The Kinkaid Falcon - Issue 4, Vol. 70

News

Arts & Culture

Features

Forum

Entertainment

Sports

However, once he is subject to criticism, no matter how fair or unfair it may be, President Trump no longer believes in the protection of free speech and press.

P2. Walking in the Women’s March

P5. REVIEW: “Into the Woods”

P9. Sneakerhead culture

P12. “Is the First Amendment safe?”

P20. “Felicia Falcon” returns

THE KINKAID FALCON

P22. Spring Sports Preview

March 3, 2017 Volume 70, Issue 4

The Kinkaid School | 201 Kinkaid School Drive, Houston, TX 77024 | student.publications@kinkaid.org | http://thefalcon.kinkaid.org |

News .......................................2 Arts & Culture ....................5 Features ................................9 Forum....................................16 Entertainment .................19 Sports ..................................21

@thekinkaidfalcon

Falcons run on girl power Girls basketball and swimming win SPC

BY FARAZ VIRANI

Many shops, like this brothel are fronts for sex trafficking businesses, a form of human trafficking. Photo by Callie Rosenthal.

Houston’s human trafficking problem “Modern day slavery” is hidden in plain sight

BY EMMA GILLIAM, SARAH KATE PADON & ASHLEY PAKZABAN The Houston human trafficking industry is an unsuspectingly vast, yet silent business that haunts our city behind closed doors. Nail salons, massage parlors, and cantinas are notorious business fronts for illegal human exploitation and sex trade. In

Wells Fellow program invites noted political commentator

BY ELLA MORGAN The first speaker in the 2017 Wells Fellow series, Mr. James Carville, spoke in a

fact, Westheimer, only a block away from Kinkaid, holds some of the busiest brothels in Houston.

Human trafficking is is a lucrative criminal enterprise where people are treated as commodities—forced to provide labor or perform other services, including having their bodies sold for sex—to make a profit for traffickers.

It is considered by many as “modern day slavery” and a human rights violation. Not all human trafficking in- volves sex; however, the City of Houston’s Anti-Human Trafficking Council shares that

sex trafficking is the most commonly reported form.

“Women are being moved on a circuit throughout several states, and Houston is part of that circuit. One of the reasons [human trafficking is] so prevalent in Houston is our extraordinary number of illegal sexually oriented businesses. We have more of these in Houston than we do Starbucks,” says Jamey Caruthers, a staff attorney at Children at Risk.

Children at Risk, a Houston-based nonprofit, is focused on improving the quality of life for children through its

special assembly on Monday, Feb. 27. Mr. Carville, fittingly known as the “Rajin’ Cajun,” is an American political commentator and media figure best known for his leading role in Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H. W. Bush. In addition to working on numerous political campaigns, Mr. Carville has also been a regular fixture on shows like CNN’s Crossfire and The Situation Room; he is currently a professor of

political science at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife, Mary Matalin, who has famously worked for many Republican campaigns.

The assembly began with a casual conversation moderated by the Chair of the Upper School History Department, Dr. Ed Harris, before transitioning to an open-floor Q&A with the students.

Continued on Page 4

research and advocacy programs; human trafficking is one of the areas they prioritize. According to the organization, with about 600 sex trades per-night, the annual revenue generated by the human trafficking industry is an estimated nine billion dollars. These brothels are populated with girls enslaved by the human trafficking industry that are forced into exploitation and sex for little to no pay. Any money that is earned will directly profit the girls’ “pimp,” or boss.

Continued on Page 12-13

The 2016-2017 girls basketball and swimming teams, lead by dominant senior classes, won their winter SPC tournaments in early February. Adding to their banners in Melcher Gym, for two teams to come home with a championship is a special feat.

The girls basketball team defeated St. John’s and Greenhill by more than twenty points, coming into the championship game on a roll, ready to face the Houston Christian Lady Mustangs to win it all.

For the girls swimming team, they went into SPC confident after a first place finish in the St. John’s Invitational.

For this season’s winter sports champions, the story isn’t the come-from-behind, underdog, victory; these two teams have been at the top of their respective sports all season long. Girls swimming did not finish below third place, and girls basketball crushed teams from across the city and established Kinkaid as an elite program in the state. But with their victories came both pressure and expectations heading into the “make it or break it” SPC championship weekend. With tireless hours on the court or in the pool, that pressure turned into diamonds.

Debate Update

Top 16 Seniors Sabrina Bajwa and Sam Richey placed in the top 16 at Emory University

Top 8 Now qualified for TFA State Tournament, Shreya Mehta (9) placed in the top eight at Montgomery High School

NEWS

2 / The Kinkaid Falcon

Overheard in Assembly

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

NEWS IN BRIEF

Human renaissance is on the other side of diversity.

Filmmaker Marlon F. Hall, speaking at the Wednesday, Feb. 15 assembly. Mr. Hall’s work was featured on Black History Month Movie Night the day after.

Data Above: Protestors rally outside City Hall. Photo by Hannah Barden.

As of 2/10/2017

14 nominees

for the Mr. & Miss Falcon Award this year; typically, there are five boys and five girls. The nominees submitted by the Governing Council this year are: Marie Atmar, Eloise Detmering, Margaret Durning, Anna Glickman, Jaelyn Hamilton, Jennifer Jacobe, Chinaza Ndee, James Goettee, John Goettee, Rob Lahourcade, Will McLeroy, Ben Padon, Noah Pintar, and Ford Young. Mr. & Miss Falcon is announced in The Kinkaidian yearbook in May.

20 tardy slips given on average every Tuesday morning to students who forget/ can’t handle the 8:00 a.m. start.

635 books

checked out monthly on average from the Moran Library.

80 hours

most accumulated hours of detention given to a single student.

FAREWELL Ms. Dorothy Barnes, admin to Headmaster, departs

BY BRADY BRAZDA Ms. Dorothy Barnes has been Headmaster Andy Martire’s assistant since he came to Kinkaid four years ago. At the end of Feburary,

Students, faculty enter national conversation by attending Women’s March

BY MEGHA NEELAPU On Jan. 21, nearly 5 million men and women participated in the Women’s March all over the world, on every continent. Over 500,000 protesters flooded the streets of DC, and here in Houston, 23,000 people took part in a sister march, standing in support of each other tackling the multiple issues that specifically women and marginalized groups are facing post-election, including gender equality, racial equality, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA rights, immigration, access to healthcare, and climate change among many others.

Even before the event began, a sense of community tied the participants together. Hannah Barden (12) was wearing her “Stay Nasty� Hillary Clinton t-shirt. As she walked from her car to The Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park—where the march

started—a man ran past her and yelled, “You’re nasty!� “Sorry, what was that?� a group of women exclaimed indignantly, walking behind Barden.

Half-laughing as she recalled the incident, she said, “It was so cool to see that, and how willing everyone was to stand up for you there.�

It was rowdy, fun, and rejoiceful, Mr. Eric Emerson said—who also attended the march—but also defiant and empowering. “It was an amazing experience to see so many people that were so concerned about issues of democracy, and just the volume of them spoke to the enthusiasm of the crowd and the importance of the moment,� he said.

The event was also a personal one for Mr. Emerson. “I believe in protests as a claim of democracy,� he said. “My family fled communism; my grandfather was waterboard-

ed in China, and the war in Vietnam affected us there. I believe in the ability for citizens to participate in a free society because that’s core to a notion of a just world.�

Although the march received much praise, it also involved controversy. The New York Times reported on issues of race and privilege, and furthermore, the march was criticized for attempting to represent so many issues and being spread too thin, or for not having a significant impact. But Mr. Emerson said, “The people who attempt to define protest for the protestors are missing the point, which is democracy is about listening to people and empathizing with them and understanding their issues‌ To say what is the central message is to miss the multiplicity of messages that are happening and people saying important issues across the

Ms. Barnes officially retired after nine years at Kinkaid.

In this time, Ms. Barnes has had a huge impact on the Kinkaid community through her work with Dr. Martire and previous headmaster, Mr. Don North. At the end of the 2015-2016 school year, Ms. Barnes won the annual Georgia and Eddie Leonard Staff Excellence award; this award is given to a staff member that demonstrated the highest excellence in his or her work. According to her

colleagues, Ms. Barnes has always been very hard working, efficient and effective at her job. With her upbeat personality and can-do attitude, Ms. Barnes has certainly brightened up the Kinkaid community in her time.

Before coming to Kinkaid, Ms. Barnes worked at a law firm. When asked her favorite part of the Kinkaid community, she said it was “the sense of warmth the people [here] have.� She has also enjoyed “working with two great

headmasters in Mr. North and Dr. Martire.� During her retirement, Ms. Barnes plans to get married and travel more.

On Feb. 13, Dr. Martire announced his new assistant, Ms. Marissa Ferrer. Ms. Ferrer trained under Ms. Barnes for two weeks before taking over on March 1. Ms. Barnes will be missed in the Kinkaid community, and we wish her the best on her future endeavors.

The Roundup

Sara Burpeau

TX Harris

board. Our world is not so narrow that it has to be simplified into one.�

Ms. Casey Fleming, who attended a sister march in Austin, said, “Think of it like Church.� “Your life doesn’t change drastically every Sunday, but you show up anyway to affirm your faith, to gather with like-minded people, to renew your spirit for the daily work of change, and to receive inspiration.�

The question remains, what comes next? The answer is not simple. “The thing about movements is that movements are hard to predict and to control because they’re authentic in what they do, and the issues are constantly evolving because the response constantly changes,â€? Mr. Emerson said. “There’s a lot of battles happening all the time, all over the place‌ at the state, local, and national level.â€?

Julia Lasater

Anish Odhav

2017-2018 Peer Mentor Leaders announced On Friday, Feb. 24, the Peer Mentors for 2017-2018 were announced. Peer Mentors are seniors who represent diverse extracurricular activities and academic interests; they will lead the freshmen in activities at the Freshman Retreat in the fall.

“I can’t wait to get to know people in our grade better and the upcoming freshmen and help them have a smooth transition!�

“My favorite memory of the freshman retreat was doing the team building challenges with my advisory because they weren’t only fun, but allowed us to get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and helped us kind of grow into a more coherent group.�

“I’m really excited for Freshman Retreat...My favorite part [last Retreat] was playing that game one night where we had to try and find the peer mentors in the dark.�

“My own peer mentors Kamil Lawal and Amy Pascoe; I remember them being two of the kindest people. They sympathized with all the freshman struggles and gave great advice. It was also really easy to talk to them.�

NEWS

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

The Kinkaid Falcon / 3

Snapshots around School 1 Interim Term took place in the first three weeks of January.

Students who took the World Map Project class used a projector to sketch a map of the U.S. and then went to Baker Ripley to paint it in with the kids.

1

2

2 Sophomores Emma Sykes and Cheyenne Dawley took Ms. Jamail’s Historical Fashion and Costume Design class during Interim. All dolls are currently being displayed in the Student Life building galleries.

3

3

4

On Saturday, Jan. 28, the sophomore Cotillion took place at the Briar Club. Students speculated that the dance, which was attended by students from Kinkaid, St. John’s, and Episcopal, helped spread the flu that caused many absences the following week.

4 Twenty-two students went to Baltimore for the Johns Hopkins University 20th Annual MUN Conference. Over 1,500 students from across the country competed. Anvi Nandish (12) won the Outstanding Delegate Award for her portrayl of Sommai Phasee in the Government of Thailand 2014 committee, and Camila Vicens (9) won the Honorable Mention Award for playing the part of Bob McNair in the NFL Owners Meeting committee.

5

6

5 In an Enginering Club meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 14, Rob Lahourcade (12) and Malcolm Hedgepeth (11) test how much weight their popsicle bridge could sustain.

6 Team 1221K competed in VEX Robotics on Feb. 25 at the South Texas Regionals in Aldine. Pictured: Kenneth Lam (10), Isabel Gardner (11), team captain Chris Choi (12), Jamie Moseley (11), and Seb Seager (10).

Substance survey results return

BY HANA KELETA Eduardo Torres, one of two representatives from FCD, spoke at an assembly on on Jan 30, 2017. “I was an alcoholic,” he confessed on stage.

Kinkaid students sat in assembly awaiting the results of a survey they had taken in the spring of last year. The 50-question long survey was made to “measure students’ actual attitudes and behavior with regard to alcohol and other drugs, as well as their perceptions of the behavior and attitudes of their schoolmates.” The survey was made

by Freedom from Chemical Dependency, a non profit organization headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts that provides substance abuse education worldwide to schools like Kinkaid.

Eduardo Torres and Diana Hu, coordinators of Chemical Dependency, came to Kinkaid

to discuss the results of the survey and mostly educate students more about the risks of alcohol and drug use. They spent three days on campus.

Although the majority of students thought the assembly was going to be about the results of the survey, Torres shared his past experience with substance abuse and urged students to think twice before drinking or doing drugs.

“I remember having my first cup of alcohol at a Quinceañera. I was 14,” Mr. Torres said. He emphasized how slowly his addiction grew to the point where he entered rehab at age 19.

After the assembly, Mr. Torres and Ms. Hu visited classes to discuss the results of the survey. Overall the results of the survey were that 74.4% of students in

Rodeo Lineup

stock Show and Rodeo began on Mar. 2, it’s only until Mar. 7 when the real fun happens: concerts. This year, expect performances from top pop artists as well as classic country stars.

BY ARMAN BADREI Although the the barbeque cookoff of the Houston Live-

Students filled out the FCD survey in spring 2016. Photo by Hana Keleta.

the 11th grade never had a whole drink of alcohol, and in grades 10, 11, and 12, 54% of students have never had a drink of alcohol. Compared to nationwide data, Kinkaid students’ use of drugs and alcohol for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders were way below U.S. norms. In addition to providing the results of the survey when visiting classrooms, Mr. Torres and Ms. Hu shared more of their personal stories—of how they overcame

their alcohol and drug abuse.

Action is taken accordingly to the results of the survey.

“Mostly a comprehensive health centered approach is taken which means there aren’t any changes as far as trying to figure out who’s doing what. There are services aimed at educating people more about the risks, and also trying to correct false perceptions,” said Mr. Torres.

Mr. Behr also added his reason regarding the value of

COUNTRY: - Alan Jackson, Mar. 11 - Luke Bryan, Mar. 16 - Willie Nelson, Mar. 18 - Florida Georgia Line, Mar. 20 - Zac Brown Band, Mar. 26

POP/ROCK/R&B: - Alicia Keys, Mar. 10 - The Chainsmokers, Mar. 12 - Demi Lovato, Mar. 14 - Fifth Harmony, Mar. 17 - Blink 182, Mar. 23

the survey: “Doing the survey and having the training is not a reaction to a problem; it’s a reaction to the reality of the world in that we need to be concerned about and provide education for these issues.”

The survey will be returning next year, Mr. Behr stated, in an effort to track the habits and behaviors of the same students in the Upper School.

Logo by HLSR

NEWS

4 / The Kinkaid Falcon

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

NEWS IN BRIEF

After assembly, Mr. James Carville spent his day in the Amphitheatre, where a number of English and History classes stopped by to continue the conversation.

A select group of seniors also joined Mr. Carville for lunch.

Wells Fellow program invites noted political commentator

SOUND BITES ON THE MEDIA & THE INTERNET “It gives people access to the facts that they want. This proliferation of everything has made us stupid, not smarter. It isn’t raising the civic IQ of the public. People tend to want the information that confirms their own bias.”

James Carville talks politics, dangers of seeking confirmation bias

BY ELLA MORGAN Dr. Harris opened the assembly with a question on how might the community bridge the rancor and political discord that flared up in the recent election cycle and persists in the new presidency.

“Divisions are nothing new,” Mr. Carville responded.

He went on to say that the proliferation of readily accessible news and coverage has deepened/highlighted those perceived divisions. The important thing, he emphasized several times, was to be cautious of seeking out knowledge that only reaffirms one’s point of view. “Do you want knowledge to learn something, or to have something validated?” he asked.

ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN POLITICS

Mr. Carville went on to say that the “most important piece of advice ever given in American history” is the Golden Rule: “Treat others how you want to be treated.” He ended his talk with advice to the students on how to be successful: “It doesn’t matter what I or anyone else thinks. It only matters that you think.”

Mr. Carville stayed at Kinkaid for the remainder of the day, with multiple classes joining him in the Amphitheater for more relaxed, intimate

Manes first female Governing Council President in five years So, why did you want to run?

BY FARAZ VIRANI On Feb. 24, Grace Manes (11) was voted into Governing Council office as next year’s President. We sat down with her to get the scoop.

When did you decide you wanted to run for Governing Council president?

I hadn’t seriously considered running until right before elections. The idea to run for president had always been in the back of my mind, but I didn’t allow myself to fully commit to the idea until I had some push from a few of the other members of the Council.

After the Junior Class meeting about leadership positions, I was approached by the other Juniors currently on the Council who all encouraged me to run for this position; it’s their belief in me really motivated me to commit to running.

I’ve really enjoyed being a part of the Council for the past two years, and I knew that I wanted to continue serving, so it was just a matter of figuring out where I’d best fit. Ultimately, President seemed most appealing to me. I know how to do this job, and I almost felt like it was my job to make sure the Council has an effective leader next year.

Why is representing your class as the Council’s president important to you?

Being involved in the community is really important to me, and Governing Council is an area of student life that I knew I’d be able to contribute to. I also feel like I understand the weight of this position, and it mattered to me that someone who actually cared about the Council and about representing everyone’s voices well was elected as President.

discussions.

Established by Damon Wells (Class of ‘54), the Wells Fellow program brings distinguished speakers and scholars from different fields to spend time with students. Last year’s Wells Fellow was political philosopher and Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel.

Mr. Carville’s wife, Mary Matalin, will be the second speaker in the Wells Fellow program this year; she will visit Kinkaid on April 3.

How long did it take you to write your speech?

I ended up writing two speeches. The original was more focused on being funny and entertaining, but when I read it over with Ms. Kehler, she didn’t think it fully captured the passion I had for running for this office, which, in retrospect, was completely accurate. After our meeting I spent the weekend drafting an entirely new speech.

Although it was more serious, it captured my personality and qualifications for the position a lot better. I ended up giving this speech and I’m so grateful I chose this over the original because it felt so much more organic and more like myself. I think representing myself in an honest way ultimately helped me a lot in the election.

Have you reached out to the current GovCo president (Rob Lahourcade) for any advice?

I’ve been on the Council with Rob for two years, so I feel like I’ve already learned a lot from him just by just watching him act as a leader, especially this year. I haven’t talked to him

Popular local radio station switches from pop to oldies

BY ALI AMMONS Since 2008, Houstonians have gotten used to waking up and tuning into Hot 95.7.

The morning, which featured a talk show hosted by Sarah Pepper and Ivan, and the afternoons which featured top 40’s hits made Hot 95.7 a

“There’s what you communicate and how you communicate. I’ve always been on the what you communicate side of things.”

Dr. Harris interviews Mr. James Carville in front of the Upper School assembly.

Sarah Pepper, one of the hosts of Hot 95.7, used to have a much more prominent role on the radio station. The hosts’ airtime has been cut in favor of playing more songs.

hit radio station in Houston, but on Friday, Dec. 30, listeners were surprised to hear a pre-recorded voice counting down and a red banner on

their web page that read “WE’RE MAKING SOME CHANGES TO 95-7. TUNE IN AT 12:30 PM TO FIND OUT WHAT.”

ON POLITICALLY CORRECTNESS “What is political correctness? Everything is just words....What is wrong with calling people what they want to be called?”

ON BEING A DEMOCRAT IN LA “I am what I am. I can’t change the way I am...I want to live in a country people want to come to. I don’t hate anybody, and I don’t mind paying a little more taxes.”

about any specifics for next year yet, but I’m sure we’ll go over all of that at some point.

GC emails would be a great way to further involve the student body in the Council.

What does it mean to you to be the first female Governing Council president in five years?

One promise you can make to the student body for the 20172018 year would be...

I’m really proud that I’m serving as the first female President in five years! I think girls don’t generally pursue this position because it’s been such a heavily male-dominated office in the past, so I hope that me serving as President will help break this norm and hopefully give other girls the inspiration to run in the future.

What is one challenge you hope to conquer during your tenure as President?

I definitely want to keep the Wellness, Events, and Student Affairs committees because I think they’ve done a great job organizing events and getting more students involved in the community this year. I’m also really going to push for more Coffee Houses because the ones we’ve done have been so successful and fun.

What does leadership mean to you?

I want people to know what the Council is up to every week! Everyone knows that the meetings are open, but basic curiosity won’t motivate people to lose their entire Thursday lunch to sit in on a meeting. I think that making quick announcements about GC events/ideas/concerns at the beginning of assemblies or including more details in the

Leadership is a difficult thing to put into words, but I’d say it centers around putting others before yourself and not being afraid to stand apart from the crowd in order to make progress or do what you deem to be right. Leadership comes in many forms, but ultimately I think it’s reliant upon putting others first, doing what’s right, and having the confidence to be independent/progressive at the expense of being included.

At 12:30 p.m. on Friday the radio announced that they were changing the style of the station and reprogramming the radio towards: “listeners who love a variety of hits from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s.”

The station has now rebranded to reach working adults as “95.7 The Spot.”

Sarah Frazier, a manager of CBS RADIO Houston, explained the change: “Listeners told us they wanted their own spot to hear their favorite music hits, a spot to relax and energize at work and a spot to feel comfy and complete. This is your Spot, Houston.”

Another major change to

the station is taking more airtime from the the radio hosts and placing it more on the music. Radio hosts Sarah Pepper and Ivan often shared engaging stories about their personal lives on their morning talk show. Listeners, who have grown invested in both host lives, were upset by their limited presence on the show.

The official Facebook page for the radio station has 30 comments inquiring about the fate of the hosts.

Ms. Frazier said that Sarah Pepper is still under contract and speculated that she might fill the vacant 96.5 hosting spot, but nothing has been revealed about Ivan’s future as a host.

ARTS & CULTURE

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

The Kinkaid Falcon / 5 The cast performs the Act One finale, “Ever After,” before intermission. Photo by David Shutts.

“Into the Woods” impresses theatrically, technically After a technical mishap on Thursday, Upper School musical delivers a fantasical show

BY SARAH BASS With an evil witch soaring above the audience, Jack rappelling down a steep beanstalk while continuing to sing, and a rotating stage that characters traversed through during their adventures, the Upper School musical “Into the Woods” was a technically and theatrically impressive performance.

The two and a half hour musical, written and composed by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, features multiple fairytale characters, including Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack, and Little Red Riding Hood.

A narrator, played by Riley Shaper (10), guides the audience through the exciting and troubling experiences of The Baker, played by Austin Karkowsky (12), and the Baker’s Wife, played by Brock Looser (12). In their desperation to have a child, the Baker and his wife are cursed by a witch to obtain a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold to break the curse.

Their quest takes them deep into the woods to meet other fairytale characters, each with his or own desperate wishes.

Karkowsky explained, “As Mr. Doran says in rehearsals, ‘Act One is about getting what you want, Act Two is learning to live with it’.”

“Into the Woods” was directed by Mr. Justin Doran and choreographed by Ms. Krissy Richmond. This is the third collaboration between Mr. Doran and Ms. Richmond. In 2015, their work on “A Chorus Line” received 12 Tommy Tune nominations and four wins. Their 2016 musical, “Hairspray” received 10 nominations and won three. “Into the Woods” was arranged by music director Mr. Chip Colvin.

Shows took place on Feb.

23-26 in the Brown Auditorium, with a special show free to any student on Thursday night. “Into the Woods” was last performed at Kinkaid in 2001, when it was directed by Upper School Dean Mr. Scott Lambert, then the Director of Drama. Sixteen years later, his son, Ashton Lambert (11) portrayed Jack, one of the main characters.

Auditions began before school started in August and rehearsal for cast members began on Jan. 3. The rehearsal schedule was grueling and included days off, like MLK weekend. Different members of the cast were required to attend different dates, but by Feb. 20, the whole principals and cast, semble, were enbrought together for final dress rehearsals.

“Our typical weekly rehearsals (Monday-Thursday) were from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., and we would rehearse on Saturday and Sunday for five hours each day,” explained Jordan Kassab (12), who portrayed Cinderella’s stepmother.

“Tech week got more hectic with 10-13 hour days on the weekends and five to ten on school days.

Practice makes perfect?”

Kassab said.

Eloise Detmering (12), who played

the role of Jack’s Mother, explained, “[Mr. Doran] always gives the note, ‘It has to cost you something,’ and he isn’t just talking about our characters. It costs each and every member of the cast and crew something just to be in the rehearsal room, but that’s what makes it worth it.”

“Into the Woods” was a technical masterpiece of lighting, sound, and set design. Mr. Sell and the tech crew built many of the onstage set pieces—massive trees framed the stage all the way to the back, creating depth and the impression that the actors were traveling deep into the woods. At various points in the musical, trees, birds, and Rapunzel’s tower were projected onto large white panels. During the giant’s scene, a huge eye was projected onto the ceiling of the Brown, as if the giant was peering down at everyone inside.

In addition to a platform that extended

over the orchestra pit and into the audience, a main feature was a rotating platform— which malfunctioned during the show on opening night.

“The turntable broke, and we all panicked a little when we heard that it was down, but then we made the collective decision to not let it throw us off,” Detmering said.

The actors met backstage during intermission to hold a quick conference on how they would proceed in the second act without the revolving aspect of the stage.

“For part of the second act, Mr. Sell had to army-crawl backstage where the motor is and work on it while we were on stage,” Detmering said.

“Mr. Doran and Ms. Richmond couldn’t stop talking about how proud they were about how we came together and didn’t let it affect us.”

For the actors, some of the hardest parts of the show have been mastering the vocals of the complex music.

“Vocally, Sondheim and Lapine have very complicated shows and it can be hard to sing,” Karkowsky said. He went on to say, “This show for me isn’t a happy dance show.”

“My favorite thing to watch is ‘Agony’ with Evan Rosen and Jervon Monroe.

It’s probably the funniest song in the show and it’s just a ton of fun to watch,” Karkowsky said. Detmering agreed, saying, “Jervon Monroe (11) and Evan Rosen (12) are the dynamic duo of princes.”

ARTS & CULTURE

6 / The Kinkaid Falcon

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

Sushi restaurants provide new variety for Asian Cuisine in Houston

BY COLIN MONTEITH

Houston may be famous for its Tex-Mex and barbeque, but in recent years, sushi has become just as acclaimed in the city as the traditional cuisine. But when it comes to sating sushi cravings, students go to the same restaurants time and time again; Kinkaidians are regulars at Sage 400 and Ginza.

72-hour slow cooked Texas Kobe beef skewer at Kata Robata.

You can have your own opinion on those restaurants, but if you claim to be a real fan of sushi, then you need to try these three restaurants: Kata Robata, located on the corner of Kirby and Richmond, takes everything you know about sushi and still surprises you with new and different things. It is extremely popular and if you don’t want to wait 45 minutes for a table, then make a reservation in advance.

Although everything from the gyoza (fried pork dumplings) to the oxtail ramen should be savored,

the Longhorn roll stood out above the rest. Made up of fried shrimp, fresh water eel, avocado, spicy mayo, and unagi sauce, the Longhorn roll is an unparalleled roll that mixes different ingredients remarkably well. A tad crunchy, a little sweet, the fusion of flavor and texture is perfectly crafted.

Another signature roll is the Rising Sun, which contains yellowtail, avocado, peppercorn tuna, and truffle vinaigrette, perfectly wrapped in Kata Robota’s amazing vinegar rice. It isn’t very big, but the quality is absolutely satisfying. The truffle vinaigrette does not overwhelm the flavor, but instead offers a delightful bite.

After hearing from a friend about the 72-hour slow cooked Texas Kobe beef skewer, I made sure to try it.

Longhorn roll, fried shrimp, fresh water eel, avocado, spicy mayo, and unagi sauce.

Arriving on a small plate, the two skewers are sizzling hot: two perfectly marbled cubes of meat that melt in

your mouth.

On the other hand, Uchi completely changed my view of sushi. Unlike most other Japanese restaurants, there is no soy sauce, ginger or wasabi on any of the plates.

Every order comes with a unique sauce that perfectly complements the flavor, like ponzu or unagi sauce. Like Kata Robata, make a reser-

Kinoko mushroom nigiri, sauteed in brown butter on top of vinegar rice at Uchi.

vation very as far in advance as possible.

At Uchi, don’t bother looking for basic rolls like the ubiquitous California roll or spicy tuna roll, the sample of cheap/fast-food sushi. The menu is almost hard to read because there are very few things you will recognize.

The Zero Sen roll is made up of hamachi (yellowtail), avocado, shallot, and cilantro, which gives it a nice little kick but doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the fish.

The Kinoko Mushroom nigiri is a hidden jewel on Uchi’s menu. The large king trum-

Uchi’s sushi Bar, Itamae, or Japanese sushi chefs, rolling and cutting sushi.

pet mushroom is sauteed in brown butter mushroom and presented on top of vinegar rice. A mushroom on top of rice isn’t what anyone would perceive to be sushi, but Uchi made it work exquisitely.

When you first walk into Soma, you are greeted in a very modern Japanese-style restaurant. The intricate details put into the building are a facade for the reality of the sushi; I ordered three of their specialty roll, which was an overall disappointing experience.

The Madai Champagne

Tropicana roll, tuna, avocado, cucumber, orange segment, and citrus puree at Soma.

roll, made with japanese snapper, tuna, avocado, and champagne vinaigrette, is one the worst rolls I have

ever tried. This roll was left unfinished because the champagne vinaigrette was the only thing I could taste.

The Tropicana roll is definitely Soma’s most unique roll, but it only took one bite to know that I would not like it. Consisting of shrimp tempura, yellowtail, tuna, avocado, cucumber, orange segment, and citrus puree, the roll, while creative, is a horrible combination of fish and fruit.

Of the specialty rolls, the Aka-Hamachi roll is the only one that I would order again.

Made with seared Texas kobe beef as well as yellowtail, it is similar to the kobe beef roll at Uchi but Uchi definitely executed it much better.

Maybe I ordered the wrong things, but with my exceptional experiences at the other two restaurants, I wouldn’t visit Soma anytime soon.

It’s hard to compare the three restaurants because of how different they are. If you visit one or all three of these sushi stops, let me know what you thought of them.

A Taste of Tex-Mex

Investigating Houston’s most thriving cuisine

BY NIA CALDWELL

Although Houston has downsides like its signature humid weather and congested traffic, it excels in diversity, creating jobs, and most of all: Tex-Mex. Living in a city soaked in Mexican culture, the fusion of Texan and Mexican foods thrives in all of its cheesy, spicy glory.

On the hunt for the city’s best tacos, enchiladas and queso, chains like Torchy’s and Escalante’s are the obvious choices; but I wanted to go deeper into the city to discover lesser known, cheaper, alternatives.

My first stop on the Tex Mex taste test was “La Tapatia” in the Westchase district. A true hole in the wall, at first I thought my GPS took me to the wrong area. Thinking I found a hidden gem, I was excited for the food I would eat within the next hour. Sadly, I was a little let down: The authentic street tacos I had heard so much about on Yelp were disappointing. The meat, although succulent and perfectly seasoned, was placed in a soggy tortilla without any extra ingredients that make the taco special like guacamole, cheese or peppers and onions, or special house sauce. In between mushy bites the sassy wait staff did not contribute to my experience, even though I was only one of two people in the restaurant.

The Nachos Supremos were the highlight of the lunch.

Dressed with creamy refried beans, melted cheese, jalapenos and a dollop of sour cream and guacamole on top, I enjoyed the Tex Mex staple.

Next stop was Los Tios.

Located on Westheimer, it’s an easy stop for when you’re craving queso on the way home from school. As soon as I stepped foot in the dimly lit, crowded joint, I was ushered to a table by two smiling waiters. Before my butt landed in my seat, I was brought a basket of warm chips with two sides of salsas. Already off to a good start. With queso on my mind, I expected to look on the menu and see the regular melted cheese accompanied by tortilla chips—instead, I discovered Stuffed Puffy Queso. A shell

encompassing chicken, refried beans, guacamole and warm, gooey queso. Unsure of this unprecedented creation, I was hesistant about how the puff would taste. As I cracked it open with my chip and tasted the inflated sphere, the savory queso, fresh guacamole and spicy chicken made an impeccable combination. I had cheese quesadillas along with my queso. It’s nearly impossible to mess up quesadillas, but Los Tios perfected the simple meal. The quesadilla was the perfect combination of buttery and saltiness.

Next up: Ruchi’s. I saved the best for last because Ruchi’s has the best enchiladas I’ve had in a long time. Taking my first bite out of the enchiladas, I immediately tasted the melted cheese that smothered the tortillas. This is what I had

been waiting for, a heap of spicy, piquant cheese. Along with cheese inside, there was salty fajita beef, finely diced, as well as a bit of tangy chile. To accompany these fine enchiladas, the refried beans did not disappoint. Although the queso was basic (only one kind of cheese) without extra garnishes, it still tasted delicious. I sincerely loved my food at Ruchi’s.

Out of Los Tios, La Tapatía and Ruchi’s, Los Tios’ warm service and impressive food propel it to the top of the pack. Although Ruchi’s enchiladas were outstanding, Los Tios’ wait staff made me feel at home with their constant smiles and hospitality. The Stuffed Puffy Queso didn’t hurt either.

ARTS & CULTURE

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

The Kinkaid Falcon / 7

Left: The Coffee House audience awaits the upcoming performance. Top Right: Ms. Christa Forester performs an orginial song. Bottom Right: Brock Looser (12) and Ms. Chrissy Richmond sing a duet from hit Broadway musical, “Chicago.”

Student Center is transformed for second annual Coffee House

Students and faculty showcase their talents in the performing and visual arts

BY CALEIGH DORAN On a typical school day, a mysterious stench lingers in the Student Center. The spacious room is usually filled with seniors socializing with friends, engaging in fierce ping-pong showdowns, or taking a nap on the floor beanbags. The room, sparsely furnished, is littered with remnants of students’ lunches and snacks. But on Saturday, Feb. 4, the Student Center was transformed.

Strings of colored lights crisscrossed across the ceiling.

Deep purple couches formed a semi-circle around an illuminated stage. The walls were lined with an array of visual art and tables set with delicate ceramic pieces. By 7 p.m., the entire floor section was packed with students awaiting performances from their peers.

Attendees sipped piping-hot coffee and hot chocolate and nibbled on cookies and croissants from Montrose-favorite Common Bond. Excited whispers from audience members

filled the room. Welcome to Coffee House.

After several months of planning and a bump in the road due to a scheduling conflict, the Fine Arts Leadership Board kicked off the second annual Coffee House, emceed by Ashton Lambert (11) and Ella Morgan (12). Crafton Deal (11), a first-year Fine Arts Board member, described the event as “a huge success.”

“We had so many performers and I think everyone overall had a great time,” Deal said.

One of the standout performers of the night, Laine Woelfel (9), wowed the crowd with her ethereal rendition of “Skinny Love.” Woelfel described her performance at Coffee House as “a really good experience because [she] was able to get out of [her] regular athletic curriculum.”

“It really opened up an opportunity for me to try something new,” Woelfel said.

Another notable performance came from Dani Knobloch (10), who took the

Coffee House stage last year as a freshman. Initially, she did not plan on singing as she had gotten sick, but her friends persuaded her into making an appearance.

“My mom didn’t think I was performing, so she called me to ask when Coffee House would end—right in the middle of my performance. I didn’t answer the first time, but then she called again, and someone yelled for me to pick it up so I just did,” Knobloch said of her out-of-the-ordinary performance.

Students were not the only performers at Coffee House.

Mr. Olen Rambow, Ms. Krissy Richmond, and Ms. Christa Forster all took the stage and shocked students and colleagues alike with their musical talents. Even after having already seen Mr. Rambow’s performance during assembly, the crowd hollered enthusiastically as he finished out the last note of Colin Hay’s “Dear Father.”

The Coffee House audience was a exuberantly supportive,

and made each performer feel welcome and comfortable as he or she walked under the bright lights of the stage. The Student Center was filled with students and faculty who gave up their Saturday night to support their peers. During some of the upbeat familiar tunes, everyone clapped along to the beat. In the emotional performances, the crowd whipped out their phones, switched on their flashlights, and swayed along to the melody. Ava Finger (11), a first-time performer, described the audience as “so supportive.

I was so nervous, but I realized I had nothing to be scared of.”

Coffee House was not only a special night for the performers, but the visual artists as well.

“After working on my piece for a month, it was really rewarding to have people come out and appreciate it,” said Nina Wells, an Advanced Ceramic student. Coffee House is not an event that only showcases one type of artist, but celebrates all the different aspects

Monday through Wednesday Shellac.........................$30 Pedicure......................$30 Dipping powder..........$35

of the arts, including photography, sculpture, painting, and ceramics.

Coffee House is unlike any other Kinkaid event. There is no incentive, like extra credit, that has to be offered in order to spur students to go. Attendees go because they are truly interested in seeing and supporting their peers. This passion is reflected in the mood of the audience. Throughout the entire three hours, the energy of the audience never waned. If anything, the excitement in the room got higher as performers became more comfortable and fed off the enthusiasm of their peers.

Whether it was the delectable assortment of bakery treats, the breathtaking art, or the sheer delight of watching friends perform that drew people to Coffee House, attendees seemed to thoroughly enjoy their time and left with a newfound respect for the bravery of all the visual and musical artists who showcased their talents.

ARTS & CULTURE

8 / The Kinkaid Falcon

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

Scholastic Art Awards Gold Key Hannah Barden-photography “Seeping Through” Hannah Barden-photography “Cascading”

Mask II, 2001-2 Mixed Media 77 x 118 x 85 cm

Chris Choi-portfolio “Perception of Movement” Chris Choi-drawing and illustration “Dance” Crafton Deal-photography “Running in the Shadows” Crafton Deal-photography “Illumination” Zoya Virani-photography “Jump for Joy”

Left to Right Couple Under an Umbrella, 2013 300 x 400 x 350 cm

Silver Key Whitney Burke-drawing and illustration “Figure Study Sitting”

Young Couple, 2013 89 x 43 x 23 cm Untitled (Seated Woman), 1999 Mixed Media 64 x 43 x 42 cm

Whitney Burke-drawing and illustration “Half of Me” Hannah Chambers –photography “Before the Trail” Crafton Deal-photography “Pop!” Honorable Mention Sofia Bajwa-photography “Childhood from Below” Tyler Baldridge-ceramics “Serenity” Hannah Barden-photography “On the Wall” Madeleine Butcher-ceramics “Golden Peace” Chris Choi-mixed media “Two Portraits of a Friend” Chris Choi-painting “Self Portrait” Robin Kate Davis-photography “Sonic Sound” Roya Moradi-ceramics “Too Blue to be True” Lauren Nip-mixed media “Mixed Media Painting and Collage” Lauen Nip-painting “El Fuerte” Sophie Parker-Art Portfolio Sophie Parker-painting “Woman” Catherine Ribbeckprintmaking “Rain Print” Zoya Virani-photography “Guarded”

Ron Mueck, 21st Century da Vinci New exhibit at the MFAH brings an Austrailian Artist to Houston

BY JULIA DAVIS On Feb. 26, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, opened an exhibit of sculptures by Australian artist Ron Mueck.

The work on display will be hyper-realistic, large scale sculptures, displaying people in everyday situations. So hyper-realistic, in fact—showing everything from eyelashes, to wrinkles, blue veins, and stubble—they are almost unrealistic in its uncomfortable grotesqueness. The scale of the sculptures ranges from puny renditions of foot-tall adults, to enormous, over 15-foot long newborn babies.

This large-scale hyper-realism sets Mueck apart as a trailblazing artist.

Aside from these sculptures being somewhat controversial and extraordinarily unique for modern sculpture, this is the first exhibit of its kind curated by the MFAH, which has generally featured special exhibits of Impressionism and19th and early 20th century paintings. A modern sculpture exhibit, then, is a very different show for the MFAH. They do have a small permanent modern art collection, displaying art mainly from the late 20th century, but nothing along the lines of hyper-realism and 21st century sculpture— nothing this tendentious.

Could the MFAH be trying to reach a new audience with this show?

Mueck formerly worked as a model-maker for film

and television shows, notably working under puppeteer Jim Henson (of The Muppets fame); he eventually made his foray into fine art in the 1990s. His sculptures, of polarizing subject matter, have garnered mixed reviews.

They range from quaint domestic scenes—a young couple holding hands— to the off-putting and disturbing—a realistic depiction of a freshly dead body, or a

people are caught in various states–deep in thought on a boat, the moment a mother first sees her child, and even more basic states, such as sleep and death. The figures, although they appear to be living objects, have a calm stillness about them and wear expressions of contentment from the very first breath of life to the very last.

The sculptures are a poignant analysis of life and hu-

A Girl, 2006 Mixed Media 110.5 x 501 x 134.5 cm

detailed model of a mother in the final stages of giving birth. Although the extraordinarily lifelike renditions of people may be controversial, the meaning behind them is something every human can relate to. Each figure is cast in an important moment in life, and all viewed together they depict the full circle of life, from hopeful birth to unavoidable death.

Crafted out of silicone, acrylic, and fiberglass, the

manity and work to reassure the viewer that even though death and “eventual oblivion” is an inescapable fact of life, there are many moments that make life beautiful. The piece-de-resistance, which perhaps sums up the significance of the show, is “Girl”, a 15-foot long newborn baby girl cracking her eyes open for the first time. It is beautiful sculpture: underneath the blood and wrinkly skin of a newborn is the embodiment

of fresh hope, newness, and innocence.

Mueck rarely gives interviews, which leaves the meaning of his work open to interpretation. Without the weight of a concrete artist-explained meaning, the viewer is allowed to perceive and understand each object however he or she wants to.

The hyper-realistic and expressionistic rendering of humans in Mueck’s hearkens back to sculptures by Leonardo Da Vinci, who famously treated his marble works like real people, and Franz Messerschmidt, the Austrian sculptor of “character heads,” which display similar realistic expressions as Mueck’s people. Mueck’s Mask II shows a man deep in sleep and is a somewhat modern interpretation of such character heads. It is interesting to look at Mueck’s sculptures not as the starkly modern artworks they appear to be, but as sculptures that draw on past works such as “David” and 18th century busts. It shows that artists have been studying the human condition through sculpture for many centuries, and looking at it through that lens may make the exhibition more understandable to the MFAH’s established visitor base who may not have seen sculpture like this before.

The Ron Mueck exhibit is on view through Aug. 13.

FEATURES

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

The Kinkaid Falcon / 9

A step into the deep, meaningful culture of sneakers

BY ARMAN BADREI The Adidas Ultra Boost.

This lifestyle-running shoe with cutting-edge Boost technology has now evolved into one of the most popular silhouettes in the sneaker world.

And that popularity has most definitely seeped into Kinkaid.

Look down in the hallways, and you’re bound to spot at least one pair. Now this got me thinking: has Kinkaid finally started to immerse itself into the sneakerhead culture, or are students just attaching themselves to a hyped-up fad?

Sneaker culture is far-reaching and universal. People from all around the world discuss their favorite brands and models, share pictures on forums and await releases of coveted shoes on dedicated websites like Sneakers News as well as Complex and Hypebeast. It’s something that can immediately connect strangers on a meaningful level. There are some who solely purchase this accessory as a fashion statement or to conform to what’s cool or popular at the time. But for true sneakerheads, shoes are a declaration of accomplishment, a payoff of hard work; many sneakerheads have to save up, work extra hours, and sacrifice their time to pursue their dream of owning a certain pair of shoes. “I feel accomplished every time I can buy a new pair of shoes or I get a new pair that I’ve really wanted for a while,�

Mikela McCauley (10) claimed.

McCauley has been collecting sneakers since her freshman year. She began her collection with the Nike Jordan Six mod-

el in the maroon colorway, but the collection has since evolved.

After her first few pairs, she decided to start selling sneakers she had grown tired of and has now mastered the art of flipping shoes.

McCauley quickly became invested in sneaker culture and is now active as a collector.

Inspired by one of her sneakerhead friends, McCauley inherited some of that interest.

A couple of weeks before the end of last school year, McCauley picked up a pair of Adidas Ultra Boosts with money she saved up from Christmas.

Then she bought a couple more pairs. Then a few more. And so on. With a lot of free time in the summer, she was able to resell her shoes, allowing her to build and grow both her collection and love of sneakers.

While some call sneaker collections impractical, costly, and excessive, sneakerheads look

WHENEVER I GET MONEY I’LL JUST SAVE UP, SELL OLD CLOTHES OR OLD STUFF JUST TO GET MONEY, OR I’LL WASH CARS.� —Mikela McCauley (10)

at it from a different angle: yes, the shoes are important, but it’s also about the memories and people related to the shoes. For McCauley, “it’s just kind of a cool thing� for her to share, a way to express herself.

With it also comes a sense of accomplishment because she is “working hard for something and getting it. It’s just a good feeling.� It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks either: when she buys sneakers, she’ll wear them “even if people think they’re weird or don’t like them.� Sneakers also open doors that would otherwise be closed. The culture of and community around sneakers has also allowed her to form lasting friendships. McCauley has met “a bunch of people that [she] normally wouldn’t have met.�

She has made five friends since the summer after meeting to buy and sell sneakers.

Faraz Virani (12) developed his love for sneakers when he was three years old, but he likes to think this fascination started at birth. Watching his favorite basketball players like LeBron James and Kevin Durant, Virani eventually learned that his personal idols had their very own shoe lines, and he consequently committed to his first pair of “real, hardcore basketball shoes� in fifth grade—the KD 3. From that point on, he has only dived deeper into sneaker culture and currently owns 20 pairs.

Like McCauley, Virani believes that sneakers bring people together; he’s connected with many sneakerheads online who live all over the

country, and it’s been a shared passion that has bonded him with his friends. Furthermore, Virani thinks sneakers have taught him valuable life lessons. “I think it’s made me control my money better—to be wiser with [it]. That’s the best thing I’ve learned. The value of money, how to take care of it, and how to make it grow. My parents have stopped paying for my shoes, except for my birthday once a year, so I have to buy and resell,� Virani said.

In recent months, Virani has observed his fellow

TO BE A SNEAKERHEAD, YOU NEED TO BE CONFIDENT.� —Faraz Virani (12) Kinkaid students have taken a keener interest in sneaker culture. “I think Adidas Boost is taking over Kinkaid,� he declared. “I’m seeing so many people wearing Boost now, and it’s crazy.� When asked if he thinks this trend will last, Virani said matter-of-factly, “it’s hype, and students at Kinkaid are going to follow the hype.�

Sneakers also allow Virani “to stand out� and build confidence. Wearing what he likes and what others may find different has pushed him to

become more comfortable in his own skin. “To be a sneakerhead, you need to be confident,�

Virani said.

Most importantly, sneakers hold a deeper, more sentimental place in Virani’s heart. “It was something that my brother and I did,� said Virani, who lost his brother Faris to cancer just last year. “It was something that brought us closer. It connects me to [Faris] always.�

Whenever he slips in a pair of sneakers, he thinks about more than the effort it took, the money he saved up, or the feel of the insole against his feet.

Whenever he puts on a pair of shoes, he thinks about if he was with his brother, if they were deciding whether or not to purchase a pair, or if they were just discussing the newest release. Sneakers take him back to fond memories, and connect him to the past.

Whether or not the current Ultra Boost trend at Kinkaid is hype or not doesn’t matter.

This surge in a particular model of footwear does not degrade sneaker culture, it doesn’t offend anybody, and in Virani’s opinion, it’s only a good thing.

According to Virani, to be a sneakerhead “you don’t need a collection. You just need to be interested in shoes, like shoes, and talk about shoes.� So for those who already picked up a pair and to those who are thinking about it, if you like it, buy it, and wear it with confidence. Because that’s what sneaker culture is really about.

What is Boost?

Adidas’ newest product is taking the sneaker game by storm

BY FARAZ VIRANI What is that foamy, white material that makes up the midsole of everyone’s Adidas shoes? Why are Kanye West’s shoes called Yeezy Boosts, and not just Yeezys?

The material that makes up the Boost in Adidas’ sneakers originally comes in pellets and is a thermoplastic urethane that is fused together and forms the midsole of Adidas’ most sought after footwear. The combination of the soft and springy properties of Boost are what make the product so unique.

This plush, white cushioning is Adidas’ prized possession and the future of running. And by now, every sneaker enthusiast or casual runner knows about the brand’s new, game-changing

product. With the demand for Boost only increasing, the shoes are flying off the shelves. Oh, and don’t bother going on adidas.com to get a pair of shoes with Boost because odds are, they are probably already out of stock.

Boost has taken over both sports and fashion footwear worldwide, which in other words means, the hype is real.

Boost has made its claim to fame in three of Adidas’ most popular models: NMDs, Ultra Boosts, and Yeezy Boosts.

Prices range from $120 to $220, and the higher the price, the more Boost in the midsole.

The most affordable of the trio, Adidas NMDs in most colorways are readily available at malls and dedicated

Above: Lakers’ Foward Nick Young was the first NBA player to wear the Yeezy 750s on court, the Kanye West Boost shoe meant for casual wear and style.

sneaker shops. There is always a NMD for someone because a plethora of different colors and designs are released almost every week.

Recognizable for the rectangular, colored bricks on the side of the shoe, the NMDs are the most cost-effective option for consumers looking for an everyday shoe.

The first sneaker to have

Boost, the Ultra Boost consists of a primeknit upper material, an entirely Boost midsole, and a rigid outsole.

Most Ultra Boost renditions are extremely limited and hard to get. For example, models with a colored Boost midsole instead of the white one are difficult to come by, such as the Triple Black colorway, which sold out within

minutes on Adidas’ website.

There are currently three versions of the Ultra Boost, and over time each model only increases in comfort. Among the Ultra Boost versions is the Uncaged model, which truly gives the foot a free and open feeling—to slip a pair on is like walking on clouds.

FEATURES

10 / The Kinkaid Falcon

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

Student spotlight: excellence on and off the field U.S. Under-18 National football player Hayden Rome performs research at Rice University

BY LACI KRÁNITZ You may know him because you’ve watched him walk across the stage at Honor Day, return to his seat, and then get back up to go on stage again. Or maybe you know him because you’ve seen him kick a game-winning field goal.

Perhaps you read about him in a school bulletin because his research work earned him a NASA High School Scholars award.

At a school of accomplished students, Hayden Rome (11) is a triple-threat. Known as “the golden boy” among his peers, Rome is a three-sport varsity athlete at Kinkaid, shouldering a load of four AP classes this year, 1st Chair and soloist of the cello section in Orchestra, and currently working on an independent study with the Harvard Center for Astrophysics & Rice University on protoplanetary disks. This January, Rome spent a week in Orlando, Fla. as the kicker for the USA Under-18 National Football team.

His parents are justifiably proud of him.

“Hayden was always a dedicated kid,” Hayden’s mother, Mrs. Jill Rome, said. “He has an older brother [Paxton Rome, (Class of ‘15)], and Hayden always wanted to do what his brother did. We had never told Hayden to study or

to go practice; he knew that he had to do his homework, and he knew that he had to go to practice.”

Rome started playing flag football when he was five years old and started kicking when he moved to tackle football in

side of them,” Rome recalled.

The USA Under-18 National Football team selects the best high school football players in the country for its team. Rome participated in the game against Canada on Jan. 28; Team USA defeated

Above: Rome firing for one of two successful field goals. Photo courtesy of Hayden Rome.

third grade. In his freshman year, Rome leveled up to varsity football during SPC and helped the 2015 team become SPC champions as the starting kicker.

At the training camp in Orlando, Rome practiced on a separate football field with the other kickers and the coaches.

At this highly competitive, national level, tensions are high.

“The coaches were really nice people, but on the football field, you really don’t see that

their northern neighbor by 26-0. Rome went two for two in field goals and two for two on successful onside kicks in the championship game.

After participating on the Under-18 National Football Team, the biggest question is whether Rome will play in college.

“If football is something that helps me get into a college, then sure, I will play, but it’s not my

biggest dream,” Rome said matter-of-factly. “I’m going to college to get an education.”

Rome’s Interim Term consisted of much more than a national football game; he also worked hard at Rice University with professors every Wednesday. He used radio interferometry to research a brown dwarf protoplanetary disk. He discovered a lot of new interesting information from his research with the professors.

Some people would ask how much free time Rome has.

The answer is not that much. He sleeps around five hours each day.

“You won’t see me at

parties over the weekend because I have to do my work, and also, I have to get better in sports,” Rome said.

Mrs. Rome added, “Sometimes I have to tell him to please stop and relax a little bit.”

Everyone is hoping that this perseverance and intrepidity is going to help Rome to be a successful adult in every part of his life.

FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2014, INDIA CLUB PRESENTS

FestivaL of

COLOR

DATE: ON SATURDAY, MARCH 25TH TIME: FROM 11:30 AM TO 2:00PM WHERE: HARRISON HOUSE GREEN

TICKETS WILL BE SOLD FOR $5 AT THE END OF SENIOR HALLWAY THE WEEK AFTER SPRING BREAK TICKETS GUARANTEE GENERAL ENTRANCE, UNLIMITED INDIAN FOOD BUFFET AND SNOW CONES, AND 3 BAGS OF COLOR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: MITALI.SHARMA@KINKAID.ORG OR NEHA.AFZALPURKAR@KINKAID.ORG

COME JOIN US FOR AN AFTERNOON OF THROWING COLOR, BOLLYWOOD PERFORMANCES, INDIAN FOOD, AND FUN!

FEATURES

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

The Kinkaid Falcon / 11

Left:Kate kept stats for the girls varsity Basketball team.

Right: As a freshman last year, Petrovic was the best jump shooter on the team.

Right::Kate Petrovic and Chloe Hunter (10) at Kate’s surprise dinner the night before surgery.

Above: In the top right corner of Kate’s mouth is a Des Moines Tumor.

The Loss, The Rebound, The Win How this budding star defeated her toughest opponent yet: a tumor

Above: Petrovic’s teammates gave her a handmade scrapbook of good memories when she was in the hospital recovering from surgery.

BY NIA CALDWELL “C’mon Kate, shoot the ball!� boomed Mr. Z Petrovic from somewhere in the stands. His voice, laced with a signature Serbian accent, was a steadfast echo in her ears, encouraging, reprimanding, demanding more of his talented daughter.

Showing no signs of fatigue, Petrovic galloped down the court, jump-stopped and let the ball roll off her fingers in perfect form. Then—a sweet sound to every ball player’s ears: The hoop rung out with a swish, a sound not uncommon to the 5’10 sharpshooter.

Before Petrovic stepped on the court that day, her opponents darted in her direction looks of confusion. Did she have something in her teeth?

No. A bad hair day? Nope. It was because the left side of her face was swollen, bulging out as if a small baseball was lodged in her right cheek. But instead of it being a baseball, Kate had a tumor.

With a killer, three-point shot and a Lebron-like savviness on the court, Petrovic was poised for a dynamic sophomore season. A starting spot. Maybe a scholarship offer to a D1 school. But

then she got news of a tumor hibernating in the side of her jaw, eating away at flesh and Kate’s aspirations of becoming a collegiate athlete.

After noticing the swelling in June, Petrovic first went to a dental surgeon where, shortly before she passed out from shock, she was told she had oral cancer. Despite the diagnosis, she continued to travel with her AAU summer basketball team, competing under the dark prognosis.

Shortly after returning from a tournament in Georgia, Petrovic took a trip to M.D. Anderson only to find out the tumor was benign. “I felt so relieved,� Petrovic recalled. “I knew the situation was not as bad as I thought it was.�

Nevertheless, she would need surgery to remove the tumor. “Scared wasn’t even the word. There were a million uncertain thoughts in my head,� Petrovic thought before she went under the knife for a seven hour surgery in August.

While unconscious, the doctors cut out eight centimeters of Kate’s fibula, part of a relatively common procedure

that takes a piece of the nonweight bearing bone and putting it in her jaw, replacing the deteriorated bone taken by the tumor.

Petrovic woke up to a joyful room, furnished with bright flowers and cards, only to realize she was connected to a feeding tube, unable to speak or eat solid foods.

After six days of reading the scrapbook her teammates made her and watching countless episodes of her favorite fictional doctor, McDreamy on Grey’s Anatomy, Petrovic was finally able to go home and do her favorite thing: Eat. “Even though I was still in a lot of pain, I made my dad drive me immediately to Smoothie King and get me a Strawberry Extreme,� she said.

Even with the surgery behind her, the days to come were still difficult. Petrovic quickly began to try to go back to her own life, but the quick pace proved to be too much. Only two days after her surgery, she accompanied her parents to Home Depot for new school supplies, where Petrovic passed out from exhaustion. She ended

up in the emergency room and hydrated with fluids. The doctor made her aware that she could not expect to jump back into her daily activities after such a surgery.

Due to her leg surgery, Petrovic was left in a boot and sidelined out of school for almost three weeks “The long gap wasn’t terrible. My teachers were super helpful,� she said.

However, the surgeries harshly shut the door to Kate’s biggest passion: basketball. “I knew that in the upcoming season we would go really far, and I wanted to be a part of that really badly,� said Petrovic, with tears in her eyes. “About three games into the season, I really knew I wasn’t going to be ready for this season, and that killed me.�

Although Kate wasn’t running drills with the team, she helped them by taking down stats with manager Brittney Williams (12). Her constant presence and positive attitude inspired the team and taught them how to be more appreciative. “Kate has pushed us all to be more grateful and bet-

ter players and people. She always has a smile on her face despite not playing,� said teammate Alexis Johnson (12).

Slowly, half a year later, Kate has rebuilt her strength, confidence, and flawless three point shot.

She can’t fully sprint yet, but she can definitely shoot. The proof? She won a national three-point contest in Naples, Florida this past winter on a trip with her team. After making 17 three-pointers in one minute, Petrovic has found her confidence again. “I proved to myself nothing had changed, I was the same person as before,� she said.

After watching the her team win SPC, Petrovic is even more ready to step out on the court with her teammates again. She said, “The win was so special even though I wasn’t actually playing. I still feel a part of the family.�

With her junior year looming, Petrovic hopes to show the community her love for basketball once again.

12 / The Kinkaid Falcon

FEATURES

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

FEATURES

http://thefalcon.kinkaid.org

The Kinkaid Falcon / 13

Raising Awareness Elijah Rising and Children at Risk, Houston-based nonprofit organizations, offer “human trafficking awareness” tours in the city. Callie Rosenthall photographed these motels for her independent study on human trafficking during Interim Term.

(Turn to Page 14 for Rosenthal’s interview.)

Houston’s human trafficking problem “Modern day slavery” is hidden in plain sight

BY EMMA GILLIAM, SARAH KATE PADON & ASHLEY PAKZABAN

Continued from Page 1 “What we see most often is what we call Romeo pimping, which is where an older man is going to approach a younger girl who he has identified through his practice as having these vulnerabilities. He gives her things she hasn’t had before: love, acceptance, gifts, all these self-esteem building things, but that relationship quickly turns into exploitation,” says Caruthers.

Typically, a child who radiates a need for “love, acceptance, gifts” will come from a background stained with sexual abuse and foster care situations. After running away from home, or aging out of the foster care system at 18, these runaways and foster children are left to fend for themselves and are consequently extremely vulnerable to coercion and deception by a human trafficker. Runaways are particularly susceptible to the sex industry; one out of every six children who run away from home become human trafficking victims.

This past November, Children at Risk gave a presentation at the eighth annual Human Trafficking Summit, which took place in Dallas. Part of their talk included notable examples of children who had been victims of human trafficking: In 2009, a 14-year-old girl was kidnapped,

assaulted, given a fake ID and forced to work in a strip club by a sex trafficker.

One year earlier, a 12-year-old girl in Dallas was found after working in a strip club for two weeks. She had run away from home, and ended up living with a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend who took her to the strip club. Because they provided her with a roof over her head, the girl felt pressured to earn money to repay them.

However, teenaged girls as a demographic—irrespective of background— are also vulnerable to the industry.

Social media outlets like Kik, Instagram and Facebook act as vehicles for human traffickers to target young girls posting provocative pictures or displaying evidence of low self-esteem or bad family situations. The targets morph into victims when a pimp slowly transitions a direct message on social media into a romantic relationship, garnished with gifts and praise, until eventually the girl is physically trapped in an inescapable situation. Sometimes, previously trafficked girls are even threatened into recruiting their friends for their pimps, the cheapest method of stealing girls.

The brothels, disguised as massage parlors, nail salons, and cantinas, take many measures to deter law enforcement: barring blacked out windows,

installing surveillance cameras, and having multiple entry ways. Other signs of undercover brothels include suggestive names or coded online reviews, abnormal operating hours, or extremely low costs. Many of the enslaved girls inside, if not local, come from third world countries where bribery and payoffs are common. Sometimes traffickers will post phony police signs and stickers that suggest to foreign girls that the police force is on the side of the traffickers; this is meant to promote the mindset of “you can run, but you can’t hide.” Usually, the mere thought of running is completely out of the question for these girls, as the threat of punishment for running away is horrific.

After California, Texas is the second most active trafficking state in the nation–with Houston as the epicenter.

Houston serves as a trafficking hotspot due to its location near the border, international ports and airports, and the I-10 corridor, regarded as an infamous sex trafficking highway. In response to the rise of human trafficking in Houston, a number of local stakeholders including lawmakers, nonprofits, charitable organizations, and even local businesses have taken a stance to combat its presence. A 2nd Cup is a cafe in the Heights is determined to make a difference. This

nonprofit coffee shop was founded in 2012 by Erica Raggett and opened its first shop in October of 2015. Its goal is to educate people about human trafficking and use their proceeds to support other organizations that help tackle this issue. The coffee shop, located on 11th Street just off Studewood, sells responsibly-sourced merchandise in addition to the usual cafe fare. The colorful wall art makes it clear to customers what their mission is, with a huge typographic “#tileveryoneisfree”print dominating one wall, and the quote “Ending human trafficking is not idealistic or naive. It is audacious. And it is the people with audacity who change the world” on

another.

Proceeds also go to supporting recovering victims by providing them with counseling, mentoring, and skills to help them get jobs. The coffee shop has partnered with other local businesses in their quest to bring an end to human trafficking. Events like their Christmas Benefit offered an opportunity to buy gifts of all kinds for recovering victims and involved organizations including Elijah Rising, Free the Captives, and Freedom Place. Their fight against human trafficking goes all the way down to their beans. The nonprofit uses Boomtown Coffee, another local coffee shop a couple streets over, as their coffee roaster.

Boomtown uses only ethically sourced beans, so each cup of coffee is ensured to be free from human trafficked labor.

The city is working to combat its reputation as a human trafficking hub by implementing strict laws and participating in initiatives against sex trade.

Texas recently passed House Bill 10 to facilitate an easier process of prosecution for sex traffickers, and to create a child sex trafficking prevention unit.

Furthermore, Houston attorney Vince Ryan and Children at Risk are working together to shut down the 200 or more illicit massage parlors and brothels in Houston. On top of that, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office has participated in the Johns Suppression Initiative, which works to prevent sex trafficking nationwide. Finally, just in the month of January, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office made over 178 arrests, beating the record amount of arrests of any police station involved in this initiative.

As of 2010, the Texas Supreme Court has implemented a policy that children under the age of 14 cannot be charged with prostitution. This protects children under who are being trafficked and want to approach the authorities, but are afraid of the repercussions. However, organizations like Children at Risk continue to fight for a policy that includes adolescents under 18 in this protection; this policy

was enacted into California law and took effect on January 1, 2017, and as a result children under 18 cannot be indicted for prostitution.

Caruthers says, “That’s a difficult sell in Texas—we’re a very conservative state. Even in California, a much less conservative state, you may have seen the articles ‘California legalizes child prostitution.’ That was not true. Very few prosecuted individuals under the age of 18 are doing so on their own volition. What California did was, they said “Okay if you’re a minor, engaged in prostitution, we can’t prosecute you.” They did not legalize child prostitution. The push back California experienced would be very small compared to what would happen in Texas. So we would very much to see that decriminalized for children. However, that’s really not the reality right now.”

While technologies and laws will continue to develop, the most important measure in preventing trafficking is awareness.

“We want to live in a society where we’re not treating people as slaves, and that’s essentially what human trafficking is,” Caruthers says. “We need a cultural change around this, and it’s not going to come from my generation, it’s going to come from the generations coming now.”

FEATURES

14 / The Kinkaid Falcon

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

Q&A with Callie Rosenthal

Sophomore investigates Houston’s human trafficking industry for independent study

BY ASHLEY PAKZABAN

Callie Rosenthal (10) studied Houston’s booming human trafficking industry during her Interim Term independent study. After extensively research- ing and working with people directly involved in combating Houston’s sex trade, Rosenthal hopes to spread awareness about the impact trafficking has on people in the industry and on our city as a whole.

Why are you interested in sex trafficking as an issue?

What sparked your interest in human trafficking?

I’m interested in it because the average age of a person in the sex trafficking industry is 11-13 for boys and 12-14 for girls. I think it was just realizing that I could potentially be one of these kids, or I could know them. They’re in the same situations I am, like going to school and stuff, but they’re now having to do terrible things and it makes me sad.

My dad is a lawyer, and he got me interested in it. I was looking online last year and found some organizations that I really liked. Then I had the idea to do an independent study on human trafficking when I was a freshmen.

Thoughts about Houston sex trafficking?

It’s really bad here [in Houston] because we are near the border. We have the international port, and the I-10 corridor is the number one route that girls are transported on. We also have international airports. Since Houston has such a large population, there’s obviously going to be a high demand.

And with all of the events also comes a rise in trafficking. The Super Bowl heavily affected the industry; 249 people were arrested and one of them was a Katy Elite Volleyball coach.

How did you begin research for your interim term project about human trafficking?

Why is it important that Kinkaid becomes more involved in the prevention of human trafficking?

I read a lot of books, looked online, and the leader of the non-profit I was working with, Free the Captives, connected me to law enforcement for an interview. To see the problem, I went to two places: Telephone Road, where the biggest “bust” so far has been in terms of money and girls - the biggest success they’ve shut down. Then I also went to District F, (Bellaire, Beachnut, and Bissonette, west of Beltway 8 and south of Westheimer).

I think awareness and education is really important and knowing that it doesn’t just happen to one group of people. We are not sheltered because we go to Kinkaid - it can happen to anyone.

Who are the victims of human trafficking?

Most of the girls sex trafficked in Houston are girls that are vulnerable because they have low self confidence or bad family situations.

When I worked with Free the Captives I learned that girls who post provocative pictures on Instagram, or Kik, or Facebook are targeted as potential trafficking victims.

Traffickers befriend these girls and shower them with gifts and become their boyfriend. Then they will trap them somewhere they can’t leave.

Fast Facts

A slave in 1810 would cost $40,000 now; today the average labor or sex slave is $90.

What else did you learn?

All races are targeted.

Houston is doing more undercover operations than 10 years ago because they realize it’s not just the girls that are the problem, it’s the people who are taking them and actually running the industry.

45%

of the world’s human trafficking victims are male

400

ads for escorts are posted in Houston daily

There are 14 million people being trafficked worldwide

FEATURES

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

The Kinkaid Falcon / 15

COLUMN Meet the people who make Piney Point a community

Smoothie King Franchisee: Care and efficiency keep customers coming back

BY ELLA MORGAN This is the first in a new series of interviews of getting to know the people who make Kinkaid student’s days a little brighter.

Now more than ever, it seems there just aren’t enough hours in the day to just stop and talk to others. We go through our days rushing to the next location, buying our to-go meals without stopping to inquire about other people’s lives. It’s time we get to know the familiar faces who make our days just a little more flavorful.

One mile down the road from Kinkaid, there’s a Smoothie King at Woodway and Voss. Many Kinkaid students walk into this small store everyday looking for a boost after a hard workout or long school day. Quickly, they order, pay, and walk out the door on their way home or to the next

Danon has owned Houston Smoothie King locations since 2004 and works at this location with his sister Cynthia.

location. Behind the counter, a big, smiling man takes orders with charisma and always seems to be having his best day ever. This is Danon.

Danon has been the franchisee of multiple Houston Smoothie King locations since 2004 and never fails to welcome everyone into his stores with his funny jokes and witty humor.

As soon as I walked through the door, I was quickly greeted by Danon. As I gave him my order, he took a close look at the last name on my credit card.

“Morgan? Do you have a brother?� he asked.

I was amazed at his memory and realized that we are all more than just customers to to him. Jokingly, he asked me if I attended Kinkaid. Still astonished at his memory of my last name, I thought there was no way he could have known what school I attended. “I can usually tell what school a lot of kids go to around here,� he said. “About 60 percent of our regular customers are from Kinkaid, Memorial High School, Duchesne, and Spring Branch.�

How the Super Bowl Changed Houston

Listening to how much he knew about each school and the students, I wondered how he could remember everyone from just seeing them for such a short time. “I get to interact with my customers and build relationships,� he said. “The best part about working here is being part of the community. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.�

Danon always makes time to chat with Smoothie King customers. He is a huge history buff and loves to play golf, saying, “I love studying history, especially Theology. There’s

something so interesting about knowing where everything in our present day comes from.�

When asked to describe himself in three words, Danon took a minute to think over his answer before he declared, “Driven by excellence.� “I run this business and train my staff to deliver a value to our customers every single day,� Danon said. “I try to greet my customers in the first 3-5 seconds they walk in the door. I try to get their orders out in 3-5 minutes. Efficiency keeps this business running.�

Danon never fails to brighten his customer’s days. While doing something so simple as getting an after-school smoothie, we run into people who want to better the community and strive everyday to be the best they can. After having the privilege of meeting and getting to know these wonderful people so much better, I have a new outlook on my everyday outings. Next time you go to Smoothie King and have a few extra minutes, maybe ask Danon about his best golf score or his favorite smoothie. You never know what you might learn.

If you want to know more about someone in our community like Danon, let us know! Email ellarose.morgan@kinkaid.org with your suggestion and they could be featured in The Falcon.

Questions from the Headmaster We decided to revive an old column in the newspaper where the Headmaster could pose questions to the student body.

IF YOU WERE HEADMASTER FOR THE DAY, YOU WOULD... “Make a rule against homework.� —Noah Rubinson (9)

THE BEST LUNCH SERVED IN THE DINING CENTER IS...

Due to Super Bowl LI, Houston experienced some major improvements. Photo by Michael Ciaglo

BY MAC FRIDAY When Houston won the ballot to host the Super Bowl, the city came up with a vision: to put on a successful Super Bowl, spend millions of dollars in preparations to make the city look its best, and provide a safe, fun environment for the everyday NFL fan. To do this, the city used a historically large volunteer workforce—the largest in Super Bowl history— processing nearly 32,000 applications, interviewing 20,000, and eventually reaching the final number of 10,000. These volunteers worked to assist in preparations and represent the city to visitors. Run by the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee, the city worked with the NFL to put on the events leading up to the game.

Various construction projects began over the past few years, some starting as early as 2012, and were completed in time for the big game, serving various purposes

during the big weekend, but will continue to operate afterwards.

The George R. Brown Convention Center has undergone a $175 million upgrade to expand facilities and renovate the existing surrounding area, including a brand new art sculpture at the front of the building.

The facility served as the home of the Super Bowl NFL Experience, a continuous interactive theme park and local event that surrounded the game, providing a hands on experience for NFL fans of all ages. Activities included appearances by NFL players, interactive games, and youth football clinics, among others.

Another project that was completed in time for the Super Bowl was the Marriott Marquis, a 30-story, 1000 room hotel that served as the NFL’s Super Bowl headquarters. Overlooking Discovery Green, home of Super Bowl Live, as well as being near

the Convention Center, the new hotel was a great success for the Super Bowl and will continue to serve as a convention center hotel for future events.

One main attraction to keep the 1.3 million fans entertained was Super Bowl Live, held at Discovery Green. The multi-block, interactive festival saw hundreds of performers hold concerts for the public. While the NFL Experience inside the Convention Center was a ticketed event, Super Bowl Live was free to the public.

Another signature attraction of Super Bowl Live was Future Flight, a 90-foot drop tower and virtual reality experience.

After a successful two weeks of entertainment and football, the Super Bowl festivities move on to Minneapolis, Minnesota for Super Bowl LII, leaving Houston behind in high spirits.

“The sandwich bar is definitely the best.�

- Karnett Huynh (10)

WHAT WOULD BE A GREAT NEW TRADITION TO START? “Monthly pep rallies.�

- Chloe Fondren (10)

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT KINKAID, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “I’d like to be able to wear leggings.�

- Katherine Montgomery (11)

ROB LAHOURCADE, OR SHOULD I SAY “KING ROB,� WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ME? “Always get the chocolate chip scones in the cafeteria; they’re great.“ - Rob Lahourcade (12)

FORUM

16 / The Kinkaid Falcon

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

OP-ED

Above: A panoramic view of West Campus. Below: A letter from Mr. David Veselka, former Photography teacher, to thenHeadmaster Glenn Ballard. From the Kinkaid Archives.

We need the trees!

As we grow, we need to be responsible in our expansion

Above: From left, a student studies in the backyard. Faculty, including Mr. David Veselka, gathers in the Backyard. Circled: This area is where the parking garage was built and the West Campus is currently being developed.

BY SARAH BASS Giants standing dozens of feet tall, swaying in the breeze, the massive pine trees that have been rooted in this area for decades are a defining characteristic of the Kinkaid campus. Since 1957, our campus has been canopied by beautiful pine, sycamore, sweetgum, elm, and oak trees. With the school’s pressing need for more space, expansion has taken over the West Campus, what was formerly the Milby property.

While new buildings, fields, and learning spaces are vital, it is also imperative that we as a community recognize the environmental cost of these changes. In cutting down swathes of trees, we permanently alter the unique landscape and ruin the chance for later generations to experience the topography.

Looking out over the desolate, leveled area where bulldozers gather and construction takes place, it’s hard to imagine there was ever a lush forest there. As our school grows and our need for land increases, it is important not to forget our duty to the land. Finding ways to keep the land in tact, like our current use of the Backyard, is essential. We need to raise more questions about the impact of our growth on the environment and be more

conscious of what the true cost will be.

Looking at old pictures of the campus helped me truly realize how defining these trees are to our community.

It raises the question: Just because new trees are planted, can the exact character of the old trees that used to stand there be truly restored?

Those magnificently tall trees had years and years to grow; it will be a long time before any new tree will grow tall enough to look the same.

A letter preserved in the Archives from Mr. David Veselka, a former photography teacher at Kinkaid for 36 years, echoes my exact feelings on the matter. Written in March 1990 and addressed to then-headmaster Glenn Ballard, Mr. Veselka expressed his concerns about the development of land along the bayou for tennis courts and athletic fields.

Mr. Veselka, joined by other students and faculty, fought to preserve the land instead of developing it.

“Kinkaid, like Earth, has a finite amount of land and is suffering the consequences of too many people in too little space,” he wrote in his letter.

In the end, he was successful in his campaign and the area was marked off to create what is now known as

the Backyard. This area has become a unique hallmark of our campus and has provided space for community service projects, educational experiences for biology and science classes, and even a place for visiting guests, like Jane Goodall, to come and explore.

Twenty-seven years after his letter was written, those sentiments are still applicable. If our community is dedicated to respect and responsibility, where is the respect for the environment or the responsibility to the Earth we have to preserve for future generations? While the school is complying with the legal specifications, I believe our duty to the environment goes beyond just meeting letterof-the-law requirements. We should look for ways to work with the land we have and try to preserve as much as possible.

Headmaster Andy Martire has been a leader in the process of the development of West Campus. Dr. Martire stated, “I would say that there have been a lot of people involved...at both administrative and board levels to make sure that the development is very functional and impactful for the student body and looks good and is in keeping with the feel of the campus and the

neighborhood.”

Piney Point Village, the neighborhood in which Kinkaid is located, has strict rules surrounding the removal of trees from property. In section 66-48, the specific requirements for tree removal is clearly expressed.

It requires that there be “One tree equal or greater than 3” DBH (Diameter Breast Height) per 2000 Square Feet.” Other requirements including the type of trees and the exact placement are outlined as well. In the Piney Point Code of Ordinances it is stated in section 66 A. 1. that, “It shall be unlawful for any person to remove any protected tree or RMD (required minimum density) tree, or to damage or cause serious trauma (as determined by a certified forester) to any protected tree or RMD tree during… Demolition/ remodeling/construction/new construction of any structure requiring a building permit.”

While the local government has worked hard to preserve the vegetation within Piney Point, and Kinkaid has complied by these laws, it is also important to look beyond the minimum requirements and consider broader consequences.

The school, its administrators, and its board members

have made sure to follow each rule and regulation set by Piney Point.

“We worked very closely with the Piney Point forester...who came in and tagged all the trees on the new property, because we obviously took a good number down.

And to develop the property for usage for athletic facilities and fields and potentially a second entrance does mean that some trees need to come down,” Dr. Martire said.

Our campus is a treasure among the growth of concrete and stripped down landscape all over Houston today. Our trees, our Backyard, and our land has been an asset to students in learning about the environment and appreciating all it has to offer. I believe our growth, while necessary and important, should always consider the environmental ramifications. The loss of beauty, the changed ecosystems and unique wildlife and soil communities, affect the land forever.

As Mr. Veselka said in his letter, “Must Kinkaid also serve as a model to foreshadow nature’s final destruction?

Or will we become a model that offers hope for it’s survival?”

FORUM

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

EDITORIAL

The Kinkaid Falcon / 17

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Is the First Amendment safe?

Recent attacks on the media by President Trump have concerned many Since launching his campaign last June, reality television star, real estate mogul, and now President of the United States Donald Trump has captured the public’s attention with numerous audacious claims–none more concerning than his comments regarding the First Amendment.

The protection of freedom of speech and the press has long been regarded as a cornerstone of American democracy. In fact, Founding Father Thomas Jefferson said that “Our liberty depends on freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

That being said, anyone who has heard Donald Trump speak throughout his campaign knows that he frequently blasts the press as dishonest and unsatisfactory.

President Trump has accused CNN of being a source for “fake news” and threatened to sue The New York Times after it published an article on two women who accused him of inappropriate behavior.

It’s not unusual for politicians to feel unfairly targeted by the press. In fact, it is the role of the press in American democracy to be the “watchdog” for the people to question and investigate politicians, and to share shortcomings and achievements with the public. The tension always exists regardless of the political party of the president.

However, never before has a U.S. President threatened to sue news organizations and individuals for libel (written defamation) and attacked

them on social media. President Trump’s behavior towards the press has been unacceptable and gone beyond the normal relationship between the president and the press. It is because of President Trump’s actions and claim that he will “open up our libel laws so when [journalists] write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money” that many Americans are concerned about their First Amendment rights.

Just last week on Feb. 24,

THE MEDIA “IS THE ENEMY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.” —PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP President Trump banned reporters from news organizations including CNN, The New York Times, Politico, The Los Angeles Times, and BuzzFeed from attending an informal briefing. This surprising move in President Trump’s growing conflict against the media was met with shock and outrage by members of more conservative and more liberal news organizations.

.

However, those who have been following President Trump on Twitter should not be surprised by this move.

On Feb. 17, he tweeted that the media “is the enemy of the American people.” Again, people on both sides of the aisle including former President George W. Bush expressed disapproval. “I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy,” President Bush said. “We need the media to hold people like me to account. I mean, power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power, whether it be here or elsewhere.”

What is especially disturbing is that President Trump himself takes advantage of his First Amendment rights to speak his mind on social media and in news conferences.

However, once he is subject to criticism, no matter how fair or unfair it may be, President Trump no longer believes in the protection of free speech and press.

Although it would be very difficult for President Trump to actually change these laws regarding free speech due to protections through law and Supreme Court precedent in New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), President Trump has undoubtedly sent a troubling message to news organizations through intimidation and threats. While he never filed a lawsuit against the women who came out against him or the Times, an organization with more limited resources might have backed

voice and feedback. Please email student.publications@kinkaid. org or use the Contact form at http://thefalcon.kinkaid.org.

Corrections will be addressed on our website and published in the subsequent issue. Please direct The Kinkaid Falcon’s mission is to be an accurate advertising inquiries to colin. monteith@kinkaid.org. and reliable source of information for the Kinkaid community by informing readers about The opinions expressed in The topics that are interesting, thought-provoking, Kinkaid Falcon belong solely to the and impactful from the school, local Houston writer and are not a reflection or area and Texas, as well as other parts of the representation of the opinions of world. the school or its administrators.

Questions or comments? We welcome your

Masthead

down from President Trump’s threats.

While to some people President Trump’s statement may be seen as unimportant, to

“I CONSIDER THE MEDIA TO BE INDISPENSABLE TO DEMOCRACY.” —PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH the people that rely on sharing their voices through a free press, the effects of restrictions will go far beyond just the news media. In fact, one of the groups that this conflict may have the strongest impact on is student journalists.

Working on student media in school is the first time many new journalists will come face-to-face with censorship and limitations on freedom of the press. While advisors teach students that the public has a right to the truth and it is their responsibility to share that truth, the censorship faced by student journalists still persists. This censorship is constant, can be punishing, and was upheld by the Supreme Court in Hazelwood School District v.

Kuhlmeier (1988).

The sad truth is that many school officials are more con cerned with portraying their schools in a good light rather than modeling for the prin-

Editor-in-Chief Kirk Hachigian

Arts & Culture Editor Katie Erikson

Associate Editors Sarah Bass Ella Morgan Faraz Virani

Entertainment Editor Katherine Berman

Assistant Editor Arman Badrei Features Editor Allison Favaloro Forum Editor Nia Caldwell

Web Editor Julia Davis Business Manager Colin Monteith Staff Ali Ammons Madi Babine Brady Brazda

ciples of good journalism and democracy. This conflict has become inflated recently by the transition to online publishing. Some school officials are often more preoccupied with the school’s image online as it is potentially available to a wider audience. The constant struggle with censorship that many student media outlets face forces advisors to question whether they are preparing students to uncover and inform the public of the truth, or to to learn that officials in power may dictate what is and is not news.

Fortunately at Kinkaid, censorship is something that we don’t often struggle with.

In previous years the administration required the right to prior review to make decisions on what could and could not be published in our newspaper; this created a disgruntled atmosphere where trust was missing between students and the administration. This is no longer the case. Our students now have the freedom to publish articles that we believe to be of interest and importance to our readers. We do not take this responsibility lightly, and strive to uphold the Kinkaid four core values (honesty, respect, responsibility, and kindness) in all of our work.

The protection of freedom of speech and press is at the bedrock of our American democracy and should remain protected at all costs. Whether or not you agree with or even believe what is being said, the fact that we have the right to criticize the government and share our thoughts is vital to what it means to be free.

Emma Carr Colin Conway Caleigh Doran Sterling Elias Mac Friday Emma Gilliam Jordan Jafarnia Hana Keleta Laszlo Kranitz Anna Leon-Amtmann Megha Neelapu Marley Orange Sarah Kate Padon Ashley Pazkaban William Scott Emma Stout

Adviser LiAnn Yim

The Kinkaid Falcon is published six times a school year. 700 print copies are distributed for free to 597 Upper School students and 93 faculty members, and 220 copies are mailed to subscribers.

The Kinkaid Falcon is a member of the CSPA and NSPA.

FORUM

18 / The Kinkaid Falcon

La La Love

La La Lame

BY ARMAN BADREI I hate musicals. It pains me to see a character I have been intently following in a movie suddenly break out into song and dance next to an ensemble of random people. Some people go crazy for that stuff; me, not so much. But then I saw “La La Land.�

After cleaning out the Golden Globes in January and dominating discussion after discussion of the best movies of the year, I decided it might be worth a watch. But I wasn’t prepared for what followed and for how it made me feel inside. “La La Land� is a captivating story of dreams, sacrifice, and love. A rom-com, yes, but also a drama that uses its fresh, inventive story to wipe away all stereotypes of the former genre.

Two actors (Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling) with chemistry so palpable and emotions so real you wonder if these were their actual life stories. At its heart though, director and writer Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land� rightfully deserves all the praise it has received because of its fresh themes, depth across genres, and its playful relationship with the typical Hollywood 1950s romance it compares itself to.

The film sets itself in present day Los Angeles, following two eventually connecting stories, that of Stone’s Mia and Gosling’s Sebastian. Each works to achieve their lifelong goals of making it big in Hollywood. Mia wants to become a famous actor, while Sebastian yearns to open his own jazz club. The two cross paths, and their romance begins from there, until they come to a point where they must decide what matters most to them. “La La Land� is a story about a lot of things—fulfilling your lifelong dreams, finding love, balancing different aspects of your life, working hard, sticking with your passion— and that’s what makes it beautiful. Any work of art should invoke feelings inside of you. The work should in some way allow you to relate to and connect with the same exact emotions of the creator, in this case, the director. While the majority of the viewers of “La La Land� are not starving artists or hopeful actors waiting for their big break, we all feel the same way

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

BY ALLISON FAVALORO

about our lives and careers. We are all born with dreams of what we want to do when we’re older; we want to find love; we want to do something we enjoy while at the same time making a living. On paper, these ideals may sound commonplace in the world of film: it’s not the first time there’s been a movie about love or aspirations. However, “La La Land� slaps a new take on it and reinforces the point with fantastic performances by Stone and Gosling. “La La Land� brings up the idea of prioritizing aspirations simultaneously. What do you value most? What are you willing to do for one dream, even if it means decreasing the hopes of your others? “La La Land� shines once more in its ability to reach across to all types of viewers.

As I stated earlier, I am not a fan of musicals. Add in the romantic-comedy element, and it seems to be a movie I would avoid at all costs. I thought it might be some chick-flick with the appeal of Ryan Gosling. I was wrong. Despite the film’s seemingly unoriginal and basic premise, it quickly distinguishes itself from other rom-coms and allows itself to be appreciated by fans of all genres.

The final success of “La La Land� is the way in which it references typical Hollywood romance movies of the 1950s and 60s. Through the editing, cinematography, setting, and music, the film evokes the same idealism of those past movies.

Contrary to the predictable, always-happy, stereotypical Hollywood films of that era however, “La La Land� paints a different picture: one with morally ambiguous, life-like decisions that have no right or wrong choice and a different plot structure than the past.

The film has garnered a lot of press and for good reason. It won six Oscars and continues to do well at the box office. If you haven’t seen it, put it at the top of your weekend priorities.

You won’t regret it.

Graphic by Allison Favaloro

I eagerly awaited in the itchy red theater seat while one preview followed another.

The wait seemed interminable; my patience abated more and more as time went on. Just when I couldn’t wait any longer, the “Filmed in Cinemascope� banner illuminated the screen, and I was about to enter the fantastical world of “La La Land.�

The first scene showed a conglomerate of cars on a Los Angeles freeway, the typical victims to the city’s notorious traffic. Then, the drivers hopped out of their cars to celebrate the frustration of traffic by breaking out into song and dance. Needless to say, I was instantly hooked; I couldn’t wait to watch the rest of the highly praised movie everyone seemed to be talking about.

But as two hours passed, my enthusiasm kept waning at a steady pace. Nothing really seemed to be happening, and I became bored. I left “La La Land� feeling unsatisfied with the characters and underwhelmed with the entire production; I liked it, but I don’t understand why everyone’s so obsessed with it.

I enjoyed the movie as a feel-good flick to play on a rainy day. I liked the dreamlike feel that the movie aimed for. The scene where the couple danced among the stars especially displayed the dream-like tone and made my heart flutter a tiny bit. I also liked the theme of preserving the dying arts and the nostalgia for a previous artistic era.

Despite all of these messages and themes presented throughout the movie, I left the theater feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied.

I have never felt an urge to watch it again; I only needed to watch it once to get enough of it.

I think a big reason for my underwhelming reaction is that the movie had so much hype around it, so I created this whole image in my head of how I expected to feel when I watched the movie. I expected something that challenged the traditional guidelines of a movie, something uncon-

ventional to keep me thinking for days after I’d watched the movie. There was nothing unconventional about it; Chazelle followed the formula to create a box office best seller. The movie is a romantic comedy musical starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling: there’s nothing risky about that.

La La Land started off strong with the “Another Day of Sun� flash mob, and it established the chemistry between Mia and Sebastian. The ending was captivating as well (don’t worry, I won’t spoil it!), but the middle dragged on for way too long. I kept waiting for the plot to move along, but instead I was stuck waiting, hoping something would happen to reinforce or destroy the relationship of the two protagonists.

Another cause for my dissatisfaction is the actors chosen to play the main roles. The movie was poorly casted. Stone and Gosling are very talented actors. The two have the looks of old-time Hollywood actors, but they lack talent for many of the skills, like singing and dancing, that characterizes Old-Hollywood films.

The singing was mediocre at best. Stone’s voice sounded breathy throughout the movie.

The only song where she displayed power in her voice was in “Audition.� Gosling’s voice sounded flat and unmemorable. “City of Stars� is a catchy song, but the vocals are not difficult nor revolutionary.

The most disappointing scene was the tap number to “A Lovely Night.� I anticipated this dance the entire movie because it had been featured on the movie trailer, but I was disappointed by how basic the moves were. I did not expect for Gosling and Stone to be dancing prodigies, but I expected something with a little more grandeur than a couple of jazz steps on the top of a random bench on the side of the road. “La La Land� didn’t meet or surpass my expectations; therefore, I was just not satisfied with the movie as a whole. While I did enjoy some aspects, many other important ideas fell flat and crushed my expectations. I will probably watch it again on a rainy day, but I don’t care to re-watch it anytime soon.

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

New and Noteworthy

ENTERTAINMENT

The Kinkaid Falcon / 19

New Year, new entertainment. Here are some recommendations of what to watch and listen to.

BY ELLA MORGAN

Album

Song

“More Life” by Drake

“Slide” by Calvin Harris (ft. Frank Ocean and Migos)

For all of the hardcore Drake fans circling around the Kinkaid halls, the announcement of his next album “More Life,” has certainly been nothing short of a #blessing. This album drops Mar. 4 and includes collabs from The Weeknd, 21 Savage, and many more. Though not a lot of hints have been released about what this album will entail, in an interview with Complex Magazine, Drake explained he wants to “[create] a playlist to give you a collection of songs that become the soundtrack

to your life.”

Artist

A slow, catchy piano rhythm plays and a small voice appears out of the background, much like many of the songs on Ocean’s latest album “Blonde.” It then transcends into an infectious, dancey beat that Calvin Harris does oh-so-well.

Migos jumps into the second verse and creates a perfect contrast to Ocean’s smooth voice creating the perfect blend of hard and soft. I have listened to this song at least four times a day since it came out and highly recommend it is added to all Spotify playlists ASAP.

TV show

Movie

Isaiah Rashad

Shameless

Manchester by the Sea

This hip-hop artist, producer, and musician is currently on his “Lil Sunny Tour” and came to Houston on Feb. 24 for a small concert at Warehouse Live. In 2016, his first proper album made its debut and has recently gained major popularity with hits like “Free Lunch” and “4r Da Squaw.” His catchy, mellow sound is irresistible and impossible to turn off once it starts playing, and is perfect to listen to on a long drive.

“Heavenly Father” is one of his most popular songs and will be stuck in your head right away.

Although this show premiered in 2011 and is currently in its seventh season, it recently came to Netflix in late 2016. Each episode is crazier than the one before and will make you binge watch for days. Get ready to follow multiple characters through their lives as they navigate adolescence and the challenges of growing up in a rough Chicago neighborhood. The main character, Fiona, played

by Emmy Rossum, is like the older sister you’ve always wanted, her family will keep you guessing after every episode.

If you want to cry nonstop for a few hours and think about a movie for days after you watch it, this film is for you. Starring Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges, this movie follows the story of a washed up uncle whose life suddenly changes when his brother dies. He struggles with the problems of taking care of his teenage nephew and making sure his past does not come back into his life. This movie won two Oscars this year for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

Dear Felicia Falcon...

BY THE ENTERTAINMENT SECTION

Last month, we visited the Archives to explore old issues of the newspaper. In an October issue from 1968, we found a “Felicia Falcon” advice column. So, revived from deep within the depths of the archives, Felicia Falcon is here to respond to your needs and issues with apt and constructive advice to help you through your modern high school troubles. Whether it’s a problem with your friends, parents, or school-work, Felicia Falcon is armed with advice to coach you though these trying years.

Dear Felicia Falcon, My friend constantly makes excuses to not pay for her share, and she always owes me money. I feel bad having to keep reminding her every day, but enough is enough. What can I say to her that will force her to pay up?

—Bankrupt Betty

Dear Felicia Falcon, I always notice the same person wearing my T-shirts to school that she borrowed from me a while ago, and I kind of want them back. How do I confront her in a non-awkward way in order for her to give me back what’s mine?

—Naked and Afraid

Dear Felicia Falcon, The Rodeo is starting, and I’m going with some friends next Friday night.

I want to make a move on this girl I really like. I was thinking about the ferris wheel, but my friends think it’s cheesy. How do I make my move and get the girl of my dreams?

—Lonesome Cowboy

Dear Bankrupt Betty, These people are called mooches.

Technology has given us an amazing way to fix that: Venmo. I suggest downloading it right away and have your friend pay you from the get-go.

If your friend refuses to download the app, then at the very least she should carry cash. Don’t be afraid to keep reminding her because it’s YOU she is taking advantage of.

Dear Naked and Afraid, Go up to that person and be straight with them. Tell her you’re happy to let her borrow your t-shirts as long as she returns them. The only way to do this is to be confident; you can’t lose sight of what is actually YOURS. Sharing is caring, but not when people are taking advantage of your generosity.

Dear Lonesome Cowboy, Who cares what your friends think?

Yes, the ferris wheel is a bit cliché, but you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Put your arm around her and see how she responds, if she’s comfortable with it, you know you can make your move. If that fails, maybe she’s just not that into you and you should just move on.

Sincerely,

Felicia Falcon

ENTERTAINMENT

20 / The Kinkaid Falcon

The Pop Culture Chart: Where we get to know the Kinkaidian tastes and takes on what’s the talk around campus.

t e r r a u h t l C t u e C r r a u p t h l o C u P C p o P o into it. I s kind of to “Yes, but I wa spy, but then a e lik r oo fl e e rolled on th ed out of th ... I was kick I got caught r.” te movie thea lona (9) —Sofia Esca

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

Design by Emma Stout Reporting by Marley Orange and Emma Stout

lvin and ket to “A ht a tic but I wanted “I boug ” munks, r movie the Chip R-rated horro n to see a .” k with Nic Totz (10) e - Carolin

NUCK S R E V E HA V E Y O U “Jack Nevil (11) and Anna Hogan (11) because they have a lot of chemistry.”

- Georgia Williams (11)

“Who’s someone in our grade who isn’t disgusting?”

-Hannah Barden (12)

“Zack Nicolaou (9) and Sofia Esc alona (9) because when Sofia gets mad at him she yells in Spanis h, and he has no idea wh at she’s saying.”

-Nicholas Dill on (9)

“We told my mom we were going to a different movie, and we had to research it before so we could tell my mom about it.” - Hannah Chambers (12)

h my the movies wit “I snuck into we went girlfriend, and door. She got t exi the h throug I just went and caught, but vie without saw the mo man.”

I love Spider her because (11) - Aryan Minooe

V I E THEATER? M O A O I NT

“Deutser (10) and Grace Breeding (10) because they’ve just got such a stellar foundation. No deeper bond than going to a Rockets game together.” - Eli Bahkt (10)

B e s t t wo stu d e n t s f o r the le a din g role s in a rom-com?

“Dwight Schrute.”

- Amy Ho (10)

“Ty Doran because he’s a babe, or Oprah because I seriously need her advice right now.”

- Eliana Estes (9)

“John Krasinski because he’s such a cutie, and he wouldn’t act like a famous person.” Caroline Whitley (11)

“Niall Horan because he’s my natty batty.”

- Brittany Williams (12)

I f y ou c o u l d c h o o s e a c e l eb r i t y t o sit nex t to you at t h e o s c a r s, w h o w o u l d it b e ?

y unlmited abilit “So easy! The travel. I would sly iou ur lux to ess clothes or also want endl et.” - Katarina dg bu s es dl an en ) (12 kie Zaruts

ry... e lotte orld win th w d to n e h is to y “I w uld I sa ing?” - Noah o h s it wa eth r or som hunge (9) n o s in Rub

“I wish Brighton Huynh could take all of my classes for me.” - Sarah Grace Carr (10)

break “I wish to ute in m r u the fo mile.” nos (11) DZ Zavitsa

FOR? H S I OU W Y O D WHAT

The Illustrated Interview with Chris Stallings (9) and Nikita Munsif (9) Chris Stallings (9)

Please draw what you look like.

What was your favorite childhood toy?

What did you eat for breakfast?

What are you doing for spring break?

Draw your spirit animal.

What was your favorite childhood toy?

What did you eat for breakfast?

What are you doing for spring break?

Draw your spirit animal.

Nikita Munsif (9)

Please draw what you look like.

SPORTS

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

The Kinkaid Falcon / 21

nge (10)

Audrey Ora

Team Ritual

Gir ls

“Zubair. there’s no competition.

He always has interesting things to say.”

—Audrey Orange (10)

“Greenhill meet because there were events that are never swam at normal meets, like the 25 streamline and 200 breaststroke relay.”

—Charlie Brennig (9)

“Singing and dancing to everything from Future and Lil Wayne to One Direction and Ariana Grande.”

—Chinaza Ndee (12) Team MVP “Kate Petrovic. She always has a smile on her face and inspires us all to always look at the positives.

She taught us to never give up even when the situations doesn’t go your way. She also keeps Britt in line during the games.”

—Jasmine Smith (11)

(12 n so hn

Ja

eL eD

ee

(11

)

“Our trip to San Francisco. We spent a lot of time and bonded as a team despite losing some of our games.”

—Jake Shaper (12)

ll ba

Favorite Memory

Jo

ke t

Al ex is

Boys Bas

Favorite Game “The game Faraz scored 13 points and got major buckets, all in front of his parents and his younger brother’s sign in Melcher Gym.” —Marquis Hubbard (11)

Winter SPC Recap

Team MVP

“Faraz because he keeps the team together.

He puts up with all the drama, and problems.” — Joshua Williams (10)

Boys Soc Favorite Memory

“Watching Benji Rae blossom into the best soccer player to ever walk the halls of Kinkaid.”

—Antonio Castro (10)

Team Ritual “Watching Phin walk up and down the locker room while blasting “The Lion, the Beast, and the Beat.”

—Ace Nicolaou (12)

Team MVP Noah C

“Ben Lewis because he is a great person who has made some world class saves here and there.”

—Becket Toussaint (10)

han (11

)

Wil

Team Ritual

ly D

“My favorite team ritual is before anyone steps on the matt, we yell out his name in the stadium.”

—Ameer Mustafa (10)

“My favorite team ritual is how we all gather around after weigh ins and eat in silence.”

—Noah Chan (11)

Team MVP

Favorite Memory

“I’d consider James Goettee to be the MVP of our team, because even though he’s injured he still encourages and inspires the entire team.”

“When Coach Waldroup and Colin went head to head in a match and the next day Coach complained about how he pulled all of the muscles in his legs and butt.”

—Ameer Mustafa (10)

—Noah Chan (11)

uch

arm

Girls Socce r

Favorite Memory

“When Berman missed the bus to Austin because she was watching the Inauguration.”

—Lena Provenzano (10)

Team Ritual “Braiding Caleigh Doran’s hair. We’ve done that every game since freshman year.”

—Caroline Hanan (11)

e r W

Izz

s

tli

“The Houston Christian game when I man marked their striker the whole game and he got so annoyed he started elbowing me.

—Hayden Rome (11)

2)

Team MVP

ng

The State duals because all the wrestlers had improved so much. Not to mention Brighton Huynh got five wins at a higher weight class than usual.

Favorite Game

e (1

Favorite Game(s) St. John’s duels: In order to win the final match, the wrestlers needed to pin all of out opponents and they did.

ce r

yN

els

on

“Our MVP is definitely Izzy Nelson, aka the Terminator. She literally can dribble through an entire team by herself.”

—Sarah Fullenweider (12) (11

)

Team Memory “When someone kicked the ball straight into my face. Followed by an asthma attack. It was just great...it’s on video too!”

—Sofia Escalona (9)

ell (9)

Favorite Meet

Favorite Memory

)

Team MVP

Ba

McCard Nakeeya

m in g m i Sw

“During stretching before we get in, we do warrior poses to balance ourselves and loosen our backs. We always had Zubiar lead the warrior stretches because he is a true warrior in our eyes.”

—Mary Helen Burt (12)

ll a b t e sk

SPORTS

22 / The Kinkaid Falcon

Spring Sports Preview

Softball/Baseball Strongest player: Olivia Ison (10) Captains: Anna Maria Johnson, Julia Lasater, Olivia Ison (10) Record: 1-5-1 Biggest competition: John Cooper

BY ALI AMMONS, KATHERINE BERMAN, AND JORDAN JAFARNIA

Colin Lawler, All American

Morgan Parker (10)

Strongest player: Drake Greenwood (12) Captains: Colin Conway (12), Ben Padon (12), Ford Young (12) Record: 1-0 Best memory so far: “Sophomores roasting Maas.”

—Zach Daniels (10) Johnathon Thomas (11)

Golf Strongest player: Mason Nome (10) Captains: Will Jacobe (10), Mason Nome (10) Biggest competition: Episcopal Best memory so far: “Playing an Eightsome at Blackhorse.” - Myles Chandler (11)

Strongest player: Emily Talbert (12) Captains: Emily Talbert (12) Biggest competition: St. John’s Best memory so far: “Becca yelling at Grace every practice.” Sophmore Girls Ruth Ann Bajgier (12)

On Feb. 24-25, Colin Lawler competed in the 2017 Prep Nationals in Lehigh, Pennsylvania. Lawler won his first match, but failed to secure a victory in this second match.

To stay in the tournament, Lawler needed to win his next three matchups. In the first, he easily pinned his opponent.

Facing the number six seed in his second match, Lawler outscored his opponent in overtime. In the final match of the day, he faced off against the ninth seed and secured a victory in triple overtime, allowing him to advance. There, he swiftly defeated his opponent in the first match, and in his second match he defeated the third seed, whom he lost to on the first day.

His victory earned him a spot in the matchup third place match, and he was able to walk away with a fourth place finish and the title of an All American.

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

Lacrosse

Strongest player: Reese Sullivan (11) Captains: Rob Lahourcade (12), Cole Mitchell (12), Dylan Poynter (12), Phin Sprague (12) Record: 4-0 Biggest competition: The Woodlands HS Best memory so far: “Mindy getting hit in the eye with a tennis ball.” - William Horne (10)

Strongest player: Chloe Hunter (10) Captains: Lexie Heim (12), Katrina Zarutskie (12), Belle Martire (11) Record: 3-0 Biggest competition: St. John’s Best memory so far: “Saucin’ on the field.” Mikela McCauley (10) Belle Martire (11)

Tennis Strongest player: Sasha Inchauste (12) Captain: Sasha Inchauste (12) Biggest competition: St. John’s Best memory: “Berman ran straight into the bucket of balls, and they spilled all over the court.”- Gleith Cozby (10)

Merritt Cozby (10)

Will Jacobe 10)

Strongest player: Michael Smith (12) Captains: Salmon Popatia (12), Michael Smith (12), Woodley Burrow (11) Biggest competition: Houston Christian Best memory: “Tanmay thinking he should be on varsity.” - Rohan Kumar (10)

Track Strongest player: Kennedy Gamble (11) Captain: Sarah Fullenwider (12) Biggest competition: St. John’s Best memory: “Coach Mitchell’s ‘Muffin Mondays’.”

- Caroline Keller (10)

Malcolm Hedgepeth (11)

Woodley Burrow (11)

Strongest player: Daniel King (10) Captains: Kirby Cravens (12), Oscar Melendez (12), Alex Williams (12), Chance Allshouse (11), DZ Zavitzanos (11), Socs Zavitzanos (11) Biggest competition: Episcopal Socratis Zavitsanos (11)

Alexandra Blake (9)

Former lacrosse assistant head takes reins as new head coach, sets high goals for varsity team

BY STERLING ELIAS After head lacrosse coach Jeremey Platt’s unexpected departure at the end of the 2016 school year, the Falcons faced a problem: Who would take over as head lacrosse coach? Almost a year later, the lacrosse season commenced with former assistant coach Mike Centra as the new head coach.

Hailing from Syracuse, New York, Coach Centra grew up playing lacrosse where the sport is incredibly popular.

He started playing lacrosse in fourth grade and played all through high school, participating in two state championships. Following his high school lacrosse career, he played lacrosse at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, competing in two NCAA tournaments.

After he graduated, Coach Centra moved down to Houston. He explored opportunities that Houston has to offer, including a booming oil and gas industry, until he decided to pursue his dream to coach lacrosse. He has coached at Kinkaid as the assistant coach for boys varsity lacrosse for five years and now, in his sixth year, has obtained his goal of becoming the head coach.

“I came to Kinkaid looking for any coaching position, but almost five years into it I was really thinking about a head coach position,” Centra explained. “I’m so glad my opportunity has come.”

He coached as the assistant coach under former head coach Jeremy Platt, who left Kinkaid at the end of the 2015-2016 school year and now serves as the head coach of Kingwood

High School in Kingwood, Texas. The varsity lacrosse team finished last season with a record of 11-9 under Platt.

“We have a great team this year,” Centra stated. “We have some guys returning on defense and we could go a long way.”

When asked about his goals as head coach, Coach Centra shared that he wanted to beat some of the tough competition from elite Dallas teams, beat the Woodlands High School team, and make a run in both SPC and the state playoffs. The boy’s varsity lacrosse team also has a trip planned over spring break to go play in some tournaments in Colorado.

“An 11-9 season is pretty good in high school lacrosse, considering it’s a winning record and we have some pretty heavy competition,” Coach

Coach Centra keeps his players focused and working hard during practice.

Centra said in regard to last season’s finish.

So far, the boy’s varsity lacrosse team is off to a great start; they are undefeated through three games, beating every opponent by double digits. Laxpower, a website that presents the schedules of high school lacrosse teams and ranks them, has Kinkaid ranked as number 2 in the Texas So-West division just behind the Woodlands High School.

Varsity midfielder Eli Bakht (10) said, “Our team has total confidence in Coach Centra’s leadership, and our record so far reflects that.”

The players, along with Coach Centra, strive for more of the same success they have already achieved so far this season, and in regard to season expectations, Coach Centra confidently stated, “I think we can do some big things this year.”

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

Marc(h-town) Madness

SPORTS

The Kinkaid Falcon / 23

Pair of Houstonians continue tradition of college basketball excellence as NCAA tournament nears

BY COLIN CONWAY When the clock hit zero on April 4, 2016 in NRG stadium and Kris Jenkins’ 3-point buzzer beater fell through the rim, the Villanova Wildcats defeated North Carolina in one of the best basketball games ever. On the losing side was HCYA (Houston Christian Youth Academy) alumni Justin Jackson. Jackson, a skinny power forward, nailed three 3 pointers in the losing effort.

Thirty-three years to the day prior to the Villanova-UNC battle, another classic national championship was decided at the buzzer with a Houston high school alumnus coming up short.

The 1983 National Championship game is perhaps the only game in the company of the 2016 finale. The 1983 National Championship game featured a North Carolina State team who barely qualified for the tournament, facing the famous “Phi Slamma Jamma” University of Houston team who ranked #1 in the country, came into the game with a 26 game winning streak, and reached the Final Four the year before (and after). This Houston team featured Clyde Drexler (of Sterling High School) and Hakeem Olajuwon, both of whom would win

a NBA championship with the Rockets and be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The Cougars were also led by Michael Young (of Yates High School) and Larry Micheaux (of Worthing High School).

This Houston team featured elite former Houston high school basketball stars who banded together and made history. They The Cougars were heavy favorites—with Olajuwon and the three Houstonians—but saw their dreams dashed as Dereck Whittenburg lobbed a “pass” to Lorenzo Charles whose dunk at the buzzer won the game and championship for the Wolfpack. The Phi Slamma Jamma team was notorious for their flashy style of play, and they put Houston on the map for college basketball.

Houston has produced many a star college basketball player through the years, and this year is no different. Houston’s tradition stretches back to 1966, when David Lattin (of Worthing High School) was an integral part of Western Texas’ (now UTEP) national championship upset over Kentucky.

That 1966 team was historic for being the first team to start an all African-American starting lineup in a NCAA

championship. The tradition has continued for the last 50 years, and this March should be no different.

The powerhouse basketball programs of years past boast Houstonians who should leave their fingerprints all over this year’s NCAA tournament.

Jackson is the leading scorer for the Tar Heels who are currently ranked fifth in the country currently. Cypress Lakes’ De’Aaron Fox joins Jackson as a contributor at another national contender. Fox, the starting point guard for Kentucky, the ninth ranked team in the country, leads the SEC in assists and has anchored the fifth highest scoring offense in the country. Fox and Jackson should both play major roles in deciding who will be cutting down the nets in April.

Fox and Jackson will look to follow in the steps of Justise Winslow who led Duke to the 2015 National Championship.

Winslow, a St. John’s alum and son of Rickie Winslow (who played on the 1984 Houston team who reached the Championship before losing to Georgetown), averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds, while knocking down 57 percent of his three point shots.

While Fox and Jackson

Above: North Carolina’s Justin Jackson flies past Kentucky’s De’aaron Fox while attempting a layup on December 17th. (Photo by Ethan Miller)

are both slotted as first round picks in the upcoming NBA draft, the next generation of Houstonians will look to follow in their large footsteps.

Jarred Vanderbilt of Victory Prep, a Kentucky signee, and Kinkaid’s own Jaedon Ledee (11), a four star recruit, will carry the torch from Jackson and Fox. “Competing for a championship will be important to me,” said Ledee. “It is the third most important factor [in choosing a school] (behind playing time and player development), I definetly want to win in college.”

As the tournament approaches and brackets are filled out, many will have North Carolina or Kentucky winning, which is tradition.

A Houstonian playing a large part in March Madness will also continue, and should for years to come.

88-16 The record of the University of Houston’s “Phi Slamma Jamma” teams from ‘82,’83’84.

18.4

Justin Jackson’s points per game average this year good for seventh in the ACC this year

5.2

is the number of assists De’aaron Fox has dished out per game this year which is fourth among all Division 1 freshmen

Houston Astros 2017 season preview After missing the playoffs last year, Astros must make the jump to World Series contenders

BY STERLING ELIAS

Last year was supposed to be “the year” for the Houston Astros. It followed two solid seasons that had led Astros fans to believe that the 20152016 campaign would finally put their team in the running for the World Series. Unfortunately for Houston, the season did not pan out the way they wanted; they finished third in the American League West division and missed the playoffs while their bitter division and state rival, the Texas Rangers, ended the season in first place in the AL West.

The Houston Astros enter the 2017 season with high hopes. While their 2017 pitching rotation remains consistent with last year’s featuring Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers

By the numbers:

Photos courtesy of ESPN

Jr., Colin McHugh, and Doug Fister, the starting lineup has drastically transformed.

During the offseason, GM Jeff Luhnow acquired outfielder Josh Reddick, catcher Brian McCann, and outfielder Carlos Beltran, all additional sources of power to the Astros current lineup. The combination of these new hitters along with the ability of stars such as Jose Altuve, George Springer, and Carlos Correa shine light on the offense of the 2017 season. While the starting rotation does have some holes with Doug Fister and Colin McHugh, Dallas Keuchel provides stability and consistence,

exemplified through his Cy Young campaign in 2015, and Lance McCullers brings electrifying youth to the Astros’ star studded roster.

Spring training began on Feb. 25 and runs through the entire month of March when the Astros play 33 games in the Grapefruit League. The Astros play their home spring training games at the newly opened Ballpark of the Palm Peaches in West Palm Beach, FL which the Astros share with the Washington Nationals following many years at Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee, FL. As the Astros prepare for

the year during spring training, their first real test is opening night of the regular season on April 3. The Astros will commence the season with a home game at Minute Maid Park against the Seattle Mariners, who will be starting their ace pitcher Felix Hernandez, colloquially known as “King Félix.” Houston will start Dallas Keuchel, who will be the starting pitcher in the season opener for the third year in a row. When the Astros take the field, all eyes will be on star shortstop Carlos Correa, who enters his sophomore season at the MLB level following 4 years in the the Astros’ minor league

$16 million: Carlos Beltran’s salary for one year

17:

$52 million: Josh Reddick’s four year contract value

Selection number for Astros first-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft Forrest Whitley

system after being drafted when we was merely 16 years old. Jose Altuve, veteran second baseman and candidate for National League MVP in the 2016 season who ultimately lost to Mike Trout, centerfielder of the Los Angeles Angels.

The predictions for this season are higher than they have been in a decade and most Astros fans maintain high ambitions for this upcoming season. The Astros are projected to finish atop the American League West division and expect to return to the playoffs and the World Series race after taking a year off. With valuable offseason additions and returning stars, the outlook on the 2017 Astros season looks nothing but positive.

42: Number of home runs hit by Carlos Correa in his career

SPORTS

24 / The Kinkaid Falcon

March 3, 2017 / Vol. 70, Issue 4

5 steps to

flawless tanking “IF I HAD THE STARTING POINT HE HAD, I THINK HE MADE ALL THE RIGHT CHOICES.”

—SAM HIN KIE

—DARYL MOREY

#TrustTheProcess and the art of tanking in the NBA How one statistician and his followers have changed the way we think about basketball

BY KIRK HACHIGIAN “Winless for Wiggins.” “Lose ‘em all for Wall.” “Play poor for Okafor.” “Blow the lead for Embiid.” “DeRailin’ for the Australian.” Over the past few years in the NBA, the art of tanking, losing games on purpose in hopes of attaining a higher draft pick, has revolutionized how people think about the game of basketball.

It all began back in 2012 when the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. That offseason, the owners of the Sixers, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, decided to trade one of the team’s best players, Andre Iguodala, for 31 year-old Jason Richardson and Andrew Bynum. That trade blew up in a bowling-induced smoke (Bynum tore his ACL while bowling) and thus, the process was born when the owners brought in Sam Hinkie and his radical ideas on rebuilding an NBA team as general manager a year later.

Hinkie, a summa cum laude and MBA graduate from the University of Oklahoma and Stanford respectively, worked at Bain Capital and the Houston Rockets before moving to Philadelphia. In his seven years with the Rockets, Hinkie promoted the use of advanced statistics in basketball while second-in-command to general manager Daryl Morey.

Interestingly, the Rockets under Morey chose not to tank after losing franchise players Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady before the 2011-2012 season.

The Rockets managed to stay competitive and decided to try to acquire superstars via trade and free agency rather than the draft. In an interview with The Kinkaid Falcon in 2015, Morey said that “we [the Rockets] absolutely looked at strategies to get a high pick in

Is your favorite NBA team stuck in the dreaded middle ground between a top pick and contending for a title?

Tired of the mediocrity?

Undoubtedly you have noticed the 76ers fans crawling out of the woodwork as their shameless tanking over the past four years is starting to pay off.

Jealous of their exciting roster and potential five center lineups? Don’t worry.

Here is our five-step guide to flawless tanking, inspired by the doyen of tanking himself: former 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie.

“A COMPET IT THE NBA N IVE LEAGUE LIKE EC WHILE OU ESSITATES A ZIG R COM COMFORT PETITORS ABLY ZAG.”

the draft to restart the team.

There were many options on how to restart the team and going for that high draft pick is the most reliable and least risky.” However, the Rockets— possibly because of pressure from the ownership—decided not to tank for a high draft pick, and it took them three years to escape the dreaded “middle ground” of the NBA (low lottery pick while not serious contenders).

Eventually, the Rockets were able to rebuild without having a high draft pick through a progression of hundreds of transactions that resulted in the trade for James Harden and free-agency signing of Dwight Howard. That assembled roster culminated in a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2015. While the Rockets are now moving in a new direction centered around James Harden, they showed that rebuilding without a top pick is a viable alternative.

Morey has continued to defend his protégé, Hinkie, and the tanking strategy that Hinkie adopted in Philadelphia. In an interview with popular sports analyst Bill Simmons, Morey stated that “If I had the starting point he had, I think he made all the right choices.” And that is an interesting argument. The Rockets did have a stronger team their first year without Yao and McGrady than the terrible roster that Hinkie inherited in Philadelphia.

Trying to follow the path of the Rockets would not have worked for this weak roster after Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams were shipped out in the summer of 2012. Thus, Hinkie decided that the best chance for the Sixers to acquire a superstar was through a high draft pick. To help fans deal with the years of dreadful basketball, Hinkie created the

now infamous mantra: “Trust the process.”

Players, fans, the media, coaches, and even other front offices accused Hinkie of sabotaging the Sixers roster to maximize loss numbers.

This outside pressure had no impact. Hinkie flipped almost every player left on the roster with value that was not on a rookie or veteran contract for draft picks and young prospects. The team won just 47 games in three seasons. Sixers fans despaired.

Hinkie decided to step away from the Sixers less than a year ago, as the progress that he had hoped for was slower than the ownership was expecting when he was hired in 2013. He dropped a 13-page manifesto on his way out the door, detailing his thoughts and strategies while at the helm of the Sixers. In this 7000 word resignation letter, Hinkie defended his radical strategy and rebuilding process. “There has been much criticism of our approach. There will be more.

A competitive league like the NBA necessitates a zig while our competitors comfortably zag. We often chose not to defend ourselves against much of the criticism, largely in an effort to stay true to the ideal of having the longest view in the room,” Hinkie said.

However, the process had already begun: Through the draft and free agency, Hinkie had managed to set up Philadelphia to be a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference in the next decade by acquiring Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Ben Simmons, and Robert Covington.

While each of these players is undoubtedly talented, Hinkie’s strategy of drafting the best available player regardless team’s needs and fit, combined with unfortunate injuries to top prospects, added many

difficulties to the process that Hinkie had hoped would come to fruition more quickly.

Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will have both missed their entire first season in the league due to injury while Dario Saric spent his first season playing in Europe. Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor have both also struggled to stay healthy and find minutes in the clogged Sixers frontcourt.

Noel said that the Sixers situation with three starting-caliber centers “doesn’t make any sense.” He has also demanded more playing time, saying, “I need to be on the court playing basketball. I think I’m too good to be playing 8 minutes. That’s crazy. That’s crazy.”

While there have been obvious growing pains, the benefits of “trusting the process” for so many years are becoming increasingly apparent this season. The Sixers won 21 games before All-Star Weekend (more wins than all of last season), and Embiid looks to be the cornerstone of the franchise for the next decade if he can remain healthy. Even though Hinkie himself was a casualty to the process, his dream and radical rebuilding strategy lives on in the man nicknamed “The Process,” Joel Embiid.

Whether or not you support the tanking strategy, it is undeniable that Hinkie has changed the way that people will think about rebuilding an NBA team in the future and has set up the Sixers for years of success.

In any case, the 2017 Tankapalooza Catchphrase Finals look something like this: “Stay in a funk to get Malik Monk,” “Freefall for Lonzo Ball,” and “Lose like hell for Markelle.” Please let us know if you have any other suggestions at thefalcon.kinkaid.org. Oh, and always #TrustTheProcess.

1. Continue to trade your best player for assets if they cannot lead you to a championship To tank successfully, you must consider what the end result of the years of pain and suffering for fans and everyone associated with your team will be. While the obvious answer is to win more than 20 games, the real goal should be a championship. Thus, if you decide that your current best player cannot be the best player on a championship team, trade them for as many assets as possible. The most important part of self-sabotage is to make sure that your team is not just somewhat bad. You want to be historically bad.

2. Come up with as many ridiculous lineups as possible When drafting players with your slew of draft picks, it’s imperative to always draft based on talent alone. Most teams will try to select players based on fit and their needs, and this can easily be used to your advantage as it will allow you to say things like “we think he has great potential” and “we are going to get creative with the lineups this year.”

3. Create fake injuries for any good players and extend the recovery time for all injuries The best way to ensure that your team doesn’t win too many games is to have your best players not play. The Sixers have really taken this step to the next level. Their top draft picks from the last three years (Noel, Embiid and Simmons) will have all missed their entire first season in the league due to injuries. Jerryd Bayless was said to be out with a “sore wrist” for almost two months, Jahlil Okafor missed 10 months for an injury that was supposed to only shelve him for two months, the list goes on and on.

4. Try to affect the playoff race just for fun In 2014, the Sixers traded one of their best players at the time in Evan Turner to the Pacers (who were challenging to win the East at this point) in exchange for Danny Granger. Granger then signed with the Clippers, which means that the Sixers essentially helped two contending teams while saving just $500K. If someone tried something like that in a fantasy league, they would quickly ignite a 200 text message chain full of insults and obscenities.

5. Trade for JaVale McGee This one is obvious. To complete your rebuild, you must at some point sign this two-time Shaqtin’ a Fool Most Valuable Player. Believe me, if you’re throwing away your season, you want McGee involved.