2022 Documentary Magazine

Freestyle Academy

2022 Junior Documentary Articles Cover design by Aramis Duenas

Freestyle Academy proudly presents

2022 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 Animated 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 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

A l i c e R e n n i e � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4 Aramis Duenas ����������������� 10 Camilla Robinson ������������� 16 Deilani Harris ����������������� 22 Emma Mell ���������������������� 28 Fi o n a L i u � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 3 4 K y l e J h o n g � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4 0 Lucy WanG ���������������������� 46 Nicole Leihe �������������������� 52 Z e y t i n E r c a n � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 5 8 freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | 3

Alice Rennie 4 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

Gochisousama!

By Alice Rennie Motouji in front of the restaurant’s sign

It’s still a few minutes before opening, but already there’s a line outside the door. In order to take a photo of Motouji and his employees, I need to enter before they are busy, and I glance a little guiltily at those who are waiting as I walk inside the restaurant.

The restaurant’s aesthetic is like that of a night in Japan—yellow lanterns hang from the ceiling above the dining area, and to the left, there are elevated areas of tatami, where one must take off their shoes to sit at the table. Just like every other time I’ve walked into

the restaurant, I can’t help but be reminded of Japan’s summer festivals.

The first thing that greets me when I walk into the restaurant is the small shelf that also serves as a divider between the diners and the register. On the shelf are a number of kokeshi dolls—specifically, kokeshi dolls that can be placed into one another like Russian nesting dolls. Small as they are, their cute smiling faces mimic the one that is often found on both Motouji and his employees’ faces.

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And when I greet both him and his employees, the matching smile on his face is obvious, even underneath the mask. He’s happy to greet me, as are his employees—it’s just before the restaurant opens, but they are still pleased to pose for the photo. It’s at this moment that I realize there’s an issue with the camera, and every photo that I’ve taken of him and his employees sitting together on the bench has turned out blurry.

Despite this, he laughs. “Maybe we’ve all turned into ghosts, and the camera can’t handle us,” he jokes. It’s a silly comment meant to lighten the air, and he and his employees laugh. The moment after this is when I take the photo. Though their faces are half-hidden by masks, and I worry that my phone’s quality might not be good enough, their laughing smiles are perfect enough to make the photo great.

Gen Moutouji is the owner of a Japanese Fusion restaurant, where he innovates new, unique recipes and fosters a community of joy with his employees and customers. California, and especially the Bay Area, is filled with diversity, which is reflected by the various types of cuisine in our restaurants, cafes, and eateries. In order to bring something new to the table, and avoid stereotypes such as “Japanese restaurants always have sushi” (Motouji), his menu is filled with Asian-fusion dishes that can’t be found anywhere else in the area.

Gochi Japanese Fusion Tapas is a restaurant in Mountain View, though the first of its stores opened in Cupertino in 2005 (“Gochi”). Motouji was originally a server at the restaurant, where he further developed his customer service skills, and was taught not only how to cook, but about the fusion style of cooking. Fusion food, or “the blending of culinary worlds to create new, hybrid dishes,” (Geiling) is what the restaurant chain specializes in, helping Gochi to bring something new and enticing to the market. Beyond simply standing out, the restaurant’s“fusion cuisine” makes the menu dynamic. “I thought that if I labeled the restaurant as just Japanese, then I’d have to face the stereotypes such as ‘there must be sushi because it’s a Japanese restaurant,’” Motouji said. By giving his restaurant the label of “fusion”, he would have more freedom in selecting his menu. And he’s no doubt been successful—as while there are a number of traditional dishes on the menu, such as yaki udon or chicken karaage, a large number of the items are of Motouji’s own creation.

One such dish Motouji describes is through how it’s cooked. “[It’s] black pork stomach boiled in brown sugar, and cooked in a pressure cooker with red 6 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

(left photos, from top to bottom) Iidako, Yakiniku Kimchee Meshi, Salmon on Chips

wine (merlot or cabernet), brown sugar and vinegar.”

The remainder of his menu he describes in similar fashion, and when asked where their inspiration comes from, he starts listing. “Visiting other restaurants,” he says, “or tabe-aruki,” which refers to the act of eating food while walking, often smaller individual dishes that can be bought at street vendors, “or seeing things on the T.V. and internet” is what brings him the most inspiration.

Whether an idea gets put on the menu depends on how practical it is for the restaurant to actually make it. Many of these fusion dishes are the restaurant’s most popular, including pizzas, stir fries, gratins, and so much more, just waiting to be tasted.

Of course, not every concept turns out to be a success. One dish, which Motouji called “Tori Soboro no Tostada”, meant to be a combination of a traditional Japanese rice dish and a Mexican dish that involves a toasted tortilla base, was such a case. “It just didn’t sell,” he recalls, laughing. Despite the occasional

(above) Motouji and his employees posing for a photo.

failed attempts, fusion cuisine has brought the restaurant great success—and customers have been able to sample many new, interesting tastes!

Before achieving his current success, however, Motouji had to work hard to even open his location. After a number of years of working at the first restaurant, both Motouji and his wife, a manager at Gochi Cupertino, started discussing parting ways with the restaurant. Motouji still had his sports training license, a leftover from his career as a professional athlete, and planned to further his career in that direction. But before he could, the owner of Gochi Cupertino offered both Motouji and his wife an exciting offer: How would you like to open a sister restaurant?

It was an offer the two of them couldn’t refuse. “At first, we looked around at a lot of areas,” Motouji recalled about first opening the restaurant, “like Sunnyvale and Mountain View. We did keep in mind that we wanted to be at a separate

“I don’t have the skills to make something from zero to one, so I take the one and one from others to make two. That style fits me better.”

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location from the main restaurant.” Eventually, the location chosen was Mountain View, and the storefront on Castro Street opened in 2013.

Despite paying the hefty costs of having the chosen building renovated, and the time spent building up their new customer base, they were quick to be kicked out—as “a developer proposed a new mixeduse, four-story project for the site” (Kadvany).

It took another two years for Motouji to be able to reopen the Mountain View Gochi restaurant. Nevertheless, it reopened in 2016, now on El Camino Real.

Luckily, he had many returning customers from the previous location, and many new customers interested in trying the new fusion flavors. Now, his restaurant is so well-known that Gochi Japanese Fusion Tapas is listed as the best fusion on the Mountain View Voice’s best restaurants of 2021.

Creating a welcoming environment for his customers, and especially his employees, is also a major goal of Motouji’s. One of his employees, Misako Heims, has been working at Gochi for five years, and she fondly recalls her time spent there. Before working at Gochi, she had been working at a Japanese Supermarket, and occasionally, she would converse with Motouji whenever he came to shop. After a number of interactions, he invited her to come work at Gochi, stating that her welcoming smile and charming personality would be great for the restaurant’s atmosphere.

And when she did eventually make the job shift, she found that she enjoyed her time there immensely. “He’s the best mood-maker,” Heims says, when speaking of Motouji. “Thanks to him, laughter and fun can be born out of a mistake. [He fosters an environment where] teamwork is good, and if someone makes a mistake, no one gets angry - and instead we cover each other.”

Motouji himself also mentions this, when speaking of the environment he tries to create in the restaurant, stating that even when his employees make mistakes, he doesn’t get mad, just instead asks them instead to simply move on to the next task at hand. “I want there to be a friend-relationship between me and my employees,” he says.

Though Motouji does more than just to create a welcoming environment - he also goes out of his way to help his employees should the need arise. He is very considerate of his employees, and should he see that they are in need or in a tough situation, he’s quick to try and provide aid (Hiems). Heims recalls that when she first got the job at Gochi, she was financially unstable, and feared that she would never be able to set foot

again on the Japanese islands. “Thanks to [Motouji], I was able to return home and hug my daughter… and the following year I returned home again before my mother died at the age of 70.”

Treating his employees right means that his customers are also treated right - as the visible happiness of the employees often brings many customers back for more, not only for the wonderful food but also for the great service. “Quality service, quality food! All the staff members were very helpful, and energetic,” says Calvin Wang, a local guide reviewing the restaurant.

When it comes to future plans, Motouji doesn’t see any big changes. “It’s not as if I’m trying to open a second restaurant,” he says, when asked about his goals for the business. “I want to try as hard as I can to maintain what we’ve got now.” When it comes to personal goals, he mentions still having his license to be a sports trainer, though he leaves it for far in the future. He sees no reason and has no desire to leave Gochi, wanting to “continue as-is.”

Fortunately, it seems that Motouji’s plans for the future are popular ones; even in spite of the pandemic, the restaurant still has a steady stream of loyal customers—to the point where it’s hard to get a seat without a reservation. “In the end, I want the customers to have good memories [of Gochi]. They don’t have to come every day or every week,” Motouji states, when asked about his customers. Even if they only came back once a year, he’d always be happy to have them.

Motouji laughing with one of his employees.

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About the Author

Alice Rennie is a high-school junior at Freestyle Academy, where she takes Animation as her elective. She has a great interest (read: addiction) in manga and anime, and hopes to one day move to Japan to become a manga artist. Until then, however, she’s just a simple seventeen-year-old who draws, writes, and has fun with her friends in her free time.

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Aramis Duenas 10 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

That Waits for You to Mend or Understand

An article about finding the healing in the still tension and how it’s being slowly poisoned.

By Aramis Duenas

Atenea Duenas toils away at their college homework. Though the house is by no means empty, the night seems to tuck away those getting well rested and hush those who aren't. The light shining above commands the machine to keep moving, as if they are the exception to the night's rule. Duenas almost buckles under the pressure, but decides to keep moving. They can't stop, the demand to keep moving is too great.

Complete isolation, some kind of loneliness.

Margarita Duenas sits out on the porch again. Watching the world move with her in it; It’s constant moving, yet she stays.

The music swirls, spinning, almost evolving as she is. Her calcite ball absorbing the stress that her 9 to 5 demands that she carries, it’s calm. The sun beams onto her skin, trying to retrieve her wants and desires. In its wake it leaves answers to the lying questions about how to move forward.

Complete isolation, a deserving tranquility.

Zeytin Ercan takes a step back from neverending chatter. They're inclined to go back in, they want to. But for a brief moment, they can hear, they can think, they can do whatever they want by themself. They light up the TV, ironically enough, it soothes them. No back and forth, no dance of tongues throwing around stories proving some kind of thought or feedback.

Just listening.

Complete isolation, a brief escape.

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Complete isolation, the death of noise, silence. Both a rarity and a threat to the hussle and bussle of the modern community, It seems rather unimportant and even unwanted.

However there has to be some benefit, the core of tranquility is the calm of silence , so this willing isolation provides something else. But what’s the drive to that? What curse does this dark magic hold to drive people to loneliness? Why would you willingly cut yourself off from the people who love you?

To answer that, let’s circle back to the main characters of our little set pieces: Zeytin Ercan, Atenea Duenas, and Margarita Duenas. Three people with varying introverted aspects. What these aspects demonstrate is the healing angle that solitude can provide and how it’s being silenced by the era of noise.

Atenea Duenas, usually referred to as Duenas, sits at their desk in their childhood home. Due to a pandemic ushering in a new change to school regulations and how it changes it, they are able to test, cram, and suffer through college life all at the comfort of their own home. Though losing that classic college experience is a bummer for some, that wave of disappointment is lost on Duenas. “ I have social anxiety, so I don’t really like, you know, having to go out every day. It was kind of, very, stressful for me”. Found in roughly 1 in 3 people, social anxiety causes most people to flat out avoid interaction with new people. A problem that makes solitude look all the sweeter in the eyes of those looking to avoid that awkward silence with a stranger or the crushing despair of leaving the wrong impression on someone. “ I think it helps me get less stressed and helps my brain, you know, finally relax from the pressures outside”. And right they are, with research by Nguyen, Ryan, & Deci, they concluded that spending time to yourself has a “Deactivating effect” on the nervous system. Causing calm and peace, but they describe that it has a paradoxical effect. This low stimuli action has a negative effect as well, one that Duenas knows all too well. “It’s very comforting and something I can fall back upon and then, like, sometimes it’s lonely”.

“It’s very comforting and something I can fall back upon and then, like, sometimes it’s lonely.”

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Duenas’ charcoal self portrait made during the early years of college.

Zeytin’s self portrait made during the pandemic

It always circles back to loneliness, never more, never less.

Well, not necessarily. Though seperating yourself from the rest of the world is usually portrayed as a condition in the need of medicating, the reality is that this self isolation can act as the medication itself.

And nobody knows this better than Zeytin Ercan, and a few physiological experts.

“I love spending time with all of these people, but I just can’t do that and enjoy it when I haven’t recharged”. “Recharging” is Zeytin’s form of solitude. It’s a simple 5 or so minutes to themselves where they partake in personal hobbies like drawing, watching TV, or even crocheting. Though this phenomenon has no medically approved name, it’s heard around the block as “introvert hangover” or “introvert burnout”. In an experiment set up by Sointu Leikas and Ville-Juhani Ilmarinen, the results suggest that the average amount of time for an introvert’s battery to eventually wear out is around three hours. Well, what happens if we may have accidentally pushed the limits of those three hours?

Well, It can cause things like irritability, depression, difficulty sleeping, and, as Zeytin put it best, “If I keep doing this right now, I’m going to explode”.

Hyperbole aside, this rocks a fair part of Zeytin’s world, and for a while too. Though she describes it as seemingly being a part of her whole life, she manages

to pinpoint the realization of it around sixth or seventh grade. “I would always get really upset when I got home from school and I would always kind of go to just be alone”. Having to schedule isolation in her rather busy schedule really is a chore as well.

Having to skip out on friend get-togethers due to the fact that it might be too long or leaving the party a bit soon, it has its downsides. But Zeytin views solitude as a bit of a bitter medicine, “I think it’s really important and it benefits me just because, like, I get to enjoy the things that I enjoy doing with other people. So I have to enjoy the things that I do with myself in order to enjoy life... is how it works”.

Bitter Medicine is good for those who need it, but for those who don’t, it seems like a less than average way to spend your afternoon. Well, prepare to take 10 mL every 4 hours because spending time to yourself is more than the social situation antidote that I’ve been

“If I keep doing this right now, I’m going to explode.” prescribing it to be. Let’s sit down with Margarita Duenas and take a look at what it does for her and how it helps her take a look inside herself.

Through a time of uncertainty and fear, the pandemic had Margarita Duenas scared of losing family, friends, constantly checking the news of various countries to make sure that everything was in check “I was completely overwhelmed. Hearing, um, news from three different countries, Spain, U.S., and Mexico. It came to that point, where I, I, I, I just was really overwhelmed and then I started doing it”. Sure, it started as a way to get rid of stress, but news came and went, times changed, priorities

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shifted and the pandemic became a part of daily life, but the habit stayed. Every 10 minutes to an hour and a half, she would be out there in the sun meditating.

Sitting in the sun, various crystals in hand, having various frequencies that aligned mind and soul. After a while questions came, “Sometimes, you know, thoughts comes to my mind. And then I have an internal diálogo with, I don’t know, whoever myself or the universe or whoever would want to call it, the way they ask questions and I get some answers”. Whether a higher being is at play or not, the subject of the matter is the results. There are answers hidden in these quiet moments, something to uncover, but how? Another experiment by Netta Weinstein, Thuy-vy Nguyen, and Heather Hansen goes to show that not only does souilide provide a greater sense of peace, but also give a greater “sense of autonomy (self-connection and reliance; absence of pressure)”. Especially in older folks, this experience leads to better self improvement. It ends up being a cold cut case of being blind to the answer that was right in front of you all along. “ If you sit long enough and you ask yourself what I could be doing better or what should I be stopping doing in order to be happier, the answer will come to you when you’re meditating”.

The future for our interviewees looks bright, perhaps a little too bright.

Duenas describes how the comfort of solitude is too much, how they hope to step outside and interact despite their anxiety.”So I guess the challenge is, you know, to experience different things instead of going back to the comforting thing”. As for those who see solitude as more of a positive, sometimes it feels like it’s hard for them to catch a break. The days are getting longer, with it harder for them to book a time which isn’t filled with some kind of work. Apparent in the case of Zeytin Ercan, “It’s going to be hard for me [Having time to themselves] to, you know, especially in college with have a job go to school consistently and like still maintain somewhat of a social, you know, life so I don’t know”. Even then when everything is all set and done, there’s no telling whether the light of the sun will creep into the moments of seemingly silence as in Margarita Duenas’ experience. “I can’t shut down my brain quickly and sometimes meditate and I’m thinking about ``It’s 5:30, I really need to go inside and start cooking. What am I going to be cooking? Blabla, Blaba``’’ .

“ If you sit long enough and you ask yourself what I could be doing better or what should I be stopping doing in order to be happier, the answer will come to you when you’re meditating”

Margarita Duenas takes a small moment of introspection

Solitude provides calm, combats stress and helps us live a more valuable, stress free life. The matter of fact is that we just don’t value it, we raise ourselves to dread it and pour all of our effort into creating a community that creates no space or time for it. This fear of silence, of unproductiveness, of solitude seems to slander this fading past time. We miss out on experiences that really are other worldly. “Like I said, experience and the feeling of nothingness, experience and the feeling of love.”.

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About the Author

Aramis Duenas is both a student at Mountain View high school and an animation student at Freestyle Academy. He has partaken in various physical mediums such as, animation, game design, and graphic design.

He hopes for nothing. That’s all he will say to me.

Please look at my website.

(QR code leads you to the documentary part of my website with some sweet, sweet behind the scenes insight)

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Camilla Robinson 16 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

Lifting the Load

By Camilla Robinson

On a Saturday in January, in the middle of the Rancho Shopping Market’s parking lot in Los Altos, California, regular shoppers bought their groceries, stopped by the local frozen yogurt store, and dropped off clothes to be dry cleaned.

Many of them noticed a large number of cars and people congregating together. With pink shirts and handmade signs, the group was ready.

They marched together

across the street to a nearby house and started to cheer as a masked girl came onto the porch.

Stella Bennett had spent the last few months in isolation recovering from a bone marrow transplant and had recently received the unfortunate news that her medical isolation was being extended six weeks due to a spike in local COVID numbers. Being denied the chance to finally meet some friends after such a long period of separation was

a considerable mental blow.

Members of Stella’s community came out in support of her, offering cheers of encouragement outside her window.

Even though she was unable to communicate directly with them, she felt their powerful presence. The local town crier commented that it was “a show of support from family and friends … to provide a moral boost for Stella”.

For Stella and her family, this demonstration of support meant so much more than just a simple show of solidarity.

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should have clotted. This culminated in a doctor’s appointment where she was diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, or ITP, which for many can be treated with prednisone, a steroid pill, and often goes away From on its own over the begintime. ning of her diagnosis to her This diagnosis served transplants, transfusions, and mostly as an inconvechemotherapy through her nience in the first few lengthy recovery, Stella’s jour- weeks. Despite not being ney was marked by emotional able to play club volleyball strain and sacrifices that chal- or participate in summer lenged her even more than her activities, like camping, Stella physical hardships. made the best of her situation, In August of 2021, Stella had choosing to remain active started to notice that someand keep on being present in thing was off. Bruises were her community. At this point, appearing without any disshe anticipated that all would cernible cause and cuts would begin to normalize in a few bleed long past when they months. “[Stella’s doctors] almost wanted her to be put in a bubble,” Abby Bennett, Stella’s mom, commented. “So she couldn’t participate in PE, but she could socialize.” This was due to the fact she was lacking platelets, or cells that help clot your blood, and because of this lack of clotting mechanism, 18 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

even minimal injuries could potentially lead to life threatening bleeding, especially if she hit her head.

A few weeks later, she returned to the hospital due to blood blisters in her mouth, which could have potentially indicated in-

ternal organ bleeding. Stella’s doctors were nervous about this potential problem, so they did numerous tests, including a bone marrow biopsy, to figure out what was going on. According to the test results, her bone marrow was nearly depleted, which was extremely dangerous for her immune system.

Stella’s diagnosis was changed to Aplastic Anemia. The only treatment for this disease was a bone marrow transplant.

Preparations began immediately for this transplant, including finding her prospec-

tive bone marrow donor.

“The doctors have your whole family test to see if their [Stella’s immediate family members] DNA matches yours,” Stella explained. “My older sister, Julia, was in Mexico serving a mission for our church. We brought her back from Mexico and had her get tested.” Stella’s younger brother, Davis, and Julia ended up being matches for Stella’s bone marrow, but further testing revealed Julia to be the ideal donor.

In order to be a bone marrow donor, Julia had to leave her mission assignment for several months during some of its crucial early stages and while she had just started developing her fluency in Spanish. In addition, since Julia had left for Mexico, their family home had been reorganized so she no longer had a bedroom. For the duration of Stella’s transplant, Julia had to sleep on a couch in the garage. Watching Julia make these sacrifices was difficult for Stella.

“She basically put her whole life on pause to just sit at home and, you know, be my donor,” Stella commented.

A bone marrow transplant consisted of replac-

ing Stella’s dysfunctional marrow with healthy marrow from the donor. In order to make sure that her immune system wouldn’t immediately attack the donor marrow, a patient has to undergo several weeks of chemotherapy to eliminate their immune system.

New red blood cells and donor marrow would slowly be grafted into her system over the course of a few weeks. Due to the risks that come with an inactive immune system, Stella was required to stay in the hospital under supervision for a month during her transplant and chemo before she was allowed to leave.

Life in the hospital was difficult. Visitor protocols were especially strict because of COVID, so the only people allowed to see Stella were her parents and medical personnel. The only time she was able to leave her hospital room was when they had to clean it.

Flowers were prohibited and everything was extremely filtered to prevent infection while her immune system was compromised.

Despite the protocols

that prevented visitors from coming directly inside, her friends and family still showed their support in the ways that they could. Through Zoom meetings, chat with her siblings, and glow stick dance parties outside of her window, people made sure that Stella was aware that they were still thinking about her, even as she was undergoing severe physical strain from the chemotherapy

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and transplants.

Her mom was someone who was able to interact directly with her and remained at the hospital with Stella almost the entire time.

“I really felt strongly that Stella needed to never feel alone in the hospital,” her mom explained.

Eventually, Stella started producing enough white blood cells on her own in order to be allowed to return home, but even then, there were still strict guidelines that continued to prevent her from returning completely to normal.

Her circle of interaction had expanded to her entire household so she was allowed to interact with her fam-

ily once more, though she was still restricted from leaving the house, aside from short walks.

“Having my friends go to a birthday party or just like those sort of things, going to school, even those were super emotionally hard for me,” Stella commented.

“But I was just super fortunate … to have just so much support around me.”

Over the next few months, Stella continued her recovery at home.

Despite the delays of her projected end to the isolation, as well as having to be readmitted to the hospital due to high fever, her white cell counts began to

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rise high enough that the walls of isolation started to come down. She was able to begin talking to friends again and go to activities outside of her home. Currently, Stella has returned to school and continues to work her way back into normal life once more. She rejoined her 7th grade class and continues to get back on top of school.

The time from her original diagnosis of ITP to her eventual rejoining of society was a long and arduous journey. Despite all the hardships that came with Aplastic Anemia and a bone marrow transplant, Stella repeatedly expressed her gratitude for her support systems throughout her disease and recovery.

“I am super grateful for the people around me because … it’s one thing to sit in a hospital all day, but it’s another to sit there alone.”

About the Author

Camilla Robinson is currently a junior attending Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. She enjoys playing tennis and performing in the chamber orchestra for her school. Outside of school, she enjoys reading, art, and playing with her dog, Cali. She is excited to continue learning new things at Freestyle Academy and looks forward to her senior year!

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Deilani Harris 22 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

Roots: The Untold Truth About Bias Around Black Hair Deilani Harris

“There was a time in the U.S., history was all about freedom. Freedom of rights, justice and equality. And so by wearing an Afro, you were making a statement and siding with that freedom. Freedom to be you.”

-Leilani Gayles

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Context You will often hear Leilani before you see her. Conferencing on the phone, talking and planning with her coworkers, documents and pens scattered around.

However, her long dark, ginger highlighted sisterlocks will be one of the first characteristics to catch your eye, besides her brown skin.

Leilani Gayles is a hard working black woman who represents the struggle of internalized racism when it comes to hair prejudice in the business place.

Growing up in San Francisco, Leilani Gayles was often surrounded by people of color and diversity. Especially in the 1970’s, many trends and movements were taking place and these new ideas heavily influenced the people. Since a lot of the population were largely black, popular hairstyles emerged such as the afro, cornrows and the Jheri Curl. From the Sunnydale Projects to living in one of the wealthiest cities in the world, Leilani takes pride in reflecting on her roots.

Coming up, her mother was constantly working so Leilani often had to figure out how to care for herself. One of the largest challenges like any black girl, was managing her thick and curly hair. Ranging from detangling creams and sprays to just rocking the natural ‘fro, she did what she could with what she had. When she grew older, she started to go to the beauty salon to get her hair pressed with heat, creating a straight hairstyle which would last about 3 weeks at a time. Leilani now explains how, “[Natural] hair is important because it compliments our beautiful skin and it allows us the flexibility to be who we want to be in different settings.”

Although Leilani got to where she is now by diligence and perseverance, she also noted that her hair has helped her to stand out in the workplace as well. She explained how different styles she practiced kept the energy fresh and bold and “it really spoke to the type of work [she] wanted to be known for, the type of openness [she] wanted to convey, the type of discipline that [she] wanted to have in [her] work.” Being financially independent at a young age, Leilani has had many jobs throughout her career and much experience.

From simple waitress to head of human executive resources lead for the San Francisco Giants, she has faced many triumphs as well as hurdles.

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Natural hair referen

nce

Years ago, Leilani sat patiently as her stylists were repeatedly pushing and pulling and parting sections to form thin strands of hair intertwined within itself. Her new look, sisterlocks, would take a total 11 hours of pure dedication and patience.

Her scalp tingles at every tug but all she could do was close her eyes and wait for the long process to be over. What seems like days go by and finally she is finished. Making her way to the mirror, she was startled at first by what she saw but knew with time she would adjust. She felt powerful though different. She felt more connected to her ancestors now than she ever did with a chemical hair press.

Sisterlocs reference

Braid reference

Cornrow reference

For one of her first jobs, she decided to carry out her dream of traveling the world and helping others as a stewardess. United Airlines was allowing persons of 18 years old of interest to apply and train them for the job. When Leilani got to the interview, she was told that she could not participate, as her hair was “not the look they were trying to convey.”

It was and is not uncommon to hear the phrase, “good hair” as a person with 4C type hair. Generation upon generations of people have collectively shared an unhealthy attachment to the thought of long, perfectly curled, non heavily textured hair often associated with people of lighter complexions. This idea further ideates that natural black hair is unprofessional and uncanny, and compresses the 4C community into a marginalized group of conformity to white aesthetics. freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | 25

Next Steps Now at Impossible Foods, Leilani implements the freshly passed CROWN Act, ensuring that hair discrimination is terminated in the workplace. Leilani recalls feeling frustrated after the incidents of hair prejudice but says in the long run,“it opened the door for other careers that I could pursue to make sure that no candidate interested in the job would ever have to face such displeasure.”

Her next steps include continuing to experiment in her sisterlock journey, maintaining diversity health at work, as well as helping her nieces further understand the beauty, potential and power that their hair holds.

She often explains to her girls how, Freedom to show up in whatever way that represents power and justice.” She regularly encourages them to step out of their comfort zones when it comes to venturing hairstyles.

Although many challenges have risen with dismantling white trend normality, Leilani says the difference between her hair and the color of her skin are nonexistent. Despite the institutionalized bias, she is hopeful that with the CROWN Act in effect, more acceptance for different communities and people will stem.

Leilani Gayles 26 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deilani Harris is a 17 year old junior at Los Altos High School and a Freestyle Animation student. She believes that through hard work and determination, even the seemingly unachievable can be done. Deilani spends her time writing poetry, capturing photography, painting, drawing, and exploring fashion and music. Going forward, she has the goal of going to college, continuing to learn different artistic skills and putting them to use in her everyday life.

Scan for personal website

Cover art designed by Deilani Harris

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Emma Mell 28 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2021 Vol # | freestyleacademy.rocks

It’s been a laborious week for Strawberry ‘Bears’ Layton. Each hour packed with tedious practice, it devours the little free time he has outside of school, but he doesn’t mind much. As the week pinches to an anticipating close, and the curtains lift on a well worn stage, it all comes together. Lights shine down on the actors with a luminescent glow that seems to invigorate the mood inside the theater, and as the show reaches its end, and the cast takes their final bow, ready to take a break from the months of busy rehearsals, Bears is already thinking about his next show.

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Bears’ has worked endlessly to achieve highly in his area of interest. In his time doing musical theater, he has not only had to work on his capabilities as an actor, dancer, and singer, but must pay close attention to the way he presents himself in order to avoid being put into roles which undermine his identity. The competitive atmosphere already poses a challenge for people hoping to reap successful careers in musical theater, but for some, trying to break into an industry which was built for cis-gendered people can leave them feeling emotionally dejected or discouraged. At times, Bears struggles to navigate his passion for theater as a trans man in an environment that is often unwilling or unable to accommodate his identity.

In the summer of 2021, Bears decided to audition for a production of American Idiot. The musical piqued his interest, being a show based on the music from one of his favorite bands, Green Day. He identified as non-binary at the time, which he made known to the staff. When describing his experience in the production, Bears recounts how he was met with constant disrespect and mis-gendering from the crew.

He describes an instance during the production where he was sent women’s makeup criteria: “My audition sheet says non-binary…I’ve never spoken to her (the makeup artist) or whatever. So someone had to have told her I’m a girl and that’s not OK”. While Bears recognizes there are areas which are out of the crew’s control when casting trans actors, like vocal limitations or casting restrictions, the deliberate disregard for his identity, and the constant pressure he felt to present less feminine in order to be taken seriously ultimately left him with feelings of resentment for the company. This is an unfortunately common experience among trans actors in theater. In an article written by Olivia Clement in Playbill, Donnie Cianciotto, a trans actor, recounts his experience transitioning and the effect it had on his career and social relationships, “Even after years of taking testosterone, facial hair, and the use of a binder—which acts like a corset in

flattening the chest—Donnie would be misgendered at least two or three times a week”. To some, misgendering may seem like an unjustified point of frustration for trans people, but when a trans person is constantly being referred to by the wrong name, or misgendered, it implies that the people around them do not see them for who they are. It’s a demoralizing experience that can leave trans people feeling overlooked and invalided. Bears would go on to remark his discomfort in seeing the company perform a segment in the San Jose Pride Parade:

When asked about his relationship with theater, Bears would recall an interaction he had with his third grade teacher, who, hoping to give the dramatic eight-year-old a less disruptive outlet, remarked, “can you please go do the play or something?”. This school production of The Wizard Of Oz would kickstart Bears’ passion for the art, and from then on, theater would become his main focus for the foreseeable future. While he’s continued to explore this passion, Bears also began to explore other facets of his life—particularly pertaining to his personal identity. He first came out as non-binary in sixth grade, and, despite generally being met with support from his family and peers, he also experienced unwelcome comments from confused classmates and older

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family members who doubted his identity. This conflict weakened Bears’ confidence, who, throughout his life, had always enjoyed expressing his feminine side. He reflected on the way he used to dress as a kid, often dressing up like a vampire and dawning gothic styles. Even as a teenager, he enjoyed wearing makeup and exploring styles which were viewed as more traditionally feminine. Bears would describe himself as a fairly confident individual, but notes that this does not mean he does not experience dysphoria, “Many will think like, oh, you know, just you got to learn to love your body. All bodies are beautiful, you know, but it’s more than that. It’s like a psychological thing”. This road of uncertainty would, for a time, lead him to identify as a cis-gendered girl for the next two years. Many young trans people are exposed to unsafe environments and lack a consistent support system, which, in some cases, can pressure them into feeling the need to detransition. In fact, “82.5% of those who have detransitioned attribute their decision to at least one external factor such as pressure from family, non-affirming school environments, and increased vulnerability to violence”. This does not discredit someone’s identity as a trans person; rather, it em-

phasizes the importance of providing young people exploring their identity a foundation of support instead of making them feel unsafe in an already uncertain and emotionally vulnerable point in their life.

Bears would come out as non-binary again in April of 2021, and, as the pandemic hit, he would continue to question his identity. Only a few months later, he would come out as a trans man. “I think over quarantine and, you know, being at home all the time, it allowed me to step away from how other people perceive me, and I was able to spend a lot more time thinking about what that meant to me and how I could still be a trans man and enjoy all of the same things that I have for my whole life”. Throughout this journey, his mom remained as a consistent beacon of support, both on and off stage. For the thirteen productions that Bears has taken part in, his mom has played an active role in the crew of over half of them. His mom has demonstrated unequivocal

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support for her son, and throughout his journey of self-discovery, she has accepted his identity without pushback. “My mom never questioned, you know, buying me binders or even when I talked to her about starting testosterone. She’s all very receptive, receptive to all of it” . According to Provincial Health Services, parents play an important role in allowing their child to socially transition and explore their identities.

No matter the age, “If they are persistent, insistent, and consistent about their need to transition or be affirmed in their authentic gender, these are important signs to pay attention to”. Believing and listening to trans people, and allowing them to step out of the costume is not only instrumental but crucial for their well-being and happiness.

Going forward, Bears plans on continuing theater. To him, it’s never something he’s really had to think about, but simply an inevitable and ongoing force in his life. He hopes to see the industry change to better accommodate people like him, but also feels it’s already on its way to becoming more accepting to trans-identifying individuals. He feels confident in his skills as an actor and believes, generally, this has earned him respect in the field. Regarding what he hopes to see change, Bears remarks, “ I think there’s got to be some change in some copyright laws. I know that, for some scripts, it’s against their copyright to change the octave…if you have a trans person in that role and their voice doesn’t match what a person can sing, they’ll never be able to get, you know, these lead roles” . Bears also hopes to see a change in his general community. Mainly, he hopes that people will listen to the voices of trans people and put their pride aside when confronted about how their actions may be negatively affecting others instead of jumping on the defensive. Bears recognizes that people do not always act with malicious intent, and he doesn’t want to argue with people; he just wants them to listen.

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Emma Mell is a junior at Freestyle Academy and Los Altos High School. She’s always been extremely passionate about developing and designing characters and enjoys experimenting with her personal style. She cites her friends as a main source of motivation to continue expressing herself creatively, and plans on continuing her artistic endeavors in college and hopes to study and pursue a career in animation. freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2021 Vol # | 33

Fiona Liu 34 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

Nothing Can Slow You Down

By Fiona Liu David Miller is a resilient young man with polio who finds no reason for anyone to give up.

When he was children came to his aid. He meshed just a toddler so well in this large family, who sought living in to adopt children who were “less Russia, Da- adoptable” (M. Miller). They met and vid Miller’s adopted him when he was six years orphanage old. “We had taken him to the apartkept conve- ment we were staying in and…Daniently losing vid…jumped right in and was…helpthe paperwork to ing…our host to set the table and do move him out of the other things…He was on crutches and, infant unit. He was a child filled with but he…still wanted to help”(M. Millsuch joy and such vibrance that the er). This is despite a disability, which orphanage did not want to let go of he does not let define him. him. Miller was diagnosed with a parThe disability that David Miller alyzing disability between the ages of has lived with for nearly his entire life 1 and 2, and in Rus- “He was on crutches and, is poliomyelitis. The sia, disabled children CDC defines poliomybut he…still wanted to help” often did not receive elitis (also known as adequate care. However, he received polio) as a “disabling and life-threateducation and care from the people ening disease caused by the polioviwho ran the orphanage. rus”(“What is Polio”). Only about 0.5% After a first adoption fell through, one of those affected by polio experience American family with seven other paralysis(“What is Polio”). Miller is freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | 35

one of those cases, wearing a leg brace people try to dance around the topic. on his paralyzed right leg.

Some people try to advocate for visiPolio has no cure, generally afbility and education about topics relatfecting people under the age of 5. The ing to disability, especially those with contagious disease affects the nervous physical deformities. system, which controls several differ- The “body positivity movement” is ent parts of the body. The only treatone movement that tries to represent ment for polio is prevention, with the different bodies and different levels of polio vaccine. Polio has not touched ability. It seems to mostly represent the United States since the polio epiable-bodied individuals, however. demic of the 1950s, when many chilMany people think that “disabilities dren were paralyzed in their lungs and are depressing” (Cohen-Rottenberg). diaphragm (M. Miller). The United Miller expresses a similar sentiment States and Russia, Miller’s home coun- when he is asked whether he enjoys try, developed an oral vaccine for polio having a community of other disabled as a joint effort (Demesko). individuals. He says, “I do not like One adjective that people would having a community of other people use to describe David Miller is with disabilities…I resilient. He is don’t like seeing people never afraid to try suffer. [I] just feel odd new things, and staring at them” (D. finds no reason Miller). Some people to give up. These just don’t want to feel days, as acceptance different. It sucks beof different bodies ing othered or being and abilities grows, an outcast of sorts. s ic t s TAP Pla representation inMiller hopes to one day own his creases. However, the discrimination own woodworking business. In fact, he has not been eradicated. Much of the has been working at creating one for time, disabled individuals are poryears. His current job at TAP Plastics trayed as weak, or unable to do the prepares him for this job. Miller has same things that able-bodied individu- worked there for around ten years, and als can do. They are often portrayed as he has a good relationship with his co“objects of pity [or] opportunities for workers and customers. Miller’s boss, charity” (Cohen-Rottenberg). That, or Blanca Quiterio, describes him as “en36 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

thusiastic about work.” People at work by his family. He was always especially do not even notice his leg, and it does close with his father and wanted to do not hinder his ability to fabricate plas- what he was doing. He would follow tics. At work he’s very focused, walkhim around and help him out with ing all around the workshop with his tasks. This is how he learned things limp, measuring and cutting up plassuch as woodworking. Occasionally, tic. He began workhe will go over to his paring at TAP Plastics as ents’ garage to complete soon as he got out of his own woodworking high school, being a projects. Sometimes he dedicated and hardwill work on constructing working individual. a guitar, or a chair, but He is “very smart, even just creating a shelf very loyal, and very is exciting.

Miller working at TAP reliable” (Quiterio).

The sharp, piercing Growing up in the Bay Area, sound of a saw rings through his faMiller never faced too much bullying, ther’s garage as Miller feeds wood though he did have the occasional through it. Taking the pieces, he metease here or there. He never let it get ticulously measures them and puts to him, taking it in stride and standing together a shelf. He knows this place up for himself. Sometimes he did feel like the back of his hand and flows like the circus freak however, catching through it with ease, knowing exactly the glances of curiwhere his tools are “he would just move on, go… ous children or other placed. The pieces fit right past it, and continue to gawkers. He doesn’t together like a puzengage with life in a positive like the attention, zle, and one can tell having felt more in- way” that a lot of planning secure about his leg and effort went into brace in the past. Despite all his chal- it. Miller limps around the garage and lenges, he was still a fairly happy child. grabs the tools required for the next With the bullying he did face, “he steps of his project. He’s used to this would just move on, go…right past it, limping, having lived like this his enand continue to engage with life in a tire life. positive way” (M. Miller).

When questioned about if polio Miller has always felt supported still affects Miller to this day, he disfreestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | 37

cusses the pain that his leg brace caus- ‘no, you can’t’. I was always encouraged es. He doesn’t care too much about to do whatever I wanted to do” (D. the paralyzed leg, being able to drive Miller). and do most other activities. After Miller doesn’t want people to view him several hours of endless use of the any differently. Much of the time, he leg brace, eventually the pain gets to forgets that he even has polio. It’s not him. At TAP Plastics, he walks 30-50 a defining trait. He receives some disthousand steps per day, and “after a ability benefits, such as the long day of physical activity, handicap placard, but [his] leg hurts. It he does not abuse it. hurts, it aches” He says that others (D. Miller). He are “way worse off acknowledges than [him], and if his shortcomings [he] needs to walk and knows his farther, so be it” (D. limitations. While Miller). Talking polio doesn’t affect about his disabiliworking d o o W r Mille Miller too much in ty, Miller says, “I think I have his daily life, one worry that he does lived my life with this idea that this is have is post-polio syndrome, which not a handicap to the point where I the CDC defines as “a condition that would call myself a normal, functioncan affect polio “Life is too short to care what ing person” (D. Miller). survivors decades Generally, Miller does so-and-so is thinking about after they recover not want others to pity you...Nothing can slow you from their initial him. He wants people down“ poliovirus infecto treat him the same tion”(“Post-Polio as any of their other Syndrome”). It can cause muscles to friends (D. Miller). His message for weaken or affect other parts of the other people with disabilities is, “Don’t body even after polio has laid dormant give up!…There’s no reason for it. Do (M. Miller). Miller’s father fears for not worry about other people. Life him because since he is a highly active is too short to care what so-and-so person, he is at higher risk to develop is thinking about you…Nothing can post-polio syndrome. David asserts slow you down” (D. Miller). that “Nobody ever wants to be told, 38 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

About the Author

Fiona Liu is a junior at Mountain View High School. She loves cats, to the point that she makes them her entire personality. She claims to be a “Woman in STEM”, but doesn’t really enjoy doing anything in STEM. Her hobbies include filmmaking and sleeping(which she does not do a lot of these days. unfortunately). Currently enrolled in four AP classes, she in under a lot of stress.

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Kyle Jhong 40 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

The Secret of Nonduality A logical introduction to a deep spiritual truth.

By Kyle Jhong

I

t is the morning of Thanksgiving.

The house is silent, everybody fast asleep. Eugene Jhong sits lazily on a couch as the first rays of sunlight beam down from the half-circle window and illuminate his living room. A framed portrait of his family rests in the corner of the room. His one-year-old puppy lies on the carpet next to his feet. Jhong’s eyes are closed, gray brows completely relaxed.

Not a single muscle is tense in his slender body. If you were sitting in the room at this very moment you would not notice anything particularly remarkable, but he has just had the most profound insight of his life: he has been misguided about his true identity. A deep inner peace envelops his heart.

The realization Jhong unlocked within himself at this moment is known as non-duality. A retired Silicon Valley programmer, Jhong shifted from the mainstream “logical” philosophy of materialism to this deep spiritual truth. This transformation has re-framed his worldview and filled the constant knot of worry and existential suffering that he felt. Non-duality is the recognition that you have been

misidentifying yourself with a false identity from thoughts and concepts when in actuality you are the pure awareness that is the background of all experience. Often called the ego-death, understanding the non-dual truth rids us of self-centered thoughts and gives us a sense of being pure, spacious and whole. Jhong defines “Materialism” as the mainstream intellectual belief that the universe is made of matter and governed by purposeless mechanistic laws, using science and rationality as their justification.

As a former materialist, Jhong wants to show current materialists who may view spirituality as fantastical that non-duality is, in fact, not inconsistent with logic and science. He pushes for open-mindedness, emphasizing that they need not trust the theory at face value but can discover for themselves whether it is viable.

Now 53 years old, Jhong “grew up in modernity,” surrounded by high-achieving materialists for all of his

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early life. He describes it as “an intellectual culture of elitism”. Jhong learned to live competitively, holding a narrow ideal of success and happiness in his head. “I grew up fully entrenched in the materialist framework promoted by science”. Having studied at Harvard and Stanford, he became one of the first Google engineers when fewer than 300 employees were working there.

Jhong was fortunate enough to retire in 2006. By all means he achieved the materialist model of success, but something was still missing. As a high-achieving computer scientist who has “gotten almost everything that [he] set out to do” in the external world, Jhong asserts that this external success did not make him happy.

Having worked primarily under the expectations of his perfectionist family, he still felt a deep existential dread, eventually realizing he needed to shift his focus from the external to the internal.

are undeniably correct, holding an active condescension and hatred of others who have different perspectives. According to an article titled “The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins,” Dawkins ironically idolizes Charles Darwin, who “understood science as an empirical investigation in which truth is never self-evident and theories are always provisional”. Unlike Dawkins, Jhong believes that an open-minded rational view leaves open the possibility that reality is very far from being well understood.

The resistance to spirituality from science-minded people also stems from their tendency to trust their preconceptions of the world. For instance, a study analyzing climate change researchers reported that “symposia scholars showed a stronger preference for Judging (76%) than for Perceiving (24%), and this pattern was significantly different (p<0.001) from the National Representative Sample, which was 54% Judging and 46% Perceiving”.

The definitions of the Judging and PerIf you told Jhong two decades ago ceiving personality types suggests that the that he would search for mysteries emformer tends to trust preconceptions over bedded within his own consciousness, he observations. Jhong believes that expendwould have looked at you like you were ing effort to examine one’s own consciouscrazy. The thoughts of “channeling energy” ness is a very rational and logical thing to and “unlocking chakras” would not have do, because it hinges on observation—not garnered his interest. Being a computer preconception—and because you only scientist, Jhong held the mainstream achave one consciousness available to you ademic skepticism of spirituality. He now for first-person exploration. believes the materialist position is often Before he discovered non-duality, held by its proponents without deep exam- Jhong believed that external success was ination just because it is the status quo and all that mattered in life, an idea instilled in thus perceived to be the most “rational” or him by his mother and the society around “scientific” view. Atheist Richard Dawkins him. His recent midlife crisis was the incitshowcases how the intellectual authoring event for his shift from materialism to ity of materialism causes close-mindedspirituality. Jhong approached the non-duness. Dawkins holds the belief that since al philosophy with genuine curiosity, and his arguments are based in science, they in a questioning yet open fashion he ex-

The Materialist Trap

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plored its exercises. After having multiple glimpses of this truth that kept him searching, Jhong finally found the non-dual understanding appropriately enough on the Thanksgiving Day of 2019.

The Effect

Compared to the way he used to live, Jhong is free. Gone are the days of pulling all-nighters working on code; he now enjoys going to bed and waking up early because it makes him feel more alive. He has committed to practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, now able to dispel his mental resistance to the thought of attending grueling sessions. He has stopped drinking with his friends and opted to spend quiet time with his dog working on his other side projects and practicing his golf swing.

Jhong practicing his golf swing

state of your mind so that most of the time you’re in the zone and “All I do is I just flow and do what my then sometimes you get into self-absorbed body tells me to do. And you know thoughts, but you can stop them very easwhat it does? It does things that are ily.” Although it can be referred to as a state of awareness or ego-death, Jhong much better than what it used to do always compares the non-dual state to a before. Before it was full of worry flow state or being in the zone in athletics: and anxiety and fear. And now it’s “people pass in and out of this state all the just like, you know what? I just do time, and they just don’t realize it’s somewhatever I feel like” thing special”. Mario Beauregard, one of the few post-materialist neuroscientists, Having understood the truth, Jhong explains how this state occurs during norlends a helping hand to those who seek mal life: “That state of awareness can arise it. He does not preach this understandduring an experience of beauty, eroticism ing, but certain friends have approached or silence. Often the experience comes in him during the quarantine for advice nature; while contemplating a leaf or the out of curiosity. Jhong is always happy stars. Such states can also emerge during to answer questions and recommend his the artistic process, while writing, probfavorite books and resources on non-duing dreams, painting or enjoying music”. ality over Zoom calls. He first tells seekers Jhong also presents the non-dual state as that non-duality “is a flip of the default the opposite of depression in some sense. freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | 43

Although one might think the opposite would be positive self-thinking, Jhong believes it is actually the absence of any self-absorbed thoughts.

Whether they are his high school friends or former coworkers, seekers often have trouble understanding non-duality. This is because the non-dual truth is something impossible to communicate solely through language, since words are themselves limited. The truth cannot be simply intellectualized. Akilesh Ayyar, one of Jhong’s favorite authors, says

“​​There’s no real use trying to understand the enlightened state beforehand, except to know that it is pure truth and bliss. It is beyond words and concepts, actually, and best not to weigh yourself down with expectations” Jhong always tells these seekers that although these words cannot convey the truth itself, they can serve as pointers and make one aware of the means to find it.

Jhong strongly recommends two practices to these seekers: Hindu Sage Ramana Maharshi’s self-inquiry and surrender. These practices are not the typical sitting meditative practices, but are meant to be done in the back of one’s mind while going through an average day. Self-inquiry is a practice where you constantly try to find who you are referring to when you think “I” in order to discover the unreality of that “I” thought. Unlike self-inquiry, which is about constant effort, surrender is an exercise in which one ignores all their thoughts to see if they can still function. Both exercises “sound so simple, and they really are, but you just have to try it

Jhong and his dog

and you start feeling this peace, a deep peace in your heart. And that’s how you know, Wow. Maybe there is something there. They call these glimpses, and if you do them enough, then you may find your brain’s default state may flip”.

Jhong’s wholehearted belief in non-duality has fulfilled his life, and now he seeks to spread awareness. He is workshopping the plans for a documentary to help others realize that this spiritual journey is worth their time and effort. Jhong recommends Awareness by Anthony de Mello, Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now, A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, and Akilesh Ayyar’s How to Find What Isn’t Lost: A Short, Pro-Intellectual, Pro-Desire Guide to Enlightenment and Spiritual Dialogues with Akilesh to any materialist thinkers looking to seek for this secret.

“And so if people could just understand that there is this great secret out there that could make you all view life in a completely, profoundly different way, I think more people would be aware of this”.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kyle Jhong is a junior at Mountain View High School and a member of the Freestyle Academy. He enjoys programming video games and producing music in his spare time. After completing high school he plans to continue making games with his team.

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Lucy Wang 46 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

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Sandra Wright Shen’s path had been laid out: study music performance, graduate with a degree, and enter the music industry with a bang. Little did she expect her journey would bifurcate, eventually joining together once more to combine the worlds of performance and education. Today, Sandra educates selflessly by passing on her techniques as well as the values she learned from experience. She encourages her students through maintaining quality relationships focused on their development. As a Steinway artist and one of Silicon Valley’s most well-respected musicians, Sandra inspires millions of people both in far-away areas of the world and in her own community of students and local audiences.

When she was born, music had already been present in Sandra’s home in Taipei, Taiwan. She attended preschool, where she often heard the national anthem being played. One afternoon, Sandra came home and began picking out the familiar tune on the piano. Her mother thought, “Hey! Maybe this kid has some talent!”, enrolled her in music lessons and later, an elementary school with a focus on music. There, Sandra experienced her first rush of excitement from a musical victory when she excelled at a music exam. She reflects, “All of a sudden, one day I got called out and stood in front of the whole school and I was receiving this paper. It was an honor that I got first prize…and that sense of honor felt really good. And I didn't, at that time, know what that meant. But later I saw how happy my mom was, how happy my dad was. And so I just kept going and going.” Her school education brought her to play a great variety of pieces, including sonatas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart’s sonatas today are not necessarily known for their technical complexity, but the way they were composed places light on the simple elegance we see around us, v appealing to listeners’ emotions and their imagination. “It gave me this sense almost like a mini opera, like I'm playing theater music, and I could see some characters come alive in my imagination, just hearing the music and trying to conduct this little play in my mind,” Sandra elaborates. Mozart came to be an important musical influence on Sandra in the rest of her journey. “I think Mozart really unlocked something very special, the meaning of this joy, tranMetronome setup on Sandra’s home scending joy. Despite how I felt at that moment, when I start playing, [it just] studio piano lifted me.” Mozart’s music helped Sandra begin the journey of discovering what music meant to herself.

At the Peabody Institute of Music in Maryland, Sandra pursued her interest in music by majoring in music performance. She flourished in the new communities she got to know, but it was difficult to express herself with confidence. One of the greatest challenges lay in stopping herself from plummeting down the rabbit hole of thinking, “I'm not good enough, and I need to do A note from students, among pens and other little gifts more”. Compared with how Sandra carries herself today at a performance, she has truly come a long way. Her husband, Raymond, was monumental in helping her to develop the confidence she needed to succeed. “When we got married, he just said, ‘Sandra, you need to start thinking you're the pianist. And not just sometimes you're the pianist.’” Now, Sandra is fully able to harness the confidence in herself. “If I want to be a pianist and I know I am born to be a pianist, I am a pianist, and I start living in that lifestyle. I start breathing like a pianist.” When I listened to her performance on April 9th, hosted by Steinway Society, I saw how she was truly able to apply the confidence of being the pianist as she spoke about each composer Congratulaters after Sandra’s Steinway concert 48 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

whose piece she was about to perform, took a seat at the bench, and simply paused for a few moments with her eyes closed, composing herself with a moment of peace, before launching into Mozart’s twelve joyful variations on"Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", or Twinkle, Twinkle.

I asked Sandra if any part of the experience has changed for her in overcoming the mental game of a performance—especially the pressure to fulfill the expectations that are placed on her to deliver something meaningful—since her time in college. “I remember hearing Yo-Yo Ma [say] that the butterfly will never go away,” she describes. “Before the concert there is always this little momentum where the adrenaline is going and you have this little stomach thing going, but the difference with more and more performance opportunity is that you learn to embrace it. So instead of allowing this adrenaline to [be steered] in the wrong direction, you embrace it and let that be like a friend”.

This was an important value that Sandra learned from her experience as a performer: practicing and continuously engaging in these situations that challenge us can help us become familiar with our own dynamics and emotions. With more exposure, we can feel beyond the raw emotion and take the extra energy to focus on the task at hand. “Before, you know how we're worried about who's in [the] audience, and on Facebook, [when] I posted my concert, “Oh, somebody is coming. Oh, no, that person is coming!”, you are all worried…but [it] come[s] down to just focusing on what is in front of me, and really soaking into that music, and also not making the performance a big deal. There shouldn't be big or small performances…They are all equally important, but they're not like [a] life or death situation,” she shares. Her next words also spoke to my heart. “If you set so much expectation on that one event, then you could hardly breathe. You're too afraid of messing it up…So the thing is, just take it easy,” she advises. “Not a big deal. If I make a mistake, nobody dies, right? And enjoy the whole journey.” The most valuable experience is to keep growing as an individual. “I remember during a competition, my teacher said to me, ‘Sandra, if you win the competition, you're still the same person the next day. It doesn't make you a better person. And if you don't win the competition, you're still the same person. It doesn't make you less worthy.’…It's that consistency of striving for what's better, that journey.”

What brought Sandra into teaching? At Peabody, she had not gone through the program to obtain a Doctor of Musical Art degree, which applies to students studying music history, theory, and education. “I took the route of competitions,” she says, “and I was preparing—I really wanted to be a performer.” And a performer she did become—a dedicated and successful performer. So what brought her into teaching, a completely different field? I sensed that Sandra’s attitude toward her role in teaching upon graduating from Peabody had been far from enthusiastic, as she said, “There's very few performers that can get away from teaching, right? Everybody needed to teach.” For Sandra, teaching presented a side career to maintain a source of income after college; it was something that was necessary to do in order to support herself and pay for more lessons, ultimately to prepare for competitions, she explains.

Today, teaching is one of her greatest passions. Since the time she’’d taught her first lesson, she has experienced many core life events, the most emotionally significant being the loss of her mother. “I still remember, two years ago, my mother passed away and I was quarantining in Taiwan, but we were doing online lessons while I was in the hotel room - and having this heavy heart, meeting with my students, every one of them, just felt like the greatest comfort at that time. That really strengthened me. I had no idea the meaning of having this relationship with [a] student that carried me through my difficult moment. So now, it becomes a community and it becomes perhaps a greater love for me than performing, and greater meaning too.”

When I asked her to elaborate about the very first lessons that she taught, Sandra laughed out loud. “First, I was not prepared to be a teacher at that time. I was teaching as how I was taught…just trying to dump all the information that I know as much as possible onto them…I did not consider their level, their understanding, their vocabulary,” she lamented. One of her earliest students was a boy of six years old. Within the music he was learning, he struggled with the notes that were staccato, which have a dot above them and are meant to be played short. Sandra’s verbal explanation did not help him understand, but later when Sandra invited a peer teacher to come and give a masterclass, the teacher found a creative way to solve the problem. He asked the kid, “Is there any insect that you're afraid of?” and found that the child did not like spiders.

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Sandra recalls, “[He] drew these little spiders underneath that note with the dot. ‘And then whenever you go there, you want to really bounce away, because otherwise there's a spider beneath that note. And he would jump up and bite you. And you don't want to get a spider bite, right?’”. The problem was fixed. When the young student reached the dotted note, “he'd just go like this!” Sandra reenacts the movement by tapping her fingers against the wooden picnic table where our interview took place. “He totally jumped away” (Shen).

This experience was an invaluable event for Sandra to establish several standards for herself in the rest of her career as an educator. She realized the significance of observing the unique qualities of each student she worked with and the style of learning which worked best for them. “That taught me so much about speaking and understanding my audience. Who am I trying to communicate with? And using their language, what they can understand, and then lead them from there.”

To gather more insight into how Sandra came to develop a style of teaching, I interviewed an 8th grader named Chloe, who is one of Sandra’s longest-time students. Chloe recalls her first piano lesson with Sandra, when she was six years old, describing plainly, “She grabbed my hand and dropped [it] onto the piano a couple of times.” This was surprising for me to hear about now, and I imagine it was even more so for young Chloe during that time. She adds, “I think I remember her saying it was so I could feel the piano…

So she held my hand, she told me to relax and then just took it away and then it dropped. It made a really loud sound, and we did that for a couple of times.” The simple function of this hands-on approach is to introduce children to the sound of the piano, creating the first building blocks for their musical journey ahead. In this interactive manner, Sandra first opens up the world of the piano to young minds like Chloe, before moving on to identifying the sound of each note, learning to use dynamics, and applying musicality to inspire emotions. I felt my observations of Sandra’s teaching were similar to the concept of Bloom’s Taxonomy, after hearing Chloe’s thoughts on how she felt Sandra’s ways of teaching her have changed as she grew over the years.

“In the very beginning, it was very hands-on…when I was learning something new, [she would] sit right next to me and play it and teach me how to play by physically pressing my hand into the piano….Now, it's more instruction. She would tell me how to use something, and I would usually get it,” Chloe elaborated.

By educating young generations and helping them to develop interdisciplinary skills, Sandra contributes to the future of the community, and most importantly she accomplishes this through placing emphasis on each student, their starting point, personality, and experiences, pinning the definition of a dedicated educator.

Today, Sandra continues to seek improvement in herself as she practices and perfects her pieces, gives performances in the busy spring season, and shares her learnings with her students. Now teaching at the San Francisco Precollege Conservatory of Music every Saturday, she experiences what it is like to work in a Masterclass environment. The setting of the Conservatory creates an ambience that is entirely different from her experience teaching lessons one-on-one in her home studio, which she still maintains throughout weekdays.

“You have a whole group of students” attending the class, all under age 18, Sandra describes. “They're all there that day, and they're doing musicianship class, they're doing their chamber music groups, and they're doing all various things about music, and jazz improvisation…they're excited. I'm excited.”

After the concert!

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z

Lucy Wang attends Mountain View High School as a junior. She takes joy from going on walks in nature, experimenting with her DSLR camera, and interacting with teammates through sports, namely running, wrestling, and badminton.

Lucy is a pianist, and she was inspired to interview her piano teacher of six years, Sandra Wright Shen, for her profile documentary project at Freestyle Academy.

Over the summer and the next school year, she hopes to continue to develop her passions in both art and science through learning new things.

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Nicole Leihe 52 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

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ed States, but he also helped to shape Ray’s values and jump-started his diverse career path. how Through his experience with Freeman, Ray began to develop his own views and defiany successful college graduates today nitions of success that defied the typical “jourtend to view their studies at univerney to success” of the time. He encourages sity as simply a stepping stone for a others to view “success” with an open mind: “I successful career, which often overlooks the think there’s no set formula for the so-called significance of those who had contributed to success. The key is how you find your own vertheir blossoming careers every step of the way. sion of success and how you find your happiHowever, even after Ray Leihe graduated from ness”. An increasingly selective and unreasonHaverford College almost 30 years ago, he still able college admissions system for high school sends festive Christmas cards annually to the students today narrows and refines modern family of Michael Freeman, a former librarday definitions of success, in which many see ian at Haverford College. His annual tribute only the top elite universities as viable stepping expresses his enduring gratitude for the way stones. However, data proves that your college, Freeman overlooked Ray’s disadvantaged back- even a top university, does not guarantee or ground to hire him at the Haverford library, predict success in the future. a job that launched his advanced academic Ray Leihe first arrived in the US in studies and ushered Ray to pursue his own search of a better education. He had arrived individual passions in economics. Even after in November of 1989 during a grave period of Freeman’s untimely death over 20 years ago, he history in which the country had entered both remains in touch with his wife in order to hon- a recession and its first war with Iraq. He had or his former employer and mentor. Not only previously attended a boarding school in Chidid Freeman’s benevolence allow Ray to obtain na and left his home at just 18 with only a couemployment at JP Morgan on Wall Street just ple hundred of dollars weighing in his pockets. five years after he first immigrated to the Unit- Struggling to financially provide for himself

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during his first years as a college student, he was forced to take on a number of jobs, including waiting tables, washing cars, selling balloons at graduation, and assisting in school computer labs. Ray reflects, “I had to take on both [a] full time college work load and also work … between 20 to 30 hours per week. …

However, Ray’s successful career and elite JP Morgan job didn’t come from nowhere.

After getting hired as a library assistant and technician at the Haverford library, his connections allowed him to finish his undergraduate years as a student at the prestigious college.

As a staff member, he was initially permitted to take a few part-time classes as a staff benefit. “... I got all A’s in those classes, [so] then I went back to the provost and said, ‘Hey, can I actually apply to be a full time student’”? After going through a lengthy transfer application

One of Ray’s first apartments in America, 1990

my life was pretty much either in the classroom, or study, or [at] first work, ... just to make Ray’s job after graduate school, the 2002 ends meet”.

Ray at his Silicon Valley home today, 2022 Although Ray was forOne of Ray’s first apartments in America, 1990 tunate enough to eventually obtain a larger job at the HaverRay’s job at the Haverford library, 1994 ford library which led him to process from his local community college larger career opportunities, his early struggles Ray’s first job after graduate school, 2002 and gaining full support from Michael continue to remain true as an abundance of Freeman, his boss at the library, he was immigrants today struggle to find longtime, Ray at his Silicon Valley home today, 2022 admitted as a full time student. Even with reliable jobs in their early years in the US in an attempt to strive for the “American Dream”. his new student status, he remained an employee at the library and kept his staff Many of these cases today can be attributed member privileges at Haverford. “I was to the grave issue of foreign credentials not told I’m the first person in the history [of being rightly validated in US work industries.

Having been able to expand his experience and Haverford] that simultaneously holds a rise from the challenges of immigration, Ray’s student I.D. and a staff I.D., so that was quite unusual”, he chuckles, reminiscing current job as the leader of a platform team at Cloudflare hopes to inspire and integrate more on the unique experience.

Through his education at the liberal arts immigrants into the workplace, especially in college, Ray was able to explore a variety of the heart of Silicon Valley, a culturally diverse classes, including history, law, and even jazz place at the center of technology.

Ray’s job at the Haverford library, 1994

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music. “I always thought I would be studying experience he gained from his time at Wall engineering or computers, [because] that’s sort Street, his employment came to an end after he of what my parents thought I would do, [what] realized the depressing and mundane nature my relatives [thought] I would do, because of the environment surrounding him. Through they studied computer science”. However, after his job at Wall Street, Ray was able to witness developing a keen infirsthand the toxic terest in economics at environment and “Big “I realize that, when you Haverford, he began to Brother” culture, as pave a new direction for pick a job, a company, and also he calls it, that permehis career that heavily ated the offices of JP a career, more important, you contrasted his previous Morgan. Tedious and need to first prioritize what interests. “I wound up repetitive tasks were makes you happy versus what majoring in economics accompanied by conbecause it has the right trolling and demandmakes [the] most money”. balance of [the] quaning bosses that bore titative aspect and the little respect for those liberal arts aspect”. As a result of his newfound that were employed. On one particular day, interests, he began interviewing with a number a colleague of Ray received harsh treatment of financial services companies after graduafrom their boss for a harmless, minor mistake. tion who were recruiting economics majors.

Not being able to simply stand witness, Ray Miraculously, he got an offer from JP Morgan stood up for his teammate and courageously confronted his superior. He knew this was a risky move that could result in the termination of his employment. However, that week, he had already been planning to resign in order to transition to a new job offer that had recently arisen. After the events of the day, he went up to his boss during his lunch break to apologize, who sat sulking at a table by himself. “I typed out One of Ray’s first apartments in America, 1990 [my] resignation letter, put [it] in a sealed envelope, and then Ray’s job at the Haverford library, 1994 walked to my boss and said, ‘Oh, sorry, I was kind of acting too Ray’s first job after graduate school, 2002 emotional. Promise this won’t and began working his first post-college job at happen again’”. He followed up his apology Ray at his Silicon Valley homebytoday, 2022 60 Wall Street. handing his boss the envelope which conDespite the large salary and amount of tained his letter of resignation and immediately freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | 55

walked away, his boss unaware of the witty play those individuals move up in their own career he had just carried out. Nowadays, he chuckles and responsibilities. “I think [a] lifelong reat the memory of seeing his boss’s face shift lationship is probably the one I treasure the into one of fury and rage at most…. since you will spend the realization that he had half your life with the people just been fooled. “I couldn’t [who] surround you, you hold my laugh, and of course, really need to be comfortonce he saw it, he was furiable with the type of people ous… his face was red”. you will be working with”.

Today, Ray continues He hopes to continue leavto advance his diversifying ing a positive impact on his career in multiple domains, coworkers and those around and doesn’t plan on stopping him in the workplace, as One of Ray’s first apartments in America, 1990 well as a legacy that inspires anytime soon. “I still keep it with a very open mind. Let his colleagues to continue Ray’s job at the Haverford library, 1994 the serendipity just hit me”. bettering themselves.

As he expands his network Nowadays, many people Ray’s first job after graduate school, 2002 of connections over time, he are beginning to stray from Ray at his Silicon Valley home today, 2022 is met with an abundance of the idea of a linear career opportunities for new projects with growing ladder and a singular way to rise through your startup companies in the bustling tech induscareer. Ray brings these novel ideas of success try of Silicon Valley, where he resides today. to fruition by advising young workers to take Nowadays, he values being able to grow a team into account the reality of the career ladder. He of talented individuals and forging strong hopes to help those around him discover their relationships. He finds joy through watching own, individual career paths just as he did many years ago by sharing avant-garde ideas of success. In place of leaving behind a grand vision and legacy, Ray strives to influence each “.. the so-called individual person he meets and focuses on the career ladder is small favors that he can do for others. “That’s less about compehow I define and see success—it’s about how tition with other many people you are able to influence versus sort of more individual-centric, in terms of people, your colmy own success”. Ray’s humble, down-to-earth leagues, etc. It’s beginnings usher him to advocate the prioritimore about [how] zation of your own happiness rather than the standards of our society in order to reach your you compete with highest potential. yourself”.

“I think that’s the ultimate. If you’re happy, that’s the ultimate success”.

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about the author

Nicole Leihe is a junior at Mountain View High School and attends Freestyle Academy as an Animation student. She’s a big fan of ducks and the color green.

When she’s not buried in stacks of schoolwork, she enjoys making cards for her loved ones as well as designing a number of things, whether it be outfits or flyers.

She also hopes to use other forms of art such as animation, painting, or drawing as tools of expression. Being her own biggest critic, she overall strives to create works of art that she is proud to share and document to the rest of the world.

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Zeytin Ercan 58 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

Wearing Your Heart on Your Sleeve

B

are mannequins line the windows of a small store on Castro Street, the heart of Mountain View, California. The windows are plastered with signs reading “CLOSING SALE” and “50% OFF ALL ITEMS”. The store is packed, with the check out line nearly spilling out the front door. Flashes of color swirl by as customers rush through, clutching dresses that seem to fly through the air behind them. At the front of the winding line, customer after customer give their heartfelt, and often teary-eyed, condolences to the two women behind the cash register, both of whom wear matching bittersweet smiles. The women are Tamara and Julie Michel, sisters and now-former owners of Boutique 4, a unique clothing and novelty store in downtown Mountain View. After 17 years, this is their final day in business.

The loss of the Boutique follows an upsetting pattern seen in small Mountain View busi-

nesses, as the store joins three other vacant buildings surrounding it on both sides, leaving a gaping slot of empty business on the street. Boutique 4’s closure in particular is one that has truly hurt the Mountain View community, as it was one of the town’s only stores of its nature. Thanks to the creativity and ingenuity of the sisters, Tamara and Julie Michel created a community around their clothing store, representing a unique aesthetic and perspective on fashion and entrepreneurship that is rare in Silicon Valley.

The Boutique 4 experience really started before you even walked through the door. Eight mannequins lined the windows at the entrance, sporting the newest looks and accessories. The displays, carefully designed and replaced by Julie every few weeks or so, welcomed customers to the whimsical aesthetic that touched everything in the store. Bright patterns, loud colors, unique designs

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– think Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus meets Jessica Day from New Girl. Longtime customer, Elina Koretsky, says that the window displays were what first drew her to the Boutique. “I think I saw Boutique 4 before I heard about it,” she says. “I am a huge fan of dresses and they always had the best window display dresses!” Koretsky, who works for a non-profit in the Bay Area, says part of the reason she loved Boutique 4 so much was because it had what so many other retail stores didn’t, especially in Mountain View, where most small businesses are restaurants or novelty stores.

“The atmosphere was always warm and friendly,” she says, “I loved the hand-drawn art on the walls and the wide variety of unique clothing options. The vibe was the opposite of Target- it was warm, welcoming and full of character!”

Former employee Lauren Levenston says that the ambiance of the store was part of what made it so unique. “The store had a very welcoming and relaxed atmosphere…There were colorful decorations everywhere: on the walls, hanging from the ceiling, and at the front desk.” As one of only a couple employees at the Boutique, Levenston had basic retail responsibilities, (tidying, opening and closing, reorganizing the racks, etc.) but above all else, she says, the most important part of her job was helping the customers, whether that was through Koretsky in her favorite Boutique 4 setting them up in a fitting room, answering their questions, or just dress taking the time to have a nice conversation. “When she was training me,” Levenston remembers, “Tamara had an emphasis on making the store a positive experience for the customers, so we made sure there was a very welcoming and friendly environment in the store.” The sisters worked to ensure that that positive environment extended to the employees just as much as the patrons, as Levenston recalls: “Tamara and Julie would always stick around for a few minutes to have a genuine conversation with me, which I know is something that most teenage employees do not experience, and just by talking to them, you could tell that they were truly kind people who really wanted to make a positive impact on their community.”

Tamara and Julie have been partners in crime since the very beginning. The sisters grew up together in a small Ohio town by Lake Erie with a population of around 35,000. They attribute much of their interest in fashion and entrepreneurship to the early influence of their grandparents and great grandparents, all of whom lived within blocks of the sisters. “One grandparent on our mother’s side taught us how to sew, and so we learned how to do that from a young age and made all our own clothes,” Julie says. “Then the grandparents on our father’s side had their own bakery. And so we grew up working in the bakery.”

Tamara initially got her start working in STEM, getting a degree in Computer Science from Ohio State University, while Julie attended an art school nearby. Tamara began working at TI (Texas Instruments) in Dallas shortly after college, but was later transferred out to Silicon Valley. The sisters, who, according to Julie, have never been apart for more than a couple months, eventually reunited when Julie chose to move out to the Bay Area with her sister. “She forced me!” Julie jokes, to which Tamara sheepishly agrees.

The creation of the store initially came about as the sisters’ to make a unique shopping experience for women who, like them, had backgrounds working in more professional environments. “It was an idea that we had to try to make a different kind of shopping experience for customers to help make it easier to find what looks good on them.” Tamara explains, “So the concept is the four color groupings 60 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

that people fall into, and when you wear certain colors that enhance your natural coloring, or even when you change your hair, there’s certain colors that enhance you and certain colors that don’t. So there’s four of those, there are four body shapes. So we wanted to create a boutique that was organized in a way that customers could come in and easily find what would enhance them and make them look more beautiful.” Unfortunately, early on into the store’s operation, the sisters quickly realized that physically organizing the store perfectly into 4 categories was near impossible, so they instead focused on continuing the concept through helping customers find their perfect matches one on one. Another obstacle the sisters faced early on was finding and catering to their audience. Google employees, a large portion of the Mountain View consumer population, typically have very casual dress codes at work, which left the

Sisters Julie Michel (left) and Tamara Michel (right) sisters unsure of how to accommodate that huge demographic whilst also staying true to their aesthetic.

As the store grew, however, the sisters learned to not focus in on one target demographic. “The reality is when you’re sitting there at a store, you’re just catering to whoever happens to walk in and you can’t control that completely. So you have to keep adjusting to who is coming into your store” For the next decade and a half, the Boutique solidified itself as one of the most genuine businesses in Mountain View, as it gained an incredibly loyal and supportive fanbase in the community. According to Levenston, “There were so many regulars that would say how much they loved the individuality of Boutique 4, or that it was the only store they liked to shop at!” Unfortunately, a day would soon come that would prove to change everything.

March 17, 2020, exactly two years before my interview with Tamara and Julie, Santa Clara County issued a shelter-in-place order due to the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, leaving several small businesses, such as Boutique 4, unaided and unsure of their future. The initial impact of COVID-19 on freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | 61

small businesses was truly devastating, with many beloved establishments being forced to permanently close down soon after the first shelter in place as a result. One such business was Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler, one of the city’s oldest family owned restaurants, which, after 75 years in business, closed in early April of 2020 due to strains caused by the initial lockdown. Steve Blach says his family’s decision to close the much loved eatery was unavoidable: “It could be another 18 months until we get back to where we were prior to the virus,” he said. “What do you do? You lay off people.

You cut hours. You raise prices. And then you’re going to be out of business anyway. It’s a no-win situation”. Ethan Baron of The Mercury News explains why beloved Silicon Valley institutions, such as Clarke’s, were forced to closed so early into the pandemic: “In this city with an economy heavily dependent on the technology industry’s army of daytime workers, thousands of whom are typically bused in by their employers, the shift to remote work is wreaking financial havoc across a broad swath of Mountain View businesses even as the city’s biggest employer contributes new revenue and pandemic assistance.”

As a store that relied almost solely on foot-traffic, there were no easy immediate solutions for Boutique 4. “A lot of people were able to still work from home and still have jobs and still continue to get income,” explains Tamara, “but for us, it was a completely different scenario because we had to be open to do that and we couldn’t be.”

To make matters worse, the lockdown started just before what would normally be the store’s most lucrative season, as customers would typically be preparing for events they had during Spring Break or over the summer, such as weddings, vacations or Prom. As COVID restrictions became looser, it seemed the store was able to regain some of its footing, but the initial hit would prove to weigh on Boutique 4’s earnings as time went on. Two years later, this would result in the sisters making the incredibly difficult decision to permanently close Boutique 4, after nearly seventeen years of operation in Mountain View.

The community was devastated. “I was

heartbroken when I learned it was closing.” Koretsky says, “It was like a good friend told me that they were moving away forever!” Longtime patrons were calling to see if there was anything they could do to help, encouraging their friends and family to buy gift cards, recommending the boutique to their colleagues, anything to support their favorite store. “In Mountain View it’s just been an unbelievable outpouring of support and sympathy and devastation,” says Julie, “regardless of COVID.” Tamara adds, “Yeah, it’s just how everybody has been, and so with COVID, it was even more so. It’s been very heartwarming, and it made us feel like we meant something to the community.”

Although the end of this chapter of the sisters’ lives and careers was forced to come to an abrupt end, the future for Tamara and Julie looks extremely bright. The day I interviewed the sisters, Julie had officially finished packing up her house to, as she puts it, “fortunately- or unfortunately”, move back to Ohio for the first time in nearly 30 years. She plans to stick to her creative roots and continue bringing art to her community. “I’m going to do something creative, artistically centered, related, probably another small business. Maybe a small scale art store.” Tamara, on the other hand, will be staying in the Bay Area to pursue another of her passions: saving the environment. She plans on getting a design certification in permaculture, explaining it as “ a concept related to how you grow things, but not just grow things, how it relates to the entire environment. So it’s kind of like trying to save the Earth one garden or farm at a time.”

As they continue to find new ways to contribute to their community, even now, as they’re separated for the first time in decades, the sisters’ strong bond leaves hope for future projects as a business duo. “You know, everybody warned us when we first started thinking about doing this together and talking about it,” says Tamara, “everybody kept saying, ‘Don’t do it. It’s going to rip you apart. You know, I’ve seen many families torn apart because of this.’” But as Julie explains, “I think, because we are family, you have to get along, you know? We don’t have a choice!”

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About the Author

About the Author Zeytin Ercan

Zeytin Ercan is currently a Junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. Growing up in a small hippie town on the East Coast, her interests always revolved around art, and at Freestyle, she works to expand her knowlege and experience in several different artisic and creative mediums. In her free time, you can almost always find Zeytin watching cartoons, doodling, trying to learn new languages, crocheting, or watching cheesy movies with her younger brothers. She hopes to combine her passion for art with her passion for writing and poetry at some point in the future.

freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | 63

About the Cover Designer

Aramis Duenas is both a student at Mountain View high school and an animation student at Freestyle Academy. He has partaken in various physical mediums such as, animation, game design, and graphic design.

He hopes for nothing. That’s all he will say to me.

Please look at my website.

(QR code leads you to the documentary part of my website with some sweet, sweet behind the scenes insight)

64 | Freestyle Academy Spring 2022 | freestyleacademy.rocks

https://freestyleacademy.rocks