immigrated to the U.S. in 1993 when she was 23 years old, and also attended UT Austin. Priya’s parents thought it would be a good idea for her to get married before coming to the U.S. She had known Ranjit and his family back home, so they got married and Priya immigrated to Texas to begin school. Priya was grateful that she had someone to show her the ropes.

Before her flight to Dallas, Priya had only been on a plane once before, and never on an international flight. The first thing she noticed when she landed was how clean her surroundings were.

Everything looked washed and scrubbed with soap and water. The saturation of FEATURES | NOVEMBER 2020

35

the colors was different for Priya — the intact. We didn’t even have to carry them, sky was bluer. The air felt so much cleaner they were delivered. I remember being that she kept really thrilled taking deep with those kinds breaths. of things. It’s the Ranjit was expectations waiting for that you have Priya at the of the U.S. and airport and was what it is going confused when to be like, and he couldn’t then things locate her happen that are among the slightly different I CAN’T IMAGINE BEING passengers that from your SEPARATED FROM MY had come on expectations.”

PARENTS. EVEN IF I END UP the same flight Priya also as her. Both r e m e m b e rs LIVING FAR AWAY, THEY’LL Ranjit and Priya being surprised BE A PHONE CALL AWAY. recall how there by how difficult were no cell it was for her SENIOR AMAN DESAI phones or other initially to means of rapid co m m u n i cate communication, with people in and so Ranjit Texas. could only wait Texas was for Priya to an interesting come. She was place,” Priya the last one to get off the plane because said. “I found it funny that I had grown up the airline had lost her luggage. speaking English, but I found it so difficult “I was so upset because I’d brought to understand the Texan accent. And I some of my saris and stuff like that,” would do this really silly thing — I would Priya said. “But they tracked it down. go into stores and ask [an employee] What I think is remarkable is I landed on a what an item was called. Most of the time, Saturday or Sunday [and] by the following I would not understand their answer.

Thursday, my suitcases were delivered Then I would go to another store and ask to me at home in Austin with everything them the same thing, just so I could figure

‘‘

out what they were saying.”

Ranjit and Priya would call their families once a week. They would always watch the clock — the price of calls went up each minute and calls were expensive, especially on a graduate student budget.

Because of this, their primary form of communication was handwritten letters that were mailed to friends and parents.

Priya remembers trying to fit words everywhere on the page, including the margins. For senior Aman Desai, this detail from his parents’ immigrant story stands out to him.

“I can’t imagine being separated from my parents,” Aman said. “Chances are, even if I end up living far away from my parents, they’ll be a phone call away. And for them, that was not the case. If they ever needed to reach their parents it was a lot more difficult then, but now, I can reach my grandparents in India in three seconds. It seems small, but I think that would make a really big difference.”

Ranjit’s immigration journey is largely defined by what he calls “inflection points.” The first one that stands out in his mind is receiving an I-20 — a form that confirmed he had been accepted into UT Austin. Priya remembers receiving her acceptance as well — she describes the feeling as “finding out you got into your dream school.” To apply for a student visa, Priya and Ranjit had to go to the U.S. embassy in India. It opened at 9 a.m, but both of them recall arriving between 5:30

OF MVHS STUDENTS HAVE PARENTS WHO ARE FROM

46% 36

EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

INDIA *According to a survey of 210 MVHS students

a.m. and 6 a.m. and there was already said. “They were physically close to their a line outside. After graduating from parents at home and they had to start college, Priya and Ranjit worked and from the very beginning on their own. It’s earned their green cards — a document something that I’m very proud of them granting them permanent residency in for.” the U.S. They are now U.S. citizens.

Priya remembers UT Austin as an “It’s a good feeling to be a permanent incredibly diverse community. As a recent resident, to get some more privileges, [and immigrant, there were a lot of cultural it’s] very important in the immigration phenomena she hadn’t experienced journey,” Ranjit said. “After eight years you before, and she learned more about have the option of filing for citizenship. both America and other countries by And that’s a interacting with her big decision peers at school. because “It was like being India at that in a little United time did not Nations,” Priya support dual said. “You learn to citizenship. look beyond the There’s an stereotypes. All of emotional Texas is definitely attachment, not uniform, so I do they’re not all EVERY IMMIGRANT HAS A remember us white Americans, STORY. WE MAKE A LOT thinking a lot nor are they all OF SACRIFICES AND WE about that.” brown Indians.

GO THROUGH A LOT OF Priya’s There’s everybody. immigration So I think choosing HARDSHIPS. journey had a to integrate was MVHS PARENT lot to do with very high in our RANJIT DESAI her desire minds. It was a to attend very big integration school in culture. And part the U.S. She of it was because has always there were not that held higher many Indians so we education could not cocoon in high regard and she and Ranjit ourselves into just being like we were in were both eager to study more in their India. So I tried to grow as a person.” respective fields. She decided to pursue Despite the difficulties he faced mathematics at UT Austin for graduate adjusting to life in a new country, Ranjit school and is currently a bioinformatics acknowledges the excitement of moving researcher at Stanford University. from India to the U.S. He also emphasizes “We really came here to study and the the benfits of immigration in the U.S. we thought we’ll have a good life, but I “I do think immigrants take their don’t remember ever thinking, ‘I want to responsibilities very seriously as citizens become rich,’” Priya said. “It was always, and they’re really looking to add and ‘I want to do research.’ My focus was to bring the best of themselves,” Ranjit always how many papers I could publish.” said. “Certainly that’s the case in our Aman believes the impact higher own experience. Every immigrant has education had on Priya is reflected a story. We make a lot of sacrifices in his own values as a student. His and we go through a lot of hardships. parents encouraged him to find joy in Sometimes it may seem very mundane, learning. They told him it was about self- like waiting to make a phone call because improvement — not about money or you could only afford so much. But getting an A. Aman has asked his parents overall, immigrants are the strength of about their immigrant story multiple the U.S. After interacting with a lot of times before and it always inspires him. immigrants across nationalities, I would “I have a lot of difficulty imagining say immigration is an advantage by far. transitioning to a whole other country And that’s why it’s really important to that has a whole different lifestyle,” Aman keep this current going.”

‘‘

8.7% WAS THE INDIAN AND INDIAN AMERICAN POPULATION IN CUPERTINO IN 2000. *According the U.S. Census Bureau

76% IS HOW MUCH THE INDIAN AMERICAN POPULATION IN CUPERTINO HAS GROWN BY FROM 2000 to 2010. *According the U.S. Census Bureau

FEATURES | NOVEMBER 2020

37

PHOTO COURTESY OF HANNAH HO | USED WITH PERMISSION

Eric Ho and Le Ho take a picture with their recently adopted daughter, Hannah Ho, in 2004.

08

the blessing of family Following the Ho family’s immigration journey from Hong Kong and Vietnam to the U.S.

BY SHIVANI MADHAN

L

e Ho spent most of her early years growing up in Vietnam’s Tuy Hao province, living a simple yet joyous life despite the country’s political conflicts.

However, at the peak of the Vietnam War in 1979, Le’s parents decided that the country was no longer a safe place to raise their children.

During the family’s first attempt to escape the Vietnamese Communist Party, Le’s father, brother and sister were captured by a government official.

Since escaping was a sign of betrayal to the Vietnamese government, they were charged for espionage. Le’s sister and brother were underage, so they could not be arrested ― therefore, her dad was prosecuted for all their crimes and eventually, her mother was able to bail him out.

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EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

“When my dad was captured, he was sent to a concentration camp two hours away from us,” Le said. “We didn’t know whether we were going to be reunited so for me, that was sad. I [felt] like my family [had] been broken up.”

A few months later, when Le was 14, the family prepared for their second attempt to escape the country. Le, her mother and younger sister got ready to leave the nation and boarded a small fishing boat along with 300 other people. They would go on to join a historical group called the Boat People. The Vietnamese Boat People fled the country on naval vessels following the Resistance War Against America due to the humanitarian crises occurring from the late 70’s to the 90’s.

The journey came with many difficulties. Due to minimal space on the

boat, Le had to stay in the lower decks where she experienced severe motion sickness. When her relative noticed Le’s weak condition, she was brought to the top of the boat for fresh air.

Yet another problem soon arose: a water shortage. The boat stopped at a nearby island called Hainan, where a Chinese government official was merciful enough to give them water. During their journey to mainland China, the boat began to drift off, and Le and her family were lost at sea. After 10 days and 10 nights, the passengers finally saw the light of a Hong Kong harbor and were ushered in to safety. A few hours later, their boat sank. If Le and the passengers hadn’t reached land that day, they would have died, similar to many other refugees part of the Boat People era.

N

Le was admitted into a Hong Kong refugee camp and stayed there for nine months before her father, who had managed to immigrate to the U.S. with her brother and sister, sent for the rest of her family. They arrived in Dallas, Texas and were reunited.

“My first [impression] of the U.S. was everything is huge, especially land[ing] into Texas,” Le said. “When I came [here], I didn’t speak a word of English, so that made [it] even more [unfamiliar].”

Despite leaving Vietnam due to its political climate, life was still difficult for Le’s family in America. After leaving Vietnam and Hong Kong, they essentially had no belongings. If they were to stay in Dallas, Le and her siblings would have to get jobs and wouldn’t be able to receive a proper education. However, her dad’s sister, who lived in California, informed them about the state’s welfare system, causing Le and her family to move to San Jose in April and May of 1980.

Throughout her teen years, Le attended Independence High School and Mount Pleasant High School while juggling various part time jobs such as cleaning lockers, digging onions on a farm and working at a flea market. She went on to attend San Jose State University as a computer science major, becoming the first person in her family to graduate

PERCENT OF

from college. In 1998, Le met her future with specialists in different fields, such as husband, Eric Ho, at church. philosophy and psychology.

While Le immigrated as a refugee, It was here where Eric’s green card Eric came to the country for education. was approved after facing several issues Prior to living in the U.S, he had lived in regarding his legal status. At one point, the U.K. with his cousins for several years Eric discovered after leaving that Princeton Hong Kong didn’t want to when he was 15 sponsor him for for boarding his green card, school.

Eric which made him completed his quite mad. After first degree learning this, he in Reading, started a job at E n g l a n d an investment before being bank in the GOING TO THE U.S. WAS A accepted to city who would CULTURAL SHOCK FOR ME... the University support his of Southern application [BECAUSE] I HAD NEVER California process and INTERACTED WITH SO MANY for graduate worked there for RACES BEFORE. IT WAS VERY EYEschool. several years.

OPENING. In 1995, Eric “[Once] my touched down green card MVHS PARENT ERIC HO in Los Angeles was approved, with a student I felt more Visa. When he free,” Eric said. “I landed, he didn’t could spend [my] have a place to money [however stay, so he had I wanted], and to search for I [had] more housing nearby, and as a last resort, he freedom to search for other employment. signed a lease on an affordable apartment I was no longer tied down to the bank.” that was infested with cockroaches.

Having more employment options, After graduating, Eric had the Eric decided to work at a startup in the opportunity to work in a laboratory filled Bay Area. It was in Sunnyvale that Eric

‘‘

CUPERTINO PERCENT OF CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS FROM...

RESIDENTS FROM...

4.9

0.25

HONG KONG

2.9%

1.7%

HONG KONG

VIETNAM

*According to the Statistical Atlas

VIETNAM

PERCENT OF U.S. RESIDENTS FROM...

0.07

HONG KONG

0.66 VIETNAM

*According to the Statistical Atlas FEATURES | NOVEMBER 2020

39

PHOTO COURTESY OF HANNAH HO | USED WITH PERMISSION

Ten-year-old Hannah Ho poses in front of a statue at Ngong Ping, Hong Kong.

met Le at a local church.

At the time, Eric saw Le, one of the church’s ministry leaders, was delivering her testimony on baptism and her experience as a Christian. After regularly attending this church, he and Le began talking and started to date, eventually getting married in 2000.

The newly weds were eager to have children soon but after several years of trying, they faced infertility issues. As a result, Le and Eric looked for other options, since they still wanted to raise a child.

“We didn’t really care about the race of the kid,” Le said. “We were thinking about a kid from Russia, but the agency [we went through] said many orphans [there] come from broken families and it’s hard to bond with them. We [also tried] India, but the country has a restriction that you cannot adopt an Indian kid unless you’re Indian. So finally, we [settled] for China, especially since [Eric] got priority as a

40

EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

country national.”

The Ho’s went through the process over several months, which was relatively fast since non-Chinese parents usually had to wait three to five years to adopt a child from the country. In September of 2004, they received the news that they could pick up their daughter, now senior Hannah Ho. Hannah was born in the Jiangxi province in China and was adopted

by Le and Eric when she was 10 months old from an orphanage in Gao You. “In Asian culture, they don’t want to let the kid know they’re a Chinese person,” Hannah said. “But

now that I’ve taken the time to really acknowledge who I am and all the facets of my identity, I feel like there’s less of a gap because I’ve started to pay more attention.”

Hannah vividly remembers the trip she took to China and Hong Kong, visiting places such as her dad’s secondary school and listening to her family members’ tales.

“I [thought] about how much different my life would have been if I’d never been adopted,” Hannah said. “I was grappling with what could have been and what actually is, and that was an interesting thing for a 10-year-old to be experiencing.”

Even though Hannah and her parents live in America, they still meet up with relatives who live nearby to celebrate traditional festivals such as Chinese New Year and Mooncake Festival. They also celebrate typical American or Christian festivals such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, since the family is religious.

“We do have American [traditions], like turkey and ham cutting,” Hannah said. “But we also have Asian food at the table as well, like homemade egg rolls and noodles. It’s a combination of what tradition has been for us and our comfort food, [and] it’s always been interesting.”

Since the members of the Ho family all have differing upbringings and cultural experiences, Le recognizes the many obstacles which the family had endure.

“We’ve been through a lot, [but] we feel very blessed to [have each other],” Le said.

I’M NOT IN TOUCH WITH ALL OF “I think all [of MY IDENTITIES AS I SHOULD BE, this] is through BUT I’M WORKING ON BEING the grace of MORE CULTURALLY AWARE OF God, because WHO I AM AND MY HERITAGE. we [had] no control over IT’S A WORK IN PROGRESS. it.”

‘‘

adopted,” Le said.

“But we never shied away from telling Hannah [that she was adopted].

We didn’t want to hide that from her.”

Growing up, Hannah says she struggled to accept her Asian identity and often tried SENIOR HANNAH to assimilate to Western culture.

She quit Chinese school since she believed speaking Mandarin made her less American.

“I was still defining myself as an American ― I didn’t really see myself as

HO

86%

A GRAPH OF THE RESIDENCY STATUSES OF MVHS PARENTS *According to a survey of 208 MVHS students

OTHER 2%

H1-B 6%

GREEN CARD 18% U.S. CITIZENS 74%

OF MVHS STUDENTS HAVE PARENTS WHO ARE IMMIGRANTS *According to a survey of 239 MVHS students

Immigration By the numbers

BY IMAN MALIK

ASPECTS OF MVHS PARENTS’ COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN IN STUDENT’S LIVES *According to a survey of 223 MVHS students

90% OF MVHS STUDENTS ARE U.S. CITIZENS *According to a survey of 239 MVHS students

FEATURES | NOVEMBER 2020

41

Independence The lady who needed an alarm clock

BY ANUSHKA DE

I

was really bored the summer before sixth grade. My best friend and I would FaceTime each other on our iPads for hours and daydream about a distant future, one with jobs and driver’s licenses and apartments and independence.

I have always been somewhat infatuated with independence.

That summer, I decided that as soon as I turned 16 — April of sophomore year — I would enter the workforce. Of course, I did not bargain for a global lockdown in April of my sophomore year because of a pandemic, nor did I plan for a crumbling national economy and unemployment rates higher than those of the Great Depression.

So my plan for joining

42

EL ESTOQUE | OCTOBER 2020

the workforce and getting my license took a backseat to whipped coffee and socially distanced hikes for a bit. But I didn’t forget.

And eventually, the day I decided to apply for a job at Target arrived. I submitted two applications — one for the big store and the other for the tiny Main Street Target — and then scheduled my driver’s test. The big Target politely declined my application, but I was scheduled for an interview with the Main Street Target at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday during the summer. I got the job, celebrated with a milkshake from In-n-Out and began working a week before school started.

I have only worked at Target for two months, and it is not at all like what I expected. The shifts are long and the customers are not always kind and it is often difficult for me to convince myself that $15.35 an hour is worth the social life I flushed down the drain.

But I have learned so much.

So to remind myself of that, I would like to document some of my most memorable experiences as stories.

Maybe you will take the same things I did from them or maybe you will not.

But this job has shown me so much — maybe I can show you some of it too.

There are two tables with stacks of graphic T-shirts in the men’s section.

People will sort through the shirts, then leave them haphazardly strewn across the table, trying to find the largest size at the bottom of the stack before deciding they don’t like it anyway. I really do like organizing the shirts though.

I use the folding table, a thin metal table with hinged slats that allow you to fold each shirt with factory precision. I fold the shirts and dream about a future life — a recurring theme in my life, it seems — of subways and corporate jobs and my own apartment and independence.

It is 7 p.m. one night as I fold the shirts

for what feels like the tenth time that shift. I get off in an hour, but I’ve been here since 12, and I am so tired I could cry. As I arrange the shirts on the table, I spot a girl, who looks to be about my age, pointing to me.

“Oh, I think she works here,” she says to the older woman next to her.

The woman hobbles on over to me with her gray walker and several plastic bags clutched in her hands.

“Do you work here? Can you help me?” she demands. “I need help.”

“Yes, of course,” I say. “How can I help you today, ma’am?”

“This is just ridiculous. I need help finding two things. I need a clock,” she says angrily. She starts walking behind me with the walker biting my heels as I hastily step out of her way.

“You need a clock? That’ll be in our home section. I’d try Aisle A15, by the cash registers.”

“What? Speak up,” she snaps. “Why did you stop? You’re going to find it for me. I can’t read these damn shopping labels.”

“Oh, okay,” I say, taken aback.

Customers will usually speak to us for as short a time as possible – they often start walking away before I’ve finished giving them the aisle number. We walk over to the clocks, and after some more yelling on my part due to her diminished hearing, I realize she actually wants an alarm clock and I point out several options to her.

“Which one do you want, ma’am?”

“Which one? There’s more than one? I don’t know. Which one is the cheapest? Which one comes with the batteries?” she shouts. I start reading the boxes furiously, no more aware of the

components of alarm clocks than she is.

“It looks like the cheapest one is $10, but it does not appear to come with batteries. We do sell the batteries it requires, though.”

“OK, well I want the cheap one.” She pauses and scrutinizes me through her square glasses which are attached to her boxy frame with a string of glass beads.

Her olive skin reminds ANUSHKA DE me of wrinkled fabric, smoothly folding to accentuate each disapproving stare she throws me as I remain crouched on the floor trying to read the box. “Well, what are you waiting for? Find the batteries.”

“Oh, yes of course.” I jump to my feet.

“Do you want to wait in the line while I get the batteries for you?” I ask, eager to rid myself of her overbearing presence.

“Fine,” she huffs with immense disdain.

I jog to the electronics section and start scanning the aisles for the cheapest AAA batteries I can find. I see packs of 20 and 50, but I know she will scoff at the prices of those, and anyway, the clock only needs three. After what feels like an eternity, I find a pack of six and run to the registers.

“There was some other girl, she was helping me,” I hear her papery drawl before I reach the registers.

“It’s me, I’m here. I was trying to find the cheapest pack,” I apologize, running to the only open register.

“This is ridiculous. I got on the bus to get here … how long ago?

I don’t know. I’m not leaving until you get this thing to work,” she rants as I ring up her purchase.

“Your total is going to be $18.84,” I say. She hands me a $20 and tells me to start assembling the clock before I even hand her the change. I can see the line of customers snaking around to the self checkout machines. And even though I know that spending time helping this mean old lady set her digital alarm clock is not the best way to use a cash register, I oblige.

I fumble with the box holding the alarm clock and the package of batteries. I fumble with the clock’s plug as I try to jam it into a socket and fumble with the plastic flap over the battery compartment, trying

to decipher which way each one fits. Then I fumble with the tiny buttons, trying to adjust the settings so that it displays the current time.

The lady, meanwhile, g r o w s angrier by the second.

ReTALES: She first yells INDEPENDENCE a t

me for taking too long to program the clock and then because she doesn’t know how to put batteries in the clock if it breaks. Finally, finally, I get the clock to beep harshly at 6:30 a.m. every morning. I push ‘Total’ on the cash register, hand the lady her change and wait as the register slowly processes the transaction.

“What the hell is taking you so long?” she barks.

“I’m so sorry ma’am, these machines are really slow. It just needs to print your receipt,” I say, in a syrupy voice.

“The machine isn’t working. The machine this. The machine that.

That’s all I ever hear,” she says, but she pronounces all like ‘awl.’ “You know, I come here and the machine on the bus don’t work. And then my phone don’t work, and then these damn glasses, did I tell you I can’t read anything with these damn glasses? And now you tell me, you tell me after wasting my time, you tell me that the damn register don’t work? Are you stupid?” she says, and now I can hear some sort of faint East Coast accent punctuating her rant.

And then the register shuts off.

“Can I get some help with a guest at the front please?” I say shakily into my walkie talkie. “I’m so sorry ma’am, the register seems to have shut off before it printed your receipt. My manager will be up to

help you in a second. ‘Hey, uh, Steph? Can I get some help over here?’”

My co-worker walks over, and I can see her read the concern on my face.

“Ma’am, we can wait for our manager, but if the register shut off, we aren’t going to be able to

print your receipt right now. If you give us your phone number, we can send you the receipt from our system,” Steph says.

“Fine. Fine,” the old lady barks. I open my mouth to ask for her phone number.

“No, you, shut up. I don’t have a number.

I have an address. My address is 832 La Vista Drive, Apartment 81. I’m leaving.

I can’t take it with you people anymore.

I’m leaving,” and with that, she hobbles out of the door, open case of batteries and alarm clock in hand.

I think about her for the rest of my shift, and then in the car on my way home. I think about her all alone on the bus, all alone in her apartment, heading to work all alone the next day. I think about her life and her bitterness and how rude she was, even when all that I tried to do was help her.

I have always been somewhat infatuated with independence. But nothing scares me more than being alone.

I hope she’s doing OK. FEATURES | OCTOBER 2020

43

PHOTO BY KAZUSA TOMONAGA | USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior Asuka Tomonaga poses in the T-shirt in size medium.

D

uring shelter-in-place, MVHS students have more free time to delve into creative passions like sewing and designing. Students are recognizing and addressing needs within communities, from masks for hospitals and homeless people to fundraising for the Black Lives Matter movement. With social media, getting the word out about sustainability, speaking up and reaching out to customers and supporters can be even more effective.

TIME FOR JUSTICE COLLECTION

cause

FOR A

CREATIVE entrepreneurs 44

MVHS students sell clothing and accessories to support coral restoration, children in need, COVID-19 and BLM

BY ANDIE LIU

EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

After watching the video of George Floyd’s death and feeling inspired to take action against racial injustice, seniors Asuka Tomonaga and Rena Watanabe launched their Time for Justice Collection on Bonfire. Watanabe managed the campaign, while Tomonaga designed their T-shirts and long-sleeves.

“I was also feeling a little ashamed by not knowing the racial injustice or racism that is still going on in this country, so that big movement made me think about what is going on in this country or in this society,” Tomonaga said. “Then I was like, I need to do something for them and I need to support them to show that I am anti-racist and … contribute to the movement.”

Tomonaga and Watanabe’s design includes the quote “old ways won’t open new doors” and a flower called the Black-eyed Susan. According to Tomonaga, this flower represents courage and justice. With options to buy the shirts in blue, black and gray, all profits go to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. By promoting their fundraiser through social media and to teachers and coaches in their community, Tomonaga and Watanabe were able to raise $258.

Recognizing the limitations of fundraising during shelter-in-place, Tomonaga regrets not being able to wear their shirts at school or reach more students with posters and word-of-mouth. Still, Tomonaga feels that as an upside to their online promotion, she was able to grow from her lack of confidence and speak up about social issues.

“At first, I was very nervous and worried about how people are going to react to what we’re doing,” Tomonaga said. “But as we [continued] to promote our post, there [were] so many people that are saying good things about what we did … And you don’t have to be an expert to raise your voice or stand up for the racial injustice that is going on in this country. I know this is very sensitive content, but I think you don’t have to be so nervous about saying what you believe or what you want to do.”

According to Watanabe, she was also shy, and didn’t see herself using her voice about racial issues. By reaching out to her community for support for their fundraiser, Watanabe felt that she learned a lot about using her voice to spread awareness. She emphasizes that the movement shouldn’t become a short trend and activists should continue to speak up until justice is “achieved” — she and Tomonaga also plan to relaunch their fundraiser soon.

“Even though [justice] might take a long time, I think it really starts from individuals –– being aware, and challenging our old ways and implicit biases we may have, and really changing our behaviors and constantly having an open-minded perspective,” Watanabe said.

KRZ CREATIONZ

ARTS & ENT PHOTO BY MIRA DONCSEV | USED WITH PERMISSION

PHOTO BY ANGELA DONCSEV | USED WITH PERMISSION

In July, sophomore Nikita Swaminathan bought a new phone and looked online for a case. Finding the prices unreasonably expensive, Swaminathan was inspired to sell phone cases at cheaper prices. Seeking artistic skill, she contacted sophomore Angela Doncsev, and they posted some designs to their Instagram accounts to gauge interest. After receiving positive feedback, the two added hoodies and more phone case designs to their products and began creating business social media accounts, a logo and a website.

“When I posted those polls, so many people would respond, give their ideas and really show that they care about it, which is really good, because we really need that support,” Doncsev said. “That’s what made us continue what we’re doing and start our business.”

Doncsev and Swaminathan have been working together for a few months, and are thankful that their business has brought them closer since their first encounter.

“I had [Art 1] with her last year and I noticed how good she was because I would be sitting opposite of her,” Swaminathan said. “I [would] be looking at her drawing, and it’s so good; literally, it’s amazing. I don’t know how to express it because it’s so good. I would be looking at my mine and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how this works. How is she so talented?’”

Art has always been a hobby of Donecsev’s. In 2015, as part of a Hungarian television show “Jónak Lenni Jó,” which means “Being Good is Good,” Doncsev’s painting was put up for auction and the money collected was donated to children in need. Doncsev and Swaminathan are considering donating a portion of their Krz Creationz profits as well. However, they just launched their website with eight phone case designs and six hoodie designs, all of which Doncsev designed.

“I like to really take my time when I’m making artworks because I’m a perfectionist, and [Swaminathan] always gives me all of these ideas, like ‘[Here’s] what’s trending right now, I’ve been observing all of these things,’” Doncsev said. “To be honest, I’ve never really thought that running or starting a small business can be this difficult and challenging. But then at the same time … it really pays off seeing people be satisfied with what we have and be interested, it makes us really happy.”

After reaching 100 followers on their Krz Creationz Instagram account, the two are looking forward to slowing down and thinking through each aspect of their business as the school year progresses. Simultaneously, Swaminathan recognizes the rush she had to get their products online, which started from the brainstorming process.

“I would text [Doncsev] all the time, telling her, giving her my ideas,” Swaminathan said. “I’m impatient. That’s the problem with me. I just like to throw my ideas to her.

I would be spamming her phone, which I feel really bad about. But I’ve been doing that and we’ve both been able to make things faster and move things a bit faster … If you really think you can do something and if you really love what you’re doing then things are going to go a long way.”

Sophomores Angela Doncsev and Nikita Swaminathan model the Cherry and Butterfly hoodies and a matching phone case.

ARTS & ENT | NOVEMBER 2020

45

PHOTO BY SOPHIA BOKOVIKOVA | USED WITH PERMISSION

PHOTO BY SRISHTI TEWARI | USED WITH PERMISSION

THE MASK TASK

After donating 100 masks to the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, juniors Shivali Tewari and Sophia Bokovikova pose with VMC worker.

PHOTO BY ALEX BOKOVIKOVA | USED WITH PERMISSION

PHOTO BY SHIVALI TEWARI | USED WITH PERMISSION

Junior Sophia Bokovikova sews masks with her sewing machine and scrap material from her mom’s costume designing experience.

46

EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

Junior Sophia Bokovikova describes The Mask Task as a youth-led organization devoted to providing health care workers and homeless people with face masks made from recycled materials. In early April, she and junior Shivali Tewari started gathering fabric from pillowcases, bedsheets and old T-shirts. While Bokovikova had prior sewing knowledge and leftover fabric due to her mother’s experience as a costume designer, Tewari created their website. Both of them share the task of distributing fabric and elastic to their designated group of volunteers, who sew masks for anyone who needs them.

“We noticed that there was the largest shortage in masks for health care workers, nurses [and] doctors,” Bokovikova said. “And then from there, we also realized that there was a problem with specifically homeless people, because how are they supposed to get masks when they can barely even afford something like food?

And the virus, the spread of it, is never going to stop if only a specific group or if only the people that can afford masks are the ones that are protected.”

Bokovikova and Tewari have partnered with organizations that provide the homeless with care packages with necessities such as food and sanitization products and added their homemade masks to them.

They have also donated to the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center twice and interviewed the Chief Operating Officer of the Valley Medical Center, a video they posted on their Instagram, to learn about how the hospital uses the masks and their overall mask supply status.

After 12 donations, The Mask Task has donated a total of 900 masks and they are aiming to hit the 1,000 mark.

As the organization progressed, some of their volunteers with more sewing expertise have improved upon the design the two initially provided, including pipe cleaners for moldable nose bridges and masks that wrap around the head for added security.

“Some of our volunteers still make the simpler design — it has three folds in it and it’s double-layered,” Tewari said. “But then one of our adult volunteers and one of our volunteers that goes to [MVHS] actually, they are super into sewing and so they had their own ideas and they made these super intricate masks that had nose wires and they were just more comfortable.”

Initially sourcing volunteers from local high schools, Bokovikova and Tewari now have volunteers from all over the Bay Area, across all ages. According to Tewari, adult volunteers have joined them as they had more time to spare, and she is thankful for their generosity and readiness to help.

“We had people that signed up that were all the way from middle schoolers to, now, retirees and grandmas that sew masks with us,” Bokovikova said. “So in the interactions that we have with them, I think that it really strengthens everything and builds the community closer.

Also just being able to create relationships with the people that we have donated the masks to, I’ve learned a lot about our community. And I think it’s the positivity that is spread through these interactions has hopefully left a positive impact.”

CALI KINIS

PHOTO BY LAUREN RUCKSTUHL | USED WITH PERMISSION

Since a year and a half ago, junior Lauren Ruckstuhl has been surfing as often as possible. As a result, she developed a habit of constantly shopping for new bikinis, but realized she didn’t want to contribute to the fast fashion industry. To address this issue, Ruckstuhl created Cali Kinis, her handmade bikini business that donates 10% of profits to the Coral Restoration Foundation, the largest organization dedicated to coral reef restoration and research. Through Cali Kinis, she was able to establish her niche of sustainability, body positivity and love for surfing. “[My bikinis are] only sewed to order, so we produce very little waste, and that is a part of why I started my business,” Ruckstuhl said. “These are custom orders — people can put in specific things they want in a bikini that they maybe can’t find at other larger companies, and I can do my best to accommodate that … It’s more eco-friendly … it’s just a creative outlet for myself.”

Once a customer makes a purchase off her website, she orders the fabric and begins the six-to-eight-hour production process. Despite not knowing how to sew before she started, Ruckstuhl has taught herself to sew along the way and has now bought a serger, a machine she says will improve her product quality due to its capabilities with handling stretchy fabric.

Since summer ended, she stopped receiving orders and plans to use the winter to rework her business plan and decide where each dollar will go in terms of donations, profit and production.

According to Ruckstuhl, her lack of organization when starting out prompted a lot of criticism from her parents.

“I know they support me and they love me, but ... everyone in Silicon Valley’s very tech savvy and they’re all business people, and my mom critiques my business all the time about how my business isn’t scalable,” Ruckstuhl said. “I think I’ve just learned so much from this business already that no matter how much money I gain from this in the future, I’ve already gained enough wealth of knowledge to last me.”

Ruckstuhl also encourages potential student entrepreneurs to keep going if an idea falls apart. During the summer, she brainstormed many ideas to support ocean conservation and environmental friendliness, including a homemade sunscreen

business. While those ideas didn’t work out, she believes that Cali Kinis took hold partly due to its connection to personal growth.

She has battled insecurities about her physical appearance, and she wanted to help those around her with similar issues.

“Hearing people that are very famous ... talk about loving yourself can sometimes not be very effective because you don’t have a personal connection to them,” Ruckstuhl said. “But I hope that because I’m a MVHS student and I also struggle with my own insecurities that my words might have more of an impact on students and people who are insecure, because I just really want to get the message across that they’re beautiful, they can be confident and eat whatever they want and wear whatever they want and still love themselves.”

Ruckstuhl finds it disheartening to see others, especially girls, feeling insecure about their bodies even when they are developing as teenagers. Regarding a photo of herself in her bikini set that on her business Instagram, she says she recognizes that she has built more confidence.

“That was one good photo out of so many photos but I just felt I looked so fat and so disgusting and I felt really sad that day,” Ruckstuhl said. “Looking back on it, I feel like it doesn’t really affect me as much, because every day I learn more about my body, and every day I understand that my body is the way it is because [of] genetics and what I eat and how I work out … While encouraging others to love themselves I’ve also realized that I need to be doing what I’m preaching … It’s normal, everyone has to go through that process. I’m glad that my process [happened] a little earlier than the average person so I can try helping some other people’s insecurities.”

PHOTO BY KELLY RUCKSTUHL | USED WITH PERMISSION

Junior Lauren Ruckstuhl poses in the Marissa top, named after one of her friends.

ARTS & ENT | NOVEMBER 2020

47

PET INSTAS

Students share about the Instagram accounts they created for their pets

BY MELODY CUI AND CLAIRE WEN

S

he grins, tongue slightly sticking out of her mouth, ears perked up. With a fuzzy blue winter jacket wrapped around her, Mina the corgi smiles while peeking out from her shelter inside an igloo, her eyes looking toward the camera.

Junior Tyra Lin says that this photo taken during a trip earlier this year to Yosemite National Park is her favorite post from her Instagram account for her dog, @mina_corgi. She started the account soon after she got Mina three years ago. “[I made the account] just on a whim,” Lin said. “My brother and I were competing — we made different accounts to see who would get more followers. In the end I got more, so it just grew from that. I thought it was a fun experience because taking photos and doing all that stuff with your dog is a really fun thing to do.”

Lin’s Instagram is currently approaching 13 thousand followers.

However, she says her account only really started growing around a year ago — she deleted all her previous posts and restarted her feed, as she felt she had a better understanding of Instagram’s algorithm then.

“Before it was all over the place — there was no color scheme or anything,” Lin said. “But if you look now, it’s more laid out and I have a scheme of nature and the beach, because we go to the beach often.”

According to Lin, since Mina was born on a farm, she really enjoys going outside and Lin and her family will often take her outdoors, where most of her photoshoots occur. Lin tries to plan out how she wants her feed to look like, but where she takes the photo is spontaneous. Previous

PHOTO | ANGELA DONCSEV

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photoshoot locations include the beaches track and look back at the progress that across Northern California, Los Angeles, they’ve made [and] how they’ve grown Santana Row and Cupertino Main Street. up,” Doncsev said. “But I thought of Similarly, sophomore Kyle Wong’s sharing it with people to inspire them and Instagram for his mini goldendoodle motivate them to adopt.”

Kabo, @kabo._.wong, consists of “cute The pair of calico siblings had caught pics of [her] doing sophomore random stuff,” Angela Doncsev’s such as going eye when she out on a drive was looking to or kayaking. He adopt earlier this made the account year, finding the two weeks after two kittens on a he first got her website for the seven months Silicon Valley Pet IT WAS JUST ON A WHIM. ago, originally Project.

MY BROTHER AND I intending to make “Right now with WERE COMPETING; her a model dog COVID[-19], a lot but then “got lazy of pets are being WE MADE DIFFERENT and slacked off.” abandoned and ACCOUNTS TO SEE The account has they are forced to WHO WOULD GET MORE 53 followers. live on the street,” FOLLOWERS. IN THE “If I feel like it, I Doncsev said. “So END I GOT MORE, SO IT go take a random we decided to photo and just adopt two because GREW FROM THAT. post it,” Wong said. they were rescued JUNIOR T YRA LIN “I wouldn’t even from the shelter.” edit it — [I just] add Hope and a random caption C i n n a m o n and throw on a dog emoji and I’m done.” officially became part of the Doncsev Wong’s favorite post features Cabo family in May, soon after which Doncsev waving, as he thinks she looks the cutest created the Instagram account. Doncsev’s in that video. He also observes how much account is mainly personal, with her larger she’s gotten since then — two times followers consisting mostly of her friends the size. and family. She only promotes it when a Sophomore Angela Doncsev notes big event happens, such as the kittens’ how her Instagram @xangel_kittensx six-month birthday. also showcases the growth of her kittens, Doncsev’s favorite post is one where Hope and Cinnamon, to her 35 followers. the kittens are sleeping in their cat bed “It started off as a way for me to keep next to one another, their heads snuggled

PHOTO | ANGELA DONCSEV

EL ESTOQUE | NOVEMBER 2020

‘‘ PHOTO | KYLE WONG

PHOTO | TYRA LIN

PHOTO BY TYRA LIN | USED WITH PERMISSION

Junior Tyra Lin’s corgi Mina sits for a photo at Yosemite National Park in January of 2019.

together. She set this photo as the account’s profile picture.

“I feel like it shows their love for each other and affection they show each other.

And they’re siblings,” Doncsev said.

“And that picture really captures that connection.”

Doncsev used to post daily, but now only does so when the kittens are willing to get a picture in.

“Sometimes it’s kind of hard because they move around a lot,” Doncsev said. “[But] sometimes I purposely try to make them pose a certain way to make it funny.”

CORGI PINS

After going to her first Corgi Con, an event where people bring their dogs to the beach, junior Tyra Lin was inspired by the amount of merchandise shown, so she decided to create her own. Through her interest in art and her dad’s experience in making pins, she brought her idea to reality.

“I thought it was a really fun thing to do because I like designing,” Lin said. “[My dad also] thought it would be a good bonding experience for me.”

Lin also positions Mina for her photos.

Mina is often obedient, having been trained from a young age to sit and look at the camera. But she will sometimes walk away when she is nervous or excited. In those cases, Lin will try to calm her down or give her a snack.

Lin then takes the photos with her iPhone 11. She also does some basic editing on the photo, but she states that she doesn’t think it is as complicated as using software like Photoshop, before coming up with a caption for the post.

“Doing the captions is really hard for

She sells her pins on Amazon and at school, with 10% of her profits going to animal shelters. Her favorite pin she’s made is a shark that hasn’t been released yet, but a sneak peek of it was on her 10,000 follower giveaway post. The other designs on the post have also not been made into pins but will soon be.

In addition, Mina recently got a fungal infection and Lin created a GoFundMe to fund the medical bills at www.gofundme. com/f/helpminacorgi.

me because I’m not that creative [with] captions,” Lin said. “So sometimes I just go look on the internet and find some puns that relate to the picture. For example, if I took a photo on the beach, I [would] just find beach puns.”

Wong selects shorter captions for his posts with Kabo, often with a few words ranging from “Boop” to “Astronaut doggo.”

“I pretend to be Kabo, mentally,” Wong said. “And I try conveying what she’s thinking.”

PHOTO | TYRA LIN

ARTS & ENT | NOVEMBER 2020

49

BREAKING DOWN BOLLYWOO How the Bollywood industry impacts Indian Americans

BY GAURI MANOJ

S

ix years ago, senior Jharna Suresh watched her all-time favorite Bollywood film “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani” for the first time. The Hindi title translates to “This Youth is Crazy,” and after watching it in the theater with her family, she instantly fell in love with the movie’s coming-of-age storyline and music. The following year, after watching a few Bollywood films on her flight to America from India, she became fascinated with Indian actor Varun Dhawan’s films, binge-watching his movies upon returning home. For Suresh, these two moments were the beginning of her love for Bollywood movies, and she began to use them as a reminder of her Indian culture.

“In America right now, we are sort of whitewashed,” Suresh said. “We do tend to embrace the American culture and the lifestyle, but it’s always great to have that splash of our heritage and our culture while we are watching Indian movies.

Of course, we have celebrations and American film industry are very distinct festivities, but it’s always great to just be because of the differences in production. able to see something immediately rather “[In Bollywood films], there’s so than have to wait for much more music the celebration to and there’s so come around.” much more color The term and everything,” Bollywood is a Suresh said. “It’s combination of very vibrant, it’s the words Bombay, very alive compared the previous name to Hollywood of the Indian city movies. Obviously, TO THINK THAT of Mumbai, and Hollywood movies BOLLYWOOD IS AN Hollywood.

Due have their own to its success and character and they EXTENSION OF INDIA, popularity in India, have their own spin THAT’S JUST A FAIRYTALE. several Bollywood on things, but I feel actors and actresses like we just have that MATH AND have recently pizzazz. We have the PHYSICS TEACHER crossed over to music that comes in, American media we have the dance SUSHMA BANA as well — Priyanka numbers, and we Chopra landing the have a lot of things lead role on the show that make us, us.”

“Quantico” and Deepika Padukone being For Suresh, a memorable aspect of labeled one of Time’s 100 most influential Bollywood films is that a majority are people. For Suresh, the cultural musicals. The music and dance in these differences between the Indian and films have become a significant part

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ILLUSTRATION | GAURI MANOJ

of mainstream Indian culture, making Bollywood dance a popular activity for people around the world. Senior and MVHS Andaaz captain Sachi Roy first joined the dance team in freshman year to re-spark her interest in Bollywood dance after experimenting with other styles in middle school. During Roy’s junior year this past February, the team got the chance to perform at Bollywood Berkeley for the first time, which Roy cites as an incredible moment for her.

“I think it’s really fitting that in the Bay Area, we have [dance] shows that are popular and are centralized around Indian and Bollywood dance,” Roy said.

“I think that’s a huge reason why there’s such a tight-knit and cultural Indian community. I think it just kind of gives people a chance to touch base with their culture, their family’s culture, even if they might not identify with it at first. We’re sharing the culture with people that have either been a little bit distant from it, have been involved with it for a while or have no idea what it really is.”

Since Andaaz is a blend of Bollywood and hip hop dance styles, Roy is in charge

OOD of creating mixes of different types of Bana also strongly disapproves of the songs that the group can perform to. poor portrayal of women throughout Her love for singing and music helps her the industry and mentions how the combine various American and Indian films heavily promote the idea of “evesongs for her team’s choreography. teasing.” “Eve-teasing” is a common term “I usually go for used in South Indian songs first Asian countries because I think — alluding to that preserves the the Biblical story cultural aspect of Adam and of the dance so Eve — to refer we’re not just a to the sexual random hip hop harassment of team,” Roy said. women in public.

“Then from there For Bana, the we’ll add in the regularly watch Bollywood movies misogynistic American aspect, storylines and we’ll add in the *According to a survey of 228 MVHS students objectification of hip hop, we’ll add women are the in the pop music. two most harmful It’s not like an American dancing style, messages that the Bollywood industry so just being able to learn more about perpertuates through their films.

[Indian] music and actually discovering “I bet there is not a single Indian new Indian music in order to see what woman who has not undergone ‘eveworks for our team, that’s definitely kept teasing,’” Bana said. “You ask your moms, me connected to the Bollywood industry your sisters, your aunts, they’ll know and just Indian culture in general.” what I mean. In Bollywood they have Growing up in India and living there normalized it. The hero is catcalling like for 27 years, math and physics teacher ‘I have to get this heroine by hook or [by] Sushma Bana remembers watching crook’ and eventually the heroine agrees Bollywood films on TV nearly once a week throughout her childhood. Bana believes that watching these films is an effective way for people to learn about Indian culture, however, she also cautions people from using Bollywood movies as a way to accurately learn about the country and the lifestyle.

“To think that Bollywood is an extension of India, that’s just a fairytale,” Bana said. “You should watch Bollywood movies, yes, for entertainment and for a sense of where you come from. But to think that the whole of India is like that, that’s what I worry about. You have this very rosy picture of the society and [that] that’s how things are in India and that those are the homes that Indians live in. I’ve never once seen in my lifetime a home that comes even close to the kinds of homes that they’re showing in Bollywood movies.”

23% of students

at the end. That’s ridiculous. Someone who assaults you, someone who bothers you, someone who makes your life miserable but eventually you fall in love with them? I just do not like that concept at all and I just don’t think realistically it can happen.”

Over the past few decades, Bana has witnessed the transformation of the Bollywood industry and appreciates the diversity in some of the newer films.

Suresh has also noticed Bollywood films becoming more progressive and is excited to see how the industry will tackle relatively newer topics in India, such as LGBTQ+ relationships after India’s legalization of same-sex marriage in 2018.

Still, the two of them agree that a large amount of progress remains in order for Bollywood to create a more accurate depiction of India.

“Bollywood is a stepping stone to discovering India for sure, but then the second step has to be taken after watching Bollywood,” Bana said. “My hope is that this generation does not just stop at Bollywood [to determine] what they know about India … if [they’re] interested in more, [they] can read a book, or maybe [they] can actually visit the place.”

ILLUSTRATION | GAURI MANOJ

ARTS & ENT | NOVEMBER 2020

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SPICIN’ THINGS UP Four treats that incorporate fall spices

BY AMBER MILESI

A

s the long summer heat slowly turns into that familiar

autumn chill, signaling the time for sweater weather and the return of holiday specials at cafes, most students are still at home due to the pandemic with extra time on their hands.

In light of the new fall atmosphere, these simple fall recipes serve as a perfect pastime, ending with a tasty autumn-themed treat. The variety of aromatic spices, each with their own health benefits, will spice up your day with a little seasonal creativity.

Pumpkin Spice Latte | Featured Spice: Nutmeg

Health benefits: According to Superfoodly, nutmeg is a healthy spice that strengthens cognitive functions, boosts skin health, helps relax the body and reduces insomnia for those of us who don’t get enough sleep.

Ingredients: 2 cups 2% or coconut milk 2 teaspoons pumpkin puree 1-3 tablespoons sugar ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Photo | Royalty Free Images ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice ½ teaspoon nutmeg ½ cup favorite strong coffee or ¼ cup (two shots) espresso Whipped cream for serving Recipe: 1. Heat milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla and sugar on medium-high heat just before it boils.

2. Remove from heat once hot and stir in coffee and spices.

3. Divide mixture between two mugs or just one and top off with desired amount of whipped cream.

4. Enjoy!

Spiced Candy Apples | Featured Spice: Cinnamon

Health benefits: According to HealthOnline, loaded with healthy antioxidants, cinnamon is a useful spice that lowers blood sugar levels and has many anti-inflammatory properties. When paired with apples, the combination provides fiber, boosting digestive health.

Ingredients: 5 medium fuji apples 1½ cups white sugar ½ cup corn syrup ½ cup water 8 drops red food dye 2 teaspoons cinnamon 5 thin popsicle sticks Photo | Royalty Free Images

Recipe: 1. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Insert popsicle sticks into whole apples.

3. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine sugar, one teaspoon of cinnamon, corn syrup and water until a small amount of this mixture dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads. Remove from heat and stir in food coloring.

4. Holding the apple by its stick, dip in syrup and turn to coat evenly. Place on sheets to harden for 10-30 minutes and dust in extra cinnamon or raw sugar.

5. Enjoy!

Photo | Royalty Free Images

Photo | Royalty Free Images

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SCAN FOR MORE COVERAGE Spiced Sugar Cookies | Featured Spice: Ginger

Health benefits: According to Superfoodly, ginger is great for calming nausea and soothing sore muscles and as one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory spices, it can reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.

Ingredients: 2¾ cups flour (all-purpose) 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder 1½ cups white sugar ½ teaspoon ginger 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 egg

Photo | Royalty Free Images

Recipe: 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius).

In a small bowl, stir in flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whip together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.

3. Roll about a teaspoonful of dough into balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

4. Bake for eight to ten minutes in a preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on a cookie sheet to cool.

5. Enjoy!

Chai Spiced Cupcakes | Featured Spice: Cardamom

Health benefits: According to HealthOnline, cardamom is an extremely beneficial Indian or Indonesian spice with antioxidant properties that help strengthen and protect the heart and liver and maintain tooth health.

Ingredients: Cupcake: ⅔ cup 2% milk ½ teaspoon each ground ginger, cinnamon and cardamom ½ cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 large egg, room temperature ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 1½ cups cake flour 1½ teaspoons baking powder Frosting: 6 tablespoons butter, softened 3 cups confectioners’ sugar ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract 2-3 tablespoons 2% milk Photo | Royalty Free Images

Recipe: 1. In a small bowl, combine the ginger, cinnamon and cardamom.

Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whip butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and 1-1/2 teaspoons spice mixture. Add milk to the butter and sugar mixture, beating well.

4. Fill 12 paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius) for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes.

5. In a large bowl, beat butter until fluffy; then beat in the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and remaining spice mixture until smooth. Add more milk to reach desired consistency.

6. Pipe frosting over cupcakes.

7. Enjoy!

Photo | Royalty Free Images

Photo | Royalty Free Images

ARTS & ENT | NOVEMBER 2020

53

SECOND-GUESSING A FICTION Examining J. K. Rowling’s transphobic stance and what it means for Harry Potter fans

BY SHIVANI MADHAN AND SHIVANI VERMA

ILLUSTRATIONS | SHIVANI MADHAN

W

ords are, in my not-so-humble opinion, the most inexhaustible form of magic we have, capable both of inflicting injury and remedying it.”

This was the last message delivered to main character Harry Potter from his late mentor and friend Albus Dumbledore in the movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” and it was crucial in Harry’s defeat of the antagonist Voldemort.

More than 13 years later, Dumbledore’s words are especially relevant in addressing the recent controversies surrounding J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. Due to a number of events, many fans of the series have noticed Rowling’s transphobic tendencies on social media over the past several months.

Rowling has a history of showing her support for transphobic groups, as well as commenting that biological sex takes precendence over gender on Twitter.

On June 6, Rowling responded to an article by Devex on creating a more

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equal post COVID-19 world for people who menstruate. In her tweet, Rowling wrote, “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben?

W i m p u n d ?

Woomud?”

After this tweet, more Harry Potter fans started paying attention to Rowling and her transphobic statements.

Student X, who is anonymous in order to protect their identity, was one of these fans and identifies as non-binary and gender-fluid.

They read the Harry Potter series multiple times throughout their life, explaining that their mindset had changed after learning about Rowling’s beliefs.

“Finding out that J.K. Rowling was, [for

a] lack of better words, pretty s----y, makes me hesitant to really enjoy the books as much, because whenever [I] find out that an author is kind of problematic ... I start worrying about [whether their opinions are] shown in [their works],” Student X said. “[I think,] ‘What have I been absorbing and accepting as normal when it really should not be?’

[Rowling’s comments made] me reevaluate my experiences with Harry Potter in general.”

Similar to Student X, senior Meha Gupta, who shares that the Harry Potter series is an essential part of her life, explains that this situation has greatly impacted her view of Rowling. Gupta’s engagement with the series includes

ON DYNASTY

purchasing posters and other Harry Potter use this identity] for dangerous acts like merchandise, traveling to the Wizarding for murdering people.”

World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios In an essay titled “J.K. Rowling writes and watching a Harry Potter movie every about her reasons for speaking out on year at her birthday party. However, after sex and gender issues” published in June finding out about Rowling’s transphobic 2020, Rowling wrote, “I want trans women views, Gupta admits that she lost a great to be safe. At the same time, I do not want deal of respect for the author who she to make natal girls and women less safe. had previously admired.

When you throw “[I] try not to support any group or open the doors of people … that I don’t align with.” Gupta bathrooms and said. “If I wouldn’t support that in a changing rooms friend, I wouldn’t want to support that to any man who in a celebrity. In that sense, I try to do believes or feels that as best as I can. But I think it’s a little he’s a woman … different with Harry Potter, just because then you open the [it] has been such an influential part of door to any and me growing up. I’m trying to separate my all men who wish views of Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling to come inside. because I already own so much Harry That is the simple Potter [merchandise] that it would be truth.” useless to just get rid of it.”

Many believe that Rowling’s views align The situation regarding Rowling’s with those known as trans-exclusionary transphobia escalated on Sept. 14 radical feminists, or TERFs — people who when she released her book “Troubled do not consider transgender women to be Blood.” In the book, a cisgender man women. Instead, TERFs view transgender dresses femininely to pursue and murder women as predators because they were cisgender women. Junior Issa Baca, who born as male, and therefore will always identifies as a transgender male and have the ability to oppress those born bisexual, has read as female. Student X “Troubled Blood” finds TERFs’ beliefs and acknowledges are dangerous the various reactions because they seem to towards the novel. stem from feminism.

“I feel like I can “Obviously, speak from two sides [TERFs’] ideas are of the story,” Baca terrible, but [they] said. “When I see can also be pervasive THE BIGGEST THING people talk about because they THAT PEOPLE CAN DO [the novel and how build their stance it’s transphobic], off of ‘We want to IS [TO] JUST IGNORE what makes me protect women,’ and [ROWLING’S] TWEETS question where ‘We want to fight AND LET THOSE they’re coming from predators,’ which OPINIONS FLOAT is that I don’t [see the] is obviously a great AWAY IN THE AIR AND comparison between stance to take,” the main character, Student X said. “As BECOME DUST. who’s not trans, to an a feminist, that is JUNIOR actual transgender also what I want to ISSA BACA person.

To me, do. The issue is that that’s transphobic, TERFs take it to a to consider being point where they’re trans as just a man in a wig. But on the not helping people. They’re just actively other hand, I think that it was incredibly harming people. And the way that they immature to … release a book where one frame it, it sounds like, ‘We are the good of the characters is ‘trans’ and have [them ones here, these people are evil’ — it can

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really get into your head and it’s hard to see it as something wrong.”

Baca echoes Student X’s opinion on TERFs, having had to deal with some in the past. In his experience, TERFs rarely try to have a civil conversation with him and use his legal name or the wrong pronouns as an insult.

“TERFs are annoying because they think that being trans is an attack on them,” Baca said.

“For example, they think that me wanting to transition to male is somehow against their feminism, which I just think is ludicrous. [Rowling] is definitely a TERF, there’s no denying it.”

In light of the recent controversies, the multitudes of “Harry Potter” fans in the world are wondering how to reconcile the author of their beloved series with an ideology that they disagree with.

Responses have included boycotting the series, burning books and using the Twitter hashtag, #RIPJKRowling, which started trending after the publication of “Troubled Blood.” Many people are using this hashtag in response to Rowling’s recent comments, showing that they believe her career is dead. Baca believes that while J.K. Rowling’s attitude thus far has been immature and rude, the fans shouldn’t stoop down to her level. “[Those responses] seem just as much of a low blow as what she has said about trans people,” Baca said. “The biggest thing that people can do is [to] just ignore her tweets and let those opinions float away in the air and become dust.”

However, there are people who continue to support Rowling, including public figures. Robbie Coltrane, who played Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, is one celebrity who has stood by Rowling and her beliefs.

According to an article by Insider, Coltrane stated that he didn’t find what Rowling said offensive and that “[T]here’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended.”

ARTS & ENT | NOVEMBER 2020

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On the flip side, several other actors involved with the Harry Potter franchise have openly opposed Rowling’s statements, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Bonnie Wright. In a blog post on The Trevor Project, Daniel Radcliffe wrote, “Trans women are women. … To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you.”

Despite this, Gupta believes that showing support for the transgender community means more than just making public statements.

“If a celebrity is only educating but not actually doing anything about it, it’s too performative, considering they are a celebrity and have the influence to actually do something with their money,” Gupta said. “And while educating the public does make a difference, just

educating each other [won’t] necessarily … save the world. They need to actually do something about it, like donate to charities or help people get out of unsafe situations.”

As many fans become increasingly disappointed with Rowling, there have been conversations on how to support the transgender community and possible speculation on whether or not Rowling can redeem herself by becoming an ally.

Baca believes that everyone deserves a second chance, including Rowling.

To resolve the situation, he would first like to see a public apology from Rowling, followed by other actions in which she demonstrates her commitment to the LGBTQ+ community.

“I would love to see her on some sort of a podcast with someone who is trans and for them to talk about it,” Baca said.

“She could also support LGBTQ+ charities because still to this day, there are so many

75% 75% of students

have had their of the have had opinion their opinion of the Harry Harry Potter Potter series series affected affectedbyby J.K. Rowling’s beliefs beliefs J.K. Rowling’s

trans kids who are homeless, shunned by their parents, going through a hard time and have depression.”

Student X agrees with Baca and believes that if Rowling were to issue an apology and then attempt to actively reverse the damage she has caused, she can set an example for how people can learn from their mistakes. However, according to Student X, no matter what Rowling does to fix the situation, some damage can simply never be undone.

“Just because someone tries to redeem themselves or tries to fix their mistakes, [this] doesn’t mean that the people who have been victimized by them have to immediately forgive them,” Student X said. “Because forgiveness is something very complicated. Even if J.K. Rowling tomorrow said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m going to help trans people,’ and does [help them], I don’t think that people are required to forgive her immediately until she does prove that she is able to help these people. And even at that point, they are not required to accept her with open arms. I think she screwed up big time, but she can still make her way back and hopefully undo this.”

“I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman ... then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.”

*According to a survey of 209 MVHS students *According to a survey of 209 MVHS students

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‘IMAGINING ARDABIL’

Senior Roya Ahmadi’s ‘Imagining Ardabil’ painting selected to be featured in the American Muslim Futures art exhibit

BY VIVIAN JIANG

‘‘

ILLUSTRATION | ROYA AHMADI

A

t the beginning of quarantine, and used to restore the rug in London, senior Roya Ahmadi was looking making the two carpets different in size. for inspiration for her next Art 3 The decision was made solely by Ziegler & assignment when she stumbled upon the Co. of Manchester, a British foreign export story of the Ardabil carpets, two famous company, and Ahmadi sought to convey Persian rugs. The two carpets, which were her frustration through her artwork.

“The [treatment of the rugs] felt pretty originally identical in size and design, are two of the world’s oldest Islamic carpets, clearly like a symbol of fragmentation for dating back to 1539-1540 A.D. They me,” Ahmadi said. “Because the control currently reside in separate museums [over] how it’s displayed, and what —­­­­the larger in the Victoria and Albert decisions [were] made about these pieces Museum in London, and the smaller in of history, were in the hands of Imperial the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. and colonial powers.”

To capture what she states is the The rich history and colonial powers’ treatment of the two carpets inspired mistreatment of the Ardabil carpets and Ahmadi’s next piece, one that she titled: to connect it with the cultural identity behind the rugs, Ahmadi decided to paint “Imagining Ardabil.”

“Like many artifacts of non-European a hijabi woman wearing a dress that and Western countries, these artifacts details the patterns of the Ardabil carpets generally, not in the case of this one, but and placed her on a throne.

“I decided to are [often] either incorporate the stolen from where patterns and colors they’re originally of the carpet into a from or — in the case dress with the intent of this one — are of reclaiming by bought for absurdly embodying this piece cheap prices and of history,” Ahmadi not really valued for I DECIDED TO said. “I chose a hijabi their craftsmanship,” INCORPORATE THE Ahmadi said. “But woman as my subject PATTERNS AND then as they’re because when I heard COLORS OF THE brought to Western about the story, I CARPET INTO A DRESS galleries, they wanted to embody it WITH THE INTENT by wearing it publicly, are suddenly OF RECLAIMING BY regarded with so like as a dress, and I EMBODYING THIS much fame and thought there was an PIECE OF HISTORY. admiration without interesting connection SENIOR acknowledging and to how hijab is a very ROYA AHMADI recognizing the public assertion of connection to where Muslim identity. And they came from.” there can be a lot of Ahmadi was troubled by the way the pride in that, but it also becomes a target carpets were reconstructed, as the border for a lot of hate. So what I was trying to of the rug in Los Angeles was removed do [was] place this hijabi Muslim woman

“Imagining Ardabil,” an oil painting by Roya Ahmadi measuring 30x42 in.

on a throne to recognize the power in reclaiming identity and connecting with heritage.”

To further emphasize the parallels between the fragmentation of the carpets and Islamic identity, Ahmadi decided to paint the woman’s hijab a reddish-yellow tone, the same color as the carpet’s border, which, as aforementioned, was removed from one of the Ardabil carpets to restore the other.

“What drew me to the carpet was the fact that it’s beautiful and celebrated for its beauty,” Ahmadi said. “But it was also literally fragmented by removing the border. And so what I was thinking of is there’s been … restrictions against wearing the hijab — either it’s forcibly removed as a result of racist, Islamophobic people or… in higher education, [like in Belgium], women aren’t allowed to wear hijab because [the government] doesn’t want religious symbols, which is [forcing] assimilation and also removing differences in diversity ARTS & ENT | NOVEMBER 2020

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PHOTO | LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

A close-up of the details on the Los Angeles Ardabil carpet and one of the two lamps illustrated on the on the rug, which appears in the background of Ahmadi’s painting.

and culture … Painting the hijab, which I see is a political symbol and [is forcibly removed] … as the border of the carpet, which was also removed, was kind of an important element of it.”

Throughout the process, Ahmadi paid special attention to the colors and features of the dress, navy blue with elaborate gold, ruby and sapphire floral details, leaves and geometric patterns — typical of Islamic art — in order to accurately portray the extravagance and beauty of the Ardabil carpets.

“With old Iranian carpets, the dyes that they used were like natural dyes, [pomegranate rind and indigo],” Ahmadi said. “So it was important to me to make sure that the colors and the vibrancy of the carpet really shone through, [which is why] there’s a lot of bright colors in there. I also wanted the patterns to look ... electric and alive.”

After finishing the piece over the summer, Ahmadi discovered American

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Muslim Futures, a multimedia art exhibit. The exhibit was created in collaboration between Muslim Advocates, a national civil rights organization committed to protecting Muslim Americans, and ShangriLa Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design, which is a global cultural institution. According to Erik Martinez Resly, the project lead for American Muslim Futures, the art exhibit was open to Muslim and Muslim allied artists for submission, as the creators hoped to create “a curated expression of a just future that centers the voices and the lived experiences of American Muslims and our allies.”

He believes that the creation of the exhibit felt particularly important during a time when American Muslims are being unfairly targeted and discriminated against as a result of biased attitudes and prejudices in this country. “[The purpose of the exhibit] is to not only create space for American Muslims and our allies to envision an America free of hatred and oppression,” Resly said.

“But to actually offer the visions of the American Muslim and allied community as a vision that is compelling and inspiring to all Americans.”

Ahmadi believes the message behind her painting perfectly aligned with American Muslim Futures’ mission and decided to submit her piece for evaluation. “[My] reflection for the exhibit and how I felt like [my art] connected was my hope for the future is that identities are celebrated,” Ahmadi said. “[For example], [the] hijabi Muslim woman in this piece [is] placed on a throne and I hope that is a symbol for how we celebrate and appreciate the intersectional identities of people that have faced trouble and challenges as a result of the Western world’s perception towards Islamic identity, female identity, all of these different aspects, and just having difficult conversations about the effects of colonialism and imperialism.”

SCAN TO VIEW THE EXHIBIT With a total of 350 submissions from over thirty states and participants ranging from age 6 to 80, Resly believes they were able to gather and choose from a diverse pool of applicants. The evaluation panel that ultimately decided which pieces of art to feature was composed of 10 cultural leaders — including Amir Khadar, a fiber and digital artist, and Aint Afraid, a music duo made up of two Muslim twin sisters — from around the country and of different artistic backgrounds. The panel went through many rounds of selection in order to choose the finalists, one of which was Ahmadi.

“Overwhelmingly, the panel of reviewers felt that Roya’s artistic technique was incredibly strong,” Resly said. “She was able to capture emotion and intensity in a way that was truly captivating and compelling. Additionally, the way that she was able to use her piece as an invitation to educate the viewer about the histories of these Ardabil carpets, what that represents about colonial and decolonial efforts in the arts globally, and reclaim agency that had been stripped of communities like hers through the exploitation of these artifacts,

ILLUSTRATION | ROYA AHMADI

A close-up view of the details of the dress in Ahmadi’s painting, inspired by the Ardabil carpets’ design.

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modeled the type of agency that inspired Budaraju said. “I think a lot of similar reimagine what that could look like in the our panel of reviewers for the type of just emotions and struggles are captured in times that we’re currently living in.”

Resly hopes the art exhibit inspires future she envisioned. To put a Muslim that piece that I can probably relate to, woman wearing a hijab on a throne is and a lot of other people can probably people through the works of others and relate to as well, encourages them to imagine and hope for an act of resistance especially coming a more just future. and a powerful act “For those of us in civil rights, who from a culture where of vision for a future women aren’t as work day in and day out, in the courts, in that is long overdue valued historically, and Congress and in communities, to defend in this country, and also where colonialism and protect the rights of our communities, so that that very has such a big impact, we need people with vision to remind us act of enthroning [which] applies to most what we’re fighting for,” Resly said. “There Muslim women is THE PLAY ON POWER are so many other visions that still need countries currently.” revolutionary and IS THAT HER PIECE to be shared on a local level, on a national In terms of the should be ordinary SIMULTANEOUSLY relationship between stage and platform like Roya did, and on and commonplace.”

EXPOSES THE art and social justice an international level. This exhibit is an The art exhibit INJUSTICES OF and reform, Resly invitation into that process of collective categorized POWER, AND applauds Ahmadi imagination, and that invitation is one the selected THE ACTS OF for both her strong that we extend to all people at all times. pieces in four RESISTANCE THAT artistic vision and You don’t need an exhibit to be given different galleries: RECLAIM POWER. her commitment to permission to cast vision for the world “ L i b e r a t i o n ,” AMERICAN advocating for civil you’re committed to creating.” “ P o w e r , ” MUSLIM FUTURES rights, which he views “Belonging” and Author’s Note: A previous version of this PROJECT LEAD as “a recognition of the article incorrectly stated that the name of “Futuring.” Ahmadi’s centrality of arts and the painting was “Reimagining Ardabil” and piece was placed in ERIK M. RESLY culture.”

“Power” because, mistakenly implied that the Ardabil carpets “The fact that she, as were originally of different sizes and made according to Resly’s perspective, the piece successfully a younger person, has already identified during different time periods. The caption of achieves two contrasting messages the integral relationship between civil the last photo also mistakenly referred to the rights work and arts and culture, speaks carpet as the dress in Ahmadi’s painting. The regarding power.

“Her piece showcases the exploitation so powerfully to her wisdom,” said Resly. article now accurately states the painting’s of power in the colonial histories of the “To the power of younger generations to name, “Imagining Ardabil,” and notes that the Ardabil carpets and reclaiming … power advance change, both continuing these two carpets were originally identical in size and in taking back that rich cultural tradition rich traditions of earlier generations, for produced during the same time period. The and using it to elevate the dignity of whom arts and culture have always been caption of the last photo has been corrected Muslim women,” Resly said. “The play on integral to social movements, and to and now cites the London Ardabil carpet. power is that her piece simultaneously exposes the injustices of power, and the acts of resistance that reclaim power.”

To senior Janya Budaraju, a close friend of Ahmadi’s who supported her through the process of making “Reimaging Ardabil,” the messages and emotions conveyed by the painting can resonate with people from a variety of backgrounds.

“Even though I don’t have the exact same experience as her with exploring PHOTO | VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM her Muslim identity, for me, it [resonates with] my Hindu identity and identity as The larger of the two (initially identical to the other before a border change) Ardabil an Indian second generation immigrant,” carpets, currently housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, measuring 34’ 6” by 17’ 6.”

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THIS IS SHARKS TERRITORY Students and staff share their fan experiences for the local San Jose Sharks

BY PRISHA TIWARI

PHOTO | MADDIE LEE

Senior Maddie Lee poses for the camera at a Sharks game with her family. Photo courtesy of Maddie Lee | Used with permission

T

he San Jose Erena echoes with cheers as the crowd jumps and screams enthusiastically. A San Jose Sharks player is huddled around by his teammates and all scream with joy after he scores a goal against the St. Louis Blues. Junior Sophia Chen says that watching her first game on Dec. 21, 2019, was one of the best nights of her life.

Chen has been a figure skater since she was eight, training at the same stadium

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where the Sharks team practices, the Solar4America Ice Rink.

Because [Solar4America Ice Rink is] home to an NHL team, there’s a very big hockey culture in the rink itself,” Chen said. “So growing up, I was surrounded by a lot of hockey and [it became] a big part of my life because figure skating is something I’ve been doing ever since I was a child ... There are many things that are representative of the Sharks because

they’re [based] in ... the area where I grew up, so they remind me of my childhood and my home.”

Senior Saravana Polisetti’s interest in the Sharks grew because he is a member of an ice hockey team himself. He plays for the California Cougars, a travel team that is part of the Northern California Hockey Association league. Polisetti began taking figure skating classes at a young age, when he watched many of the

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hockey teams play. He was immediately intrigued by the sport, which over time, allowed him and his teammates, as well as him and his father, to bond over a PHOTO | SARAVANA POLISETTI common team that they were fans of.

“It’s the home team, [so] I watch all their games,” Polisetti said. “Every practice my team always talks about what happened in the game the previous night.

[For] any game in general we analyze the aspects of how [ goals] [were] scored.

Since I play hockey as my sport, my dad always says things like, ‘Did you see how he scored [that] goal? Now do the same thing, so [watching the game] is like Senior Saravana Polisetti (front) practices with his team mates as part of the California support [in my hockey skills].”

Cougars Ice Hockey team.

Like Polisetti, senior Maddie Lee connects with her family members through the excitement of the game.

As her oldest sister is an avid fan, Lee believes that a mutual fandom towards the team allows her family to share the enthusiasm during games together. “[My family] was the reason I started liking hockey,” Lee said. “I see [watching the Sharks] as a family bonding PHOTO | MADDIE LEE experience because whenever we go [to the stadium], all of us are together and Senior Maddie Lee (left) smiles for a selfie it’s always really fun. It’s a time for us to with her sisters to display their merch. be together, in the moment, within the Chen personally stays invested in this crowd.”

Chen believes that wearing Sharks mindset by looking at the highlights and merchandise is a nice way of showing learning moments that occurred during a support among the spectators. She owns lost game.

“What [I] usually [do after a losing a poster, multiple T-shirts and jackets, game] is I review their plays and I go a quarter zip, a hat and a teddy bear, all back and watch the cut clips of the most Sharks-branded. Lee notes that wearing important moments of the game,” Chen merchandise at specific games allows the said. “I see what the crowd to show opposing team did, a sense of unity. what our team did, “I like their strengths, their w e a r i n g weaknesses. I try to [ m e r c h ] see why they lost, because when instead of getting you go to the really angry [at games, it’s them].” really cool Through all the seeing everyone consider themselves Shark fans team’s wins and show up and all *According to a survey of 245 MVHS students losses, Polisetti this Shark spirit hopes to see the [everywhere],” Sharks in the playoffs in the future, as the Lee said. “Some people [even] come with face paint. When [the Sharks] score during team wasn’t able to make it during the the game, it’s really exciting because the 2020 season.

“The Sharks are a good team but whole atmosphere is super pumped — they require better chemistry [within the and everyone [just] seems together.” teammates] to make it to the playoffs,” As a fan, Chen emphasizes that Polisetti said.

“Once they fix that, they even when the Sharks lose, she thinks will be able to win the Stanley Cup, and it’s important to stay committed hopefully they can win it next season.” to the team and show support.

27%

PHOTO | MADDIE LEE

Senior Maddie Lee (right) takes a quick picture with her sisters at a Sharks game with her family.

PHOTO | SARAVANA POLISETTI

Senior Saravana Polisetti snaps a shot at home before heading to a Sharks game.

of MV students

PHOTO | SOPHIA CHEN

Junior Sophia Chen arranges all her Sharks merch on her door to show her commitment to the team.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF LINDSEY TANG | USED WITH PERMISSION

HEADLINE GOES HERE STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Freshman Lindsey Tang poses for a photo with Stephen Curry at Warriors Basketball Camp surrounded by various championship trophies.

Students recount their experiences as fans of the Golden State Warriors

BY ANIKA SHARMA AND ANJALI SINGH

O

n Dec. 30, 2017, the Golden State Warriors played against the Memphis Grizzlies during a regular season game. Senior Alex Chau recalls this game as one of his favorite Warriors experiences because of one specific moment — when All-Star point guard Stephen Curry made a unique three pointer.

“Curry has all these moments,” Chau said. “But [in this game], he made [Marc] Gasol, [a player on the Grizzlies], turn around and spin. Then he just hits a three, look[ing] back before the shot even [went] in. I think that was definitely a [memorable] moment — it was hype [and] the whole stadium went wild.”

Chau shares that he became a Warriors fan at the beginning of high school when he first started to become interested in the NBA. He has been to several games, including the well-known Christmas Day Game in 2017 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers, at both the Warriors’ old stadium, Oracle Arena in Oakland and the new Chase Center in San Francisco. Chau notes that the live games at Oracle were particularly exciting due to the energy of the crowd.

Freshman Lindsey Tang became a fan of the Warriors in fourth grade, when she started playing basketball during recess every day. Her interest in the

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team continued to grow as she annually Tang emphasizes that one of attended the Warriors basketball camp, the reasons she’s a fan of the Warriors is where young players between the ages because of the connection she’s forged of seven through 15 can learn basketball with other fans through them. She notes skills from professional instructors how she’s been to games with members of and meet players, coaches and other her family, who are also fans of the team members of the Warriors organization. and also frequently watches games with Tang shares that because she went to her basketball team as well. She comments camp so many times, she was invited to how watching the Warriors alone is not meet Curry, who she cites as her favorite as fun for her and that these bonding basketball player experiences and her “celeb with others crush” when she “make a huge was younger. d i f fe re n ce .” “ [ A ] Chau agrees reason why I like with this Curry [is because] sentiment, he never moved citing his teams — he got brother as drafted to the NBA fans and consider themselves to be a specific Warriors and example.

Warriors fans [has] stayed *According to a survey of 163 MVHS students “[My there [ever brother] since], so it’s just likes the his home team,” Tang said. “I was really [Philadelphia] [7]6ers a lot, so sometimes really scared [at camp] because we all [when] we watch games, it’s pretty fun got to meet him one on one … We only because it’s competitive [because I’m got one minute to talk to him and take a a Warriors fan],” Chau said. “I think picture. [However], that was when I first basketball’s pretty cool, because if you’re started [playing basketball] so I wasn’t as watching with someone else, that helps competitive, [so] I [think if] I [met him] you bond [with them].” maybe a few years ago [it] would have Unlike Chau, senior Henry been [even] better.”

Hodgkins, who’s known by his friends

37% of students are

as a “die-hard Warriors fan,” considered said. ”They like to win. They have players himself a fan of the team since third or that want to win. That’s the culture that’s fourth grade, when he saw his first game been started for the past few years, [and] of them live. Since then, Hodgkins has that’s really important. I think they’ll be been an avid watcher, who enjoys arguing back next year, even though they had a with others, specifically other basketball lot of injuries last year, they’ll be back in fans at MVHS, about the Warriors. the playoffs and hopefully competing for

“I like basketball — I play [it] another title.” a lot [so] a topic of conversation that Not only does he hope the comes up [often] is ‘what team do you Warriors can win a championship title, support?’” Hodgkins said. “I wouldn’t Chau also wants the team to focus on say I’ve met many new people through developing its bench players in the [liking the Warriors] but I definitely [have] coming years by trading players and develop[ed] friendships around [them] ... strengthening the core backup players of It’s always good to have a common team the team. that you support

Regardless of their but also, some of future, Chau says my friends are not that the Warriors will Warriors fans, it’s always be a team he fun to mess with personally enjoys them and argue watching, whether other about basketball.” students do or not. Chau Additionally, has noticed that the despite the fact that Warriors bring a sense THEY LIKE TO WIN. THEY MVHS has a number of livelihood to the Bay HAVE PLAYERS THAT of NBA fans and the Area and unity among its WANT TO WIN. THAT’S THE school is located fans, something he feels CULTURE THAT’S BEEN in the Bay Area, is lacking in some other STARTED FOR THE PAST FEW teams and cities. there is not a large number of students

“[They’re] YEARS. who consider SENIOR just like a fun team to themselves HENRY HOGKINS watch,” Chau said. “No Warriors fans; in a heat to other teams, but survey of 163 MVHS sometimes when I watch students who follow other games, if they’re the NBA, only 37% consider themselves a 15 seed or even if they do have an allto be fans of the Warriors, with 17% as star, that [energy] is [missing]. I just enjoy prior fans and 45% who are not fans at all. watching Warriors games more … It’s Chau believes this may not only be due to really just fun to see them play and they certain students’ preferences in players, have a lot of fun on the court too. You but also how the culture of the Warriors see [Curry] always celebrating and all has changed this past year. these other teammates on the bench just

While the Warriors are regarded cheering on.” as successful because of their several championships in the recent years, the team did not perform as well as previous years in the latest NBA season, placing close to last seed — this was partly due to players like point guard Klay Thompson getting injured and the trade of small forward Kevin Durant. This change in success led many to question whether the dynasty of the Warriors is over.

Despite all this, Hodgkins still has faith in his team —- he thinks the Warriors harbor a winning mentality that will drive them to bounce back in the future.

“I think just the franchise as a whole, at least over the past few years, has been very winning-oriented,” Hodgkins

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PHOTO BY KATHERINE NGUYEN | USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior Alex Chau (center) poses for a photo with his family in front of the Chase Center, sporting a Warriors hoodie.

PHOTO BY DAVID HODGKINS | USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior Henry Hodgkins poses with his Stephen Curry jersey.

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FAITHFUL TO THE BAY Students recount experiences as San Francisco 49ers fans

BY BRIAN XU

W

hen senior Bassam Malik’s father and leisure time between moved to America in the 1990s, his activities, especially he started to follow football and during the busy schedule became a supporter of the San Francisco he managed during his 49ers, his local team. Growing up, Malik junior year. Malik shares shared his father’s passion for the 49ers, a similar sentiment — he watching every single Sunday game each makes it a goal to watch season. One of Malik’s favorite 49ers plays every 49ers game, even was near the end of a 2019 game against if that means missing the the Seattle Seahawks: tight end George first or second quarter Kittle pushed through several defenders during a busy week. with a decisive play near the end of the While these students game, gaining an extra 15 yards. are all 49ers fans, there Another student had a different path have been moments to becoming a 49ers fan. Senior Pranav when they’ve found it Reddy began to gain an interest in easy to lose faith in the professional football in 2015, ironically team. For Malik, this is during what he views as one of the team’s because the 49ers tend worst seasons. Reddy supports the 49ers to alternate between because it is a local team and he enjoyed strong and weak watching former quarterback Colin seasons.

Kaepernick execute plays. In past years, “Back in 2017 when however, he has had mixed feelings about [quarterback] Jimmy the team’s success.

[Garoppolo] got injured, “I would never switch to another team that was pretty bad,” PHOTO COURTESY OF BASSAM MALIK // USED WITH PERMISSION — I hate bandwagon fans,” Reddy said. Malik said. “And then we Senior Bassam Malik poses with his San Francisco 49ers jersey “But from 2015 to 2019, it was just pain. had a very bad record featuring defensive end Nick Bosa’s number.

[The 49ers] was one of the worst teams in when he came [back] the league for five years straight.” near the end of the season. He did [do] we were having a lesson in class and he Similar to Reddy, alumnus ‘20 Arush really good the rest of the season, [but] used an example which had the [49ers] Joshi became interested in the 49ers after then the following season he got injured and football on it, so people were talking watching Kaepernick’s plays. When Joshi [in] 2018 — we just did horrible that year.” to him about it.” was in second grade, he had a chance to Malik recounts many conversations Regardless of these ups and downs, watch a 2012 he has shared with these three students have remained and game in-person classmates and will continue to be fans of the 49ers. Joshi between the teachers regarding specifically finds himself continuing to 49ers and the 49ers games — in see renewed faith in the team, even after Los Angeles particular, he recalls rough games.

Rams. Though the disappointment “Last week, the [49ers] lost to the Joshi was of math teacher Jeff Dolphins 43-17,” Joshi said. “Jimmy disappointed Payne after the 2020 Garoppolo had a terrible game. I think he by the 49ers Super Bowl. had the lowest completion percentage of loss, he was “I talk football with his career. He was coming off an injury, excited to see consider themselves to be San Mr. Payne … he’s also but it still was pretty bad … it was crazy.

Kaepernick and a [49ers] fan,” Malik I’m glad to see that we bounced back this all the team’s Francisco 49ers fans said. “The day after week. Right now, if they just stick with receivers in- *According to a survey of 137 MVHS students we lost the Super their identity and run the football, I think person for the Bowl last [school] they’ll get pretty far.” first time. year, it was pretty sad. Mr. Payne was Johi recalls that watching Sunday just not feeling it, and we were all pretty 49ers games has served as a good buffer down. I remember literally a week before,

35% of students

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LET’S GO GIANTS Exploring MVHS students’ support for the San Francisco Giants

BY COLLIN QIAN

E

ver since eighth grade, junior Arthur Chan never leaves for school without wearing his San Francisco Giants cap –– the bright orange outlines of the Giants’ “SF” logo on his head symbolized his dedication to the local Major League Baseball team. Chan has been a fan of the Giants since he was five, taking after his uncle, who is also an avid fan.

Chan says he has been lucky enough to attend some of their local games.

Although he often spends time with family watching the Giants’ games, he believes that physically being at the games is a completely different experience.

“It’s Oracle Park now but when I was at AT&T Park, the atmosphere was nice and right on McCovey Cove; there’s this sea breeze that comes in every now and then,” Chan said. “Just the atmosphere of PHOTO COURSEY OF CONNOR NIEH a ballpark in general is always nice.”

Calvin Nieh, Leslie Nieh, Megan Nieh, and senior Connor Nieh attend a San Francisco Senior Austin Ota is a dedicated fan of Giants game in 2019. the Giants. Since his family has season tickets, he is able to attend approximately first baseman, it was probably 2013,” Ota become fans alongside me, and that’s 10 games each year. Ota has been a fan said. “I was still really little, and my voice made the overall experience a lot more since childhood, as both his parents was really high, so I had the cuteness fun,” said Nieh. “Due to their interest are lifelong fans. Some of Ota’s favorite effect going off. We were by the dugout in the team, I’m also able to go to more baseball memories come from sitting before the game, asking for autographs. games and have open conversations He came back about the team.” behind the and he signed, Since the Giants are a local team, Nieh backstop at the but he wasn’t believes that he is able to create a stronger Giant’s games. very happy.” connection with them. Additionally, this “There was a Interested makes it more convenient for Nieh to ball that was hit in interacting attend games and support his team. [towards us],” with his “Being so close to the Giants is so Ota said. “Not favorite Giants comforting because I feel more integrated a lot of balls get players, Ota into the community,” Nieh said. “Being hit [towards us] recalls a time close makes me feel like I have a small because there’s themselves Giants Fans *According to a survey of 275 MV Students he was visiting impact on my team’s success. I absolutely the netting, Chicago when have hope for this team.” and so I jumped In addition, while Ota says watching out of the way and my dad caught it the Giants were in town to play the White a Giants’ game takes three hours, he says barehanded. And then I took it out of his Sox. “We went to their hotel and we it’s worth it and has even inspired his hand and pretended that I caught it.”

In addition to having memorable basically stalked them coming in and out future career plan.

“It’s nice because the Giants have experiences in person, Ota also enjoys of the hotel that night [until] one of the meeting the players and getting their players kicked us out,” Ota said. “We had really good broadcasters,” Ota said. “I autographs after games. He says that the police called on us ––we had to leave.” want to go into the profession [of sports Senior Connor Nieh, like Chan and broadcasting] so I can study how they being able to connect with them on a personal level is something he would Ota, is also an avid Giants fan, using the work. But I can also just listen to them never be able to do by just watching the local team as a way to connect with his while I’m doing homework or listen to games on TV. Ota still looks fondly at some family and often ranting about the team’s replays going to bed.” successes and failures. of the first autographs he’s received.

“My parents and sister have also “His name [was] Brandon Belt, the

31%

of students consider

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