Opinion - Woodbridge High School

Opinion
All hail the mayor
T
his was supposed to be a satirical
column. Except the thing with satirical columns is that they have to be
ironic, sarcastic and humorous simultaneously. These are three things Irvine’s
new mayor, Steven Choi, whom I interviewed last Wednesday at the Kumon
Academy in Irvine, is not.
At first glance, he comes off as a
friendly next door neighbor. I found him
in his office, blending nicely into the
background among the many seven-tonine-year-olds who attend Kumon. He
has eyes that crinkle when he smiles, and
an easy smile with a soft voice. Choi,
however, does not talk like a next door
neighbor. He talks like an experienced
politician, answering questions with
long-winded replies.
A past educator (he taught at many
local universities including USC and
UCI), Choi did what many great teachers do - assign homework. When I asked
him what goals he wanted to achieve as
mayor, he got to talking about the Great
Park, which led him to talking about
Governor Jerry Brown, which led him
to the Orange County Regulatory Board,
which Brown abolished. My homework
is to research the Regulatory Board. But
like any high school senior, I will naturally forget about the assignment until
the day it's due (never).
After my 90-minute-long interview
with Choi, I learned that Irvine is in the
good hands of a determined, visionary
man with strong passion for the Great
Park. And the seven-year-olds, of course,
are in great hands.
P.S. Happy birthday, Mrs. Averill!
Warm regards,
Hoyeon Lee
December 6, 2012
13
Passage of Proposition 30
 The newly passed
proposition provides
needed relief for struggling
schools
by Hoyeon Lee
Editor-in-Chief
I
n the general election last month, California citizens voted not only for the president but also for a very noble cause: education. 55 percent of California voters voted
overwhelmingly for Proposition 30, which
temporarily raises sales tax and income tax
(for those earning over $250,000) by 0.25
percent to fund public education.
This is a victory for the students and staff
on campus. This year, because there are no
furlough days, staff will receive more payment for the days they are teaching on campus.
Students will also be able to use more re-
sources (for example, toners) because there
will be no budget freeze like the one that occurred last year.
“This year, we will be able to purchase
more supplies for students,” Assistant Principal Belinda Averill said. “We were worried that we couldn’t buy any more toner for
students after we were projected to run out
in late November.”
Irvine Unified Superintendent Terry Walker released a statement last
week saying Prop 30 saved $2.2
million in cuts in the Irvine Unified School District alone, eliminating any furlough days this
year. In addition, the proposition prevents any additional cuts in
funding for this school year.
According to the Los Angeles Times, immediately
after the Prop. 30 victory,
UC officials dropped consideration of a possible 20
percent, or $2,400, mid-year
Cartoon by Andrea Kim
tuition hike for all students.
The trade-off for
no furlough days
this year? More
resources, better
education,
and
cheaper college
tuition. This is
truly a victory
for education.
The legend of the man in red
 Unwrapping the mystery
behind Santa Claus and his
influence on our lives
by Joshua Vu
Contributing Writer
W
e, as an American nation, associate
the holiday season with those cliché
cartoon Christmas movies that we either
love or loathe.
The memory portrayed in the living room
scenes of old Christmas movies with the
bear skin rugs and stockings on the fireplace
to now has long since been replaced with
children of the present cooped up in the corner farthest from the fireplace, spellbound
by the latest iPhone. The magical belief in
the omnipresence of Santa Claus at this time
of year has regrettably been replaced.
The original man in red was St. Nicholas,
a Greek Bishop from the city of Myra who
was the inspiration of the legend of Santa
Claus. As the tale goes, St. Nick secretly
gave gifts to the poor. St. Nicholas placed
coins in the shoes that people left. His generosity is what set the foundation for celebrating generosity towards one another.
We used to revere Santa Claus for his
hard work ethic. Santa fulfilled his legacy
with his team of reindeer and elves, all in
one night. We put forth the effort to maintain good behavior for 364 days of the year
for the day when Santa gave us presents for
free. Now, there is not much to entice children to behave with no coal to serve naughty
children sweet justice.
Cartoon by Andrea Kim
Street Talk: What is the strangest gift you have ever received?
by Christine Chang, Contributing Writer
“A toothless dog,” freshman Jinno Vicencio
said.
“A dead lizard,” sophomore Tristan Cold said.
“A pig statue,” junior
Kayla Beckett said.
“Vocabulary flash
cards,” senior Booshie
Weddington said.
14
Opinion
December 6, 2012
Editorial: Students should limit printing at school
How to ruin a story
S
Cartoon by Andrea Kim
S
chool is only about three months in and
the media center’s computers are already being hoarded by students frantically
trying to print homework assignments or
notes for class.
Since last year when the library put a limit on how many pages each student can print
at one time, it was expected that the number
of pages being printed would decrease. That
way, the library could save money on ink
and paper. However, just the opposite happened. Surprisingly, even with the10 page
limit, printing activity actually spiked dramatically over the past few months.
The librarians work hard to make sure
everything in the media center is function-
ing properly for us students. When the library is closed or the printer breaks from too
much printing or not enough ink, we become
frustrated when we could have saved a little
time and anxiety by simply clicking a button on our computers at home. It seems we
tend to get a little lazy and take this privilege
for granted. Especially now that almost everything is done on a computer, it is almost
impossible to not own a printer at home.
Although the printer is available to all
students, people tend to take advantage of
the perk of printing. The printer in the library is amazing when your computer spontaniously runs out of ink, but is often used to
save on personal ink expenditures.
While many of us have a history of printing over 10 pages at a time, it is time to start
being more responsible and print our own
papers once in a while. Recently, the passage
of Proposition 30 will allow more funds to
be allocated for school supplies next year.
If the proposition had not passed, spending
would have frozen this year and would have
experienced a severe reduction next year.
Furthermore, with the passage of the Irvine
Measure BB, the Irvine City Council will be
able to send excess funds from the budget
towards education. This too will significantly help the greater picture of being able to
fund school supplies in the Irvine Unified
School District.
GOLDEN ARROW STAFF
STAFF WRITERS
FRONT PAGE EDITOR
Annie Ishimoto
IN-DEPTH EDITOR
Patricia Serpa
NEWS EDITOR
Naomi Menezes
OPINION EDITOR
Kristyanne Crosby
FEATURES EDITOR
Hannah Hartstein
SPORTS EDITOR
Regina Zeng
Achint Singh
Anna Hong
Audrey Fong
Caitlin Kealey
Christian Blandin
Christine Chang
Clare Aguilar
Darius Chriss
Disha Palimar
Isabel Ma
John Paul Sayre
Joshua Vu
Katie Mitchell
Kavya Rangarajan
Mohammad Baseer
Samiha Ali
Sierra Christopher
Zachary Porterfield
ADVISER
Brianna Rapp
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF A&E EDITOR
Hoyeon Lee
Hana Brannigan
BACK PAGE EDITOR
Caitlyn Nguyen
PHOTO EDITORS
Jiyoo Chang
Andrea Kim
Tiffany Yang
MANAGING EDITOR
Rachel Eichelberger
AD MANAGERS
Hannah Kim
Ellie Young
ometimes I read the last chapter of a book
first. For some reason people think that
it's terrible to read the ending first. Personally, I think it adds to the book. Maybe I start
at the end because I hate not knowing what’s
going to happen. I suppose it is cheating a bit,
but I like knowing who the villain in a story is
before the main character. It makes me feel so
much smarter. Take that, Nancy Drew.
It’s terrible when your favorite character
all of a sudden dies from some tragic death,
or when the person you thought was good
the whole time turns out to be the villain, it’s
so disappointing. Reading the end first saves
time.
I am not the only one who appreciates
knowing the end. Shakespeare puts the end
right on the first page . He tells you up front
that Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is going to fail. In “The Catcher in the Rye,” J.D.
Salinger shows Holden in a mental recovery
facility right from the start. Some authors use
dramatic irony as a specific technique, but I
just happen to add it to all the books I read.
Sometimes I think it would be nice to skip
to the end in real life. What if in January I
could see ahead to what next December looks
like. Life would be so much easier if I could
see where I am a year from now.
xoxo,
Kristyanne Crosby
MISSION STATEMENT
TO SERVE AS A PUBLIC FORUM FOR
INFORMATION AND TO OBJECTIVELY
ENLIGHTEN AND ENTERTAIN THE
WARRIOR COMMUNITY
Register for Spring ROP classes now!
See new spring classes at www.coastlinerop.net
Pick a class if you are interested and register
with Mrs. Dimitruk in counseling
or call at (949) 936-7821
or email at [email protected]
Holocaust Art and Writing Contest
Winter Concert for Choir
Next workshop: Tomorrow at lunch G103
(Mrs. Briner’s room)
Submit entry by: Friday January 11th, 2013
to Mrs. Briner
Dec. 13 and Dec. 14
At 7:00 p.m. in theater
Awards Ceremony: Chapman University on Friday,
March 8, 2013
Holiday Concert for Orchestra
For more details visit the website at
http://www.chapman.edu/research-and-institutions/holocaust-education/rodgers-center/holocaust-art-and-writingcontest/current-contest.aspx
Dec. 19 and Dec. 20
and Band
At 7:00 p.m. in theater