All Hallows Student Newspaper January Issue

The Blue & White

 

 

“From the Dugout” By: Noel Vasquez ‘19 The junior varsity baseball team

officially finished their fall season on

October 14th, defeating Salesian High

School by a score of 5-4. They finished

undefeated, a great feat for a team to

accomplish. Even though I am a player

on said team, I thought it would be best

to get the opinions of the men who

managed the whole team: Mr. Bonilla

and Coach Carey. I had the opportunity

to interview them after school a few

days ago. Here’s what they had to say

about the team:

Noel Vasquez: How would you evaluate the prospects of the baseball team for the spring? Coach Mark Bonilla: We have a good

mix of freshmen and sophomores. On top

of that, they were all fighting for their

positions, so it allowed us to see the best

in these guys. We also had deep pitching

from our starters. The team had deep

chemistry as well. I can tell, seeing how

the guys got along.

NV: What do you believe to be the biggest potential problem for the team for the spring? Coach John Carey: If we lose players

due to grades, that could be a problem.

If we also have unexpected injuries, that

as well could pose a problem. If there

are players who develop bad habits, that

would not help the team chemistry.

MB: Selfishness is always a downfall for

teams. You guys care more about your

individual performance than the team

performance. Also grades. If we lose

some people because of grades and

academics, we could lose some depth to

our team.

What do you think allowed the junior varsity baseball team to go undefeated this fall? JC: Well, in the fall, it’s a lighter

schedule. We also had good pitching,

which helps a lot. And, of course, we had

baseball skills and abilities that, simply

 

 

put, allowed us to win.

MB: I think everything I mentioned

already. Guys were competing for spots.

Nothing is guaranteed on this team.

Everyone was trying to make an

impression. We worked together. We

tried to bunt, when we had to. We stole,

we hit and run a little bit, and so, all

those things were really important.

Final Comments

MB: I’m looking forward to a good

spring, so guys know they have to work

throughout the winter. We’ll meet soon

to talk about specifics for each player

and what they need to improve on. I’m

definitely looking forward to a good

spring. I think we’re really going to be

competitive and surprise some people.

The junior varsity baseball team appears

to be efficient. They should be ready for

the spring. The question is, can they

bring home a division title? We don’t

know. That is a question only the future

can answer. All we can do is cheer them

on. Go Gaels!

“Technology Combats Loneliness” By: Xavier Diaz ’18

In modern society technology has

become a part of our daily lives. For

example we might use our phones to talk

to our friends and family or check what

the weather is for the week. Recently

there has been plenty of talk about how

technology is making people less social

and some might even go as far as to say

that technology leads to loneliness.

Technology is a tool and it is up to us to

use it in the way we see fit. This makes

it an effective tool in the fight against

loneliness and to better communication.

 

 

Technology has many uses that allow it

to combat loneliness. Often the counter

argument to this is that technology such

as phones pull away our attention from

our friends and families with apps such

as Facebook, Kik, Skype, and Instagram.

As of 2016 Facebook had 1.71 billion

users, Kik had 300 million, and Skype

had 74 million. These apps with

moderation could easily be used to keep

tabs on family members and in fact

make you closer. They also allow you to

meet up with new people and continue

the interactions that you had at school or

the workplace making you feel less

lonely. Apps if used in moderation and

in ways that open up new social

opportunities will make you anything

but lonely. Everything can be bad if used

excessively. Those that say technology

makes us lonely are blind to the

struggles of disabled people. Text to

speech programs are what the impaired

use to communicate. It is this tool that

allows the disabled to be heard and make

friends.

Technology if used properly lets us be

social when we usually cannot be. Our

apps give us people to talk to when no

one is there. Our phones could make us

new friends or even find us the loves of

our lives. In order to do it right you have

to practice moderation. By using our

technology to set up events we become

more social. However we shouldn’t use

technology to replace human

interactions. With our technology we can

achieve whatever we’re aiming for. Even

if what you’re aiming for is just meeting

up with the squad.

 

 

“What Happened America?” By: Juan Morales ‘19

All predictions and polls pointed at

Hillary Clinton as the winner of the 2016

presidential elections. But this wasn’t the

reality, around 3:00am on November 9th

Donald Trump was confirmed as the

newly elected president of the United

States. Clinton congratulated him even

though it was a very hard move for her

because she was expected to win the

elections. The country has had mixed

reactions to the fact that Donald Trump

has become the president-elect of the

United States.

A lot of chaos has erupted across the

country, from Trump Tower in New

York all the way to California.

Thousands of people have staged various

protests in the months since Trump’s

election. Trump said of the protest, “love

the fact that the small groups of

protesters last night have passion for our

great county” through his Twitter

account. Clinton acted peacefully

towards Trump, expressing through her

twitter account that she would be proud

to work with him though his presidential

career.

Clinton hasn’t spoken about her future in

politics, but she is very thankful for what

her supporters did for her. “This team

has so much to be proud of. Whatever

happens tonight, thank you for

everything” said Clinton through her

twitter account. It was a historic election

for America. Trump winning makes him

 

 

the first president with no political

background. Trump has said that when

he gets into office this month he will no

longer attempt to put Clinton in jail. A

lot of sources have pointed to that as one

of Trump’s first moves but whether or

not he will pursue this is unclear. The

people will have to wait for him to get

into office.

“From Gum Shoe to Gael” Reporting contributed by: Ernesto Mannon ’18 & Joel Gradanski ‘18

Throughout their high school years

many students wonder what it might be

like to be a part of the F.B.I. or any other

law enforcement agency. Luckily, here

at All Hallows we have a teacher who

was an agent F.B.I. prior to working

here. Most of the students here at All

Hallows are unaware that he worked for

them as an agent in New York. Curiosity

has overtook these two reporters and we

went to find out why Mr. Gomez or

Agent Gomez left the F.B.I. to come

work with high school students in the

South Bronx.

Agent Gomez actually started his

government career working for the IRS,

before transitioning to the F.B.I where

he began working in 2003. Obtaining a

job with the Bureau is difficulty. There

are a series of exams you must pass to

qualify for a position. First, You must

take a written exam, a physical exam,

and a psychological exam with a

polygraph. Before any of this is

completed they thoroughly check your

past to assure you haven’t done nothing

 

 

illegal. Finally, you have to go through a

panel interview. All of these things can

take anywhere from one to two years to

complete for a regular person, but for

Mr. Gomez it only took six months!

Only 20% of Applicants are accepted.

Mr. Gomez said “ The F.B.I. is a very

difficult job the acquire even if you meet

some of these demands.” Despite these

obstacles Mr. Gomez became Agent

Gomez

He started his F.B.I. career working for

the Organized Crime Division. The cases

he worked on were the famous Gambino

& Bonanno mob families in Brooklyn

and Staten Island. He had an amazing

time in the F.B.I but the job required an

extensive amount of time. These long

hours and time away from families has

given this government position one of

the highest divorce rates, for Mr. Gomez

that option was not worth the risk.

Another challenge that led Mr. Gomez

to leave the F.B.I was the constant

moving from home to home as a result

of station transfers. Though he didn’t

finish his life as an F.B.I agent, he loved

every moment of it. This is what life was

like for an F.B.I agent who now works at

All Hallows.

“ISIS Praising Its ‘Hero Soldier’ Claim Responsibility for Istanbul Attack” By: Jesse Abarro ‘18 On New Year’s Eve, minutes after 2016

had ended, two gunmen went inside a

night club in Istanbul, Turkey, and

opened fire. There were 39 people that

were killed in the attack. It is the first

terrorist attack in 2017. After the attack

in Baghdad the following day, the

Islamic State claimed responsibility for

the attack.

 

 

The reason why Turkey is prone to any

attack is because of its geography. It

neighbors include countries such as Iraq,

Iran, Syria, any many Muslim countries

that are under attack by the Islamic

State. Most of the people that were killed

were teenagers, according to the New

York Times.

On January 4th, Turkish authorities

announced they had identified one of the

assailants in the attack. Turkish Foreign

Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced

there was a suspect, but did not his/her

name due to ongoing investigation. The

White House condemned violence

towards innocent people. At the Vatican,

Pope Francis asked for prayers for the

victims of tragedy and for the end of

terrorism.

The attack in Turkey is the first attack in

2017 conducted by the Islamic State

since December 18th Bombing of the

Church in Cairo Egypt.

“Stradivarius’ Secrets Finally Revealed” By: Stephen Moore ‘18 Antonio Stradivari was one of the most

amazing violin, cello, and viola makers

of all time. As his name suggests,

Stradivarius is an Italian from a small

town called Cremona. Also in this town

was another legendary woodworker

Giuseppe Guarneri set up shop as well.

Well why should I care about any of this

backstory? What’s so special about

them? Well, both Stradivarius and

Guarneri made instruments that have

perfect tune, amazing sound, and

superior craftsmanship that even today

 

 

we can’t recreate. Or at least that was the

case until know. Scientists have found

out their secret which has been buried

for more the two centuries, and it is the

wood, unsurprisingly.

The scientist took wood shavings from a

Stradivari and tested it. They found in

the fibers traces of copper, aluminum,

calcium, and other elements. So now we

know they treated their wood with some

metal solution to help its sound; another

thing they found was that 25% of the

water content had gone out of the wood.

How they found this out was by burning

the wood shavings. This tells us

something, that they specially dried the

wood to help its resonance, tone, and

pitch. Something else they found was

that due to the low percentage of water

in the few Stradivari and Guarneri

violins, violas, and cellos that still exist,

their makeup is unstable and they will

soon lose all of their sound thanks to

this.

“MTA’s Leader is Retiring” By: Jaren Mendez ‘18

The MTA’s greatest achievement has

happened and their leader is retiring. Mr.

Prendergast has been a part of the MTA

business for many decades, and has been

head since 2013. Since then he was able

to do great things, one of his biggest

achievements was opening a new

subway line on 2nd Avenue.

This has made things much easier for

people who have to take trains through

the upper east side of Manhattan. One

 

 

daily rider even commented this week,

“For the first time in like a year I finally

got a seat on a 4 train and no fights

broke out”. Already the train has eased

the amount of people getting on the 4

trains and has made transit life better for

people around the city. The Governor of

New York has even said Prendergast is

“an extraordinary public servant” and

also called his work “superhuman” and

“a beautiful accomplishment”.

Overall we can see how Prendergast’s

work has given him the right to retire.

He was able to successfully pull off an

almost impossible work task. He will be

forever known for this great

accomplishment and now he’ll retire, lay

back, and admire his fantastic work.

“El Baile de el Perrito” By: Bryan Ortiz ‘18

The song “El Baile de el Perrito” is from

my Dominican heritage and I have

always heard it at parties when I was

little. My mom even told me that I

would go to the floor and start dancing

when they played it. I didn’t know a

thing about Bachata or any other dance

at the time but she told me that by

looking at me anyone could tell I liked

that song a lot. Also when I was little I

had cousins and friends who would play

with toys or sleep, but I was the kid who

would watch every step the people

dancing the Bachata were taking. I

always felt connected to Bachata like it

 

 

was a part of me and who I am today.

Many people might argue that Romeo

Santos, Prince Royce, and many other

Bachata artists are better than Antony

Santos but the old style that Antony has

is what makes him different from any

other artist. I especially connect with this

song.

Antony Santos is a famous Bachata and

Merengue singer. Antony Santos had a

different style from all the other

Dominican singers that everyone liked.

Listening to one of the songs from

Antony Santos just makes you want to

get up and dance. The song, “El Baile de

el Perrito” is actually one of Antony

Santos’ merengue songs. The

instruments used in a typical merengue

song are the accordion, bass, guitar,

guiro, and tambora which is a drum. The

guiro is also used sometimes in bachata

and is one of my favorite instruments

because of the sound it makes. Antony

Santos even says it in his song that he

has a different and unique style that no

one has heard of before.

“Oakland Fire” By: Kevin Perez ‘18 In Oakland, California there was a

massive fire last month which killed 36

people. It was deemed to be too unsafe

and unstable for emergency workers,

which put fire officials’ search on halt.

Melinda Drayton, battalion chief for the

Oakland Fire Department, said that

crews stopped searching overnight after

noticing that a wall at the back of the

building was leaning at an alarming

angle. They had to stop because it is a

safety hazard to have people in a

building that looks like it's about to

collapse. The officials believe that the

fire started at the back of the warehouse

but Drayton says “we are no closer to

finding the cause.”

 

 

This warehouse fire was one of the

deadliest in recent U.S. history.

Firefighters worked a lot that weekend

searching through debris and waste to

recover victims, many of which have

been charred beyond recognition. On

Monday, officials said that eleven of the

36 victims have been identified for sure.

This deadly fire started at about 11:30

p.m. as partygoers gathered on the

second floor to listen to a music group

called Golden Dona. The band played on

a dance floor of about 2,500 square feet.

No one really knows how the fire began,

whether it was an electrical cause or

something else but officer Johnna

Watson, spokeswoman for the Oakland

Police Department, said that the answer

wouldn't come anytime soon.

Letters to the Editor The Blue and White is now inviting readers to participate in the conversation. Have a question or comment about something you’ve read here, or something you would like to find in these pages? Email us at ahblueandwhite2016@gmail.com TO THE EDITOR:

I read with interest the article,

"Clash of the Titans" by Willmore

Saldana in the October issue of The Blue

and White. In celebrating the epic battles

between Brady and Manning, Mr.

Saldana hit upon a potentially interesting

idea (at least it seems so to this reader)

for an interesting and regular feature in

future numbers of The Blue and White.

Why not include a "Clash of the

Titans" feature in every future Blue and

White? The world is filled with just such

clashes every day, and they extend far

beyond the playing fields. Music,

politics, business, entertainment,

religion, social justice: each and every

day adversaries from these arenas (and

many others) square off to advance their

causes, their beliefs, their ideals. Who

 

 

better than the ace reporters of The Blue

and White to chronicle these battles and

to interpret them for the benefit of their

loyal readers?

Whether you choose to take this

humble editorial advice or not, do keep

up the good work, and the steady stream

of well-crafted and thoughtful pieces

coming.

FLEET STREET, ESQ. Los Angeles