March 2011

Volume LXXXVVIII, No. 7 www.thebearcat.net Friday, March 25, 2011

An Award-Winning PublicationSANMATEOHI

See FRENCH, page 13

The BEST NAME IN SCHOOL NEWS SINCE 1922

SMHS debuts at Stanford

Page 4

A Night on Olympus

CHEATINGPages 8 and 9

4

See SCIENCE BOWL, page 12

How can you make prom cost less?QUESTIONMAN

Jason Pallas, Class of 2012 Natalia Osipchuk, Class of 2012 Janille Miranda, Class of 2011 Adrianna Alcala, Class of 2011 Ms. Micheletti, Teacher

“Sneak in.” “Get your dress on sale and do you rown hair and make-up. ”

“Carpool with all my friends.” “Do your own hair, nails, and make-up.”

“Borrow clothes, avoid expen-sive dinners, and carpool.”

pHotos by matt erlick

Talia GurevichStaff Writer

Victoria XiaoWeb Editor

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FUTURE FACES OF SAN MATEO

SMHS’s Science Club competed at the Department of Energy 2011 Bay Area Regional Science Bowl at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) on Saturday, February 26. This was the Science Club’s debut at the Science Bowl. The club, newly formed this year, had spent months practicing for the event. Besides meeting twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, they also practiced on Saturday afternoons. At the event, they were eliminated in

Winter guard wins againAbbey LondaStaff Writer

Teachers Go Gaga at Rally

Vikash MorarNews Editor Seniors took over the school Friday-and many teachers and students clev-erly impersonated each other. From a fake pregnancy to a drawn-on beard, the students were very creative with their depictions of their teachers. Senior Takeover Day is a tradition at SMHS that has been going on for many years. However, this is only the second year that it has happened on a minimum day. Senior Takeover Day helps the seniors learn what teachers have to go through every day while giving the teachers a break and letting the students have some fun as well. Seniors had the option of doing vari-ous things with their students: games, challenges, review quizzes, and some even had materials checks. However, regardless of what they chose, it was entirely up to the senior, with the teacher’s approval of course. Some seniors decided to let their classes have a period to have fun with

See STD, page 12

French students have invaded San Mateo High School. For two weeks, 23 French students stayed with stu-dents from San Mateo and Capuchino, and even a few middle school kids. The French students got to have the typical American experience, includ-ing trips to San Francisco, the state capital, the ferry building, museums and ice-skating parties. Every two years Ms. Bunch, the French teacher at San Mateo High, contacts a high school in France, sometimes different, but sometimes the same one. Then Ms. Bunch asks students in all her French classes if

First place! It has a nice ring doesn’t it? San Mateo’s own Winter Guard has taken first in two competitions so far and is really reaching for the stars. Throughout this month, both Winter Guard and percussion have accomplished a great deal on and off the floor and hope to keep climbing in their success. We competed our first competition

See GUARD, page 13

Seniors Jesse Wong, Matt Erlick, and Daniel Martins take over Ms. Kalinski’s class in pretty dresses.

Seniors Do What They Want

Au RevoirSan Mateo

Zach LorenziniStaff Writer The Spring Sports Rally was a great success this year, filled with a multi-tude of creative performances. Current spirit commissioners Peter Lebo and Bryant Chow made a collaboration rally video with future commissioners Nicholas Wetherbee and Marcello Pal-lazo, expressing their competition for which duo has more spirit. The rally began an episode of “San Mateo Live”, with Mr. Tribuzi and guests “Casey Star” (Mr. Teague), and Mrs. Shiu. This show was a parody of Saturday Night Live. Mr. Tribuzi sang a musi-cal rendition of what students should do to prepare for the upcoming STAR test, which proved to be both an educa-tional and funny attention grabber. In between presentations, slide shows and videos from different spring sports teams, the dance team and drumline made spectacular performances. The dance team’s music choice was di-verse. The moves were fresh and well

performed. The San Mateo Drum Line also delivered a spectacular perfor-mance, as their beats were top-notch and entertaining. The teachers who won awards in the Renaissance teacher recognition program performed probably the most talked about aspect of not only this rally, but all of San Mateo’s ral-lies this year. Dressed in caution-tape outfits, the teachers presented a dance to three Lady GaGa songs, Bad Ro-mance, Just Dance, and Poker Face, all choreographed by student Rachel Burkert. Teachers have been practicing it four days a week for three months to perfect their performance. The dance had all audience members laughing and smiling. The rally ended with the class of 2011 on stage singing the fight song for their last rally at San Mateo. It was emotional and sad, but exciting. Come Monday, our last rally of the year will feature Mateo Madness winners bat-tling for the STAR. The teachers pose at the end of their special rally dance.

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ELECTIONS

Friday, March 25, 2011 SANMATEOHI

SANMATEOHIThe Voice Of San Mateo High

A Publication

Founded in 1922

Advisor

Editors-in-Chief

P.C. Fergusson

Austin ChuaMorgan Babbs

Vikash MorarNews Editor

Jeremy VenookOpinion Editor

Jeremy GofmanFeatures Editor

Victoria AguilarEsquina Latina Editor

Aurora KastenArts and Entertainment Editor

Matt ErlickSports Editor

Jasmine Balsara Jordan Buschman Andrea Caceres

Karen Chee Alexander Chen Jean Fan

Darren Fong Jeffrey Ge Natalia Gurevich Tommy Imperial

Perry Liu Abbey Londa Zach Lorenzini

Bryan Okada Chandini Ramesh Ian Thompson

Rachael Wan Joey Wong Dewei Zheng

Diana BrewerPhoto Editor

Victoria XiaoWeb Editor

Francie CohenShan Zaidi

Business Managers

Staff Writers

Opinion I’m on my computer watching a news clip on yahoo.com about the protests in Algeria while scroll-ing through articles on cnn.com. I’m connected to facebook and tumblr, waiting eagerly for news of any kind, from my friends and from professional sources. To most people, it looks like I’m just avoiding homework and wasting my time on public websites. But I’m actually more connected to current events than the major-ity of adults. Statistics show that teens spend an average of 5 hours a day online, and at least 54% of people that have profiles on social networking sites are under 35. This shows that teens are more informed about news than most adults like to believe. It seems that adults like to think that they can get their daily dosage of news just from the paper, and in that exercise alone they are automatically superior to young adults and teens. But the time that teens spend online is usually spent connected to forums that post news about the world at a constant rate. Even so called “social networking sites” like facebook and twitter, can keep a person updated on news, not just their friends. In fact last year after the Haiti earthquake I was the first of my family to find out about it, through a friend’s status on facebook. Another example is Twitter. Most people regard Twitter with a certain level of contempt, myself included. But those accounts aren’t just for gossip on celebrities, its also an outlet for world leaders to express their opinions. With all this exposure to world politics, teens have been getting more involved. An example of how media was used to combat an oppressive government was Egypt, how even after their internet was cut off by their President, groups managed to communicate online through supporters in Sweden. Social websites have enabled movements and groups to organize, creating flash mobs and spontane-ous meetings, creating viral phenomena like a Michael Jackson-style dance in Grand Central Station, pillow fights in Union Square on Valentine’s Day and people protesting in Santa Claus suits . The ability of the web to spread information has in recent months been used to threaten many un-stable governments, which is why censorship is usually a government’s first restriction on its people. Countries that have oppressive governments, like China, want to keep their people in check, and social websites give people the ability to plan, to protest. In fact, China’s internet regulations are so strict that if you look up “Tiananmen Square” on Google in China, there will be no results for it. It’s true that teens are more connected to media than previous generations. However, just because we don’t read the newspaper as much as adults doesn’t mean we don’t pay attention to news.

With the expansion of electronic media and the accessibility of books and magazines, you’d think that teens would know a little more about the world. While some do try to make the most of all the resources they have available to them, others choose to immerse themselves in mindless episodes of reality television (Jersey Shore, anyone?) and fictional episodes of hardcore vampire drama. I speak

from experience. It’s hard to care about world events. Politics. That tsunami that happened in Japan just a few days ago. It’s hard to real-ize that it matters. It doesn’t affect our day-to-day life, so who cares... right? This may be hard to digest, but one day, we high-school-ers will become adults. One day, we’ll have our own place in the world, be it as janitors or C.E.O.s, in Canada or in Mongolia. One day, we’ll have to care. It will be our job to care. Most Americans live in the

lap of luxury. Too often, the technology and the libraries and the resources that we have at our disposal are taken for granted. We have Internet to connect to, phones to text with, literature to read, and games to play. It’s high time we realize that we are privileged, that we have rights and resources that most of the world can’t even dream of having. And it’s about time that we made use of those resources. When I heard about the tsunami in Japantwo weeks ago, I was sipping Peet’s coffee and watching Gossip Girl online. I initially brushed it off-- what I see on the news never seems real to me-- and continued watching Blair Waldorf’s life play out onscreen. It was a while until I realized that the disaster was serious, that it had destroyed the lives of hundreds and thousands of people, and that the Bay Area might be next. By then, I had already finished three episodes back-to-back; Blair and Serena had already slept with each other’s boyfriends, made up, and become friends again in the time it took me to notice a real-life crisis. Now, as I see the ruins the disaster left behind, I have a new consciousness of how important it is stay on top of the news. Major events like this may not directly affect us, and they may seem surreal or even trivial. But they do serve an important purpose: they give us lessons to learn from; lessons that we otherwise may have to learn the hard way. It’s important to be updated on major world events. There is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to be gained from the ongoing political and economic events in today’s societies. If you hadn’t heard about the tsunami until you read this article, I pity you. It’s important that teens and adults alike stay in touch in the world. If you don’t do it for the sake of helping others, the least you can do is make an effort to help yourself.

Teens tuning in for the newsKeyed in tO the wOrld thrOugh the internet OVerwhelmed by excessiVe infOrmatiOnTalia GurevichStaff Writer

Jean FanStaff Writer

Beliebers and haters: who really cares? Bieber fever has struck the nation, garnering legions of fans and even more self-proclaimed “haters.” I personally can’t understand the fuss over some skinny, seventeen-year old Canadian who, for the longest time, didn’t understand the meaning of a proper haircut. There are a lot of talented singers out there waiting to be discovered and I and many, many oth-ers struggle to figure out why this kid was the one who made the cut.

I die a little inside every time I hear someone exclaiming, “Oh em gee Jus-tin Bieber is so hot!” It’s even worse when my five-year old sister tries to wake me up in the morning to his latest single and dances along to his music while brushing her teeth. Even worse, if possible, than the tweens who made him an idol are those that make him out to be the most “annoying, self-obsessed dude” in the history of dudes. While taunts over his feminine hair or high-pitched singing voice may stem from some truth—he was decidedly womany when he first

hit the music scene—exaggerating and just plain making things up about his personality without proper justifica-tion makes Bieber haters the lowest of the low. From what I’ve seen, he just seems like a nice, normal guy who just hap-pens to be one of the most famous teen idols in America right now. I don’t know him personally; He might be annoying, he might be completely self-obsessed, but having never met him, you have no way of knowing un-less he commits some big faux pas or has a very public breakdown or some-

thing. And we should cross our fingers that that doesn’t happen after seeing what has happened to other teenage sensations who have gone off the rails. Personally, listening to him choke out “baby, baby, baby oh” wreaks havoc on my nerves. Unfortunately for me, that has no correlation to his talent, or lack thereof. After all, how is it pos-sible that a no-talent kid pushes out seven songs onto Billboard’s top 100 in his first album? You may personally dislike Bieber, but it’s hard to ignore that he’s one of today’ most popular

artists–talented or not, that at least means that he’s figured out how to play the system. For those of you out there who don’t like him, remember that there’s always the option of simply ignoring him. It takes up valuable time and effort to hate him–better to save your energy for music that you do like. For now, he’s just a regular kid who took the initiative to follow his dreams and landed in a big puddle of fortune and fame. And in that respect, he leaves a lot to be admired and a lot to be learned.

Jean FanStaff Writer

entertainment

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Welcome back to another compelling edition of “What Really Grinds my Gears!” In this issue, I asked you what annoyed you, and then made my own comments based on your suggestions. Enjoy!

-Senior Marissa Garcia hates when she has to repeat herself. I completely agree with her. When I am telling a story, I look around to make sure that people are paying attention so I don’t have to explain everything to them again. However, it always happens that some inconsiderate person has to walk over and say, “What are we talking about, again?” Believe me, when anyone is two minutes into a long story, they will not be very excited to repeat the entire thing to you.

-Senior Gabriella Romero dislikes when people don’t do what they say they are going to do. Believe me, this one is high up on my list of pet peeves. If a task seems too large to handle, you should not be afraid to speak up and excuse yourself from the duty. Nothing annoys me more than asking someone to write the final paragraph of a group project and coming in the next day to find them begging for forgiveness for not doing it.

-Freshman Liheng Zheng is annoyed by “rage quitters,” or people who quit video games when an online match is not going their way. Although I do not play video games regularly, I usually face this same problem when I do. Rage quitting may seem like the simple way out for you, but it hurts everyone else in the match who have to play with one less teammate. A slim chance of winning fades into oblivion when you decide to quit on your teammates. Who knows- if you stick with the match, you might have fun or actually win.

-Junior Candace Stephens detests people who don’t know how to shut up in class. I don’t usually encounter this, but when I do, it can be the worst. Many of us have experienced that one student who tries to best the teacher and get the last word. I can be sure that I am not the only one who finds it futile for a person to argue why they are right and the teacher is wrong. You got that refer-ral for being annoying, not for being right. It is time to do the right thing and leave the classroom.

Our school has water fountains at almost every corner. Yet, students still buy water bottles at the vending machines and lunch lines. According to All About Water, 40 million bottles are trashed every day that can’t be recycled or composted. We are unable to ban plastic water bottles for the health safety reasons of tourists, who visit other countries. Instead, students can use refillable plastic or metal water bottles that they carry around. This will reduce the amount of plastic that is being dumped in landfills and help scale back the ef-fect throwing out bottled water has on our environment. Speaking of water bottles, recently some of our commonly store-bought bottles have been rated by the Environ-mental Protection Agency. Over half of the bottled water products failed the Environmental Working Group’s transparency test, 18 percent didn’t say where their water comes from, and 32 percent did not share any information on treatment or purity in water. It’s time to make the switch to safer, greener reusable bottles. Ac-cording to PlasticsInfo.org, plastic store-bought beverage bottles in the U.S are composed of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PET is commonly found in bottled beverages because it’s sturdy and light. Health experts have requested that consumers stop using PET material water bottles because these bottles are meant for one time uses. Reusing these PET water bottles can leak DEHP, a human carcinogen, threatening our health. In a study, reus-ing water bottles led to health hazard because over handling the water bottle such as washing it can make chemicals like Bisphenol A (BPA) leak out over time. BPA is a chemical that affects the body’s natural hormonal messaging system. Health experts have advised consumers not to drink any open water bottles left in cars for fear that chemi-

cals may harm our health. Make a smarter and healthier choice. Instead, use bottles made from Polypropylene, PP, a safer plastic or aluminum bottles. These bottles are safe for reusing and do not leak out any health hazardous chemicals. Here are the rates of the top ten selling water bottle brands in the U.S.A:

1. Pure Life Purified Water (Nestle), EWG grade = B

2. Arrowhead Moutain Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = C

3. Aquafina Purified Drinking Water (Pepsi), EWG grade = D

4. Dasani Purified Water (Coca-Cola), EWG grade = D

5. Deer Park Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

6. Ice Mountain Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

7. Ozarka Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

8. Poland Spring Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

9. Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

10.Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water (CG Roxane), EWG grade = F

The environmental Protection Agency said that filtered tap water has the best grade, an A. However, if you still insist on bottled water, make sure you choose brands that tell you what’s in their water and what techniques they use to filter their water. Some methods include reverse osmosis and micro-filtration. Drinking tap water is also a way of being green, and, as everyone knows, green is the new black.

Fresh, clear green waterwater

Joey WongStaff Writer

A quick look at the calander may technically say that we have passed out of winter and into spring, but the weather doesn’t seem to have taken notice of the change of season. Regardless of the date, it still feels like we’re suffering through winter weather with days of rain and clouds; but, dismal though the weather may be, that doesn’t mean that we should all be complaining about it–there are, after all, people who have it much worse for more than three months out of the year. While m a n y o f us struggle t h r o u g h winter be-cause it’s a long, cold, g l o o m y time of the year, oth-ers struggle t h r o u g h winter be-cause they have sea-sonal affec-tive disorder (SAD), a condition that sends people into a dark depression during winter. SAD is a serious con-dition among teens and young adults, sometimes even leading to suicide. But we don’t always think about these things, and it’s common for people to complain about the weather. The prob-lem is, a person with SAD has a reason why they dislike winter; everybody else doesn’t have an excuse. SAD can only be treated with medi-cation and light therapy, so people are forced to move into a dark state every year; and yet, it often seems to be everybody but these people com-plaining that the weather has turned ugly. Those without the condition

simply choose not to appreciate the season, even though the weather may not be optimal. Instead of appreciating the opportunity life has given them, some people actually act depressive even though they aren’t depressed. They should be thankful; they should appreciate the fact that they weren’t diagnosed with SAD. At the same time that a real SAD patient has to go through with therapy and the dark winter days, an average person doesn’t have to deal with thera-py or depression. So why can’t people look at the brighter side of things? After all, winter isn’t as bad as people

make it out to be. For example , do people ever think about snow, s e a s o n a l drinks, hol-iday music, or anything winter-re-lated be-sides the g l o o m y skies and

depressive tone? I personally always enjoy celebrating Christmas, so some of the things that come to mind when I think about winter are all positive, things like holiday music, which gets me into the holiday spirit, snowmen being constructed by playful children, hot chocolate near the fireplace in an old, run-down cabin in the middle of nowhere. All of these may just be illusions, but they are still positive images to me. However, some people may not like spending time in an old, run-down cabin in the middle of nowhere, and they may detest spending time with family during the holiday season; maybe some people don’t enjoy holiday music as much as I do; maybe

somebody else doesn’t even like the taste of hot chocolate or seasonal drinks. Maybe nobody likes the fact that fireplaces are bad for the environ-ment; I personally understand. But it’ s not that you will do any of these things; it’s the thought that matters, the feeling of warmth winter really gives you. In truth, winter is just another opportunity for positive change. So, think about all of those innocent people that have to deal with depres-sion during the rainy season. Some of us don’t get to enjoy the warm, comfortable months of December and January because some people don’t see it as that; some see it as long, dragging months that seem to be getting in the way of the beauty ahead: June, sum-mer, spring. Any days that are bright and colorful are appreciated, but the rest of the days are not. What people don’t realize is that winter offers more than people think; winter offers you to look at things a different way and be comfortable with it. As the wind brushes through the tall trees at the park, I think about time and the fortune we’ve had in the past months. Thanks to winter, we appreciate summer and spring a lot more, so we should be grateful for the cold and rain that comes along as well. Remember that, while many of us complain for the sake of complaining, there are some people that have unfortunate conditions that they have to deal with during this time, yet we don’t see it. Instead, we create excuses of why we shouldn’t enjoy winter or the outdoors during this time, like we’re stuck in a prison just until the weather clears up. We don’t realize that we can change our attitudes towards winter for the good. SAD patients don’t have a choice; we do. It’s time for all of us to wake up from our hibernation and start to enjoy winter for the positive things it has to offer. Bears hibernate; people don’t have to.

No good reason to be SAD

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It’s the thought that matters, the feeling of warmth winter really gives you. In truth, winter is just another opportunity for positive change.

Andrea CaceresStaff Writer

health

By the time you are reading this article, it will have been a month since the Academy Awards. By now, some of the lesser awards will likely have faded from memory, but one award will stay indelibly ensconced in the annals of film history: Best Picture. As somewhere between most and all of the country knows, this year’s most prestigious honor for film went to The King’s Speech, the inspiring story of King George VI of England’s struggle against a persistent stutter that threatened to undermine his reign in a time of crisis. By all accounts, this was a well-made and powerful film, featuring stellar performances that were themselves nominated for Oscars, winning Colin Firth his first award for Best Actor. But in all the jubilation, I was a little skeptical of the Academy’s choice: I couldn’t help but feel that the award should have gone to this year’s other heavyweight, The Social Network. Now, in terms of actual film-making, I am willing to contend that The King’s Speech may have been the better movie; although I saw the two months apart, I concede that I found the cin-ematography in The King’s Speech more compelling. But the Oscar goes to more than just technicality--wit-ness last year’s ceremony, in which the visually stunning and altogether grandiose Avatar fell to the lesser-known The Hurt Locker--and there are variables at play that make The Social Network stand out in my mind. First, there’s the pre-Oscar run-up, which had many speculators changing their bets from The Social Network, temporarily the favorite after it earned top honors at the Golden Globes, to The King’s Speech. As I noticed the shift in predictions, I tried to trace the root of the changing pattern, and I felt

that a single event marked the begin-ning of this sea change: The King’s Speech did not gain momentum until it was revealed that it had received more nominations than any other film. From that day forward, the film began to shoot to the top everywhere you looked: it grabbed headlines, dominated the box office, and, most notably, began to win, starting with director Tom Hooper’s award from the Director’s Guild of America, which unsurprisingly came soon after the Oscar nominees were revealed. But to me, a much more important criterion, one that truly rests on the two films’ merits, lies in the subject mat-ter and specificity of the movies. The subject of The King’s Speech, while technically unique--there has not, as far as I know, been another movie about King George VI--is of a category that has generated countless retreads in the cinematic world. It seems that every fourth or fifth year brings a criti-cally-acclaimed true story of a British monarch facing adversity that threat-ens to undermine their rule, played with remarkable subtlety and tender-ness by a well-known British thespian that garners impressive accolades, if not awards, for their performance. For another example, one needs look no further than 2006’s The Queen, which according to Wikipedia won its star Helen Mirren 29 major acting awards, including--surprise, surprise--her first Oscar for her captivating performance as Queen Elizabeth II. Now, let’s take a look at The Social Network, a film that focused on a group of characters that, while just as real and high-profile, could not be more different from the British monarchy. This was a fantastic film that opened to an equivalent level of acclaim--it holds a score of 96% to The King’s Speech’s 95% on rottentomatoes.com--with several critics comparing it favorably to Citizen Kane in its ambitious and,

to be completely honest, questionably factual coverage of a new age of media tycoons. It was a searing spectacle of a kind that is made only rarely because there is so rarely a subject about which this kind of movie can be made; there are unlikely to be more insightful mov-ies about a group of 20 year-olds who so thoroughly revolutionize the way the world communicates until there comes another group of 20 year-olds that thoroughly revolutionizes the way we communicate, and that doesn’t happen very often. Besides, as often as this idea may have been repeated, it is important to note that, of the two, The Social Network is much more representative of the society in which it was made, and what is film if not a barometer of the cultural attitudes of the time? The film spoke to and of a generation that operates in a gray area between trust and mistrust with motivations that are simultaneously above and below plain money. Consider perhaps the most re-peated line from the movie: “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” According to the film, the incentive behind this multi-billion dollar website was not financial alone: there was instead a drive to capture some kind of fleeting touch of a “cool” connotation that constantly drives ambition in a world categorized by hipsters, caffeine junk-ies and programmers. Even its questionable accuracy lends itself to the movie’s timeliness: for as much as the internet has allowed us to know more about ourselves and each other, it has yet to bring total informa-tion equality; the ability of the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world to manipu-late the information available could even be argued to have thrown up a roadblock to our ability to understand others, especially those with the most power over our interactions. Consider the saga of Kitty Lovez You only a few

months ago: like our lack of knowl-edge about what really goes on behind the facade of one of the world’s most powerful websites, we were unable to determine just who she was behind a fake profile picture, a nickname and unfriending policy that obscured any attempt to fully grasp her identity. We still don’t know the details behind Kitty Lovez You, and we are unlikely to soon learn the secret details behind the founding of Facebook; what better way to demonstrate this dichotomy of informed vs. ignorant than a movie that admits its own shortcomings in telling a complete and objective story?

I realize, of course, that I am nothing more than a single opinionated high-school student, and the Academy is un-likely to read this and even less likely to take my thoughts into account, especially now that the awards have come and gone. And yet, I feel it is my duty to put in writing my thoughts on the issue to make sure that The Social Network, like Citizen Kane, becomes a part of our nation’s artistic directory: it may not have won at the time, but still it will stand as a more complete testament to the beginning of the 21st century than any of the other films that marked the end of its first decade.

The clearest voice of the yearJeremy VenookOpinion Editor

MOVIES

Freedom of absurdity The news these days seems to always be told entirely in shades of black and white. Most pundits on the air today are quick to remind viewers that the boundaries between jubilation and outrage are concrete and easily visible, that stories can be summed up in a few enthusiastic sound bites. But once in a while there comes an event where the lines are much harder to draw, where complexities and vagaries abound that make it nigh impossible to establish a single line of argument about it. Such was the Supreme Court’s now month-old decision regarding the Westboro Baptist Church. In an 8-1 de-cision, the nation’s highest court ruled that, under the first amendment, the church’s members were afforded the right to their demonstrations—even though the verdict meant allowing the church to picket soldiers’ funerals with signs reading “thank god for dead soldiers.” As hard as I tried, I could not work myself up to be either delighted or outraged by the verdict. It would be easy for me to write an article solely on the Westboro Baptist Church, which I consider little more than a homo-phobic, filth-spewing hate group (this accusation is not, by the way, base-less—the Church’s website could for a long time be found under the domain name godhatesfags.com). I would love to see an organization of this type dismantled and forbidden the ability to spread their hateful message. And yet, as much as I hoped the Supreme Court would quiet the Church, as much as I

wanted the court to approve prosecu-tion of this and other hate groups, I find that I appreciate—even applaud—the reasoning behind the decision. It is a consequence rarely spoken of in regards to the sacred first amendment: in allowing the free practice of speech, assembly and petition, we must accept the abuses thereof and recognize that, short of slander and some restrictions (the famous example being shouting “fire” in a crowded the-ater), there are signifi-cant limits to recourse against such hateful asser-tions. With this in mind, t h e v e r -dict comes across in a completely d i f f e r e n t light—though perhaps most of the nation has already written off the Westboro Baptist Church as a bunch of loons, as a group so far to the ex-tremes that they can hardly be taken seriously, even they deserve their right to announce their crazy viewpoints to the ends of the earth. The verdict is an affirmation of one of the most impor-tant rights guaranteed by the founding fathers, an assertion that yes, freedom of speech is and always will be upheld in the modern world. And what better time could there be to give a hearty public endorsement of freedom of speech as it stands as one of

the central tenets of our society? Every news report from the Middle East and Africa seems to bring a dichotomy as images of entire peoples finding their voices and expressing their political thoughts are coupled with reports of brutal government crackdowns on those protests. International policy on intervention remains hazy, even after several weeks of protest; but whether or not the Supreme Court’s timing

was in-tentional, a verdict a l l o w -ing even i n f l a m -m a t o r y s p e e c h s e t s a s t r o n g example t o t h e c h a o t i c r e g i o n f u l l o f

citizens aching for civil rights and despots opposed to any demonstration from their people. There is a famous quotation, often misattributed to Voltaire, used to de-scribe the central tenet of free speech: “I may disagree with what you are saying, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This statement rings true now more than ever: the Supreme Court has issued a firm reminder that they may disagree with what the Westboro Baptist Church is saying, but they—and our nation as a whole—will defend to the death their right to say it.

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What better time could there be to give a hearty public endorsement of freedom of speech as it stands as one of the central tenets of our society?

POlItIcS

Jeremy VenookOpinion Editor What a difference a few years can

make. In America: The Book, the 2004 overview of our nation by the writ-ers of “The Daily Show,” one page features an image of a time capsule from 2004 to 2014. One of the more prominent items is an early version of the iPod, featuring what must have seemed like a good prediction then: “It allowed Apple Computer to survive for five more years before being crushed by Microsoft.” Flipping through the book on a break from a mountain of homework, I had to laugh at the now wildly inacurrate joke; Apple’s business has taken off since then, with iPods, Pads, and Phones dominating in their fields. I didn’t think much about the joke until, soon after, I read a review of a newly-debuted tablet computer. The coverage was generally positive, but could be summed up fairly easily: “it’s good...but it’s not the iPad.” To me, the contrast was fairly strik-ing--not to mention funny. Seven years ago, predictions of Apple’s current success would have seemed laughable; but instead of being slowly engulfed by Microsoft, Apple has become a force to be reckoned with in its own right. The comparison led me to consider how exactly it was that Apple under-took such a meteoric rise, from niche product to production powerhouse. To me, it all boiled down to a few key ingredients, simple factors that worked wonders to increase Apple’s devoted fan base; and soon, I came to realize

that, through their mastery of these elements of computing and marketing, the little computer company that could has come to encapsulate a good deal of the essence of modern life. First and foremost, there’s a strange ingenuity in every iProduct that goes a long way towards helping it jump off the shelves. Mac Stores are shiny glass boxes that invite potential buyers to fiddle with gadgets to their hearts’ delight; iPods, iPads, iPhones, and Macbooks come fully stocked at pur-chase with just about every necessity and distraction a user could want. And it’s all operated with touches and taps, clearly labeled icons and swipes that allowed the iPad most of all to gain a sizable fan base among those disil-lusioned with increasingly complex operating systems. But what really interested me was the company’s ability to brand itself in a way that took advantage of a niche market while simultaneously taking that niche mainstream. The best label I’ve heard for this allure is geek chic: the clever marketing, the Mac vs. PC commercials and infectious beat of the iPad advertisement, the sleek stores and products, the stainless steel curves appeal to both the original hipster-esque demographic while intriguing casual users and techies alike. The odd place of Apple within and as a marker of our society is best described by recognizing the strange amount and focus of the company’s products: for how many other devices would a gimmicky new case merit a news article, and what phone but the iPhone has ever caused a stir when it hopped on to a new network?

iPod, therefore iAmJeremy VenookStaff Writer

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SANMATEOHI Pagina 5

La Esquina

PREGUNTADELMES ¿Qué opinas de todos los desastres naturales que han ocurrido?

LatinaEstudiantEs

Una de las cosas que hace San Ma-teo High School una escuela peculiar es que tiene muchos servicios para estudiantes y padres latinos. Ahora ha llegado la oportunidad de atender a un campamento llamado: The Chi-cano Latino Youth Leadership Project (CLYLP.) Esta conferencia que desde el año 1982 ha sido organizada con un gran éxito, ayudara a todo estu-diante Latino a mejorar su manera de pensar. Este campamento se lleva acabo cada verano en Sacramento, Califor-nia. Estudiantes del 10 y 11 grado y de nacionalidad latina son totalmente bienvenidos. ¿Pues de que exacta-mente se trata esta conferencia? Esta conferencia, principalmente ayuda a estudiantes a llegar a ser mejores lideres en su comunidad. En solo una semana los estudiantes experimentaran algo diferente que cambiara la manera de pensar. Los eventos principales que los estudiantes atenderán son los siguientes: El Día Legislativo en el Capitolio Estatal y El día del Colegio y Carrera en el colegio CSU y UC . En EL Día Legislativo los estudi-antes aprenderán acerca del proceso legislativo atreves de participación e interacción con legisladores del Capitolio Estatal. Con la ayuda de reclutadores universitarios y expertos en ayuda financiera, los estudiantes contaran

con información en cómo aplicar a becas y eventualmente a colegios co-munitarios. Además, Los estudiantes serán expuestos a varias carreras profesionales ese mismo día. Esta conferencia también proveerá información acerca la cultura y la historia de nuestra raza Latina atreves de discursos acerca la experiencia per-sonal de muchos invitados Chicanos. Este campamento de siete días es completamente gratis con alimentos, transportación y cuarto incluido. Sin embargo los estudiantes son selectos basados en una aplicación, cartas de recomendación de parte de maestros y tres ensayos escritos acerca del liderazgo, biografia y una situación hipotética. Estudiantes que ya han participado en este campamento no serán calificados para participar nue-vamente. Las aplicaciones se recogen en la oficina de consejeros con el Señor Morales y tendrán que ser devueltas a la oficina para ser procesadas a mas tardar el 15 de Abril. Esta conferencia de verano es una gran oportunidad que ayuda e instruye a jóvenes latinos hacia un camino me-jor y lleno de éxito. Afortunadamente es completamente gratis así que famili-as no se tienen que preocupar por prob-lemas financieros. ¡Vamos Osogatos! Aprovechemos esta gran oportunidad. Si tienen alguna pregunta por favor no duden en visitar al Señor Morales en la oficina de consejeros. No lo piensen mucho, acudan inmediatamente que los cupos son limitados.

“Yo pienso que es una tragedia para toda la gente en Japón y deberíamos hacer todo lo posible para ayudarles.”

“Mi opinión es que todos se deberían preparar para estas cosas. Mucha gente no lo toma en serio.”

“Pienso que es horrible porque mi primo tiene parientes haya y no sabemos si están con bien.”

“Es lamentable porque mucha gente a perdido sus hogares.”

“Digo que es horrible para todas las familias que han perdido a un ser querido y me asusta que pueda pasar aquí.”

Viernes, 25 de Marzo 2011

Victoria AguilarEditora de La Esquina Latina

El triunfo y el exito depende de ti

noticias

Brianda Lerma

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Salvador Gomez

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Kevin Vasquez

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Beatriz Carrillo Señora Cervantes

Caminaba a mi clase de español con una mirada preocupada en mi cara. Ese día, había una prueba de gramática, y no estaba lista. Me senté en mi escri-torio, a punto de apechugar con las consecuencias. Por supuesto, lo fracasé. Más tarde aprendí que esa gramática me deja decir mucho más en español, y de pronto, el español me era mucho más interesante para mí. En los cuartos de baño en la escuela,

de repente podía comprender un poco de las conversa-ciones que otros alumnos decían en español. De repente, las letras de cancio-nes de Enrique Iglesias de que yo bailaba a lo largo por las mañanas eran mucho más geniales que antes. Yo cantaba a grito pelado con entusi-asmo las letras en la ducha ahora que comprendía qué él decía. Por una semana, me despertaba escuchando a Enrique y me dormí con su música; para mí era genial. Hay muchas cosas que quiero hacer cuándo (y si) voy a llegar a ser fluída en la lengua. Siempre tengo el sueño de mudarme a España y ver Valencia-- amo las naranjas. Y también ir a

Madrid e ir de compras en Barcelona me parece como un cuento de hadas.

Solamente poder hablar en una len-gua extranjera me parece mágico a mí. Es como una lengua secreta; sólo algunas personas especiales pueden hablarla. Siempre sentía que es muy inte-resan te cuándo otros alumnos se hablan español u

otra lengua en los pasillos; nuestra escuela es verdaderamente especial en esta manera-- es extremadamente multilingüe. Ahora, ya no soy una alumna que nunca hace su tarea y fracasa en sus pruebas de español. Ahora amo la lengua, y espero con ansia mejorar mi habilidad... ¡Deséame suerte!

Caminando entre las calles de San Mateo, las clases de español 5-6 y 7-8 llegamos a la estación de Samtrans. Tomamos el tren hasta la estación de San Bruno y de ahí abordamos el Bart para llegar al distrito de la Mission en San Francisco. Todos los estudiantes tenían que estar en frente de la escuela a las 8:00 AM en punto para luego caminar a la estación del tren juntos como una clase; El cielo tenía un color muy oscuro y gris que nos dejo cruzando los dedos para que llovería durante el paseo. Cuando entramos al tren, fue un poco chistoso porque todos los pasajeros se quedaron mirando un poco confundidos y sorprendidos mientras sesenta jóvenes/estudiantes

entraron con entusiasmo. Hubo con-fusión, mientras nos subíamos al Bart, cuando menos de veinte estudiantes se subieron al Bart y el resto se quedaron afuera. Yo, una de las estudiantes en el tren, no estaba preocupada. Afortu-nadamente, los supervisores pudieron solicitar que las puertas fueran abiertas permitiendo que los demás estudiantes abordaran el tren. El Salón Cultural es una exposición en el Distrito de la Mission, que era de videos y esculturas de artistas que viajan por todo el mundo. Mauri-cio Héctor Pineda, el creador de la gallería, nos explico mucho de todos los diferentes tipos de artes y lo que representan. Uno de los cuadros que me intereso más fue uno de Tania Candiani, una de las artistas. Esta pieza de arte consistía de cien escobas, ahora ochenta y ocho, que representa las dificultades que las mujeres latinas, con educación, tienen cuando vienen a Los Estados Unidos en busca de una vida mejor para sus hijos. Nancy Cordero, una de las estudi-antes que también fue en este paseo, dijo: “Fue muy interesante y me gusto mucho cada pieza de arte que tenía su

propia historia.” Después del Salón Cultural de Artes, fuimos a la Parrilla Grill, un restaurante de comida Latina. Todos disfrutamos la comida. “Mmm.. el único platillo que había fue pollo, pero de todos modos fue mi favorito!” Dijo Cristina Medina Visitamos la Mission de San Fran-cisco con una guía que nos enseño los morales en la calle principal y en los callejones. Todos los morales expresan la creatividad y las vidas de los que los pintan. Cada pieza de arte tiene un lugar donde fue formado. Mission no fuera Mission, sin el arte que es parte de la sociedad. Los morales son expresiones basadas en religión, fantasía, tragedias e inmigrantes que han venido a este país huyendo de la violencia y cosas abstractas que llenan su país. Todo el día paso muy rápido y al final se sintió muy corto. Fue un día de muchas cosas excitantes y de valor. Al final nos tuvimos que correr al Bart porque ¡faltaba un minuto para abor-dar! Al menos pude disfrutar de mi chocolate caliente cuando serraron las puertas y finalmente regresamos.

Las clases de español exploran la arte de San Francisco

Jean FanReportera

Aprendiendo un lenguaje secreto

Hay muchas cosas que quiero hacer cuándo (y si) voy a llegar a ser fluída en la lengua.

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SANMATEOHI

Features

In the curriculum of a typical 11th grade English class, Mark Twain’s The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn is standard reading material. For years, this book has been used to discuss the perspective people used to have on different races, specifically African Americans. One example is the book’s frequent use of the n-word, which Mark Twain doesn’t use in a deroga-tory way. But he was simply using the vernacular at the time, to show the plight of the slave. However, in spite of this reasoning,

recently The Adventures Of Huckleber-ry Finn has been edited to remove all racial slurs, as a compromise instead of having the book banned. Huckleberry Finn is the 4th most banned book in the U.S., and to make sure schools could keep it in the curriculum, it has been edited instead. The other three most banned books are: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck. Some of these bans seem reasonable enough, like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which has a rape scene. But Of Mice and Men was banned merely for its use of profanity, which let’s be

honest here, most high school students have already been exposed to and use quite often. But book banning is sometimes just too ridiculous, like for instance, in Hillsborough County Florida. According to an article in the St. Pe-tersburg Times, an elementary school refused to stock 2 books of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. This isn’t the first time Harry Potter has been banned in schools, but this time their reasoning was that the book had “witchcraft themes” and “promoted the occult” which was a negative influence on children. Just think, next they’ll be banning The Cat In The Hat, by Dr. Seuss because the cat in

Amongst war in Afghanistan, famine across Africa, and protests spanning the Middle East, Japan has suffered a disaster of epic proportions not provoked by humans, but by the multi-billion year-old Earth. On March 11 at 2:46 p.m., an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 struck off the coast of northeastern Japan, not only sending out a groundbreak-ing shocks, but evoking a series of massive waves measuring up to 10 meters, or 33 feet. San Mateo students responded to the disaster in which millions of houses, local shops, and office buildings were taken to the ground, becoming rubble. There are about 1.2 million people of Japanese descent living in the United States today, and much of that population resides in the Bay Area. Naoki Nakamura, a senior, and his family have been keeping close tabs on his family in Japan, stating that his “sister had to stay at a co-worker’s house” because of some safety issues,

and that there have been multiple planned blackouts in order to conserve energy. This raises an important is-sue- with community shops destroyed, where will people receive food to stay

Japan Disaster

Heartbreak and hope in JapanJeremy GofmanFeatures Editor

Censors are all a bunch of phoniesTalia GurevichStaff Writer

alive? One of Naoki’s main concerns is “the lack of food and shelter”. However, since the earthquake struck on the northeastern seaboard, most families in the opposite parts of the

islands stay safe- away from danger. Kay Ueda, a junior, explained that his family is safe even though “they felt a little shaken, but that’s about it.” Sana Yamaguchi’s great aunt and

uncle live in Japan as well, but were thankfully unharmed by the entire incident. “We sent about 100 emails to them and they replied to every single one, so they’re fine.”AIR, Japan’s national insurance com-pany stamps the price of reconstruc-tion and consolation at $35 billion USD. By March 14, an estimated 100,000 Japanese were found to be dead more are bound to be dug up out of the drowned streets and fallen cement. Of course, the disasters on the archipelago harm those living on the northeastern part of the main island, but we mustn’t forget that we, as hu-mans, have families that don’t all live in one location we are spread across the world, still aware of their family’s wellbeing and status. Although the majority of the na-tion remained solid and tame, the distressed, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, need help: food, shelter, clean clothes, and most importantly

the support and care from the rest of the world. Let’s try to come together and help Japan as a whole in the com-ing days and weeks!

Collage of those affected by the tsunami and earthquake which struck off the coast of Sendai

the hat promotes vandalism, theft, and attempts to kill a fish. Many organizations have filed complaints against these bans, includ-ing the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). Author Judy Blume has also complained, and even wrote an article for the New York Times called “Is Harry Potter Evil?” she goes on further against censorship and says: “In my books, it’s reality that’s seen as corrupting. With Harry Potter, the perceived danger is fantasy. According to certain adults, these stories teach witchcraft, sorcery and satanism. But hey, if it’s not one “ism,” it’s another. I mean Madeleine

L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time has been targeted by censors for promoting New Ageism.” That article was written about 10 years ago, and since then book ban-ning has become less popular, at least in California. Now instead of directly banning books, adults have chosen to change them, to edit them for what they perceive as “offensive material”. But editing the book changes the mes-sage that the book is trying to convey. The better solution would to not cen-sor, but to teach the book as it is while making sure that students understand the meaning.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news, which you always should, you’ve most likely noticed the wave of protests and revolutions sweep-ing the Arab world, one of the more noticeable being the overthrowing of Hosni Mubarak’s reign in Egypt. You may be wondering, hey, where did it all start? On December 17 2010, Mohammad Bouazizi, a street vendor in Tunisia, lit himself on fire in protest of the un-heeded confiscation of his wares, and the continued harassment from various government officials that went unpun-ished. His act inspired other to revolt, partly through images of his immola-tion being posted on the internet. The revolution in Algeria began on December 18th 2010. Protests were centered around unemployment, lack of housing, corruption, and restriction on freedom of speech. The Egyptian protests began Janu-ary 25 2010. Men and women flooded Tahrir Square and most of Cairo in protest of the thirty year long state of

Is Ghadafi’s reign finally coming to an end?Ian ThompsonStaff Writer

emergency under president Hosni Mubarak’s rule. In Yemen, protests began on January 27 2011 in Sana’a. Protests abated on February 2nd when President Saleh announced that he wouldn’t be running for reelection, nor passing his power to his son. On February 7th 2010, Sudanese Chairman Muhammad Ibrahim Khalil announced that the votes were in, and that Over 98% of the coun-try had voted for a separation of North and South. It was 15 of February 2011, when Libyans took to the street and took control of the coun-try’s second largest city, Benghazi, in protest against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year control of the country. On 19 February the United States with the help of France launched an attack on Lib-ya, bombing near the

capital city of Tripoli to

quell the riots and civilian militias.

There are many other protests happening now

including the Western Sahara, Jordan, Maurita-

nia, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Djibouti, Mo-rocco, Iraq, Bahrain, Iran, and Kuwait. That’s the timeline of some of the more press-

covered revolu-tions.

Friday, March 25, 2011


He didn’t mind that their first meeting had sent them both to the ground. He was man enough to not complain about landing on grass, after all. He was an 18-year-old in high school cutting through the park so as not to be late getting to school and she was a 9-year-old elementary school student who was playing tag with some friends on the way to school. He apologized to the little girl quickly and made it through the school gates just in time, panting as he rushed into his classroom. He didn’t mind that a few months later, he had been asked to baby-sit her once. Sure, she had called him “Mafia Man” because of all his piercings but who cared when the job paid 20 dol-lars an hour? He didn’t mind that the next time he ran into her was when he was a 24-year-old college student and she was a 15-year-old in high school. Her eyes widened and the first thing that came from her mouth was “Mafia Man!” as she pointed at him accusingly. Smiling that she remembered, he waved. “Hi. You studying hard?” She nodded, and they exchanged phone

numbers to keep in touch. He didn’t mind when she had sug-gested that he should stop dressing like such a gangster because people would misunderstand since he was born with such a fierce face. He minded a little that after she had seen him with no piercings or accessories, just in jeans and a t-shirt, she had burst out laugh-ing and told him to dress the way he always had. He didn’t mind her reaction when she had asked his birthday and found out he was a Scorpio. “I’m a Leo! We have the worst compatibility!” She laughed. He chuckled, he didn’t believe in horoscopes anyway. He didn’t mind when she had gotten her first boyfriend when she was 16. The boy had confessed to her during a school trip. She had been so happy, and she had told him right away. However, he did mind when he had found her in tears at a park because her boyfriend had been cheating on her and had just dumped her. He didn’t mind that when she was 17, he had to flip up her skirt to catch her attention because she was so absorbed in watching the World Cup on televi-sion in a shop. He didn’t mind that there was a nine-year difference between them. Over the years, he had started to fall in love with her. He smiled at every emoticon she would put in her emails to him. Besides, he was definitely the child in the relationship. He didn’t mind when once they went to a café and she had spilled water on his lap. He was inwardly smirking at

the fact that she didn’t realize that his thighs weren’t the only things she was patting dry. He didn’t mind when she didn’t hang on to him at all when they went to a haunted house. She laughed and greeted the actors in the house when she was nervous or frightened, trying to hide how afraid she was. He didn’t mind that when he con-fessed on her 18th birthday, she looked like she was holding back laughter as she accepted, telling him she felt the same way. He didn’t mind that their first kiss had been an “accident”. They were at the beach and they had tripped. He maneuvered them so he wouldn’t fall on top of her, but he had also pulled her close enough for their lips to meet. She had been embarrassed, but he then began placing small kisses all over her face from sheer happiness. He didn’t mind that gibberish would escape her mouth whenever she was frightened, surprised, angry, frustrated or tired. He didn’t need her words to understand her. He didn’t mind when he had acciden-tally walked in on her in the shower. He stole a few peeks while dodging a bar of soap, a scrubbing brush, and a bottle of shampoo. He didn’t mind that she had tackled him out of pure delight while scream-ing, “YES!” at the top of her lungs when he had proposed. And now he definitely didn’t mind as now his lips were pressed against hers, right after hearing the words, “You may kiss the bride.”

He Didn’t Mindcreative corner

As you make your way to the cafete-ria, the quad, or maybe the hallways, you will probably find people, during lunch, getting together with friends to eat. But if you thought that every single person has a place to go, then you must have skipped a few people. Not every person has a comfortable place that they can go to at lunch. It’s easy to miss this fact because every-one seems to be headed somewhere. Maybe some do have people to hang

out with but either want to find a new place or can’t find a place to go. Others simply don’t have anything to do for half an hour. So where do these people get to go to eat lunch, hang out, or have a place to sit? A new club called Chain Reaction has the answers to all of those questions. Their first meeting was in November. Ever since then, they have welcomed many new people to join this club. Creators of this club, Kim Bautista and Leylany Marquez, said that this idea came from wanting kids to get more involved in their community. During one of their club meetings on

December 8, they gave a small speech, introducing themselves and the club. “The point of this club is to get people to be more involved, get to know a lot of people, and volunteer in their com-munity,” said Kim Bautista. Already the fun has begun! The December 8 meeting was great. They introduced themselves, and they had club members introduce themselves as well. We partnered up and played Pictionary on the white board until the bell rang. (The winner got a Starbucks card next meeting!) On top of that, they offered pizza and drinks while you play. That’s generous and encour-

aging! But there is more to this club than just eating and playing. “I think this is going to help people positively,” said Kim Bautista, co-founder of Chain Reaction. “We are helping people meet new people and be more confident in help-ing out the school.” Here is a club try-ing their best to encourage students of all grades, from freshman to seniors, to help out other people while they meet new people. This club has the opportunity to teach these students that helping out is a good and important as-pect in our community. And maybe in this process, more people will stay out of trouble as they learn to help others instead. Then one person learns from the other, causing a chain reaction. So for those people that can’t find any interesting clubs to go to, or for those, like me for instance, that are too scared to try something new, this is a great way to help yourself come out of your shell. I’ve always been to shy about new things, but this club has that magic power that boosts up your confidence even for the shyest person you will ever meet, and this is from my own experience. This club has the potential that can transform you from an ordinary student to a confident participant. You will want to meet new people, and you will want to volunteer. It’s unfortunate for those that have

Andrea CaceresStaff Writer

Club seeks to trigger a Chain Reactionto sit alone for thirty minutes, almost every day, five days a week, for four years of high school. That may not seem very realistic, but it really is pos-sible. No one deserves to have to be alone that long, not even for those that want to. Not even for those that don’t try to meet new people. No one knows the lives of others, but you can help others this way: by creating clubs like Chain Reaction, which meets every Wednesday at lunch, and by inviting others to join you. This club is perfect even for those that do have people to hang out with. Maybe you’re not always hanging out with someone during lunch. Now you’re not alone, and now you can meet new people that maybe can relate to you. Maybe you will just meet new people, whether they have similar interests with you or not. It’s just that you try. And for those that are looking for new things and new hangout spots, or for those that are looking for ways out of their comfort zones to help motivate them to move forward, then this is a perfect place for you. People sometimes need a boost, and Chain Reaction does just that. “We are satisfied [with the outcome of this club],” said Kim Bautista. “We are hoping that it will grow and that it will continue in the future.”

The Apple iPad is back and has received what many believe is an update long overdue, mostly because its competitors like the Samsung

Galaxy Tab or the Motorola Xoom, were superior in terms of features to the original iPad, since they came out afterwards. The Motorola Xoom, joined the fray of tablet computers on February 24, prompting Apple to act fast to answer the criticisms of lacking features such as cameras, which was addressed in the second coming of the iPad. The Android operating system, made by Google, is the main competitor in terms of OS between the iPad and other tablets, much like the Android/iPhone battle. Much of the iPad’s criti-cism also fell under the category of the Adobe Flash player, something many websites use to run videos, slideshows, etc. The original iPad ran into many problems in the beginning with its lack of Flash support, causing many components on websites such as the New York Times to not show up. One thing is for sure, however, the new and original iPad have the upper hand when it comes to applications. Apple says consumers have 60,000

options when the time comes to access the App Store and download, some-thing done on iPods, iPhones and iPads alike over 10 billion times, reaching the new high on January 22, 2011. The new and improved iPad, is now

a hair thinner than the iPhone and 80 grams lighter than the original, 1/3 as thin and 15 percent lighter. However, its processing power still is a little weak compared to its competi-tors, as the Motorola Xoom, one of its competitors, has a speedier processor that allows it to handle better graphics faster, according to techradar.com. The many new users of the iPad 2 also have stumbled upon some issues and errors that Apple has let slip through the cracks, some of which include that familiar yellow splotch that iPhone 4 users found, as well as the lack of the very impressive retina display that the iPhone 4 has, one of the first phones to use this revolutionary technology that uses a screen of such high definition that you can’t distinguish between one pixel and the next. The new iPad has its flaws and perks, but so does the Motorola Xoom, Sam-sung Galaxy and any other tab on the market right now. Whichever tablet you decide is best for you, remember: This changes everything. Again.

Austin ChuaEditor-in-Cheif

iPad 2 comes to stores to shock all competitors

“Tomorrow is Saturday, and Sun-day comes after...wards…” If I was Rebecca Black, I would want this weekend to end. March was a month of notoriously bad songs. In fact, so bad, that good taste in music was abandoned in favor of Black’s Friday, which garnered thirty-three million views on Youtube. The infamous 13-year-old has been the focus of millions of teenagers and adults alike, many of whom belted out

her lyrics in mock appreciation. Personally, I can’t stand the girl: her fried-and-dyed hair, her overenthu-siastic teeny-bopper friends, and the fact that she waits at a bus stop for her friends to drive her to school make me cringe with embarrassment. But she’s been making quite a bit of money, and there are a couple people here and there who actually like her. Even some seniors— including the San Mateo High’s “warriya,” Matt Erlick—have been caught mumbling her lyrics. (How embarrassing!) Of course, maybe we should think

twice before judging her so harshly. People watch her video solely for the purpose of poking fun at her. She says, somewhat sadly, on the The Daily Beast, that she didn’t expect the amount of hatred she has been the victim of, even going so far as to say she feels like she is being “cyberbul-lied.” Has America gone completely insane, or is this really the fate of American pop culture? How do you feel about Rebecca Black? Let me know at [email protected].

Rebecca Black should never come backJean FanStaff Writer


Phony answers

Catcher in the Rye catches students cheatingVictoria XiaoWeb Editor Many sophomores from Mr. Brasel’s honor classes were caught cheating on a reading quiz about Catcher in the Rye on March 1, 2011. In an elaborate ruse, one of the ques-tions on the reading quiz was a trick: there turned out to be no right answer to the question, “What magazine did Holden read on the train?” However, there was only one wrong answer: “Colliers”. Mr. Brasel had told second period that the right answer was Colliers, a magazine that most modern teenagers wouldn’t think to write down, unlike Time or Vogue. As a result, those in Mr. Brasel’s fourth and sixth periods who had jotted down “Colliers” were subsequently called to the dean for cheating. But why did Mr. Brasel come up with this plan? “I was suspicious at the end of the semester. Fourth and sixth periods’ quiz averages were higher than second period’s,” said Mr. Brasel. “Ms. McMullen, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Pirie, and I, we had lunch the day before and we discussed it. The idea was to create a false question and a false answer.” Those who were caught were then asked who had given them the an-swer, thus ensuring that those feeding the answers to their peers were also discovered. Unfortunately, the plan didn’t have a one hundred percent success rate. “We missed a lot in fourth,” said Mr. Brasel. On the other hand, many students in second and sixth period were ensnared in the trap. However, Mr. Brasel says he wasn’t surprised at how many students were cheating. “I know it’s widespread,” he said. “It’s in every school. Mostly in the honor classes, because competi-tion is fierce and people want good grades.” “It’s not about what happened with the reading quiz, it’s what hap-pened with the students,” comments Mr. Freiberg, the dean. “It’s not in the Bearcat tradition that we cheat.

There’s a reason we call them honor classes.” Hopefully, the students that cheated this time around will learn their lesson. In the real world, consequences are dir-er than a detention and a call home. “If you’re out in the world and people think they can’t trust you because they think you’ve cheated, you will not get as far as those who were honest,” remarks Mr. Freiberg. Of course, the situation isn’t black-and-white. Those that cheated may have written down what they had overheard their classmates whispering about in a last-ditch effort to secure some points, or they could have bad-gered their friends for answers all brunch and lunch. “Some felt pressured,” said Mr. Freiberg. “They felt pressured to give their friends answers and it’s not fair for anyone to feel pres-sured.” Nevertheless, though the individual situations surely varied between stu-dents, the end result is the same: they were caught. Those caught were subsequently punished according to the Bearcat honor code: first offense is a “referral to the dean, a two-hour detention, a grade of zero or F,” and a call home; second offense gets a “referral to an administrator, in-house suspension, grade of zero or F, parent conference, student contract, referral to School Safety Advocate”; and the third offense results in a “referral to an administrator, parent conference, loss of CSF eligibility, 2-5 day suspension and drop F from the course”. There are no punishments listed for any further transgressions, presumably because such a thing is unthinkable. In the end though, it’s not just about crime and punishment. “This is the type of thing that happens to people over the course of their lives, and the true mark of a person is whether they can own up to it,” pronounced Mr. Brasel.

CheaTInG: an ePIDeMIC?

Cheating

FaCeBooK

The unsocial networkJeremy VenookOpinion Editor Few movies last year raised as many insightful questions about the nature of social interaction in the online age as The Social Network. Among the most contentious of these questions was this deceptively simple query: did Mark Zuckerberg cheat his classmates out of the Facebook fortune? One of the morally ambiguous ac-tions in the movie that provokes this debate is, did contract negotiations cheat Zuckerberg’s friend and CFO Eduardo Saverin out of his rightful share of the company? Before I attempt to address these questions, I’d like to issue a disclaimer for everything else in this article: I am not a legal scholar, and I am con-sidering these questions based on the portrayal given in the movie, which by its own admission does not adhere per-fectly to the facts of these apparently complicated cases. What is written here is not in any way intended to be a legal defense or a defense of char-acter of any of the people involved in the events; this is my read on a single portrayal and my interpretation of the questions raised about fair play. Now, let’s consider the story of Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg’s best friend and business partner until some sinister and convoluted business nego-

tiations wrote him almost entirely out of the company. First of all, it’s apparent to me that the movie’s interpretation of Zuckerberg is that he was largely disengaged from the financial side of the website—he leaves that al-most entirely to Saverin and Napster founder and co-entrepreneur Sean Parker. Second, remember that it was Parker who caught himself in conflict with Saverin, not Zuckerberg. Finally, Saverin signed the contract that led to the near total eradication of his shares in the company of his own volition, in the company of lawyers, even if he had none of his own. As an Econom-ics major, he himself acknowledges that he should have carefully read the contracts or brought his own lawyers to the proceedings. To be perfectly clear, none of this is intended to condone or even approve of Zuckerberg’s actions as told by the film, which are hard to see as anything other than uncaring. But there is sig-nificant gray area left open in each of the movie’s questions—especially considering Zuckerberg’s apparent detachment from the business side of the story—and, based on the portrayal in The Social Network, his actions fall in a nebulous region in the Bermuda Triangle of unkind, unethical, or sim-ply unsocial.

64%

of high school studentshad cheatedin the past year

36%of high schoolershave plagiarizedfrom the Internet

35%of college officialsbelievecheating is a problem

41%of the public believecheating is a problem

73%of all test-takers believemost students have cheatedat some point

86%of high schoolers believemost students have cheatedat some point

80%of “high-achieving”high school studentsadmit to cheating

51%of high schoolersdon’t belive cheating is wrong

Oh, the answer to number 36 is C.

ALL ABOUT

Friday, March 25, 2011 SANMATEOHICheaTInG: an ePIDeMIC?

CheatingoTher CheaTers

BernIe MaDoFF On December 11th, 2008, Bernie Madoff was arrested for an elaborate $50 billion Ponzi scheme in which he scammed many people out of all of their money. After Madoff was pros-ecuted, he pleaded guilty on March 12th, 2009 to eleven federal crimes and to what is known today as the big-gest investment fraud ever committed by an individual. Later, on June 29th, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison and a restitution of 170 billion dollars.

sTePhen GLass Mr. Stephen Glass was a former writer and reporter for The New Re-public (TNR). He was caught for vari-ous infractions that he perpetrated over his three-year tenure (1995-1998) with TNR magazine, including serial frauds on news articles, fabrications of news sources, news events and quotations in his numerous reports and articles. Mr. Glass even concocted entire stories such as “Hack Heaven,” which was about a 15 year-old boy who hacked into the computer system of a fictional company named “Jukt Micronics”. Mr. Glass was accused of plagiarism before his “Hack Heaven” story, but TNR backed him up and defended him. In May 1998 when Mr. Glass wrote the “Hack Heaven” story, a Forbes reporter, Mr. Adam Penen-berg, challenged him. Mr. Penenberg tried to verify Mr. Glass’s story. He checked every possible source, but could not find an iota of evidence for Stephen Glass’s Hack Heaven story. TNR decided to fire Stephen Glass, and that was the end of his journalistic career.

ChICaGo whITe soX Every baseball fan knows 1919 as the year that the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. White Sox first baseman Arnold “Chick” Gandil first came up with the idea to intentionally lose the World Series game against the Cincinnati Reds. He persuaded gambler and close friend Joseph Sul-livan to help him out. Sullivan agreed to give $80,000 to Gandil and anyone else he could recruit to throw the game. Gandil took $10,000 for himself, and used the rest to recruit five other teammates who could not resist the temptation of some extra cash. However, their cheating came back

to haunt them in the end. The six team-mates that partook in the throwing of the game were banned from major league baseball for life. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver were also banned for life for knowing about the scandal but not reporting it.

wILLIaM haMMan Mr. William Hamman worked double-time as a United Airlines pilot and cardiologist, flying planes high in the sky and leading sessions at an American College of Cardiology convention. But it turned out that Mr. Hamman was not a cardiologist—in fact, he wasn’t even a doctor. He had attended medical school for a few years, but he never graduated. He had masqueraded as a doctor since at least 1992. However, he was finally caught when officials at Beaumont Hospital, one of his employers, decided to check a grant proposal he was planning to submit, and discovered that he didn’t have a medical degree.

FranK wILLIaM aBIGnaLe, Jr. Frank William Abignale Jr. grew up to become a cunning, charismatic teenager—a cunning charismatic teenager who then grew up to become one of the most successful con men in U.S history. In 1956, at age sixteen, Frank ran away from home to begin his criminal career. He began with simple credit card scams and the bag scam, which entailed him taking a burlap sack, hanging an ‘Out of Order’ sign by a money postal order bin, and collecting money orders that unwitting citizens gave him. His main source of revenue, however, was check fraud. Over the course of the next five years, he stole 2.5 million dollars, and cashed fraudulent checks in over 26 countries. He was eventually caught by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and sentenced to a maximum-security prison. In his fourth year of solitary confinement, he was approached again by the FBI, and offered a desk job at their Fraud Department for the remainder of his sentence.

Report contributed to by Zach Loren-zini, Jeffrey Ge, Jordan Buschman, Ian Thompson, and Victoria Xiao.

86%of high schoolers believemost students have cheatedat some point

Have you evercheated on a...

Everyone has cheated, whether you admit or deny it. We’ve been told that cheating is “wrong,” our whole lives. Cheating naturally appeals to the human mind. Can you resist its temptation? Cheaters only see the benefits and not the negative outcomes of their behavior. Most people assume that laziness initiates the urge to get a good grade without studying. How-ever, most people aren’t thinking with the mind of a teenager—teenagers actually have a higher level of stress because we have to satisfy the expec-tations placed on our shoulders and fulfill the dream of getting into that Ivy League college. Students become aware of cheating as a method for success and a high GPA. Cheating then, is really a form of stress relief to those who are struggling

to keep up with the class, in terms of understanding. I’m not encouraging anyone to cheat, but it seems like stu-dents in the twenty-first century have a level of stress that teachers and adults have not realized. At UC Berkeley, it was found that cheating students would resort to cheating even outside the classroom when convenient. Students who regu-larly cheat will become a habit. The guilt of cheating will not change the person’s behavior and they will con-tinue as long as they are not caught. Cheating isn’t entirely as bad as we have perceived it to be, because it does allow you to advance academically. However cheating is “bad” because the cheater ends up missing out on the material. Cheating is like a drug that is hard to quit once it becomes a habit. Cheaters, quit before it’s too late because just like cigarettes, it will definitely catch up to you in the future.

Cheating is extremely tempting

The newesT aDDICTIon

Joey WongStaff Writer

I wonder what the answer to number 6 is?

I’m so gladhe knows the answers...

Polled 20 students at SMHS,randomly chosen.Poll taken by Karen Chee.

ProJeCT?

TesT?

Welcome to the Hall of Shame

PoLL

hoMeworK assIGnMenT?

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a&ePage 11SANMATEOHI

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HI PLAYLISTI Can See It In Your FacePretty Lights

Follow (Roxsonik Remix)Crystal Fighters

JerichoHoax

Frontier PsychiatristThe Avalanches

AwesomeThe Bloody Beetroots

We Love Animals Crookers feat. Soulwax & Mixhell

Heat Dies DownKaiser Chiefs

Biscuit Factory EPUppermost

The PartisanLeonard Cohen

Alors On Danse Stromae

THE

Jeremy Gofman

Zach LorenziniStaff Writer

Crystal Castles graces SF

On Friday, March 4, 2011, San Fran-cisco was privileged with the musical genius of Crystal Castles. This electronic duo of Alice Glass and Ethan Kath originated in Toronto, Canada and are famous for their musically thrilling and chaotic stage performances. Alice manages the band’s lyrics and vocals while Ethan DJ’s the fresh beats that make Crystal Castles so enthralling. And when they made a visit to San Francisco’s Warfield on Friday, March 4th, those expectations were most definitely met. The night began at 8pm—the doors opened and the entire building was flooded with people. Slowly but surely, everybody filled in and there was absolutely no room to spare. The general admission standing area was lined with fans, and every balcony seat was filled. Anticipation lingered in the air as time ticked on,

and by the time 9 ‘o clock came around fans grew more than eager. Around 9:15 the show began with opening band Suuns, a small alter-native band from Montreal. Their 30-minute gig included their popular songs “Arena,” “Up Past The Nursery” and “Pie IX.” It was a rapture of noise that put audience members in a trance. However, the mellow hum of their mu-sic eventually became repetitive and tiring, and the crowd was ready for the up-beat roar of Crystal Castles. At 10 pm, after a short set change, Ethan and Alice made their way on stage in an aura of worship. Rocking a broken ankle and arm brace, Alice limped to the front of the stage like the electro-indie goddess that she is. They opened with their originally popular song “Crimewave,” and continued with “Fainting Spells,” “Baptism,” “Courtship Dating,” “Doe Deer,” “Black Panther,” and many more. Even with a broken ankle, Alice

Glass delivered an amazing perfor-mance. Her reckless stage acts are uniquely crazy, which is part of the reason why seeing her live is so excit-ing. She stage dove twice, screaming and throwing herself around spasti-cally, possibly bumping a couple audi-ence members with her bulky leg cast. However, it’s all worth it, for nothing can compare to the Crystal Castles live experience. The show closed with an encore performance of “Untrust Us,” and fans were left satisfied with ringing ears and memorable mosh bruises. So I must say, all the hype about the “Crystal Castles live experience” is true. They’re well worth seeing. Sophomore Cristina Dressel attended and believes that “the best aspect of the night was that the music was so loud. It made it so that I wasn’t able to think of anything else aside from how awesome the music was and how great it made me feel.”

music

A Night ON Olympus

Changing beautyJean FanStaff Writer

They way we dress and the way we look has undergone unprecedented change in the past century. That’s no surprise. The question is, how has our idea of beauty changed? And for the better or for the worse? It’s no secret that the debut of stick-thin models first rose to fame after the “first supermodel,” Twiggy, appeared in magazines in the sixties. Since then, we’ve been rolling along a dangerous road: the United States has developed a hunger for underfed models, who’ve been the face of almost every single publication aimed towards women since Twiggy’s time. And to most of us, anorexic-looking models feel normal. After all, they grace the covers of magazines and are lusted for by thousands of men, young and old. Unfortunately, today’s idea of “beauty” combined with easily acces-sible mass media may have played into the eating disorders of millions and millions of women. In the past couple of years, the public has been pushing back. We’ve (semi-)successfully denounced the stick-thin models of our time, calling for people with healthier dress sizes and healthier habits. Americans aren’t stupid. They’ve made the connection

between undernourished models and underfed teens, most of whom have the most exposure and are most affected by capitalistic propaganda. But maybe we’re behind our times. Maybe we’ve reached this conclusion a little too late. After all, it wasn’t always like this. Think back to the middle ages-- if you can remember it-- skinny wasn’t “in”. By no one’s standards did stick-thin translate into beautiful. The curva-ceous bodies of upper-class women caught men’s attention, not the frail frames of the local peasants. Being curvy meant you could afford nourish-ing food, which was hard back then. What does that say about modern times? We’ve reached this point where we have too much food--15% of American teens are obese-- and to counteract that change, we’ve changed our concept of beauty. I guess we just have to accept that we can’t all be beautiful; superficially, anyways. Our standard for beauty always falls in the realm of being difficult to attain. The only way to truly accept yourself for who you are? Realize that everyone is special in their own way, big or small, fat or ugly. Or you could take the easy route, like me, and burn all of your stupid magazines with size zero models.

BeautY

Russell Zych (9) enjoys the presence of lovely la-dies Annie Livingston (11) and Lucy Duran (12)

Briana Fox (12), Beau Askew and Michaela Campos (12) pose for the camera

Kevin Yeh (11) and Antonia Pietzcker (10)

Natu Mounga (12) and Tuli Fineanganofo

Lauren Hirata (11), Kelli Fujinaga (11), Kristen Leong (11), and Brianna Wong (11) show off their dresses

Aurora KastenA&E Editor Bearcats were transported to the magical Mt. Olympus on Saturday, March 19 for an unforgettable prom night. Held at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, this year’s prom gave everyone a chance to show off their outfits and strut their stuff on the dancefloor. Each and every attendee expressed themselves with creative fashion choices that reflected San Mateo’s wonderful diversity. Some girls chose shorter cocktail length dresses, while others went the traditional route with floor length gowns. Whether choosing a fun and flirty or chic and edgy look, all the girls looked their best. Never ones to disappoint, the guys also brought their

A game. Sophomore Russell Zych challenged boundaries by wearing an Oscar the Grouch tie, while senior Mason Junkin wore a full on pinstriped pimp suit, complete with fedora. Junior Mary Borden loved the balcony where you could look down on everyone dancing. Senior Sara Vidovic agreed, saying “The seats were comfortable and great for taking a break. While everyone agreed that the venue, catering, and fashions were top-notch, there was some disgruntled feelings about the administration’s presence at the dance. “The administration was kinda awkward on the dancefloor, but kudos to Prom Commitee for an awesome prom!” says senior Michaela Campos.

Bay Area’s best BBQ might be closer than you think

Food

The best barbeque outside of the South might be closer than you think. Pacifica, an unlikely location, surpris-ingly offers some of the best barbeque in the Bay Area if not the state. Whether it’s the fog or proximity to the ocean, there is definitely something in the air that makes Gorilla Barbeque one of a kind. Located in an old train car with an un-mistakable bright orange color, Gorilla Barbeque is hard to miss. The joint was even featured on the Food Network’s show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Grillers are hard at work behind the res taurant barbecuing their signature ribs, brisket, and other smoked meats. While there isn’t room to eat in-side, outside there are plenty of pic-nic tables where one can sit and enjoy the food. Gorilla Bar-beque features a number of combo

plates that will satisfy a wide range of appetites. For light eaters, the kids combo ($6.25) has half the portion of meat of a regular plate, with your choice of side, cornbread, and BBQ sauce. The three meat combo ($19.50), which my friends and I ordered on our recent trip, did not skimp on the meat, although the two sides were not quite as generous. While the ribs and pulled pork were satisfying, the real showstopper was the beef brisket, which was tender and juicy. The macaroni and cheese was by far the best side dish, with the coleslaw and beans and rice lacking

much flavor. The cornbread was good but nothing spectacular. The barbeque sauce, often considered by barbeque enthusiasts to be the most important part of the barbeque experience, lived up to my expectations with its vin-egary and acidic tang.

One unique aspect of Gorilla Barbeque that sets it apart from more traditional barbeque joints is their embracing of grilled veggies. While not as good as the meat, the grilled eggplant and zucchini were tasty and would be a passable al-ternative to meat for veg-etarians. In addition to the brisket, pulled pork, and ribs, Gorilla Bar-beque also offers chicken

and hot links.

Gorilla BBQ2145 Coast Highway 1,

Pacifica CA 94044 (650) 359- RIBS

www.gorillaBBQ.com

Juicy, succulent ribs from Gorilla Barbeque in Pacifica

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Aurora KastenA&E Editor

The earliest of this year’s crop of music festivals have just announced their lineups, and it seems this year may bring yet another unforgettable round of festivals. Coachella, which spans from Friday, April 15 to Sunday, April 17, sold out within a week of announcing its spectacular lineup. With genres ranging from hip-hop to alternative rock to folk to electro, Coachella has something for everyone. Hip-hop fans will come to see headliner Kanye West, along with Ms. Lauryn Hill, OFWGKTA, Nas & Damian Marley, and Wiz Khalifa. For those looking to dance the day away under the hot Indio sun, Crystal Castles, Chromeo, The Bloody Beetroots, Duck Sauce, and Cut Copy will be sure to impress. And not for-getting rock which forms the foundation for Coachella, Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Interpol, and Mumford & Sons will also perform. Many fans were shocked at how fast the festival sold out, which sells as many as 10,000 tickets. Those who didn’t man-age to snag passes may turn to Craigslist or other vendors to buy exorbitantly priced tickets from scalpers, though the Coachella website asks customers not to buy tickets from a third party and that anyone trying to sell a paper ticket is not legiti-mate. Hmm, looks like those scalpers may be out of luck if they try to foist their passes on unsuspecting customers. Later on in May over Memorial Day weekend, the Sasquatch Music Festival will take place at the Gorge Amphitheater near the Columbia River in George, Washington. Headliners Death Cab For Cutie, the Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, and Foo Fighters will be featured at the festival which is having its 10th anniversary this year.

Pokemon Black and White is a role-playing game developed by GameFreaks and published by Nintendo. On the cover of Pokemon Black, it features a white pokemon named Reshiram. On the cover of Pokemon White it features a black pokemon name Zekrom. In each game, you can only acquire the legendary Pokemon on the cover. Pokemon Black and White both start out with the player choosing their start pokemon. The starter pokemon are Snivy (Grass type pokemon), Tepig (Fire type pokemon) and Oshawott (Water type pokemon). You also choose your name, gender and the player is in a new region called Unova. Unova is a huge pokemon region modeled after Manhattan Island in New York. In Unova, it indro-duces 156 brand new species of Pokemon. You will not be able to capture pokemon from past generations until the player finishes the game completely. Now there are 649 total Pokemon that exist, and this is the largest variety of Pokemon so far. On your quest to being the Pokemon Master, the player will encounter many obstacles. There is a new organization called Team Plasma that wants to free Pokemon from being used by humans. Also along the way the player will run into their best friends, a girl called Bianca and a boy called Cheren. They will both challenge you and are essentially your rivals. Also a person named N will also challenge you along the way who has ties with Team Plasma. There are many new features in Pokemon Black and White such as Triple and Rotation battles. In Triple battle, the player will need strategy because not all the pokemon’s attack will hit depending on the Pokemon’s position. Rotation Battle is all about skill and luck because you can keep switching your pokemon out and back in. There are also some 3D elements during the game showing big skyscrapers while going into a city. There are also camerga angles that change while you move around. Other features include a day and night cycle, it will introduce a seasonal cycle. For example it will there will be snow on the ground for winter and different color leaves on the ground in Au-tumn. There are a few pokemon, such as Deerling and Sawsbuck that will change their appearance as the seasons change during the game.

Spring music festivals announce lineups

Aurora KastenA&E Editor

Crystal Castles’ engaging live performance stuns crowds with reckless and brash energy

Jeffrey GeStaff Writer

Pokemon fans catch ‘em all with new gamePictured above, Noah Washington (11) and Janet

Davis (12) take a break from dancing

SANMATEOHI Friday, March 25, 2011

NeWs

the morning, during the Round Robin Competition, the group stage. How-ever, they were very close to making it to the afternoon Elimination Rounds, and their final opponent won, barely. SMHS had been leading in points until the final question. In the Round Robin Competition, the different teams face off in a fast-paced, question-answering match. “It’s like Jeopardy for science ques-tions,” said Katherine Hsu, a club co-president. Some released questions from pre-vious years’ Science Bowls include, “What is the most common name of the protein that synthesizes DNA?”, “From data primarily on the motions

of what planet did Kepler propose that planets follow elliptical orbits?”, and “What is the most common term for the direct addition of water to an alkene to make an alcohol?” (The answers are DNA polymerase, Mars, and hydration, respectively.) “It was very exciting, we used actual SLAC lecture halls and facilities,” said Katherine. “It was eye-opening.” “Before this I was only interested in math and science,” said Eric Liu, another club member. “It made me interested in other things.” This year’s Science Bowl was won by Homestead High School, in Cuper-tino. However, Katherine is hopeful for the Science Club. “We’ll win next year,” she confidently announced.

them. Mr. Gin’s takeovers led his classes to make ice cream out of milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Another interesting class was Mr. Rainaldi’s, whose takeovers led his class in a very competitive game of Mario Dance Dance Revolution. Some seniors even went with a more

Seniors leave their markeducational approach for their classes, such as Ms. Stanley’s takeovers, who led the class in a game of Spanish charades. Senior Takeover Day this year was a huge success and it left the students and seniors feeling excited about their classes.

STD, from page 1

SMHS experiments at the Science Bowl

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11b-3367 © 2011 The College Board

How expensive is Prom?Rachael WanStaff Writer Prom. The “most important day” of high school; the day students spend hours preparing for; the day students remember for the rest of their lives. March 18 was a very memorable and meaningful day for many junior and senior students of San Mateo High School. This year’s prom was held at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. About 250 students attended this mag-nificent event. The theme this year was a night on Mount Olympus. Every year thousands of students around the bBay Area and all over the country spend hundreds of dollars on dresses, tuxedos, limousines, and flowers for a night they’ll never forget. The five hours of loud music and flashing lights are not only a once in a lifetime experience but also a once in a lifetime chance for students to completely drain their wallets. This year at San Mateo High School, the ticket costs began at $70 and rose every week. The night started off with a meal, usually dinner. This meal could cost anywhere from $5 to $50. Some stu-dents, like senior Ann Zeng, preferred to eat at a friend’s place to cut costs. Other students liked to go out to a nice restaurant and began their prom night there. According to yelp.com, some classy and nice places to eat on prom night were Aquerello and The House, both in San Francisco. The price for a

couples and friends arrived at their destination. Upon arrival, the students marveled at each other’s outfits and stood in line to get Breathalyzed. Un-derage drinking is prohibited by both the school and the law, therefore stu-dents with alcohol in their breath were punished and not allowed to enter. Once inside, students could either start dancing or line up to get their pictures taken by Prestige. Those pic-tures cost a range of different prices, depending on the size and amount of pictures desired. After pictures were taken, students went to the coat check area, run by underclassmen. Then, students had the option to walk around the ballroom, get something to eat, or start dancing. At prom this year, a range of bever-ages and snacks were available, from Shirley Temples to chocolate covered strawberries. Five hours later, prom was over. But the excitement wasn’t over quite yet. Many students had after parties at friends’ houses, where they continued to enjoy the excitement of their prom night. This one in a lifetime event gave students a night they would never forget, but also made a serious dent in their wallets. On average, students spend anywhere from $100-$700 on this one night.

dinner course at Aquerello was enough money to buy a few animals for a vil-lage in Africa. After dinner, it was time to prepare for the rest of the night. According to a poll taken, girls spend from $0 to $300 on dresses for this special event. That alone is enough to feed a third world family for at least a month. Some girls not only bought very nice dresses, but some also went to the extra extent of getting their hair and makeup done by professionals at salons. Some girls like Angela Giambastiani did their own. While the girls dressed up in fancy dresses, the boys dressed up in nice tuxedoes and suits. In the effort to match with their date, some boys wore the same color tie or shirt as the dress of their date. These tuxes usually cost around $80 to $100. Along with the beautiful dresses and handsome suits, girls bought bouton-nieres, a small flower to pin on her date’s suit pocket. Boys bought their dates corsages, a group of small flow-ers to wrap around his date’s wrist. After getting prepared for the night, girls and boys piled into party-buses and limos to be on their way to the best night of their life. Party buses cost approximately $85-$200 per hour and limousines cost around $150-$250 per hour. However, the cost was usually split between however many people were traveling in it, so each person ended up paying at least $50 for transportation. The party began when the prom

Prom StatisticsProm StatisticsDress $0-$300Tuxedo $50-$100Tickets $75+Corsage $10-$30Boutonnière $10-$15Dinner $0-$100

BOUTONNIÈRE

SCIENCE BOWL, from page 1

Friday, March 25, 2011 SANMATEOHINeWs

Page 13

FRENCH, from page 1French customs shared with bearcats

Innocent 13-year old Angel Sterling was hit in the back of the head by a brick when she was walking home one March day. Jesse Woodson, the accused in this case, is being put on trial and it is the defense attorney’s job to prove Woodson innocent, whereas the Prosecution attorneys intend to do the very opposite. This was the task put before the San Mateo High Mock Trial team this year, which practiced law well enough to make it to the semifinals where they were finally overwhelmed by the top teams, Menlo and Hillsdale High. San Mateo High School has had a mock trial team for more than 11 years. Ms. Leap was the teacher advi-sor, and Ms. Fergusson took over the position a few years back. The team had three attorney coaches—Defense attorney, Mara Feiger; assistant DA, Sara Boxer; and attorney Jennifer Sike—that dedicated their time to helping the team succeed. The numerous mock trial teams of the schools in America have been reading and rereading the above case to prove their own side’s point. San Mateo High School’s own mock trial team competed against other teams in the

county for the past few weeks to reach the goal of getting into semi-finals. The different schools San Ma-teo went against were Jefferson, El Camino, Serra, South City, Mills, and Terra Nova. Out of the seven schools that took part in these competitions for this district, San Mateo and South City have come up on top. These two teams continued to the semi-finals of the competition. At the semi-finals, the mock trial teams of San Mateo, Hillsdale, Menlo, and South City competed for a spot in the state competitions. All four teams did their best and put on a wonder-ful performance. Unfortunately, San Mateo’s mock trial team did not make it to the state competitions. Hillsdale and Menlo will be moving on to state and maybe even the national competi-tions. Members of the team are: senior, Ann Zeng; junior, Justin Shing, Elise Lim, and Christine Shen; sophomores, Amin Nilchian, Liza Leykina, Diane Liu, Talia Gurevich, Michelle Rag-sac, Marie Angle, Jeremy Gofman, Rachael Wan, and Kathrin Neyzberg; freshmen, Akshaya Natarajan, Megha Bindal, Emma King, Juhie Desai, and Chandini Ramesh.

Mock Trial scores a successful season

The mock trial team reenacted trials throughout the season.

Winter guard wins a streakGUARD, from page 1

To motivate students for the STAR tests coming up later in March, SMHS stuff has created a contest known as Mateo Madness, where tutorials battle it out to see who can get the best test scores. In Mateo Madness, every tutorial is given a quiz on Monday and their results are calculated during the week. By the end of the week, the results will be determined and posted all over the school. If tutorials won, they would continue to advance in the bracket or if they lost, they would be kicked out of the

bracket, but continue to take the quiz-zes to try to win against other tutorials that got kicked out as well. While this quizzing takes the premise of a competition, its main purpose is to help the students prepare for the STAR test and see where their biggest weaknesses in test taking are. Many students think that the testing that Mateo Madness is giving us is helpful. Junior Jason Pallas said, “It’s helpful because it prepares us for a test we don’t take often.” The STAR being a test taken only once a year can easily allow you to forget your test-taking

The madness is taking overVikash MorarNews Editor

they would like to host students. It doesn’t matter what level French you’re in, as long as you’re interested you can have the opportunity to host. Then Ms. Bunch sets you up with a students based on your shared inter-ests, and you start a correspondence with them. You learn about them and get to know them before they come to San Mateo. I hosted a student, named Margaux. Margaux was the same age as me, and all I knew about her before I met her was that she liked to shop and she liked The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl. All of us who were hosting waited for the students to arrive at SFO, some nervously holding flowers, chocolate, or brightly decorated signs with their student’s name’s on it. The majority of the French students were girls. There were only five guys on the trip. They arrived and instantly crowded around us, tired but excited.

Margaux told me they were excited because they wanted to see an Ameri-can high school. She described her high school to me, and it sounds a lot different from San Mateo. She said “It’s a lot smaller, there are no posters or banners, and the kids aren’t nearly as friendly or outgoing.”Margaux, Louise, and Alexia were the French students I talked to the most, and they taught me about French slang, French fashion, and French music. However, it turns out that the French like American media and pop culture better than their own. They could sing popular American songs and recite lines from recent movies with ease, but when I asked them to name a good French movie, they couldn’t think of one.Having a French student meant that you had to go out on excursions. One of the excursions was to the Golden Gate Bride, which I had never been

on March 4 at Wilcox High School, where guard took the a first place trophy over two other schools: Del Mar and Fremont, percussion winning third place against 4 other schools: American, Santa Cruz, Mission San Jose, and Del Mar. The next day, we arose early once again to attend the Pageantry on Parade Competition at Fairfield High. Just last weekend, San Mateo’s Winter guard took on there first ever WGI (Winter Guard International) show hosted at Logan High School in

Union City; however they competed against schools far above them and didn’t come out as highly ranked as hoped. They tied with another school ranked a division above them in a dif-ferent circuit though. “It was a great experience even if we didn’t come in at the top. I would definitely say that we should try the circuit again and continue branching out,” Ellen Spartz, guard captain, commented. This weekend, guard and percussion are competing at the Foothill Com-petition, back in their usual circuit:

NCBA (Northern California Band Association). Now that the normally large competition has dramatically shrunk in size, rivalry has decreased as well, so that is good for us. On the weekend of April 1, guard and percussion are traveling down to Loomis, California near Roseville for Championships and are going to play and spin their hearts out all weekend. A great start to spring break, as some may look at it. Good Luck and don’t forget to smile!

Freshmen explore the latest technologyJasmine BalsaraStaff Writer If freshmen noticed on March 4 that a lot of kids were missing from class, it was because Ms. Knott and Mr. Scheller took about 135 kids to view Body Worlds, an exhibition showing plasticized bodies, in the San Jose Tech Museum. When we arrived at the museum, we stood outside for about 10 minutes watching tennis-sized balls traveling through a maze. As soon as we went inside, there were bodies displayed in cases or with out in various positions with boards next to them explain-

i n g w h a t muscles are used and why i t was put in the po-sition. There were body pa r t s such as: lungs, heart, brain, ap-pendix, and so on, in glass cases with an explana-tion of what the body part does.Many students had different takes on the exhibit, “I think it was awesome,

but it was really gross cause I was so close to bodies that weren’t in cases,” says Hana Alverina.“I though it was interesting, but I wish it had more graphic images,” says Charlie Kruse.“I though it was very interesting and fascinating,” says freshman Claire

Gerber. “In the exhibits there were no strings keep-

ing the bodies up, they Freshman Allison Dong designs

a program on one of the com-puters in the Tech Museum.

to even tough I’ve lived near San Francisco for the majority of my life. All students hosting had to wake up at the obscene hour of 8 o’clock Sunday morning to make it to the excursion, which started at 9:30. Basically the idea was to walk half way across the Golden Gate Bridge, and then walk back. Sounds kind of dumb right? Well, even so I felt lucky to go, be-cause it was one of those experiences I never would have done on my own. We also had to plan “American” things for them to do. From going shopping with them in Union Square, taking them to your classes at school or having them try sushi for the first time in Japantown, it was always interesting seeing something through someone else’s eyes. It makes things look new, or what you used to consider to be boring is actually fun.

Rachael WanStaff Writer

stayed balanced by sheer force of human anatomy.” After almost one and a half to two hours of viewing Body Worlds, many stu-dents left the exhibit to walk around the Tech Museum. The museum had many exhibits such as: a computer which takes your picture and draws it out in different colors, a gigantic globe which when you touch a place shows you a picture of the place and so on. The experience was amazing and all the students were pleased that they went.

strategies. Mateo Madness helps you remember them while competing for prizes for your tutorial. The four finalists in Mateo Mad-ness are Ms. Venuska’s tutorial, Mr. Ortega’s tutorial, Mr. Tribuzi’s tuto-rial, and Mr. Appleman’s tutorial. Ms. Venuska’s tutorial won the freshman bracket, Mr. Ortega’s won the sopho-more bracket, Mr. Tribuzi’s won the junior bracket, and Mr. Appleman’s won the senior bracket. Be sure to check out the results from the rally on March 28tg to find out who won this exciting competition!

French students Louise Peytavin, Adrien Dechamboux, and Mar-gaux Chikirou stand in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

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2743 S El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA 94403|650.312.8300|www.TTLearning.com|[email protected]

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We accept summer classes enrol lment now! For class schedule, vis i t www.TTLearning.com

Friday, March 25, 2010 SANMATEOHIPage 14

Election

Marcello Palazzo and Nick WetherbeeSpirit Commissioners

James ZongusASB President

SPECIAL2011-2012 Associated Student Body

ThE commissionEr cornErVisions for next year?N: Though its going to be tough without a PAC, I have a feeling next year the student body is really going to step up and help us make it a year nobody will forget. And since Mateo has the best students in the district, that spirit will hopefully be visible at every game, rally, and friday

of the year.M: So many ideas, it’s nearly unfathomable. I wanna make sure that spirit never dies at Mateo, and bring back the vitality I felt my freshman year with Zac and Neal (past commissioners). Oh, and bring back the PAW!

What does spirit mean to YoU?N: Spirit is about more than just wearing orange and black. As someone who transferred into

this school before my freshman year, I went to the orientation at Aragon. Even though some people were wearing school colors, they just didn’t have the enthusiasm or passion that San

Mateo is so lucky to foster. Spirit is about loving your school and defending everything that makes it the unique place it is.M: Our supernatural emotions and pride for Mateo and orange and black that are eons beyond Burlingame.

Favorite movie?

Favorite Food?

N: Get Him to the Greek, Superbad, The Sting, and Rambo II edited into one movie.M: Tie between Clockwork Orange and E.T.

N: Either animal fries, or a medium-rare flank steak with caramelized onions. NO WAIT. It is a medium-rare flank steak covered in animal fries. That is DEFINITELY worth a heart attack.M: In n Out with Sir Nicholas Wetherbee

How do you feel about your win?

I’m very excited and I’m very lucky!

Goals for the school?

To create new events and enhance traditional ones

Prior experience?Two years of Renais-sance leadership. This

year I was Green Commissioner in

the Leadership class.

Anything Disney,banner making, and Morgan Babbs.

Creative, passionate, and innovative.

Special Talents?

Three adjectives to describe yourself?

class coUncils

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tLisa TatoianSecretary

Dayna Sakatavice president

Lucy Dai-Hesecretary

Vivian Chuangactivities

Kat FadrilanSabrina Leesite council

Allison DongTreasurer

Britney Wangpublicity

Megha Bindalvice president

Eric ChuangMiranda Liusite council

Hannah Middlekauffpublicity

Jessica Fuactivities

Amin Nilchiantreasurer

Patricia Wengsecretary

Laura Ikedavice president

Juan Afanador Steffan Vogessite council

Sydney Swordspublicity

Tayler TitusActivities

Kellie Fujinagatreasurer

Natalia OsipchukVice President

Monica OtaSecretary

Karen WuTreasurer

Emma PhillipsPublicity

Karen Chee and Marie AngleUASB Officers

Sydnie MargalloDance Commissioner

Friday, March 25, 2011 SANMATEOHISPORTS

Page 15

Matt ErlickSports Editor

Bryan OkadaStaff Writer

Softball ready to take league by storm The girls softball team hit the fields, looking to win this year. They came off of a successful last year going 15-5 and 10-2 in the season. This year they look to repeat, if not, improve their success. Last year they had a batting average of .319and on base percentage of .398, fielding percentage of .894, and a win-loss percentage of .789. Last year, as a sophomore on varsity, Bailey Sutton had a batting average of .586 and had three homeruns to go along with it. This year the team started off well, winning their first three games against Lowell, Mercy, and Sacred Heart Cathedral. As of March 14, 2011 Tayler Titus and Brianna Wong lead their team in batting percentage with a impressive .667 batting average. Next, freshman Carly Bauman comes in second on the team with a .600 bat-ting average. The team has many goals for the 2010-2011 season and they would

definitely like to make CCS since they did last year. But this time, they would definitely like to go further than last year. “I think our team goal for this year is to get first in ocean division and make it to CCS,” said junior Karyn Jacobs. “Our team goal for this year would to be make it to CCS,” said junior Shannon Wisher. “To make it to CCS and just do good this year,” said Bauman. “To make CCS,” said Titus, a ju-nior. “I think our team goal for this year is definitely to make CCS again since we made it last year, and to get further than we did last year because that would be a great accomplishment

for us,” said senior and co-captain

Meghan Hughes. This year, the varsity girls softball team will have a freshman pulled up. It is very rare to be pulled up as a fresh-man and even as a sophomore. Not many people have done it before, but it definitely gives the player a chance to get better and grow as a player and get great experience to excel against

their competition in other schools that they play. This year Bauman got moved up as a freshman and she is a great all around contrib-utor to the team, as she is skilled enough to play short stop, pitch-er, and outfield, She bats seventh in the lineup. “I feel really good about making v a r s i t y a s a freshman be-

cause I have played softball pretty much all my life ever since I was five years old, so all the hard work payed off,” said Bauman. The girls have their own individual goals to improve as a player and make the season fun for them, while winning at the same time. “I want to become faster as a pitcher and to be able to

World Champs look to defend World Series title San Francisco Giants’ General Man-ager Brian Sabean sat in his office at team headquarters, the morning after the championship winning parade. Although Sabean, and other Giants’ personnel were ecstatic about the 2010 season with a fairy tale ending, it was time to look towards 2011, and The difficult task of repeating as champi-ons was already in high gear. Although the Giants’ off-season was not as eventful as some other teams in pro baseball, the importance cannot be under looked. The front office entered the off-season with the intention of keeping the championship-winning team in tact, and adding a few minor pieces to improve the team. Unfor-tunately, the off-season hit a speed bump right away when Shortstop Juan Uribe left the Bay Area for a three-year contract in Los Angeles to play for the rival Dodgers. But Sabean reacted quickly, and signed former American League MVP Miguel Tejada to fill the void at Shortstop. “This is the year you’re not going to see me in the house in October. I’m going to be in San Francisco,” said Tejada to the SF Chronicle, who is excited to be on a potential playoff team. Aside from the addition of Tejada, San Francisco also had the task of re-signing many players from the World

Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum throws off the mound in a Spring Training game in Scottsdale, Arizona

Series-winning team. The list included First Basemen Aubrey Huff, and play-off hero, outfielder Cody Ross. Sabean and company proved to be successful in this task, as nearly everyone is back. World Series MVP Edgar Renteria is one exception, as he turned down the Giants offer, and decided to head east and play for the Cincinnati Reds. Also, third basemen/ outfielder Mark DeRosa is back and healthy, after be-ing out all last year with an injured wrist. He will provide great depth this year, as he can play pretty much anywhere on the field. With the off-season over and done, the Giants reported to Spring Training in February, in Scottsdale, Arizona. As players began to report, eyes were on third basemen Pablo Sandoval, who was called out by Giants personnel to lose weight and get in shape after a disappointing 2010 season. Sandoval did not disappoint, as he reported to camp 38 pounds lighter and in great shape. Most of the starting lineup was penciled in prior to Spring Training, except for the wide-open battle for left field. The likely candidates are Pat Burrell who started down the stretch last year, and DeRosa. It is very likely that the two could end up in a platoon, unless top prospect Brandon Belt makes the squad out of camp. Belt, 22, a fifth round pick out of Texas in 2009, dominated minor league pitch-ing last year, and may be ready for the

big show. But some more seasoning in AAA is likely, but we should see Belt in San Francisco by the time the weather heats up. As for the prospects of this season, the San Francisco Giants are a legiti-mate threat to repeat as World Cham-pions. With the young pitching staff improving everyday, and a full year of up and coming star Buster Posey behind the dish, good times are ahead for baseball fans in San Francisco in the near, and far future. Winning the National League West will tough as usual, with the Colorado Rockies look-ing to be their toughest competition. But all teams in the division have a good shot. I believe the Giants will capture the NL West Crown, and then it will all come down to a fierce battle between the Philadelphia Phillies, (who have a talented pitching staff of their own) to reach the World Series once again. If they reach the World Series, I believe they will repeat as Champions. But the road to the Series will prove to be tough, but all fans are ready for the fun ride. As of March 23, the San Francisco Giants’ Spring Training record is 18 and 8, and they stand atop the Cactus League Standings. The Giants open up the regular season on March 31, in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. Their home opener is April 8, against the St. Louis Cardinals.

move up as a third baseman,” said Bauman. “I want to be able to hit better this season and improve my average from last year,” said Wicsher. “I want to become a better all around player and I really want to beat Wood-side,” said Jacobs. “My individual goal for this year is to have a overall good season and last season since next year I will be leav-ing,” said Hughes. The captains this year for the softball varsity team are Frencie Cohen and Hughes. It is their responsibility to look out for their team and act as a coach to pump up their players and help them out while they are out there on the field. “To be able to lead our team to our goal is to make sure that we incourage each other to do better and if we do loose, than to look into the future with a better mindset and keep positive,” said Hughes. We wish the Mateo softball team the best of luck this season!

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Junior Bailey Sutton at bat, ready to launch the ball

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Track&Field is off to the racesPerry LiuStaff writer

Track and field is a sport that every-one is looking forward to. This highly anticipated sport kicked off this 2011 spring season. With over 70 people participating, it’s not something you would want to miss! Come join us this season and support our track teams! This year’s teams are expected to be exceptional. Although we lost some seniors, our new freshmen have high potential. As Co-Captain Tarryn O’Mahoney ac-curately puts it, “Our team is more of a new t e a m , w i t h many talented incoming fresh-men. There’s a lot more people than last year and I expect our teams to do really well this year.” T a r r y n O’Mahoney is a sophomore as a San Mateo Bearcat and Co-Captain of the Girls Track and Field team. Other play-e r s s u c h a s Michael Asun-cion agree with O’Mahoney. He believes that we are going to be a good team despite the lack of seniors. He says, “We’re a pretty stacked. We lost a lot of seniors and gained a ton of freshmen, but we’re still going to be awesome.” Michael Asuncion, another sopho-more this year is on the boy’s track and field team. Being a sophomore he also has experience last year and can compare it to this year’s season. Obviously, our freshmen are really something. Around 30 of the 70 people on track are freshmen. That’s a lot of people! 4 years from now you can expect our freshmen to be seniors and really start to win matches. Yuji Miwa, a freshman this year at San Mateo, tells us how running as a

freshman is important for becoming faster. He says, “I like to run, I can increase my time by constantly running since freshman year so I can dominate and be hella fast senior year.” Yuji is a typical freshman at San Mateo and many other people are just like him. Wanting to get faster and becoming the best that they can be in the future is a natural goal for many freshmen here. Jesse Wong, Captain of the Boys Track and Field teams, is already a se-

nior this year. He explains to us how stick-ing to a sport is important for becoming the best that you can be. “You have to try your hard-est all the time. It’s important to stick with it and not to give up.” Being a Cap-tain, Jesse has run with San M a t e o e v e r since. Many freshmen look up to him and hope they can be just as good the i r sen ior year. Just like how Yuji wants to get better at

running. The teams have meets every Thurs-day for the District. They also have Sunday meets outside the district to further improve their times. We have already had a couple of meets and have done really well in each of them. The competition runs high and many people compete. “There are many heats for each event. Even if you beat your heat, there’s always another person in another heat that might beat you,” says Tarryn O’Mahoney when asked about how the meets went. Although there are a lot of heats, it’s still no match for the amount of spirit our players have and we’re definitely going to do well this season.

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Junior Lesley Mok runs on the track

ing fifth in the Pacific-10 standings. Junior Jorge Gutierrez was selected to the All Pac-10 first team. They were selected to play in the postseason NIT tourna-ment. Seeded fourth, the Golden Bears were eliminated in the second round by Colorado.

Stanford Basketball The Stanford Cardinal finished the

2011 campaign with a record of 15 and 16, placing eighth in the Pac-10. Jeremy Green was selected to the All Pac-10 first team. With

the whole roster expected to return next year, the future looks bright for the Cardinal.

WarriorsAs of March 23, the Golden State War-riors record stands at 30 and 41. They are currently in third place in the Pacific Division standings. They are nine games out of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. The ad-dition of forward Al Thonrton has provided depth off the bench. The Warriors need to catch fire to make the playoffs, and guard Monta Ellis, who is averaging 24.2 points per game, must continue to perform to have a chance.

Cal Basketball The Cal Bears finished their season with a record of 17 and 14, finish-

an agreement by their set deadline, there is now a lockout, which puts the 2011-2012 season in jeopardy. This hurts the Niners as they needed this off-season to fill many holes on their team. However, there will still be an NFL Draft, and most analysts project the 49ers to select LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson in the first round.

Raiders The Oakland Raiders are in a very similar situation to their Bay Area rival 49ers. The lockout has caused much stress in all team offices, espe-

cially teams looking to improve like Oakland. The Raiders do not pick in the first round, but will look to select

a defensive back with their second round pick.

A’s The Oakland Athletics are also wrapping up Cactus League play, and are ready to compete for the American League West crown. As of

March 16, their Spring Training record was 15 and 5. The A’s open the season on April 1, at home against the

Seattle Mariners. Dallas Braden or Trevor Cahill will likely get the open-ing day start.

49ers New Head Coach Jim Harbaugh has not had the prototypical off-season this far, and it’s likely to continue. With the NFL and the Players’ Union not coming to

Giants The San Francisco Giants are wrapping up Cactus League play, and are ready to start the season. They open up the season against the Los Angles Dodgers on March 31. Closer Brian Wilson’s beard is better than ever, and he is ready, along with the rest of the squad to defend their title. (See main article for more info)

SANMATEOHI Friday, March 25, 2011Page 16

SportsBaseball is back

Winter ‘11 - Begins January 22Summer ‘11 - Begins May 28

Yes, badminton is a sportJean FanStaff Writer

There’s nothing like the feeling you get after losing your first badminton match of the season. Personally, I feel sick to my stomach, which, by the lat-ter half of the game, has usually tied itself into a knot. Losing a match fills you with a burning desire to improve your game, to train harder than you ever have before. It forces you to take the game seriously, because if you won’t, there are others that will. And they will destroy you. Okay, it’s not that dramatic. The point is, while sports like badminton aren’t taken seriously by some high school students, there are others who do get rather fired up about the game. As a freshman, I would head to bad-minton games, armed with my trusty racket, “Wilson”, as dubbed by fellow teammates. While walking through the halls, friends would say, “Oh, you’re going to badminton match?” Their ever-so-little sneers and suppressed giggles tipped me off: since when had going to badminton games justify skip-ping school? While on the outside I maintained what a challenging sport it is—and trust me, it’s difficult—a little part of me started believing them. Last year, for the first half of the sea-son at least, I was an exhibition player; only ladder games counted towards a school’s total score for a match. And as a freshman, badminton matches were just fun excursions to scoot out

of class an hour early and check out potentially cute guys at rival schools. (There were none.) It was only until the latter half of the season that I made my way up to ladder. My first “real” match, I was beaten. Hard. That knot in my stomach twisted and untwisted, and for the rest of the season, I trained harder than before. While the training paid off and I did improve my skills, I had reached a point where rallying the birdie back and forth for a couple hours a day wasn’t working. Improving had be-come so hard. Last season, I learned that badminton is a sport that is easily picked up by amateurs. This season, I learned that it is one thing to be able to play the sport, yet quite another to be able to play it well. The initial satisfaction of being able to grasp a game so easily mistakenly leads some to look down on the sport. They think, “Wow, if I’m able to hit the birdie over the net my first time play-ing [it], it must be a joke.” That logic doesn’t surprise me anymore. The only caveat? In reality, badminton is full of techniques and footwork that make the beating your opponent—good ones, anyways—extremely difficult. Being an amateur is easy-peasy, but being able to call yourself even a mediocre badminton player takes years and years of hardcore training. The easiest way to gain a new ap-preciation for the sport? Play someone difficult. They will destroy you.

Baseball seniors Rj Asuncion, Chris Zografos, and Matt Erlick

8 Things You Should Know AboutBaseball

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We play seven inning games.

Nine or 10 players play at a time for each team, mattering if there is a desig-nated hitter or not.

Pitchers work out with special arm excercise bands

everyday to lengthen arm

muscles

We wear metal spikes because they are

easier to run in on dirt and grass

Sunflower seeds and bubble gum are the snacks to have dur-

ing the game

Your uniform better be dirty by the end

of the game.

Pitchers ice their arm and shoulder after

every game they pitch.

BBCOR certified bats are the only bats allowed for use.

-Morgan Babbs, Editor-in-chief

8 ThingS

March 2011

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Transcript of March 2011