The Mark
Policy
The Mark, a feature magazine published by the students in Menlo-Atherton’s journalism class, is an open forum for student expression and the discussion of issues of concern to its readership. The Mark is distributed to its readers and the student at no cost. The staff welcomes letters to the editor, but reserves the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy, and obscenity. Submissions do not necessarily re�lect the opinions of all M-A students or the staff of The Mark. Send all submissions to submittothemark@gmail.com
Izzy Villa Editor-in-Chief
Sarah Lehman Editor-in-Chief
Nate Viotti
Ava Honerkamp
Ellie Shepard
Karina Takayama
Mitra Pezeshki
Lucida Fu
Aashka Popat
Greta Hoffman
Emilie Mueller
Toni Schindler-Ruberg
Mia Angioletti
Rebekah Lindsay
Heath Hooper
Sarah Marks
Cole Trigg
Mark, Managing Editor
Mark, Managing Editor
Mark, Managing Editor
elcome to 2019! e past year has been lled with great changes. One such development was the decision to merge e Mark and M-A Chronicle. e sta is now combined and the brainpower doubled. We feel that such a decision will streamline our school-wide reporting e orts and allow for new voices to be heard on both platforms. Each publication will continue publishing the interesting and high quality content that is ideally situated to its medium.
e decision has proven e ective. In November, our joint sta travelled to Chicago to attend the National Student Press Association’s annual convention. At the event, the M-A Chronicle placed 3rd in the national, “Best in Show” competition for school news sites.
With this issue of e Mark, we strove to fuse the thorough reporting that is characteristic of the Chronicle with the aesthetic and long form style of e Mark. We have worked tirelessly to produce our longest issue yet, chock full of investigative reporting, opinion pieces, and, most importantly, many student voices. We are grateful for the many students that shared their stories.
In this issue, we explore how our voices are o en redacted. From students who struggle with voicing their political views, sexual harassment, or the ability to pee like their peers, we hope to illuminate the stories too o en kept in the shadows. Happy New Year and happy reading!
Editorial: We’re Pissed
For most students, going to the restroom is merely a matter of waiting for an opportune point in a lecture, or until the next passing period. But for others, it’s a matter of waiting until they get home at the end of the day.
This wait is the everyday reality of many trans* and gender expansive students (from here on referred to as ‘TaGES’), both at M-A and throughout the U.S. According to GLSEN’s National School Climate Survey, almost 40 percent of LGBTQ students ages 13 to 18 avoid school bathrooms due to feeling unsafe or uncomfortable.
This number is likely higher when only accounting for TaGES, as almost 60 percent of trans* adults in the U.S. avoid using public bathrooms, fearing for their safety.
One way to alleviate these feelings is through the use of gender-neutral or allgender bathrooms, which would be open to all people, regardless of gender. A rising number of schools— elementary through college— have implemented such facilities.
Both Lincoln and Carlmont have had genderneutral bathrooms for several years. Neither school reported any safety or behavior issues since the bathrooms’ implementation.
In addition, Principal Carol Campbell, Ed.D. of Grant High School in Portland, Oregon — which has had “all-user” bathrooms since approximately 2011 — said that the school has “seen a decrease in bullying and no increase in other areas of misbehavior.”
In fact, the consensus from most schools with such restrooms is that it benefits every student. Campbell stated that “overwhelmingly,
“
From Kansas City, Missouri to other Sequoia Union District high schools, administrations are listening to the wants and needs of their students. Most often, gender neutral bathrooms are the result of student-led campaigns.
Principal Ralph Crame of Belmont’s Carlmont High School said in an interview that the work the student advocates did to educate the community played a large role in creating a smooth transition to the gender-neutral facilities.
Matt Hewitson, principal of San Jose’s Lincoln High School, concurred, stating that students spoke with the community and school board to clarify “the reasons for the change and the expected behavior of all students.”
neutral bathrooms, however, is not due to a lack of student initiative. The administration has stalled on implementing all-gender facilities for over seven years.
Class of 2013 alumnus James Patch (he/him), who became co-president of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA, then the Gay-Straight Alliance) for his last two years, sat down and met with former principal Matthew Zito several times. Patch aimed to create gender-neutral bathrooms either through new construction or sign changes. He and the other president were referred to California law requiring “1 toilet per 50 males, 1 urinal
remembers the administration telling the club that actively campaigning for gender-neutral bathrooms was unnecessary. The administration told the GSA that they were being built, specifically in the I-Wing, which opened after Ellis and Schena graduated. However, three years later, no such bathrooms exist. Not only are they not in the I-Wing, they are also not in any of the other open new buildings.
When Schena left M-A in 2015, she was unaware that the new construction extended beyond the rebuilding of one or two wings. “They keep just delaying it, saying ‘we’ll put it in the next one, we’ll put it in the next one, we just can’t find room for it.’
They keep just delaying it, saying ‘we’ll put it in the next one, we’ll put it in the next one, we just can’t find room for it.’ Well, you’re doing new construction: you can find room for it.
students wanted a restroom configuration that accommodated everyone — that were safe, inclusive and accessible.”
Hewitson said that the all-gender bathrooms are the busiest on Lincoln’s campus “and widely used by all students.”
When Lincoln High School created their all-gender bathrooms, they merely changed the signs and added menstrual hygiene product disposal bins for both singleand multi-stall restrooms. Gender-neutral bathrooms are a simple addition that has a neutral to positive affect on the majority of students.
In spite of this, M-A’s only solution for those who don’t feel comfortable using gendered bathrooms is to use the one in the nurse’s office. Many TaGES do not do so; it is easier to simply avoid bathrooms completely since using it means stigmatization and inconvenience. This lack of gender-
per 100, and 1 toilet per 30 females,” as well as a lack of funds. Thus, the club decided to leave the fight with the next generation of students.
In 2012, Toria Ellis (they/them) became co-vice president of the GSA; they were then elected co-president for their final two years at M-A. Ellis recalled again approaching the administration in 2014 about implementing all-gender bathrooms.
According to their memory, the administration said something akin to “it [not being] feasible to turn some of the gendered, multi-stall bathrooms into gender neutral ones.”
In the eyes of the GSA leaders, Ellis continued, the administration demonstrated a lack of concrete interest in “even getting a single-stall, all-gender bathroom put in on campus.”
Rebecca Schena (she/ her)— who also joined the GSA in 2011 as a freshman and held a leadership position during her junior and senior years—
Well you’re doing new construction: you can find room for it,” Schena added.
In an article published by The Mark in 2014, current principal Simone Rick-Kennel, then an administrative vice principal, is quoted stating that “new construction will give us the chance to incorporate gender-neutral restrooms where students can feel safe,” and that gender-neutral facility implementation was a topic of active discussion.
Then last year— three years after her previous statement— Kennel told the Chronicle that M-A has “made strides like all-gender single stall restrooms (largely for staff) and incorporation of an all-gender student restroom in our new locker room remodel that we hope to start this year.” However, neither staff bathrooms nor a closed student restroom make students feel safer. A few small alterations are not cause for celebration. There are few— if any— legitimate reasons to delay switching a few pieces of acrylic for a few different pieces of acrylic. This uncomplicated change could make the world of difference to some students.
Ellis explained that
“having a gender-neutral bathroom on campus would have helped [them] come out sooner,” whether or not they would have frequently used the bathroom. “Just the fact that it was there would have really validated [their] gender identity for [them], and for those around [them].”
When schools actively recognize non-binary identities, students know that they can reach out for help in a supportive environment. Patch agreed with this, stating that he believes gender-neutral bathrooms allow “the public to
feel more at ease with nonbinary folk.”
Schena said that for cisgender people like her, the trade-off between feeling slightly odd in gender-neutral bathrooms and the discomfort that gendered facilities cause TaGES is one that “most people should be willing to make.”
“There’s always going to be people that feel more comfortable in a gender neutral bathroom,” Schena elaborated, and “[I’m frustrated that M-A] pretends that they’ve heard and acknowledged the points of the students, but they
don’t really intend to change anything in particular.”
At this point, the administration should not be able to put in one or two gender-neutral bathrooms and congratulate themselves for being progressive. It has been too long for that to be acceptable.
The administration should not be allowed to make empty promises to their students and expect praise if they finally follow through. Trans* people are already more likely to be assaulted, live in poverty,
and experience homelessness. “Making a certain group of people that are already facing a tougher time feel even more alienated is not worth trying to avoid potential [and unsubstantiated] risks,” Schena said.
All-gender bathrooms are a proven remedy for these adverse effects; thus, M-A must listen to their students. The administration must create multiple all-gender facilities because, as Patch said, “at the end of the day, we all gotta poop.”
Get the Bear Facts!
1.
HAIRSPRAY!
IS
A HIT
M-A’s Bearstage Drama celebrated the school motto, “Strength in Diversity,” with its fall musical, “Hairspray.” Set in the 1960s, Hairspray explores themes of social justice and civil rights and the attitudes associated with discrimination. Over 100 M-A students participated in the production process, working as members of the pit orchestra, tech crew, and as actors, with a special appearance from the dance and cheer teams.
2. STATE CHAMPS!
On December 15th, the Bears beat Lincoln High School 21 to 7 in the state final 3-AA game. Lincoln had a notably up-tempo playing style and the Bears were behind 0-7 at the first quarter. However, before halftime both Deston Hawkins and Malik Johnson broke through the Hornets’ defense to score and brought the score up to 14-7. In the fourth, Daniel Heimuli added a touchdown. Despite numerous pleas over the loudspeaker, students rushed the field.
3. JOURNALISM TAKES ON CHICAGO
In November, the journalism class traveled across the country to attend the National High School Journalism Convention in Chicago, Illinois. During the three days of the convention, students attended sessions on a variety of journalistic subfields to improve their reporting and writing skills as well as learn more about the ethical and legal duties of journalism.
4. POLITICAL TURMOIL
The fall of 2018 was full of political turmoil. First, President Trump appointed Brett Kavanaugh to serve in Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat on the Supreme Court. Many, including Menlo Park residents, were outraged by allegations of sexual misconduct against him and took to the streets. In the November midterm elections, a diverse set of Democrats regained control of the House, eager for change. The conflicting views caused the government to shut down into January.
5. CANNED FOOD DRIVE
M-A and the surrounding communities banded together to collect over 200,000 pounds of food for families in need during the 2018 holiday season. Students volunteered thousands of hours canning in order to raise awareness and encourage local shoppers to donate to the cause. Over the course of the drive, senior Christiana Young and freshman Kathleen Tiznado each spent over a hundred hours canning.
6. CAMP FIRE DEVASTATES NORCAL
The Camp Fire began on November 8th in Paradise, California and soon became the most devastating fire in the state’s history, destroying over 18,000 buildings, killing 86 civillians and firefighters, and leaving thousands more homeless. For several days, the Bay Area had the dirtiest air in the world. When the air quality index rose to “very unhealthy” levels over 200, M-A and most other Bay Area schools were closed.
the briefing.
Drawing by Karina Takyama
ALL WORK NO PAY THE COACHING CONUNDRUM
Under the tenure of Athletic Directors (AD) Paul Snow and Steven Kryger, M-A teams have seen program-wide success. After being awarded the Commissioner’s Cup for ten straight years — an award recognizing the Peninsula Athletic League’s (PAL’s) best all around athletic school — M-A was named the Public High School of the Year for Athletic Achievement in 2017, and Snow and Kryger were awarded Northern California’s Athletic Directors of the year. Despite the accolades they’ve achieved, both AD’s attribute the success to the strength of M-A’s coaches.
The search for qualified coaches begins with the recruiting process. According to Kryger, a coaching vacancy will be advertised on EDJOIN, the district website for openings in all school-related positions, as well as the “PAL website, the CCS website, [and by] sending emails to newspapers like the San Jose Mercury News and the Daily Journal, to let them know we have a opening.” In certain circumstances, Kryger disclosed that he or Snow might contact assistant coaches at schools with well established programs in an attempt to recruit qualified applicants.
“For high profile openings like football, soccer, and volleyball we usually get a panel together to conduct the interview process, with both AD’s, Kryger and I, the assistant vice principal in charge of sports, Mr. Emmi; a parent, and a neutral party that knows the sport really well,” said Snow. The panel attends the interviews and meetings to discuss the applicant field. When a coach is hired, a background check is necessary, which includes “fingerprinting, tuberculosis testing, certifications in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), first aid, concussion awareness, sudden cardiac arrest, sixhour coaches education class online, and a heat illness course.”
Central to the recruiting process, M-A Athletics has established program-wide desired qualities for their coaches. “One, we’re looking for [applicants to have] the time to do it. And two, people that value athletics, who want to give back, and contribute to the positive environment of the school.” Snow added that it’s critical that coaches can “develop kids not just with their skills on the field or court, but as people, because for a lot of kids, they get more on the playing field than in the classroom.” To establish this precedent, all coaches put an incredible amount of time into coaching the
team. “When I was coaching both varsity and JV, I was coaching for more than ten hours a week. Now, just with varsity, I usually spend about 5 to 6 hours a week coaching,” said assistant dance coach Kate Lynn Roberts.
According to the girls varsity wrestling head coach Philip Hoang, “the hiring process was extremely thorough. It took several months. The athletic directors had to make sure I was the right fit for the job.” Although this example represents most of the coaching job interviews, in some cases, it is almost the opposite of this. With a connection at M-A, interviews have the possibility of going much faster. Robert, had a much easier hiring process. “I was hired in 2012, and the hiring process was not hard at all. Nona Ybarra, the other coach, had to vouch for me, and that’s how I got the job.”
Doing all of this does not come with much of a financial reward, as M-A, and most peninsula public schools, pay head coaches $4,000 per season and their assistants $3,300.
Apparent from the salaries, M-A’s coaches need another source of income, especially when positions at private schools can pay up to six-digit salaries. Public school coaching hires are sanctioned by the California Department of Education, while at private schools — whose athletic budgets are typically higher — coaching hires are headed by the school’s board or the coaches union. Because of these differences, public school salaries cannot compare to those of private schools. Snow emphasized that “all of our coaches[…] either are teachers, have flexible bosses, or are self-employed, or rich somehow.”
Despite the limited funding, M-A is able to retain quality coaches. “[All] of our coaches don’t do it for the money, if they did they’d go to a private school” said Snow. However, Snow asserts “our coaches have as much experience than the privates, if not more.”
“The reason we have success that we do in our athletic programs is our coaches, their experience, and their level of commitment.”
“It pretty much seems like there is less stress to be a great coach when you have been with M-A Athletics for a while. They know what they’re supposed to do,” Roberts said. The M-A Athletics program continues to run very smoothly due to the relationships between coaches and AD’s consistently being strong.
By Heath Hooper and Cole Trigg
Get the story:
By: Greta Ho man
By: Mitra Pezeshki
Project Us
ProjectUs is a club that aims to celebrate individuality and identity through artistry. ey believe that current societal pressures foster unhealthy views of body image, mental health, and many other factors of one’s identity. ProjectUs strives
to create an environment and community on campus that accepts and celebrates everybody. is club is for anybody and everybody with a desire to embrace their self-worth in a visual manner. ProjectUs meets on the rst Wednesday of every month in G-14.
THE STARTLING DECLINE OF LOCAL JOURNALISM AND WHY IT’S BAD FOR OUR DEMOCRACY
BY NATE VIOTTI
April of last year, it was announced that journalists at the Oakland-based East Bay Times had won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for their in-depth coverage of the Oakland “Ghost Ship” fire. The reporters were the first to uncover flaws within the city’s inspection and permitting processes and spent the following weeks covering the lives of the victims. One would think that such thorough coverage and the resulting national recognition would propel a paper to greater prominence and success. However, barely a week after winning the Pulitzer, the paper’s parent company, the Bay Area News Group, announced the layoffs of 20 reporters. This downsizing is not an isolated incident. Both locally and nationally, many smaller outlets are conducting mass layoffs with some even shuttering completely.
The root of the downward trend is economic and social. Prior to the internet boom, most local papers had operated under an advertising-dependent revenue model, with local residents and businesses buying up classified ads. Now, with websites such as Craigslist offering a more convenient and free network for advertising, the placing of print classified ads in local papers has been rendered obsolete.
Many local papers had initially expected to be able to cut the advertisingassociated losses by moving online and maintaining their readership there. This expectation has proved to be less than true, with the majority of reading shifting instead to social networks like Facebook and national papers.
Seeing the lessening potential for online growth, local newspapers’ parent companies have tried to limit losses and remain profitable by cutting staff and budget sizes. The cuts are visible across the States, with the local papers of major cities such as the New York Daily News and the Denver Post cutting their newsrooms by more than half. Locally, the staff of the San Jose-based Mercury
News—once the fifth-largest newspaper in the country-- has dwindled from a healthy 400 reporters in 1980 to a meager 41 in 2016.
On a national scale, the numbers are even more startling: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of print journalists has decreased from over 411,000 in 2001 to about 173,000 in 2016, a decrease of nearly 58%. Newspaper circulation has halved since the 1990s. This decrease in journalism has led to communities being underrepresented or not represented at all. With the case of the New York Daily News, the new layoffs mean that there will be one reporter for every 195,000 New Yorkers. More locally, the closing of local papers such as the Redwood City Daily News has led to the communities of Redwood City and East Palo Alto being barely represented in the local media. Representation is key in effective journalism and democracy. Local journalism tells the stories that wouldn’t otherwise be told. It’s the local journalists that uncovered that fires were caused by faulty inspection policies in Oakland; it is local journalists who linked an increase in opioid deaths to an unfettered flow of painkillers in West Virginia. It’s the local journalists who discover the “disappearance” of local public funds and who stay at the school board meetings until late in the evening. There are hundreds of reporters covering the White House and national politics, leading to increased transparency and accountability among high-up figures. But how many reporters are covering the local budget meetings? How many reporters are researching the environmental effects of local projects? With inadequate budgets and staff sizes for many local papers, sometimes nobody is looking into these issues, allowing for abuse at the local and state level.
These local journalists keep the public up to date on local affairs and allow for residents to make informed decisions in elections. Multiple studies show that strong local journalism increases civic and political engagement among residents. Conversely, newspaper
closures and decreases in circulation have been linked to less engagement on the local level. Furthermore, local journalism leads to greater community integration and a “sense of place” among residents. The coverage of the social and sports events, the local businesses, and the weddings and funerals leads us to “orient” towards and connect with fellow residents on more than just the fact of living near each other. A local outlet dedicated exclusively to one’s area creates an identity of a place as somewhere and the people surrounding you as someone. This is especially important given high levels of political polarization across the country: while many might not agree on complex international issues, neighbors can connect on their worries about school funding or traffic problems. With many papers shuttering or decreasing circulation, political polarization can only be expected to increase, as residents look to national politics and ostracize their neighbors for being the other.
With the President lambasting journalists on the daily and “fake news” on the rise, it comes as no surprise that trust in the media is at an all-time low (32 percent in 2016). Local journalists increase trust in the media and a shortage of them exacerbates this distrust that has become so rampant. If residents see their local reporter working past midnight at the school board meeting to get to the bottom of an investigation, they are unlikely to see them as arrogant and politicallymotivated, the charges of many national correspondents. They’ll see the reporter as a real person and a fellow resident, looking out for community interests. It is essential to American democracy that this trust be regained or at least maintained. Whether it be through new subscriptions or a donations under a non-profit model, our community must rally behind our local journalists and local papers. We need to view local journalists as protectors of democracy and local papers as armies for the truth. For the sake of local transparency and the health of American democracy as a whole, we need more reporters and we need them now.
Background
Affirmative action. It seems that no one today can agree on the word’s meaning. Some believe it is a beneficial tool to right the wrongs of past racism. Some believe it fosters valuable diversity on campuses when put in place. Others believe it unfairly discriminates against white and Asian-American students.
The term was first coined in a 1961 executive order by President John F. Kennedy requesting that “affirmative action” be taken to ensure equal treatment and opportunities for employees of federal contractors, “without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.”
Successive Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon took further measures to establish and enforce affirmative action practices in both the public and private sectors, mandating that companies and government agencies increase and document minority employment. Following the implementation of such practices for the workforce, many universities started to look to increase the number of minority students on their campuses, creating affirmative action policies of their own.
Several schools—including the University of California (UC)—initially established quota-based affirmative action policies, which set targets on the number of minority students admitted.
The first legal challenge to the practice came in 1977, in the case University of California v. Bakke. Allan Bakke, an applicant to the UC Davis School of Medicine, had been rejected the year prior despite having had higher scores than several admitted minority students. At the time, UC Davis reserved 16 out of 100 seats for minority students and had a separate admissions process for the group. Bakke argued that the school’s affirmative action policies were in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court validated the consideration of race in admissions but struck down the university’s quota-based system as discriminatory.
In the 1996 case, Hopwood v. University of Texas Law School, judges in the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals invalidated the Bakke case, ruling that the educational diversity desired from affirmative action policies was “not recognized as a compelling state interest.” As a result, public universities in Texas were forced to employ “race-neutral” admissions practices. Following the case, enrollment in the University of Texas Law School decreased 90% and 60% for African-American and Mexican-American students, respectively.
Two 2003 court cases—Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger again brought the issue of affirmative action into question. The Supreme Court
ruled that the University of Michigan’s point-based admissions system—which awarded additional points to minorities— was unconstitutional. The court ruled, however, that the consideration of race as a factor in college admissions was permissible in furthering “a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body.”
The question of affirmative action again came to the forefront of national politics when the group Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA) sued Harvard University in 2014 alleging that Harvard systemically discriminates against AsianAmerican applicants. In the ongoing suit, the group alleges that Asian-Americans are unjustly admitted at lower rates than other minority applicants with lower scores. In internal documents detailing Harvard’s admissions practices, SFFA highlights that Asian-American applicants received consistently lower ratings in the personality category, which asks alumni interviewers to rate applicants on “soft” skills such as “likeability” and “character traits.” Comparatively, Asian-American applicants had the highest SAT scores and the highest ratings of any ethnic group in “hard” categories such as grades, test scores, and extracurriculars. The Crimson reports that Asian-American applicants were admitted at the lowest rate of any ethnic group between the years 1995 and 2013, with an average admit rate of 8.1 percent compared to a 13.1 percent rate for African-Americans.
Harvard openly admits and defends its practice of considering race in admissions. Despite this, Harvard vehemently denies that it discriminates against Asian-Americans, stating that race is one of many factors considered in its “holistic” admissions process. Similar to other proponents of affirmative action, Harvard believes the consideration of race to be essential in building a diverse class of students.
Although the suit alleges discrimination towards AsianAmericans, it is important to note that the man funding the plaintiff is a white, conservative, anti-affirmative action activist named Edward Blum. Notably, Blum brought a similar case (Fisher v. the University of Texas) before the Supreme Court in 2015 and lost in a 4-3 verdict in front of the then-liberal-leaning court. Seeing this, many legal scholars see the case instead as a battle over the future of affirmative action. Should the conservative-leaning Supreme Court issue a broad ruling on the case, it could spell an end to affirmative action practices at universities.
An end to affirmative action
would lead to a very different Harvard and very different universities across the United States. Opponents to affirmative action argue that the American universities should have a completely meritocratic system, based primarily on “hard” factors such as GPA, test scores, and class rank. With this system, a 2013 Harvard model predicted that the number of Asian-American students at Harvard would skyrocket to 43 percent of the class (contrasted to Asian-Americans currently making up 22.9 percent of the student body and 6 percent of the population) and that the number of students from other minorities would plummet. Such a model assumes, however, equality of opportunity in the United States, of which there is not. For instance, on a national scale, only 57 percent of African-Americans and 47 percent of Native American students have access to a full range of courses, a stark contrast to the 81 percent of Asian-Americans and 71 percent of white students who have access. Minority students are also more affected by the implicit biases of teachers, with a 2017 study showing how many teachers implicitly underestimate the capabilities of students of color, leading to a lower overall GPA. Additionally, African-Americans and Native Americans make up 44 of those below the poverty line, despite being less than 15 percent of the overall population. Even within our own community, we see great disparities between races. Belle Haven Elementary School and Willow Oaks School--both feeders to M-A-are made up of 99.2 percent and 99.4 percent of non-white and Asian students, respectively. At both of these schools, over 87 percent of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch programs and over 80 percent of students are below grade level on the CAASPP standardized test. Comparatively, Hillview Middle School is 71 percent white and Asian and only 8.7 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced lunch. 81.3 percent of the Hillview student body scored at or above grade level on the CAASPP test, a stark contrast to the results across the highway. Due to an accident of geography and the closure of Ravenswood High School, the students from these nearlysegregated middle schools converge at M-A. These unique circumstances lead M-A to be incredibly rich in terms of racial, socioeconomic, and experiential diversity. Whether or not we will see the same diversity as we continue our education rests in the hands of the judges ruling on this case.
Perspectives on Af�irmative Action
continued from page 19
MS. BRYANT
How do you feel about the case Students for Fair Admissions is making against Harvard?
I do see the issue because they’re working so hard to get in based on their achievements and now they’re feeling like these other aspects are taking away their opportunities … The issue then is that the Asian-American population is feeling like they’re being unfairly targeted and not being let in. They’re saying affirmative action is supposed to have their backs … I don’t know what to feel about that because I still do believe that we need [affirmative action], we are not there yet as a country where we can just have everybody line up and whoever has the best score gets in. We are not there yet because we are still dealing with discrimination and prejudice and bias. I don’t think that affirmative action should be taken away completely. As far as that case goes, I think that they do have a fair case at least to bring up and have people look into it more.
Sherinda Bryant is the adviser to the Black Student Union (BSU).
Why do you think affirmative action action was implemented? What affirmative action sought out to do originally was to give an equal playing field. The people in charge weren’t allowing people to go to college … So in its origin, I think, it was a good thing. We needed a way to have an equal playing field.
How do you think affirmative action functions?
To me affirmative action provides checks and balances in certain places. I don’t feel like affirmative action has allowed this huge amount of unskilled people of color to come into colleges and take away the opportunities of others. I don’t think that has been the case. And if we look at statistics AfricanAmerican unemployment is still where it is, so apparently affirmative action doesn’t have a direct aid in things like that. That’s where I stand. I’m not one to say it’s either good or bad, but I do think that it has helped to provide checks and balances.
What are your thoughts on the the Harvard v. SFFA case?
So this case is interesting because one minority is sort of feeling left out of a program that is supposed to help most, if not all, minorities. So I think that’s why this case is interesting to look at. Personally, with this case I understand both sides. I understand why the Asian students are feeling discriminated against, because they perform very highly on test scores and their grades are very good, but they feel they’re not seeing the admissions that reflect that, especially when looking at students who maybe have lower grades or lower test scores, who are being admitted, and like the only foreseeable difference is race. So I can understand them being angry about that. But also, I think that affirmative action in general isn’t the place to right the wrongs of the institutions like education and the government in general, who have been built to help certain kinds of people and not help other kinds
of people. It’s just a tough situation, I guess.
What are your thoughts overall on affirmative action? Should race be considered in college admissions?
Yeah, I think so [...] I think that affirmative action is a good step to try to even the playing field and recognize that there have been historical issues and try to right them.
Should affirmative action encompass things besides race and ethnicity?
Yeah, I’ve definitely heard people say that economic status should be considered also. And I agree. I think it’s important to ask about the parent’s education and family income because those are things that have kept people from going to college who might be able to succeed.
What are your thoughts on the consideration of legacy status in admissions?
That’s [...] another issue […] Because of the long-standing history of mainly white, wealthy, people going to
college, the people who are getting the legacy advantage are the children of these white wealthy people [...] I personally don’t think it should be considered.
How should universities try and foster diversity?
I don’t feel that you should try to have a certain number of [a] type of person in a school. That just seems...I don’t know, it doesn’t really seem like the point of affirmative action. It should be that you’re actively trying to admit students who not only are the best for your school, but also, are from a wide variety of backgrounds. And if you’re looking just at numbers, and you’re like, ‘Oh, you know, we need, 20 more black kids, or we need, 30 more Latino people.’ I don’t know, that just, seems a little counterintuitive [...] An important part of gaining an insight on the rest of the world is having people who are not like you are not similar to you, or not like the people that you grew up with. And so I think that having diversity in college campuses is an important step to do that.
Juliana Zolopa is the co-president of the Asian Culture Club.
JULIANA
Rut Maldonado and Cristal Cholico are members of the Dream Club.
Do you think that affirmative action should include more information about students?
Yes. I was planning to apply for DACA but then it got shut down. It was a fear for me to find universities because I’m also going to be a first generation applicant, and I didn’t know if they were going to ask for Social Security or green card information. With DACA I know you can get a lot of opportunities for jobs and school. It gives you a legal status which in my opinion is a privilege to get. A lot of the times colleges don’t want to consider you since you’re not really legal so having legal status with DACA really means a lot.
Why do you think affirmative action is necessary?
We need affirmative action to spread opportunities because without it the people with more opportunities would keep having better opportunities. If you are a minority or a first generation college student you have a harder time.
Do you think that having a diverse student body benefits students at a college?
I think having more students from different backgrounds you get to see what you’re grateful for, and what they had to go through. You can also learn more about their culture and traditions. It kind of gets you out of a bubble and lets you see more perspectives.
FIND YOUR BEACH
by Heath Hooper
A favorite of locals and surfers on the San Mateo County coast, Martin’s Beach is singular, reminiscent of the time when California’s coastline was not controlled by state and county regulation. Devoid of a sign advertising its road along the highway, or a paved parking lot, Martin’s lures beachgoers with its rugged beauty, towering cliffs, and recognizable arced rock that rises out of the sea, a landmark that has characterized the beach for fishermen and tourists for centuries.
For the last decade, an access dispute surrounding Martin’s Beach has played out between the public and current owner Vinod Khosla, a technology and venture capitalist mogul who closed public access to his property adjacent to the beach. His actions caused public outcry, as the story of a local beach closure has received coverage from news sources coast to coast, and poses serious questions regarding property ownership and public land access.
In 2008, Khosla—operating under the LLCs Martin’s Beach I and Martin’s Beach II to maintain anonymity—purchased the Deeney Family’s property encompassing Martin’s Beach for $32.5 billion. After the deal closed, the county informed the Martin’s Beach I and II that they would be required to maintain public access. Two years after the initial purchase date, Khosla closed and locked the gate leading down to Martin’s Beach.
When Edmundo Larenas, co-founder of the San Mateo County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation was made aware of the closure, he and fellow board members sent a letter to Khosla highlighting the importance of Martin’s Beach to the public, and made an offer to assist Khosla in the opening and maintenance of the beach. The board received a response along the lines of “Thank you for your letter, please keep Mr. Khosla’s name out of it, and we will see you in court.”
A year later, in October 2012, a group of five surfers were detained and charged for trespassing at Martin’s Beach by officers from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department. The group, dubbed the Martin’s Beach Five, challenged the indictment and were acquitted in county court on February 7th, 2013, a ruling that assured the
public amnesty to enter the beach from county law enforcement.
Following the decision, the Surfrider Foundation sued Khosla’s LLCs for allegedly failing to comply with the California Coastal Act.
Specifically, they highlighted that Khosla had not applied for the coastal development permit needed to block coastal access.
After a drawn-out legal battle in California’s Court of Appeals—and a final refusal to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court—the Surfrider Foundation won and Khosla was forced to allow public access at Martin’s Beach.
Khosla’s next steps, Larenas believes, will be to “apply for a coastal development permit to keep access closed. When he does this the coastal commission is going to say ‘we aren’t going to let you because the public has established what’s called a prescriptive right,’ meaning they have had access to the beach for many generations.” In the Coastal Act, generational access restricts any landowner from denying beach access on the California coast. However because Khosla did not apply for a coastal development permit initially, Larenas believes his chances of achieving one are slight.
Now, the Surfrider Foundation is focusing its efforts on motivating the State Lands Commission to purchase an easement from Khosla for the road going down to the beach. According to Larenas “There’s an account in the state government specifically for buying that road, both the state and the county are putting money into the account.”
However, Khosla has not made it an easy process, as he requested an absurd $30 million for the use of the road, when the state land commission’s assessment found the easement to be worth anywhere from $250,000-$500,000. Larenas is adamant that Khosla’s tactics will not prevail. “He can run roughshod over a little chapter like us, and he tried and lost in the courts. Now he’s going up against the State Lands Commission, which is another story. He’s going up against the state.”
As part of Surfrider’s effort to prepare for the court cases, Kari Mueller, vice chairman of the San
Mateo County chapter, was tasked with informing the public of the issues surrounding Martin’s Beach. Although sympathetic to the Surfrider side of the Martin’s Beach debate, Mueller’s experiences leading the cleanups gave her perspective on being a landowner on the coast. “Of course it’s not fair for someone to deny access to a beach because it is public property. On the flip side of it[...] people don’t treat beaches very well. People leave trash, go to the bathroom on the beach, and leave cigarette butts[...] If [Khosla] opens up Martin’s, people will leave trash down there, which isn’t cool. And so who’s responsible for that?”
Mueller proposed what in her view is the best solution for both sides: “The State and the landowner need to work together[...] to have state sponsored public restrooms, trash disposal and cleanup, so it doesn’t become the land owner’s financial burden.”
Larenas anticipates that despite Surfrider’s progress in the courts against Khosla, the battle is long from over. “A coastal access violation fine, handed out by the coastal commission, is $11,000 per fine, per day. We did the calculation based on his net worth, and he could keep the gate closed[…] for 400 years.”
However, the board’s plan to influence the state lands commission to buy an easement at Martin’s is well underway. “We talked to the California State Lands commission this week, lobbying that they were on it and that it’s heading in that direction[...] Public access to Martin’s Beach will likely come from that, not from the Surfrider suit because [Khosla] will just keep in the courts. We’re going to keep fighting it in the courts of course but that’s going to be a long process. Like I said, ‘400 years of paying fines’, he’s got a lot of money.”
Larenas acknowledged the importance of the progress made to date, “It was a big deal. The language that we used to sue him, if that had gone down, would have severely weakened the coastal act and[...] access rights to lands all over the country. What started off as a little old Surfrider chapter fighting for access to one beach became a potential problem with public access to lands all over the U.S.”
Who Really Won the Class President Election?
*This is an expanded version of a story that was posted on the M-A Chronicle website December 11.
“We lost, not like it’s rigged or anything.” at is what’s posted on Quinn Hammel and Max Wong’s campaign website, still running months a er last year’s class presidential election. It may not have been rigged, but surely something’s o .
An announcement on M-A Today on Monday, May 21 stated, “voting will open on Tuesday and close on ursday.” e exact time that polls would be closed was not explicitly mentioned, but many believed that votes cast throughout ursday would be included in the nal tally.
Candidate and runner up Quinn Hammel said, “I think people thought that they would close them later on ursday, especially considering that the rally was on Friday.” It was at Friday’s lunchtime rally that the winners, John Mills and Luke Scandlyn, were announced.
Hammel contacted leadership teacher Michael Amoroso a er the results were announced, addressing the timeline confusion, and said, “[Amoroso] apologized for giving the wrong time and date to M-A Today and said that doing a recount would be too di cult.”
Former class president Ian Peterson, who was elected with Jean Claverie, noted, “An important detail is, a er the class of 2017 graduated it was made a rule that senior class presidents had to take the leadership class.” Mills had been in the leadership class before, while Hammel and Max Wong started their campaign as outsiders. Hammel said, “Our campaign strategy was basically to have a ‘minimum e ort’ type feel to all of our materials. We made the website pretty unattractive...Most of our posters...just were screenshots from snapchat. e messily taped ‘http:// wammel.org’ on the side of the I-wing was consistent with this as well...For our campaign speech, we wrote it to be full of tropes and meaningless phrases.”
Senior Conrad Kuhlman, who is good friends with both Hammel and Wong, said, “ ey were not taking it as seriously, they were not really campaigning, kind of taking it as a joke, but they were always in the lead, so we didn’t think too much about it.”
Hammel agreed, stating, “I felt
that the election was going well during the voting process; I had a few people tell me they thought our posters were funny, and in general I thought that we articulated our message correctly. I also remember hearing rumors that Max and I were ahead at the time.”
at anti-establishment mentality may have helped Hammel and Wong get votes they never expected. According to the data, a teacher submitted a vote for the pair. Kuhlman explained, “I was in class, and I was like, I’m gonna try to get everyone to vote for Wammel, since we had some extra time.”
Kuhlman then o ered his phone, had the teacher type in her email, and click on Wammel. “She said, is this allowed? And I was like, I don’t know,” Kuhlman said. Nevertheless, the vote went through and was counted.
Hammel added, “While we made [our] posters look low e ort, they were also the only posters present; no one else seemed to be campaigning nearly as much.”
Rumors spread that students from other schools were being asked to vote, too. Kuhlman said, “I found out the day a er I thought the deadline ended...I cast my original vote and I didn’t think to try multiple times, I don’t know if other people knew..”
Hammel said, “I noticed that the [voting] website had little to no security. I knew that any email could be entered, but I was not sure as to whether the same email could repeatedly vote for a candidate. However, I thought overall that the lack of security was interesting, and a little funny.”
Former senior president Ian Peterson con rmed, “I don’t know if this a ected the actual election results, but something problematic that my Co-President, Jean Claverie, and I o en joked about was the lack of security around leadership’s various google drive and gmail accounts. Everyone even vaguely connected to leadership, whether they were o cers, committee members, or friends outside of the class, o en knew the one very obvious password used for all of the accounts. ese accounts have access to many items, including, of course, the election forms.”
Other sources have con rmed
that multiple Leadership students had access to the voting spreadsheet, even though only one person was assigned to oversee it.
In total, roughly half of the votes on those very election forms appear illegitimate. Students not in the class of 2019 voted. Students from other schools in the district voted. Non-veriable, non-seq accounts like “bob@gmail. com” and “hehe@hehe.com” voted. Some students appear to have voted several times. According to sources, leadership counted all votes, regardless of their email.
So who really won? We don’t know, and we’re not sure anyone does. e winner depends on two things: when the polls were closed, and whether or not all votes were counted, even invalid ones.
Voting data is public record according to the Student Press Law Center, and according to the current leadership tally 408 votes were recorded from Monday morning through ursday a ernoon, but a er trying to nd a match for every ID number, only 294 of these were cast by M-A sophomores, juniors, or seniors. 74 were from invalid district email addresses, and 40 were from servers outside the district. What do these numbers translate to? Only 57 percent of the total votes were valid, cast by current seniors who voted in their own class election. ere was nothing stopping voters who did not enter a Sequoia Union High School District email address, whose district accounts were deactivated, or who were not in attendance at M-A. Furthermore, there was no way to lter votes by grade level, meaning M-A students who wished to vote for a senior class president running pair could, even though the election was for incoming seniors only. And anyone could vote more than once, even with the same email address.Much of this could have been avoided by placing stricter settings on the Google election form, or excluding any non-seq votes from the nal tally, both options Google Forms provides. When only district votes are counted, Hammel and Wong win by a few votes on ursday a ernoon when the votes end in our data. When only
current seniors are counted, Wong and Hammel again end up on top, 121 votes to Scandlyn and Mills’ 92 on ursday. But, if votes are cut o on Wednesday night, Mills and Scandlyn are in fact ahead, 163 votes to 151. Of course, that’s only the case because Leadership counted every vote— if only valid ones are included, Wong and Hammel once again win by nearly 20 votes.
When was Leadership supposed to stop counting? at also depends on who you ask. M-A Today announced ursday as the deadline, Mills said he didn’t remember, Amoroso declined to comment, and an anonymous Leadership student said it was supposed to continue until Friday’s rally. However, the only time Scandlyn and Mills are ahead in total votes is if they are stopped at midnight on Wednesday. So the data is confusing, but according to Leadership our data is, indeed, o cial. In every case, Hammel and Wong have more votes from seniors. When asked how he would feel should the data show him and Hammel winning, Wong stated, “I would be very o ended and disappointed if that were the case.” He went on to say, “I believe the elections would be improved if the polls were closed on the date they were announced to be closed on.”
While class presidential elections may seem trivial to some, they can have real consequences. e Harvard Crimson reported recently on how the Harvard admissions o ce ranks its applicants. “Previous court lings have shown that Harvard’s notion of a ‘2’ ranking for his or her extracurricular accomplishments is ‘typically an applicant with signi cant school, and possibly regional accomplishments: for example, an applicant who was the student body president…” A “2” on this scale is the
second-highest ranking possible out of six, putting applicants in this category far ahead of many others in the pool, and giving them a much higher chance of admission. Candidates with “an overall rating of a 1 are always accepted,” according to the Crimson, while applicants with a score of 3 or below rarely get in.
To Harvard and likely many other universities, the title class president shows a level of commitment, initiative, and leadership experience that makes a student well suited to the rigors of college.
Peterson described his responsibilities as president: “the only thing that was technically required of me as senior class president was to be part of ‘o cer meetings’ which included approving [purchase orders] for the school (basically approve expenditures of various departments) and moving funds as necessary from the school’s various accounts.”
If presidents so choose, they can exert a much wider in uence than just budget meetings. Peterson added, “we chose to be as hands-on as possible so our responsibilities included public relations, talking to admin about things leadership wanted, being part of leadership committees for their various events and projects and so on. We liked maintaining social media and being part of everything we could.”
Our student council system is established as an exercise in democracy, but there was no way to monitor how democratically voters acted, and no mechanism to ensure only the proper votes counted.
Despite several requests, Leadership has declined to comment further on the election, as have Scandlyn and Mills.
By Sarah Lehman and Izzy Villa
Vote Count Between Wednesday 5.23.18 and Thursday 5.24.18
Quinn and Max John and Luke
Cuto
Quinn
“To walk in my shoes means to seek attention.” -Eva Zacharias, 11th grade
“I walk in bright colors.” -Alex Lopez, 11th
“I love it when what I wear reflects who I want to be, wearing unique clothing has always helped me feel more comfortable.” -Elena Maghsoodnia, 11th grade
“To walk in my shoes is a way to express myself. I like to be different.” -Raime Wilson, 11th grade 2 3 4 5 6
“These shoes help me stay strong through the weather.” -Ella Yu, 10th Grade
“I wear my shoes because even if they look funny. They make me happy!” -Mateo Sabio, 10th grade
By Toni Shindler-Ruberg
Photos by Rebekah Lindsay and Toni Shindler-Ruberg
Demonizing Republicans
It is a common thread in American politics that each party and their followers demonize the other. This tribalism has created a deeply polarized country, thus making toleration and respect more unachievable than before. For the past decade, the divide has grown stronger and people have become more hostile towards one another. The Pew Research Center found in 2014 that 27% of Democrats view Republicans as a threat to the nation’s well-being and 36% Republicans view Democrats as a threat to nation’s well-being. In addition to this growing divide, politicians and party supporters have become more hateful and disrespectful towards one another. Within the two parties lay blatant hypocrisy on the Democratic side. Liberals tout the virtues of tolerance and M-A claims to have strength in diversity, however many liberals generalize all right-leaning as racist, sexist, and xenophobic–a claim that is both uncivil and misrepresenting vast variety of people.
By: Ellie Shepard
Silicon Valley, and M-A in particular, is home to concentrated liberalism. Unfortunately, this hotbed of liberalism has created a malicious atmosphere (according to Republicans) for some M-A students who identify with more right-leaning politics.
Senior Lauren Collinsworth says she “isn't very politically opinionated” but commented on her experience facing hatred from liberals. “With my brothers’ she said, “I’ve seen the way that they have been treated.[Liberals] assume that they’re pieces of garbage and that they are horrible people.” Collinsworth says that “people portray [Republicans] as awful people, especially with the media today it even more emphasizes that they are awful people and they’re just not. Obviously there are
some really, really bad people but those are the only ones that get the spotlight on them.” She continues, “I think it is just unfair because that is how all Republicans are seen.” Collinsworth says, “We aren’t just the white trash Southerners yelling ‘Yeah! White Confederacy!’ People need to stop generalizing us.” Collinsworth believes that to overcome the divide that has polarized our country “Everyone should be accepting of each other. We are trying to be accepting of everybody and everybody’s cultures and religions and stuff, so why can’t we be accepting of people’s political views?” Although Lauren Collinsworth is not a politically opinionated person, she has still felt disparaged by her classmates.
M-A’s Junior Francesco Vial has experienced social backlash and educational repercussions from students and teachers as a result of expressing his conservative views on immigration and abortion. Vial contends that “we are all trying to find a way to construct our society in the most sound and orderly way possible, to keep everybody happy and I hold those [conservative] beliefs because I think that is the best set of solutions of how society should run in general.” Although he says this year is an improvement, he has experienced his fair share of “English teachers, they’ll say they are open to all opinions and what not, but then when it actually comes to the point where there is, indeed, a rather different opinion, they don’t know how to handle it. I think in some situations they default into a more comfortable space of an echo-chamber […] If I were to generalize.” Vial has had many experiences in which people get offended by his beliefs. He has encountered both the subtle and the blatant hate from being conservative at M-A. Most times “people carry a very specific tone of ‘I’m going to stay away from you and I don’t want to be associated with you’” says Vial. Other times Vial says he has been called names: “last year in my Spanish class, someone called me a Nazi.” However, Vial says that being called a Nazi
“Someone called me a Nazi.”
Junior Callie Meyer also believes that her Republican political beliefs have affected her educational experience. She says “with teachers, I have gotten some grades that seem a little bit skewed or biased. I will say in socratic seminars there have definitely been times where I am the only [conservative] saying anything and people will walk up to me and say ‘oh I agreed with you but I was kind of afraid to say that because there were people so harshly criticizing you.’” However, there are “teachers who recognize that they are in this position of teaching these topics and rather than trying to not really be clear on what their position is and unintentionally influencing students, they are very open about their position” and encourage new opinions or ideas. Meyer says that “if you aren’t 100% accepting of everyone then you are immediately labeled as a racist, or a transphobe, or a homophobe […] and then equated with people who are much more extreme than you are.”
The Junior says that by now she has learned that she “should keep [her] mouth shut in the
classroom and avoid politics.” She continues, “I stay quiet so that I won’t be alienated.” She also says that most conservatives have the same mindset that she has, “it’s better to keep your mouth shut. If I want to talk about it, I talk about it one-on-one with people.” Even though Meyer has felt alienated in the classroom, she has not felt the social consequences that other conservatives at M-A have experienced. She states, “one of my friends is very liberal, we have very different opinions and we are still amazingly close. Majority of my friends are liberal and we see each other as friends. If we need to have those [political] conversations and have those debates we will say ‘okay, here is where we draw the line.’” Meyer says it is necessary to find middle ground between liberals and conservatives and “many people don’t understand that if they are yelling the loudest doesn’t mean the necessarily win the argument. I’ve noticed that a lot in classroom debates that people will just start yelling.” We need to hear what other people are saying before we make our point so the situation does not escalate.
didn’t change his perspective on liberals. “That person was just a bad apple out of the group. I’m not going to start to demonize liberals because first of all that would be hypocritical and second of all, it would be unproductive.” Vial’s social environment has also suffered from his political beliefs. “Last year I lost quite a lot of friends […] they didn’t want to be associated with someone with my beliefs.” He says he now “is weirdly desensitized” to the anger people feel towards him. He thinks it is important that “everyone thinks through their political beliefs […] looking into the philosophy behind these ideologies. We need to strive to see and understand the ideology behind politics. If I were to label myself I would be a paleoconservative but nobody knows what that means.” A paleoconservative refers more to the basic principles of the conservatism–tradition, limited Federal government, and civility, along with religious, national, and Western identity. We need to educate people on all political beliefs in order to understand each other better. Vial believes that in order to break down the divide between liberals and conservatives we need to “encourage those who want to get rid of the divide to start speaking up.” The first step in uniting politically different people is to encourage people to talk in a respectful way.
By: Ellie Shepard
YOU MAY FEEL LIKE THERE ARE MILLIONS OF THING WRONG WITH YOU, BUT IT’S ONLY IN YOUR HEAD
EVENTUALLY, IT WILL START CONSUMING YOU
IT IS NOT “COOL” AND DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU IT IS
12 Students on the truth
I WAS A COUPLE DAYS AWAY FROM DYING
I DIDN’T WANT TO WORRY ANYONE, SO I RARELY TALKED ABOUT IT
I JUST TRIED TO CONVINCE MYSELF IT WAS NORMAL
GET HELP. IT IS NOT FAIR TO YOURSELF TO DO THIS
By Emilie Mueller and Maxine Moss
I THOUGHT I WAS JUST BEING HEALTHY THERE WERE FOODS I DEEMED
“BAD” [AND] AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS IT’S NOT FOREVER THINGS WILL GET EASIER
P R O U D
By: Chris Ikonomou
As technology has spread, it has become more culturally acceptable to look down at your cell phone at the dinner table or during a work meeting. Keeping eye contact, however, allows humans to infer emotional responses and give attention in a more sincere way. Psychologists from London’s Science Museum found that “we pay attention at a subconscious level to the behaviour of [a person’s] pupils, and if they dilate – a sign of attraction and emotional arousal – we judge [a person] to be more trustworthy, whereas if they constrict – a sign of fear or feeling threatened – then we judge them less trustworthy. Also, when we trust a partner with dilating pupils, our own pupils tend to mimic theirs and show similar dilation.” It is not new information that making eye contact improves connection between two people, but with eye contact rapidly decreasing, how will the coming generations conduct business and have personal connections?
The Death Of Eye Contact
It is always surprising to see a family eating at a restaurant and the parents allowing their kids to put on headphones and go on their smartphones but is this the new reality? Our generation’s lack of attention span, memory, and prosocial life may create a more lonely future, according to a study by Dr. James P. Otteson, a psychologist located in Minneapolis. A similar study conducted by Laurence Conty, psychologist at University of Paris, found that the use of eye contact during therapeutic processes increase the patient’s appraisal of the therapist’s interpersonal skills and effectiveness. These researchers also discovered that eye contact helps enhance memory which is particularly helpful for Alzheimer’s patients. An easy way to start making more eye contact is to pay attention to your phone usage. Iphones show how much screen time you are spending in settings and you can set time limits on apps so you don’t waste a conversation looking down at your phone.
By: Ellie Shepard
Serenity
peace
thats what you hear in the mountains clear glass
thats what you see on the water free will you go? unto the unknown? i would serenity i miss it i want it do you?
lets go and see serenity
Poetry By: Jackson Gar Art By: Ti any Camillo
CATCALLING
Merriam-Webster dictionary states a “catcall” is “a loud, sexually suggestive call or comment directed at someone publicly (as on the street).” One former and two current M-A seniors share what it is liked to be catcalled.
[Catcalling] to me is an older person or somebody of the opposite gender trying to pick you up or inappropriately say something while you’re walking or minding your own business. Sometimes I understand because I do look kinda good, but then other times, I’m like, “Why? Who gives you the right?”
Anybody can be a ected by catcalling. You don’t feel like anything because someone makes you feel like an object. You don’t feel like something that’s valuable.
Mikaela Douglass ‘19
It’s an objecti cation of men and women that unintentionally makes people uncomfortable. It makes you very uncomfortable with your body, and makes you hyper aware of your surroundings. I was walking with my parents in New Haven, Connecticut, and these guys pulled up in a car next to my parents and I. I was wearing my Lululemon shorts, as us Californians do, and they followed us for a while and started screaming, “Hey! Nice butt, girl!” My mom’s response was “that’s life for you, honey. Get used to it.” While my dad’s response was, “Nono. Don’t get used to it. at’s not okay.” From a woman’s standpoint, that’s just what it’s been.
Samira Sankaran ‘19
I’ve had so many people say that the people who’ve catcalled me are just complimenting me, but the problem with that justi cation is that it ignores the root of the problem. I know the reason these men see no problem with their actions is because of the way they have internalized their position compared to the women around them. It’s di cult to come to terms with the facts that some people will never understand why their actions are wrong, but we have to work harder as communities and individuals to make sure future generations don’t have to deal with this.
Sarah Weindorf ‘19
Warning: This story mentions suicide and self harm.
My name is Ahristnha Rhsjksfhk. I’m in _______ grade. Something that I haven’t told many people about before?
I was gone for two weeks in September.
is being sad and empty and hopeless for weeks, months, and years on end. Depression isn’t just feeling extremely sad — it’s more like feeling empty and hopeless and like you just want to give up. Like you want to go to sleep and never wake up. [Depression] is when you struggle to find reasons to keep yourself
“[depression is] like you want to go to sleep and never wake up.”
The [reason] they sent me to the hospital and the adolescent psychiatric ward was because of plans for suicide. And I have a history with self harm, which goes back a couple of years. I spoke with so many different doctors and so many different people. I don’t even know what they were for. They just asked me a bunch of questions.
Before I [was hospitalized], I had reached my threshold. I couldn’t do any more, and that’s when I started to consider the idea of ending my life.
My outlook on life was very negative and unhopeful … and shameful. I have a hard time forgiving myself. I put others’ needs before my own, which sounds like a great thing, but it ends up turning into an issue. I can take time for myself and think for myself, rather than think for others. I’m trying to step out of [the] box and see the bigger picture. I don’t have to meet
everyone’s standards, I don’t have to do this and that just because somebody wants me to.
alive because the emptiness consumes your motivation to do anything, to live.
People should know that just because I can normally look all happy and giddy and fine, sometimes I’m not. Most of the time, I’m not. Just because I have depres-
sion doesn’t mean that I’m sad and crying and moping all of the time.
These severe mental health issues are much more common than I thought they were. I never thought this would be me. I never thought that I would reach this level. I never thought that there were so many other kids — seemingly normal kids — who would be in there with me.
The one thing that I think led me to all of this was my lack of communication. I didn’t tell anyone. I hid for years, ever
We have a lot of resources [at M-A], but a lot of kids are still too scared to reach out. If you’re scared to reach out, then do it indirectly. I wrote a letter. Honestly, I wish I had told someone [sooner]. It didn’t matter if it was an adult, a parent, a friend. Reaching out is a hard thing to do, I get it, just know you’re not alone and you never are. There are so many people who go through the same thing.
Just because I went to the hospital doesn’t mean I’m cured of depression and anxiety. That’s not how it works. I have radically accepted this change in my life. I’m in an intensive outpatient care program, and it’s a journey. I am getting better, but there’s a lot of ups and downs, and sometimes it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m still dealing with that right now. I have a long way to go. It’s a lifestyle change. But we’re getting there.
Depression dominated and smothered my life, and it still does, but it didn’t end my life. I’m still here, telling you that it might not seem like life is worth living right now, but I promise you, it is. It’s going to be a journey and it’s going to get better. You will be okay.
“[Recovery] is going to be a journey and [it will] get better. You will be okay.” “I hid for years.”
People should know that depression is not just being sad for a day. Depression
since all of these issues started arising. I always thought I could do it myself, I didn’t need anybody else.
Interview by Toni Shindler-Ruberg
GROUP PROJECTS
All hands on deck...not quite
We’re all familiar with the group project. For some, it’s a blessing. A chance to work with friends; an opportunity to lead; an easy way out of work; maybe even a gradesaver. Others view the group project with dread. It’s forced collaboration with disagreeable classmates; an often uneven division of work; a waste of time.
Regardless of the public opinion on group projects, they are a core part of the curriculum at M-A. In classes ranging from Life Skills to Physics to AP Environmental Science, students are given assignments that require collaboration with their peers. We decided to investigate the way that both students and teachers perceive group projects.
Most students felt that group projects have their ups and downs. “I usually like group projects, although sometimes it can end up that some people aren’t working as hard as others,” said junior Natalie Grover. Junior Milo Yue has also noticed a disparity in participation. “I think they’re never group projects because I always get footed with
the bill and have to do all of it. Everyone looks at me because they don’t know what they’re doing and I have to do everything,” he said.
Many female students observed that girls tend to have a higher level of participation in group projects. Senior Meghan Child stated, “I think that people who care about their grades more, which is usually girls, do a lot of the work for group projects. I think that girls are more responsible in general.”
Sophomore Indie Berkes noticed an inequality as well. “I feel like girls generally do more of the work,” she said. Senior Carly Jespersen commented, “I always do all of the work in group projects. I think that girls in general do more of the work.” Junior Cristol Cholico stated, “Women do a bit more, but there are also some men who do some work.”
One male student, senior Nils Glader, said that “females generally do more work” in group projects. However, most boys observed no imbalance regarding gender. Senior Hector Maldonado commented, “I don’t really notice that stuff but usually it’s about the same.”
“There are both men and women in all of the classes who have more of
“I think they’re never group projects because I always get footed with the bill and have to do all of it.” -Milo Yue
an advanced class,” she said. “In an advanced class, for the most part, 95% of the class or 90% of the class cares about their grades–it’s important to them, and they’ll help participate, at least partially. And in lower classes, it’s such a gamble. Sometimes you have people that care
“It’s such a gamble.” -Eline Berenger
and sometimes they couldn’t be bothered to do anything.”
AP Environmental Science teacher Lance Powell believes that “learning how to communicate with our peers is key. In fact, if we were just going to work as individuals, there’s an argument to be made about not even coming to school. Why have all these minds come together and not take advantage of that?” Powell added that “labs and projects really lend themselves to group work. So I’m definitely a fan, while recognizing their are some challenges that come along with this approach.”
Powell admitted that “super motivated students tend to want to take over... which is much easier than communicating with less productive members of the team.” However, this does not have to be a negative. In fact, Powell acknowledged that “this happens in professional settings too. And it’s a great opportunity for those students that want to jump in and do more than their share to take leadership by delegating the tasks.”
not sway grades in a huge way...or if it is going negatively impact with a particular group I encourage them to revise the work.” Powell will also “give groups an additional chunk of points and have them divide them up amongst the team which is nice. People that were absent are usually quick to compensate people that they know did more work... people that didn’t do as much are usually happy to recognize if someone pulled a bigger share... and then that person gets some extra credit out of the deal.”
Physics teacher Lee Trampleasure sees the key part of group projects as the way they “present a different modality for those students who learn better that way.” In many instances, Trampleasure feels that “more work is done by one or two students due to either (1) a student (or two) who is too controlling and ‘hogs’ all the work or (2) one or two
“I think group projects, if the collaboration is done well, are the best preparation for future work.”
-Kari Brown
a priority to do well in the class,” said junior Eli Jones. “I think it’s based more on that.”
Some students believed that participation was dependent on the class. Jones said, “I think that the quality of the group project is directly correlated to how much respect the students have for the teacher or the class.”
Junior Eline Berenger felt likewise. “I think it also very much depends on whether it’s an advanced class or not
Many people agreed that group projects help prepare students for professional environments. Senior Timmy Berthier stated, “In your life, later in your career, you’re going to be working with people all of the time.” Physics teacher Kari Brown also said, “I think group projects, if the collaboration is done well, are the best preparation for future work.”
To combat the “unfairness” that tends to come along with group projects, Powell doesn’t “usually have high stakes grades attached to the actual group project, knowing that inequities in work loads are normal. For me the group work is more of a means. Usually there is an individual aspect of it as well where the individual has to perform on their own in some way.
So that being said, it tends to
students aren’t motivated to work, and others take up the slack.” To prevent this, Trampleasure tries “to have a post-project assessment that allows students who paid attention to due well, but any who didn’t contribute will likely not be successful with.”
Although equal participation is an often idealistic goal when it comes to group projects, it seems that in general both students and teachers see value in collaborative assignments. For now, they’re here to stay. Whether or not these projects are actually “all hands on deck” is up to you and your classmates.
By: Emilie Mueller
Art by Alina Kalmeyer
Which Millennial Food Are You?
Would you rather be hot or cold? cold hot choose a flavor of gum
choose a drink
choose a season choose a location are you crafty? what type of music?
fall winter nature city yes no old current
vanilla latte
rolled ice cream
acaî bowl
avocado toast
poke bowls
la croix
kombucha
boba
By: Lucida Fu
The Revival of Thrifting
Vinyl has reached another peak, and to participate in this fun trend, pick up some new or used vinyls from stores like Record Man and Vinyl Solution Records.
Recently, polaroids have begun to become popular once again. Pick up one of these iconic devices at Mike’s Camera, Urban Outfitters or at the polaroid website online
Within the last couple of years, thrifting has had a strong resurgence due to the ability to look unique and individual as well being environmentally friendly, head to Savers or Goodwill to get some new pieces.
By Mia Angioletti
