2019 Documentary Magazine Vol 2

Freestyle Academy 2019 Freestyle Academy: Junior Documentary Articles

https://freestyleacademy.rocks

2019 Junior Documentary Articles Vol 2

Cover Design by Syd Johnsen and Sydney Tomasello

Freestyle Academy proudly presents

2019 Documentary Articles Junior students were challenged with:

“How do you creatively and truthfully portray a significant person, group, place, idea, or issue in the community?”

For the Junior Documentary Project, students portray an intriguing person, group, place, idea, or issue, gathering primary and secondary research sources to develop a distinct perspective about their subject’s significance in the community and/or world.

The research-based paper from English serves as the copy for the magazine articles in this publication. This unit emphasizes narrative-style journalism.

Students in Digital Media learned to use Adobe InDesign for article layout, Adobe Photoshop of image editing, and Adobe Illustrator for graphic design to produce these articles. Each student in Digital Media also produced a documentary website.

Film students additionally produced a Documentary Film. Animation students additionally produced an Adnimated Documentary. Design students additionally produced a Documentary Book.

All documentary productions can be viewed through https://freestyleacademy.rocks/documentaries

Contributing Authors 2 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

H a n n a h H e r s h f e l d t � � � � � � � 4 J e h a n R a s m u s s e n � � � � � � � � 1 0 J e r e m y H a h n � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 1 6 Jordan Sharkey ��������� 22 K a t h e r i n e S u n � � � � � � � � � � � � 2 8 K e r b y G e r u g h t y � � � � � � � � � � 3 4 Kirsten Andrews �������� 40 L i l i a R o d r i g u e z � � � � � � � � � � 4 6 Madi Gubser �������������� 52 freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | 3

Hannah Hershfeldt 4 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

A Weed Grows ~in East Palo Alto~

Sidewalks devoured by weeds, ivy creeping up the sides of houses, corroded roads, and unkempt fencing. Gentrification haunts East Palo Alto and cities like it, aging and altering communities. While well groomed and appealing to the eye, underneath, a weed grows, engulfing tradition, community, and culture.

Infiltration, taxation, and discrimination – these are the stages seen in cities around the world. The outcomes surround us daily but emerge nearly unnoticed. This large-scale alteration is known in the news as gentrification, but it is far too complicated for a single 14 letter word. With countless definitions and countless perspectives, gentrification is a widespread issue that directly affects students around the country, and specifically in East Palo Alto.

Gentrification, by definition, is “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste”(Webster’s Dictionary, 1962). However, this definition totally misrepresents what gentrification truly is. It is more than a new mall opening down the street, it’s more than coffee shops and hipsters, it’s more than construction. What this definition fails to include is the impact on the people on either side. The key point of gentrification is one crowd coming in and pushing out another. From an administrative standpoint, it simply comes down to economic prosperity. But what actually happens is the people in charge make de-

By: Hannah Hershfeldt

cisions strictly out of the desire to attract affluent people, and then the price of living in the community goes up and up until the people who were meant to be helped can no longer afford to live there. The displacement of underprivileged residents illustrates that gentrification is legalized and systematic discrimination. In particular, this is impacting children in East Palo Alto.

A BRIEF BACKGROUND:

Once considered the murder capital of the country, East Palo Alto has a history of gunfire and homicides. In 1992, there were 42 murders; this year, so far, there haven’t been any (Mosley, 2018). Today, East Palo Alto is home to many major tech companies such as Facebook and Amazon. As mentioned, gentrification is creeping through the streets of American cities, it is introduced in many different ways, depending on the specific location and circumstances. For example, gentrification found its way into New Orleans following hurricane Katrina as politicians used the city’s destruction as an opportunity to completely rebuild the neighborhoods and attract new people. In East Palo Alto, this occurred mainly as a result of the tech boom.

THE PROBLEMS:

One of the most significant impacts of gentrification is a rise in rents. This can also lead to the displacement of residents. Students and families are having to move houses and as a result children have to change school because the families can no longer afford to live in the same neighborhood. Michele Sharkey, the executive director of the San Francisco 49ers Academy (a public middle school in East Palo Alto), stresses that being a young child, “having to have a break in your education is traumatic, to have to leave your friends and community and go to a whole new school because you can’t afford to live in your home community any more, that’s huge” (Sharkey, 2019). In some cases the children’s lives lose nearly all sense of stability as some kids are staying at their friends’ houses, sleeping in their cars, and/ or moving from place to place on a nightly basis to find a place to stay. Since the opening o f the 49ers Academy in 1996, insecure housing has almost doubled from 25% to 50% (Sharkey, 2019).

When this displaced child then goes to school it can be understandably really hard for them to focus and be present in their academics.

“The students bring [this] emotional trauma and impact into the classroom and then its [reasonably] harder for them to learn, and harder for them to concentrate because they have all of these basic needs on their mind” (Gragg, 2019). When Deshaun was asked about how gentrification impacts his life, he did not even mention school.

This is direct evidence of how students in East Palo Alto understandably prioritize home and

community issues over their education.

Deshaun Jordan, a sophomore at Oxford Day Academy and a former student at the 49ers Academy, was asked to speak of how gentrification impacts him academically. Instead, Deshaun spoke of displacement, large corporations, family businesses, community security and comfort, and cultural changes. Deshaun has a great understanding of the impacts of gentrification. According to Deshaun, Facebook offers their workers money to buy homes in the surrounding area (EPA), this ensures workers avoiding traffic and getting to work on time.

So as these people move into EPA homes, rent costs rise to accommodate for this newfound significance. As a result, community members are moving to places they can better afford like El Grove, Sacramento, and Gilroy (Jordan, 2019).

It is common knowledge that East Palo Alto was formerly known as the murder capital of the country, thus people move into this area with certain expectations and stereotypes. The things that are “normal” to the people who have lived in EPA for a while are sometimes seen as “scary or dangerous” to new people (Jordan, 2019). Deshaun also connects not being able to afford housing to kids getting into trouble. Kids carry the burden of their families, whether parents realize it or not; and often instead of listening to parents arguing or worrying about it themselves, kids go out to avoid the stressors at home. Sometimes, new neighbors call the cops on teens, putting them in juvenile detention facilities or other places like that. Deshaun feels this happens at an unreasonable rate and he believes this trend is the result of him and other kids in the area being stereotyped as “characters” by the new neighbors, and thus he fears he can get in trouble for anything. The racial divide often seen through cities may be partly because of the ‘guilty before proven’ mindset that plagues communities. This long-term caution is Left: A mural at the entrance of the 49ers academy, showing their value for diversity and equality in their school.

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damaging to communities and puts people at an unease in their own neighborhood. Interestingly, Deshaun mentioned the impacts of nearly all perspectives: families, children, corporations, business owners, workers – almost everyone, except fellow students.

Low-income school districts get their funding based on attendance and enrollment while higher income areas get their funding from tax base. This means if a community is of a higher income, the public school in that area is more heavily funded (Sharkey, 2019). Since 1995 the district of 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto East Palo Alto has dropped from 4500 students to nearly 2200; East Palo Alto lost nearly half of their students thus losing half of their operating budget.

The way the Ravenswood School District is organized, students who went to middle school in East Palo Alto and students who went to middle school in Atherton (a very affluent area right down the street from EPA), end up going to the same high school, Menlo Atherton High. Students who have spent their lives battling day-to-day struggle in meeting basic needs such as food and shelter are put into high school with kids bred from privilege living in Menlo Park and Atherton.

THE SOLUTION:

All the above-stated issues, signs, and connections are the problems caused by gentrification. As mentioned earlier, kids from both EPA, Menlo Park, and Atherton go to the same high school. These kids come from totally different backgrounds, yet they are expected to be at the same point academically and perform the same. This is a great struggle for these students, but the solution isn’t to expect more or less from students or hold dependent standards; the problem emerges when that needed support is not made available to the students. These kids’ “social and home lives are very, very different,” and institutionally schools need to keep this in mind and implement a way to assist all students in all backgrounds and encourage academic growth in uniform (Sharkey, 2019).

“These kids are brilliant and talented and amazing, they just need that equal opportunity and equal access”

~Michele Sharkey

Schools, specifically the 49ers Academy, work to support the students affected by the community shift as they go through their academic journey. The 49ers Academy has implemented a program that offers a staff member the opportunity to work with Menlo Atherton High School and follow select kids from 9th to 12th grade. This staff member is someone that the student has known through middle school so that they may offer some familiarity and comfort to the students (Sharkey, 2019). The adjustment from 49ers Academy to Menlo Atherton High School is known to be overwhelming. Julissa considered her 49ers community a family, while MA is much bigger and much more segregated (Moreno, 2019.) While their school is separated by parental income, race, gender, and location of middle school, this program offers a space where the 49ers kids can find a sort of home base. freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | 7

Academically, this program includes staff meeting with students and keeping them on track with school assignments. Another major component is the staff conferencing with the kids’ teachers to act as a parent because a lot of the parents have language barriers and do not feel comfortable meeting with the teachers. This program is needs-based and offers a variety of support including the previously mentioned academic help, as well as paying for community participation for sports, prom, and other events. Currently this program is only offered to 49ers alumni, but the school hopes to start expanding; however, this would require significantly more funding to hire support staff (Sharkey, 2019). The graduation rate from East Palo Alto at MA used to be about 50%, yet after this past year, the rate has grown to almost 90% (Sharkey, 2019). This program performs a much-needed service (Sharkey, 2019).

Deshaun and Julissa are two young students who are more than aware of the issues plaguing their community. They are beyond their years in a way that is both sad and impressive. Kendra Gragg who, as mentioned, works as a ground level teacher, notices daily the “level of resiliency that [these] kids have” and she admires them for dealing with day to day struggle and continuing to “push through and try to perform as well as they can in the classroom” (Gragg, 2019).

WHAT’S NEXT? Julissa Moreno and Deshaun Jordan both agree… we have the power to fight gentrification (Jordan, Moreno, 2019).

“Getting our voice out… and coming together and having the confidence, having the energy, having the courage to come together and just fight” (Moreno, 2019).

Julissa and Deshaun are in agreement that gentrification is going to “grow and grow no matter what” (Moreno, 2019).

Julissa believes the best chance her community has is to reach out and begin a movement of people working to solve the problem and raising their voices. The first thing that needs to be known is that “gentrification is not ok” (Moreno, 2019).

Deshaun says it is their obligation to get their community back (Jordan, 2019).

That common racial divide is plaguing our streets and the only way to fight it is to come together. Deshaun hopes to see implementation of measures that lower rents to allow families to come back. While this is somewhat unlikely, America’s youth is very strong as a collective voice at taking these matters to the streets.

Another example of the academy teaching a collective understanding of equal opportunity

In the end, it comes down to equity: equal consideration, equal opportunity, equal voice, equal education. Gentrification is not something that will come to an end anytime soon. It impacts children and families around the country, and they feel that they have no control. Don’t ignore it, when you see the signs. If you care, then act, because you, and us, have the power.

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Hannah Hershfeldt is currently a junior at Los Altos High school and Freestyle Academy. She spends her time going on adventures with her friends, stressing over everything, and watching movies. She hopes to study creative producing in college and to eventually work as a film producer.

She runs cross country and track. She loves to write poetry and creative esminor in cultural says and enjoys anthropology in incorporating it college. This love into her films. of culture, tradiShe is fascinattion, and social ed with culture justice is directly and hopes to reflected in her article. freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | 9

Jehan Rasmussen 10 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

Dancing Queens:

A Look Behind the Scenes of Queens Dance Studio

Q

Jehan Rasmussen

ueens’ atmosphere is warm and welcoming. In the entrance of the studio, one is greeted by warm light pouring downwards and reflecting off of a huge mirror in the corner of the small entrance room. Music hums from the stereo in the corner of the room, keeping the dancers in time to the song. The dancers all giggle as they run towards their water bottles for a short rest. The environment is loving and caring, the students and instructors equally invested in dancing as they are in getting to know each other better.

The new wave of dance studios teaching an intense and broad range of classes has expanded. Nowadays, when one thinks of a typical dance studio, they may think of the subtleties of ballet, the rhythm of jazz, and the unconventional structure (flow) of hip-hop. Each has its own special style that has gained incredible amounts of popularity in the modern world. At Queens, this is no exception. However, compared to other studios, Queens’ students and instructors value choice. Typical classes at dance studios offer an hour-long class once or twice a week, where you learn the techniques of the dancing style, or learn a dance in said style. Offering choice to students gives them an opportunity to find the right fit for them, so that they will be the most comfortable they can be. Commonly, ballet, jazz, and hip-hop classes are offered starting at a young age and through high school. However, at Queens, classes of all genres are offered, including tap, contemporary, style combination, lyrical, ballet, jazz, hip hop, and technique classes. All of these classes are offered from ages 3 to adult, and there is even a popular hip-hop class for mothers. Although Queens offers a diverse range of classes, owner and instructor Clary Rodriguez clears a few things up, “What really hits most is what’s popular. A lot of kids like jazz, hip hop, lyrical; sometimes ballet, but they know they need the training; it’s not their favorite” (Rodriguez). This is also shown through articles that rank ballet, jazz, and hip-hop within the top 4 worldwide forms of dance (Treva Bedinghaus, ThoughtCo.com). One of Clary’s students, Ella Rasmussen, corroborated this statement, “I am in beginner jazz and lyrical dance ... I’ve been taking hip hop for 3 freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | 11

years… there’s not one way of dancing; you make it what you want it to be” (Rasmussen). However, in terms of the commonality of an extremely high female to male ratio, Queens is no exception. Clary goes on, “We do have more girls in our classes, but we offer it for boys [also.] ... It’s becoming more popular, it’s out on TV kids are seeing it more ... it’s great and you’re getting more boys to do it” (Rodriguez). Even though there are many more girls than boys at Queens, the atmosphere and curriculum is welcoming to everyone, regardless of age and gender.

Ella goes on to discuss how the popularity of these dance styles leads to more flexibility in self-expression and comfort, regardless of the style of dance. “I just love socializing while stretching and doing all these things together; there’s a lot of bonding that you get to do in dance.

It’s a different kind of form of bonding; rather than just talking you get to see each other, move together” (Rasmussen). In today’s current educational atmosphere, alternative education comes in many forms, one of them being dance. In many articles, dancing is brought up as a way to develop the minds of youth and teach through movement (Seitz, “The Development of Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence in Children”).

Kinesthetic learning is important in developing motor skills for every person. Additionally, the accessibility of narrative expression through the use of dance is extremely significant in this scenario through its use of relaxation and social development. Ella goes on to say, “It’s a way of expressing myself without having to talk; and using my body. It’s the only way i feel comfortable using my body as a form of art” (Rasmussen).

A local experience gives the local community a familial experience, such as a local bakery or diner. In practicality, the experience gives one a feeling of nostalgia. The Los Altos Festival of Lights is a well-known parade which happens every year in late November. It showcases numerous fairytale characters, as well as local businesses and organizations. Of these, Queens Dance Studio is a fan-favorite.

Their holiday-themed performance in the parade is a highlight every year. Clary has a passion for being involved in local events, including everything from having competition teams participate in the Festival of Lights to traveling hours to compete in a dance competition. Clary herself, having grown up in Mountain View, finds herself having a closer connection not only to the studio’s location, but to the students and local community. Her experience growing up so locally goes to show how the studio is catered to this area. “My mom put me into dance class. I was always a child that loved to do many activities; horseback riding, karate, dance, et cetera. I loved music, so she said ‘Do you want to do it?’ And I said ‘Sure! Sign me up!’” (Rodriguez). Clary’s experience in growing up in such a high-stakes and high pressure area 12 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

such as the Silicon Valley goes to show how significant her efforts to cater solely to the wellness of the students are. “If you have ups and downs, and you come to dance class. … You kind of just escape from the outside world and when you’re a child, when it comes to school and things like that, you can just escape from stuff that goes on. That’s what helped me as a child” (Rodriguez). As people who live in the Silicon Valley, the high stress and stakes are no stranger to the students of Queens, and they often use the dance studio as a source of relief from school and stressful experiences that come with living in the Silicon Valley. Having the studio as a low-stake environment helps cater to the local needs of people in the area.

In much research about brain development and retention, the frequency of low-stakes experiences are thought to help support people in high-stakes jobs or situations (Durie, “How Low Stakes Activities Result in High-Impact Learning…”). By putting an emphasis on low-stakes, this helps the students build up confidence while improving their dance skills, and helping them relieve stress from daily life.

In addition to having grown up in the area, Clary has quite a bit of experience in teaching in the South Bay prior to Queens. “There were many things in a dance studio that you experience as a teacher that you may or may not like. … Doing this for so many years, traveling, and having my kids; once you get to a certain part in your life, you know it’s time to do you and open a studio and do it the way you want” (Rodriguez). Including her past experience in teaching, she had some struggles with the founding of Queens, as well as separating their styles from other studios in the area. “The thing is that here in the area, there are a lot of dance studios. There are some studios that have been here for over 40 years, so that was kind of a challenge. ... I truly put the kids first. It’s all about them … and giving Los Altos and the kids what they signed up for. I worked at many other studios and I just wasn’t seeing that. … But, I feel that if you’re passionate about something and you really love what you do, and you’re doing it for all the right reasons, it doesn’t matter; there’s students for everyone” (Rodriguez). Ella agrees. “It’s a pretty big part of Los Altos, with the festival of lights and everything. I think that having it locally is great and there people who are kind of far … still do Queens because it’s that much of an amazing dance studio. People are willing to drive half an hour just to dance [here]” (Rasmussen).

The competitive classes at a typical dance studio consist of dedicated, hardworking dance students who auditioned to be in the team. They often do competitions, showcasing the best of what the studio has to offer. Because of this, competitive classes often focus solely on the perfection of the dance, often practicing over and over again until the dancers are tired out. In an article from Psychology Today, it was shown through an experiment that performance in different tasks can be improved simply by instilling confidence into the doer (Kaufman, psychologytoday.com). This logic is used in

Once you get to a certain part in your life, you know it's time to do

You.

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the Queens curriculum to support the progress and mental health of its students. One of their regular students, Ella Rasmussen clarified her feelings and experiences at the studio. “At queens everyone is so supportive, and my teachers … are so caring and ask me questions about my personal life. ...

They’re definitely my role models; I look up to them, they’re sweet and kind and I love dancing with them” (Rasmussen).

Helping kids in dance build up their confidence is truly important to instructors Clary and Cassie, and they often implement different class activities to support the students. For example, an exercise of confidence Cassie does in her Jazz classes is to simply practice jazz walks to and from the mirror.

Jazz walking mimics wearing high heels and requires the dancer to walk on their tiptoes and keep balanced. The challenge of it all is for the dancer to be able to look themselves in the eye in the mirror and think “I am fierce. I am good at this and I look good while doing it.” This exercise truly forces the dancer to see themselves in motion and appreciate their own hard efforts. “To build that, [we] just let them have fun and enjoy themselves. There’s no pressure if [the dance] is perfect or not, but I feel that at the young age they are in, coming to a dance studio and letting them just enjoy themselves, love themselves ... molds them and makes them stronger as they get older” (Rodriguez). Another aspect of traditional dancing that Queens strays from is the epidemic of dance injuries. According to Rettner, author of “Dangerous Moves: More Kids Hurt Dancing”, the number of adolescents hurt dancing is steadily increasing, from just over 6,000 injuries requiring emergency attention in 1997 to over 7,500 injuries requiring emergency attention in 2007 and onward. But, at Queens, this isn’t the case. The studio, its instructors, and its students pride themselves on the rarity of incidents that lead to injury. “I truly put the kids first; ... it’s all about them from the beginning. I worked at many other studios and I just wasn’t seeing that” (Rodriguez). The immense amount of time and effort Clary and Cassie put into making a welcoming community and supportive environment really showcases what Queens is all about: care and acceptance.

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Author Bio

Jehan Rasmussen is an aspiring artist currently attending Freestyle Academy of Arts and Communication in Mountain View, CA. When they’re not belting out songs by their favorite bands or drawing, they’re watching cartoons and anime. They have a variety of interests ranging from musical theatre to linguistics. In the future, they hope to study both performing and fine arts, and be a vocalist in a punk rock band. freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | 15

Jeremy Hahn 16 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

By Jeremy Hahn

I

magine you’re a famous cellist from Russia going to play a gig in San Francisco when all of a sudden, your cello breaks. A seam rips right open and one of the corners breaks off. With only hours before your big performance in the Bay Area, what would you do? Well, if you’re anything like Natalia Gutman, you’d go to Heaney Violins, one of the most trusted string shops in the Bay Area.

What makes Heaney Violins such a special store though? It’s got a bit to do with everything they offer. After all, they’re much more than a string instrument retailer.

Sure you can buy violins and strings from them, but they also do violin repairs and maintenance as well as lessons. The amazing staff will also help you with whatever you need and don’t worry they know how to help you.

They only hire musicians who are passionate about music.

electrical engineer. With a degree in electrical engineering from Santa Clara, he worked a variety of electronic and audio engineeringrelated jobs before Heaney. In fact, he actually designed the code and sound for the “Tickle me Elmo” toy in 1995. However, even with these jobs, he was still able to pursue his dedication to the Violin by taking various gigs such as touring with the folk-pop group, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks. The retail manager Ben Richard is another skilled musician. He is a viola performance major who graduated from the University of Cincinnati College

This passion is seen in many of the staff members at the store. The head repairman, Benito Cortez, is an extremely accomplished Gypsy Jazz violinist as well as an From top to bottom: Close up of a violin body Side profile of a violin

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Conservatory of Music in 2012. With that degree, he performs and teaches viola around the Bay Area. Since the age of nine, Richard has been playing the viola, and the retail manager position has only strengthened his passion by giving him a deeper knowledge of string instruments.

The History

Before the year 2005, there was a void in the San Francisco Bay Area. Specifically, there weren’t many shops in the area that catered to string some help” (Cortez). He started out in retail musicians. A man named but once the previous head luthier left to Patrick Heaney took pursue guitars, Cortez took his place as the notice of this scarcity. current head repairman at Heaney Violins.

As an apprentice at His dedication to his craft and made it so that Kamimoto String every instrument that leaves the shop is in instruments in San Jose, it’s best condition. Later Richard would join Heaney “noticed that a and become the retail manager of the shop. lot of the customers that The driving force that lead Richard to get a were going to San Jose job at Heaney’s was his passion for music. were coming from the As he trains in music and takes auditions, he peninsula area and constantly uses what he learns from his driving all the retail job in his own musical career. way to San “Quality

Jose”. To solve this dilemma, control is he knew that the Bay Area probably the best But how does a shop needed a violin specialty that specializes in just one advertisement we shop in a more accessible of instrument keep location, a location that can do as violins go class itself busy? One might think would cut down the travel out.

They look good, that there’s only so much time for people in places they sound good.” business a string specialty like Palo Alto or Menlo Park.

So, in 2005, Heaney opened - Heaney shop can get because it doesn’t sell everyday items. Admittedly up Heaney Violins, a violin yes, it has a rather niche market; specialty shop for string musicians however, Heaney Violins caters to by string musicians in the Heart of Silicon Valley. With his knowledge of luthiery (string every single member of that market. From beginners in 5th grade picking up their first instrument maintenance) and instrument violin to professionals playing in all the retail, combined with his passionate staff, famous concert halls Heaney Violins has evolved into one of the around the country, most trusted string shops in the Bay Area. there’s something Since 2005, the store has gone through a few there for all. changes and none of them have been negative.

The retail In 2011, Cortez joined the staff of Heaney side of the store Violins. “I walked in here and I liked the place. I liked Heaney, so I asked if he needed specializes in

The Dedication

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retail related tasks such as selling instruments, bows, and supplies, working with customers, and cleaning instruments. When selling instruments they match the right customer to the right instrument. To a Professional musician, they might offer a higher end work of art. To a beginner in elementary school, they might offer one of their rental instruments. If someone comes in asking for a Vegan Cello, they’ll know how to work with that. Richard explains, “We’re trying to match the right instrument with the right customer and we ask the right questions. I mean, you’re not going to try and sell a $5,000 instrument to a beginner.” They start with finding out the budget, then find out whether it’s a rent or buy situation. They’ll also demo some instruments so the customer can hear what they sound like, anything to find out not only what they want but what they need.

The luthiery side of the shop deals with the maintenance and repair of string instruments. Any instrument they put out, whether it be a rental or a sale goes through a 13-step process which includes adjusting the tuning pegs and bridge, as well as changing the strings and adding a fine tuner to the tailpiece. Cortez will also play every violin while making the slightest of adjustments to ensure that it isn’t just playable, but that it has been brought to its best sound. This attention to detail is rarely seen in rentals. “You never see this on rental instruments, treating them like we treat all of the serious instruments. It’s serious setup and though it’s not at a very high price point, they are ready to play. Anyone can play them” (Richard). This isn’t just a job for Cortez; he is dedicated to making sure that each musician that uses an instrument that he’s worked on has a great experience with it. The last thing he wants is for students to have the same experience as he did playing school instruments that were not at their best. “I’d like every kid to have that experience of wow this violin doesn’t look like a wreck,” Cortez explains. Every instrument that leaves the workshop is the best that is can be, and that’s all thanks to the dedication of luthiers like Cortez and Heaney who will settle for nothing less than the best quality.

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Patrick Heaney rehairing a bow

Their Reputation

Many people would think that a shop like this would be put out of business by the rise of online retail by now; however, online retail has only made it stronger. Instead of falling to the side, Heaney Violins strives to work harder to create a quality experience for their customers, something you can’t get from Amazon. Heaney explains, “ they’ve basically upped everybody’s level, they’ve increased competition so it’s a good thing for the customer. And I think it’s a good thing for businesses that are embracing quality.

They

want to keep raising their level.” What they offer at their shop really helps with the goal of creating a specialty shop that cannot be rivaled by any online retailer. Heaney Violins maintains this standard by making sure that they have everything that they would need constantly in stock and that the quality of visit for each customer is unmatched.

They also offer more services than online retailers such as instrument setup and string replacement. While there are people who might prefer to set up their instruments themselves, for many musicians, having a professional change their strings and set up their instrument can be very beneficial.

A highly skilled luthier will pick up on things that most musicians will miss. They will make all the slightest adjustments to ensure that the instrument has been brought to it’s best sound. All these factors contribute to an organization that cannot be rivaled by online retail stores.

Over the past 13 years, Heaney Violins has managed to stay relevant to the local music community. They’ve done this by striving for high quality in their field of string instrument retail and repair. By doing this they’ve been able to make a real impact on local string musicians.

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Row of cellos

About The Author

Jeremy Hahn is a junior and a current member of the Freestyle Academy and Mountain View High School classes of 2020. As a high school student, he enjoys playing and making music as well as varieties of digital art and amateur photography. His main gig is on bass guitar and upright bass, although he plays a few other instruments as well. In his free time, he likes to write instrumental parts for songs, play video games, and occasionally build guitars. He is in a punk garage band with a few of his friends called Feathers of Lead. He hopes to have a career as a sound designer for video games and or movies.

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Jordan Sharkey 22 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

A District In Distress: Fighting Gentrification

Written and Designed by Jordan Sharkey

The polished buildings of Home Depot and Facebook that were once home to family parks and schools now stand within walking distance of the chipped, gated and small homes of East Palo Alto. Plastic playgrounds placed on sidewalks and front lawns.

Food carts on the cracked street corners. Hondas and Acuras strategically placed bumper to bumper.

The Ravenswood School District is the public school system that serves students in East Palo Alto and the eastern section of Menlo Park. Every school in the Ravenswood District shares the same goal of keeping the children of East Palo Alto safe, on track and in school.

One specific school in this district that continues to change and improve the lives of hundreds of East Palo Alto students is the San Francisco 49ers Academy. The 49ers Academy opened in the fall of 1996 as a public middle school located in East Palo Alto. The program expanded to high school in 2014 and continues to provide services to students from grades 6-12. Michele Sharkey, the founder and executive director of the 49ers Academy, knew from a young age that she wanted to work in the East Palo Alto public school system: “I grew

up in Palo Alto right across the freeway and it was really eye-opening to me to see the different opportunities kids were afforded just based on their address”.

Sharkey’s constant to support children in their education and their everyday lives is very similar to that of many women and men all around the Bay Area who have spent their time and money to aid East Palo Alto students as teachers, librarians, counselors, administrators and more. Kendra Gragg, an eighth grade reading intervention teacher at the 49ers Academy has a very similar experience. “[I became involved in this school district] through my placement with Teach for America, so that program targets under resourced districts, so I knew going into my teaching career that I wanted to serve under-performing or under resourced districts that were in need and so the program that I was with placed me at the 49ers Academy.” (Gragg).

The constant drive for improvement as well as support by the staff of the Ravenswood School District has made schools a safe haven for the students of East Palo Alto. “[The] school community is wonderful, it’s really family-like, it’s an amazing and supportive environment and we love our kids.”

(Sharkey) One promise to the kids that the 49ers Academy keep is that everyone has the backs of students and is there to support them. The community of the schools in East Palo Alto is nothing but a positive and supportive environment.grew up in Palo Alto right across the freeway and it was really eye-opening to me to see the different opportunities kids were afforded just based on their address.”. Sharkey’s constant to support children in their education and their everyday lives is very similar to that of many women and men all around the Bay Area who have spent their time and money

to aid East Palo Alto students as teachers, librarians, counselors, administrators and more. Kendra Gragg, an eighth grade reading intervention teacher at the 49ers Academy has a very similar experience. “[I became involved in this school district] through my placement with Teach for America, so that program targets under The constant drive for improvement as well as support by the staff of the Ravenswood School District has made schools a safe haven for the students of East Palo Alto. “[The] school community is wonderful, it’s really family-like, it’s an amazing and supportive environment and we love our kids.”

(Sharkey). One promise to the kids that the 49ers Academy keeps is that everyone has the backs of students and is there to support them. The community of the schools in East Palo Alto is nothing but a positive and supportive environment. But due to

gentrification and housing insecurities, the schools are in danger of losing that.

Gentrification is the process of renovating properties and moving people with a higher income into an area, raising property values as well as rent, forcing the current, lower-income residents out. Due to the tech boom in the Silicon Valley, many tech companies have moved their headquarters and office buildings into lower income communities such as East Palo Alto, and their employees have moved as well, causing a housing crunch in the already financially stressed town. The process of gentrification spreads like a disease. It starts slowly with early symptoms such as population increase and then quickly spreads until it expands over an entire city and affects everyone inside of it.

Gentrification has many detrimental effects on the cities and people it touches. To begin, gentrification has brought financial crises to families, schools and businesses that have always on the cities and people it

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touches. To begin, gentrification has brought financial crises to families, schools and businesses that have always called East Palo Alto their home. As a result of the move of large technology companies such as Facebook into the area, employees find the lower priced homes a more attractive option than other much more expensive communities in Silicon Valley. Due to the invasion of a more affluent population into East Palo Alto’s traditionally lower income community, current residents are forced to leave their homes and neighborhoods, taking their children with them. Since the schools in East Palo Alto depend on enrollment numbers for funding, when more and more students are forced to leave, the schools are funded less and less. “Gentrification is a huge issue here in East Palo Alto and really over the last 5 years you’re really seeing the negative effects, it’s a double whammy for the public schools, your kids are being pushed out, so our community, our schools, your kids are being pushed out, so our community, our low-income families can no longer afford to live here so we’re losing enrollment which means losing dollars for the public school but then you’re also seeing on the flip side, the students that stay in the community are becoming increasingly stressed in terms of housing and insecurity trauma, so the schools are faced with declining enrollment which means declining funding and then higher needs with their student population” (Michele Sharkey).

Not only does gentrification have an economic effect on residents who are being forced to move, but as Sharkey mentions, it affects the citizens who stay as well. Due to the increase in rent, many families who can afford to stay are forced to spend most of their monthly income on rent alone. Schools in the Ravenswood District must spend more money on supplies and materials since students may not be able to afford them because of the increase in rent. “I mean the families may not have that extra money to spend on school supplies, uniforms, shoes, you know so they just don’t have means to provide all the things our students need on a day to day basis, which we try to then support some of that” (Gragg).

Gentrification can also have an immense emotional and social impact on those it affects, especially young people. Students are being forced to leave their community, their friends and their schools because their families can no longer afford to stay there. When a student is forced to drop everything and start over in a new place where they don’t know anyone, the emotional stress and trauma can have negative effects on academic performance and mental well being. Students affected by the process of gentrification are held to the

same expectations as students in the rest of the Bay Area, yet they are not given the same resources.

The inequality is apparent. “Gentrification impacts our students socially by really creating an unstable environment in their community, so their friends are leaving, they may have to move out of their home, they may have to be sleeping on someone’s couch, or in a garage, or in a car just to stay at their home schools. So that really affects your ability to be involved in social activities, you can’t be on a soccer team after school, or in a club, or do all the things that build community and the social aspects of school, you’re just not able to do it” (Sharkey).

Menlo Atherton High School sophomore, Julissa Moreno, believes that gentrification causes dramatic changes in a community. “It pushes people out,

people that have been living here all their lives,” she says, “...there’s so many families I know that get sad because all of their memories are here and they are forced to move hours away from their community.”

Oxford Day Academy sophomore, Deshaun Jordan, agrees with the idea of the harmful effects gentrification place on a community. Jordan discusses knowing students who are unable to stay and get extra help from teachers after school, or who are unable to come to community organizations or events because they live too far away. This forced displacement is taking the community and support away from young people who need it the most.

“Gentrification is going to grow no matter what. It’s always going to grow. We can’t stop that” (Moreno). Students and families are aware of the

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inevitable truth that gentrification will not magically stop one day, so they are facing the problem head on.

With the passion and drive to overcome, the community can come together to fix the many problems that comes with gentrification. “When it first came to East Palo Alto there wasn’t that much but it keeps growing more and more so it’s going to grow no matter what, so at this point it’s important to reach to people and try to get them to be part of solving the problem. It’s all on us. If we don’t raise our the community can come together to fix the many problems that comes with gentrification. “When it first came to East Palo Alto there wasn’t that much but it keeps growing more and more so it’s going to grow no matter what, so at this point it’s important to reach to people and try to get them to be part of solving the problem. It’s all on us. If we don’t raise our voice then nothing’s going to happen and they’re going to think it’s okay for gentrification to be coming into our community” (Moreno).

The students of East Palo Alto believe that the people who are capable to fight and minimize gentrification are the people who it affects the most. Both Moreno and Jordan believe that you must fight for the change you want to see, which is exactly what they are doing.

“I feel like who has the power to fight gentrification,gentrification, I feel like its us, and us getting our voice out and it’s just like us coming together and having the confidence, having the energy, having the courage to come together and just fight for it all, and make your

voice go out and speak on the topic too” (Moreno).

The citizens of East Palo Alto hope to see fewer families being forced to leave their homes and their neighborhoods due to gentrification. They hope to see families return who were forced to leave everything behind. Jordan believes that as long as one respects and understands the culture of the community into which one is moving, anyone should be able to move in and play just as big as a role as other residents of the city. It is important for people to stick together and to take care of each other because this problem isn’t going to be solved without a united group of people who care about this issue and who are passionate for change and equality. The students and young people deserve nothing less.

The students from lower income communities deserve the same education and opportunities as the rest of the students in the country. To take a student’s financial background or address into consideration when it comes to the quality of education that they deserve is completely unfair. Everyone must come together and educate themselves on the topic of gentrification and use their voice to speak out for those that deserve more than they receive.

“Because the kids here are brilliant and talented and amazing, they just need that equal opportunity and equal access” (Michele Sharkey).

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About the Author Jordan Sharkey

Jordan Sharkey is a junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. Outside of school, Jordan enjoys to play soccer, ride horses, volunteer, spend time with family and friends, and watch movies. After completing high school, Jordan hopes to attend one of her top-choice universities were she plans to pursue film production and studies.

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Katherine Sun 28 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

H azy Truth a v th u o Curious, he asked to try it.

e

y

idemic. p e g pin

th

Now, Lucius is addicted to nicot o tine- one of the four million kids curn i rently addicted to nicotine in the United States as of 2018.

by Katherine Sun

B

Ag

se p lim

Dubbed as “vapes” in a rising vape culture, but formally known as electronic cigarettes, these devices were created to give former nicotine addicts a healthier alternative to smoking. The difference between e-cigarettes and cigarettes is that as opposed to cigarettes, e-cigarettes

efore I even turned my head to see that Lucius* had opened the door of my car, I knew it was him. He smelled peculiarly of blueberries—the scent was sweet, but overwhelming.

Lucius first agreed to talk to me after school on a gloomy afternoon. My car was an ideal spot “I use the word epidemic with to meet, so our conversation about his nicotine great care” -FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb addiction wouldn’t be eavesdropped on. Lucius hadn’t even taken a hit of his vape—an electronic device that delivers vaporized nicotine— do not include the lung-tarring substance of but the smell radiated and smelled delicious. tobacco. Also, vapes come in a variety of designs and delicious flavors. Vape “juice” is the Lucius, now a junior, was introduced to vaping liquid that is vaporized and inhaled. There are in his freshman year. It was another mundane endless options for the juice, a few popular school day, his math teacher was going off on ones to name are mango and mint. Vape “inanother tangent about geometry proofs when fluencers” such as Austin Lawrence ( @vaustinl he left class to go to the bathroom. Upon enon Instagram ) have amassed millions of views tering, Lucius saw an upperclassmen vaping. freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | 29

and sponsors for showing off smoke tricks.

But despite its original intent, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has declared e-cigarette use to be an epidemic, among a group who it was not intended for – teenagers. In an FDA statement, Gottlieb explains, “I use the word epidemic with great care. E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous—and dangerous— -- and dangerous -- trend among teens.” Sure, these products may have fallen into the hands of the wrong group, but why consider them “dangerous” when they don’t contain the ingredients in cigarettes that have been notorious to cause cancer?

The major concern of nicotine is that it is addictive. Nonetheless, Gottlieb paints the epidemic as a “disturbing and accelerating trajectory of [e-cigarette] use… in youth, and the resulting path to addiction.”

But despite its original intent, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has declared e-cigarette use to be an epidemic, among a group who it was not intended for – teenagers. In an FDA statement, Gottlieb explains, “I use the word epidemic with great care. E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous—and dangerous— -- and dangerous -- trend among teens.” Sure, these products may have fallen into the hands of the wrong group, but why consider them “dangerous” when they don’t contain the ingredients in cigarettes that have been notorious to cause cancer? The major concern of nicotine is that it is addictive. If nicotine is the addictive substance, tobacco is the destructive substance.

Lynn Kozlowski, expert on tobacco and nicotine policy states, “We know that tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemicals, including at least 70 known to cause cancer.”

Vape “juice” and a Smok- a vaping device.

Cigarette use has declined and a stigma against traditional cigarettes has resonated strongly with younger generations. However, nicotine addicts who wanted to quit cigarettes still craved the nicotine, which allowed the a new market of cigarettes to be created:-- e-cigarettes. The vape companies claim that e-cigarettes, unlike what the stigma against cigarettes portrays, do not cause cancer. They are much healthier.

The second time Lucius and I meet is the first time I hear that one pod is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes. A pod is the detachable compartment that holds the vape juice, and is roughly the size of the top of your thumb.

Lucius says he goes through one pod every few weeks.

Jurvetson points directly to a specific company- Juul - to explain the marketing strategies.

Juul-- a company based in tech hub San Francisco, Juul-- has a “Mission and Values” webpage that claims their goal to be “‘improving the lives of the world’s one billion adult smok-

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ers.’” But Jurvetson notes that “Juul didn’t come out until 2015, [and now] the two co founders literally have made over a billion dollars each of profit.” It seems ironic, a device created to help smokers fight an addiction has only gotten a new generation addicted. But as Jurvetson reveals, Juul’s real market are teenagers. Juul’s are made to “look like a USB stick, so an appeal to look cool, and then [they] have different flavor packs that are more oriented towards kids.”

For example, their mango pod is notoriously popular with the youth; Other favorites are mint and creme. Juul also claims, “we believe that vaping can have a positive impact when used by smokers, and can have a negative impact when used by nonsmokers.” Besides the appealing appearance, Juul has created an insanely addictive product. “Other than Juul, all other closed system e-cigarettes do not have high-addiction potential because they are actually quite poor at delivering nicotine.” Juul pods use a “specially formulated nicotine salt” that reaches the bloodstream rapidly, creating a large uptick in nicotine concentration in the blood. Contrary, when e-cigarettes were first introduced in 2003, they were considered the healthier alternative to deliver a lower dosage of nicotine. The purpose of these devices was to wean nicotine addicts off nicotine, so eventually they could get sober. But is that really the purpose of these devices now, given that a pod is the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes?

Bay Area. She recounts:

At a holiday party in about December 2013, I was talking with Jim Monsees, who was a co-founder of Ploom (which later changed its name to Pax Labs and then to Juul in 2017). He was talking about starting a new company that allowed people to smoke without regular cigarettes, so less chemicals, yet still get the nicotine hit (which is what makes smoking addictive.) He was bragging about how much profit he could make from it. I became really mad at him and challenged him that he was planning to profit off getting people addicted, especially since smoking cigarettes puts people at much higher risk of lung cancer, stroke, and heart disease… As I pointed out to him, this rationale for starting an e-cigarette company was disingenuous in my opinion… and this actually introduced [teens] to smoking and made it look cool…

I was really mad, which wasn’t really the norm at a seated holiday dinner… Makes me sick that now he’s a billionaire, and the Surgeon General has declared juuling is a public health epidemic among youth.

This intimate moment with one of the founders highlights their defensive, yet negletory attitude. Juul’s have become the entry level device that gets many vapers started in vape culture. The marketing strategies of Juul have portrayed their device as harmless. From those who have never tried a Juul to those who use The reality is, companies like Juul don’t want a Juul regularly, all teenagers are knowledgeto admit their real market is teenagers. They able of the culture. They laugh at how it looks don’t want to admit they created their products like a USB stick [especially when it charges in to appeal to these teenagers. Juul headquarthe USB port of a computer] and share memes ters is located in the heart of Silicon Valley. By about the ever so popular mango pods. Lucius coincidence, Jurvetson ran into the one of the says, “I had already been kinda interested in founders at Juul at a Christmas Party in the it. I’d seen people with Juuls, [and] I thought freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | 31

it was kinda interesting, and I wanted to try it out. It looked cool, it was like a cool lil device.”

Ella*, another high school junior, recounts her first time getting a Juul: “The day after I got my juul… I was so excited about it, I used like three quarters of a pod in probably four hours.

And a pod is a pack of cigarettes, so that’s like twenty cigarettes. And I used a lot of that, and I didn’t have the tolerance for it. So, I got really, really sick, threw up for two days, and couldn’t eat, and didn’t go to school.” Ella and Lucius’ experience highlight how the culture and appeal of vaping shaped by these companies have propelled teenagers to be careless in their experimentation with the drug. They aren’t worried about the health effects with a mentality of “everyone else is doing it so it can’t hurt me that much.”

What Now? On March 19 2019, in San Francisco, California, Supervisor Shamman Walton proposed legislation that would ban the sale of e-cigarettes in the city. San Francisco also happens to be where Juul Labs headquarters are located. If this legislation were to be passed, KCBS Radio of the San Francisco and the Bay Area notes that “if the measure is approved, it would be the first such prohibition in the country. [But] its chances are not clear.” If this legislation were to be passed, it would set the precedent to the government avotable ones to name being American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and American Lung Association, came together to sue the FDA for their decision of delaying regulation to 2022.

“I got really, really sick, threw up for two days, and couldn’t eat, and didn’t go to school.”

So kids are addicted, and these companies succeeded in their deceptive tactics. According to Vox, Juul today is “a staggering $38 billion.” As a matter of fact, Juul distributes “a whopping $2 billion in bonuses.” With 1500 employees, that A teenager smokes with her Juul. is “an average bonus of $1.3 million per employee.” Jurvetson remarks, “I think that’s really As the crackdown on youth vaping commencunethical.” es, the youth addicts are wary of putting an end to their addiction. Lucius says with uncerVape “juice.” The liquid that is smoked. tainty in his voice, “I would consider quitting, maybe, at some point, but I don’t really- I still think the benefits outweigh the negatives.” Ella remarks, “it’s always that feeling of like, ‘oh I should stop,’ but I never get around to it.”

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About the Author -headshot -format text -QR code to websitev

Abo u t th e Au th or Katherine Sun is a highschool er who has a newfound passion for writing. she thanks her english teacher Mr. Greco for teaching her to fall in love with writing. Katherine is a fellow music enthusiast.

She can usually be found talking with her friends over the newest album drop or rediscovered throwback.In her free time, Katherine enjoys painting or walking her dog Chico.

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Kerby Gerughty

THE DRIVING BATTLE

C

harles Gerughty’s loves racing. His first experience racing was at the Wednesday night drag races at Sonoma Raceway. He met people there who became his friends. They all just wanted to have fun on Wednesday nights drag racing. He enjoyed the competition on the drag strip.

The specific type of drag racing Charles enjoyed is known as bracket drag racing, when the slower car leaves before the faster one respective to the speed of the two cars. The race is then more about the skill of the driver than the speed of the car.

The competition of racing forms different kinds of friendships. Racers bond when they race; whether they win or lose, they eagerly get ready to try to win the next time. Charles loves the rivalry. Throughout Charles’ racing experience, he’s blown up five engines, three transmissions, and two rear differentials. The joy and excitement it has given him in return has been worth it.

Charles eventually transitioned from drag racing to track racing. One of his buddies that he

KERBY GERUGHTY

met on his first night of drag racing kept on telling him that he should come out to Thunderhill. He started his track racing experience in a beginner class to learn the basics of track racing. He had to put his ego in his back pocket and take the class even though he had been drag racing for years. The course taught him how to be safe on the track. After the first day of racing at Thunderhill, he didn’t really like it. He went back though, because he wanted to be with the friends he made while drag racing. After two or three days on the track, he was hooked. He has made so many friends throughout the years because almost every person that he has met on the track he has a special bond because of racing.

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A PROFILE ABOUT CHARLES GERUGHTY, HIS LOVE FOR RACING, AND HOW HIS LIFE CHANGED WHEN HE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER. ALSO CANCER AS A WHOLE AND THE MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES THAT COME WITH IT Through the years Charles has had different nicknames because of his license plates. His first plate was BUDSLS3. “Bud’s” because his father’s nickname was Bud, and he bought the car with the money from his estate. “LS3” because that was the engine in his Corvette. This plate gave him the nickname of Papa. His next plate was TAX MD, which gave him the nickname of Doctor.

License plates are a way for the racers to show off their personalities and are just as expressive as the type of car they drive.

Over the past 11 years, Charles has owned 12 Corvettes, a Subaru, and a Camaro at different points in time. He’s had coups and convertibles.

Right now, he’s racing a Corvette ZO6 with the ZO7 racing package and a Supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine. It has 650 horsepower with 650 foot-pounds of torque through a 7-Speed manual transmission. It has a top speed of 195 miles per hour and can go zero to sixty in 3.2 seconds.

Charles loves both track and drag racing. One of his favorite parts about drag racing is the fast pace. He described, saying “what I like about drag racing is, here, then gone tomorrow, boom smack, it’s done. After racing then you have to have the joy of winning or the heartbreak of defeat for the next two hours”. Track racing, “you have wide open straightaways, elevation changes, and unbanked turns. Plus going crazy fast down the straights and hitting a turn perfectly

having the back slipping out and gunning it out of the turn. Next, hitting a split in the tarmac and the car becomes airborne coming back down to the ground and burning rubber at one hundred miles an hour. Coming up on someone’s tail and having to break, hoping to not wipe out into his back end. While track racing, you have to be able to see everything going around you and react within milliseconds.”

Charles loves both styles, whether it be the fast-paced, 8-second flood of adrenaline of drag racing, or the careful, ripping, controlled power of track racing. The one try for perfection flying down the straightaway then waiting for two hours to try again when drag racing, or the chance to try again on the next lap for the perfect turn when track racing. These two different styles both attract the same people, the people who love the comradery of racing.

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C

harles course changed last year when he went out dinner with a couple of friends one night. The first bite of the hamburger he took got stuck in his throat. With the hamburger stuck in his throat, he hurried off to the restroom. The next day he called his doctor and scheduled an appointment because it didn’t seem right to him. He went to his appointment and his doctor said it might’ve been an upset stomach, but because of his advanced age (69), the doctor wanted to do some testing. The doctor ordered an endoscopy and a lab test. The endoscopy discovered cancer on his esophagus and a CAT scan was ordered to find out the extent of the cancer. Charles was diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer.

When he found out the extent of the cancer, he went straight to treatment. He wasn’t able to eat solid food for three months.

He was sleeping almost twenty hours a day for two months because his body was putting all his energy into fighting the disease. He had a stent put into his throat to his stomach so that he would be able to eat more easily. Cancer hit him like a ton of bricks, sapping all of the energy from his body.

Charles continued to fight his battle. Now every two weeks he goes to the Kaiser Walnut Creek Infusion Center to get a chemotherapy infusion. He is there for three hours and then he goes home with additional chemo drugs.

Charles waited to tell his daughters in person so that they

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wouldn’t freak out when hearing it over the phone. He took his daughters out to lunch to tell them. When they found out, they were shocked, but it didn’t really set in that their father had just told them he was dying. When he told his racing buddies, they were extremely upset. Everyone knew that Charles had been very healthy and in good shape. However, cancer doesn’t care what type of shape you’re in or what you do, it will come after anyone. After everyone in the racing community found out about his cancer, they reached out with love and support. Charles said “I was really surprised at the outpouring love and support. People came to my assistance with their prayers and with their good thoughts.” Many of his friends have reached out with cards and well wishes. He jokingly said, “I should get sick more often then I would realize how many friends I really have.”

After finding out about his disease and starting treatment, Charles had to take a break from racing for a little while. This was especially difficult because he had got so much joy and happiness from racing. When he started back racing, his lap times actually became faster. Cancer has really opened his eyes the world around him. Before the disease, he would go to the track and enjoy his time there, but now he’s able to have less fear on the track and closer bonds with friends. He is able to have more fun on the track because he isn’t as afraid of going too fast into a turn and having the back of the car slip a bit. He knows that he is going to die one day, whether it’s going to be from cancer or any other of a multitude of things. He is able to better appreciate his days on the track after being diagnosed with cancer. He said, “Overall, cancer has made my racing experience better, much better. I can really appreciate the time that I’m at the track with my friends.”

For Charles, racing has become more joyful even though he can’t do as many track days or make as many runs in a day because of his cancer.

Despite the fact that this horrible disease has a ruined his life, he’s able to find joy in the things that he loves to

do. He hasn’t sunk into depression because he’s able to look at the little things in life, and finds joy in them and doesn’t dwell on the hardship that is cancer.

Charles summarized his experience with cancer: “I have no regrets. If I were to die tomorrow, the only regret I would have, would be that, and this is a joke, that I didn’t get to visit all 70 wineries in Livermore where I live.”

Charles plans to live each day to the fullest. That’s the practice he has followed for the past 8 months. His health is getting better. Charles has lived 6 months past his original prognosis. He still continues treatment for his cancer hoping that he will go into remission. He still has pain but not all over anymore. He used to throw

up often and now he doesn’t as much.

Things are looking better. His spirit is better.

His rock through this entire ordeal has been his wife, Deborah. Whether it’s taking him to his chemo appointments or blending his food so he can eat it. She has been there with him through it all. He also has reached out to several members of his family.

His daughters Kelly and Julie have helped by being there for him. Spending quality time together. His brother drove Charles up to Willows for his first race at Thunderhill Raceway after his diagnosis and treatment for his cancer. This was his journey to recovery. His pathway back to the joy of racing and look at cancer from his rear-view mirror.

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KERBY

K

erby Gerughty is a junior at Freestyle Academy of Communication Arts and Technology. He loves running track and cross country. He is a very passionate leader in his youth group. He wants to become a full time recording engineer or audio engineer for concerts.

He wants to help artist spread joy and promote love through their music. He also wants to design promotional material and artwork in his free time.

Kerby wants to achieve both of these goals by going to college and majoring in audio engineering with a minor in graphic design.

GERUGHTY

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Kirsten Andrews 40 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

Stage House Interiors a successful home staging company

By Kirsten Andrews Introduction: The Start of Stage House Angela Rumi has always had an interest in real estate. The housing market was upbeat, competitive, and successful; Rumi wanted to get involved.

While on a hike with some of her close friends, including many successful realtors from the Bay Area, Rumi heard one mention there was a need for more stagers. This sparked her interest.

She quickly asked for clarification on what staging is and came to learn it was a form of interior design: setting up a house before it goes on the market. She then rushed to the phone and called her good friend Christina Rudolph.

Rudolph picked up the phone and they discussed the hypothetical idea of starting their own business in an industry they knew nothing about. “(We) thought maybe it would be fun but didn’t really know if we could pull it off or had any business even trying to do that. So, I talked to a friend of mine who I had known for about thirty years and was a real estate agent, friend, and neighbor,” said Rudolph.

Her friend was Owen Halliday, a realtor with the Sereno Group, who has an extensive background in the housing market.

“So we’re thinking about getting into staging,”

Christina Rudolph and Angela Rumi

Rudolph said to Halliday on the phone. “I thought, oh my gosh; it’s a lot of work,” mentioned Halliday, “a lot of people go into staging thinking it’s going to be decorating and it’s going to be remodeling and it’s going to be all fun. The reality is that staging is hard, hard work. I wasn’t sure that Christina was up for that kind of work. But she persisted.”

Stage House Interiors has now been a business for four years. It is one of the most successful staging businesses in the area, the first call for around ten agents, and is on the path to stage over 120 houses this year. “It just, sort of, worked. We didn’t know it would, but it did,” said co-founder Christina Rudolph. An essential part of starting any small business is having the ability to take risks: that is exactly what Rumi and Rudolph did.

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A Major Risk

Staging is using furniture to compliment a house that is on the market. It helps potential buyers picture what it would look to be living in the house by providing a perspective on what furniture could be used in it.

Home staging companies are a lot of work and hard to build from the ground up. So why take this risky leap? What inspired the two to completely turn around their lives and create this business? Rudolph credited her interest to the creative aspect behind staging. She explained that she was inspired by the idea of controlling her own work life and having a constant creative outlet that would essentially make money.

Rumi credited her interest to wanting to get back into the workforce.

The motivation that drove Rumi and Rudolph to take a stab at starting a home staging business came from the desire they had to alter their own destiny and make their own decisions. Luckily, according to Matt Mansfields’ statistics on startup companies, “having two founders, rather than one, significantly increases your odds of success.” Rumi and Rudolph even admitted to not being nervous when taking this leap. Rudolph said, “it never really worried me that we couldn’t do it, it was just would we be able to get the business.” Both were passionate about interior design. Rumi had built and designed her own house and Rudolph’s family flipped houses as she grew up. They knew that there was a need for stagers and although they lacked experience when it came to finances and the taxes involved when creating a business, they pursued their idea.

Rumi and Rudolph faced many risks, as all entraupers do. The first obstacle they had to overcome was the doubt they felt from their original Sereno Group realtor, Owen Halliday.

After making the final decision to move forward with Stage House Interiors, the two women did lots of research. Prior to beginning their business, they met with realtors to learn more about staging. They questioned them regard-

ing what they did and didn’t like about their stagers and were able to build a foundation for their business plan. The second step they took was getting business.

Halliday soon became dissatisfied with the stager he was using, “the stager we were using ended up being very expensive and we became less and less satisfied with her work,” he explained. Rudolph was chatting with him at a Halloween Party explaining how Rumi and her were planning on going through with creating their staging business: Stage House Interiors. He then offered them their start with a small condominium he was managing in San Jose.

They self-funded their first stage by taking money from their own pockets to purchase the furniture they needed. Halliday was impressed with their work and offered them their second job. “Our business took off from there,” expressed Rudolph.

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Breaking The Norm

Noam Wasserman, author of the book Life Is a Startup, used an interesting analogy to express the idea of being locked down in a job: handcuffs.

Throughout his book, he discussed that taking a leap of faith often contradicts the safety of having a stable job in a place of familiarity. “When we evaluate a potential leap, we often focus on what we lose by making the change: lower salary, less prestige, lower rank, and the like. Devote at least as much attention to the potential gains as you do to the losses,” explained Wasserman. The decision to completely change their lifestyle was something that both Rumi and Rudolph had to conquer while also being one of the main reasons they ventured to start their own business.

Rumi and Rudolph had to adapt their lifestyles to be fully committed to Stage House Interiors. Rudolph broke off her corporate ties by leaving her previous job at the Los Altos Community Foundation. Rumi went from being a stay at home mom: volunteering at the schools, driving

her daughters, hiking with her dogs, to re-entering the workforce. “Angie and I started it because we didn’t want to be tied to a job with a desk for 8,9,10,12 hours a day we wanted to be able to do what we wanted to do,” justified Rudolph.

Home Staging Explained

Staging benefits houses on the market by getting them a quicker sale and in most cases helping them sell for more money. According to the National Association of Realtors, 62% of agents say that getting a house on the market staged decreases the overall time it spends trying to be sold. Numerous surveys have also shown that staging can increase the sales price of a house by thousands of dollars proving that staged homes sell for more than non-staged homes. “Home sellers stand to profit anywhere from $10,000 to $75,000 after employing the services of a home stager, so they are willing to pay a premium for that expertise,” explained Debra Gould, a stager who created her own company, Staging Diva. Kirsten Brown, employed by Rumi and Rudolph, compliments staging by saying, “the house would be, you know, maybe cute in the beginning, but after the staging (is) done it (is) a complete transformation. And it (goes) from really cute to, oh my gosh over the top, I want to buy this house.”

Home stagers are operating a business with realtors as their clients. Sometimes realtors will offer staging as a service for their own customers or other times they will highly suggest it. Realtors try to push staging on home sellers because of all of its benefits.

“We rely on our stagers because in our business a crummy house might sell for a $100,000 less (if there is) a crummy staging job,” said Halliday.

“We just did it. We had this opportunity and we went for it.”

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Expansion

The amount of business Stage House Interiors started to receive also impacted how much they expanded. In the beginning, they were staging every house they were offered in order to build their business. Now, they have reached a point of balance, “(we) can’t take on any more business, we can’t take on any more new agents, we’re sort of at that balancing line where we if we have too many more we’ll sort of get ourselves in trouble so we have purposely not marketed ourselves,” justified Rudolph. They now have to turn down agents in order to provide their full amount of services to each client and keep their quality high. “We need to be more strategic in which houses we take,” explained Rumi, “it will be based on location, size, and inventory that we have in the warehouse.”

As Rumi and Rudolph gained customers they also gained furniture and new ways to help keep their business improving and thriving. They bought a truck, hired movers, and employed Kristen Brown. “So now we’re at a pretty good balancing point where we have the inventory, we have the money, and we have the houses, and we have the jobs. So at the moment, it is working quite well,” Rudolph summarized.

Stage House Interiors has been able to sustain its quality while keeping low prices. “They’re very flexible, very easy to work with. That’s been huge for us,” furthered Halliday. Their motivation to do their best and the carefulness Rumi and Rudolph exhibited is what lead them to succeed. Instead of just throwing everything into a house they come back every week as part of their Fluff and Buff service to take care of the house, water the plants, fluff the beds, and make sure it is prepared for more potential buyers. Their approach is appealing to realtors and makes them effective business owners.

“We have gone from stealing furniture from our living rooms to filling a warehouse with furniture that we now own.”

- Christina Rudolph

Conclusion: Growth Mindset

Rumi and Rudolph were able to be successful because of their talent and their ability to please their customers. Stagers must be creative and aesthetic in order to really work with a house and make it spotless. Rumi and Rudolph were able to do this because they have those qualities explained co-worker, Kristen Brown, “they are both artistic, they are both organized, they are both smart. They could probably do this in their sleep.” Client relations that are built, in this case, their realtors, are important keys to success. Rumi and Rudolph were able to develop their base easily. They have completed hundreds of homes and are on an upward trend leading to having finished over 120 homes for the year 2019. They have gained confidence in their area of work and are now fully running their own business. “We walk into a house, we can see what a house needs, we know what needs to go into the truck,” explained Rumi.

Their next steps are to maintain this success without taking on so many homes they start to feel overwhelmed. They are deciding between keeping it a boutique home staging company or expanding to a larger business in which they will hire more people.

Their story proves that passion and dedication lead to success.

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About the author...

Kirsten Andrews is a high school student passionate about film and design. She explores her passion daily through interning at a non-profit cable station, producing her own TV show, and participating in yearbook.

Kirsten was interested in the creation of the small company Stage House Interiors and chose to profile it in a documentary film, research paper, and this magazine article. She hopes to continue her love for film and design in the future by studying similar topics in college.

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Lilia Rodriguez 46 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

YouTube

Job, Hobby, or Entertainment?

An article by Lilia Rodriguez

I

t’s October 2001, a baby girl is born in the country of Israel, she is raised in Israel until age 9 and then moves to Chile for one year. She makes new friends and learns Spanish, the native language. One day, she gets the news that she is moving to America, the United States of America, that is. She is excited and nervous but also sad that she is leaving her friends behind. This girl is, Camila Bes, a current aspiring Youtuber.

By the time Camila was settled in America a new technology/video-sharing website had started blowing up, did you guess it was YouTube?

You are right! After discovering Youtube, Camila’s creativity ran wild.

Youtube came out several years ago and people have decided to take advantage of this rapidly growing platform by creating careers out of it. People of all different ages and backgrounds come up with content and film it. The people who post these videos are known as “YouTubers”. A direct definition from the Oxford dictionary states that a “YouTuber” is “a person who uploads, produces, or appears in videos on the video-sharing website YouTube”

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Youtube; Job, Hobby or Entertainment?

(Oxford Dictionaries). Now more than ever, in this generation, youth are inspired to create their own YouTube Channels but many question whether or not Youtube as a career is a safe path to follow. In Camila’s case, she hopes to continue with a Youtube career and get famous, but she will always have her studies backing her up as a plan B.

Camila Bes began creating videos in middle school after she was inspired by a very popular YouTuber at the time, Bethany Mota. In an interview, Camila stated, “I watched a lot of YouTubers... I watched Bethany Mota and I loved her and I really wanted to be like her, kind of. So I made videos and then I decided to post them, but that was only once I learned how to edit. So I filmed a lot and then I learned how to edit” (Bes). Although she was a little hesitant at first, Camila started posting her videos publicly starting in high school. As you may know, English wasn’t Camila’s first language, so moving to America was a bit of a struggle especially since she didn’t know much English. But Youtube was a big factor in helping her with English which also added to her passion for YouTube. Camila further explained her situation by saying, “I moved here six years ago, so I learned most of my English watching Youtube videos and I was obsessed with

it... I really looked up to Americans and the way they spoke and the things they did and I watched all that on Youtube” (Bes). Youtube wise, a struggle for Camila is the pressure of social status. When asked what the challenges about being a YouTuber, Camila described the feeling of being stuck when she compares her channel to those who are ‘thriving’ on Youtube with big subscriber and viewer counts. But then she came back to reality and realized that it is not why she created “I really looked a channel because and the way the she did it to make others happy whether it is things they did a one person or a thouthat on Y sand.

Although Camila will always depend on school as a backup plan if Youtube doesn’t work out, she does have role models who have succeeded in the YouTube world.

She even went on to say, “Obviously everyone knows James Charles and you know, I’m not that much like of a beauty guru and all that but I think it’s really amazing like the amount of time and effort he dedicates into his videos” (Bes). James Charles is a boy who blew up after his yearbook photo with his highlighter “Poppin” went viral on twitter back in 2016. Soon after, he became the first male ambassador for CoverGirl

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Camila Bes editing a new YouTube video

and that’s when his career skyrocketed. In a Vogue article about his success, it stated,

At the time of writing, Charles has over 6.8 million subscribers on YouTube, 1.32 million Twitter followers, 6.7 million Instagram followers and 125,000 likes on Facebook....and has his own line of Sisters up to Americans merchandise, Apparel. He ey spoke and the has one of the most and I watched all engaged followings on YouTube, many of Youtube” whom, as one learns when attending his live show, are not afraid to call him out on, well, anything they see fit.

This article was written last August and as of now, James has already gone up 15 MILLION subscribers! His current Youtube subscriber count is 16,061,269+ and it continues to grow as we speak. As you can see James Charles’ career with youtube is up-most thriving. In Charles’ case, we can see that YouTube worked out as a career choice. In addition to Charles’ success, there is also a story about a couple

of adults who decided to drop everything and become full-time YouTubers. These men, Ammarxz, 24, Thomas Brag, 25, Matt Dajer, 27, and Bobby Derin, 27, decided they were tired of their traditional jobs and ‘Each of them put aside what most would call “stability” and “success” (much to the dismay of their parents) to pursue a risky, ambitious project that would come to be known as the “Yes Theory” ’ (Shopify). Yes Theory is now a very popular youtube channel with over 3 million subscribers. These men decided to take a risk and it turned out for the better because now they have created a job for themselves that they actually enjoy.

James’ situation is incredible and the Yes Theory may persuade you to switch up your career but before we get too ahead of ourselves we have to actually look into logistics and face reality, what are the chances of this actually happening to you? Or even just the basic question of, Can you actually make a living out of Youtube?

Youtube is seeming to make it harder and harder for upcoming/new YouTubers to make money from ads. According to Washington Post, “The company [Youtube} recently said channels need to have reached

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Youtube; Job, Hobby or Entertainment?

1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time over the past 12 months before they can earn money from ads” (Washington Post). Depending on how much content you produce and whether or not your content gets noticed, this could take a while. In another interview with YouTuber, Nicole Ge, also known as Nic0le on youtube with over 70,000 subscribers, she helps us better understand the way you make money from AdSense, she adds that “on YouTube, for every thousand views you get an amount between like a dollar and 7 dollars... and it’s just depending on like how your viewers interact with that video and such and it gets recommended to other people based on that interaction...

I have been monetized on YouTube since September and I generally make around $300-600 depending on the months” (Ge).

Following that, a harsh reality from a fortune article explains that, “If you’re a series regular on a network TV show, you’re getting a good amount of money...yet you can have half a million followers on YouTube and still be working at Starbucks” stated Alice Marwick, an assistant professor of communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Fortune). Ge agrees with the views of Marwick and goes on to say, “ I feel like a lot of people like dream about like YouTube being like a good career path but realistically it’s not viable like only like, what is it 3% of YouTubers, actually- like who are doing YouTube actually make it. As in like getting enough to support from- support

a living and such and if you look at it 3% is really low compared to like a traditional job somewhere” (Ge). As we can see, Youtube can be a platform for many, whether you want to make money from it, use it as a hob ....by, or even just watch it. In another ....interview, with a YouTuber who is ....still trying to grow their channel, ..Natalie Lo states, “I use YouTube .for a hobby just to make videos for my friends to watch, for my families to watch...I think it’s fun how my friends say that they like my videos and how they watch the whole video, not just half of the video and I’m like well if you’re enjoying it, I’ll just make more” (Lo). In this case, we can see how Natalie Lo just uses Youtube to entertain friends and family.

As well as bringing in money from posting content, there are also perks with having a youtube channel. Camila explains that she has had sponsorships and has had brands reach out to her to promote their stuff including the brand Chiffon, a ring company. As for what lies ahead, Camila hopes to continue Youtube as long as she can, but until then she will continue her education hoping to go to a good university. “I’m proud of my sister and I think she might blow up someday”-Mia Bes

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An old photograph with Mia Bes (on the left) & Camila Bes (on the right)

About the Author

Lilia Rodriguez is a junior at Mountain View High School, who also attends the film program at Freestyle Academy. She is 17 years old, and loves hanging out with friends & family, enjoys making Youtube videos, and plays lacrosse for Mountain View High School. Not to mention, Lilia is always down for an adventure, whether it’s going to the beach or just hiking by nearby trails/forests. She is looking forward to senior year and hopes she will create many more awesome memories.

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Madi Gubser 52 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2019 Vol 2 | freestyleacademy.rocks

Riot Grrrl: The History and Future of Angry Women By: Madi Gubser Riot Grrrl is a feminist movement that involves creating music, zines, and art related to issues women, non-binary, and transwomen face such as abuse, rape, eating disorders, sexuality, and sexism. It also strives to move women to the forefront of the punk scene, since female musicians often were ignored and not taken seriously. Unfair treatment was commonplace at punk shows, where women felt unsafe due to the violent moshing and sexual harassment from male attendees. Riot Grrrl isn’t just a musical movement, though; it calls for women to be taken seriously in any field and calls out the way the world so frequently diminishes women.

There’s a good chance that you’ve heard of the song “Smells like Teen Spirit” by the band Nirvana, but the chance that you have heard the song “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill (BK) is extremely low, comparatively, even if you’re familiar with 90’s grunge or punk. Bikini Kill was a popular Riot Grrrl band from Olympia, Washington, the same place Kurt Cobain started out with his band. The lead singer of the band BK is Kathleen Hanna, a well known feminist figure who has also been in bands such as Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin. One night after Kurt and Kathleen

had been hanging out together, Kathleen wrote “KURT SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT” on his wall, making fun of the popular teen-geared deodorant at the time.

Cobain later called her and asked if he could use the phrase as a song title and Hanna gave him the green light. Kurt had also been dating Tobi Vail, the drummer of Bikini Kill during that time. He was a huge supporter of the band and was inspired by the feminist punk scene (The Punk Singer, 2013). This is just one of the many classic examples of a male punk band succeeding, but their female counterparts whom they were inspired by, not getting their share of the spotlight. This was also seen in the 1970’s, the “golden-age of punk,” with the infamous poster boys known as The Sex Pistols being one of the most famous punk bands of that era. Again, woman fronted/all girl bands such as The Runaways, Patti Smith, The Pretenders, and The Slits, never got the same amount of attention as the male punk bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, and Black Flag.

Why was it that women in punk weren’t given the same opportunities as male punk

Pair of four fists with “RIOT GRRL” written on hands

bands? Well, simply put, they weren’t taken seriously. Women were often unfairly and closely criticized in comparison to men, being told that they couldn’t play their instruments as well as men – or worse, at all. There was a massive focus on their looks, which were frustratingly important in their success and even sometimes used against them, with statements such as “You’re too pretty to be punk.” Furthermore, girl bands were seen as just that, girl bands, that only girls should listen to.

This warranted a grossly common response along the lines of: “Ugh! Girls make up the majority of this audience? This band must suck!”

Women writing and singing lyrics about their experience was seen as “too feminine” and “too feminist”, but a male’s experience is somehow more universal and acceptable to hear about, over and over and over again.

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Other factors alienated and pushed away women from the punk scene, such as the culture of punk and unsafe conditions at shows. The violence that occurred in the mosh pits of these shows left women who dared to step in with broken bones and bruises, or they were simply shoved to the side and called the “coat hangers” (referring to the fact that boys would throw their coats on women as they joined into the pit). Sexual harassment was also common at punk shows, wandering hands and even full-blown rape was prominent in the scene, causing women to never attend a punk show again. Riot Grrrl began in the early 90’s as a direct “fuck you” to traditional punk culture, calling girls to the front of shows and demanding respect. Although it’s difficult to name exactly the people, places, and dates that got the movement started, its beginnings are often traced back to Washington DC. The “OG” Riot Grrrl bands are generally considered to be Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Heavens to Betsy.

Even though there was a huge surge of girl bands in the 90’s, they seldom referred to themselves as a Riot Grrrl bands even if they claimed to be inspired by the movement (Girls to the Front: the True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution, 2010). The hesitation to label themselves might be due to the fact that it was common to dislike feminine sounding bands/ subjects in punk. Riot Grrrls, however, embraced all things feminine without fear or doubt. They wrote about their traumatic experiences, womanhood/ girlhood, sexuality, hopes and dreams, lyrics, feminist art, and about anything and everything girl, in zines. Zines are self-made, self-published magazines about anything someone’s a fan of. Zines

first gained popularity in the 70’s punk scene to talk about bands and express one’s views on said band. In the 90’s this tradition carried on but with a feminist twist. The Riot Grrrls passed their zines out at shows (usually BK and Bratmobile) talking about anything from feminist theory to race and class issues within the scene “Subcultures and Sociology”). They also toyed with many revolutionary anthems and speeches. Phrases such as “Revolution Girl Style Now” and “riot don’t diet” surrounded by doodled hearts and swirls were sprinkled in between pages In the world we live in today, finding people who’re interested in music, TV shows, comics, and pretty much anything else we’re interested in is extremely easy, thanks to the internet, but the grrrls didn’t have access to this level of exposure in the 90’s.

Though they had tried making connections by making their own zines which were notoriously not well distributed, it was difficult to keep people inthe-know on feminist news, conventions, and meet-ups through such measures. People at that time got their information on Riot Grrrl through magazines which more often than not consisted of sensationalized stories and bashing.

Riot Grrrl was largely considered dead by the late 90’s and not spoken about by the media again until the early 2010’s. This may be correlated to the “20 year cycle of nostalgia” that was everywhere at this time, with popular 90’s fashion coming back into style as well. However, the articles that kept popping up about the movement weren’t negative; in fact, they were praising the movement and mentioning the

"The violence that occurred in the mosh pits of these shows left women who dared to step in with broken bones and bruises, or they were simply shoved to the side and called the "coat hangers" (referring to the fact that boys would throw their coats on women as they joined into the pit)"

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possible revival of it. A recent article by the LA Times myself unapologetically. And when I asked Jehan reviewing Bikini Kill’s reunion says that, “You can Shemesh, the singer of Feminoid if RG had inspired understand why the pioneers of riot grrrl — artist- them, they replied, “Yes! It inspires me every day. activists committed to claiming space for women in Every time I get out of bed I’m like, ‘I get to be music — chose the #MeToo moment to reunite.” whatever the fuck I want to be and no one can stop Some may just pass this off as the aforementioned me,’ and that’s honestly an awesome feeling I wish cycle of nostalgia, but the actions taken by this others could feel more often. It also inspires me generation’s riot grrrls precede that. You can find to talk about my problems to others and express numerous girl bands making feminist songs on myself through my riot grrrl-inspired band.” RG has Spotify, Bandcamp, and iTunes. Some riot grrrl bands a very powerful effect on the way girls and nonthat are helping revive the movement and possibly binary people perceive themselves. This makes sense starting their own are The Regrettes, Cherry Glazerr, considering its goals mainly involve empowering and The Coathangers. and supporting women Not just music is being and nonbinary people. produced by Riot Grrrls, With older feminist bands though; you can find many like Bikini Kill, Sleater feminist DIY artists that sell Kinney, and L7 reuniting, their products on self-made more than only riot grrrls websites or through Etsy. are left wondering if the Their art is reminiscent movement is reemerging. of the 90’s scene with I asked Sara if she’d been punk patches, paintings, curious about what all and buttons spreading girl these regroupings meant for power. One of the most RG, to which she replied: popular Riot Grrrl bands has “I think their regrouping is also returned! Bikini Kill a sign that the issues and has regrouped and played a feelings that motivated RG show for the first time in 22 are still very much with us years on April 25th, 2019. today. The fact that tickets I attended their show on to Bikini Kill’s shows could April 26th in Los Angeles all sell out so quickly makes with my fellow riot grrrl it clear that there’s still a friend, Cameron Semple. real hunger among people— Even though Cameron has teenagers, 20 somethings, not been apart of the scene and aging Gen Xers like for long, she’s immersed myself (!)—for the feelings herself in it by listening to of feminist rage, bold riot grrrl bands and joining disclosure, and communal Example of a feminist zine from “The Riot Grrrl Collection”. as the other guitarist in the celebration that we associate Mountain View based band with Bikini Kill’s music.”

Feminoid. The RG inspired band Feminoid is a band But has anything changed within the punk scene I’m currently in as well. When asked if RG had since the legendary feminist bands of the 90’s? The inspired her in anyway, she replied, “I didn’t get answer is: A little bit, but not enough. When I asked into a lot of riot grrrl bands until recently though it Shemesh about whether or not women are represented has influenced the way I dress and generally present enough in punk music today, they had this to say: myself. It’s also made me more comfortable about I honestly don’t think there is enough women how I express myself and helped me find other representation in the punk scene--a lot of time women friends.” This seems to be a common response among are seen as “not punk enough” or that they’re just Riot Grrrls, including myself. Finding this movement trying to get attention by labeling themselves as punk. and Bikini Kill at 12 changed my life in similar ways, A lot of what I’ve seen in the scene is that it’s very male/ it was the first time that I felt empowered to be masculine dominant and women punk musicians

are scrutinized constantly about every single thing.

There still seems to be the problem of women in punk being able to receive the same attention as male punk bands get. Semple also noticed this lack of representation: “It can be hard to find female punk bands and the ones that are out there aren’t usually well known. All of the popular punk bands are made up of guys and generally the songs oversexualize women.”

In the late 2010’s we are seeing feminist band after feminist band forming all across America, so even if it’s not RG coming back, it may just be her angrier sister-movement forming. In the era of #MeToo and Trump’s presidency it’s no wonder grrrls are getting angry and wanting to speak up, Bad/ Cop Bad/Cop is one example of a newer feminist punk band fighting against sexism in the 2010’s, with their song “Womanarchist” proclaiming,

The members of Bad/Cop Bad/Cop are singing about a topic that feminist bands have also sung and protested since the 80’s, reproductive rights. The

It's my right to choose Not racists or nationalists, Not this fascist president It's their Fight to lose I'm a masochistic activist, A modern abolitionist, Who wants to make the whole world humanist.

Trump administration is constantly trying to restrict Title X and establish a gag-rule preventing doctors from suggesting an abortion as an option for their patients. Just a year after Trump’s’ inauguration The National Abortion Federation found that incidents of obstruction doubled, trespassing tripled, death threats/harm threats doubled and noted a continual “increase in targeted hate mail/harassing phones calls, clinic invasions, and had the first bombing attempt in many years [at abortion clinics].” It seems as if little has changed on the subject of reproductive rights, the song “Fallopian Rhapsody”

by the Lunachicks is just as culturally important as it was when the song was first released in 1996.

With white nationalists, religious extremists, and the alt-right feeling more comfortable than ever to spread their hate, it’s not just a difficult time to be a woman, but to be any minority group. In 2017, the Human Rights Campaign found that The FBI reported that anti-Black hate crimes increased by 16 percent, from 1,739 incidents in 2016 to 2,013 incidents in 2017. Hate crimes targeting Black people represented 28 percent of all reported hate crimes in 2017. Every other racial and ethnic group also saw increases in the number of reported hate crimes in 2017.

Additionally, hate crimes motivated by antireligious bias increased 23 percent, largely driven by a 37 percent increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes, which constituted the majority of religion motivated hate crimes. Hate crimes motivated by bias against people with disabilities increased by a disturbing 66 percent and hate crimes motivated by gender bias increased by 48 percent (“New FBI Statistics”).

In conclusion, I believe not only Riot Grrrl but the RG inspired-movement currently fostering in the punk scene is necessary in today’s world. RG is about helping everyone, but especially those less privileged. Now more than ever we need women and people of color joining the punk scene, writing protest songs and fighting back against any and all detractors who threaten our space in this world. To all grrrls and nonbinary people reading this, I encourage you to pick up a guitar, bass, drumsticks, and/ or a microphone and start writing. What you have to say is important, the world benefits from hearing your perspective. In the words of Kathleen Hanna, “BECAUSE I believe with my wholeheartmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real.” (Riot Grrrl Manifesto)

About the Author

Madi Gubser has been interested in Riot Grrrl since the age of 12, memorizing Bikini Kill’s entire discography and dreaming about being in a grrrl band that takes over the world. She is also currently involved with the Mountain View based band Feminoid, playing guitar and writing lyrics. She attends Freestyle Academy as a Design student, practicing photography, website making, and is learning numerous Adobe Applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. She has been researching Riot Grrrl for over 4 years, watching documentaries and collecting books on the subject.

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About the Cover Designer

Syd Johnsen is a junior at Los Altos High School. She is also a design, digital media, and English student at Freestyle Academy, in Mountain View, CA. Syd is passionate about photography, design, and film production. In her freetime, she likes to work on personal art projects, take trips to the beach, and go on hikes. Syd has always had a love for dogs, and adores her own lab puppies, Hutch and Ivy. She also has a close relationship with her parents, two younger brothers, and enjoys spending quality time with them. In addition, she values every moment she spends with her friends. As of now, Syd is undecided which direction in the arts she wants to dedicate her life to, but she is prepared to work hard to achieve her goals.

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About The Cover Designer

S

ydney Tomasello is a student at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. She is a Design student who is constantly drawing on whatever is in front of her.

Additionally, she is extremely passionate about the art she creates, as well as storytelling and music. She hopes to continue creating art and telling stories by pursuing a career in graphic design and illustration.

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