Verde Volume 17 Issue 2

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From the Editors

CELEBRATING THE everyday heroes

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HE MOST WELL-KNOWN HEROES OF our times are the larger-than-life. But there’s also something to be said for the little guy — the everyday man, lacking any powers but the drive to take a stand. Their fights, while not on par with the saving of cities, create tangible change that better our lives. In this issue, Verde highlights the heroes striving to reach athletic success on the international stage, to reform the way that our classrooms shape our understandings of society or to simply rise above adversity.

For Gunn High School senior Amy Watt, the fight is a personal battle to use what others perceive as a weakness to reach new heights. In our cover story, staff writers Siddharth Srinivasan and Alicia Mies detail Watt’s serendipitous journey to becoming an internationally-acclaimed paralympic athlete.

For some members of the Palo Alto High School community, the crusade is against the faults in the academic history curriculum. In “Checking the Source,” staff writers Alia Cuadros-Contreras and Madhumita Gupta focus on Paly students and teachers who are shining a light on issues that too often are swept under the carpet, either out of patriotism or neglect, to question a long and historical bias that has permeated our nation.

For others, the fight hits closer to home. In “When the Rain Comes,” staff writers Tara Madhav and Gabriel Sanchez illuminate the stories of residents whose homes become defaced by yearly floods and explore how Palo Alto is making preparations for the heavy rainfall that El Nino will bring this winter.

For three Caltrain passengers, the fight is one to simply seize control of the opportunities in this country. In “Caltrain Strangers,” staff writer Alicia Mies delves into the worlds of three people as they share their tales of immigration, of diverse missions to achieve the American Dream by pursuing one’s true interests or by aspiring to better one’s homeland.

And, sometimes, we ourselves are heroes. Though these fights may go unrecognized, they are no less significant. Whether we are striving to combat the negative thoughts that attack our self-esteem or reminding others of how loved they are, the little things add up. In her perspective “Letter to My Muscle,” staff writer Irene Choi reflects on her personal journey of coming to terms with her athletic body type.

In this season punctuated by the stress of finals and holiday preparations, we encourage you to pause for a second to thank the everyday heroes who have shaped who you are.

Editors-in-Chief Esmé Ablaza Anna Lu James Wang Bethany Wong Managing Editors Elana Rebitzer Siddharth Srinivasan

Contact Us

VERDE MAGAZINE

Features Editor Anna Nakai Profiles Editor Rachel van Gelder Perspectives Editor Gabi Rossner Culture Editor Emilie Ma Digital Editor Kai Gallagher Business Managers Emma Goldsmith Natalie Maemura Multimedia Editor & Statistician Roy Zawadzki Art Director Karina Chan Photo Director William Dougall Staff Writers Irene Choi Josh Code Alia Cuadros-Contreras Joelle Dong Madhumita Gupta Danielle Macuil Tara Madhav Alicia Mies Gabriel Sanchez Laura Sieh Adviser Paul Kandell

@VERDEMAGAZINE Information Publication Policy Verde, a feature magazine published by the students in Palo Alto High School’s Magazine Journalism class, is a designated open forum for student expression and the discussion of issues of concern to its readership.

Verde is distributed to its readers and the student body at no cost.

Letters to the Editors The staff welcomes letters to the editors but reserves the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy and obscenity.

Send all letters to veics-1516@ googlegroups.com or to 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301. All Verde stories are posted online and available for commenting at http://verdemagazine.com Advertising The staff publishes advertisements with signed contracts providing they are not deemed by the staff inappropriate for the magazine’s audience. For more information about advertising with Verde, please contact the Verde business managers Emma Goldsmith and Natalie Maemura through our adviser at 650-329-3837 for more information.

Printing & Distribution Verde is printed five times a year in October, November, February, April and May, by Folger Graphics in Hayward, California. The Paly PTSA mails Verde to every student’s home. All Verde work is available at http://verdemagazine.com

— Anna, Bethany, Esmé & James 3

Verde

Dec 2015 Volume 17 Issue 2

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Inside 8 The Launch 13 News

Features 17 19 23 26 29

Smart Drugs El Niño Aerospace Rising Rents Textbook Reform

Culture

Profiles 32 34 36 40 42 46 49

Mr. Vuong Martha Cabot Amy Watt Mormons in Palo Alto Caltrain Strangers The Odyssey Mr. Wilson

50 52 54 56 58 60

Hidden Adventures Garden Fresh Flipboard Hamilton Album Quirky Clothing Izzy’s Bagels

Perspectives 62 64 66 67 68 69 70

Arts vs. STEM Athlete’s Body Image Internet Service My Trash Talk Jewish Identity Male Fashion Rossner Report

On the cover

2 Last year, Gunn High School senior Amy Watt was but a spectator of paralympic events until the moment when she was discovered by chance. Now, as member of Team USA’s Paralympics team, she travels to places such as Qatar to compete on the highest level on the international stage. In this issue’s cover story, staff writers Siddharth Srinivisan and Alicia Mies detail Watt’s journey to international acclaim while maintaining her own humility and determination. Photo by William Dougall.

Editor’s Picks

20 BEYOND THE BAGEL

The backstory of Izzy’s Bagels, one of Palo Alto’s favorite eateries

QUIRKY CLOTHING

How non-conventional fashion choices capture individuality

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WHEN SUCCESS ISN’T SPELLED S-T-E-M

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A LETTER TO MY MUSCLE

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Staff writer Alia Cuadros-Contreras explains the merits of the arts and the humanities

Staff writer Irene Choi’s struggle to accept her athletic body type

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CHECKING THE SOURCE

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CALTRAIN STRANGERS

Addressing the controversies in textbooks

Three passengers’ journeys to the Bay Area and their aspirations for the future

WHEN THE RAIN COMES

Palo Alto makes preparations for the floods of El Nino

EDITORIALs

ATLANTIC INACCURATELY PORTRAYS COMMUNITY’S EFFORTS

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N NOV. 17, THE ATlantic, a political and cultural magazine, published its December 2015 cover story online, entitled “The Silicon Valley Suicides.” In it, Hanna Rosin investigates the causes of the recent suicides in the Palo Alto Unified School District, focusing on their connection to the broader discussion on student mental health in high-achieving communities.

Journalists are supposed to bring topics, especially those that may be painful to discuss, into a new light. No matter how controversial an issue is, journalists have the responsibility to write about these problems in an insightful way. Likewise, Rosin wholeheartedly attempts to reveal the community’s struggles with dealing with the past suicides. Like any journalist, she has the right to comment on Palo Alto’s history of suicides. Verde believes that teen suicide is an important issue, and we support media attention that sheds constructive light on this complex issue.

However, the article represents the Palo Alto community as one that is naive, fragile and broken. Yes, we are still reeling from the recent suicides, but the

Art by Karina Chan 6

article paints Palo Alto as helpless to its national audience. Rosin presents an unbalanced view of Palo Alto by selectively choosing sources that fit her agenda, using quotes which only illustrate the negatives of Palo Alto’s environment. The article used sources that describe the incredible amount of stress put on Palo Alto students and ignored the efforts and narratives of those who contradicted the image of Palo Alto that Rosin tried to convey.

As student journalists, we are mindful of the national guidelines on suicide reporting outlined by the National Institute of Mental Health. These recommendations, according to more than 50 research studies worldwide, are imperative in reducing the media coverage’s effect on increasing copycat suicides. Rosin clearly violates these guidelines which caution against descriptive accounts of the act of suicide itself and the publication of the contents of a suicide note. She vividly depicts a rushing train, which is especially triggering, and Cameron Lee’s parents reading his suicide note.

The Atlantic headlines the article, “Why are so many kids with bright prospects killing themselves in Palo Alto?”.

However, this question is never clearly answered. Rosin’s attempt at answering the article’s guiding question only reaches the same conclusion that many in our community have already made: we can’t pinpoint an exact reason why suicide occurs.

Furthermore, Rosin neglects to mention in detail the efforts that our community has made. Though Rosin briefly mentions the recent “Unmasked” documentary and Gunn’s “A Titan is...” project, we recognize other initiatives working to improve school climate and address the stigma surrounding mental health.

These efforts include the Sources of Strength peer-mentoring program at Paly and Gunn, the “Changing the Narrative” series in Gunn’s Oracle, and the Save the 2008 campaign, among many others.

Although Rosin irresponsibly uses her position as a journalist, sensationalizing extremely sensitive topics and potentially putting students’ health in danger, the Palo Alto community cannot let national headlines stifle our strides toward more effective reforms. Instead, we must discuss the valid points put forward by Rosin’s article and allow these points to inform our efforts and discussions.

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SAFER ROUTES TO AND FROM SCHOOL In October, the City of Palo Alto released a proposal to make Churchill Avenue safer for student commuters, focusing on sites such as the Palo Alto High School driveway (#1), the Churchill-Alma intersection (# 2) and the stretch of Churchill from Bryant Street to Alma Street (# 3). Graphic courtesy of the City of Palo Alto.

CHURCHILL CROSSING NEEDS TO BE SAFER FOR COMMUTERS

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T A COMMUNITY meeting on Oct. 22, the City of Palo Alto Churchill Avenue Improvements Project presented a proposal to upgrade Churchill to ensure greater safety for community members. The proposed plan focuses on the stretch from Emerson Street to Palo Alto High School, a route used daily by many Paly students who bike to and from school. This issue was first brought to light in 2014, when a student was hit by a car at the entrance to Paly. Although she was not seriously injured, the intersection remains dangerous, and future accidents may result in worse injuries. According to the City of Palo Alto, over 300 bikers and 40 pedestrians pass through the intersection each day, all of whom are threatened by the lack of safety precautions.

Among the proposed changes are improvements to the pedestrian biking paths and an extension of the existing path, which is currently runs from Alma to Paly, to link Paly to El Camino Real. In addition to the bike paths, that would physically separate bikers from car traffic, the city also plans to implement raised crosswalks that would require drivers to slow down for pedestrians.

Verde commends the city’s proposed plans but suggests additional safety measures at the Alma and Churchill intersection.

Verde agrees with the proposal of creating better access from the bike lane on Churchill to the bike path by connecting the two. We believe this would reduce the overflow of bikes into traffic lanes and decrease congestion in the morning.

We also support the addition of a bi- pull over the cars into the bike lane which cycle turn lane out of Paly’s parking lot to exacerbates traffic, resulting in a solution allow cyclists to ride on the right side of the that actually jeopardizes the safety of all street. This designated bike lane would pro- bikers and drivers on the road. Instead, the tect a left turn out of Paly onto Churchill, city should install cameras at the intersecwhere bikers currently cannot turn safely tion to automatically ticket cars that violate due to the huge amounts of traffic sur- the law. rounding the intersection. Because of the Finally, we believe that the city ought lack of bike lane in that intersection, many to sync the traffic lights at the Alma/ bikers ride illegally on the left side of the Churchill and El Camino/Churchill interroad and cross over to the right side af- sections to prevent congestion. As of now, ter passing Alma, when the Alma which puts them in verde commends the city’s pro- light turns green, risk of being hit by but the El Camino cars coming down posed plans but suggests adlight stays red, the in both directions ditional safety measures at the block of space on that road. The between the two alma-churchill intersection creation of a bike intersections belane would prevent comes congested many accidents, as the National Highway and restricts biker movement while creatTraffic Safety Administration reports that ing chaos for cars who become stuck near the largest cause of bike accidents is biking the train tracks because there is no space the wrong way down a street. The recent to move ahead. If the lights were in sync, proposal of creating a two way bike lane more cars could cross during a green light, on the North side of Churchill, however, which would decrease the traffic. Additionis not the correct way to solve the problem ally, a separate light for bikes would allow because it would just create a bigger chance the bikers and cars to cross the intersection of head on bike collisions. without interference from one another.

However, Verde believes that the city Verde appreciates the city’s existing still should do more to ensure the safety plans, but hopes that they will be executed of drivers, pedestrians and bikers at the promptly. While concept maps and plans intersection. Although cars are prohibited are an important first step, they do nothing from driving straight across Alma or from to secure the safety of bikers and drivers. turning right onto Churchill from Alma As such, we strongly believe that this issue between 7:45 and 8:30 a.m., many cars do needs to be resolved as promptly as posso anyway, adding to the traffic, threatening sible. Until then, student bikers will remain biker safety and risking getting stuck at the at high-risk on their daily routes to and railroad tracks themselves. Currently, police from school.

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LAUNCH ASB ANSWERS

Compiled by ESME ABLAZA

Text and photography by ESME ABLAZA

Verde: What kind of events does ASB have in store for the student body this coming winter? Will there be a winter formal? would Paly ever be allowed back TO THE COMPUTER HISTORY MUSEUM?

“

We would definitely be allowed back [to the Computer History Museum] in the future. For a winter dance, it’s hard because we have to find a location that has our date available that is in a 15-mile radius of Palo Alto and that is within our budget.

No matter what, we’re going to have a bunch of different types of events that cater to different types of students. For example, a talent show in the Haymarket theater and ... also movies in the MAC [Media Arts Center]. It’s looking like we won’t have one [a winter dance], partially because all the money we made at the dance is going straight to prom to lower prom ticket costs, and we don’t want to spend all the money we just made. There was no damage to the floor [of the Computer History Museum], and everything went perfectly [at Homecoming] in my eyes.”

— sophomore Claire Billman, ASB Social Commissioner

VERBATIM:

Read more about acceptance of the humanities on page 62!

DO YOU THINK PALY EMPHASIZES STEM OVER

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It [Paly] doesn’t but a lot of people like taking STEM classes because they feel that that will get them a better career.”

— sophomore Sam Craig

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“

I think that a lot of the people here choose to take harder STEM classes than humanities classes, but it’s definitely a choice.”

— senior Zach Segal

Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL

THE ART OF DOGSPOTTING

Text by GABI ROSSNER

In the last year, Dogspotting has become a popular sport on the internet, garnering thousands of participants across the nation and cataloging countless pictures of our furry friends on Facebook. Verde presents the official rules of the Dogspotting community, so you can join in on the fun and, most importantly, the meticulous regulation of spotting dogs.

THE RULES 1. No memes, especially of the dank variety.

2. Follow the community guidelines.

3. Have fun!

OBJECTIVES 1. Spot a dog or dogs.

2. Share your spot with your local Dogspotting Facebook group.

3. Receive a shower of approval from the Internet.

Text by WILLIAM DOUGALL

CLUBS WE’D LIKE TO SEE (NOT) How to create a club for college apps club

Bird Watchers Watchers Club

Future Harvard Graduates of America

LAKE PALY SWIM TEAM CLUB

With the growing need to be unique when applying to college, many students are hard pressed to create impressivesounding clubs. The “How to create a club for college apps club” would be very beneficial for the club population.

They know where they’re going and might as well get a head start on participating in the covert activities of Harvard’s all-male secret societies!

Nothing is better than watching people get excited about watching birds. Well maybe watching people watching people that are watching birds would be just as exciting, but this club is the first step to getting a Bird Watchers Watchers Watchers club.

Lake Paly Swim Team Club meets every day for three months of the year. To people who enjoy swimming in dirty water between classes, this club is for you!

THE HUMANITIES? IF SO, WHY?

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I don’t think it [Paly] really does, especially not for girls, because for girls it’s harder to get into STEM.”

— freshman Katie Gibson

Photography and reporting by JOSH CODE

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Yes, because I think when you enter high school, you know that there’s five lanes of math, there’s honors biology and regular biology and then there’s just English [9A].”

— junior Bethany Shiang

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quiz: which holiday movie is for you?

1.

During the holidays, the best thing to do is: A. Hide alone in your room B. Sing along with people while they are in the shower C. Ignore the fact that your parents forgot you at home by yourself for the holidays D. Go to a foreign country

2. Who do you watch your holiday movies with?

A. Your tortured puppy B. Santa Claus, the elves and reindeer C. Convicted criminals you tied down and forced to watch with you D. Your lover

3. You are caught in the crossfire of a snowbball fight, so you...

A. Build a fort protected by seemingly harmless booby traps that could actually result in mortal injury if triggered B. Hide C. Participate and win D. Call the police

4. The best way to spread holiday spirit is by:

A. Stealing children’s presents B. Helping children rejoice in Christmas spirit C. Doing mischievous things while your parents are gone D. Meeting new people

Mostly A’s: The best holiday movie for you is “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” You’re constantly believing in people and their ability to grow into good, morally right people. You enjoy Seuss’s subtle moral messages and applying them to your everyday life. Although the Grinch does his best to show his ‘bad-ness,’ you know that internally he is a good guy.

Mostly B’s: “Elf” is the movie you should watch this holiday season! This movie is most likely for you because you always root for the outsider. You enjoy a great comedy with kiddish humor.

Mostly C’s: Your ideal holiday movie is “Home Alone.” You’re a daredevil yourself and love supporting your fellow mischievous friends.

Mostly D’s:

The movie you would enjoy most is “The Holiday.” You’re a sucker for a classic romance movie and always enjoy watching people find romance in unexpected places. Despite February being months away, you will always swoon over a great couple.

Text by DANIELLE MACUIL

things to do on rainy days Californians have grown accustomed to rainless weather due to the prolonged drought, which leaves many bored teens with confusion as to how they can spend their time when it does rain. What do you do with your friends? How are you even supposed to hike Mission Peak or visit Santa Cruz when there’s water falling from the sky?! Here are some ways to enjoy El Nino without getting drenched.

Board Game Night Squad assemble! This is the per-

fectly mysterious night to figure out who’s the killer in “Clue.” This is a great opportunity to perfect your poker face and have a roaring good time playing Cards Against Humanity.” Bonus: the participatory nature of the event al-

Text by KARINA CHAN

lows for quality time with your friends without them being glued to their phone screens.

Friendsgiving Rain should start in November, which is a good time to cook a grand meal with your friends.

Nothing brings people together like a warm, dry house and some over-cooked turkey.

Make a fort Nothing screams cozy or age appropriate more than a pillow and blanket fort. Call up your best friends and challenge yourselves to see how big you can make it. After construction is complete, wear some fuzzy socks, drink some hot chocolate, and watch a great movie.

EVERYDAY PEOPLE

Photography and reporting by LAURA SIEH

Verde Magazine sat down with freshman Robert Vetter, who recently played Lord Farquaad in Paly’s production of “Shrek the Musical, Jr.” VM: How did you decide to do theater?

RV: When I was in second grade, my parents dragged me into an audition. I did that show and it was fun, so I kept on doing theater.

VM: A lot of your theater career has involved children’s shows. What has that been like?

RV: You don’t know how the audience is going to react, so you have to be prepared for anything. Sometimes there could be a moment you find funny, but the children won’t get it and they won’t laugh. Sometimes there will be moments that you won’t find funny. You don’t think to pause for laughter, but the children find it hilarious. One of the shows I was in, as everyone went onstage, all of the kids in the audience started singing Let It Go at the exact same time.

VM: And that was not part of the show?

RV: That was not part of the show. They were just there singing so we had to wait until they finished to actually get fully onstage and start the performance.

VM: You played Lord Farquaad in “Shrek” this fall. What was that like?

RV: It was very interesting. I had no legs, so it was a change to not be able to use all of your body and be very restricted and show your emotion through your face and hand gestures.

VM: In “Shrek,” a lot of the kids liked you a lot. Why do you think that was?

RV: They probably thought it was funny that Farquaad was so short compared to everyone else. Except for that little girl in the audience in the back row in the first show.

She stood up and said “Farquaad, I saw your real legs.”

WAYS TO GIVE BACK Do good during the holidays! Regardless of your age, religion or time availability, it is important to help those who are not as fortunate as you during the holidays. Here are some charities you can easily volunteer at.

Family Giving Tree — Wish Drive at Ross Road YMCA Every year, the Ross Road YMCA installs a large Christmas tree in its lobby and invites all members to purchase the gifts that are listed on hanging cards for those that who are less fortunate. If you are a member of the YMCA, you can purchase or request a gift through the system at 3412 Ross Road, Palo Alto.

Text by TARA MADHAV

Salvation Army The Salvation Army provides cheap clothing, and other materials to those in need. As one of the largest charities in the nation, this charity offers innumerous volunteering opportunities.

Ecumencial Hunger Program This charity aims to create an intrasupporting community of Bay Area residents who are passionate in helping others through economic and/or personal hardships by providing clothing, food and other necessities. Find out how you can help community members in crisis at http://www. ehpcares.org/

LAUNCH | DECEMBER 2015

Did you know Food wrappers, empty water bottles and soda cups that are tossed to the ground end up traveling down storm drains located in neighborhoods and around schools?

And did you know Trash that goes down storm drains DOESN’T get filtered or cleaned before reaching a creek and eventually the Bay

What can you do about it?

• Stash trash in your lunchbox or backpack to dispose of properly • Pick up any trash you see laying in the street and throw it away • Avoid creating trash. Use items such as reusable water bottles and coffee mugs

Don’t let litter go down the storm drain!

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NEWS

| NEWS DECEMBER 2015

New Cubberley school proposed Board also shows support for Hogwarts-style house system Put on your sorting hats people, because Hogwarts is coming to town … or at least a new “house system” for Palo Alto’s middle schools and high schools possibly is. The house system, a proposed initiative to divide Palo Alto’s massive student bodies into tight-knit “houses” to promote student unity, was proposed by the Palo Alto Enrollment Management Advisory Committee in October. This new proposition is representative of the innovative mindset that the Palo Alto Unified School District has adopted to curb the over-enrollment in City schools. In fact, if the School Board maintains its innovative momentum, Palo Alto students may soon be enjoying a host of new educational reforms similar to the house system, and possibly, an entire new school.

Responding to Palo Alto parent’s longstanding complaints of giant middle schools, EMAC investigated how to reduce over-enrollment in local middle schools and high schools. The committee, made up of 11 parent volunteers, concluded that space in the Cubberley Community Center could be reallocated as a hybrid middle school and high school for overflowed students.

Another advantage of starting a new school in Palo Alto is that doing so creates a smaller educational community, which benefits students’ education and sense of mental well-being, according to Joe Lee, the team leader of the secondary school subcommittee.

“The academic research, the thinking and the interviews that we did in the focus groups was that people were thinking we would have better academic outcomes if students were in smaller communities,” Lee said.

Relative to other schools in the nation, Palo Alto’s schools are overpopulated. According to a 2010 report by the National Center for Education Statistics which was referenced by EMAC, Palo Alto’s middle schools and high schools are 52 percent and 121 percent larger than the national average, respectively. This was further

CUBBERLEY If EMAC’s proposal for a new school in Cubberley is passed, these halls may be filled with high school students in a few years. Photo by William Dougall. supported by student testimonials which showed that around 20 percent of students in PAUSD middle schools and high schools are dissatisfied or strongly dissatisfied with their school sizes.

Programs like the house system are intended to supplement the proposed Cubberley school by improving the student environments in Palo Alto’s existing secondary schools.

“We [EMAC] wants to reduce the feeling of size in current middle and high schools by forming these smaller learning communities,” Lee said. “The advantage of that is that they feel more connected to each other and teachers… and feel that even though they are apart of a bigger school, they have all the advantages of electives and sports and arts. They retreat to a school where they learn subjects with a common cohort.”

Although there are many benefits of creating a school in Cubberley to reduce class sizes and many parents are in support of opening the new school, PAUSD is considering the negatives of doing so.

“The cost is a big obstacle,” PAUSD School Board member Terry Godfrey said.

“It would take $65 million worth of work for the building itself … the ongoing cost [of running a public school] is $3 million

… and we would lose the rental income of $5.5 million from people who rent Cubberly now.”

Another issue of opening a new educational institution would be attracting parents and students away from the prestigious scholastic and athletic programs at existing Palo Alto schools. To counteract this, PAUSD could attract students to the new Cubberley school with innovative social justice and project based-curricula, according the EMAC report. At the same time, presenting students with the option of choosing their school also raises transportation concerns.

“The other kind of obstacle that you have is, when you have a choice-program, everyone has to drive there,” Godfrey said.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about traffic. ... Safety is a factor.”

Although EMAC’s proposed initiatives have yet to be voted on, Lee and other community members are optimistic and determined to make a change.

“The schools [current middle and high schools] are already very good, but they could be much better, and by reducing school size and increasing the connectedness, we can take our schools from good to great,” Lee said.

BY NATALIE MAEMURA 13

NEWS Thespian leaders prepare ceremonies to honor Paly’s historic Haymarket playhouse Since 1918, the Haymarket Theatre has been the primary performing space at Palo Alto High School, according to theater teacher Kathleen Woods. Because this year’s closing production of “Macbeth” coincides with Haymarket’s last theater season as the only open playhouse on campus, Paly is planning commemorative ceremonies to accompany the show.

To honor the Haymarket, all theater classes, which range from Stage Tech to Theater 4 Honors, will produce an endof-the-year showcase that commemorates

Haymarket Theatre. Performances will include scenes and monologues from plays performed throughout the years, in addition to oral recordings and film clips from interviews with thespian alumni that go as far back as 1960. One interview will be with Rob Minkoff, the director of The Lion King.

While the new performing arts center, which is currently under construction, will become the primary performance space for the Theater Department, the Haymarket Theatre will not be forgotten. The old

theater will still be used for campus activities and can also be rented out by members of the community, such as the Sarah Hope Musical Theatre, which rents Haymarket out for the entire summer.

According to Woods, the Paly Theater Department will also use Haymarket as a secondary rehearsal space and the theater may eventually be remodeled.

The dates for “Macbeth” are Feb. 26, 27 and March 4, 5, 6.

BY EMILIE MA

Construction changes scheduling for winter sports This season’s winter sports practices and competitions face significant changes to accommodate for Palo Alto High School’s gym construction projects.

The boys and girls programs will be undergoing the greatest changes in the coming weeks, as all Paly basketball practices and games will have to be held offcampus. While all Paly basketball home games be at Gunn, practices will be in a variety of locations, including gyms in Castilleja, Cubberley community center, and East Palo Alto. Paly athletic faculty also hope to add two additional practice gyms for the season.

According to Athletic Director Kathi Bowers, Gunn has been very accommodating to Paly basketball teams.

“We could not be doing it without the support of Gunn,” Bowers said.

However, hosting basketball practices at Gunn also presents some challenges.

Since the Paly hoopsters have to work around Gunn practice schedules, which have not been finalized, Paly basketball practice schedules are also still uncertain.

Wrestling will continue to have practicing space at Paly. However, due to limited space this season, duels will also be at Gunn. According to Bowers, instead of having individual duals during games, there will be simultaneous duals in Gunn’s big 14

PRACTICE As the only winter sport that is not displaced by construction, the Paly girls varsity soccer team enjoys a regular practice venue. Photo by Irene Choi. gym, with half of the gym devoted to Paly and its opponent, and the other half devoted to Gunn and its opponent. The Paly wrestling program is also receiving a new coach, Jonathan Kessler, for the new season. Kessler hopes to continue the Viking legacy of athletic excellence and maintain

the wrestling team’s competitive success and strong support system.

According to Bowers, Paly’s boys and girls soccer teams will experience no changes in practice times or games.

BY IRENE CHOI

NEWS NEWS NEWS Paly alumni donate benches, tables to commemorative plaza Several Palo Alto High School alumni have pooled together $11,968, donating tables, benches, class nameplates, a boulder and a plaque to the Alumni Plaza outside the 800s building.

According to Paly Alumni Association President Edith Miller, the funding for the tables and benches is part of the campus restoration effort from the organization.

These efforts, starting in 1997, have included planting over 100 trees, refurbishing the Tower Building patio, and the Alumni Plaza.

In addition to the Alumni Plaza in 2015, the association will continue to offer scholarships to two select seniors at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2016.

“After all, all of the current students will be alumni someday, and we hope they continue to support Paly,” Miller said.

To donate to the Alumni Fund, or find out about reunions and other events, visit: www.palyalumni.org

BY SIDDARTH SRINIVASAN

School Board will not return “Save the 2008” to its agenda Education reform advocacy group group up or down.”

“Save the 2008” will not be returning to the Despite the removal of “Save the School Board agenda for discussion this 2008” from the Board agenda, McGee says year, according to Supt. the group has contribMax Mcgee. uted significantly to the McGee made the school climate discourse. decision and informed “Mr. Vincenti’s Save Marc Vincenti, cothe 2008 campaign has founder of “Save the made significant contri2008,” of it through an butions to our efforts email correspondence to assure a more healthy that stated “For now, we school climate,” McGee had a lengthy and healthy said. “His efforts as well discussion of the plan at as other actions and inithe Sept. 9 Board meettiatives at the schools ing and have a thorough and across the commuunderstanding of its nity have made a positive, components as well as its AGENDA Marc Vincenti., co- tangible difference to our founder of “Save the 2008,” students. whole.”

According to the will be invited to meetings to Vincenti says that email, Vincenti will be comment on policies, but there his organization has been invited to meetings to will be no further discussion of dismissed by the School comment on policies and “Save the 2008” during Board Board. initiatives that are related meetings. Photo by Tara Madhav.

“I am still faced with to the measures of “Save the 2008,” but there will be no further scheduled discussion of the plan during Board meetings.

“The Board’s role is primarily to develop policy and assure fiduciary oversight,” McGee said. “It is not to vote proposals from a community member or advocacy

the problem of finding a way to get Mr. Mcgee and the Board interested in thinking about Save the 2008, considering and discussing it,” Vincenti said in reaction to the action. “That’s a big problem, because you can’t make people do what they don’t want to do.”

BY TARA MADHAV

Children’s Theater accepting entries for play writing contest The Palo Alto Children’s Theater is accepting entries for a playwriting contest for students in grades three to 12.

The contest is open for entries through Dec. 18 and will select a winner in three categories: elementary school, middle school, and high school. The winners in each category will have their play performed as a staged reading in March.

The contest allows students to express their creativity through writing a 10 minute play, according to contest organizer Christopher Luciani.

“Some children are natural writers, full of creative ideas,” Luciani said. “The playwriting contest gives them a forum to write out their story through dialogue.”

According to Luciani, the submissions are reviewed by professionals which, last year, included professional screenwriter Andrea Ciannavei.

The 10-Minute Playwriting contest has been accepting entries from students for the past 10 years.

According to Luciani, the contest received a collective 27 entries in all three categories last year.

Scripts must be no more than 15 pages double-spaced in 12-point font. To enter the contest, students must complete the submission form and email it to Christoper.Luciani@ CityofPaloAlto.org along with their entry.

BY RACHEL VAN GELDER 15

NEWS | OCTOBER 2015

NEWS

TECHNOLOGY Palo Alto High School senior Charlotte Moffat collaborates with a group of students from National Junior College in Singapore, while Supt. “Max” McGee looks on. Photo by Karina Chan.

Student exchange program promotes STEM

A group of Singaporean students are continuing their scientific research after visiting Palo Alto as part of a collaborative research project.

According to Dr. Jeong Choe, Advanced Authentic Research coordinator for Palo Alto Unified School District, the students from National Junior College in Singapore began the projects last spring, when students from Palo Alto and Gunn high schools. One of their projects focuses on Metabolomics and the students hope to be able to extract metabolomic particles from plant products.

The students returned to Singapore on Nov. 21, but their research will contin-

ue, according to Choe.

“The students are constantly collaborating, they wouldn’t be able to accomplish everything by December if they only worked during the international visits,” Choe says.

According to Eunice Hung, a biology teacher at the NJC, collaborating with students from Gunn and Paly allows for the maximization of resources. NJC is the first junior college to be established in Singapore in 1969, and offers researched focused programs for high school-aged students.

“We are able to see difference approaches to research, as well as gaining a global perspective for the projects,” Hung

said. “For example we have a NMR [Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Machine], while the students here [in Palo Alto] have access to certain species of plants that we can’t get in Singapore.”

For NJC student Jia Fen, this experience was also unique because it is her, and many of her classmates’ first visit to the United States.

“We got to spend time in some of the classes here, and it’s been interesting observing the different types of learning.”

Fen said.

BY SIDDHARTH SRINIVASAN

New City Hall plaza art program Palo Alto’s Public Art Commission is implementing a new public art program at King Plaza for the next two years, in which artists’ works will be displayed for a few months at a time. The PAC hopes to bring more works of public arts to Palo Alto.

Program Director Elise DeMarzo said PAC chose King Plaza because it is a popular public location that many Palo Altans and visitors walk by every day.

According to DeMarzo, the PAC cre16

ated a nationwide ad online, asking artists if they wanted to display their art for free in Palo Alto. After this, DeMarzo and artists discussed the details of the art works and their locations of displayal.

During the summertime, the PAC wants to implement interactive displays because the longer days mean that more people will be out later to enjoy the art.

BY IRENE CHOI

KING PLAZA The newest PAC project installation, “Rondo I” by Bruce Beasley.

Photo by Irene Choi.

PROFILES | OCTOBER 2015

Text by DANIELLE MACUIL Photoillustration by WILLIAM DOUGALL

NOT-SO SMART

DRUgS STUDENTS USE MEDS TO ENHANCE ACADEMIC SUCCESS

I

STRESSED Students often feel outside pressures from parents and peers to succeed.

N HER BEDROOM, EMILY opens her hand to reveal small, ovalshaped blue pills with a line engraved down the middle. Each pill bears the number “10,” denoting that it contains 10 milligrams of Adderall. Though small and inconspicuous, these pills grant her the capacity to sit and work for six consecutive hours, though not without a cost of headaches, nausea and potential addiction.

“The first time I took it [Adderall] I was like, ‘OK, this is the only time I’m going to take it,’” says Emily, a Palo Alto High School junior whose name, like that of all student sources mentioned in this article, has been changed to protect her identity. “I did know that Adderall was addictive, and that’s just like a proven fact. But then I was like, ‘Junior year is the year to really push myself,’ so I decided to take it for tests and in classes to study.”

Nootropics is the formal name for smart drugs, such as Adderall, Ritalin, Dexedrine and Modafinil, which is medication prescribed to students with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder and other mental disorders to increase focus, memory and energy levels.

Yet students overwhelmed with work sometimes take smart drugs without a prescription to do better in school.

The Paly data from the 2013 California Healthy Kids Survey shows that 3 percent of 9th graders took Adderall while 4 percent of 11th graders took the drug.

According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health there is one main reason for smart drug use. An estimated 90 17

PROFILES | OCTOBER 2015

ADDICTION Students may resort to using smart drugs without a prescription when they are falling behind in school. percent of college students who use these drugs take them to improve focus, and full time college students are twice as likely to take these drugs without a prescription as students of their age who are not enrolled in college. As students go through the education system they are increasingly prone to taking these drugs.

Emily, like many Palo Alto Unified School District students, says she takes smart drugs because she feels constantly driven by peer and parent pressure to succeed.

“There will always be someone smarter and more successful than you,” Emily says. “You’ll get to a point where you’ll do anything to want to be as good as those other people that you’re seeing because they get praised, they get talked about.”

Students who take smart drugs without approval from their physicians often go to students with prescriptions to get drugs.

Students with large prescriptions, like Mike, a junior, are willing to sell to people they trust.

“I didn’t fake my symptoms,” Mike says. “They were real, and it was actually my mom’s idea for me to try Ritalin. I only sell to my close friends that I know very well because they [smart drugs] do help you study for tests and get a lot of work done.”

Class 2 controlled substance Despite the increased productivity and focus, students are often unaware of the consequences or ignore them alto18

gether. Adderall and Ritalin, for example, Additionally, students who don’t have are Class 2 controlled substances as classi- a prescription cannot be sure that the drugs fied by the Food and Drug administration, are safe for their individual consumption, which means that they are highly addic- so the drugs could cause adverse reactions. tive and subject to abuse. This puts them “When you’re taking drugs that you in the same category as substances such as are not prescribed to you, you don’t know Cocaine and Heroine. Adderall, like most how you’re going to react, and that’s a huge Nootropics, has a chemical variation simi- risk,” Becca says. lar to MDMA (Ecstasy), an illegal drug often taken to increase energy.

Smart drug usage Although students may hear about Paly upperclassmen, preparing for coltheir peers experiencing serious side effects lege applications and their future, often refrom these drugs, many don’t think that sort to taking smart drugs because they feel they can be negatively affected themselves. overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed.

“I think people generally think that Monitoring the Future, a national surthey’re immune and vey, shows that in 2012, invincible to things 34.3 percent of 10th gradthat hurt other peoers believed that taking ple,” says Becca, a Adderall occasionally was I stopped taking it [Adsenior.

However, physically dangerous to a many of the com- derall] at the end of person, while in 2014, 37 mon side effects of sophomore year because percent of 10th graders Nootropics are serithought that taking the ous, including head- it was giving me unbeardrug was harmful to a peraches, nausea and able symptoms.” son. The increase in how lack of appetite.

— SENIOR ALLY many students think the “I stopped takdrug is harmful may mean ing it [Adderall] at fewer students will take the end of sophothese drugs in the future. more year because it was giving me unbearBeing an upperclassmen at Paly often able symptoms,” senior Ally says. “I had consists of daily stress, anxiety and overcrippling anxiety, missed weeks of school, all discomfort. Juniors, overwhelmed with and was in and out of the hospital on al- standardized testing and workload, and semost a daily basis.” Yet, Ally began to take niors, preparing college applications, often them again junior year when school started look to smart drugs for an easy way out, to pile up. not realizing the serious consequences. v

“

FEATURES | DECEMBER 2015

When Winter begins

PREPARATION FOR THE RAINS OF EL NIÑO

Text by TARA MADHAV and GABRIEL SANCHEZ Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL

CLOUDY SKIES Junior Gabriel Minjarez walks through the Quad during a break in the Oct. 9 rainstorm, evading sheets of rain.

I

T WAS AROUND 2 A.M., AND Tejinder Singh heard the dryer turn off. After 25 years in her Palo Alto home on Louisa Ct., it was a regular practice for Singh to get up and switch off the beeping from the machine.

Tired, she stood up out of bed — and stepped straight into a puddle of water.

Suddenly, the quiet 1998 winter night dissolved into chaos. Singh and her husband yanked family albums from their bookshelves and tried to salvage whatever else they could. Once they had tended to as much damage as they could in ankle-deep freezing water, Singh and her husband sat on their dining table and watched the floods on their TV, the only thing in their house that still had electricity. When the

sun came up, months and months of repair draw attention to her situation. and damage control began.

“We wanted them to be aware that “It had rained for many days, but it this has happened to houses,” Singh says. would never have occurred to us that there “They didn’t do anything, they didn’t take would be such bad any blame for it.” flooding,” Singh says, Many Palo Alreflecting on the expetans like Singh are not rience 17 years later. it would never have oc- strangers to flooding — Eventually, Singh than five creeks curred to us that there more run through residential and her husband neighborhoods, which would move to Los would be such flooding.”

Altos, after years of — former palo alto resident are often at risk of overworry about their tejinder singh flowing during large house and a lawsuit rainstorms. Palo Alto High School also strugagainst the City of Palo Alto for their negligence. While Singh gles with large amounts of flooding during and fellow residents who sued did not win, the rainy season. According to Assistant she says that the lawsuit was filed mainly to Principal Jerry Berkson, this is due to Paly’s

“

19

FEATURE |DECEMBER 2015

RAINING CATS AND DOGS Senior Bryn Carlson runs through a torrent of rain. Palo Alto High School experienced a rainstorm the morning of Oct. 9 that marked the beginning of the rainy season. old drainage system. border between Palo Alto and Menlo Park, El Niño, the phenomenon ready to discussing access to sandbags, and, most strike Palo Alto and in general California, importantly, reviewing the new website that is a weather pattern that causes increased the City of Palo Alto recently launched. rainfall in the western part of the United This website is meant to alert citizens of States every seven to flooding by monitoring nine years. The inthe capacity of creeks at creased rainfall may fill four key points: Highway the parched reservoirs Just make sure you 101, University Avenue, and alleviate Califorthe Pope-Chaucer Bridge have a plan...the most nia’s drought. However, and Middlefield Road. there is worry that if important thing is to Residents can also send El Niño is as large as prepare.” photos of areas that need predicted, there will be — JUNIOR SHERWIN AMSBAUGH repair, which will prompt widespread damage. El a response from local auNiño may cause devthorities. astating floods, especially near houses like The City of Palo Alto’s Office of Singh’s former residence which lie near the Emergency Services is also preparing to San Francisquito Creek. The City of Palo deal with any disasters, according to direcAlto has been considering new steps in or- tor Kenneth Dueker. der to prepare for possible damages and “With El Niño predicted, we are doing held a city council meeting on Oct. 19 to more work now, because this is the time to help discuss further measures and winter get prepared,” Dueker says. “We don’t have storm preparations. the luxury of saying, ‘Oh, we only have to The preparations this year will surpass worry about one kind of risk.’ The winter those of the past few years, according to brings all kinds of things with it.”

Joe Teresi, senior engineer for the City of Junior Sherwin Amsbaugh knows Palo Alto. Some of the steps the city is tak- the suprises the winter can attract. It was ing to prevent flooding disasters include around 8 p.m. on an October evening this repairing the Pope-Chaucer bridge on the year when he returned home with his fam-

“

20

ily and found that his cul-de-sac had turned into a giant lake spread out in the middle of the street. A main pipeline had broken inside his house, unleashing innumerous gallons of water.

“It [the flooding] was surprising,” Amsbaugh says. “You walk home, and there’s water on your street. I wasn’t prepared because it never happened before.”

Palo Alto quickly responded to the crisis, seemingly accustomed to fixing water damage with its rapid response time.

The City is trying to avoid damage, like that which happened to Amsbaugh’s residence and Singh’s former home, by bringing city infrastructure up to date. Along with city preparations, Paly will also be deciding how to deal with possible floods.

According to Assistant Principal of Operations Jerry Berkson, there is a certain amount of calculated preparation and then a certain amount of guess and check in deciding how to deal with other types of damage.

“We try and anticipate problems that we have seen in the past,” Berkson says. “If we have an El Niño year, like past El Niños, I don’t know how much we can anticipate that we will have certain issues.”

Imminent damage in all of its forms

might be easier to bear if the rain helps replenish the water supply. But there are questions surrounding whether it will truly pull California out of their devastating drought. With El Niño predicted to raise temperatures, there are worries that the climate will be too warm for it to snow and increase the dwindling Sierra Nevada snow packs, which are the largest suppliers of water to California. All of this, according to California State Assemblymember Richard Gordon, who was invited to speak to the Palo Alto City Council concerning winter storm preparation, comes together to say that the rainfall might not be enough.

“We are a long way, even with a good wet winter, a long ways away from solving this problem in California,” Gordon says.

“We used to rely on the Sierra Nevada as our waterpack, and the water supply began to recede.”

Many questions remain answered in the coming of El Niño. But no matter the outcome of imminent rain storms, the message remains that people should be prepared for whatever happens.

“Just make sure you have a plan,” Amsbaugh says. “The most important thing, is to prepare.” v

AFTER THE STORM Senior Aaron Diggs stands on one of the bridges Paly staff places across campus to help students go to class through heavy rain and large puddles.

Preparation List: • Pick up fiffiilled sandbags at either the Palo alto airport or mitchell park.

• use the city’s database on fl Floods and winter storm preparation (cityofpaloalto. org/storms) to track fl Flooding during heavy rains.

• create an emergency plan with your family in case of fl Flood damage to your house. who will rescue what? who will take care of your Pet or Pets?

WANT MORE?

visit us at:

verdemagazine.com

Serving Paly For 75 Years!

GO PALY! 410 California Avenue, Palo Alto

22

AERODYNAMICS Wind tunnels at NASA are used to test aerodynamics of small flying devices.

Final frontier THE EVOLUTION OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

Text by ANNA NAKAI Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL Art by KARINA CHAN

A

MID THE WHIRRING and humming of countless Dell computers, the wind tunnel stretches seemingly endlessly in either direction.

A strong fan at one end simulates wind, allowing the National Air and Space Administration to test small or model aircraft and spacecraft for aerodynamic problems. The dark blue and clear-paneled doors open

to adjacent rooms, and a group of NASA interns steps through, describing a drone which is to be tested for aerodynamics the next morning.

The wind tunnel building exudes a sense of the 1930s, the rooms industrially functional and musty with age, dating to when the complex was first built as one of the flagship campuses of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. When

the complex transformed into one of the NASA centers in 1958, the winged emblem was left behind, along with the blocky outdated equipment that covers the first floor of the building.

NASA is only one of many players in the aerospace industry, which encompasses both atmospheric transportation such as airplanes, helicopters and vertical lift devices as well as spacecraft such as rockets. The 23

such as SpaceSystems Loral and SpaceX established in the area, the aerospace industry is alive and thriving in the Bay Area.

Students take advantage of ample opportunities in the sciences, but beyond internships at NASA, opportunities in space are lacking. Enter Stewart Cobb, a Gunn High School parent who has worked in the aerospace industry for many years and is now trying to help set up a Team America Rocketry Competition team at Gunn. TARC is a yearlong rocketry contest where teams from different high schools build and launch rockets. This year’s challenge is to launch two raw eggs in a rocket up to 850 feet for 45 seconds.

“A lot of things that are meaningful in AEROMECHANICS Division Chief William Warmbrodt discusses the NASA aerospace takes a college education or masinternship program and the role of the aeromechanics division. ter’s degree,” Cobb says. “TARC is set up as a competition at a level where high school trend toward commercial space flight loved and everyone wanted to be an astro- students really can do it.”

Earlier this year, students at Gunn atand recent pictures from a NASA mission naut,’” Warren says. “Working in the space to Mars that show water on what was previ- industry is like seeing those childhood tempted to set up a TARC Club only to be ously considered a dry planet have kindled dreams happen more realistically, so by blocked by a district insurance policy. Ina new excitement in the space industry, being involved in SSI or in the aerospace stead, they formed Rocket Science Club, a which has been reflected in the number of industry in general, we give students the club that is not enrolled in any TARC comPalo Alto High School students who pur- ability to actually try and advance the cause petitions. According to Cobb, space allows sue internships in the industry and the in- that they care about which is doing general for one of the most practical applications of engineering. creasing accessibility of space related proj- space exploration.”

“It [rocketry] teaches a lot about the ects to more people.

Space, as one of the unexplored fronpractical aspects of tiers, often appeals engineering,” Cobb The Inspiration of Space to people’s interest “i want to be an astronaut says. “The Gunn Paly senior Nikhil Rajaram, who cur- in the unknown and because space is like the last Rocket Science Club rently works on streamlining the post-pro- mysterious. was running struccessing procedure for 3D printed thermo“I want to be thing we have to explore. i tural tests on tubes plastics, has been interested in space since a an astronaut be- mean there’s the ocean but that they might want young age. His fascination first manifested cause space is like that seems scary” to use as a rocket in the form of space race documentaries, the last thing we ­— SENIOR CHLOE MO body for TARC, and later transitioning into books on astrophys- have to explore,” learning how you ics and ultimately an internship at NASA. Paly senior Chloe “I contacted several people at NASA Mo says. “I mean, there’s the ocean, but do tests to get good information is a very for counsel in general to see how I should that seems scary so that just leaves outer strong very fundamental part of engineering.” pursue aerospace in higher education to set space for me.” myself up for a career in that industry,” RaMo, who is part of Space Cookies, an jaram says. “Naturally something that kind all-girls robotics team that works in NASA The Next Generation of Aerospace While some, like Rajaram, go through of arose from that was getting an intern- Ames laboratories, is attracted to the exship at the space shop.” perimental nature of space travel. She aims individual researchers to get positions, othDeveloping a fascination with space to be an astronaut and ultimately would like ers pursue official internship programs offered on the NASA website. In the aerofrom an early age is not unique to Rajaram. to help set up a colony on Mars.

According to Paul Warren, co-president of “Every mission you go on is intrinsi- mechanics division, students are offered Stanford Student Space Initiative, a col- cally an experiment, so everything I do as 6-week-long summer internships that help legiate level space projects group, the pri- an astronaut will further science for the immerse students in the organization.

Although NASA’s main focus is atmary reason that people join space-related sake of science,” Mo says. tempting to give students opportunities groups is a love of space from an early age. in aeromechanics, NASA also tries to en“You’ll get a ton of people who will Students in Space say, ‘Oh, when I was in elementary school With the NASA Ames Research Cen- sure that half of its interns are female and I read this one science fiction book that I ter just down Highway 101 and companies reaches out to Native American college 24

students through the Tribal Colleges and Universities program.

“We’re trying to change the population face of STEM in universities by reaching out to what have been underrepresented groups historically,” Warmbrodt says.

Warmbrodt enjoys working with young people because they offer an energy that is unparalleled. The enthusiasm that students bring, he says, can help solve problems and promote innovation.

“What young people can do is young people can see a vision, and they can work toward it,” Aeromechanics Branch Chief Dr. William Warmbrodt says. “You think of the opportunities and the possibilities and then what you find it’s not a straight line — it’s a road, it’s a traffic system, and there’s many many opportunities.”

SSI also helps foster aerospace enthusiasts at the collegiate level. With the wellestablished organization comes a slew of benefits, from connections to the United Nations to having the resources needed to become the first university to launch a rocket into orbit.

“Giving people a natural avenue to explore an interest matters a lot for space because space is hard and very unforgiving in terms of the physical environment of space,” Warren says. “It’s extremely hard to send things to space ... [so] doing spacerelated projects as an individual is difficult.”

The Future of New Space The idea of flight and space has lured people in since the conception of the aircraft in the 1910s, but the aerospace industry itself has been shifting and changing in recent years. Air travel on Earth has been expanding rapidly, and personal flying devices appear to be close to fruition.

“As we become increasingly globalized and connected, planes and air travel is going to increase,” Mo says. “NASA has done some cool stuff with fuel reduction of planes and biofuels — United Airlines flew its first 100 percent biofuel plane a few months ago — which I think is hugely crucial in the praxis of preventing climate change from worsening.”

Warmbrodt agrees that climate change is one of the most significant barriers to overcome in the next few years.

“We’ve got to make sure that our aircraft flying at 40,000 feet don’t put out particles that cause the ozone hole to grow,”

Warmbrodt says. “We’re talking about biogenerated fuels, cleaner burning and more environmentally acceptable. We’re talking about quieter aircraft. There are a lot of opportunities to refine and make possible things that don’t exist today.”

While the aerospace industry is expanding, the rise of SpaceX combined with the cut in funding for government organizations like NASA has speeded the commercialization of the industry. Companies have fundamentally different procedures than the government, which has changed the way the space industry operates.

“New space is characterized by the idea that you can take — most people call it the Silicon Valley mentality,” Warren says. “You can take advantage of commercial products, you can take advantage of rapid design iterations and design thinking and do what old space companies and do it better just by doing it more iteratively and thinking smaller and building constellations instead of overengineering one giant monstrosity.”

According to Rajaram and many others, companies like SpaceX will drive the new space movement more than NASA. “The goal of SpaceX is to cut the costs of launch down until it’s actually a competitive market,” Warren says. “SpaceX started doing that and when he [Elon Musk] was somewhat successful building and launching rockets a bunch of other entrepreneurs were saying, ‘Oh, maybe I actually can do space startups.’”

Cobb believes that the industry has made a lot of progress in reducing commercial space flight costs, with SpaceX seeking to reuse components of spacecraft which have been previously unusable.

“If you flew a 747 to Australia and then scrapped the plane at the end of the trip it would be very expensive to get to Australia,” Cobb says. “If you can reuse the airplane it’s a lot cheaper, so they’re trying to reuse the booster.”

While space launches remain expensive, Cobb is confident that the price will continue to drop and points to improvement in the accessibility of space to all with small satellites, called cube sats.

“The future is pretty bright right now,” Cobb says. “It’s already to the point where high schoolers can build experiments and put them in space … so Gunn and Paly could have their own satellite in space if they really wanted to.” v

SPace THRough the ages Sept. 28, 2015 Water discovered on Mars

May 25, 2012 First private spacecraft reaches ISS June 2002 SpaceX is founded

Nov. 20, 1998 International Space Station built

July 20, 1969 First moon landing

July 29, 1958 NASA founded 25

RISING RENTS

Text by EMMA GOLDSMITH and RACHEL VAN GELDER Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL

RENT EXPLOSIONS EMPHASIZE INCOME DISPARITIES

I

N A SIMPLE GREY PULLOVER and a bright striped long-sleeved shirt, Dara’s animated facial expressions and wide smile draw people in. She rests her arms on the pitted, grainy wooden table, leaning in as if trying to capture every word. She isn’t young — her only daughter is already in high school — but she is tall and timelessly beautiful like a model, her blonde hair landing choppily on her angular shoulders and her pale blue eyes widening with interest. Her laugh is honest and real. Pure, unadulterated joy seems to seep from her very pores.

Despite all odds, Dara is simply happy to be alive, but it has not been easy.

For Dara, a Palo Alto resident whose name has been changed to protect her identity, the challenges of affording rent and putting food on the table has made her life a constant struggle.

The Crisis Home to tech giants like Facebook, Google and Survey Monkey, the Bay Area is considered the heart of the tech industry.

With the gap between millionaire tech barons and conventional jobholders constantly expanding, the Bay Area is becoming increasingly defined by its overwhelming wealth and wealth disparities. According to a study recently published by The Brookings Institution, the gap between the rich and poor in San Francisco is growing faster than any other city in the nation.

While Silicon Valley reaps the benefits of the tech industry, Palo Alto continues to suffer from housing prices that force many low-income families out of the area. Even though Palo Alto pays $3.75 above the federal minimum wage, according to City Council Member Eric Filseth, Palo Alto’s $11 per hour minimum wage cannot cover the costs of housing within a 15-mile radius of Palo Alto. The result is that those in the service industry cannot afford to live near their workplace.

“Minimum wage really hasn’t kept up with inflation,” City Council member Tom 26

Dubois, a staunch supporter of raising the one-bedroom apartment in Palo Alto costs minimum wage says. Palo Alto plans to $2,595. Second Harvest Food Bank found raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2018. that housing prices in Santa Clara have ris“Every city is having these issues Palo en 12 percent in the last year, and it takes Alto is having,” Dubois says. more than $82,000 per year for a family of Palo Alto has an especially competitive four to reside in Santa Clara County.

Historically, the most affordable place market because of a multitude of desirable amenities: a huge job market, Stanford Uni- to live near Palo Alto was East Palo Alto, but as prices continue to rise, the only opversity and a high-ranking school district.

According to Filseth, one of the many tion available is the East Bay. reasons Palo Alto has become more expensive is because the housing demand is Dara’s Story Dara has lived in the same one-bedhigher than the supply.

“Palo Alto has the highest jobs-to- room apartment with her daughter for the housing ratio in the county, a little over last 11 years. She had only one official rent three jobs for each housing unit in town,” hike: from around $1,075 to $1,125 — beFilseth says. “There is no way to build fore old landlords put her apartment on the market. enough new housing Her problems beto bring prices down gan last fall when her to the point where job as an art teacher at people could afford IT’S NOT CLEAR TO ME THAT an alternative private to live here if they MOST PEOPLE [IN THE BAY school ended. This cocan’t already.”

Housing costs AREA] REALLY APPRECIATE HOW incided with her apartshow no sign of MUCH PEOPLE ARE STRUGGLING ment complex being sold. plateauing with de“It was really shatmand pushing costs LOCALLY. “ to all time highs.

— SECOND HARVEST CEO tering for me because “For what it’s KATHY JACKSON that was my bread and butter, because they worth — it’s always [the private school] been expensive to paid a better rate,” Dara live here. I graduated from college 35 years ago and certainly says.

At that point, all the school schedules couldn’t afford Palo Alto,” Filseth says. had been set at other schools, which meant Dara had no way of finding another teaching job during that school year.

The Costs “The previous landlord understood Despite the national annual income of $50,000, many people in the Bay Area on my situation, he knew that my daughter had the brink of homelessness struggle to live been in Palo Alto Unified School District on $20,000 or less, a fraction of the state since kindergarten and told me that they estimated $82,000 yearly living cost for this would not raise the rent until she graduated area. Fortunately, organizations like the high school,” Dara says.

When her former landlords put the Second Harvest Food Bank support people who are living on $20,000-$50,000 in Santa house on the market, they raised the rent from $1,125 to $1,350, putting stress on Clara County.

According to Innvision Shelter Net- Dara’s limited budget. Dara and her daughwork, an organization dedicated to helping ter were living on a month to month lease, the homeless find permanent housing, a and when the apartment was sold, they

“

FEATURES | DECEMBER 2015 weren’t protected from the rent hikes by the new owners: $1,475, and then four months later to $2,100. Dara suddenly couldn’t afford the rent because of her financial constraints.

One of Dara’s biggest priorities was and still is finding a way to let her daughter stay in the same school district. Over the course of her childhood, Dara herself attended 16 different schools.

Dara was forced to seek other options.

She took her ex-husband to court to raise the amount of child support she received.

“We had child support based on not actual figures; so they were based on as if dad was earning much less than he really earned and as if mom much more than I really earned,” Dara says. “The reason why that was maintained was because it was a slight buffer against court aggression.”

She also started receiving food stamps, emergency cash aid and even tried downsizing from her already tiny apartment to shared housing.

Unfortunately, every search for an apartment came up with even more disappointing results. Prices seemed to be going up even higher, leaving Dara and her daughter with even fewer options.

Luckily for Dara, she has since found a stable job and her rent has decreased. The new owners of her apartment who had raised the price to $2,100 agreed to lower it to $1,900 when she signed a one-year lease.

However, this isn’t a permanent solution — $1,900 is still too expensive.

“I would be very sad for me to leave Palo Alto,” Dara says. “I have to remind myself of all the reasons I dislike Palo Alto — like what it is turning into.”

Low-Income Programs As housing prices increase, more and more residents are being forced to turn to low-income programs such as homeless shelters and food stamps.

According to Adam Klein of InnVision Shelter Network, many of the longterm residents that being are priced out of their apartments are retired senior citizens who have little in the way of increasing their annual income. To help support low-income families, Second Harvest Food Bank is hoping to raise $15 million and collect two million pounds of food, but the non-profit’s CEO Kathy Jackson worries that they will not be able to meet these

goals.

“It’s not clear to me that most people [in the Bay Area] really appreciate how much people are struggling locally,” Jackson says. “They may be thinking everything is fine, and I think if you’re working in the tech sector, things are pretty good. But wages do not show that you can afford the cost of living here outside of the tech sector.”

The food collected from donations, manufacturers, farmers, retailers and the government is distributed through the 330 non-profit partners of Second Harvest to those in need. However, they have only met half of the $15 million fundraising goal for the holiday season.

Other organizations are making efforts to provide people with fundamental resources needed to live independently.

Dignity on Wheels, run by the non-profit Project We Help Other People Excel (Project WeHope), provides homeless people with a “shower bus” which visits various sites in the Bay Area and allows people to shower and do laundry. The goal of service is to help serve those who might not normally seek out such services.

“One of the original reasons behind the name ‘Dignity on Wheels’ was providing homeless people with the ability to have a free shower and get their clothes washed,” Cynthia Corpuz says. “That way they can go to their medical appointments, go to job interviews, or ride the bus without having to deal with the huge stigma about homeless people smelling bad.”

Despite only having one bus, Dignity on Wheels serves a number of sites, but they hope to expand to homeless encampments and provide people there with caseworkers and medical attention from registered nurses.

Corpuz agrees that if prices continue to increase, the demand for low-income programs will only go up.

Palo Alto is making efforts make adjustments to meet the needs of the area.

In addition to raising the minimum wage, Palo Alto has also placed caps on how large an office space can be to prevent corporate expansion into possible living spaces.

“Palo Alto has consistently said we want to be a family town,” Dubois says.

“We’ve have had a lot of big companies start here, and we’ve always said when you get too big you need to move.” v

DIGNITY ON WHEELS WeHope (Dignity on Wheels) marketing manager Cynthia Corpuz stands next to the shower bus that goes to different locations in the Bay Area to provide homeless people with free shower and laundry services.

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FEATURES | DECEMBER 2015 Text by ALIA CUADROS-CONTRERAS and MADHUMITA GUPTA Art by PORTIA BARRIENTOS and KARINA CHAN

IGNORED HISTORY Events that disproportionately affected minorities, such as forced Native American assimilation and the Japanese internment camps, are often given barely a passing mention in social studies textbooks.

checking the source SCRUTINIZING THE BIASES IN OUR CURRICULUM

P

ALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR CLARE Kemmerer leans over her laptop computer, her keyboard clacking as she searches for her presentation.

Around her, the classroom buzzes with conversation.

Students, from freshmen to seniors, huddle in clumps, giggling as they eat their lunches.

Kemmerer glances up at the screen, clicks her keyboard again, and replaces the screen’s blue glow with her tan colored presentation slide. She stands up and finds her place to the left of the screen, her hands cupped together.

The conversations fade and all eyes rest on Kemmerer. The history lecture about the Crown Heights Riot starts like any other, but the Untaught History Club soon demonstrates its unique learning environment. As Kemmerer teaches the material, students raise their hands with insightful comments and connections to current events. One member shyly raises her hand and adds in a whis-

per how the riot reminds her of the Ferguson incident last year.

Another member frantically waves his hand in the air and asks her to google the current racial demographics of the Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City.

With the new information, other students chime in, some politely raising their hands and others yelling across the classroom, with insight on the current moral and racial aspects of the issue.

As always, the members of Untaught History Club relate history to their daily lives.

Palo Alto High School’s Untaught History Club is one of a few forms of student action in the area of history education. Students teach each other history that is not covered in high school history courses every other week. During club meetings, the relate controversial history to the issues of the modern world. According to club founder Clare Kemmerer, Untaught History Club discusses history they wish would be added to textbooks and the Paly history 29

FEATURES | DECEMBER 2015 curriculum.

Students across the country are taking similar action. This summer in Texas, a high school student noticed that his McGraw Hill history textook referred to slaves as “workers.” What ensued was an uproar on social media started by the student, spreading across the country through the #blacklivesmatter campaign on Facebook, and leading to many people to question the way controversial topics are presented in textbooks in all parts of the United States, including California.

On Oct. 1, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 146 which mandates including an explanation of the 1930s deportation of citizens of Mexican descent in future versions of California history textbooks.

However, textbook reform is a slow and tedious process, according to Jacklyn Edwards, instructional supervisor of the Paly history department. The same history textbooks have been used at Paly for about 10 years and A.B. 146 is one of the few reforms executed in California after the implementation of Common Core in 2014.

According to Edwards, textbook reform is a complicated process because many people with varying opinions are involved in trying to accurately portray history in school textbooks, which are a main source of information for students. Due to the nature of textbook reform and adoption, students and teachers have to work through the controversies in textbooks for years before the text is modified.

The Root of the Discussion Because textbooks are secondary sources written after events take place, they are especially prone to biases from the author’s interpretational approach. The author can choose which events and historical figures he or she deems important, a choice that ultimately defines the history that students learn.

Authors attempt to be as impartial as possible in their choice of incorporation, but there will always be disagreements regarding which events should have the privilege of inclusion according to Paly U.S. History teacher David Rapaport. Often, a subject may be awarded one sentence when others feel it should be given at least a page of explanation. Failures to thoroughly cover and explain a subject result in a student 30

TEXTBOOK EVENT George Washington and his troops are portrayed as brave and strong soldiers on their way to defeating the British. never fully understanding the significance of a topic.

Beyond History However, biases in textbook content are not exclusive to history. According to biology teacher Elizabeth Brimhall, author bias in descriptions of scientific concepts can also mold a student’s understanding of certain topics. To address this issue in future biology textbooks, Brimhall and Stanford University graduate student Brian Donovan are conducting research regarding biases in biology textbooks and their effects on students’ understanding of race and genetics.

“They [students] are probably not aware of the effects because they are really subtle effects,” Brimhall says. “You get this subtle link between one genetic trait and race, and the trouble is your mind might extrapolate from that these other things could be race too when race is not based on genetics. It’s based on what society has defined it [race] as.”

In order to address student prejudices and ideas regarding the correlation of race

and genetics, Brimhall ventures beyond the textbook in her 9th grade biology classes.

She guides hands-on activities and discussions with the goal of highlighting an issue which the textbook fails to address.

Exploring Additonal Sources In history courses, teachers often have to seek supplementary material such as diary entries or newspaper articles from the time period in addition to textbook readings. By incorporating primary sources, history teachers aim to represent key historical events and figures in the depth necessary to do the subject justice.

“Frederick Douglas is given a photograph and a few sentences in the textbook we use, and I don’t think it’s very reflective of the importance of Mr. Douglas’s narrative and story,” Rapaport says. “So we have to go beyond what the textbook allows ... because it’s insufficient to rely on the textbook as the sole source of historical narrative on a particular subject.”

Without being exposed to different sources, Rapaport believes students are not in a position to cultivate their own views

FEATURES | DECEMBER 2015

ACTUAL EVENT George Washington and his troops were starving and lacked supplies when, by a stroke of luck, they defeated the British at the Battle of Trenton. on a subject. He says expanding on the curriculum through primary sources provides students contrasting viewpoints on a historical topic and thus, the big picture and objective explanation. Senior and Untaught History Club member Bryn Sullivan says she was exposed to a primary source textbook, “American Spirit”, in AP U.S. history which presented perspectives of events she had not contamplated.

“There were perspectives of the oppressed and perspectives of the oppressors, and I think it really helped me to understand the conflict more when I understood where each side was coming from ... I could therefore get a broader perspective and ... really form my own opinion,” stated Sullivan.

With similar goals to Untaught History Club, the next step teachers like Rapaport take is relating the issue at hand to the modern-day world. Without finding the relevance to current events, many students lose the value of history and fail to understand the importance of the subject, according to Kemmerer.

“I think current events are key to his-

tory education,” Kemmerer says. “Even at the basic level of getting students interested and then you can get into what the social implications of that [historical event] are.”

Students Speak Up Although textbook authors may understandably skip over controversial topics, Kemmerer says they are crucial for students like herself to learn and apply to their daily lives as residents of the U.S. Other students, such as junior Emilia DiazMagaloni, wish that the breadth of history in textbooks reflected the diversity in the modern world.

“School is one of those places where they should be able to give us the facts and we should be able to form our own opinions about it and gain a more worldly perspective,” junior Emilia Diaz Magaloni says. “They [textbook companies] should be less afraid to add those controversial things into the textbook. That would be a good place to start.”

If a whole continent is left out of a history textbook or minimally explained, Diaz-Magaloni says, students, including

herself, may lose a chance to understand a whole section of the world’s population and possibly even their own heritage.

“I would like to see more of an emphasis on Latin America in textbooks,” Diaz-Magaloni says. “A huge portion of the population in California is Latino or Hispanic, and kids are going into their classrooms and asking ‘Where is our history?’”

Briefly covering Latin America and other subject matters in history keeps students locked in their own prejudices, according to Diaz-Magaloni. Rapaport says students also fail to find their own point of view when they are constantly exposed to the same kinds of biases. According to the New York Times, history textbooks are primarily written by white males, so students are constantly exposed to similar views.

“Having textbooks that are white and male-centric is just as much of a problem as having the curriculum be white and male-centric,” Kemmerer says. “They [the textbooks] cover primarily what I call white people topics ... Most history doesn’t acknowledge that other cultures happened until they have contact with white people.”

Kemmerer personally experienced the focus on “white” or mainstream topics in her APUSH class.

“There was one sentence on AIDS,” Kemmerer says. “That is very minimal representation of an event and form of discrimination that was very powerful for America and Americans. I just thought of that as very odd because a lot of those biases are still occurring in society, and it was amazing to me that other students didn’t realize that it was missing.”

In Untaught History Club, Kemmerer hopes to address the history that students do not “realize is missing” from their textbooks. Although the club is small and may be overlooked by those with the power to alter the Paly history curriculum, the club establishes the student body’s opinon on topics like these — students want to know more. In future years, Kemmerer hopes the club will keep attracting a wide range of students and exposing them to untaught history.

“I would really like it [the club] to continue after I graduate and get larger,” Kemmerer says. “Even when it’s just the small group, I like having the space to discuss history. You can’t really stop the discussion once it gets started.” v 31

PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015

From Corporate

Text and photography

by LAURA SIEH

A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT CREATED HAPPINESS

A

S GEORGE VUONG traces his finger along his torso through his sweatshirt, he recalls the motorcycle accident that left a scar along his left rib and nearly killed him three years ago. On his way home from work, a driver pulling out of a parking lot didn’t see him and T-boned his motorcycle.

As he tumbled over the handlebars, Vuong saw his life flash in front of his eyes while his world moved in slow motion.

Vuong clearly recalls the paramedics wheeling him through the halls of the emergency room on a stretcher, as he saw ceiling light after ceiling light pass over his head.

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“I felt like I was in a movie,” Vuong

single most scary, yet amazing, experience of his life.

At the time, Vuong, now an English These terrifying experiences gave him a teacher at Palo Alto High School, was new appreciation for life and helped trigger working a corpohis realization that he rate job at a health had to do something and pharmaceutical that made him happy. company. With reFor Vuong, that was a sponsibilities includcareer in teaching, so ing product managehe made the decision ment, stocking stores to enter the world of and shipping, the education. monotonous routine Today, Vuong —TEACHER george vuong comes to class every and isolation of his job made him feel morning at 7 a.m., like a robot. ready to inspire stu“I was stuck in an office all day, with- dents and teach them more about topics out any type of human interaction,” Vuong that he’s passionate about and genuinely says. “It was very depressing for me.” happy to be teaching.

Especially stressful for Vuong was the fact that his boss was breathing down his Passionate and Well-Dressed neck every few minutes and was able to Walk into room 216 during Vuong’s monitor his computer screen remotely.

English 9A and World Literature classes, “The job was terrible,” Vuong says. “It and you’ll usually see him wearing formal was good experience, but it wasn’t what I attire — dress shoes, slacks and perhaps a was looking for. I felt like it was a big grace tie — except for Casual Friday when he’ll to do something to move up the ladder but be in jeans and a T-shirt. what’s the end goal?”

This formal attitude is a remnant of A couple months after his motorcy- his time working in an office, where his cling accident, Vuong decided to go sky- boss, who didn’t believe in Casual Fridays, diving with a friend on a whim. Fifteen dressed up in a suit and tie every day and thousand feet above ground, he stood at inspired him to assume a professional and formal appearance. the window with his parachute Though Vuong maintains the forabout to jump when he mality of his previous job, he takes care saw his life, again, flash to make his classroom an exciting envibefore his eye, the ronment. The cold isolation of the office hardly compares to the voices chattering in his classroom that complement with Vuong’s social personality.

“I love being in a classroom with my students every single day,” Vuong says. “Every classroom isn’t the same; there’s different personalities, students and classes. It reDREAM JOB Vuong discusses a journal with his English ally keeps it refreshing to me, and teaching 9A students. “I love being in a classroom with my students students is a way for me to find a certain every single day,” says Vuong, who became a teacher after kind of fulfillment.” realizing that he had to do something that he truly enjoyed, says.

“

IF You’re Going to be stuck in a career, you’d Better make Sure you enjoy it.”

PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015 Vuong’s excitement for teaching is evident to his students.

“You can tell that he’s very passionate about the subject that he’s teaching,” says Derek Zhou, a student in Vuong’s English 9A class. “He always wants to make sure that the students understand the concepts in class.”

To Vuong, teaching is less stressful than his old job.

“Teaching is stressful in its own right — don’t get me wrong — but I feel less stressed in the journey of my life. I feel like I’ve reached the part of my life where I’m content and I’m doing something that is fulfilling to me personally.”

pointed in him, his father didn’t speak to him for over a year.

Despite changing his undergraduate major, he set aside his pursuits in English after graduating to work as assistant systems manager at a health and pharmaceutical company that sells organic skincare products in Ojai, California, a small town about 40 miles from Santa Barbara.

After his motorcycle accident, he quit his job, realizing that he was unhappy. Vuong submitted to his decision to become a teacher — a decision he had been considering for quite some time — and applied to graduate school at UCSB to get his single subject teaching credential and a master’s degree in English.

careeR TIMELINe

Bay Area Beginnings Vuong grew up in San Jose, raised by immigrants who escaped Vietnam via boat with their families during the Vietnam War. He first developed a passion for teaching in middle school. After seeing his computer sciences teacher playing guitar as he In It for the Long Run was leaving class, Vuong asked his teacher Now back in the Bay Area, to give him lessons. His love for playing in- Vuong lives in San Jose with his spired him to start a guitar club so that he roommates and is in his second year could jam with more people. He convinced teaching at Paly, after a year at Santa his friends to join, Barbara High but because they School. He is didn’t play guitar, working to inhe started teaching troduce medithem, finding that tation into through teaching he the classroom —TEACHER george vuong next semester could share his love for a topic with othand wants to ers. bring back After high school, Vuong attended UC the Chaucer elective course, Santa Barbara as a biological sciences ma- which would cover Geoffrey jor, a choice that he felt compelled to make Chaucer’s works from the Midby his parents. dle Ages.

“They were very typical Asian parWhen he isn’t busy teachents,” Vuong says. “They wanted you to be ing or planning for class, Vua doctor, a lawyer or a pharmacist — some- ong walks his dog or goes to thing fancy.” the gym. He still plays the guiTheir end goal for Vuong was for him tar, but he doesn’t have much to go into medical school and become a time to practice. doctor.

He no longers rides his After a full year of biology-related motorcycle — not after the coursework, Vuong realized he was miser- accident. able, and changed his major to English, a Vuong sees himself subject he had always loved and excelled in. teaching for years to come, “If you’re going to be stuck in a career which gives him a certainty for 20 or 40 years, you’d better make sure about his future that his corporate you enjoy it,” Vuong says. job could not.

After this decision, Vuong’s parents “This is a lifetime career and a were predictably upset. They were disap- lifetime pursuit.” v

“

THIS IS A LIFETIME CAREER AND A LIFETIME PURSUIT.”

2007 Vuong graduates from Independence High School in San Jose and enrolls at UC Santa Barbara, majoring in biological science.

2008 Vuong changes his major to English.

2011 Vuong graduates from UCSB with a degree in English and starts his job at Medicine Mama’s Apothecary in Ojai as an assistant systems manager.

2012 After his motorcycle accident, Vuong quits his job to enrolls in graduate school to get his master’s degree and single-subject teaching credential at UCSB.

2013 After finishing the accelerated program at UCSB, Vuong starts working at Santa Barbara High School.

2014 Vuong moves back to the Bay Area and starts teaching at Palo Alto High School.

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PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015

THREE MONTHS LATER MARTHA CABOT REFLECTS ON “SAVE THE 2008”

Text by TARA MADHAV Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL

T

HE AUDIO SLIGHTLY garbled and the video slightly grainy, Martha Cabot begins to speak. Cabot pauses between her words, holding back emotions from the devastating events of the day. Instead, she assertively puts forth her points: that expecting a student to take seven Advanced Placement classes should not be considered normal, that the level of achievement students are expected to reach in our community is unnatural — that a student’s education belongs to him or herself and no one else.

Cabot labeled the video “Henry M. Gunn High School: 1 more suicide preventable,” created as a reaction to the death of 16-year-old Gunn student Cameron Lee, a friend of Cabot’s, early that day on Nov. 4, 2014.

“I created a video and posted it online, thinking just a couple of friends would see it,” says Cabot, now a Henry M. Gunn High School junior and Foothill Middle College student, reflecting on the experience a year later. “My reason behind it was to emphasize that there were so many factors behind why this could have happened; also to stand up for the kids at school saying how sorry we felt and how unhappy we were. I was hearing so much blame already.”

Cabot and Marc Vincenti, a former Gunn High School English Teacher, went on to create Save the 2008, a group cham-

NOV. 4, 2015 MARTHA CABOT UPLOADS A VIDEO IN RESPONSE TO THE DEATH OF GUNN STUDENT CAMERON LEE 34

pioning education reform in the Palo Alto ing out who I am as a person, like any teenUnified School District by advocating for ager does,” Cabot says. “It was mainly bespecific changes in school policy, which cause I had my own stress going on about include: smaller class sizes, moderation my personal life, but also I felt like there of homework amounts, greater awareness was such lack of support from my school.” about AP workloads, a ban on students usThere was a load of opposition from difing their cell phones during school hours, ferent members of the community, mainly more efforts to stop the students — in one examcheating culture and a ple, the Gunn Oracle pubdecrease in the number lished an editorial calling of grade reports sent here was something Save the 2008’s plans inefout to the families of fective and unapplicable. about her sense of deep Cabot found frustration in students.

Their efforts would caring, her courage in the fact that many people involve months of atto have complaints posting that video, her seemed tending school board rather than suggestions meetings, talking with sense of urgency, that concerning dissatisfaction students and commu- we couldn’t let this go with specific points of the nity members and tryplan. ing to facilitate change. on.”

“When I was working But for Cabot, trying — marc vincenti with the campaign, a lot of to make Save the 2008 people would say what was a force for change in wrong with the campaign the community was an uphill battle, and rather than offering their ideas,” Cabot it eventually led to her departure from the says. “For a while, it felt like me and Marc campaign three months ago. This year, she were the only ones trying to change somebegan school at Foothill. thing.”

Why did one of the most involved stuCabot believes that change stalled bedents in the community, someone who ex- cause of a variety of different factors, inpressed a peak amount of passion about cluding the arrival of a new superintendent the well-being of those around her, pull and Gunn principal, and that her experiaway suddenly? And what did Cabot learn ence was a teaching moment. from her experiences?

“Now that I have grown up a bit and “I had a really harsh time last year figur- ended my work with the campaign, I see

“

NOVEMBER 2015

NOV. 18, 2015

marc VINCENTI REACHES OUT CABOT AND VINCENTI LAUNCH TO CABOT AFTER SEEING HER “SAVE THE 2008” AT SCHOOL VIDEO, AND THEY BEGIN BOARD MEETING “SAVE THE 2008”

PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015

LOOKING BACK, BUT MOVING FORWARD Former Gunn student Martha Cabot contemplates a year campaigning for educational change in the Palo Alto Unified School District, and the beliefs that led her to speak for a change in policy. why I didn’t see any change,” Cabot says.

Cabot continues to advocate for students raising their voices and speaking about issues concerning their community, even if she is not part of Save the 2008 anymore.

“The fact that students are doing something and speaking their mind is so important,” Cabot says. “I respect it so much. ... I am proud to call them my peers.”

Her concern for her community and outspoken opinions struck a chord with those who were ready for change, and continue to a year later.

“There was something about her sense of deep caring, her courage in posting that video, her sense of urgency, that we couldn’t let this go on,” Vincenti says. “It had been happening long enough, and as a community, we needed to do something that was unique in the community discussion at that time.”

Cabot’s activism, sparked in a moment of sadness and mourning that mobilized her to action, is rooted in a deep belief that teens should and can speak up for what they believe in, and that the student voice

holds potent power for change. After having come full circle with her efforts with Save the 2008, she still strongly supports the beliefs that drove her to conduct activism for her community.

“It was really important that it [a suicide] wouldn’t happen again because we [the Gunn community] love each other so much,” Cabot says. “We are just such a loving community and so supportive of one another that it just tore me apart to think that this could happen and that I might’ve been blind to it.” v

JAN. 27, 2015

JULY 2015

OCT. 9, 2015

“SAVE THE 2008” ASKS FOR REFORM AFTER DEATH OF A SECOND GUNN STUDENT

CABOT DECIDES TO LEAVE “SAVE THE 2008”

SUPERINTENDENT says “SAVE THE 2008” won’t return to SCHOOL BOARD AGENDA 35

PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015

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PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015

AMY WATT

AN ATHLETE’S JOURNEY TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

A

Text by ALICIA MIES and SIDDHARTH SRINIVASAN Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL

MY WATT HOLDS UP her starting block — a homemade apparatus composed of a hollowed out tennis ball can secured onto a two by four block of wood with a generous amount of duck tape. It willingly supports her, bearing her weight as she takes her place on the starting blocks, doing the job as well as a manufactured prosthetic limb could manage. As she tells the story of this simple contraption, one that enables her to shave precious seconds off her time in the 400m, her quiet determination to become an elite runner shines through.

In the span of less than two years, Watt, a senior at Gunn High School, has gone from a spectator of Paralympic athletics to a competitor at the highest level, having raced at the Paralympic World Championships in Doha, Qatar, this October. She regularly competes in track and field along with able-bodied athletes for Gunn, alternating between hurdles, long jump and sprints in an effort to help her team accumulate points during each meet.

Regardless of the competition she encounters, Watt seems unfazed, and has a willingness to smoothly adapt to any condition.

Watt was born without her left forearm, a birth defect called meromelia. Despite being a congenital amputee by birth, Watt has always been naturally athletic and started playing soccer for Stanford Soccer Club at a young age. In middle school, she joined the track team and discovered a passion for running.

With her spikes, homemade starting block and her ability to remain unfazed regardless of the competition or challenges

she faces, Watt has the potential to continue her ascent to the upper reaches of Paralympic athletics.

Natural Beginnings Watt’s first experience at a Paralympic championship began in the stands and ended on the rubber. She began that day in spring 2014 up in the bleachers dressed in her casual Saturday attire of a T-shirt and shorts, only in San Mateo to cheer on her friend from summer camp who journeyed all the way from Iowa to compete at the national trials.

Watt had only decided to come to the event the day before, when former Paralympian Ranjit Steiner bumped into her on the Gunn track, noticed her arm and invited her to the competition the next day.

As she glanced out onto the track, Watt remembers her friend yelling out to her. The relay team was short a runner, and they wanted her to run the third leg for them. Watt threw on a pair of running pants and borrowed a shirt; then three-time Paralympian April Holmes helped complete her outfit by handing her a pair of her running shoes.

Her relay team ended up setting a Paralympic national record, running a time of 56.69 seconds. This year, her team ran the same relay again with a time of 53.90 seconds. With a time that was pending for a world record, Watt put herself in contention for representing Team USA internationally.

To confirm her eligibility, Watt needed to get classified as an amputee, a process in which the International Paralympic Committee determines what class an athlete will

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PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015

BALANCE Watt holds up her tennis ball can and block apparatus, used to help her balance in the starting blocks. compete in. After the whirlwind 30-day Through the camp’s activities of rock of the disabled and Paralympic athletic classification process, Watt was set to test climbing and a ropes course, Watt created community who willingly offer help when herself in the IPC World Championship and maintained friendships with her fellow they recognize it’s needed while allowing Trials. camp attendees, who she can easily relate each other to still maintain independence. and connect with.

“I don’t go out of my way to help [a Launch into Community “There’s people I’ve met where I’ve Paralympic athlete] because I know that’s Watt has inherently been part of the only known them for a total of four weeks not something I would want,” Watt says. amputee community since the day she was and I feel like I’ve known them for so “People definitely try to offer help because born. In the summer of 2008, her mother long,” she says. we look like we need help, but since we’ve signed her up for the Amputee Coalition of In the years that followed, Watt has been living with our disabilities for our America’s Paddy Rossbach Youth Camp, a been eager to return whole lives, we don’t camp made exclusively for teen amputees to the welcoming nafeel like we need help.” that aims to encourage them to step out ture of the camp each of their comfort zones. Over the years, the summer. Much like Training for Doha camp has become a place of comfort for the acceptance from “PEOPLE DEFINITELY TRY TO As she got set in Watt, but even more for other amputees the amputee commu- OFFER HELP... BUT SINCE WE the starting blocks, who have been recipients of bullying hav- nity, Watt’s surge from preparing to fight for a HAVE BEEN LIVING WITH OUR ing grown up elsewhere.

Gunn’s track comspot in the IPC World While Watt feels that the Palo Alto munity into the inter- DISABILITIES FOR OUR WHOLE Championship, Watt community was an accepting one to grow national sphere came LIVES, WE DOn’t FEEL LIKE WE recalls balancing on up in, many of the amputees she met at with an unexpected her right hand, and camp been the recipients of bullying else- welcome from the NEED HELP ” bursting out of the where.

Paralympic group.

— Amy Watt starting blocks, quickly “Definitely for them [other camp atPart of this acgaining a significant tendees] it was a big thing for them to have ceptance is a solidarity lead over her competia large group of people who were just like in knowing and being able to gauge each tors. them,” she says. “It was a nice place for other’s comfort levels as they all share a The 400 is a furious race, an elongated me to go and meet new people.” tacit understanding about letting others be sprint of two turns and two straightaways “There was a guy who said, ‘Can I independent. Watt recalls that despite rou- all lasting just over a minute. Yet in this inlend a hand?’ and then they [an ampu- tinely maintaining that she does not need stance, as she rounded the final turn, she tee] would say, ‘No, but I have a leg’ help, the waiters at the World Champion- remembers her mind stopping to pause and then they brought out their pros- ships insisted they carry her plates after as she saw the number 58 flash up on the thetic,” Watt says. dinner. Watt’s assertions often match those screen.

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“I knew the qualifying time [for the ist hotel rather than an athletes village, Paralympics] was 65 seconds, and in that Watt crammed in her homework between moment I thought, ‘I can actually do this,’” events, in order to clear her mind when it Watt says. She felt herself surge forward se- came time to race. curing her place in the IPC World ChampiThe professionalism at the elite stage onships, along with a personal record time. was a noticeable difference for Watt, and it Yet her preparation was not over. With highlighted her relative inexperience at that the high school track season ending in May, level. and the IPC World Championships not “We were brought to a check in tent taking place until October, Watt needed about 30 minutes before our race,” Watt to maintain her form and fitness. For her says. “Here they checked our shoes, and coach, Joy Upshaw, training Watt was dif- we warmed up, up until the timing of the ferent than preparing race.” many athletes over The additional the years for Gunn. build up time only “I Knew the qualifying time added to the jitters and Strong in the 400m, 200m, 100m and the [for the paralympics] was nerves she felt at the long jump, by train- 65 seconds, and in that time, yet she discoving for all four events, ered that the paralymWatt risked exhaustion moment i thought, I can pic community is one and burnout. After actually do this. ” that fosters developthe conclusion of the along with com— Amy Watt ment high school track seapetition. son, Upshaw began to work individually with Watt, setting specific Road to Rio and Beyond goals, pulling from her years of attending A normal high school track season high performance seminars and experience. lasts until May, occasionally June. It’s now “We worked on her speed off the October and with her flight back from front end,” Upshaw says, referring to the Doha, Watt’s season is finally over. She’s acceleration needed in both the sprints and eager to put her feet up and rest for a while. jumps.

While she hopes to continue competing at Yet perfecting her technique was only the top for years to come, Watt also aspires half the task at hand; if she was to suc- to become a veterinarian, combining her ceed in her events Doha, she would need love for animals with her passion for scito bring her “grit” to the next level. Watt’s ence. She volunteers with the Nine Lives longtime friend and Gunn track teammate Foundation and the Doggie Protective Maya Miklos describes “grit” as the feel- Services, a canine rescue group that brings ing when lactic acid gushes through and dogs in high kill shelters to the Bay Area screams at a runner’s thighs as they round and hosts adoption events. the final turn of a race. The ability to bite Yet there is a quiet determination down on the bullet, and push through the about her that just won’t lie down. She final 100 meters, Miklos says, can only be dreams of boarding the plane with Team achieved through training. Miklos too was USA next summer to Rio de Janeiro, to competing on a national level this summer, take part in the largest Paralympic event in placing 10th in California for the 300m the world — the Paralympics — featuring hurdles, and trained with Watt regularly. over 4,350 athletes from 179 countries.

“The difficulty of our workouts is In Rio, there lies a bit of unfinished what helps us build that mental strength,” business. This past October, a competiMiklos says. “You have to really want it.” tor from Australia who she had befriendMiklos’ speed out of the blocks pushes ed asked her by text to swap shirts. Watt, Watt onward, an integral part in ensuring however, was already on the plane heading she maximizes her potential. home from Doha, missed out on the opSo while her classmates competed in portunity to make the gesture of respect Homecoming week festivities in October, and compassion.

Watt was lining up against the world’s best, “If we both make it to Rio next sumtrying to establish herself among more mer, I promised her that we will finally get experienced competitors. Based in a tour- to trade shirts.” v

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THE ROAD TO RIO Spring 2013 Joins Gunn track her freshman year Summer 2014 Gets her first set of offical times at the National Junior Disability Championship Summer 2015 Attends nationals in San Mateo, competing in the 4 x 100 relay Summer 2015 Competes for a spot on TEAM USA at the National Championships in St. Paul, MN Fall 2015 Participates in the IPC World Championships in Doha, Qatar

Spring 2016 Completes final track season for Gunn Summer 2016 Travels to Charlotte, NC for National Championships Summer 2016 Possibly competing in the Paralympics in Rio de Janiero

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PROFILES ||DECEMBER DECEMBER2015 2015 Text by JOSH CODE and JOELLE DONG Photography by JOSH CODE and WILLIAM DOUGALL

BIBLE STUDY Seminary leader Lisa Pearson facilitates an in-depth analysis of the book of Genesis with junior Isabel Black.

the palo alto mormons

EXPLORING THE IDENTITIES OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS YOUTH

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HE CLOCK READS 6:40 a.m. The city is still asleep, but on Stanford Avenue the Latter Day Saints Institute is wide awake. Inside, eager teens gather at their daily seminary. Seated at low tables, they flip through thick leather-bound Bibles. But as they discuss their faith, they compare Spirit Week costumes and talk about who’s dating who. The hourlong class passes quickly, full of jokes and laughter, and as the young Mormons pile into their cars and drive to school, the bright spirit travels with them.

“My friends always ask me why I’m so happy,” Palo Alto High School junior Isa40

bel Black says. “I credit my religion.”

In Palo Alto, this kind of religious dedication is rare — the San Francisco area has 12 percent fewer religious residents than the nation as a whole, according to Pew Research Center.

Yet, Palo Alto’s Mormons, who attend three hours of church on Sundays, hourlong seminary classes five days a week, nightly scripture study and frequent prayer, enjoy a pleasant coexistence with the greater Palo Alto community.

All In Mormonism requires firm devotion from its members. The religion is a serious

time commitment, although much of this has a social focus, according to Black.

“Being Mormon to me means being a part of a community that together share the same values and bear each other up,” Black says. “As a Mormon, I feel that I am a part of a large family that loves each other and helps one another in the process of improving ourselves.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church, involves a detailed set of values and beliefs. The church teaches health guidelines called the Word of Wisdom, which encourage abstinence from alcohol, drugs, excess meat and caffeinated beverages and

PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015 distributes pamphlets to youth in which and have a desire to conform to society, but sexual purity is encouraged and dating is then I think about my future and what I prohibited before age 16. want out of my future and none of those “You’re either all in or you’re all out,” pressures matter anymore,” Black says.

Black says. “If you take a break [from the “When I think about the happiness I want religion] for too long, you can really forget to have in my future, and the type of man I about what your values are or what your want to marry, it is not hard to say no to the purpose is in this life.” things that will only give me a temporary While the religion requires being “all in,” satisfaction. As difficult as it is, I wouldn’t the LDS church also encourages its mem- never ever give up my values for anything bers to be involved in the broader society. in the world.”

As Palo Alto’s Mormon teens immerse themselves in all aspects of adolescent life, Love, Kindness and Forgiveness they are exposed to a lot of temptation, acDespite having values that often concording to Black. trast with those of the general Palo Alto “It is hard to stand alone but can also be community, according to senior Michael very empowering at the same time,” Black Rowe, the LDS church preaches accepsays regarding her abstinence from premar- tance above all. ital sex, drugs, alcohol and caffeine.

“Even though there’s a lot of differAccording to Black, this challenge to ent opinions between Paly and the church, maintain her values has both communities are strengthened her faith. very accepting,” Rowe To stick with her beliefs, says. “I always respect Black draws an inverted values my friends It is hard to stand alone, the pyramid on her wrist. really believe in or The metaphor for her but can also be very em- were taught; I expect life inspires her deci- powering at the same the same respect from sion-making — now them.” she is at the tip of the time” Senior Zach Kirk — junior isabel black has felt this acceptance. pyramid with limited options, but her future Despite his decision to holds wider horizons. leave the religion two According to the years ago, he maintains official church website, lds.org, Mormons close ties to the church, as his family and believe that life is eternal. How one lives friends still practice the religion. in this life now determines how one will “It’s the doctrine that I disagree with, live in one’s eternal afterlife. Black’s faith not the people,” Kirk says. “Some of my influences how she envisions her future. best friends are Mormon.”

She plans to attend the Mormon Brigham Should Kirk ever decide to return to the Young University and go on a mission to church, he knows he would be welcomed spread the LDS gospel. back with open arms. Such welcoming Family is central to the religion. Mor- principles of love, kindness and forgivemons believe that one may be “sealed” to ness define what it means to be Mormon one’s family to ensure that one will be with for Rowe. one’s loved ones in the eternal afterlife, ac“I hate when people say the church is cording to Black. judgemental,” Rowe says. “When you talk Sealings are considered an ordinance to authority in the church, it’s nothing but from God and take place in Mormon tem- love and forgiveness.” ples, according to lds.org. LDS churches This emphasis on kindness and underare for daily worship whereas temples are standing facilitates an overall mutual replaces to make covenants with God. Right spect between Palo Alto’s Mormon youth now, Black is sealed to her parents, but she and the members of the greater Palo Alto looks forward to being sealed to her future community. husband and children. This future inspires “The Mormon church and community Black to maintain her values. taught me to love everyone, not just the “When I am at a party and I am the only people who are the same as you are,” Rowe sober one, I may feel slightly out of place says. v

“The Mormon church and community taught me to love everyone, not just the people who are the same as you are.”

— senior Michael Rowe

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Caltrain Strangers THREE PASSENGERS’ JOURNEYS TO THE GOLDEN STATE Text by ALICIA MIES Additional reporting by EMILIE MA Photography by KARINA CHAN and WILLIAM DOUGALL

A

LEX SIMAND, A SCRAGgly bearded, tech engineer, walks onto the platform at 4 p.m. sharp, heading towards the ticket booth, where he fishes out a few dollar bills and some change for his ticket. The machine spits out a thin paper slip punched with a

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combination of numbers that grants him access to the Bay Area’s Caltrain. Simand takes his place and stands alongside the other commuters — millennials tired from work and some Generation X-ers clad in cycling spandex — behind the yellow boundary of the platform. The train shuffles in, the doors open and close, and the

train departs. For Simand and many other commuters, this process is a mundane routine and an indication of a workday’s end.

Unlike New York and Tokyo, where the train is an integral part of the culture and serves to define these cities, the Bay Area lacks a transportation system that is viewed as such a lifeblood. While Teslas

PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015 and BMW’s rule the roads, the train remains before 9 p.m.), the general population is en- example of these cultural perceptions ocbut a footnote in Bay Area transportation grossed in tiny bright smartphone screens curred during his childhood in his subur— a means of commuting — headphones in, ban neighborhood in Toronto. for San Francisco ready to shut the “Our neighbors [in Toronto] would dwellers and world out. often complain to us because we would do 20-somethings.

Alex Simand things that in Russia would be totally fine,” Some may fits in with this Simand says. “We would chop down trees see the Calcrowd, clad in a for fire and we slaughtered lambs in our train merely classic red plaid backyard … People would look at us, like as a vehicle to shirt and blue we were strange, foreign — which we were. shepherd emjeans, his typi- Things that seem normal in one culture ployees of the cal casual Friday seem completely terrifying in another.” tech industry to attire. Simand’s As an electrical engineer in North and from their story, however, San Jose, Simand finds his job tedious, yet jobs. However, does not. steady. When I ask him whether he loves further inspecSimand was his job, he immediately says “No” and sits tion reveals the born in Nizhny up in his seat. He is tired, but not in the assortment of Novgorod, Rus- way that the other passengers are wanting narratives, lives sia, where his to curl up in bed and fall asleep. No, after and experiparents took 10 years of being an engineer, Simand is ences, which truly a roundabout tired of following an unfulfilling path — he represent the Bay path through yearns to chase his dream of creative writArea.

Austria, Italy ing.

My process and Ukraine in Every day, after nine hours of work as was straightforward 1989 to eventu- an electrical engineer, Simand goes home — ask a variety of ally settle in To- to write poetry and nonfiction personal passengers three ENGINEER TURNED POET Alex Si- ronto, Canada, essays, often drawing inspiration from his questions: Where mand, commuting home from North San Jose, where his aunts immigrant experience. In six months, he were you last? yearns to chase his dream of creative writing. and uncles lived. will graduate from Antioch University with Where are you goTo escape com- a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. ing? Why are you munist Russia, After getting his MFA, he plans to pursue going there? his parents gave up their citizenship and creative writing full-time.

Despite initial hesitation, three indi- the few rights the Russian government had “[It’s] terrifying,” he says. “But I think viduals were especially willing to reveal allowed them. it’s supposed to be terrifying. Otherwise, it their stories of immigration.

He isn’t clear on the exact details of his doesn’t seem worthwhile.”

To these three people, the question, family’s migration to Canada save for the Simand is soft-spoken and self-admit “Where were you last?” elicits not their lit- fact that, “They eral former destination, but their accounts took a plane,” Siabout migrating to the Bay Area. Each in- mand says, as he dividual struggled, and still struggles, with laughs lightly. being an outsider in an area where individuHe recalls his ality is celebrated. But, what is more signifi- immigrant expericant, is each person’s ability to surpass that ence as something beginning uneasiness and strive towards that constantly happiness. informs his perIn a span of fifteen minutes, every in- ception of himdividual described his or her past, present self and others. and future and after this brief respite, each He is aware of continue their lives in the same staccato. the effect cultural norms have on The Poet a person’s dayIt’s half past four on a Friday after- to-day behavior, noon and everyone on the train shows signs mostly because he of a hard week’s work — tired faces, some sees these percepclosed eyes, occasional sighs. Despite a few tions in himself GOING HOME Ives Galley, on his way back to UC Berkeley, young men discreetly drinking cheap beer every day. For Si- where he is studies chemical enginnering, in the hopes of return(although, alcohol is allowed on the train mand, a glaring ing to his homeland in Togo to reform the corrupt oil industry.

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ALL ABOARD As men and women wait patiently, the industrious Caltrain comes to a halt at the Palo Alto train stop. tedly socially awkward, but as he continues to talk about the possibility of becoming a full-time writer, he raises his voice. He is excited and hopeful for the future — a future that will allow him to express and reconcile his past and present.

“It feels right,” Simand says, “I’ve been an engineer for so long, and it hasn’t felt fulfilling. Maybe this other thing will be 44

wrong, too, but I just need to find out.”

The Togo Patriot At evening, the train breathes a new air. The tension of exhaustion is replaced with the opportunity of an unforgettable night. The train turns industrial, its fluorescent lighting growing stark and reflecting on the vinyl seats and floors.

Ives Galley is a night rider. Like Simand, he has an immigrant experience to share, although bears a sense of urgency — to get into America and then get out.

Ives Galley was born in Togo, although he rarely tells people this because of the confusion it causes. Most people don’t know what and where Togo is, so he feels the need to add ‘West Africa’ —

a label that is not exactly representative of where he is from.

“People ask me like how did I get here, right, and sometimes I feel like just telling them that I just walked here,” Galley says, laughing as he twirls his earphone bud around his finger.

He seems frustrated about my constant questions about the differences be-

tween Africa and America. Again and together.’” again, Galley assures me that they are basiHer face is covered with warmth and cally the same. pure giggly happiness. In typical teen-girl “I understand that some people fashion, I listen intently as she lays out are curious about knowher movie-like romance ing about where I story and reveals that come from, my culshe moved to San ture, and all those Francisco to be with things, but honher boyfriend. The estly it’s not that process of making different,” he says. friends proved espe“It’s developing, cially difficult, which but it’s a beautiful reminds her of her country as well, teammates on her right? It’s not former college like we are a soccer team. day behind.”

“I loved Galley is my teammates,” riding back to UC Burnett says, Berkeley, where he “That’s what made currently studies it [playing soccer] chemical engineerworth it.” ing. He plans to Burnett, who apply the knowlplayed Division 1 edge he will gain soccer at the Unifrom Berkeley in a versity of Colorado more far-reaching way. at Boulder, was cut from Although not noble in his eyes, the team after her second season Galley intends as a freshman. to move back OLD FRIENDS Julia Burnett heads to the “I definitely to Africa fol- airport to pick up her close friend ­— the same cried,” Burnett lowing gradua- friend who encouraged her to pursue a long- says, “I cried my tion to work in distance relationship with her now-boyfriend. eyes out.” She reAfrica’s private peats this last senoil sector, with the lofty goal to reform the tence again, but the second time around corruption and general employee qualifica- it’s filled with a deeper reminiscence of a tion in the African oil industry. darker time.

“I don’t want to stay here,” Galley “I’m always making steps towards bluntly says, “I just want to get educated happiness,” she says. “I think that should and then go back to give back.” be everyone’s end goal.”

To achieve this happiness, Burnett has The Optimist recently quit her job and is now looking for Another night passenger, Julia Bur- a new job in tech. nett, just came from a Stanford football We talk for a few minutes, as she gives game, although the game only started 35 me advice on sports, college, and the fuminutes ago. When I inform her of this, ture. For a brief moment in time, she beshe shrugs knowingly and says that she’s comes like a big sister to me. But soon a going to pick up her friend at the airport cheery train conductor announces, “MILL— the same friend who encouraged her BRAE,” and Burnett gives me a warm to pursue a long-distance relationship with handshake as she gets off the train. Like her boyfriend who lived in San Francisco Simand and Galley, Burnett quickly exits when she lived in Boulder, Colorado. my life, leaving only the trace of an email “I told my best friend, ‘Don’t let me address and phone number to prove that fall in love with him — he lives so far away the conversation ever happened. ... Blah. blah. blah,’” Burnett says, “But, After I hop off the train to meet after she met him, she was like, ‘You guys bright lights illuminating the platform, the are going to get married. You are perfect train chugs off into the distance. v 45

PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015

exploring the odyssey THEATER DEPARTMENT’S TAKE ON THE EPIC

Text by IRENE CHOI and KAI GALLAGHER Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL

BOW DOWN The rowdy suitors of Penelope, a character played by senior Molly Kraus, set up camp around Odysseus’s house as they force Penelope’s maids to bow to them.

L

PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015

IGHTS BOUNCE OFF productions the theater has put on. an aquamarine blue back“A lot of the movement is much more drop as Palo Alto High exaggerated, and a lot of the actors’ moveSchool senior Ophir Sneh ment and blocking are meant to mimic paces the length of the the stylized and exaggerated nature of the stage dressed as Odys- epic,” Moffat said. seus. Behind him, paper mache rocks and Even the costumes and portrayals of a large wooden wave simulate a time and certain characters varied from the original place now long gone. As Odysseus, played version of the play. For example, the cyby Ophir, is confronted with an apparition clops was played by juniors Jason Pollack, of his dead mother while traveling through Nadia Leinhos and Zoe Dellaert, as well as Hades. He is a stranger in a strange land, senior Matt O’Reilly. Leinhos, Dellaert and confused by not only the hellish realm O’Reilly acted as puppeteers and controlled around him, but also by his recent free- Polyphemus’s arms, paper-mache head and dom from years spent trapped on a des- back as Pollack voiced the great cyclops. ert island. He wanders from down stage left to up stage right; the disbelief in see- Preparation ing this wild vision apparent in his voice.

With acting comes great responsibility, But as Odysseus nears the apparition, his especially with a show like “The Odyssey,” frightened whispers are stopped short by which is written on big characters with masan order to cut from Kathleen Woods, the sive backstories. Everyone had to research theater teacher and the play’s director. for hours for even the smallest line to know Paly recently featured its own adapta- what kind of emotions to channel. Accordtion of this Greek ing to senior Soepic poem by Homphie Swezey, who er. It follows the played Athena, journey of Odys- i work as a barista, and somea lot of preparaseus as he returns tion and research home after the fall times when i get bored behind went into learning of Troy. Believing bar, i’ll pretend that i’m a about their roles. that Odysseus is “With a part queen just like my character.” dead, his wife, Pelike Athena, you — Molly Kraus can’t just be like: nelope, and his son, Telemachus, strug‘I’m gonna bring gle to chase away my own thing to suitors pursuing Penelope’s hand. it!’” Swezey said. “You definitely can do With the construction of the Perform- that, but you also need to know the history ing Arts Center, Woods says the theater de- of the character because there’s so much partment is saving larger, more elaborate to know.” productions for the new building. NeverMany of the actors compared and theless, “The Odyssey” spared no expense. contrasted their life experiences with those Theater students burned the midnight oil, of their characters, drawing on these juxsometimes staying at school well past 10 tapositions and got into a certain acting p.m for the November production. mentality. Senior Molly Kraus related to But for many of the veteran actors of her character, Penelope, by sitting down Paly theater, this production was just par and considering moments in her life that for the course next to other plays they have her character would react to differently put on in their time on stage — produc- than she did when they actually happened. tions like “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

“I work as a barista, and sometimes when I get bored behind the bar, I will preA Modern Day Adaptation tend that I am a queen just like my characThe theater took artistic liberties in ter,” Kraus said. “I feel a lot stronger when its production of “The Odyssey,” turning dealing with entitled customers, and it’s it into a play more stylized and fit to Paly. very entertaining on my part.”

According to senior Charlotte Moffat, the While the performers have to make stage manager of the show, the costumes their own preparations for their characters, and acting were different from previous some backstage jobs require their own re

meet the cast Odysseus (ophir sneh)

ATHENA (SOPHIE SWEZEY)

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PENELOPE (molly kraus)

telemachus (jackson kienitz)

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PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015 search. Stage techs in charge of make- has helped her learn about self-acceptance up, design, and costume in particular had and confidence.

“By creating different stories and beto learn the minute details about characters in “The Odyssey” to put on a show that coming different characters, you get to learn more about stayed true to its nayourself,” Dallaert ture. Junior Georgia said. “If you have to Touloukian, who was play a hero but northe head makeup and a lot of the actors’ movemally you’re a very hair designer, had to shy person, that can research hairstyles ments and blocking are help you build conthat were popular meant to mimic the... exagfidence in the real in ancient Greece. world.”

However, she reports gerated style of the epic.”

— CHARLOTTE MOFFAT With “The Odthat the makeup was yssey” specifically, more stylized to Paactors wanted to exly’s interpretation of pand on their reperthe play. For instance, Poseidon, the God of the Sea, portrayed by junior Peter Ma- toire of acting experience while stage techs roulis, had blue eyeshadow dusted over his wanted to develop their prowess in their face to give him a distinct, but faint blueish individual jobs. As stage manager, Moffatt took responsibility for all the other subtint. groups of the techs, such as costume, and coordinate the technicalities of the entire Lessons Learned Each production teaches the actors play.

“I just want to get a better sense of my lessons that they keep for life, from disleadership style and learn to become a betcovering new facets of their personality to ter communicator, because honestly that’s discovering new passions. Dellaert, who just something everyone should improve played Aphrodite and Odysseus’ mother, on,” Moffatt said. v among other roles, expressed that theater

Meet the cast augrelius (matt o’reilly)

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POLYPHEMUS (JASON POllak)

Text by EMILIE MA and RACHEL VAN PROFILES | DECEMBER 2015 GELDER Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL

Welcoming Wilson

MEET PALY’S NEWEST JOURNALISM TEACHER

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FTER SPENDING A SUMMER MOVING with his family across the country from Waterford, Michigan, Palo Alto High School journalism teacher Brian Wilson came to teach at what he calls the “Mecca of journalism.” Currently pursuing his 19th year of teaching, Wilson teaches Beginning Journalism and advises three of Paly’s publications: Viking, C-Magazine and Madrono (the yearbook). Verde sat down with Wilson to find out more about the newest addition to the journalism staff. v Verde: What were your first impressions of Paly and the journalism program?

Wilson: The journalism program at Paly is amazing. It’s like a Mecca of journalism. It’s been cool to see the way journalism students here are able to operate and have passion for what they’re doing.

Everything runs like clockwork. I don’t know if students who go here necessarily recognize how different it is going to school here than it would be anywhere else in the country just in terms of the opportunities that are afforded and the freedom that students have to pursue the things that they want to do. Paly is not like other schools. I tell people back home that I love how if you walk through the Quad, you see students practicing lines for a play or playing their guitar and reciting poetry or someone juggling.

V: What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?

W: I’m a two-time cancer survivor. Overcoming that and feeling like I’m still the same person I was before — still wanting

CLASS TIME Brian Wilson helps yearbook students (from left to right) Nika Nikanorov, Liam Nororian, Blake Ragsdale and Dimi Zlatkov with page design. to be inspiring in the classroom and still wanting to make connections to the students is amazing. The last five years have been pretty challenging for me personally, but feeling like I can still be a presence in the classroom is very gratifying.

V: What do you plan to do with yearbook?

W: The yearbook is my bread and butter. I have a brand new staff except for one person who was on staff last year, so it’s a different situation [than the other publications]. It’s kind of cool to be part of building the publicaton and pushing it in a different direction. The yearbook itself will just look and feel different.

V: Why did you decide to be a teacher?

W: I was a journalism major in college. Part way through, I decided that I was going to take an education class over the summer.

I realized that teaching was something I could potentially do as a career. I was nervous about journalism and trying to actually make a living as a journalist. In high school, I thought ‘I’m going to be a reporter and win the Pulitzer Prize,’ and that was the dream. I didn’t really enjoy high school much so it’s sort of ironic that I chose a career that would put me in high school for the rest of my life. There was also a part of me that really wanted to give students like me an opportunity to enjoy high school in a way that I didn’t.

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CULTURE | DECEMBER 2015

WANDERLUST

Text and photography by KARINA CHAN

A GUIDE TO BAY AREA’S HIDDEN ADVENTURE SPOTS

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HIS SATURDAY MORNING, A BREEZE WADES THROUGH YOUR WINDOW AND STIRS SOMETHING in you. Suddenly, you get the feeling to close the textbook on your desk. Reaching for your phone to Facebook message your friends, your back straightens as you become excited over the places you’ll go today. The pearl milk tea shop again?

Mission Peak? Well you don’t want to be one of thousands who will Instagram yet another picture of themselves precariously clinging onto a questionable pole atop the windy summit. Check out some of these lesser-known adventure spots. v

OFF THE GRID A self-proclaimed “roaming mobile food extravanga,” The Yard, a collection of gourmet food trucks and pubs tucked in outskirts of the northern San Francisco, combines carnival activities with high-end food and free sides of music, craft and soul.

As part of Off the Grid, a social movement to promote appreciation of food and culture in unexpected places, The Yard hides inside a baracade of shipping containers that blend in with the neighboring commercial dock. The lively atmosphere, stemming from sophisticated yet jovial customers, elevates the hipster culture of San Francisco.

Real escape room Escape from a locked room!

Bring a group of friends and try to escape from a locked room by solving riddles in under an hour. This activity which originates from Japan, fosters group cooperation and critical thinking. Different rooms have different themes and storylines which make each experience unique. If being able to escape successfully is important to you, try the Time Travel Lab in San Francisco, which boasts a higher escape rate than the Myth room in San Jose.

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MCCOVEY COVE

McCovey Cove is shadowed by the giant silhoutte of AT&T park in San Francisco so most of the docks go unnoticed. The cove is especially nice to kayak or canoe around before sunset when the water beautifully reflects pastel colors of the sky. On game days, an exciting conglomeration of people will gather in the cove in boats to catch balls that are thrown out of the park.

CULTURE | DECEMBER 2015

Christina Hood

SiliconValleyHoods.com christinahood@kw.com 650-382-2880 01820455

Tikiland

Daycare and Preschool www.tikilanddaycare.com

WANT TO ADVERTISE WITH VERDE? check out

Verdemagazine.com for more information 51

CULTURE |I DECEMBER 2015 Text and photography by MADHUMITA GUPTA

GARDEN FRESH

REVIEWING CHINESE VEGAN FOOD IN PALO ALTO

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ROM THE OUTSIDE, NOT MUCH MAKES Garden Fresh (460 Ramona St.) different from a typical Chinese restaurant. Flyers in Mandarin cover the side windows and large windows draw attention to the storefront, as chatty customers sit inside, enjoying their meals. Modern art decorates the walls and a tiny, wooden, electrical fan at the front of the room spreads the smell of Chinese spices throughout the tiny restaurant. Outside, a small sign advertises an interesting detail: Garden Fresh is a vegan Chinese restaurant.

Forget vegan cuisine; finding vegetarian food itself is incredibly difficult in Palo Alto, even though Palo Alto offers more food diversity than many other cities in California.

My family is vegetarian, and we have always loved Asian food. But before we knew about Garden Fresh, finding vegetarian Chinese takeout was a bit of a nightmare.

Whenever we decided to order takeout, it was always an arduous process involving multiple menus, a lot of driving and possibly more energy than it would have taken to simply cook at home. While many Asian restaurants do

BASIL TEMPURA

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Price: $11.95 The basil tempura, consisting of soy chicken and assorted vegetables with a light sauce, was presented in aluminum foil, making the dish look amateur. The brown of the caramelized onions combined with the brown of the mock chicken overwhelmed any other color on the plate. When I opened up the foil, I was hit in the face with the smell of meat — if I hadn’t looked at the dish, I wouldn’t have been able to tell there were any vegetables at all. The soy chicken was hard, chewy and meaty, overwhelming the taste of any basil or other vegetable. One of the few elements I liked was the sauce — it was tangy and spicy, and added an extra level to the otherwise basic dish. If a dish is going to be vegan, it should be vegan in a creative way. Taking a common meat dish and turning it into a soy meat dish isn’t intriguing.

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have vegetarian dishes, the definition of vegetarian varies from place to place; some restaurants don’t consider fish to be meat, while others cook their food in chicken stock but didn’t think that makes the food non-vegetarian.

Garden Fresh offers two important considerations — there is no fear of accidentally encountering meat in an unassuming dumpling, and their food is not cooked in a pan that had just been used to cook meat, because they simply don’t cook meat in the restaurant at all.

More vegan restaurants have recently sprung up in Palo Alto, but most people’s approach to vegan food tends to be to take a regular meat dish, and then systematically remove all the meat. I don’t want to eat a burger that just has lettuce and a tomato slice — that’s not appetizing from anyone’s perspective. I choose to be a vegetarian because it feels wrong to me to eat the meat of an animal that has been systematically taken advantage of at every stage of its life. Yet, it isn’t difficult to cook good, filling food that’s vegan or vegetarian. Garden Fresh recognizes this and provides a welcoming option for the small but growing vegan community. v

CULTURE |I DECEMBER 2015

TOFU SKINS AND ASPARAGUS

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Price: $8.95 Though this dish had simple presentation, it exceeded expectation.

The vivid greens and the intense oranges of the vegetables stood out against the crsip white plate. The sauce was tangy and salty and left a lingering taste of spice, by far the punchiest thing on the plate. It gave off the scent of soy; paired with the fresh, earthy scent of rice, it created a unique signature smell. The tofu skin which was rolled to soak up the sauce, providing an interesting new texture — chewier than normal, with a smooth yet textured surface. I highly recommend trying this dish.

HOT AND SOUR SOUP

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Price: $3.95 The hot and sour soup came out with a simple presentation. The dish was a deep nut-brown broth steaming in a clean white bowl, with thin slices of tofu swirling around, mixed with pieces of carrot and ribbons of caramelized onion. Giving off a scent of soy and chilis, the smell singed my nose even before I ate it. True to its name, the dish was very spicy, even though we asked for mild, I still found myself drinking water in between every two or three sips. The spice added more depth of flavor, and gave a salty tang. The carrots and tofu pieces were overwhelmed by the soup — their main purpose was to change up the soup’s texture rather than add a unique taste. While most soups rely on meat to add an extra depth of flavor — serving a vegan soup clearly required the chef to create that same depth of flavor in a different, more creative way.

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CULTURE | DECEMBER 2015

The Flipboard 9-to-5

HOW ONE PALO ALTO STARTUP IS FLIPPING THE CONVENTIONAL WORKPLACE UPSIDE-DOWN Text by JOSH CODE and ROY ZAWADZKI Photography by JOSH CODE

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B

EHIND THE OPAQUE glass doors of Flipboard’s headquarters lies a bustling and energetic open workspace. A casual, light-hearted atmosphere is apparent to anyone who stumbles into the hub of this social media platform company cemented in the heart of Downtown Palo Alto.

“As Olivia Pope would say, ‘You gotta trust your gut,’” Flipboard News Editor Gabriela Schwartz says to her co-worker, referencing the television show “Scandal” as the whole room bursts into laughter.

“She’s our resident pop-culture expert,” Flipboard VIP Outreach and Partner Marketing Carolyn Glanville adds as the laughter continues.

Glanville and Schwartz casually converse within the workplace kitchen beside variegated shelves of potato chips, granola bars and beverages, all of which are free of charge for employees. A pink and silver Razor scooter leans upon a plastic desk chair. A ping pong table in the corner of the room beckons employees to come unwind and de-stress. From its bare concrete slab floors to its exposed ventilation ducts running along its ceiling, Flipboard’s work environment is characterized by friendly informality.

Along with Google and Facebook, Flipboard makes its headquarters emblematic of a Silicon Valley push to make the workplace more enjoyable.

Though Flipboard, a news and media company has expanded internationally in the past five years, its headquarters have maintained

CULTURE | DECEMBER 2015 the same open, collaborative atmosphere ago, the company has come a very long way since its founding in 2010. and is now far from the typical “running“The goal is that your co-workers are out-of-a-garage” startup stage popularized excited around you, and you are excited by the roots of tech giant Apple. around them and that creates a happy work Flipboard’s product itself is an app for environment,” Schwartz says. mobile, tablet and now desktop platforms Flipboard’s Palo Alto headquarters en- that aims to be a “personalized magazine.” compass open-air space throughout — a It’s centered around a feed that displays purposeful design intended to facilitate dis- features or short blurbs about topics that cussion and foster the birth of new ideas. intrigue the user. There’s a large variety of You won’t find cubicles anywhere within interests to choose from, with thousands the building. of topics including science, entrepreneurPaly junior Jordan Schilling, who for- ship, mindfulness, cute animals and celebmerly worked as a rity news. According to brand ambassador at Flipboard’s website, the Flipboard’s Palo Alto company aims to help headquarters, echoes It’s a culture of people its customers better Schwatz’s sentiment. understand the world “Our meetings were who are constantly tryby compiling an eclecvery relaxed. [There ing to improve” tic magazine tailored to was] food in the corner — David Creamer, head of plat- their tastes. of the room, people Creamer believes form engineering were playing ping pong a workplace-wide culand music was blastture of improvement ing,” Schilling says. “It is responsible for Flipwas relaxing in that way that ideas were free board’s stunning growth in five years. to flow and be heard by everyone.”

“Almost everyone here is always asking David Creamer, Flipboard’s head of himself the same question: ‘How can I do platform engineering, believes the com- a better job?’” Creamer says. “It’s a culture pany’s eclectic employeeship makes it most of people who are constantly trying to imunique. Creamer feels he can learn a lot prove.” from area specialists at the company simply Christel van der Boom, one of Flipby working alongside them. board’s first employees, views the company “There are people who know absolutely the same way. To her, Flipboard is just beeverything about databases, or UI [User ginning a long journey.

Interface] design, or public relations, and “Although we are at Flipboard 3.0 [the they’re way more specialized than I am 3rd version of Flipboard], there is so much and way smarter in those fields,” we want to do,” van der Boom says. “We are Creamer says. “I learn something not even close to new every single hour I’m here.” done; there’s alSince Creamer started working ways a step forat Flipboard five and a half years ward.” v

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CULTURE | DECEMBER 2015

Hamilton, Reimagined

T

O MANY PEOPLE, THE phrase “hip-hop musical” may seem oxymoronic. Add “about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton” to that phrase, and it sounds like you’re begging not to be taken seriously.

That is, unless, you’ve heard of the newest hit show on Broadway: “Hamilton.”

Though many refer to it as a rap musical, “Hamilton” is much more than that. The show mixes rap, R&B and Broadway tunes, creating a musical blend that at first, doesn’t seem like it would be successful. The show has proved doubters completely wrong, and is one of the best-reviewed shows to hit Broadway in the past few years, sweeping the 2014-5 off-Broadway awards season.

“Hamilton” has garnered much acclaim for its “non-traditional” casting.

The historically white revolutionaries are all played by people of color, with King George III as the only white principal character. The Puerto Rican writer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also stars as Alexander Hamilton, chose this cast very deliberately. He

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has referred to the show as “the story of America then, told by America now.”

Beyond its positive reviews, the show has garnered more attention than any other Broadway show in the past few years, with celebrities in attendance ranging from President Obama to Beyonce, and has received a barrage of stellar reviews from even the harshest critics. It won pretty much every award it possibly could off-Broadway, and now the Broadway run is sold out through next May. For those of us on the West Coast, far away from Broadway and any hope of discount day-of tickets, it is sadly impossible to get in on this New York phenomenon.

In September, the release of the Original Broadway Cast Recording gave wouldbe Hamilton fans an opportunity to experience the show from anywhere in the world.

While listeners will not get to see the direction or choreography of the show, nearly the entire script and score of the musical is included in the album, providing the listener with a feeling of almost being there. I was lucky enough to see the show before it came to Broadway, and each time I listen to

the recording, I am reminded of how phenomenal it is.

The album’s success is due largely to the talents of Miranda’s music, lyrics, and book. Miranda, who won a Tony Award in 2008 for another show (“In The Heights”) that he wrote and starred in, fills the scores with allusions to both famous Broadway and hip-hop songs in equal measure. Some of my favorite allusions include Hamilton spelling out his name like Biggie does in his song “Going Back to Cali” and George Washington referring to himself as “the model of a modern major general,” referencing the Gilbert and Sullivan opera “Pirates of Penzance.”

As phenomenal as the writing is, the talented cast is truly what makes the show.

Miranda’s Hamilton is matched step-bystep by Leslie Odom Jr.’s portrayal of Aaron Burr, Hamilton’s political frenemy who eventually kills him in a storied duel.

Broadway veteran Chris Jackson shines in the role of George Washington, sounding as commanding as you’d imagine the first president to be, and As Hamilton’s wife Eliza, Phillipa Soo delivers an

CULTURE | DECEMBER 2015

THE MUSICAL HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD astounding performance, transitioning seamlessly from a naive young woman in love during the first act into a bereaved wife and mother in the second act. As she speaks the final words of the album, finishing her husband’s story, your heart breaks in the best of ways.

Broadway newbie Daveed Diggs, who plays the Marquis de Lafayette in Act 1 (with a hilarious French accent) and Thomas Jefferson in Act 2, might be the fastest rapper ever to hit Broadway. In both acts, Diggs is accompanied by Okieriete Onaodowan, playing Hercules Mulligan in the first act and a sickly James Madison in the second, and in a small comic relief role, Jonathan Groff plays King George III, warning the colonies not to leave England.

No less impressive is Reneé Elise Goldsberry, playing Eliza’s sister, Angelica Schuyler, rapping and singing flawlessly. Completing the trio of sisters is Jas-

mine Cephas Jones, playing a dual role of the youngest sister, Peggy, and adulterous Maria Reynolds.

Equally prominent throughout this show is the ensemble, a chorus of 16 dancers who alternate between narrating and playing small roles. Their presence is even more prominent in the full show, where they rarely leave the stage for more than the moments required to change costumes.

In addition to their individual featured roles (Jon Rua’s role as the wimpy General Charles Lee is particularly strong, as is Thayne Jasperson as the pro-British Samuel Seabury), the ensemble’s backup singing in almost every song adds a powerful element to the show that cannot be ignored.

All of the acclaim that this show has received is rightfully deserved. The stellar cast and production team, witty lyrics, and cohesion formed between such disparate music styles combine to create an exceptionally strong Original Broadway Cast Recording. For Broadway lovers, hiphop fans, or simply anybody who enjoys great music, this album is a must-listen. v

Text by ELANA REBITZER Additional Reporting by GABRIELA ROSSNER Art by KARINA CHAN

TOP 10 Songs 1. SATISFIED 2. GUNS AND Ships 3. One Last time 4. wait for it 5. THE SCHUYLER SISTERS 6. Aaron burr, sir 7. Helpless 8. my shot 9. it’s quiet uptown 10. history has its eyes on you Book, Music and Lyrics by LinManuel Miranda Orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire 57

CULTURE |DECEMBER 2015

QUIRKY

CLOTHING

THE ODD HEADS BEHIND ODD THREADS Text and photography by KAI GALLAGHER

I

SELFMADE WOMAN 58

T’S SAID THAT CLOTHES make the man — Bond has his suit, Wonder Woman has her bracelets, and Mario has his overalls. But there’s also something to be said about what’s underneath. While Bond might not look quite as good in, say, a bright red flannel, he could still more or less save the world. It’s not his exploding pens or tactical turtlenecks, but his rugged personality and ineffable British charm that keeps us badgering for more. In a similar vein, most of fashion seems to be just maintaining that sense of belonging; acting like you are fashionable until no one can tell the difference.

Molly Kraus, a Palo Alto High School senior, has mastered this sense. It’s not uncommon to see her dressed like a suburban witch pulled out of the Halloween season, or a denim-on-denim clad grunger straight from the 90s. But despite these clearly-defined themes in her clothing, Kraus maintains that it was mostly on accident. For her, there was no concentrated effort to find what types of clothing she liked; instead, her outfits just emerged as a result of taking bits and pieces from fashion movements that appealed to her: “I like the look of effortlessness, ‘boho,’ and I like the somewhat hippie vibe that goes with some of my outfits,” Kraus says.

“Not all, some. And grunge, I really like the late 90s aesthetic. I try to incorporate that into a lot of what I’m wearing.”

That lack of effort, paradoxically, is the very quality many people seek out when picking their clothes. There’s an added

layer of reverence attached to an outfit that is just thrown on rather than carefully planned out; it says that you really do look this good on accident. And most importantly, it shows that you don’t really care what you look like — or at least that’s what you want people to think. But Kraus believes that fashion needs to begin and end with personal tastes. To Kraus, fashion is a form of introspection just like any other, and that means not only straying away from convention, but avoiding it altogether.

“Especially for adolescents, a look is a representation of your developing personality,” Kraus says. “Physical aesthetic is a form of self-discovery. Especially as adolescents in a small community, that’s hyper focused on standardized success, it’s really important for us to have small outlets through which we can discover who we are.”

So when Molly says she just “finds what looks best with her Doc Martins and puts it on,” it’s a bit more steadfast of a promise than you might expect.

Claire Kokontis, a Paly senior who makes her own clothing, shares a similar outlook on fashion. Like Kraus, Kokontis’s fashion aesthetic expanded over time. It started with the little things; picking pieces of clothing one at a time simply because they appealed to her in the moment, one way or another. Out of this grew outfits, and out of those outfits grew an entire aesthetic. With a theme in her fashion clearly established, Kokontis was no longer satisfied with off-the-shelf articles of clothing and began to make her own clothes by

hand — mannequin, sewing needles, leather and all. Curiously, Kokontis says she has never been one to read up on the fashion world. She doesn’t read blogs or magazines and only wears what appeals to her the very moment she chooses to wear it. And in choosing not to follow the rise and fall of trends in fashion, Kokontis has become the center of an altogether more important cycle — her own tastes. She summarizes a key understanding that set her down this path near the beginning of high school: “I realized how people would talk about how insecure they were about themselves, and I realized, ‘I never noticed any of that stuff about you. I never even noticed until you mentioned it to me,’” Kokontis says.

“So if that’s how I feel about other people, then other people must feel that about me, like not paying attention to most of the stuff I’m doing. So it’s like, nobody’s looking at you — for 98 percent of your day”.

But even in that two percent, where the eyes of society seem to hold only scrutiny, there is something to be gained.

Jack Bungarden, the A.P U.S History teacher at Paly, has found this to be es-

TIES THAT BIND

pecially true in his eccentric array of ties. atmosphere is still lightened by a quirky At first, Bungarden wore the ties only as tie and the ceremonial test anthem, Bobby part of the uniform.

McFerrin’s “Don’t Dress with the confi- Worry Be Happy”.

As a white collar worker, he thought, Speaking of not dence you want, not the a man should make worrying, Paly senior confidence you have, and it’ll himself presentable, Paul Bleich has maswork itself out. and that began and tered the art. On —Paul Bleich any given day of the ended with a tie. But school week, there’s a as the years passed, the collection expanded. A Tufts University solid thirty percent chance to see him there, tie from a student here, a luxury French tie clad in his flannel armor, a constant senfrom a grateful parent there, and suddenly tinel for aspiring fashionistas everywhere. the white-collar worker had a bigger choice Like a beacon in the darkness, he stands as a reminder that loosening up, both menthan simply striped versus solid.

But Bungarden has taken this unex- tally and in our plaid garments, can always save the day. v pected variety in stride, using the ties as an icebreaker early in the year and as a constant reminder throughout to perhaps take things just a bit less seriously despite the notoriously heavy coursework of APUSH. Even during the most crushing of tests, the

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PLAID ON PLAID ON PAUL 59

Text and photography by EMMA GOLDSMITH, NATALIE MAEMURA and LAURA SIEH

BEY ND THE BAGEL

A LOCAL SHOP WITH STRONG FAMILY RELATIONS

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VER THE BUZZ OF conversation inside of Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels, an employee shouts, “64!” A customer comes up and grabs his order. People are packed tightly in the small space like sardines in a tin, filling every available space. Families hover in between the tables, drawing their children close to them; busy professionals’ faces are illuminated by their phones in the dim lighting. Light fixtures along the top of the wall illuminate photographs of New York City streets, Hebrew signs from Brooklyn and signs that indicate that the restaurant is “strictly kosher.” Behind the counter, two employees stand behind the cash register while three others zip around, attending to the flood of orders.

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Located on the busy street of Califor- neering as much as he thought he would, nia Avenue, Izzy’s is Palo Alto’s go-to bagel Rind tried a variety of careers includstore. Israel “Izzy” Rind, an Israeli immi- ing in the jewelry business and in real esgrant, and Stuart Stones, a fifth generation tate. While all careers were memorable in their own way, they did bagel maker opened not provide Rind with a Izzy’s Brooklyn Basteady flow of income. gels in 1996. Rind, “That [trying other having no business EVERYTHING THAT COULD GO careers] was good but I education, had no WRONG WENT WRONG. ” wanted something that idea what a success Izzy’s would soon — OWNER ISRAEL “IZZY” RIND could pay the rent,” Rind says. become. In fact, He started his first Rind aspired to be business, the San Francisan engineer and attended New York University’s engineering co Sandwich Co. but sold it before moving program. Tasting authentic bagels in New to Palo Alto. He found his experience in York, Rind would eventually be inspired to the restaurant business enjoyable, Rind realized that the time was right to open Izzy’s start his own Brooklyn bagel shop.

After realizing he didn’t enjoy engi- Brooklyn Bagels.

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CULTURE | OCTOBER 2015 PREPARING THE GOODS (right) After briefly dipping each bagel in water, an Izzy’s worker adds a layer of salt before baking them in the oven.

BAGEL FRIENDS (left) Sophie Thesen and family friend David Aziz enjoy bagels together. The two often visit Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels to spend time together.

LONG LINE (left) Hungry Palo Altans form a line for Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels at 7 a.m.

THE PARISIAN (below) Izzy’s employee Rafi Dror poses to show his apron. “This apron is from Paris,” Dror jokes. “I’m a chef from Paris.”

“I figured at that time that it [opening Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels] would be my last opportunity that I would have to really try something that I always wanted to do,” Rind says. “This location came about and I figured it was a good location [to open Izzy’s], so I gave it a try.”

Although Stones, his business partner, had experience with the bagel-making business, Rind realized the job was more difficult than he had originally thought. A few weeks after opening, Izzy’s Bagels was deep in debt.

“There was no way to get out of it [debt],” Rind says. “The beginning was really difficult. Everything that could go wrong went wrong.”

Now, after overcoming its financial struggles, Izzy’s has become a popular shop that is well-known for its strong Jewish connection. However, this means that

Izzy’s is closed on Jewish holidays, and on Saturdays, Rind cannot work.

“If you’re Jewish, you are not supposed to have a business open Saturday, so I have partner who is not Jewish,” Rind says.

Rind metaphorically hands the keys to his business partner who “owns” the business every week on Saturdays.

The most important aspect of Izzy’s is perhaps the focus on maintaining strong customer relations in Palo Alto. When Rind sees regulars David Aziz and Sophie Thesen, he embraces them warmly. They chatter brightly in a personal conversation while Thesen munches on her plain bagel.

Rind attributes this prosperity to his employees that has helped him come so far.

“They’re [the staff] are more important than I am,” Rind says. v

PERSPECTIVES | DECEMBER 2015

Success is not always

S

WHEN SUCCESS STEMS FROM

INCE I WAS IN FOURTH GRADE I KNEW I With a lack of career-driven and college-level humaniwanted to be a Broadway actress. I had my whole ties and arts classes throughout all four years of high school, life planned: I would live in New York and attend the task of understanding what you are supposed to do with shows every evening and become best friends a sociology or theater degree is comparable to finding your with Sutton Foster, my personal Broadway idol. It way through a maze blindfolded and with your hands tied. was not until I entered high school that I began to have my To exacerbate the problem, students are bombarded with doubts. I knew what I loved, but what if that wasn’t what I attitudes and comments at Paly hinting at the ideas was meant to do? Maybe I was meant to educate women in that there are no real career options in the fields impoverished countries or discover the next source of green of the arts and humanities. fuel.

“I feel like our culture has negative While I was taking the PSAT in October, I got my an- feelings towards pursuing those careers,” swer through an internal debate. When we were directed junior Atusa Assadi says. “There’s a to bubble in the code for our college major, I bubbled in perception that it’s impossible to succode 999 for Undecided instead of 535 ceed in the arts and for Drama and Theater Arts because I humanities, that it’s felt ashamed. It felt selfish to put down in silicon valley, success not a viable career something that was not going to “help option to pursue. means achievemnent in the world.” It seemed that if I put down So people are ofstem and being a certain ten discouraged musical theater, I was wasting my brain and any intelligence that came with it. from pursukind of smart As is the case with many teenagers ing their pasgrappling with what they want to do afsions.” ter high school, there was one prominent question on my As a result, two kinds of mind: What does it mean to be successful in life? students surface: those who When I arrived home that afternoon, I realized that to feel discouraged and try to me, success meant happiness and bubbling in the code 535. find an interest in STEM However, as a high school student in Silicon Valley, I felt fields, like the ones Assadi like success had already been defined for me. In the valley describes, and those who of technological innovation, success means achievement in seek outside support. Paly Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math, and therefore senior Clare Kemmerer being a certain kind of smart. With my passion in musical is one of the latter. This theater, I would say I do not exactly fit the mold of “success- year, she joined the new ful” as defined by my community and school. humanities-based reI know I’m not alone. A slew of Palo Alto High School search project through students with arts and humanities related interests also feel the Palo Alto Unified like they are “out of the norm” in their fields because, in School District general, Paly encourages STEM fields as steady and more Advanced Aufinancially secure career options. thentic Re61 percent of students feel that Paly emphasizes STEM search proover the arts and humanities, according to survey adminis- gram. tered by Verde. Consider that at Paly, the AP and Honors “I want STEM classes make up 41 percent of the advanced and col- to get a lege-level classes, leaving the AP and Honors Humanities Ph.D, so and Arts classes at 26 percent of the total (AP and Honors research Language classes make up 32 percent). is an in-

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Text by ALIA CUADROS-CONTRERAS Art by KARINA CHAN

s p e l l e d s-t-e-m THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

herent part of that,” Kemmerer says. “Humanities research and what the state government thinks is important becomes is not a skill that is taught at Paly and AAR is the closest important to the school districts and that filters down to us thing to that. I really wanted to learn how to do that because — what’s important to the teachers.” a lot of kids going into research universities for the humaniIn the last few years, federal funding for the arts and huties do already have those skills.” manities has been significantly reduced in an effort to focus Since Palo Alto High School is No. 56 on Newsweek on STEM fields, inciting little to no opposition, according Magazine’s ranking of the nation’s top public high schools, to Think Progress: Education. On Oct. 28, Congress prostudents should be ahead of the game instead of feeling posed a budget cut for science in a rewrite for the No Child behind compared to students who “already have those Left Behind education law. Immediately, the proposal was skills.” In STEM, Paly students are ahead of the bombarded with opposition from the media and government game at No. 19 in the entire country, according leaders proclaiming that STEM is the key to national sucto U.S. News & World Report. In the arts and cess, according to the New York Times. humanities, not so much. Out of the 27 perI agree that STEM is making palpable and immediate cent of students who want changes in the world. However, people to pursue humanities or are different and therefore contribute arts related fields, 20 perto the world with different kinds of inwe need the arts and cent feel very well or well telligence. Your heart may beat with exhumanities to be able prepared to pursue their citement as you solve a tricky calculus career, according to a problem or wait for a chemical reaction to affect the future survey administered to occur, but my heart beats in time with through stem

by Verde. Compared music. to the 53 percent of The appeal and immediate achievestudents who feel prepared to pur- ment of STEM should not take away from the miracle of the sue their STEM related interests, arts and humanities. As a society, we need to understand the Paly is losing the game in the hu- past and present through the arts and humanities to be able manities and arts. to affect the future through STEM. However, the issue of proTo encourage all kinds of students in their passions and viding a well rounded education provide opportunities in all areas of study, I encourage Paly is more complicated than merely and PAUSD to keep administering programs like the huadding a few extra art classes. manities portion of AAR. Paly is a diverse community, and The imbalanced core curriculum I hope the academics and enviornment can one day capture stems from a greater national is- and support a broader range of interests. For the moment, sue and attitude. each little choir concert or art exhibition by Paly students will “California receives appear as a nice side note to student achievements in STEM. federal funding from “I know there are pockets of things happening all over, the federal govern- but what I’d like to see is a culture that celebrated all of the ment,” history little causes more loudly,” math teacher Deanna Chute says. teacher Alexander “I’d like to see the school move in the direction of champiDavis says. “What oning these efforts from the rooftops and not in the isolated the government places where they are happening.” thinks is imporIn the future, I envision a Paly community like the one tant becomes Chute describes. A community where every kind of smart i m p o r t a n t is valued and every students has the support to pursue their to the passion. A community where I don’t feel the need to mark states 999 for Undecided on my PSAT. v The student poll results collected for this issue are from a survey administered in Palo Alto High School English classes over the course of several days in November 2015. Eleven English classes were randomly selected, and 268 responses were collected. The surveys were completed online, and responses were anonymous. With 95 percent confidence, the results for the questions related to this story are accurate within a margin of error of 3.05 percent.

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PERSPECTIVES | DECEMBER 2015 Text by IRENE CHOI Art by KARINA CHAN

aTHEletter to my muscle STANDARDS OF HAVING A “TONED BODY”

S

TANDING

IN

THE

CRAMPED

changing room of Macy’s, I try on my tenth pair of jeans, hoping against hope, praying, that this pair will fit around my massive, muscled thunder thighs.

Everything’s going smoothly until I realize that the pant legs fit perfectly but the waistband swallows me whole. Sigh. Here we go again.

OK, fine, maybe I exaggerated. My legs are muscular, but maybe not quite at the extreme level that I think they are. Still, I shouldn’t feel like my moderately toned legs are this big, and even if they are, I shouldn’t have to feel bad about them. There is no need for me to apologize for how my sport has shaped my body. As an athlete, I am constantly told by my coach that my body can, and should, be muscular — but as a girl, I’m told by my peers that it can’t be too toned; that a little muscle will make me look healthy and “hot,” but too much muscle will turn me into an unfeminine lumberjack. It’s time to put an end to this unwarranted pressure and challenge stereotypes. Fellow female athletes, it’s time to love your muscles, and love how far your body has taken you in your sport, regardless of whether you fit the typical standards of what society calls pretty, hot or thin.

I’ve been swimming since the age of three, and although I didn’t start taking it seriously until middle school, it’s been a constant activity throughout my life. Now, as a varsity athlete, my body itself reflects the physical ways that the sport has shaped me. I don’t have the petite, slim frame that society tells me I should have. Instead, I’ve developed broad and strong shoulders, brawny legs and little to no curves.

While genetics may have played a role in this development, when I ask fellow swimmers on the Paly team about this, many of the girls feel that they share these features. In our spare time before and after practices, we carp about our broad shoulders that don’t fit into coats, and our general lack of curves that give us “boyish” figures.

Swimming isn’t an easy sport — and I dare anyone to say any sport is ever easy. To play a sport at a high school level means putting in upwards of seven hours per week and enduring grueling practices. But the double standards abound. People are always told they can obtain their desirable bodies through working out. Wom-

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en’s magazines bombard readers with hundreds of “slimming” workout for every season. Yet, sports don’t necessarily make you supermodel skinny — they give you a fit body that has muscle.

While different sports shape bodies in different ways, female athletes as a whole tend to have larger appendages fitted with muscle that aren’t what society would call “thin.”

In fact, the pressure to be slim makes it so that female athletes are more likely to have a negative body image. Twenty percent of elite female athletes have eating disorders, as opposed to the female control group, that had 9 percent, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

In the end, it’s the same situation that always plays out: Society has insane double standards, and no one can ever achieve them. We’re told to work out and get skinny, but when we actually work out we get too much muscle. The only way anyone can win is if she ensures she is born with the perfect genes that make sure she doesn’t “bulk up” too much, which is unrealistic for 95 percent of the female population.

As the saying goes, “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

Some days, I wake up feeling gross and insecure. I’ll look at myself in the mirror and hate how “unfeminine” I look. But other days, when I’m able to swim a faster interval during practice, I look down at my legs and shoot them a little note of thanks. Athletes, and everyone else, shouldn’t be subject to hating their bodies just because they don’t fit the typical mold. If anything, we need to thank our bodies for getting us to the level of competition that our sport demands. Having muscles is OK. And until society realizes that, I’ll try on all the pairs of jeans that I need if it means I can keep swimming and doing the activity that I love. v HOW I LOOK IN THE MIRROR After years of swimming, my body has become muscular and different from what society demands.

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PERSPECTIVES |DECEMBER 2015 Text by ROY ZAWADZKI Art by KARINA CHAN

LiMITED CONNECTION

PALO ALTO DESERVES BETTER INTERNET PROVIDERS

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T IS A NORMAL TUESDAY NIGHT, AND instead of doing my homework, I’m binge-watching “Key and Peele” videos on YouTube. Suddenly, the video stops playing. The Internet is being slow again, I think to myself as the white dots endlessly circle in the center of the screen.

Some lag once in awhile is understandable, but this is a daily occurrence for me, as well as anyone else attempting to stream videos in Palo Alto. This inconveniencing lag is due to throttling — the intentional slowing of Internet service by Internet service providers — according to tech publication Ars Technica, which adds AT&T and Comcast, the two main ISPs in Palo Alto can slow down the speed for everyone at peak hours. This occurs when an ISP wants to avoid overloading a server’s processing capacity instead of spending money on additional servers. The result is paying for a certain speed that is drastically reduced during peak hours. This practice reflects a company who does not care about quality of service because they have a joint monopoly over that specific area.

The average Internet speed in Palo Alto is 24.63 megabits per second (mb/s), according to Internet Access Local, a service that provides data about local ISPs. For reference, “high-speed Internet” is defined as capable of downloading content at 25 mb/s, according to Tom Wheeler, Federal Communications Commission chairman. Tech-centric Palo Alto, right in the center of the Silicon Valley, does not even have “high-speed” Internet, which is absolutely ludicrous; there should be fast and free Internet, but we are still limited to subpar speeds and service.

The first step to creating better Internet in Palo Alto service is to introduce fairer Internet providers into the market. These new ISPs will force the existing ISPs like AT&T or Comcast to either improve their quality of service or move out of the city. Two ways to achieve this would be by implementing a fast and affordable ISP like Google Fiber, or for Palo Alto to build its own municipal network. Both these options will create higher quality Internet with fewer interruptions.

One fair ISP that Palo Alto should focus on attracting is Google Fiber, a project which focuses on providing free and purchasable Internet to cities at 1 Gigabit per second (that’s 1,000 megabits). In February 2014, they announced that the service would be possibly expanding into Bay Area cities, including Palo Alto. Google Fiber has ultrafast fiber optic cables that go directly to your home which, compared to the outdated copper wiring that most ISPs use, will deliver fast and reli66

able Internet to customers. One of Palo Alto’s main goals should be pushing for Google Fiber to begin building in the area.

While Google Fiber serves as a commercial option, the City of Palo Alto could create its own fiber network and make the local Internet into a utility, a public service, like electricity and water.

Municipal Internet is often free or relatively inexpensive, and it boosts the local economy and productivity, according to Business Insider.

This idea is not a new one to the City of Palo Alto. Starting in 2009, the City Council set a goal to build a fiber network, but it has been pushed back multiple years due to lack of funding and fear of competition from ISPs like AT&T and Comcast, according to Palo Alto Online. More recently, in the 2014 Palo Alto City Council elections, candidates such as Tom DuBois promised to focus on implementing fast Internet speeds in their campaigns.

Almost a year later, a Palo Alto Online article published in September revealed that the City of Palo Alto is pushing back the project until next year.

The fact that this project has been delayed for so long is frankly appalling. Further delay will allow Comcast and AT&T to create what they call “high speed networks” in Palo Alto that will likely be the at the same standard as the existing service in terms of poor quality of service. Nothing will change until Palo Alto steps up and takes hold of their Internet service future.

In a place that is so focused on technology, fast and affordable Internet speeds should be a priority for the Palo Alto City Council.

Overpriced, slow Internet should be things of the past.

For now, I’ll continue to sit at my computer, begging for that circle of dots to stop spinning and waiting for someone to save me from the jaws of AT&T and Comcast. v

PERSPECTIVES | DECEMBER 2015 Text by NATALIE MAEMURA Art by KARINA CHAN

MY TRASH TALK

APATHY TOWARD LITTERING RUINS ENVIRONMENT

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N THE MIDST OF COLLEGE applications and the chaos that is senior year, lunch is the only time I can relax by enjoying whatever delicious food I decide to buy from Town and Country. On one particularly gloomy day, the idea of seeking refuge in the Media Arts Center kept me going as I treked from Town and Country on five hours of sleep. As I entered the MAC, expecting peace and quiet, I was hit by the obnoxious screams of rowdy underclassmen whose lunches lay smashed on the carpet, their potato chip bags strewn around the beanbags and colored cubes like tumbleweed.

I will admit, I’m not the most Earthconscious person. Sometimes I accidentally throw recycling in the compost bin and compost in the recycling bin, but hey, at least I’m actually throwing my trash away.

I have seen too many people mindlessly littering, entirely disregarding the effects their actions have on our community. From my observations and experiences, there seems to be a tragedy of commons in Palo Alto.

A tragedy of commons is when people act selfishly and cause a depletion of a certain resource. People act in their own self-interest and don’t take the extra step to be conscious of the environmental issues in our precious world, causing an unhealthy Earth. As a community, we can’t let this attitude continue.

When the Media Arts Center opened during the 2014-2015 school year, I and many other students were excited to take advantage of the space. It was a privilege to not only eat in the multi-million dollar building during lunch, but also to use it as a space for my journalistic endeavors.

Yet, the last time I passed through the MAC with food in my hands, various campus supervisors yelled at me to

leave and eat elsewhere (though I believe students are now allowed to eat at the high tables). I can sympathize with the MAC staff in that scattered food scraps and trash is unacceptable. Not only do those students disrespect the building, the teachers and the custodians, but they do it with a sense of entitlement and a belief that someone else will clean up their messes.

Students’ refusal to pick up after themselves extends beyond the boundaries of the campus. I see a repeat of what is happening to the MAC at Town and Country restaurant eating areas. Every time

— seriously, I mean every time — I go to Howie’s to enjoy a fat slice of pizza, I see students leaving garbage from their lunches that their parents had probably packed for them. Really? The trash can is five feet away. Utilize it.

Before you think that this is a long rant only about littering, which may seem like an infinitesimal issue to you, littering is the start of people’s ignorance of the environment. Our Palo Alto High School tragedy of commons is detrimental to the environment in. Littering could eventually degrade our city to the point that it will affect public health and require money to counteract.

The sense of entitlement that people have is only the spark of complete disregard to Earth’s health. We need to eliminate this mentality. Littering threatens Earth’s vitality.

Together, there are few solutions we can take. The first is to pick up other people’s trash (which isn’t exactly nice for me or other tree-huggers); the second is a push for littering fines in Palo Alto, and to have Scott Reese, a campus supervisor, yell at litterers at Paly. The third solution is to create an overall feeling of obligation to be environmentally conscious by guilttripping people who aren’t.

I don’t expect people to change prolonged habits in a heartbeat, but I’m pleading them to try. Perhaps if we all contribute more to how we handle our outlook on the Earth, starting with the issue of littering, we can slowly build up the health of our environment and quality of our relationship. It is our duty as inhabitants on this Earth to respect it and preserve its natural state, so that next generation can experience nature’s beauty.

So remember, next time you drop something on the ground and don’t pick it up, I just might throw you in the trash. v 67

PERSPECTIVES | DECEMBER 2015 Text by ELANA REBITZER Art by KARINA CHAN

it’s not a war on christmas LIVING AS A RELIGIOUS MINORITY IN PALO ALTO

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’M A JEWISH CHRISTMAS BABY — BORN ON Dec. 23, two days before most people celebrate Jesus’ birthday. For as long as I can remember, well-meaning adults have asked me, “Do you get one present for Christmas or two?” Generally, I answer by saying “I’m Jewish” and feel the awkwardness as they stammer through the rest of the conversation, resorting to a stilted, “You get eight presents for Hanukkah? You are so lucky.”

The holiday season, however, is just the beginning of the awkwardness that regularly comes from being a relatively religious Jewish individual in a secular, primarily Christian society. After spending the first nine years of my education at a small Jewish Day School, coming to Palo Alto High School was a big adjustment for me. I had never gone to a school this large before, nor had I gone to a school where the majority of my peers were not Jewish.

Because I was so immersed in that tight-knit environment, when I came to Paly, I quickly noticed just how Christian-centric the school really was. It’s not just that Judaism is barely mentioned, although it barely is. Often, I’ve felt that myself and other nonChristian students are expected to know all about Christian biblical symbols and imagery, but I have not seen the same expectation apply for Christian students with non-Christian imagery. Literature dealing with religions other than Judaism or Christianity, like Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism get even less acknowledgement in the English curriculum.

At first, I was up in arms. I spent my first few years at Paly trying to make everybody else acknowledge that Judaism exists. When many of my peers didn’t know many specifics about Judaism, I was insistent on informing them. I remember seeing a slip of paper summarizing Jewish beliefs in Contemporary World History and being shocked at the the way the worksheet completely con68

fused Jewish ethnic groups and inadequately explained what most Jewish holidays were. I jumped at the chance to correct the worksheet and quickly explained the information to my table group.

After a few such incidents, I grew tired of constantly having to explain things. I obviously didn’t stop being Jewish, but I stopped drawing attention to the inaccuracies that I saw so frequently and rarely mentioned anything about Judaism to my nonJewish friends. I probably would have stayed that apathetic, until the beginning of the 2015-16 school year. But that’s when I realized that for the first time since I’d started in it, the Palo Alto Unified School District was not giving students the day off of school on Yom Kippur, the most important Jewish holiday of the year.

Annoyed, I offhandedly complained to a few non-Jewish friends, whose reaction shocked me. Most of them weren’t really sure what Yom Kippur was (some asked me if Jews fasted on Ramadan), and even those who did know weren’t aware of the significance of the holiday to Judaism. It took me explaining that Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year and most Jews spend the day fasting and praying in synagogue for them to understand the significance, but after I did, they agreed with me that the district should have given us the day off.

After this incident, I realized that staying quiet about Judaism was not going to do anything for me. It’s probably the same ignorance to the importance of Yom Kippur in Judaism that led to the district not giving the holiday off in the first place, and if I don’t address that ignorance whenever I see it, I myself am perpetuating the problem.

I do not expect people to immediately know that I’m Jewish, or to know everything about Judaism, but I do want to create a space for my religion. Even in the secular world of Palo Alto, there should be room for me, and for everybody else that isn’t Christian, to practice our religions with respect. v

PERSPECTIVES | OCTOBER 2015 Text by GABRIEL SANCHEZ Photography by WILLIAM DOUGALL

MALE FA(SHUN) FASHION STIGMA PERPETUATES GENDER STEREOTYPES

O

UR WORLD IS laden with unspoken stereotypes. When I color-coordinate my outfits, I feel persecuted by these assumptions. I worry that I will be judged for my clothing taste, that it will somehow make me seem feminine, and that my fashion style will make people view me as strange.

Despite living in a time in which we are working toward ending gender stereotypes, the belief that “real men” are simplistic in their outfits aids the creation of unsafe communities.

“Young people are image-conscious, and a lot of bullying is based on appearance,” Emma-Jane Cross, chief executive of Beatbullying, told The Guardian in 2008. Bullying over fashion harms mental health and we need to fix the issues for the saftey of the bullied.

Ever since I was young, society drilled into my brain that men should dress simply, and that to do otherwise was effeminate. However, I realized that putting effort into our appearances is a key form of expression that gets lost when men become constrained by gender roles. I started thinking about my clothing choices and took steps to-

wards creating more complex outfits rather than the monotony of T-shirts and jeans that I used to wearing every day. After a while, my initial self-consciousness disappeared as my friends began to compliment me. I felt elated.

Now, I am able to wear sweaters and button-ups without worrying about harrassment as my community has become more accepting.

Caring about clothing is not wrong, and masculinity is not determined by how a man dresses or presents himself.

Yet, fashion has somehow become associated with femininity which itself is by no means a bad thing — because it is not a sign of weakness. A man putting effort into his look should be acceptable, and male femininity, or actions by men that follow the prescribed societal roles of women, should not be looked down upon. Instead, it should be celebrated for the progressive push for free expression it represents.

Bullying because of male femininity harms self-confidence and deters people from expressing themselves.

In fact, expression through fashion can increase happiness, according to a Science Daily article by Karen Pine, a psychologist and professor at the

University of Hertfordshire. The unfounded stereotypes surrounding male fashion both discourage the benefits of expression and set the stage for the bullying of those who choose to express themselves. There is also a correlation between better mental health and putting effort into fashion, so male fashion should be encouraged.

Male fashion is also discriminated against in professional settings and even though women are almost always the disenfranchised class, this is still an important issue because anyone who has been discriminated against deserves equal treatment. The average female model earns 48 percent more than a male model of equal standing, according to Fortune Magazine. Discrimination in professional settings creating such a drastic gap in this area between men and women is disturbing.

Despite the ongoing fight against gender inequality improving the situation, it will be a while before this problem is fixed. If we each put in the effort to compliment our male comrades on their fashion choices and become more accepting of femininity in men, we can help to abolish this system and fashion a more accepting society. v 69

PERSPECTIVES | OCTOBER 2015

THE

ROSSNER REPORT

M

Y EDITOR THINKS I’m white. So do I. But I’m marking Latino/ Hispanic on my college apps, and I’m completely justified in doing so.

I’ve never really seen an issue with my identity; after all, Latinx (a gender neutral term for Latinos) and/or Hispanic is defined as a person of Spanish culture or origin regardless of race, according to the U. S. Census. As the Spanish speaking daughter of an Argentinian, I fit the definition.

It’s only recently that other people have begun to express their anger about how I identify, and that “recently” has a lot to do with college apps. Although I haven’t experienced overt racism, some people feel as though I am using my Latinx heritage to get into college, and that my identity ‘doesn’t really count.’ However, the point isn’t whether an applicant is brown enough to qualify as a minority, but to bring a diverse range of perspectives and identities.

It’s important to see people who look like you at a place that has historically oppressed you. I support a system of affirmative action

an afffiirmation of Afffiirmative action Text by GABRIELA ROSSNER Photoillustration by KARINA CHAN and WILLIAM DOUGALL that strives to end white supremacy by not only helping those who have been personally affected by systemic opression, but by also normalizing diversity. However, in our current world, race-conscious admissions has its problems.

There are still racial issues on college campuses across America. From Mizzou to Yale, we’re seeing the effects of a history of white superiority in centers of learning.

Affirmative action is important in working towards fighting racial inequality.

In a country that has perpetuated centuries of abuse against people of color, one big moving speech or a law proclaiming the end to discrimination can’t suddenly end racism. While some simply see it as a “free pass” into college, race-conscious admissions is essential in correcting barriers to provide equal opportunity to all.

Yet, a large problem with race-conscious admissions is not the “preferential” treatment black/Latinx students receive, but rather the discrimination that AsianAmerican students face in admissions. Recently, it seems that Harvard University is now discriminating against AsianAmerican students by setting higher and harsher standards, according a June article by the Wall Street Journal.

If we want to end racial discrimination, colleges need to not only continue to use race in admissions affirmatively for black/Latinx students but also for AsianAmerican students. America’s history of oppressing people of color extends to Asian-Americans, who deserve the same consideration. To argue otherwise would be the actions of a scared white institutional system afraid of losing influence. Diversity is not protecting a white majority, nor is it simply helping those who your white guilt extends to. That “Asian nerd” in your math class is also underrepresented across the labor force and has faced racism.

Affirmative action will be at the forefront of everyone’s minds this summer, when the Supreme Court issues a ruling on Fisher v. University of Texas, a case concerning the affirmative action policy at the University of Texas, Austin. Following a long and not-so-honorable tradition of white people suing when they don’t get their way, Abigail Fisher contended that the school’s policy of race-conscious admissions was unconstitutional after she, a white woman with average grades, was not accepted.

If Justice Kennedy, who has never voted in favor of affirmative action, chooses to vote in Fisher’s favor, it will essentially end admissions with racial preferences in higher education, according to a New York Times article published in June. A decision like this would reduce the number of black/Latinx students in places of higher education, according to the New York Times. As a Latina who hopes to find a college community of diverse people, I hope this doesn’t happen. v

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