What’s inside:
The Phoenix December 10, 2013
Fremont High School, Vol. 2 Issue No. 3
Fantastics: let the games begin by Sarah Arkoh
Business Manager
The spirit is immense. Loud cheers flood the gym. Each school fights for the title. It is none other than IDC Fantastics. The Intra-District Council (IDC) is made up of a group of students from each school in the Fremont Union High School District. They take care of several of the events that concern multiple schools in our district including IDC exchanges and Fantastics. Fantastics is an after school rally which brings together all the schools in our district (Fremont High School, Monta Vista High School, Lynbrook High School, Homestead High School and Cupertino High School) in a series of games, naming one school the champion. Fremont did a lot to prepare including practices during and after school. Each school was allowed 200 attendees and 20 participants for the rally. While none of the schools sold out of tickets, several got close. The support from each school was tremendous. This year the games were hosted at Homestead High School and took place in their large gym. With the hard work of students as well as staff, they were able to pull off a successful event. “It feels great to host since we haven’t in a long time,” Homestead student, Hyeseung La, said. With hosting came a lot of work. Homestead needed to provide chaperons, judges, music and more to ensure a safe, fun atmosphere. Besides that, several students invested long hard hours, making for a better experience for everyone. “We dedicated a lot of time towards preparing for the event,” Homestead student, Theresa Xu, said. “We [also] had meetings with the other IDC representatives to provide them updates for the event.” Students from each school in the district worked hard to advertise Fantastics, making for a great turnout at the rally. The energy quickly started to build as students from each school started to arrived. Students came decked out in their school colors and ready to fight for the win. Fantastics consists of several games including orange necking, skin the snake, chariot race and balloon pop. Each
See Fantastics on Page 3 Priya Lee | The Phoenix
A controversial topic made simple by Kayla Layaoen Opinion Editor
It’s really not as complicated as it might seem: He’s a he. Senior Paris Trytten has recently come out as transgender, and is documenting his journey online. Trytten reports knowing about his gender identity from an early age. “From as early as I can remember, I would tell my parents, ‘I’m a boy today,’Trytten said. “And when they’d say, ‘no, you can’t be a boy today,’ I’d say, ‘fine, then I’m a dog.’” Trytten grew up being more comfortable dressing and presenting himself as androgynous and “gender fluid” throughout his life,
and didn’t usually feel the need to identify as either male or female until his sophomore year of high school. “I’d call myself the Jolly Giant because I didn’t really feel like I fit in with a group of girls,” Trytten said. “At the time, I didn’t really feel like much was wrong. But looking back, it was kind of like one of those pictures where it was like, ‘one of these things doesn’t belong,’ and I was always the thing that didn’t belong. In his sophomore year, Trytten met someone in Washington who he initially perceived to be female, but who later explained to him, “my pronoun is he.” Through his friend, Trytten
was able to realize that his pronoun was the same. Around this time, he began to identify as transgender, but only inwardly. To everyone else, he was known as “gender queer” -- someone who didn’t find themselves leaning closer to either end of the gender binary. “I’m just me,” Trytten explained. Previously, Trytten had identified as a lesbian, and his father was fully supportive. Once Trytten realized his gender dysphoria, he made sure to “ease [his dad] into it.” He told him at first that he had decided to explore being a male, and made sure to update him periodically on what was going on. When he finally
decided that he was ready to come out, his father was prepared. “It wasn’t really a surprise to him,” Trytten said. “He always knew that I was different in some way.” Trytten has been wearing a chest binder to compress his breasts so that he can better identify with his gender, and, at the time of the interview, had taken his second testosterone shot. The transitioning process from female to male consists mainly of hormone replacement therapy, like the testosterone shots. The shots will cause his voice to drop and some facial hair to grow. He is happy about the changes, and supported by many of his friends and
classmates. “[The transition] is amazing. It’s like the greatest thing in my life,” he said. ““It was so hard to keep this part of me closeted, and I knew Fremont was a really good place to [come out]. I just said, ‘You know what, I’m going to cut my hair and start a new identity, and people can just deal with it.” He has decided to abandon the binder in the future and instead get a double mastectomy -a surgery that removes both breasts. “Essentially, what it does is it gives me a flat, male chest,” Trytten said “I can take my shirt off and run around like I’ve always wanted to.”
Dr. Curtis Crane, a specialist in male-tofemale and female-to-male surgery, will be performing the surgery in June. Crane is trained in both plastic surgery and reconstructive urology, and is one of the most renowned transgender specialists in the nation. A surgery from such a prominent doctor is going to cost the Trytten family about $8,000, but he believes that the price tag is worth it. “I know I’m in good hands,” Trytten said. “It’s definitely worth it to make sure that the surgery is safe and effective.” Art is one of his strongest passions, and he uses it
See Paris on page 3