The Tam News — February 2017
1
February 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
08 lifestyles 04 news
Student March on Town Hall by Marie Hogan & Raqshan Khan
05 news
The Movement That Crossed the Country: Our Stories
by Elissa Asch, Birgitta Danielson, Arya Guinney, Ginger Lazarus & Maddie Wall
Five Tam News editors and reporters wrote about their experience at various protests for women’s rights organized after the election of President Donald Trump. With over two million participants, it was a significant moment in US history. These are their stories.
11 features
19 sports opinion
06 news
16 op/ed
20 sports
07 lifestyles
17 op/ed
21 sports
10 lifestyles
18 op/ed
22 archives
News Flash by Nicole Anisgard-Parra, Kendall Lafranchi & Francis Strietmann Tam Partner Program with COM by Zoe Wynn
Marin Struggles with Ongoing Flooding by Marie Hogan
The Most Dangerous Place in the World? by Nell Mitchell
Supermarket or Restaurant? Tam Tam Ramen Pushes the Boundaries by Dahlia Zail
February 2017 — The Tam News
Wake Up by Zoe Wynn
Are Federal Student Loans Necessary? by Dashiell Yarnold Heard in Tam Hallways by the Opinion Staff
Is This the Muslim Ban? by Raqshan Khan
EDITORIAL: Operation Breakthrough by Staff Crackin’ and Slackin’ by the Opinion Staff
Selective Spirit by Zoe Wynn
Lily Travers: Kicking Up A Storm by Marie Hogan By the Numbers by the Sports Staff
Jordan Jackson: Cross Up by Adam Tolson
From the Archives: Operation Breakthrough by Francis Strietmann
Dear Reader,
As our new president Donald Trump takes office, we’ve seen some drastic policy changes. Within Tam, and across the country, citizens are uniting to advocate for minority rights in the face of Trump’s incendiary comments about minorities and women. The activism shown by Tam students, as well as by youth across the nation, is encouraging. Across the nation, Tam News staff participated in various Women’s Marches at Oakland, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Their empowering experiences are illustrated through various narratives in “The Movement that Crossed the Country” that paints a picture of a nation that unites peacefully to show dissatisfaction, rather than take recent events passively. On a community level, a band of students marched to Mill Valley city hall on January 30 to protest President Trump’s recent ban on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries. Editor in Chief Raqshan Khan explores this same executive order and how it will shape the rhetoric of the Muslim Religion in the US in her powerful opinion piece, “Is This the Muslim Ban?” And within our school, Operation Breakthrough is the topic of this month’s editorial, a day that took place fifty years ago to address racial divides at Tam. February 27th marks the 50 year anniversary of the original Operation Breakthrough. Due to the rising tension of our situation and to celebrate the anniversary, it’s important that we encourage a supportive and collaborative student body, continuing to address problems within our society and nation.
Danielle Egan
EDITORS IN CHIEF: Danielle Egan, Marina Furbush, Raqshan Khan & Kendall Lafranchi
NEWS: Maddie Asch, Megan Butt & Josh Love LIFESTYLES: Sabrina Baker, Elise Korngut (I), Francis Strietmann, Maddie Wall & Dahlia Zail
FEATURES: Kennedy Cook, Arya Guinney, Marie Hogan, Milo Levine (I), Savannah Malan (I) & Ethan Swope (I)
OPINION: Elissa Asch, Samantha Ferro (I), Mary Overton, Glo Robinson & Dashiell Yarnold
Cover by: Nicole Anisgard-Parra & Lucky Shulman On the Cover: In “Wake Up” Zoe Wynn chronicles the arguments surrounding later school start times.
PHOTOS: Isabella Minnie (I), Lucky Shulman & Ethan Swope GRAPHICS: Nicole Anisgard-Parra, Emma Blackburn, Samantha Ferro (I) & Emma Steinberg
COPY EDITORS: Piper Goeking & Samantha Locke DESIGN: Kennedy Cook & Lucky Shulman BUSINESS TEAM: Megan Butt, Michael Diamandakis, Calvin Rosevear & Adam Tolson
SOCIAL MEDIA: Francis Strietmann
SPORTS: Andrew Bishop, Calvin Rosevear, Miles Rubens, Adam Tolson & Zoe Wynn Tamalpais High School 700 Miller Avenue Mill Valley, CA 94941 www.thetamnews.org
Volume XII, No. V February 2017 A publication of Tamalpais High School Established 1916
ADVISOR: Jonah Steinhart PRINTER: WIGT Printing
REPORTERS: Lucy Allen, Sabrina Baker, Michael Balistreri, Griffin Barry, Grace Bell, Mackenzie Bell, Andrew Bishop, Evan Boatright, Abigail Cabana, Connor Cardinal, Griffin Chen, Birgitta Danielson, Connor Dargan, Kavi Dolasia, Julian Dreyer, Jack Ferguson, Samantha Ferro, Andrew Ferron, Ava Finn, Maxine FlasherDuzgunes, Abby Frazee, Jack Goldman, Benjamin Grant, Ephets Head, Caroline Herdman, Hannah Jeffris, Derek Jennings, Ravi Joshi-Wander, Keana Kennedy, Elise Korngut, Ivan Kovalev, Sophia Krivoruchko, Shane Lavezzo, Ginger Lazarus, Ryan Leake, Sofia Leuterio, Milo Levine, JT Lieser, Gabriela Lilien, Katherine Liviakis, Tess Lochman, Savannah Malan, Clodagh Mellett, Isabella Minnie, Cal Mitchell, Nell Mitchell, Celeste Moore Malnar, William Moye, Connor Norton, Hanna Nygard, Ben Olizar, Mary Overton, Emily Pavis, Georgia Pemberton, Evelyn Power, Alexander Price, Satori Richards-Bailey, Charlie Rosgen, Kylie Sakamoto, Dylan Sgamba, Francesca Shearer, Emily Spears, Emma Steinberg, Sarah Stone, Spencer Stone, Kyle Sullivan, Jacob Swergold, Red Thompson, Scarlett Trnka, Sam Uriarte Sanders, Sophia Venables, Benjamin Wall-Feng, Daisy Wanger, Nikola Weisman, Maxwell Williams, Aaron Young EDITORIAL BOARD: Elissa Asch, Michael Diamandakis, Danielle Egan, Marina Furbush, Piper Goeking, Arya Guinney, Raqshan Khan, Kendall Lafranchi, Connor Norton, Georgia Pemberton, Dashiell Yarnold The Tam News, a student-run newspaper publication, distributed monthly, is an open, public forum for student expression and encourages letters and article contributions. The Tam News reserves the right to edit submissions for length and content. All content decisions are made by student editors. The Tam News is published monthly, though dates may vary. The Tam News is nonprofit and any proceeds and contributions are used in the production of the newspaper publication and for journalism education. Additional information concerning contributions or advertising can be obtained by writing to the address provided above or through our website. Copyright © 2017 by The Tamalpais News. All rights reserved. Reproduction is prohibited without written consent.
The Tam News — February 2017
3
News
Student March on Town Hall On January 27 President Donald Trump signed an executive order that suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, blocked Syrian refugees indefinitely, and denied entry for citizens of seven Muslim majority countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) for 90 days. The order also temporarily blocked the reentry of U.S. green card and dual citizenship holders from these countries. On the evening of February 28, Federal District Court Judge, Ann Donnelly, granted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s request, temporarily pausing President Trump’s policy from taking effect on green card and visa holders. The case will be reviewed again in mid-February.
by Marie Hogan and Raqshan Khan
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Junior Mariam Bham, sophomore Fatima Bham, and junior Amina Nakhuda write letters outside of Mill Valley City hall, students stand over the collection of letters left on the lawn of City Hall, and students walk across the street as the march begins PHOTOS BY MARIE HOGAN
O
n January 30, 31 students staged a walkout during sixth and seventh period in protest of President Trump’s immigration ban. After gathering in front of the school, the students marched to Mill Valley’s city hall, where they wrote letters to California’s senators and met with the mayor. Seniors Jesse Gilles and Francis Strietmann, a Tam News Editor, organized the march. “We know people personally who are affected by this,” Gilles said. “I really think it’s important to not only show up for issues that are important to you...but to other people too.” Tam’s administration became aware of the march earlier in the day and sent assistant principal David Rice with the students.
4
“We’re just here to ensure that students are safe. That’s our primary responsibility,” principal J.C. Farr said. English teacher LesLeigh Golson, who helped to mediate communication between students and administrators over the march, was supportive of the students’ action. “Seeing students empowered to take action for what they believe in … is a great idea,” she said. Many students cited anger at the ban and a desire for action as reasons for their participation. “As a Muslim, I’m pretty upset and angry,” junior Aaquib Ishmael said. “Of course, I’d be very happy if this whole ban was lifted….We each have a voice to stop the evils happening in our government. Obviously it’s not going to change overnight,
February 2017 — The Tam News
but every person that has a voice makes a difference.” Others expressed shock that the ban had gone ahead. “It seems unreal, almost, that something like that could happen,” junior Joe Rico said. “I feel like the [immigration ban] goes against what America stands for.” Upon reaching city hall, the students sat in a circle outside of the building and discussed what had brought them to the march, before writing letters of protest. Mill Valley Mayor Jessica Sloan was informed of the student gathering and came to talk to the group. Sloan congratulated the participants on their involvement in civic actions and invited the organizers to a planned city council resolution in denouncement of the immigration ban. ♦
News
NEWS FLASH “Target Opening in Marin City
by Nicole Anisgard Parra Target, which will serve as the only grocery store in Marin City, is set to open in early March. It will be occupying the vacant building that housed Best Buy in the Gateway Shopping Center. The new store will occupy a space of 48,500 square feet. Target officials stated that the store would have a “flexible format” that would cater specifically to the needs of the Marin City community. Residents are hopeful that the Target will increase foot traffic and attract other businesses to the shopping center, as well as offer over 100 new jobs to the area. “I know they are trying to hire more locally [because] this store is for the community,” junior and Target employee Elise Stewart said. “That’s why [the store] is mainly clothes and groceries because those are things that [Marin City] doesn’t have or are not close by.” ♦
Decile Ranking System to be Eliminated
New Master Plan for Tam Facilities
by Francis Strietmann
by Kendall Lafranchi
A District Facilities Master Plan Town Hall Meeting was held on January 26 at Redwood High School. The Master Plan determined the scope of repairs, modernization, upgrades and needed to accommodate the district’s projected student growth. The concerns addressed in Tam’s plan were additional classroom space, teacher work spaces, and parking. Architecture firm LPA proposed a new arts center located in the current back parking lot, in addition to a three-level parking structure with a sixcourt tennis complex on top. The structure would be built where the current courts and pool parking lot currently reside. If the plan is approved in May, the school board will still need to send out a Request for Proposal, choose an architect, and get funding for the project, which could take years. ♦
For the past six years college and career specialists in the district have been working to eliminate class ranks based on grade point averages. District leaders feel that class ranks could “[put] students at a disadvantage if admissions officers at their college of choice use class rank as a screening tool,” according to an official statement on the district website. The “absence of class rank…forces [admissions departments] to take a closer, more holistic look at the students.” According to head counselor Grace Aviles, district schools have been discussing the change over the past five years and hope that the 2017 graduating class will be the last to have the system in use. The way to reach this goal is through “an agreement from the community about [the] best practice and what is best for the students,” Aviles said. ♦
Tam Partner Program with COM C
ollege of Marin (COM) began a college readiness program in collaboration with Tam High, called Compass, at the start of the second semester. The program’s goal is to improve the readiness of low income and first generation college students, according to assistant superintendent of educational services Tara Taupier and vice president of student services at COM Jonathan Eldridge. “[These students] have an opportunity to develop skills as well take a college course now in high school. It helps to prepare them for four-year college and helps develop their skills,” Principal J.C. Farr said. Compass takes place on Wednesdays and Fridays at tutorial and student participants are chosen by administration, though interested students are encouraged to join. Compass currently has enrolled 15 to 20 students, but, according to Farr, that number may increase to 60 or 80 next year.
by Zoe Wynn
“We are hoping to expand next year and continue to grow the program so that there are cohorts of students potentially,” Farr said. According to Farr, this growth will help students gain confidence and find an outlet for their interests. “Students that maybe did not believe that they were fouryear [college] material or struggling, now they have an avenue,” Farr said. “We felt that this was an area that could potentially help students…. What we want is a school that [has a] diversity of offerings we believe can match our students with their interest and their needs.” Freshman Mary Jane Davis has had a positive experience in the program. “So far….I am learning a lot of things I need to understand in order to pave my future in the right way,” she said. Davis is excited that she is learning what she needs to do to be ready for post-secondary education. “They are teaching me what I need to do to
get to college, and how colleges work…. it’s worth [missing tutorial] because I am getting a head start on things,” she said. According to Taupier, COM began this program because of the number of students who were coming into college without the proper skills. “College of Marin wished to improve college readiness and hence reduce the amount of remedial classes students who have to take upon matriculation,” Taupier said. According to Farr, COM turned to high school programs in order to save money that was being spent remediating students. “...Because what they found is when kids were enrolling into COM they had to have a lot of remediation. So rather of spending money there they decided to partner with the schools to help schools develop the skills of the students,” he said. The compass program will have no significant costs to the district, according to Taupier. ♦
The Tam News — February 2017
5
News
Marin Struggles with Ongoing Flooding by Marie Hogan
Left: The Mill Valley Police and Fire Departments discuss road closures around Tam on December 15. Below: Students ride their bikes on flooded and closed Camino Alto on January 12. Photos by Ethan Swope
W
hen king tides and heavy rain combined to cause flooding and road closures in January, it came as no surprise to residents of Mill Valley. “The flooding goes back for as long as we’ve recorded the information,” said former editor of the Historical Society Review and long time Mill Valley resident Joan Murray, who wrote an article about the history of Mill Valley flooding for the Review in 2006. AP environmental science teacher John Ginsburg attributed flooding to a combination of floodplains, tides, and periods of heavy rainfall. “[Along with the floodplain] we’re dealing with tides, and the flooding is always at its worst when we have our highest tides, king tides,” Ginsburg said. “And so the worst scenario is for extremely heavy rains at the same time we have extremely high tides,” This January there were several instances of flooding caused by a combination of king tides and rain. Flooding frequently results in road closures and damage to property. Although road closures are sure to exacerbate traffic issues, they’re often necessary in order to protect drivers from the dangerous driving conditions flooding creates. Mill Valley city government directs large amounts of resources and attention to addressing flooding, and several improvements in flood prevention and protocol have been made in response to major flooding in the 1950s, 1980s, and mid-2000s. These include the construction or flood prevention infrastructure, sandbag availability, and the creation of email and text message
6
based flood alerts. According to Mill Valley zone engineer Scott McMorrow, concrete and earthen channels were constructed in the 1960s in order to prevent flooding in the Coyote Creek area. “Prior to the [concrete and earthen channels] being built, there was periodic flooding along Coyote Creek that impacted homes and businesses,” he said. “Subsequent to the building of this Project in the 1960s, many more homes and businesses have been built in Tam Valley. To date, there has been no significant flooding along Coyote Creek.” These protections, combined with increased demand for housing in Mill Valley, have led to development in flood zone areas, putting larger areas of the town at risk. “We’ve put ourselves in a precarious position, because the natural cycle of those rivers is to jump out of the banks during heavy rains, and now we have put our own developments on those very banks,” Ginsburg said. Both Ginsburg and Murray added that long term solutions to the flooding are unlikely. “The fix that everyone is hoping can happen, you know, ‘why don’t they just build the road taller,’ or something like that, those are fixes that the cost is in the many billions of dollars kind of range [for the Bay Area],” Ginsburg said. “… And what
February 2017 — The Tam News
you have to keep in mind is that if you’re going to try to keep out the bay, if you have any break in your levy or your pump stations or your higher roads or whatever, it doesn’t take much for a little crack in that system, in that fix, to get opened up.” Murray said residents often expect that more can be done than is possible. These false expectations inspired her article of the history of flooding in Mill Valley. “I was concerned that we have a lot of new residents who had no idea that we have had a history of flooding,” Murray said. “And they seemed to expect that the city was going to take care of everything, and that’s just not possible.” Flooding in January, for example, forced changes to the Bolinas bus schedule. Those taking the bus home had to leave early, missing class, to avoid road closures. Flooding doesn’t just affect the commutes of students. According to Murray, it often prevents public works employees, many of whom live outside of Mill Valley, from getting to work. “At one time, our public works people lived in town, and if there was a problem, they came,” Murray said. “Now, of course, we have firefighters that are on duty all the time, and we may have police officers on duty, but that’s it...so getting [public works officials] here, and through potentially flooded areas [can be difficult].” With climate change advancing, the flooding is expected to worsen. “As you increase ocean waters you increase evaporation, and that inputs more moisture in the air and that inputs more precipitation,” Ginsburg said. “And then, if you have higher tides, because the water level has come up in the bay, you’re combining, that’s a double whammy. You’re getting extra rain and extra high tides simultaneously. That’s going to lead to more flooding.” “[The city is] doing the best they can, and there’s a lot more focus by the city on flooding,” Murray said. “But there are going to be things that homeowners are just going to have to come to grips with, like, they live in a floodplain.” ♦
Lifestyles by Nell Mitchell
GRAPHIC BY FRANCIS STRIETMANN
Molly Nicoll arrives to teach English midway through the school year at Valley High School. She’s young, eager to teach, and desperate to connect with her students. From Ivy League bound Abigail Cress and hippie Calista Broderick, to delinquent Damon Flint and “pretty boy” Ryan Harbinger, the clichéd first impressions of Molly’s students drive her desire to discover their real personalities. Although she feels she is connecting with these teens on a deeper level, she has barely scratched the surface. Lindsey Lee Johnson’s debut novel, “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth” takes place in our very own Mill Valley. Valley High, characterized by its famous clock tower, beautiful campus and “bunk football team,” is based on Tam High. Johnson, who graduated from Tam in 1998 and worked locally as a tutor at Sage Educators from 2009 to 2014, depicts a shocking, yet impressively accurate, portrait of life as a teenager in Mill Valley, at Tam High. “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth” is more than just the story of a single tragic incident in high school, but is an in-depth
analysis of the entire community. The story is told, integrating social media and using familiar slang, in chapters alternating from the perspectives of six different students, interspersed with a Ms. Nicoll’s outsider perspective. Each teen is portrayed at home, at school, with friends, adults and alone. They face different challenges—drugs, secret romances, cheating—and have different situations at home—helicopter parents, abusive parents, absent parents. The characters internal commentaries as they handle their individual struggles reveal them to be complex, multilayered people. Johnson’s ability to capture these intricacies of character is mesmerizing, as is her depiction of the community and setting as a whole. Mill Valley is as much the setting of the story as it is a character in the novel. “Mill Valley” is frequently mentioned by every character, almost as a footnote to any situation that arises. Sometimes a complaint, sometimes a compliment, but always a statement about the impact that the culture has in shaping the people who live here. Johnson makes it clear that affluence, entitlement, high expectations and harsh judgments are a factor in everything from a party gone wild, to a death that no one can forget. To anyone who lives in Mill Valley, “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth” is a must read. The representation is not the most flattering, nor is it free from flaws. There were frustrating overgeneralizations and irritating exaggerations, but the experience of reading a rising bestseller about our everyday reality is captivating and the chance to reflect on the culture of our hometown is not to be missed. ♦
The Tam News — February 2017
7
Lifestyles
The Movement That Crosse
“What would have normally been a flight filled with tired businessmen and screaming babies was instead an uplifting start to what would become the best trip of my life.”
W
by Arya Guinney
ashington D.C.: ETHICS SCHMETHICS,” “FAKE TAN, FAKE MAN.” And my personal favorite; “I can’t believe I still have to protest this shit” from an elderly woman. These are just a few signs I saw at the Women’s March on Washington. Standing on Independence Street, you didn’t need to ask to know everyone there was feeling the same emotions: courage, indignation, and strength. In a country where red states overpower the blue ones, this was a place to celebrate the common sentiment that women nationwide were feeling. When longtime feminist activist Gloria Steinem reflected upon our nation’s history at the rally, not a word was spoken in the crowd. When filmmaker Michael Moore called the people to action, the excitement level rose as people hollered and applauded. When singer/songwriter Janelle Monae commanded to “SAY THEIR
8
NAME” with the families of black victims killed by police, indignance grew. Everyone I met was kind, empathetic, and passionate. What would have normally been a flight filled with tired businessmen and screaming babies, was instead an uplifting start to what would become the best trip of my life—80 percent of the flight being women and most of the men traveling were headed to the rally as well. The metro was packed with activists ages ranging from age three to 93. The march itself was flooded with women sporting pink “pussy” hats and brandishing signs for hours on end, despite the close proximity in which we stood. While the exact number people who attended the march is unknown, estimates reached one million. As comedian Aziz Ansari pointed out on Saturday Night Live following the event, presidents don’t change history, groups of angry people do. ♦
February 2017 — The Tam News
O
by Birgitta Danielson
akland: When I was four, I went to a protest against the Iraq War with my mother. There is a picture of me, standing by a sign that says “No Killing in my Name,” on my mother’s fridge. I don’t think that it’s our sign, but I like the sentiment anyway. I reflected on this when I couldn’t walk ten feet without seeing a young child at the Oakland Women’s March. Part of the reason that children were so well represented was undoubtedly the early start at 10 a.m., but I think this was more a result of the fact that this march was focused on the future. I met a woman who’s been marching since the 60s and told me about marching with her children. She was going to meet her grandchildren after the march. I saw girl scouts chanting, and babies on their parents’ backs. Seeing the youth turnout made me hopeful. It means that there will be an entire generation that is political and want to make this country better, people who will bring their own kids to marches. While I know that the Bay Area is already too over political for this to really signal something new, the fact that marches occurred all over the country, and the entire world, indicates that apathy won’t always rule the day. ♦
Lifestyles
sed the Country: Our Stories an Francisco: I boarded the ferry with six other friends, all dressed in pink and adorned with signs. I could feel the energy while making my way onto the ferry. The never ending crowd of people boarding was a sea of pink: pink hats, pink clothes, pink everything. After walking to the civic center from the Ferry Building, the sea of pink soon turned into a sea of umbrellas. Already soaking wet, we began our march. Peaceful chants filled the air: “We won’t go away, welcome to your first day” and “Hey Ho, Trump’s got to go.” The rain brought a sense of misery but with it, also one of unity, yes we were cold, but the weather wouldn’t stop this crowd. With frozen feet and hands, we ran with all the energy we had. I took down my umbrella to soak in the rain and dance in the victory of completing the march. ♦
O
by Maddie Wall
akland: All day I was surrounded by people that were so happy and excited to be a part of a movement. Despite the name being “Women’s March,” there was a near equal amount of men. To see this many people come together for a cause was astonishing. People of all ages, genders, and races were fighting for our nation. When the march started, it was slow, mostly even standstill. Occasionally there would be an outburst of cheering and applause from the mass of happy people. It was so powerful to be involved in something so big. It was peaceful, cheerful, and most of all, it was strong. When I made the decision to attend the march, I didn’t think that there would be such a positive vibe, but that was the only vibe I got. Near the end of the march, I saw a black female police officer standing on the edge of the street. I approached her and asked her what she thought of the march. She said that if she didn’t have work, she most definitely would have been marching with everyone. She was the only police officer who allowed me to talk to her. The six other officers I asked, most of which were white males, said that they “weren’t allowed to.” Maybe that speaks to who is really being affected by this new president. ♦
S
by Elissa Asch
an Francisco: Walking through the San Francisco streets as one person in a crowd of thousands, all clad in “pussy” hats and sporting witty signs, you can feel yourself being written into history textbooks. Participating in the San Francisco Women’s March was not only a cathartic experience for those who have been deeply troubled by the past few weeks, but also an empowering symbol of hope to people who needed it, including me. It was a sign that despite the hateful rhetoric that has permeated our White House, the citizens in our country have the ability to display their defiance, and nations around the world support our cause. The fact that this was not a singular protest or march, but rather the beginning of four years that the American people plan to fight for their rights and the rights of their fellow citizens, was immensely reassuring. Even now as Trump’s Muslim Ban is protested adamantly around the country, it is clear that “we the people” will not rest on our laurels, we will continue to fight, and we will not give up. ♦
The Tam News — February 2017
9
PHOTO BY FRANCIS STRIETMANN
S
by Ginger Lazarus
Lifestyles
Supermarket or Restaurant? Tam Tam Ramen Pushes the Boundaries
J
by Dahlia Zail
oining Mill Valley’s culinary scene is the new ramen restaurant Tam Tam Ramen. The restaurant is a collaboration between Whole Foods and Genji, a Philadelphiabased company that operates sushi bars in over 190 Whole Foods across the country. This restaurant is their first venture selling food together outside of the traditional Whole Foods store. The Whole Foods connection is easily recognizable from the second you walk in the doors. The grab-and-go shelves lining the left wall hold many Whole Foods products including drinks, snacks, and togo meals. Unfortunately, the supermarket vibes carry through to the restaurant, with bright fluorescent lights and vibrant green decor. In fact, it felt like I was eating a sit-down dinner in the middle of a Whole Foods Market. The menu, which is dominated by ramen, as it should be, offers six types of
10
ramen bowls, ranging in price from $8.99 to $14.99. In addition to the ramen bowls, the restaurant offers four varieties of bao sliders, Asian steamed white buns with some type of filling, which are two for $7.00, as well as some “small bites,” including grilled edamame and pan fried gyoza, a Japanese dumpling. I ordered at the counter, where you can choose between the to-go option or eat in. We chose to eat in, which unfortunately meant some time spent standing, due to the lack of adequate seating. It wasn’t even a busy night, yet we had to wait about 10 minutes for one of the tables to open up for my group of four. We started with the pork bao sliders. The sauce was tasty, but the buns weren’t fluffy like they should be, and the meat a little bland. Then came the ramen bowls. For what you’re paying, you sure do get a big enough portion. The large ceramic bowls were filled to the brim with fragrant broth, noodles, and toppings. Between the four of us, we ordered half the varieties of ramen on the menu. The Yuzu chicken-chicken broth with fresh noodles and chachu roasted chickenwas bland from the watery broth to the tasteless chicken. The Tam Tam Ramen-rich tahini spicy tonkstuku broth with ground pork and
February 2017 — The Tam News
fresh noodles-lacked spice. When ordering we requested “the spiciest one on the menu,” and this bowl certainly did not meet those expectations. In terms of flavor however, the broth was perfectly seasoned and was creamy with a hint of sesame. The noodles were cooked well, with a little bit of an eggy chew. The best of the three we ordered was definitely the Original tonkotsu. The soup was creamy and rich and the spice level was just what we wanted-hot but not overpowering. The flavorful broth was addictive, especially with the texture of the noodles as well as the variety of the toppings, including roast pork, black mushroom, and seaweed. The Original Tonkotsu was the perfect comfort food and definitely a bowl of ramen worth coming back for. Mill Valley has been longing for a ramen restaurant, and Tam Tam ramen has come to quench our ramen thirst. Although it feels more like a supermarket than a restaurant, it is well priced and definitely a good, warm comfort food during the rainy season. But in terms of a cold treat-don’t be fooled by the mochi rip off price on the menu—one mochi for two dollars?! Just buy a pack of six at Trader Joe’s for as little as $3.49! ♦
GRAPHICS BY GINGER LAZARUS AND NICOLE ANISGARD PARRA
Features
The Tam News — February 2017
11
Features
I
t’s six in the morning and a loud sound erupts in junior Madeline Murr’s bedroom. Outside, it is still completely dark, and in that moment all she wants to do is crawl under the covers and fall blissfully back to sleep. But for Murr and many students like her, the day has already begun. She pulls on her clothes, makes her breakfast, and walks out the door, all half asleep. She braves the frosty morning and a freezing cold car. Murr pulls into a prime parking spot at 7:00 a.m. and makes her way to leadership class. Around her, other students do the same. We all know that forcing ourselves to wake up early is miserable. What many may not be aware of, however, is just how harmful sleep deprivation can be. Not only should teenagers be getting between 8 and 10 hours of sleep every night, but they should be sleeping in accordance with their circadian rhythm, or body clock. Teenagers’ circadian rhythms make them stay up late at night and sleep later in the morning. Even if students get the recommended amount of sleep, that sleep might be of poor quality if they are doing it at the wrong time. Unfortunately, the default school schedule is primed to contradict teenagers circadian rhythms.
“Your biological clocks are different. You wake up later; you go to sleep later. The school system is currently built for the adults and not for the students,” assistant principal David Rice. Overwhelmed with school, sports, and extracurriculars, students often let sleep slip down their list of priorities, ultimately putting their bodies at risk. For students like junior Eddie Schultz, getting the recommended number of hours of sleep, let alone high quality sleep, seems impossible. “I get six hours, maybe six and a half if I’m lucky,” Schultz said. Schultz has practice everyday before and after school for his club team and finds it hard to bal-
start times for all students. The change in school times only pushes back the end of the school day between 15 and 50 minutes. Every Seattle high school, with only one exception, begins at 8:45 AM and ends at 3:15 PM. “The changes are a culmination of a years long campaign by parents, teachers and sleep scientists, who advocated for changing school start times to better match teens’ biological clocks,” wrote the Seattle Times. Maida Chen, a doctor at the Seattle Children’s Hospital, stated in a video on the Seattle Public Schools website, “It makes sense that we are changing our high school times to match it with their biology so that they are awake during school and that we give them the opportunity to sleep a little longer in the morning, which is really when their bodies are craving more sleep.” Marin schools are considering similar measures. Mill Valley Middle School (MVMS) changed the start time from 8:15 to 8:40 this year. MVMS student Emma Bowser can tell the difference from the start time last year. “I’m getting more work done this year [in class and at home] than I did last year,” Bowser said. “Last year, I used to be really tired when walking into class and I couldn’t stay focused. This year I feel much more rested and I can stay focused easier.” However, Bowser says she isn’t a fan of the schedule change as a whole. “On Fridays and Mondays, we get out 25 minutes later than we did last year. Wednesdays used to be our early day, but now we get out one
“The school system is currently built for the adults and not for the students.” -Assistant Principal David Rice
12
ance it with sleep and schoolwork. “On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have four AP’s straight and so that really sucks [because] I have three hours of homework right before [practice],” he said. In an attempt to remedy the cycles of sleep deprivation students get stuck in and better match school schedules to circadian rhythms, many schools are proposing later school start times. In the 2016-2017 school year, Seattle public schools enacted a later
February 2017 — The Tam News
Features
hour and six minutes later this year, which is upsetting because it doesn’t give me much time to relax or do homework before my after school sports,” Bowser said. Drake High School is also considering a later start time. Community members there have formed a bell schedule committee to advocate for such a change. Drake Counselor Sheila Souder is on the committee, which hopes to push school start time to 8:30 a.m. “Several of the teachers and counselors started talking [about a later start time] and we went to [Principal] Liz Seabury to get approval to begin a committee and research options,” said Sounder. The role of the Bell Schedule Committee is to evaluate research of student sleep schedules and patterns to make a schedule that better matches teens health and performance in school, according to Souder. Regardless of changes to start time, ending time at Drake will stay the same. “[School] would end at approximately the same time. Some days earlier and some later, with no day ending later than 3:35,” Souder said. “The schedule is working to accommodate students who have to get dropped off earlier and who have sports after school. Athletics would not be impacted by end times of the proposed schedules. Parents could still have the same drop off, as the cafeteria and library will be open,” Souder said. In addition to classes starting early, many Tam students are either arriving before classes start due to leadership, sports, or simply to find a parking spot. If Drake’s schedule was implemented at Tam, students would be able to sleep 45 minutes later and would be more awake and alert both at school and driving to school. Schultz has morning practice for his
swim team twice a week. “Morning practice starts at 5:30 and it’s in Kentfield,” Schultz said. “[I wake up at] 4:45 a.m.” Schultz said he would love for school to start later, giving him the extra sleep and relaxation needed to finish homework. “I would be able to go to practice and then I would be able to go to sleep earlier the night before and I would have time to do homework before class….if [morning practice] was pushed back it would be so much better,” Schultz said. Many students get to school early regardless of whether they need to be at school before start time, so as to find prime parking. “It was painful the past two years, I won’t lie,” Murr said of her zero period. “But it’s not that big of a deal, especially because I have to wake up [early] to park anyways.” Most Tam upperclassmen and some sophomores drive to school, contributing to a much maligned parking problem. As a result of the lack of spaces many students get to school at 7:15 a.m. or even earlier, sacrificing their sleep in order to get a parking spot close to the school. Souder has seen the negative effects of sleep deprivation on students in her job as a Drake counselor. “All of the research supports and strongly encourages later start times. As a counselor, I have seen a drastic increase in student anxiety in the past five years. Students tell me they are exhausted. The Healthy Kids Survey rates “not getting enough sleep” as a top reason to miss school. I could list twenty more things,” Souder said. She notices how tired students are at the beginning of the day and how their energy often changes even a half an hour into the school day. “Often times, when I do classroom presentations through a whole day, I notice a marked difference in the engagement
The Tam News — February 2017
13
Features
at 8:00 a.m. versus 8:30 or later,” she said. Tam High social studies teacher Sharilyn Scharf has the same experience in her classroom. “Whenever I teach a first or a fifth [period class], kids aren’t as awake as they are second period or later,” she said. “They normally start perking up and becoming more engaged around 9 a.m.…. that first half hour to an hour can almost be wasted because kids aren’t yet ready to engage in the way you want them to engage. It’s not their fault.” Both academic performance and standardized test scores are correlated closely with the amount of sleep that students get. Sleep deprivation leads to cognitive deficits, including worsened memory and the loss of up to two years of cognitive development, according to a study by Tel Aviv University. In a famous example of the impact a schedule change can have on performance, M i n n e s o t a ’s Edina High School changed the start times from 7:15 a.m. to 8:30. The SAT scores of the top 10 percent of scorers rose by over 200 points, to an average score of 1500 out of 1600. Sleep deprivation also presents dangers when combined with early morning driving. Compared to drivers who have slept eight hours a night, those operating on six to seven hours are twice as likely to be involved in a crash. When hours of sleep drops to five, the risk is increased by four to five times, according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Upwards of 100,000 crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-
tration. These crashes cause an estimated 1,500 casualties annually. Agreeing with Scharf, Souder, Rice believes that Tam students would do better with a later start time. “There is a lot of research to back a later start day for students,” he said. Most parents need to be able to drop their kids off at school before heading to work, and the current start time is designed with that in mind. Critics argue that delaying the school day could disrupt parents’ mornings. If changes to the morning schedule led to later school days as a whole, they could also affect sports practices and other after school extracurriculars. As much as it
later as well, mitigating the benefits of such a change. “Because of the time our school gets out, I know if we pushed it back then we would get out of school late, and we would be staying out later at night instead of waking up in the morning,” she said. Aware of these concerns, Scharf has created a schedule where school starts at nine each morning and ends only five minutes later each day except for Monday, when it would end 50 minutes later. The schedule is built to not affect sports practices and other after school extracurriculars. She began drafting a plan a few years ago, as she got inspired from a unit she was teaching, “In my psychology class we do a unit on consciousness and sleep and I just started finding all of this research on how the sleep patterns for teenagers are all very different and if you stick to the current schedule we have it is actually very detrimental to their physical health but also their performance in school,” Scharf’s schedule contains an 8 a.m. start for teachers to give them an hour to work and collaborate. “It could be used for staff meetings it could be used for teachers to individually to work with other teachers to plan and collaborate. We would have more [time to plan]. Currently we have one meeting a week after school and any other time you may meet with teachers is during
“That first half hour or two can almost be wasted because kids arent yet ready to engage in the way you want them to engage.”
14
- Sharilyn Scharf
would be great to sleep in, many students expect that the compromises would be too great. “I think it would be nice [for school to start later] but I think we also have to consider how it affects when school ends,” Schultz said. “Especially for me, when we get out late at 3:25 on two days of the week and I’m ten minutes late to practice which is not good but it’s not the end of the world. If it was later than that then it really wouldn’t be great.” Murr also believes that the later start time might result in students going to sleep
February 2017 — The Tam News
Features
your prep period,” she said. Scharf said her schedule saves time by shortening each class period by ten minutes. She is confident that this wouldn’t affect her classes but wonders if other teachers might be opposed, “As a social studies teacher, I feel like I can teach anything I teach in 90 minutes, in 80 minutes. But in math and foreign language it might be a different story,” she said. “There might be some teachers who are like ‘you know I need those ten minutes.’ It is 20 minutes per week in a class so I could see some teachers saying, ‘I can barely teach what I’m teaching now in a class, I can’t give up those 20 minutes.’” However, Scharf sees the goal to improve the health of all Tam students as the top priority. She knows that teens need more sleep than they are getting, “[Waking up early] is not in the rhythm of a teen circadian rhythm. [Improvement of schoolwork] is the goal but it is also about mental health and stress. I’d like to see my students feel better,” she said. “…. I hope it would reduce all sorts of problem in terms of stress.” So far Scharf’s plan has only been shown to a select few. “I have sent this to the principal and I have sent this to the teacher leaders,” Scharf said. “...If I see some momentum I would be happy to sit down with the principal, our admin, the
board. It ultimately has to be approved by the school board.” Although Scharf is hopeful that the plan can gain traction, she doesn’t think it will go into effect next year. “The wheels of bureaucracy move extremely slowly,” she said. At this point Rice is supportive of Scharf’s plan but acknowledges that there would be details to be worked out. “My initial reaction is yes, based on what I have seen, but there are a lot of logistics to figure out,” he said. According to Rice, he and the rest of the admin cannot change the schedule. “The schedule comes from the union….they are the ones that will approve the schedule or not. We just adhere to it. It’s not my decision if we would implement it or not,” he said. Scharf’s schedule and the overarching concept of pushing back school start times would benefit students and their sleep schedules. As of now, there is no plan to implement this schedule nor any other. Ultimately, the interest of students and other community members are necessary for the schedule changes to gain traction. Consider the benefits, but also the disadvantages. Does one outweigh the other? ♦
The Tam News — February 2017
15
Opinion/Editorial
O
Are Federal Student Loans Necessary?
ne of the most pertinent issues discussed during the presidential election was the rising cost of education. Senator Bernie Sanders got the ball rolling when he announced his plans for government-funded free college. This proposal had former, current, and future college students shaking with excitement. The average student debt burden is $30,100, according to the Institute for College Access and Success, and can only be expected to increase with the rising cost of college. While free universal post-secondary education sounds good in theory, it would actually tack on close to $62.6 billion annually to our already massive national debt, according to the Department of Education. So how do we make college more affordable without cutting federal spending in other essential areas? One less discussed solution is grounded in the basic principle of supply and demand. Private and public universities alike can only charge a premium for their educations because of the guarantee of federal student loans. This means that the same product which allows an individual to attend an expensive university, federal loans, is also a key cost variable. As the government continues to grant loans to virtually anyone who asks for them, with nearly 94 percent of undergraduate students granted loans (according to the New York Times) institutions
by Dashiell Yarnold
will always have students who can “afford” to pay the large sums for a diploma. Of the loans granted, 78 percent come from the federal government (according to collegeboard.com). Private lenders, especially for-profit organizations, are far less likely to distribute loans because of their tendency to assess risk (how likely they are to be paid back). Now imagine a scenario in which the government decided to end their student loan program. Colleges would be forced to drop their prices to represent the actual market, or what the average family could afford to pay. Although there would be an intermediary period (say two to five years) in which many wouldn’t have access to a higher education due to the lack of loans in an unbalanced market, the long term benefits of a transition to the free market would outweigh the short term drawbacks. While subjecting students to an intermediary period seems cruel and inhumane, the current system has provided injustices to an underprivileged class year after year for the past century. A transition in which federal student loans were discontinued would create a system in which the cost of the college would be directly proportionate to the quality of education. While some would question whether abolishing federal loans would leave the lower class vastly uneducated—as government assistance is need-based, skeptics should take note of the great amount of private grants and scholarship funds
equipped to solve this issue. In 2007, over $2.9 billion were provided in private scholarship funding according to a finaid. org analysis. Certainly, the few whose accolades nor socioeconomic background could grant them college attendance would face the burden of private loans. Through a Google search, though, one can see interest rates on loans from private institutions could be established at around the current rate on federal loans (3.66 percent). This offers, what I believe, to be a more fair alternative to our current system, in which those who would traditionally enter the world with close to $30,000 in debt, would find an education that they could afford no matter their financial situation. Freeing the graduates of this horrible burden would allow for further innovation as greater numbers of students would feel free to pursue careers based on their passions, not future earnings. As time has progressed, the value of a college degree has decreased, and even more surprising, 51 percent of college grads are in jobs that don’t require a degree, according to a study done by CareerBuilder. Although your return on investment for an education largely depends on your degree, this means that many people who come from a disadvantaged background are taking on an enormous debt burden without a logical reason to. The playing field is supposed to be level, and while government loans aim to provide that, they only work to perpetuate inequality. As the United States enters the next chapter of our history, we face many issues. While a free market approach to student loans might not be the end-all be-all solution to the student debt crisis that many of us are looking for, it certainly offers a more egalitarian platform for preserving the American Dream. ♦ GRAPHIC BY EMMA BLACKBURN
Heard in the Tam Hallways 16
“it’s been a desert down there for 18 years.”
-Library February 2017 — The Tam News
by the Opinion Staff
“I’ve thought of murdering someone but I’m way too pretty for prison.”
“I ran over a dog in my car, so now I’m a vegetarian.”
-Student Center
-Gus
Opinion/Editorial
O
Is This the Muslim Ban?
n January 27, President Donald Trump approved an executive order that suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, blocked Syrian refugees indefinitely, and denied entry for citizens of seven Muslim majority countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) for 90 days. The order also temporarily blocked the reentry of U.S. green card and dual citizenship holders from these countries. During Trump’s campaign, when he first spoke of a “total and complete shut-down of Muslims entering the United States,” I figured it was just another outrageous, fear mongering promise made by a political contender. As he continued to talk of a Muslim registry and encourage Islamophobia, I held on to the belief of our nation’s unity. Not only is President Trump saying that banning immigration from select Muslim majority countries is “not a Muslim ban,” but he is blind to the hypocrisy of his entire proclamation. The barring of immigration is as unAmerican as you can get. The United States is a beacon for those fleeing religious persecution, founded as it was upon the principles of religious freedom. Denying entry for people from a certain region, country, or of a certain nationality, race, or religion goes against the foundation this nation was built on. In the name of national security, a shameful and dark history of laws banning immigrants based on their countries of origin, such as laws that blocked immi-
“If you don’t give me an A, you’re going to hell.”
-Math Building
by Raqshan Khan
gration from China, Japan, and at one point all Asian, haunts our nation. Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration may not be THE “Muslim ban,” but it is an evolved version of that idea. By changing the label from a religious ban to an immigration ban, Trump found a loophole to continue to promote the Islamophobia he pushed during the election. Trump also went on the Christian television show “The Brody File” and openly stated that he plans to give priority to Christian refugees that are fleeing war torn regions such as Syria. During the interview, Trump said, “If you were a Muslim you could come in [to the United States], but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible and the reason that was so unfair...And I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them.” This statement is logically and statistically flawed. Muslims made up about 87 percent of Syria’s total population and about 98 percent of Syrian refugees, while Christians were 10 percent of the population and 1 percent of refugees, as of Jan. 12, according to the CIA World Factbook. Due to the proportion of refugees coming from Syria, the total number of Muslims admitted are bound to be higher than the number of Christian refugees. Yes, Christian persecution is happening, but deciding that persecuted Muslims are less worthy of help is religious discrimination. It isn’t a matter of which refugees deserve more help, but of helping those who come to us in need.
*Looks at picture of Kim K and Trump* “Look, It’s the leader of our country standing next to the president.”
On January 30, hours after Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates announced that the department would not defend Trump’s controversial executive order in the case, Trump fired her. The State Department’s letter of dissent stated that the ban “will have little practical effect in improving public safety.” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer responded, “The president has a very clear vision...If somebody has a problem with that agenda that does call into question whether or not they should continue in that post.” Yates being fired is in violation with state officials contracts, which give them the right to write letters of dissent without risking their positions, and is a direct contradiction to our democracy. Without opposing opinions and voices fueling the conversations and debates, we lose the foundation our government is based upon. I understand the safety concerns. I want to keep our immigration process safe, but it’s the method I have a problem with. Not only has Trump risen via the rhetoric of a “Muslim ban” that has been, still is, and will continue to be, widely used, but these types of discriminatory bans of immigrants have a large impact on how American Muslims will be treated. This step, however small it may seem to some, if accepted without resistance, opens a door for the Trump administration to take more extreme actions against Muslims in the future and plays into the hands of extremist recruiters. I don’t want to blindly protest any new policy this administration puts forth, but I am grateful to live in the United States at a time when people are not afraid to voice their concerns. President Trump might not be done enacting new and discriminatory policies, but I know we are not done standing up for the America we believe in. ♦ GRAPHIC BY RAQSHAN KHAN
“It’s so cold I can’t tell if people are breathing or vaping.”
-Pool -Science Building The Tam News — February 2017
17
Opinion/Editorial
F
EDITORIAL: Operation Breakthrough
ifty years ago, as racial tensions divided the nation, Tam High was no exception. From 1964 to 1968, more than 100 American cities were swept by race riots. Faced by this violent expression of hopelessness many members of the Unites States’ northern white community drew back from its reformist stance on civil rights. It was during this period, in 1967, that Tam students experienced a race riot in their own library. The blood drawn between black and white students called attention to the racial tension and segregation at Tam. In response, an ad hoc committee of concerned students called for Operation Breakthrough, a day to address racial divides. On February 27, 1967 all classes were dismissed, and the student body broke up into small groups and participated in an effort to find solutions to the “self imposed racial segregations and tensions.” While the day itself called for understanding and
empathy towards fellow students, the next five decades have not been as successful as hoped. While there are no recent instances of racial violence at Tam, there are still persistent racial disparities. Our education system takes falls short when we don’t take into account the different stages of education our students have received before entering Tam. In the Sausalito Marin City School District, the Sausalito-Willow Creek charter school reportedly received disproportionate funding to the detriment of Marin City’s Martin Luther King Jr. Bayside Academy (MLK), according to the California’s Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team. In 2014, Tam African-American students’ GPAs averaged a full point less than the school average. In addition, black students are far less likely to fulfill UC/CSU “A-G” requirements than their white and
Crackin’ and Slackin’
18
February 2017 — The Tam News
Asian counterparts, according to WASC data. Participation of students of color is also lacking when it comes to electives and extracurriculars. At The Tam News, we frequently acknowledge our lack of diversity on staff. Although our staff and our advisor have taken small steps to reach out to students of color, we are still stuck with our status quo and need to do more. One possiblity might be to work with Willow Creek and MLK students to start sister student publications and create a pathway into Tam’s journalism program. Similar successful elective programs are packed with white Mill Valley students. This taints these opportunities with a sense that they are unwelcoming to students of color. Instead of watching this play out, we, as a school, have a responsibility to incorporate students of color in high profile programs. There is a pattern that still exists on campus. Although as a community we have taken strides towards racial equality, there are persistent and systematic barriers for black students’ success at Tam, issues that many students don’t acknowledge. ”Some people may not realize how much race/ethnicity can impact your dayto-day life...I am afraid that conversations regarding race relations and diversity are a nuisance for students who cannot relate– and I understand that many students cannot relate,” senior Anna Okada, co-president of the Students of Color club, said. All students need to think about these issues; administration and groups like Students of Color need to provide the framework for such dialogue. While individual students mean well, race is such a complicated issue that people, and students need direction that will steer them in a positive, constructive direction to navigate conversation surrounding race. Talking about race is scary, and it’s easy to fall back in the comfort zone of de facto segregation, but we have a responsibility to the former Tam students who came together 50 years ago to face this problem. Most importantly, we have a responsibility to ourselves to open this discussion and look for solutions. ♦
Sports Opinion
Selective Spirit by Zoe Wynn dunk,” she said. “People just go to see a show... Most girls can’t dunk.” Despite this, Bowser is still disappointed. “At this point I think it’s kind of sad that I’m not surGRAPHIC BY EMMA STEINBERG prised by it,” she said. This isn’t to say that the boys’ team isn’t supportive of the girls. “The guys support us a lot when they are at our games. sk a student about Tam school spirit at They have to get there early for their games basketball games and they’ll probably but when they are there, they are cheering describe the atmosphere as electric. Masses for us,” Bowser said. of people line up at the door waiting to get There are varying views on the boys’ their hands stamped so they can run onto basketball team about this issue. “Perthe bleachers where they will remain rivet- sonally, I don’t think there’s a reason.” ed for the next four quarters. The bleachers Haynesworth said. “Talking talent and the are fully packed, fans are screaming chants performance of boys’ varsity and girls’ and jumping up and down in unison. varsity, I think the varsity girls are very Boys’ basketball games are like this, good and they have what it takes to have but the girls’ games aren’t. Fewer students as many people at their games as we do at show up to support the team, and the atmo- our games,” . sphere is diminished. For years, there has We also see this in professional sports. been a major gap between the attendance at “Whenever you think of a NBA team or boys’ games and girls’ games. professional basketball in general, you “You can see the difference on how think of the Warriors or the Cavaliers. They many people show up,” girls’ varsity bas- don’t really show girls games,” freshman ketball player and junior Ruby Bowser varsity basketball player Olivia Ali said. said. “People just get there early to get Senior Sam Spiegelman only attends seats for the boys’ game.” games because of the large number of stuThis trend is apparent to not just the dents who are going to cheer on the boys. girls’ team but also players on the boys’ “I really only go to the games because it is team. “I can definitely see a big difference. really fun with all of the people there and Our coach says we should be at the game more people go to guys’ basketball games,” at six to get our minds right and we can Spiegelman said. Senior Sabrina Haechler tell that there are a lot more people at our believes that dunking does play into the games than girls’ varsity [games],” varsity excitement of these games. “When Noah player Noah Haynesworth said. [Haynesworth] dunked at San Rafael evThere are a multitude of potential rea- eryone was super hyped about that but girls sons for this gap in attendance. A boys’ var- just don’t do that,” she said. sity player who requested anonymity said Although there are more fans at the there is only one explanation: boys’ games boys’ games the girls remain tied for first have better quality basketball. in the Marin County Athletic League “There’s nothing behind it; someone (MCAL) with 9-1 a record. The boys trail always thinks there’s something behind closely behind the girls’ at 7-3. it. The quality of boys’ games is different. The girls’ basketball team is the deAnybody watching it knows it’s true,” he fending MCAL champions from the 2015said. Bowser acknowledges this perspec- 2016 season. This was the first time in Tam tive. “I think it just depends on who can history that the girls’ basketball team won
A
MCALs, yet the girls’ team still went underappreciated. “When we won [the championships] and the boys lost in playoffs, people would come up to me and be like ‘did you see the boys’ team lost? How did you guys do?’” Bowser said. Lee believes that people don’t care about as much their team. “[Some people] know we won the championship but that’s all they know. They don’t know how we play or when we play,” she said. Bowser is also upset by the fact that the Tam cheerleading team only cheers at boys’ games. “Cheerleaders don’t even cheer for us,” she said. “[Cheerleaders are just] putting on a show for [the boys’ team] which is totally sexualizing cheerleaders.” Junior cheerleader Raven Twilling understands the frustration from the girls’ team. “I wish that we could cheer for both teams, and I know that every girl on the team feels the same way,” Twilling said. As far as Athletic Director (AD) Christina Amoroso has remembered, the boys’ have always had the 7:30 game time slot. “As far as I know, the 7:30 slot the boys’ have played there since I have been AD. This is my ninth year.” Amoroso said. Amoroso knows that there have been some discussions on finding a solution to this problem, “There has been some discussion at the [MCAL meetings]. [The board of managers] have talked about either moving or changing the days of the week that the boys’ and girls’ play” On the surface it might appear that students simply don’t show up for the girls’ team. What’s the big deal? The problem is this trend continues among professional athletes. In 2014 the average salary for a WNBA player was $72,000 while the average salary for a NBA player was $4.9 million. These numbers prove that longstanding gender stereotypes still appear very obviously in our society. Maybe the girls’ games should be played at 7:30. We should support the girls’ basketball team just as much as the boys’ team. Because ultimately, that is how change starts. ♦
The Tam News — February 2017
19
Sports
Lily Travers: Kicking up a Storm by Marie Hogan
season,” Travers said. She began playing competitively a year later. According to Travers, a childhood devoted to soccer has shaped her for the better. “A lot of who I am is put into soccer. That’s just what makes me, me,” she said. “... If I didn’t have soccer....I’d be totally different, and I really don’t want to know what.” A middle school obsession with basketball Freshman Lily Travers has been a key contributor on the girls’ never managed to distract varsity soccer team. PHOTO BY LUCKY SHULMAN Travers from the sport, she reshman Lily Travers has been has always been passionate about soccer dreaming of playing for Tam’s varsi- and continues to be, “[It is] the best sport in ty soccer team for years. “I used to practice the world. I don’t even know where to start. on the side of the Tam field,” Travers said, It’s very interesting. It’s a game you can be “And I’d see them, and I’d always come to creative in.” For Travers, who describes her greatthe games and I watched their MCAL finals, and wanted to be on the team. That est strength as a player physicality, soccer was like my one goal when I got to high has long been an outlet for her to express a different side of her personality. “I really school.” Travers now plays center forward, and like the environment that it comes with, the joined the team as one of four freshman, intensity, all that kind of stuff,” she said. even scoring the winning goal in a game “… I’m totally different when I’m on the against Redwood. “That [goal] was like the field and when I’m off the field.” Travers has met many of her closest best feeling ever,” she said. “We won onezero, and I just will probably never forget friends through soccer and says that close relationships with teammates are key to a that day.” At five years old, Travers picked up successful team. “When you her sister’s soccer ball and never put it don’t know the people that down. “I was passing with my dad, and you’re playing with, it’s a lot it just kind of stuck,” she said. “I’ve been harder,” she said. “If you don’t have a good relationship with playing ever since.” It wasn’t until she was six, however, your team, it’s not going to get and playing on an indoor boys’ team, that you that far. That’s what I really she scored her first goal and really fell in like about Tam, is everyone on love with sport. “I remember scoring, and the team is close to everybody.” At the beginning of the then all my team was jumping up and down, because it was one of our first goals of the season, Travers felt pressure to
F
BY THE NUMBERS
20
9-4
by the Sports Staff
Winning girls’ varsity soccer record as of February 1.
December2017 February 2016— —The TheTam TamNews News
prove herself as a freshman. “It’s hard, because when I’m playing a game and I have a lot of pressure, because I’m a freshman and I feel like I need to do everything perfect,” she said. But Travers added that “I just kind of learned from this that even if I do mess up and have bad games, it’s not just my fault. We’re all a team, that what I think of soccer. It’s not just one person.” Though Travers cautions that “there’s never a time where you don’t have to prove yourself,” much of that anxiety has been tempered as the season has progressed and the other freshman on varsity have begun to play more in games. “The freshman are doing really well, in my opinion,” she said. “I think all four of us stepped up a lot this year, and we’re really improving as players together.” Long before high school, Travers was singularly focused on making Tam’s varsity team. She was drawn to the goals and the championships, but simple moments of practice and community were just as much of a motivator. “I’ve always wanted to be on the team,” she said. “I was on the side [of a practice] and I was just watching them. That looked like so much fun. They were all together, as a team, and they were just shooting a goal.” Travers still has three more seasons with the girls’ team and with her the soccer team has a bright future ahead. ♦
18
Number of ties as of February 1 in the boys’ varsity MCAL soccer season.
Jordan Jackson: Cross Up
Sports
by Adam Tolson
Coming off an impressive season as one of Redwood’s premier guards, Jackson knows what it takes to succeed in MCALs. According to Jackson, the focal point for this season should be trust, and playing as a single unit. “We all have to buy in to what to the coaches are coaching us,” Jackson said. “We all have to trust one another on the court, come together as one.” One thing that sets Tam apart from Jackson’s Redwood experience, and has contributed to most of this season’s success, is the instant chemistry that he found with his teammates. “[Tam] is much more of a family,” he said. “I feel a lot closer to the team, even being with them for [only] one year, than I felt at Redwood...I like the chemistry.” Coming into this season, there Senior Jordan Jackson flies in for a layup against was plenty of hype surrounding Drake. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSH LOVE Jackson, but the question remained his year’s boys’ basketball team is on whether he would live up to the high exfire this season. After taking down pectations this season. Some may call it Terra Linda, Justin Siena, Marin Catho- pressure, but for Jackson, this was nothing lic, and Redwood, they have begun their new. “I’m pretty used to it by now. I don’t season as a top three-team in the Marin really think of it as pressure, I see it more County Athletic League (MCAL). Senior as people excited to see what I can do out and Redwood transfer Jordan Jackson has there on the court,” he said. “It impacted emerged as a key contributor to the Hawks’ my game positively because I want to play up to all the hype, so it pushes me to work success this season. Jackson’s arrival had an immediate for it and gives me something to work for.” Jackson’s attacking style has proved to impact on the team, creating high expectations for the boys and crazy turnouts to have been the missing piece in the offense, each home game. So far the team has de- as his arrival this season has opened up the livered. The Hawks are currently in a close long range abilities of the rest of the team. race for first place, but for Jackson, that is “Anytime you get a player as talented as not the end goal. As a former All-League Jordan, your whole team dynamic will honors recipient, Jackson has his eyes on change a lot,” junior guard Jack Duboff two things. “I want to make All-League,” said. “He is one of the best in the league at said Jackson. “For the team, I want to get attacking the rim and finishing. This spaces out the floor and makes [defenders] have an MCAL championship.”
T
to help which opens up [three pointers] for our shooters.” Senior guard and team captain Jacob Moeller agrees. “He’s another guy that opposing defenses have to pay attention to,” he said. “[That] leads to our other shooters getting open shots...He’s great at getting to the rim and making plays for his teammates.” Aside from his play on the court, Jackson has contributed to the team’s success with his leadership. “[I try] to be really vocal and make sure I get everyone going, and if I see someone hanging their head, I’ll try to pick them up and tell them ‘move onto the next play,’” he said. “Basically, [I try] to just keep everybody positive and keep everybody going.” His leadership has had a positive effect on his teammates. “He brings a ton of energy in games and practices which rubs off on the team,” Duboff said. “He’s very supportive to everyone and tries to bring people up when they are down on themselves for making a mistake.” Moeller confirmed Jackson’s leadership. “[His] energy and effort has made [him] a leader on the court and a player the rest of the guys look up to,” he said. Jackson also leads by example. “He has gained a ton of respect from our team because of how hard he works outside of practice and in practice,” Duboff said. “This just makes some guys look up to him and model the way they play after Jordan.” Jackson’s leadership, paired with his skills on the court and his great teammates that surround him, place Tam amongst the top teams in MCAL this season. “His fire, when combined with a positive attitude and ability to put mistakes behind him, makes him a force to be reckoned with and a huge addition to the Tam program,” Moeller said. ♦
Check the Tam News online (www.thetamnews.org) for extraordinary sports coverage.
7-3
Winning record of the boys’ varsity basketball team as of February 1.
1
st
Place of girls’ varsity basketball team in MCAL as of February 1. The TheTam TamNews News— —December February 2016 2017
21
From the Archives:
Sports
I
n 1967, a race riot that took place in the Tam library forced administration to question race relations at Tam High. They chose to have a day to address the tension, which they called“Breakthrough Day.”50 years later, Principal J.C. Farr hopes to hold another day to commemorate the past as well as to look to the future in addressing the racial issues that are still present. These pieces from the Tam News archives were published shortly after the riot.
22
February 2017 — The Tam News
curated by Francis Strietmann
The Tam News Thanks Its Patrons A & J Findlay The Alamin Family Allyson Garay Alpana & Mahesh Kharkar Ana Levaggi Andrea & Jerry Lane Antonette Greene & Chris Dorman April & Howard Solomon Barbara Sobel & Jonathan Rubens Barth Family Beth Inadomi & Tim Newell Bill Lampl Bishop Family Blake Sgamba Bob Schultz Bryce Goeking & Tia Miyamoto Caius Toy Grace Cale & Barrett Nichols Carnevale Family Carolyn & Joe Preis The Chavez Family Chris Hill Chris Holden-Wingate Christine Hildebrand Christopher Gate Cynthia Samson Cynthia Stone Dan & Anne Sapp Daniel Jordan Dawn Dobres & Eric Swergold Diane & Brian Weisman Diane Worley
Donald & Kathy Reed Eli Rosenthal Elizabeth Brown Ellen Rosenthal Eric Lagier Erika Shern The Ford Family Gale Love Garrett Koehn Gary Ferroni Gregory Bell Gretchen & John Boyle Gustav & Khristene Penther Harold Ball & Amy Zimpfer Heather Hawkins & John Duncan Ingrid & Andrew Tolson Ingrid Lin Jack Figueirinhas James & Lilah Goodman James G Finn & Janice Vorfield Jan & Steve McDougal Jan Hudson Jane A Garsson Jaydee Jordan Jeff, Ingrid, & Celia Francis Jen & Ward Flad Jennifer & Kyle Klopfer Jennifer Murr Jon & Sylvia Duncanson Jonathan & Deborah Goldman Jonathan Cheung & Zoe Blair Judith Weaver & Steven
Blackburn Julie & Michael Knight Katherine Cope Kathy & Dave McMahon Kathy Piombo Kelly & Dennis Leary Ken & Jackie Broad Kimi Wu Korngut Family The Kraybill Family LaDuke Family Laurel Johnson Lauren Snell Laurie Durnell Leslie Dixon Liam Shore Lisa and John Merkl Lisa Hukari Lisa Terry Lori Luc Faillace Lyssa Friedman Mackenzie Priest-Heck Maki Daijogo Mara Brazer Marcus & Suzanna Holzer Mari & Rich Allen Maria Ragone Brandt Marianne Babal Mark Egan Melanie & Max Perkoff Micaela Breber Michael Wall Michelle & Jeff Tripp Molly Baumhoff Molly Brown The Mowbray Family
The Muir Family Nancy Benjamin Nessa Brady Nicola & Paul Stiff Nicole Kennedy Norm Meislich The Parkin Family Patricia Prince & Leonel Figuerdo Paul & Annette Venables Paul & Justine Whitehead Peter Strietmann Peter Wilch Philip Theodosopoulos & Josefa Rangel Phyllis Manning-Lee The Ramachandrans Rosgen Family Ruth Ann Spike & Elliot Neaman Ruth Overton Sarah & Iaian McNeil Sasha Faulkner Schumacher Family Scott & Karen Lafranchi Selene Rose Shawn Yarnell Shonalie & Mark Guinney Steven Steinberg Sue & Steve Weinswig Susan & William Krenz Tina Taylor Trish & Jerome Bernal Valerie & Howard Wynn Will Hildebrand Yong Chol Kim
If you want to become a patron of the Tam News or advertise with the publication, please contact megan@thetamnews.org.
The TheTam TamNews News— —December February 2016 2017
23
The Tamalpais News 700 Miller Ave. Mill Valley, CA 94941 Return Service Requested
24
Volume XII, Issue No. V - February 2017
February 2017 — The Tam News
Non-Profit Org. U.S Postage PAID San Rafael, CA Permit No. 139