In This Issue - Palisades Charter High School

A product of Pali High’s journalism class
Volume 55 Issue 2 December 2014
In This Issue
THE RETURN OF AUTO SHOP
See page 4
THE RIGHT TO DIE
See page 8
Staff
Mary Anastasi, Elizabeth Goodman,
Katie Scholl
Editors-in-Chief
Katrina Biller
News Editor
News 3
Opinion 6
Cassidy Putnam
Opinion Editor
Elizabeth Guterson
Sports Editor
Features 14
Sports 18
Sophie Halavi
Entertainment Editor
Omaira Noori
Features Editor
Chloe Hekmat
Online Editor
Tideline Policy Statement
Alex Liu, Kevin Liu
Graphic Editors
Sarah Walton-Burrell
Photography Editor
Michael Abber
Assignment Editor
Paige Hornbaker
Managing Editor
Lisa Saxon
Faculty Advisor
Entertainment 22
Published regularly throughout the school year, the student magazine of Palisades Charter High School (the Tideline) is a public forum for student expression, with its student editorial board making
all decisions concerning its contents. Unsigned editorials express
the views of the majority of the editorial board.
Letters to the editor are welcomed and will be published as space
allows. Letters must be signed, although the staff may withhold
the name on request. The staff reserves the right to edit letters for
grammar and clarity, and all letters are subject to laws governing
obscenity, libel and disruption of the school process, as are all
contents of the paper.
Opinions expressed in letters are not necessarily those of the staff,
nor should any opinion expressed in a public forum be construed
as the opinion or policy of the administration, unless so attributed.
Front Cover Photo by Paige Hornbaker
Back Cover Photo by Violet Saxon
Palisades Charter HS
15777 Bowdoin Street
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
News and Trends
Virtual Academy Opening in 2015
By Clara Epstein
T
Tideline Staff Writer
he Virtual Academy, the school’s online distance learning
program, is currently accepting applications for the 2015
spring and fall semesters, the program coordinator announced.
“With an unwavering commitment to our students’ achievement, our Pali educators and staff ensure all students have the opportunity to achieve their academic goals and maximize their potential,” said Randy Tenansnow, an English teacher at the school and
one of the program’s two coordinators.
The Virtual Academy serves as an alternative to the conventional high school curriculum. Participants will still be required to
meet deadlines, due dates and all California high school standards
in order to receive a diploma, Tenansnow said.
Pali students of the Virtual Academy will work independently
of the classroom but will also have regular conferences with their
instructors.
“This program provides highly responsible Pali High students
with a progressive alternative to the traditional classroom,” Tenansnow said.
Students Cross Federal Lines
on Club Event Day
By Katrina Biller
Tideline News Editor
T
he school’s annual club event day occurred on Nov. 14, drawing crowds of students to the quad.
The community service and interest clubs taking part in
the event set up booths filled with food to sell in the interest of raising funds for their respective projects.
Despite the money earned by the students, the items being sold
caused strife. Clubs were required to comply with strict food regulations ordered by the California Department of Education (CDE). A
full list of the rules governing the sale of various foods is available
on cde.ca.gov.
Many club members disregarded the laws governing food sales
and sold items containing high amounts of sugar, including soda,
cookies and pizza.
“It’s very disappointing because I’m not dealing with middle
school or elementary school students,” Cafeteria Manager Cecilia
Ramirez said. “This isn’t about me. This is about government regulations.”
Dean Russell Howard has taken control of the situation involving those who sold the banned items.
December Playlist
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John
Coast of Carolina - Telekensis
Is This It - The Strokes
Habits - Tove Lo
Blame - Calvin Harris Ft. John Newman
Intro - The xx
Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear
Lasso - Phoenix
White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
Carol of the Bells - Pentatonix
Snow - Harry Nilsson
NEWS DECEMBER 2014
3
The Return of Auto Shop
From left to right: 1977 Buick Electra Limited,
1968 Mustang Convertible, 1976 Cadillac Eldorado
Opposite page: 1966 Mustang Coupe, donated by Reed Saxon
Photos Courtesy of Paige Hornbaker
With the help of Director of Operations David Riccardi, students will
once again be able to restore classic cars.
S
By Paige Hornbaker
Managing Editor
ome may hold the opinion that teenagers do not
know much about cars, and they are right.
“Two in three teens don’t know how to change
a flat tire, check or change the oil or jumpstart a
battery,” a survey conducted by the U.S. News website reported. “They are also unable to identify basic car parts or
perform emergency roadside repairs.”
From the ’70s to the ’90s, most teens knew how to do all
of the aforementioned things; learning from parents, classes or experience. Today, young people have few chances to
learn these skills in the same traditional manner.
With the return of Auto Shop to the school, students
will be able able to learn everything about all types of different classic cars, and they will have the opportunity to
take part in a unique class that meets the University of
California’s A-G entrance requirements.
Presented as a hands-on class, students cannot be afraid
to get a little dirty.
When Director of Operations Dave Riccardi first came
4
DECEMBER 2014 NEWS
to Pali in 2012, he was given a tour of the school and immediately took note of the room that is now the auto shop,
J-100, which had been converted into a storage room several years earlier when the school turned the shops into
traditional classrooms.
“I walked into that place, and I could smell the old
grease and oil,” he said. Upon seeing the old room, Riccardi made the decision to revitalize the old auto shop room.
He completely cleaned out the room, painted it, got
tables and brought in the four cars that currently reside
there. The dramatic transformation of the room is captured
in a video that may be viewed online on Youtube under the
search, Dewey’s Garage Introduction.
Pali’s first Auto Shop was established in 1961 when
the school opened and was cut from the curriculum in the
early ’80s due to a general lack of interest; students wanted
to focus more on their AP classes and getting into college.
As cars today advance technologically, they grow to
have relatively few differences between brands.
When a driver pulls up to a stoplight, there may be a
black car, a blue car or maybe even a red car, but most people would not be able to recognize the car’s manufacturer,
model or year. Manufacturers used to make cars different
each year, so people could clearly see the change.
Now the interest in car maintenance is resurfacing,
perhaps because teens want to get away from the hours
of homework and intense studying that academic classes
require, and instead
learn a new trade. Due to the
skyrocketing prices
of college tuition,
some students weigh
career options that do
not require a college
degree.
After Pali closed the original Auto Shop, all the tools
were sent to Venice High School and Hamilton High
School. Consequently, Pali’s newly revived Auto Shop is
currently low on resources but high in interest, drive, passion and excitement, Riccardi stated. A little outside help
is required to raise funding to purchase necessary tools.
“Auto Shop is great,” sophomore Isaiah Knight said.
“Without the funding we’ve managed to get lots of cars,
and tool donations have been generous, but we are far short
of the minimum we would need to operate like Samo or
Venice.”
The shop currently houses four cars that were donated
by generous Pali alumni, parents and Reed Saxon, the husband of Pali media teacher Lisa Saxon. These automobiles
consist of a 1966 Mustang coupe, a 1968 Mustang convertible, a 1976 Chevrolet El Dorado convertible and a 1986
Chevy Blazer.
Riccardi says students in the class will restore, show
and then ultimately sell the cars in order to produce revenue needed to purchase additional automobiles.
Knight said what he wants to do is “run a team and fix
electrical problems in a multitude of cars.”
Historically, Auto Shop has been an important part of
many high school programs, including Pali’s. Riccardi had
nothing but praise for Russell Kitagawa, who retired as
Pali’s Auto Shop teacher several years ago.
“He changed people’s lives, kids’ lives,” Riccardi said
of Kitagawa. “A lot of people that I have met that had taken shop here actually said if it wasn’t for him, they never
would have gone on in life. … They weren’t straight-A
students. They weren’t the kind of [students] that could
take the AP courses. And what they did was they worked
[
with their hands and learned a lot about not just automotive, but teamwork, and team building, and team-building
concepts. That’s what Kitagawa taught, and that’s kind of
what I’m doing now.”
Being able to work with the vintage cars in the shop
is a true honor for everyone who will enroll in the class,
Riccardi said.
“When you look at some of the classic muscle cars,
they are works of art,” he said.
For
many
people, classic
cars rekindle old
memories
and
make new ones.
“When you
get in the car, you become one with the car, you feel the
road,” Riccardi said. “It’s just a wonderful feeling.”
“I walked into that place, and I
could smell the old grease and oil.”
-Director of Operations Dave Riccardi
]
NEWS DECEMBER 2014
5
Growing up between a hyperconservative small town and a liberal big city
gave me a special perspective on prejudice and how the world we’re
raised in defines how we see each other
By A. N.
Student Submission
Illustrations and Title by Cassidy Putnam
I didn’t always live in LA, not even California. My
entire life was packed in boxes in 2012 when I moved
here from a small Arizona town. That said, it’s important
to note that I carried much more sinister baggage with
me. You see, where I come from, things are a bit old fashioned. Boys play sports, and girls wear their letterman
jackets while cheering in the bleachers. Daylight hours
are meant to be spent outside and Sundays are spent with
the Lord. All that cute Leave it to Beaver stuff, right?
Wrong. Beneath the sprinkles and pastel-colored frosting,
much of the cake is burnt.
In my hometown, there is little to no tolerance for
anything or anyone different, and stereotypes are viewed
as fact. In my pink “gender-correct” crib, I was spoonfed ignorance and fear along with my soft cereal, and I
believed every word of it. I grew up believing that Asians
had no peripheral vision, African Americans were responsible for the crime in our country, Mexicans had
stolen our jobs and Democrats wanted to take away our
freedom. It wasn’t until I got out of my hometown that
I realized that the root of all these savagely prejudiced
beliefs was fear.
I’ve found that prejudice is born out of ignorance and
a lack of desire to understand. Fed by propaganda, narrow-mindedness perpetuates the idea that anyone who is
different potentially poses a dangerous threat to your way
of life. When people feel threatened and believe that they
are backed up against a wall, like a frightened animal,
they emotionally lash out.
When I was in first grade, there was an African
American girl in my class, and she was the only one in
my school. Her presence collectively caused panic among
my classmates’ parents. They told us to avoid talking to
and looking at her. In hindsight, I want to throw up, but
back then it only felt like a chore my mom was asking
me to do.
Weeks into school, the six-year old girl was totally
6 DECEMBER 2014 OPINION
ostracized. If she sat down in a seat, we all got up and
sat away from her. If she went on the swings, we refused
to push her, and if she used a crayon, none of us would
touch it. When she switched out of our school, it seemed
all the parents were pleased. Now, whenever I reflect on
this time, I can’t help but dread the special place in Hell
waiting for me for what we put that poor girl through. All
I had to do was be nice to her, not even be her friend, just
offer her some shred of humanity. Alas, I was too much
a part of the crowd to consider how desperately she must
have needed some hint of decency.
Around the time of the infamous shooting at Sandy
Hook Elementary School, I had already moved to LA but
was back in Arizona visiting my family. During this visit
my father suggested that we go to a shooting range for
some family bonding time. I couldn’t help but ask how
he could even stand to be around guns after so many children had been tragically -- and senselessly -- killed by a
gunman. My father seemed puzzled by my reaction and
even angered when I questioned whether or not we should
even have guns after what had happened. He believed that
my questions were attacks against his freedom, and that
my trepidation about owning a gun somehow made me
un-American.
There is also a part of me that I felt that I had to hide.
From the time I was about four, I knew I also liked girls.
Back then, I had a huge crush on this girl, Courtney*,
and lucky me, she reciprocated those feelings. We pushed
each other on the swings, put our mats next to each others’ and held hands during nap time. Puppy stuff.
That all ended one day when my mom had to pick me
up for a doctor’s appointment, and Courtney ran up to me
as I was walking out the door and laid a big kiss on me to
say goodbye. Next thing I knew, I felt myself rising off
the ground as my mother plucked me up into her arms and
ran. She set me back down on my feet in the parking lot
and shook me by my tiny shoulders while she whispered
in the most quiet, hostile voice you’ve ever heard. “Girls
don’t do that with other girls,” she said in an effort to
convince me. “It’s wrong. Don’t you ever do that again. I
swear to G-d that you’ll regret it.”
Those words made me dissolve into tears. Hot, heavy
tears staining my overalls with an unfamiliar awful emotion, the emotion that I now know well as shame. This
shame would be the cause for my silence for more than a
decade.
For many years I was certain that my feelings for girls
would go away if I prayed hard enough, or, at the least I
would have to take the truth to my grave. I had been taught
that what I felt for my own gender was gross, unnatural
and just wrong. I’d also heard rumours of boys with “particular afflictions” like mine. I had heard that they were
mocked by their peers, beaten by strangers and disowned
by their families. While I love my family and my former
neighbors, I don’t put them above any of that.
My freedom from small-town suffocation came in the
form of a plane ticket. I knew that leaving my hometown
would be the hardest decision of my life. Leaving my family and friends once had been unthinkable, but in order to
change a life that was going nowhere fast, I had to go.
The thing about my sleepy hometown is that it’s really
easy to stay, like a quicksand trap of comfort where the
people never truly wake up. Money goes a long way, the
weather is always nice and there is not a lot of conflict.
Nothing exciting or scary ever happens. It’s a cookie-cutter life.
It’s for some, but it’s definitely not for me. I felt like
my time there wasn’t my own. That I was living a life that
many before me had the displeasure of living. My greatest
fear was to die of boredom. My life was like an old library
book that many had checked out before me. There was
nothing new or exciting or significant about it. It was just
old and worn, and cliched. So I picked up my belongings
and moved. During the plane ride to LA, I realized that
my life had now been divided into BEFORE and AFTER.
It wasn’t until I started meeting and talking to people
of other races that I realized that everything I was been
taught previously about race was bullshit. I was talking
to people of different races and religions to discover that
they were, in fact, people too. That everything I’d been
taught was wrong. Nothing is what I was told it would be.
Instead, I was forced to look in the mirror and define my
own values.
Learning that I had been wrong for so long sparked an
almost existential crisis within me. What had I done? What
else was I wrong about? Will the people I had wronged
ever forgive me? Can I forgive myself?
I did forgive myself, because I had to.
I lived in a world of ignorance and believed in a sense
of cultural superiority that simply doesn’t exist. I can tell
people firsthand what it is like to believe in those preju-
dices with the utmost conviction. I can also confess that I
have a harder time relating to my friends and family back
home because their values prevent me from respecting
them in the way that I used to. I am thankful to the G-d
that I pray to that I now realize a once inconceivable truth.
I am grateful that I am not one of many treading water in
the sea of ignorance.
Try to imagine what it was like to be me, for my whole
life to flip like it did. It’s like for your entire life you’ve
been told there are only three colors and because of this,
you see the world in those colors and those colors alone.
Then one day you discover that you were wrong, that there
is another color. Now everything looks different, and because of this, nothing can ever be the same. Can you imagine it?
Having lived in two radically different places and
having been exposed to polar opposite perspectives, I feel
as though I can identify the true clash in values. It’s not
racism, or misogyny, or even the weather. It’s empathy
and apathy. Growing up in a place where everyone was
incredibly close, I felt a strong kinship to the people in my
community. We, for the most part, felt free to open up to
each other. We knew that talking out our struggles and collaborating with one another were the healthiest and most
productive ways to deal with change and inner conflict.
My life in LA was slow and solitary. I missed the days
of knowing all my neighbors’ grandmothers personally. I
missed being able to run from my house, past my school,
past the movie theater and past the dried-out pond to my
best friend’s house. I remember being able to camp out
there whenever things felt weird and all wrong and I just
wanted to talk about it. Skype was the poor cousin to our
late night sleepovers, eating ice cream under her bed. I
missed the days when we would crawl under the wire
fence next to her house, to her neighbors’ yard so we could
steal chicks from the coop. We’d run like the wind, afraid
of dogs and shotguns, with our new, yellow, fluffy friends
under our arms. Screaming and laughing with triumph, we
eventually made our way back to her room. Those times
are gone, and I feel their absence all the way down to my
toes.
When I moved to LA, I experienced a culture of apathy. Here, seemingly everyone internalizes his or her pain
and believes their struggles to be so unique that no one can
possibly relate. Many turn to drugs and alcohol. They care
not for others because they are too consumed feeling sorry
for themselves. Growing up where I did was a blessing in a
way. It taught me that everyone must deal with some kind
of baggage. And, because of these universal struggles,
nine out of 10 times…
You will find that everyone is going through the same
things.
*Name has been changed
OPINION DECEMBER 2014
7
RIGHT
TO
DIE
The pros and cons of euthanasia.
Courtesty of morguefile
By Emma Engler and Erika Siao
D
Tideline Staff Writers
o those who have no hope of recovery from a fatal disease have the right to decide how and when to end their life?
Over the past couple of decades, the morality and legality of euthanasia has been a prevalent cause for contention
among U.S. media.
According to the BBC, Euthanasia is “the termination of a very sick person’s life in order to relieve them of their
suffering.”
The term “euthanasia” comes from the Greek term “euthanatos,” which means “easy death.” Currently, euthanasia is legal
in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana.
Euthanasia can either be carried out actively, when a doctor issues a patient a means for death, such as a pill, or passively,
when a doctor refrains from performing necessary measures to keep a dying patient alive. This method of death can either be
voluntary – by a patient’s own request – or involuntary– when a patient is too ill, young or brain-damaged to make the decision, in which case their family members make it for them.
Cases of euthanasia have raised a myriad of questions and have spurred widespread debate between those who support and
those who condone the practice.
Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in January, drew extensive media
attention when she chose to die with dignity. Determined to end her life on her own terms, Maynard moved from California,
where euthanasia is not legal, to Oregon, where it is legal.
“Because the rest of my body is young and healthy, I am likely to physically hang on for a long time even though cancer
is eating my mind,” Maynard told CNN. “I probably would have suffered in hospice care for weeks or even months. And my
family would have had to watch that. I did not want this nightmare scenario for my family, so I started researching death with
dignity.”
After gaining citizenship in Oregon, Maynard was issued a pill that makes one unconscious upon taking it, with an estimated time of 25 minutes between ingestion and death. She took her life on Nov. 1, the day following her husband’s birthday.
On the other hand, in 1999, an avid supporter of euthanasia named Dr. Jack Kevorkian was arrested and convicted of
second-degree murder for his administration of euthanasia to patients. Nicknamed “Dr. Death,” Kevorkian aided the deaths of
130 individuals from 1990 to 1998. However, 60 percent of his patients who requested euthanasia were not terminally ill, and
19 of his patients died within 24 hours of their first appointment. Upon his jail sentence, Kevorkian stated, “I have no regrets,
none whatsoever.”
8
DECEMBER 2014 OPINION
FOR EUTHANASIA
AGAINST EUTHANASIA
To prohibit the practice of euthanasia is to prohibit the practice
of freedom.
Dissenters of euthanasia will claim that a person does not
have the right to choose when and how they will die, but it
should absolutely be in the hands of an individual to make such
a decision.
“I believe [in] Euthanasia because it’s in the declaration
[that] we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” senior Caroline Herrera said. “So we have the right to
[decide whether to] live or not.”
Euthanasia allows a patient to die with dignity. If someone
has been diagnosed with an incurable disease and does not wish
to suffer from its symptoms, he or she should have the right to
choose death.
To condone the practice of euthanasia is to condone the practice of murder.
Supporters of euthanasia claim that a person has the right
to choose when it is time for them to die. But it is not the responsibility of people to decide when they die. People cannot
be trusted to make choices of this magnitude, especially when
they are under extreme amounts of stress and are mentally
incapacitated.
Under no circumstances should a person be allowed to
take such permanent action to ‘resolve’ issues that could be
fixed by other reasonable solutions. And yes, a reasonable
solution is to let one’s mortal life take its course and for it to
be terminated in its own time and by natural causes.
Promoting euthanasia suggests that there are situations in
which it is okay to kill your brother or best friend or wife
or, most importantly, yourself. Promoting euthanasia suggests
that there is a loophole to suicide and, in effect, a loophole
to murder.
Euthanasia, as illustrated by Dr. Kevorkian, is an easy out
for doctors.
In defense of his conviction, Dr. Kevorkian stated, “My
intent was to carry out my duty as a doctor, to end their suffering. Unfortunately, that entailed, in their cases, ending of
the life.”
On the contrary to Kevorkian’s views, a doctor’s mission
is to ease a person’s suffering, not to terminate his or her life
because he or she has given up. It is a doctor’s mission to ease
a person out of life at their natural pace. Life is short for everyone, and both the terminally ill and the healthy must cling
onto it for as long as possible.
There are no greater sins than to kill your kin and to kill
yourself. Those who support euthanasia for a family member
are not interested in the well-being of their loved one, but
in their own selfish need to be void of responsibility for this
person. They pretend as though death is necessary, when it is
just a coin to relieve themselves of their burden. The concept
of euthanasia was invented to make the guilty feel virtuous,
when in reality, they are cold-blooded murderers.
To prohibit the practice of
euthanasia is to prohibit the
practice of freedom.
“If they’re suffering and there’s no point in living because
their entire life is just pain, what kind of life is that?” junior
Arianna Niciforos said.
Those who suffer from terminal illnesses already have little
control over their fate. At the very least, they have a right to the
decision of whether or not to keep their life.
“If someone in pain chooses to go peacefully on their own
terms, it could feel like they have at least some control in a
lifestyle in which they had not had much control over before,”
sophomore Timothy Nordahl said.
In certain cases, when patients are not able to make this
consequential choice, the responsibility should naturally be
passed on to their family members, who are closest to them.
Even in such cases, euthanasia cannot be considered murder in
any way because it is performed only when it is believed to be
best for the patient.
“There is a large moral difference between killing someone
and letting them die,” junior Rita Carbajal said.
Even when pets are suffering, the action seen as the kindest
and most humane is to put them down. Suffering patients who
are incapable of making decisions on their own due to illness,
age or mental capacity are analogous to suffering animals because in both cases, their fates are decided by their loved ones.
“I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great
pain should have the right to choose to end their lives and those
that help them should be free from prosecution,” said Stephen
Hawking, PhD., in an interview with the BBC in 2013. “We
don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?”
Furthermore, matters such as life and death are personal
and individual, thus they should not be subject to governmental
regulation through laws.
According to an article from the BBC, “Death is a private
matter and if there is no harm to others, the state and other
people have no right to interfere.”
Legalizing euthanasia will not encourage individuals to end
their lives. Instead, it will simply provide them and their loved
ones with a choice— a choice that should be theirs and theirs
alone.
To condone the practice of
euthanasia is to condone the
practice of murder.
A husband does not have the right to end the life of his
wife on life support. Once her air supply is cut off, she will regret having given this stranger the right to determine her fate.
After she dies, he will continue his life and tell his friends and
future lovers that it was a necessary evil, while the deceased
woman lies six feet under. This man is a murderer. The right
to terminate this woman’s life was never his.
Supporting euthanasia supports suicide and implies that
there is a cap to the suffering a single person can bear alive.
For a race that has suffered since its inception, the concept of
euthanasia is ghastly and distasteful. If euthanasia is legalized, those who are suicidally depressed will seek it instead
of trying to find happiness.
Euthanasia is a loathsome practice. Death is never the answer.
OPINION DECEMBER 2014
9
Bury the
Baggage:
Why our internal
problems affect our
external interactions
By Michael Abber
Photo Illustration by Sarah Walton-Burrell
14 DECEMBER 2014 NEWS
T
he other day as I was walking along the
upstairs G-building hallway, I took an
embarrassing tumble one only sees on
Disney Channel shows. My books flew everywhere, my knees were planted into the concrete,
my arms laid splattered out and my butt proudly
pointed upward in a Mt. Everest-like fashion.
As I began to look up, I readied myself to see
my peers laughing and making the Hanes label of
my boxers their snap-story, but they weren’t. All I
saw were students so engrossed in their personal
troubles that they had no time to notice me in this
perverse prayer
pose. They were
all busy recovering from their
own internal embarrassing falls.
It’s ironically
isolating to be in
a school of 2,800plus people. I recently realized that
the source of this is not our differences; rather, it is our
personal problems. Sometimes my internal struggles
reach a magnitude where they sever me from society,
making it difficult for me to express empathy about a
friend’s issues because I’m busy tending to my own
problem. And when I want to listen to my friend’s
troubles and sincerely help them, I wind up suppressing my own feelings to a point where I reach an
unhealthy state of denial with my personal conflicts.
Now, being in the heat of my junior year and
flooded with work and stress, it’s never been clearer
to me that personal struggles severely affect the
way we interact with and empathize with others.
Perhaps the oddest of school supplies that I pack is a shovel. I tend to visualize my school assignments and stresses
physically as a pile of muddy, disgusting dirt.
That
yet-to-be
started
project due tomorrow? Toss it in the mud!
That unfavorable grade on the math test? A
new addition to the metaphorical cluster of sadness.
As the day marches forward, I need to shovel
that pile around with me everywhere, to each of
my classes and then to home at the end of the day.
I get sweaty from all the hard labor.
My arms grow weak. I soon become exhausted and need to stop. But I can’t stop. My
planet is spinning so fast it’s hard to keep up.
To me, sharing personal troubles with a friend
is the equivalent of shoveling my pile of stress
alongside them. I may not give the friend my full
attention, favoring putting more effort into my own
cluster of dirt. Or my friend may be quick to say his
or her pile is larger than mine, therefore I should
leave my own mess to help them. No matter what
the situation, both of us is focused on ourselves.
But does that make us selfish? No, it makes
us human. But our lack of empathy toward
each other is leading to an unhealthy society.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau always advocated for their transcendentalist
beliefs, centered on self-reliance and individuality. Although I resent these free thinkers for adding
more information to the AP U.S. History and AP
English Language curriculum, maybe their tenets
are important for students to learn. Not just because
of the individualism and all of that boring stuff that
makes my eyes roll so far back into their sockets that
now one of them is lazy,
but because a self-reliant
style really is the only way
to face school these days.
In an ideal world, we can
resolve our own problems
and seek each other’s company simply as a means of
enjoyment, not advisory.
With all of my stresses, my mind has started to
scatter, spreading itself thin with all of my concerns
and worries. The last few months have just felt like
one long school night, and my brain simply can’t
take it anymore. Sometimes all I want in my day
is to freeze time so I can resolve one of my issues
before another pops up in front of me. But, I’m a
hot mess. My life is like a crazy glitter-glue drawing done by a five
year old: it makes no
sense, with no method to the madness.
So here I
am, shoveling a
pile much larger
than my scrawny
arms can handle.
I’ve found myself unable to spend time listening to certain
people’s issues when they are not as relevant as
other matters. I will always be there for someone who is going through a difficult time, but I’m
too busy to hear about how “tired” everyone is.
It’s created an extreme communication barrier.
I’m slowly turning into Carl Fredricksen, the
little old man from “Up.” I have no time to empathize with others’ pointless problems and am constantly trying to plan an escape to South America
(or anyplace reachable by balloon that doesn’t assign nightly textbook homework). I’ve found that
my friends and I no longer accomplish anything in
conversation. We’re all speaking at the same time,
about different things, with different feelings about
everything. We’re basically a teenage version of
“The View,” but we don’t have Whoopi to break
the tension. Our issues prevent us from properly
exchanging words and feelings. No one is resonat-
“A lot of people come
to school complaining
about being tired, but
almost everyone is
tired.”
-Junior Kate Chao
ing with each other anymore, and this is making school an unhealthy and isolating place to be.
Perhaps if we all could look up from our
figurative piles of mud for once and metaphorically put down the shovel, we could finally
progress and become a positive culture. However, the constant shoveling has made us jaded.
Nowadays, eyes never meet and needs are never
met. We need to resolve our personal issues in order to effectively communicate with each other.
This has affected the day-to-day lives of many
students on campus who have noticed how we’ve all
gotten a little prickly with the pressures of pubescence.
“It’s hard to sympathize with trivial problems when you have something much bigger going on,” junior Kate Chao said. “A lot of people
come to school complaining about how tired
they are, but almost everyone is tired. It’s not
something that warrants a complaint or pity.”
“Well people sometimes have the nasty habit
of complaining and gossiping about everything, so
much the fact that I have started to believe that if they
were not complaining about something they would
have no purpose on this planet and simply disintegrate into the air surrounding them,” senior Tighe
Skehan said. “I empathize with people who have
real problems, not people who complain non-stop.”
“I know from experience that going through
extremely rough times and situations makes it harder to understand why someone else’s problems may
seem significant
to them. I used to
wish I had other
people’s
problems, because they
seemed so fixable
or simple to me,”
junior Taylor Kaltman said. “My
family always says
that if you throw all your problems in a pile with everyone else’s, you’d always want to take yours back.”
Others have seen the effects of the
isolation caused by personal problems.
“Many humans thrive in group settings,
but when the togetherness of being in a group is
taken away, the group, as well as the individual
people, can crumble. Some people don’t rely
on that, but a lot of youths especially need support from their peers and without that they can
easily feel isolated,” senior Natalie Carney said.
I suppose the solution lies with the same object
causing the problem, the shovel. We all must pick
up our shovels, and dig a hole. All that’s left to do is
place our mess of mud into this hole. By burying my
pile of issues and worries, I’m effectively and happily able to help my friend do the same thing. And
only after this is done can we finally join together to
make a progressive and positive school community.
“I empathize with people
who have real problems,
not people who complain
non stop.”
-Senior Tighe Skehan
OPINION DECEMBER 2014 11
To Vax or Not to Vax
A growing movement challenges the traditional safeguard of vaccination and
causes conflict between personal liberty and the public’s safety.
By William C. Higgins and Yuko Nakano
Tideline Staff Writers
I
n the early months of 2014, 129 people spread over 13 different states
suffered from cases of measles. This
was the largest outbreak in the first
four months of any year since 1996 and
was largely attributed to the anti-vaccination movement, whose members have
been nicknamed the anti-vaxxers. These
activists are primarily based in liberal
communities in California, New York and
Washington, where the outbreak mainly
took place.
The anti-vaccination movement has
gained ground in recent years with a core
of devoted proponents. The movement
has drawn criticism from health care officials and policy critics who are quick
to cite potential public health dangers.
Meanwhile, the anti-vax defenders claim
that it is their right to decide what they put
in their bodies. The fight is a contentious
one, with each side closing themselves off
to the other’s opinion.
12
DECEMBER 2014 OPINION
Illustrations By Daisy Jones
Pro-Vaccination
Inoculation may have originated as
early as 3,000 years ago, in certain parts
of Asia. By the 1850s, schools began to
require vaccinations to prevent common
disease from spreading. This requirement
is based off the concept of a “herd immunity.” When more than 90 percent of a
given population gets vaccinated against a
certain disease, herd immunity is created.
This prevents everyone from contracting
a disease, even those who do not have access to or cannot afford a vaccination. So
when a disproportionate number of people
decide not to vaccinate themselves or their
children, herd immunity is not achieved.
This was exactly the issue in the recent measles outbreak.
“When you don’t get a vaccine, you’re
not only putting yourself at risk but also
others at risk,” sophomore Jackie Au
said. Her parents, in addition to the thousands of others with children at LAUSD
schools, had her vaccinated regardless of
school policy.
A good number of people in Los Angeles or New York are able to afford a
$100 vaccination that can be hard to obtain in developing countries.
“People all over the world would kill
to get vaccines, and we’re just here giving
them up,” Au said.
Those who claim that vaccinations
cause autism or other harmful “side effects” are spewing false information.
These beliefs even have an adverse effect
on national safety, as shown by the many
outbreaks caused by the anti-vaccination
movement in the United States during the
last few decades. Most of the so-called
“leaders” of the anti-vaccination movement, including celebrities Jenny McCarthy, Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen,
have no scientific or medical background.
Yet they voice their oppositions to vaccines and, in doing so, somehow try to
elevate themselves above the 90 percent
of people who get vaccinated to ensure the safety
of everyone.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Trump
said, “When you take a little baby that weighs like
12 pounds into a doctor’s office and they pump
them with many, many simultaneous vaccinations
— I’m all for vaccinations, but I think when you
add all of these vaccinations together and then two
months later the baby is so different then lots of
different things have happened.”
Clearly, Trump and other anti-vaccination
supporting celebrities do not have authority to
speak of vaccinations’ effects. Besides their clear
lack of knowledge on the matter, those who claim
to be against vaccinations because of big pharma
make money off of their own “treatments.” At an
Autism One conference in Chicago, Anat Baniel
promoted her own “innovative method” to huge
groups of anti-vaccination supporters.
However, as the anti-vaccination movement
sweeps large cities of America, there are still some
members on the pro-vaccination side, those who
see the logic and reasoning behind vaccinations.
“I don’t want [people who are not vaccinated]
to get diseases that were practically eradicated because of vaccines until people stopped doing it,”
junior Dante Moreno said.
According to ProCon.org, most vaccine-preventable disease are not completely eradicated. As
long as 90 percent of the population is vaccinated
against it, the disease will not pose a problem.
However, as shown by the 2014 measles outbreak
in Los Angeles and New York, the 2010 whooping cough outbreak, the 2013 measles outbreak in
Texas, and other outbreaks throughout the country, the anti-vaccination movement poses a huge
problem for the well-being of U.S. citizens.
Anti-Vaccination
The reasoning behind the anti-vaccination
movement falls into several categories, including
conflicts with philosophical or religious beliefs as
well as medical concerns.
Religious beliefs have come into conflict
with vaccination over the past few centuries. In
the 1700s, Christian priests decried the use of inoculation to curb smallpox outbreaks, saying that
it went against God’s will. Individual religious
leaders would continue to crop up over the next
few centuries urging against vaccination. While
it has not preached anti-vaccination, the Vatican
Curia— that is, the group of Church officials who
lead the Catholic Church, the world’s largest religion — states that it disapproves of the rubella
vaccine in particular, due to its development in
embryonic research.
Organizations such as schools that re-
quire vaccination before entry usually will provide
a waiver for those who claim religious conflicts with
vaccinating. However, a small but growing number
of non-religious anti-vaxxers are claiming a religious
conflict to avoid complying with rules regarding vaccinations. These individuals fall into the medical concerns category. Their worries come in various forms.
For instance, some people say they are not getting
vaccinations because doing so would weaken the immune systems and prevent it from developing naturally.
“The use of vaccinations creates a reliance on
an outside substance to do what an immune system
should be doing on its own,” junior Ruby Homan
said. “The need for vaccinations has gone up with the
weakening of said immune systems and the fear of
contracting any illness that could be potentially fatal.”
Meanwhile, others worry about the ingredients
involved in the making of vaccines and their possible side effects. These concerns are echoed through
online blogs of anxious parents. However, the most
popular objection by far is the autism controversy.
This belief is shared by several celebrities,
including Jenny McCarthy and her former husband,
Jim Carrey, and is promoted by health blogs such as
the Healthy Home Economist, claims that vaccines
may cause autism in children. The belief, while popular, is primarily based on a now discredited paper by
the former British surgeon, Andrew Wakefield.
McCarthy uses anecdotal evidence to support her
position, saying that her son developed autism as a
result of being vaccinated. The evidence is admittedly shaky, a fact that is acknowledged by the movement’s supporters. Toni Braxton, a singer whose son
has autism, writes in her memoir, “Maybe it’s just a
coincidence that after my son’s first MMR [vaccination], I began to notice changes in him.”
However this skepticism is rare among anti-vaxxers, many of whom are closed-minded to any evidence
contradicting their beliefs, an attitude that can come
off as paranoid fear.
Billy Corgan, the frontman of The Smashing
Pumpkins, vented his distrust of vaccinations on his
spiritual website, Everything From Here To There. In
the post, he wrote that H1N1, usually called swine
flu, was a man-made disease, created for the purpose
of causing mass terror, and that he would not receive
the H1N1 vaccine. He writes: “I do not trust those
who make vaccines, or the apparatus behind it all to
push it on us thru [sic] fear. This is not judgement;
it is a personal decision based on research, intuition,
conversations with my doctor and my ‘family.’”
While it is easy to discredit this kind of evidence
-- the intuition, anecdotes conspiracy theories of government control and Big Pharma profits -- it is important to remember that it comes from a deeply personal
place, and is, at its core, a personal decision.
OPINION DECEMBER 2014
13
BAD NEWS FOR
By Clara Epstein
Survey shows that Pali students seem to
Tideline Staff Writer
Illustration by Doi Park
14
DECEMBER 2014 FEATURES
“How Stupid Americans Really Are!” is the title of
a viral YouTube video from 2009. The clip depicts
Australian comedian Julian Morrow of CNNNN, a
political satire program that aired from 2002 to 2003,
interviewing Americans on the streets of Washington,
D.C. about “the very world their country runs.”
His questions are simple: How many Eiffel towers are there in Paris? What religion are Buddhist
monks? What’s a country that begins with U?
The responses are hilarious and simultaneously
mortifying.
“I say, about 10,” said one man, in response to
the first question, looking away from the camera. No
one could answer the second, with some even guessing, “Islamic?” And there were a myriad of creative
responses to Morrow’s third question: “Yugoslavia?”
“Utah?” “Utopia?”
Seemingly none of the interviewees could come
up with the “United States of America.”
It is clear that this is somewhat of a caricature of
American ignorance. Even so, the video is a frightening portrayal of Americans who know little to nothing
about their own country and nations around the world.
A survey conducted among over 1,000 American
adults by the Pew Research Center reveals that out
of 12 questions concerning international and domestic conflicts, “the average number of correct answers
given is five.” This means the average score is a
41.67%. For young adults (ages 18 to 29), the average
was even lower: four correct answers, or 36.67%.
So, what does this mean for Americans excluded
from the survey?
Pali teachers and students believe that awareness
of current events and global news varies among teenagers.
“I feel that there are certain teenagers that are
more in tune with what’s going on than most teenagers and even adults for the most part,” junior Sierra
Climaco said. “In one way or another, teenagers know
something that’s happening in the news.”
AP World History teacher Steven Burr shared
similar thoughts. “I think it’s mixed,” he said. “I think
with things like Facebook and social media, they’re
aware of things, I’m just not sure how in depth that
awareness [is].”
TEENS IN 2014
lack knowledge of current events.
Burr explains that while many stu- in October.
accessible than it has ever been in the hisdents are conscious of world events, they
When asked whether teens know tory of humankind. So, with worldwide
lack understanding.
enough about global news, AP Environ- news readily available at their fingertips,
“Certain students obviously will get mental Science teacher Steve Engelmann why do Pali students score at or below a
in to a topic and really understand it but said: “I don’t think they know as much as “D” level in current events?
in terms of overall, I think students are a they should. I think, you know, not just
One telling sign may be that the malittle bit more aware but just not in depth for science, for history, even for math... jority of students chose either “someas they could be,” he said.
and English classes, the more you know what” or “no” in response to the question:
Only a few studies on students under about what’s going on out there, you’ll “Do you keep up with current events?”
the age of 18 exist, so it’s difficult to ver- find that there’s a lot of connections be- Moreover, many teenagers are actively
ify exactly how knowledgeable teenagers tween all your classes and what’s going unaware of what’s going on in the world,
are in terms of current events. A survey on, so I think it just makes it more inter- or consciously making the decision to not
conducted in
keep up with the
a randomly
news.
“I think mostly, the biggest problem is that they just
selected 9thHigh school,
grade English don’t know what’s happening, but a lot of the issues, if you it seems, plays a
class at the
small role in makschool reveals bring them up, they’ll be interested, like things that haping students conthe average pen to teenagers around the world. If people find out that
scious and comscore among
petent about the
28 students to these things are happening to other people, they might
world they live in.
be 3.04 cor- actually care.”
“Most teachers
rect answers
need to cover a cer
- Sophomore Lea Toubian
out of 7, or
tain curriculum and
43.37%. For
may not have the
a 10th-grade
time to incorporate
English class,
current
events,”
the average number of correct answers esting.”
said Sandra Martin, the school’s AP Spanwas significantly higher: 4.8 correct anSophomore Lea Toubian believes ish teacher. “It is up to the students to
swers, or 67.95%. The results of an 11th that the issue of ignorance about current keep up with current events. With techgrade History class were lower, with events does not come from a lack of inter- nology it is very easy nowadays.”
an average of 2.68 correct answers, or est, but of consciousness.
In contrast, some teachers advocate
38.25%.
“I think mostly, the biggest problem fusing current events into their curricuThe questions ranged from facts about is that they just don’t know what’s hap- lum.
the Ebola epidemic in West Africa to the pening, but a lot of the issues, if you
“I think really good teachers can link
largely forgotten disappearance of Malay- bring them up, they’ll be interested, like whatever curriculum they have to what’s
sia Airlines Flight 370 in March. In 9th things that happen to teenagers around the going on,” Burr said. “More important
grade, the question answered correctly world,” Toubian said. “If people find out is having teachers who are also aware of
most often was, “Name the Sunni militant that these things are happening to other what’s going on and being able to connect
group occupying parts of Iraq and Syria” people, they might actually care.”
what they’re doing with what’s going on
(ISIS/ISIL). 10th graders most often anIn 2014, the world has never been in the world.”
swered correctly a question about Malala more connected. Online newspapers, 24Ultimately, change is in the hands of
Yousafzai, a Pakistani female education hour stations, and social media make in- teens themselves. So, consider reevaluatactivist who won the Nobel Peace Prize formation about global happenings more ing your New Year’s resolution.
FEATURES DECEMBER 2014 15
Food Fads
Whether they’re the next big thing or just a healthy alternative, food fads have become a craze that everyone hears about.
A “fad,” as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal. It seems that
every year, there is at least one new “it” item.
People often learn about these trends on social media sites.
According to the Hartman-Group, a marketing research company: “As consumers use social media to discover, learn, and share
information about food, they quickly become more active participants in food culture. In fact, almost 50 percent of consumers learn
about food via social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, and 40 percent learn about food via websites, apps or blogs.”
These fads include anything from treats to special diets.
Acai
Bowls
The Acai bowl is one current food fad
that is leaving its mark in food-fad history. Acai
is a super fruit from Brazil that is packed with fiber and
antioxidants. This healthy alternative to snacks and meals has
caused a storm in the consumer world, especially at Pali.
“I get it at least once a week,” junior Ella Bedecarre said. “I
like how it’s healthy and also tastes really good.”
People have created stores just for these special treats. One place is
Acai Nation in the Palisades Village, which serves various assortments
of Acai bowls with different toppings that are made using frozen Acai
puree, bananas and a non-dairy liquid. The most common toppings are
banana, strawberries, granola and coconut shavings.
The buzz is well-deserved. According to the website NutriPhoto Illustration by Anna Bohuny
tion Stripped, Acai berries contain anti-inflammatory benefits,
cholesterol lowering benefits and anti-cancer benefits.
Although the fruit does contain many health
benefits, it still contains a lot of sugar, so experts
Pressed Juices
suggest that it is best to eat the berries in
The
pressed
juice
cleanse
is another hot trend. Pressed Juicery, a
moderation.
detox juice company, provides one of the most highly buzzed about
juice cleanse programs. According to the Pressed Juicery website,
Photo Courtesy of Kenneth Meow
customers choose from a variety of juice categories, including greens,
roots, fruits, classics, coffee and coconut.
But what makes these juices different from any other juice?
“They have special machines that press the juice so that it’s really
fresh and healthy,” senior Alexandra Kugler. “Normal juices they just
blend, but this one is special.”
Thousands of consumers, ranging from high school students to
celebrities such as Mary-Kate Olsen are obsessing over these juices and
are taking to social media to express their newfound love for them.
“My fridge is packed with Pressed Juicery. I can’t get enough,”
Olsen said.
But are all the consumers buying the pressed juices for the purpose
of detoxing? Not everyone seems to think so. Many people feel that just
like any other fad, this trend is followed simply because many people
are taking part in it.
“I feel like sometimes people go on the whole juice cleanse because it has become such a popular aspect of our culture”, said senior
Zohya Parmar. “You see so many pictures of Pressed Juices on Instagram and it makes you wonder if all the people are actually taking part
in the cleanse or just posting the pictures to be a part of the trend.”
16
DECEMBER 2014 FEATURES
By Omaira Noori and Chloe Hekmat
Tideline Features Editor and Online Editor
Photo Courtesy of Nadine Aurora
Boba
Another fad that seems
to be dominating the teen consumer
population is boba tea, or bubble tea. The
“boba” part in this popular drink is tapioca balls.
They are put into a drink of one’s choice, ranging from
milk tea to any fruity drink. Students of Pali can’t seem to
get enough of this delicious drink.
“I love boba,” sophomore Jasmin Matin said. “The tapioca
balls make it taste amazing, and I love the different tea flavors I
can get. I think everyone started to catch on this trend whenever
they started to bring it to more popular places.”
And that they did. Boba is now found in many popular
restaurants including Urth Caffe, Panda Express and some
McDonald’s restaurants.
However delicious it may be, boba can still be very
unhealthy. One ounce of boba contains 100 calories,
according to New Calorie Counter. This is not
including the drink, which also contains
up to a additional few hundred
calories.
Gluten-Free Diets
Food trends are not only limited to the latest most-talked-about
foods; trends may focus on which foods to avoid. One fairly new diet
in particular has swept the nation: the Gluten-Free diet.
According to the Time Magazine webpage, approximately 2 to 3
million Americans suffer from Celiac disease, an immune response
to gluten that causes small-intestine damage. Gluten ataxia is another
common disorder that affects the brain and produces muscular control
problems. However, there are more people who blindly follow the GlutenFree diet than those who do so because they actually suffer from a
gluten-based medical condition. What are the reasons behind the
popularity of this diet? Many people attribute the popularity to the
food industry’s production of gluten-free products, widespread rumors
and peer pressure.
According to the Time Magazine webpage, the popularity of the
Gluten-free diet is “a result of trendiness, smart marketing, Internet
gossip and too many people who know too little about nutrition saying
too many silly things.”
Photo Illustration by Anna Bohuny
Photo Courtesy of Brad Frost
Macarons
Scrolling down instagram and
finding hundreds of pictures of macarons
is not an uncommon experience for many teens.
Macarons are meringue-based French confections that
are made with egg whites, almond flour, granulated sugar
and filled with a buttercream, ganache or jam. They come in
a wide-assortment of flavors and colors that correlate with the
flavors.
They are often confused with macaroons, which are
made with coconut bases and have a different texture.
Macarons are not just an edible trend, but also a
decorative one. Nowadays, notebook, lunchboxes and
even dresses have macaron prints on them. For the
Teen Choice Awards, Singer Ariana Grande
selected a dress with drawings of
macarons.
FEATURES DECEMBER 2014
17
TEAM
CHEMISTRY
The bond between players is
what ultimately makes them successful.
By Sarah Hurst
Tideline Staff Writer
Graphic by Alex and Kevin Liu
W
hat makes a team successful? Is it the raw
talent of each individual player or the
ability of a coach to motivate a team to
achieve their goals?
It might be the way players work together to push each other along with the mutual desire to crush
the opponent.
Team chemistry is essential to great success on the court
or on the field. Coaches from every sport have said that teams
that click from the start are able to feed off the intensity of
each player to accomplish incredible feats.
Legendary teams such as, the “Fab Five,” the 1991 basketball team for University of Michigan, had this X factor,
thus landing them a spot in the history books as one of the
most successful sports teams of all time. However, team success is not a direct result of having a cohesive team. The head
baseball coach at University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point, Pat
Bloom, stated that the two factors are dependent on each other.
“So you might say the relationship between team chemistry and team success is circular,” Bloom said. “ As team chemistry improves, so does the team’s record, and as the team’s
record improves, it becomes more and more cohesive.”
It’s hard to establish team chemistry and cohesiveness,
but coaches and sport psychologists have come up with theory
after theory regarding how this can be accomplished. Bloom
believes that a coach can improve the level of cohesiveness
18
DECEMBER 2014 SPORTS
on his or her team with words and actions. By getting to know
their players and acknowledging their roles on the team, players will feel more comfortable around each other and their
coaches. When the players feel comfortable, they play with
more confidence and are ultimately more successful.
In professional sports, there are many examples of how
poor team cohesiveness impacts a team’s ability to play well.
Despite having an extremely talented roster in 2012, the Boston Red Sox endured their worst season since 1965. Many attributed the awful season to poor team chemistry and leadership. The following year, the team hired a new manager and
coaching staff and released several egotistical players. By focusing more on the cohesiveness of the team rather than the
talent of an individual player, the Red Sox were able to recapture their former glory and even defeat the St. Louis Cardinals
in the 2013 World Series.
Team chemistry is one of the keys to success in high
schools sports. Team bus rides, dinners, parties and tournaments can help a team bond and boost team spirit.
“The tournaments help us bond as a team because we’re
spending all day together so our chemistry grows stronger,”
said junior Lucky Drageset, a setter on the girls varsity volleyball team. “Usually our team plays better after a tournament
because of the high intensity we played at.”
Another way to build team chemistry is through off-season practice and conditioning, athletes say. When players are
The varsity football team huddles together before a home game against Fairfax High to get one another in a competitive state of mind.
Photo Courtesy of Michael Galif
pushed to their limit, both physically and mentally, their teammates’ encouragement can make a difference. Coaches often
make their players condition to foster team chemistry as athletes push themselves to extremes.
“We build team chemistry just by hanging out with each
other outside practice but also by going through all the stuff
a team goes through together...especially conditioning,” said
junior Johann Wilson, a member of the boys varsity basketball
team.
The boys basketball
team has been training
since August even though
their league games don’t
start until January. Their
training includes participating in fall league practice games at Santa Monica Community College on
the weekends.
“On the basketball team, our coaches stress the fact that
we are a team and we should always forget about the words
‘I’ and ‘me’ and think more about the words ‘us’ and ‘we’,”
Wilson said.
By focusing on a common goal of being successful, the
team can build the cohesiveness needed to perform at a higher
level. Because of the work they’ve done, Wilson and his team-
mates say they’ll be poised to make a run at winning a league
title.
Team chemistry plays different roles in different sports.
Sports that require a smaller number of players on the court
or field require a stronger connection between teammates, like
volleyball or basketball. Other sports, such as football, have
a lot more players on the team so it can be harder to build
team cohesiveness. Often with larger teams, the players will
form relationships with
people who share their
positions. On a football
team, the quarterback
will often try to establish
special chemistry with
the offensive linemen,
the big men up front who
protect him from the pass
rush. There are many
legendary stories about
quarterbacks giving their offensive linemen extravagant gifts
as a way of thanking them. In 1990, 49ers quarterback Joe
Montana gave the members of the offensive line gold Rolex
watches to thank them for a safe and successful season.
“I think team chemistry is one of the most important aspects of any team game,” Wilson said. “Without it, your team
will not be able to work together as a unit.”
“I think team chemistry is one of the most
important aspects of any team game.
Without it, your team will not be able to
work together as a unit.”
- junior Johann Wilson
SPORTS DECEMBER 2014
19
Just Shoe It.
Finding the right footwear is growing increasingly difficult as shoes become more specialized.
A
By Laura Sussman
Tideline Staff Writer
Photo Illustration by Sarah WaltonBurrell
20
DECEMBER 2014 SPORTS
s new technology develops in all
walks of life, the development of
new athletic shoes has occurred as
well. Athletic shoes have become
more and more specialized throughout the years,
and as shoes with special features begin to replace the traditional “tennis shoe,” they have
stopped being a commodity, and instead have
become a necessity for athletes of all levels.
Different types of shoes require different
features that allow for better traction on different surfaces, changes in the weight of the shoes
and even different spike/cleat length and sharpness for different levels of body-to-body contact
within the sport. These requirements enable shoe
companies to sell many models, all of which differ — sometimes slightly — from one another.
Baseball shoes, for example, are different
from both soccer cleats and track spikes. Although all three of these shoes protrude spikes
or cleats from the bottom, they all have unique
qualities to allow for better traction along the
surface on which each sport is played. Baseball
shoes, like soccer cleats, have an arrangement of
cleats in the back for better traction on grass. But,
they also have a special “front cleat on the toe,”
according to sophomore Henry Coquillard. This
additional cleat allows for the tight turns and
epic slides that occur several times throughout a
game. Also, “baseball cleats are metal,” pointed
out sophomore Remy Meteigner. When asked,
both Coquillard and Meteigner stated that their
favorite brand was undoubtedly “Nike, Nike,
Nike.” In fact, Nike is now known for its various
baseball cleats, including the Nike Lunar Vapor
Trout, which is advertised on the Nike website
as a shoe “designed for speed.”
Soccer shoes, though similar to baseball
shoes in many ways, also have distinct differences. “They’re built lighter with kind of a
more flexible material,” senior Barron Chavez, a
member of the Boys Varsity Soccer Team, said.
Furthermore, soccer cleats are plastic because of
the high risk of dangerous contact during play.
They exclude the front cleat that baseball cleats
have because they are always gripping onto the
grass or turf, and must maintain their balance
by keeping their center of gravity on their heels
rather than on their toes. Well-known brands
such as Nike and Adidas sell a multitude of soccer cleats, and even allow athletes to customize
the colors before buying them so as to create
original looks that fit every athlete’s style.
Cross country shoes, which many people
believe to be the same as run-of-the-mill tennis
shoes, also have distinctions, and athletes are
picky about the ones that they wear. “A majority
of [the team wears] Nike,” sophomore Shannon
Lee stated. She said that the Nike brand seems
to prevail above all others both on the school’s
team and on other teams that they compete
against. Most people believe that Nike shoes
tend to be more comfortable, and that they allow runners to feel light while still maintaining
a “flat style, so the bottom is like a waffle,” Lee
said. Cross country shoes are meant to be durable and provide the proper amount of padding,
so as to allow running on different types of surfaces. Running shoes have also become quite a
fashion statement with brands such as Nike and
Asics making them bright and colorful, a big
change from the original dull, white tennis shoes
that once prevailed.
Track shoes are more similar to soccer
cleats than they are to cross country shoes.
Track shoes, unlike cross country shoes, have
a series of little spikes, which slightly resemble
the cleats on soccer shoes. But, track spikes
are much smaller than the cleats found on soccer shoes. The shoes are also extremely light in
order to not weigh down the runner. According
to the Adidas website, track shoes such as their
Adizero Cadence 2.0 Spikes are “made for better
acceleration and less braking.”
Volleyball shoes have their own differentiations as well. “They have a grip on the bottom
of the sole that tennis shoes don’t have,” senior
member of the girls volleyball team Taylor Pecsok said. Volleyball shoes are also designed with
an extra gel layer in the back in order to “absorb
shock during impact,” according to the Asics
website.
The specialization of shoes has brought
forth a new era of high performance shoes that
have increased expectations, lowered the amount
of injuries and increased comfort for athletes, allowing them to enjoy the sport that they are playing to the fullest.
Behind
the
Screens
Movie theaters up their game to lure lost viewers away
from their smaller screens.
By Jamie Snell, Tideline Staff Writer
Photo Illustration by Margaret Boelter
I
t is the year 1896. With a dime in your pocket,
you excitedly await admission to the Vitascope
Hall, the first permanent movie theater in the
United States. Invented by Thomas Edison,
the vitascope is a technologically advanced
projector that plays the films. You stand in
line and wonder if today’s show will consist of
fight scenes, dances, comedic jokes or romantic gestures.
Fast forward over a century later. Popcorn and soda in
hand, you are engrossed in an action movie as you sit in a
cushioned seat that jerks from side to side with the intensity of the on-screen car chase. Your soda swishes around,
your 3-D glasses slide down your nose, air is blown at your
face and you smile. It’s almost as if you are in the movie.
This was South Korean company CJ 4DPlex’s plan
22
DECEMBER 2014 ENTERTAINMENT
when it designed its revolutionary 4-D movie theater: to
create an immersive experience that allows people to be a
part of the movie. To enhance the on-screen visuals, motion chairs perform three base movements. They heave, or
move up and down; pitch, or move left and right; and roll,
or tilt backward and forward. These motions can emulate
the sensations of flying and driving. Environmental effects
are also emitted and include wind, bubbles, fog, lightning
and scent.
The previously unchallenged movie theater industry is
desperately going to great lengths in order to regain the
film lovers that it has lost. The 4DX era began in 2009,
when the first four-dimensional CJ 4DPlex theater opened
in Korea. This unprecedented immersion technology rapidly spread to Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Rus-
sia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Philippines,
“I love Netflix...they have great service and it’s really
Indonesia and Japan. There are already 115 4DX theaters affordable,” sophomore Jakob Pollack said. “They have
in 24 countries, according to the company’s website. The the best shows on it and it’s super easy to use.”
first 4DX theater in the United States opened on June 26,
Mr. Feltham, Pali’s film teacher, prefers staying home
2014 at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live.
as opposed to attending a movie theater, “I would much
A different kind of interactive movie viewing experi- rather watch a movie at home because my living room turns
ence is a dine-in theater that “combines the cuisine and into a screening room with a 16 foot screen, 7 speaker dolcocktail options of a restaurant with the fun and excite- by sound, [with] lots of snacks close by. It’s like a movie
ment of a movie theater,” AMC Theaters’ website states. A theater experience, because the image fills your field of
dine-in theater provides a comfortable environment to in- vision, which a 55 inch screen never will.”
dulge in delicious resAs a result of this competaurant meals and entition, some movie theaters
joy a film on the big
are going one step further.
screen. What could
According to the Los
be better?
Angeles Times website, theJunior Amy Baiaters nationwide are “hopley attended an AMC
ing to reverse long-term dedine-in movie, and
clines in theater attendance
she described the
by pulling customers away
experience as “refrom an increasing array of
laxing.” She also
entertainment options in the
commented that the
home, they’re showing live
cuisine “tasted like
rock concerts, plays, operas,
carnival food, like
boxing matches, college
[on] cruises.”
basketball games and even
There are two
public radio shows, often to
types of AMC dinesold-out houses.”
—Travel+Leisure Furthermore, in an inin theaters. CinemaSuites is a luxuriterview with John Fithian,
ous dining experience
president and CEO of the
with premium recliners and an extensive menu, that is only National Association of Movie Theater Owners, CBS News
available for adults 21 years or older. Fork & Screen is a reported: “But perhaps the boldest move is a proposal that
more casual theater and restaurant combination, in which will cost less: a nationwide discount movie night, probably
guests must be 18 years or older, unless accompanied by a on Tuesday or Wednesday, at all the major cinemas.”
parent or guardian.
Even though movie theaters are attempting to win back
The movie theater industry has been extremely profit- their audiences, going to the movies will never be the same
able, but according to CBS News, “Last year the number of unique experience.
frequent movie-goers in the crucial 18- to 24-year-old age
Sophomore Candace Yee said: “I also think that movgroup plummeted 17 percent. Among 12- to 17-year-olds, ies have changed from something semi-formal, somewhere
admissions were down almost 13 percent.”
you’d take someone on a date, to a commodity, something
Movie theaters have created more interactive experi- that you can now borrow from the library, buy from iTunes
ences to lure moviegoers back to the big screens. Audi- and even watch pirated versions online. This commodity,
ences enjoy moving seats, environmental effects, reclining I think, is driven by people’s desire to have easy access to
chairs and seat-side restaurant services. However, tickets entertainment, and since this form of entertainment covers
to 4DX and dine-in films come with an increased price.
so many genres, it’s getting more and more popular.”
The accessibility, ease and low cost of viewing movies
Travel+Leisure’s website points out that “even as home
online, from sources such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and entertainment systems get bigger, there’s a longing for the
even pirated films, have resulted in the decline of movie thrills associated with the heyday of glamorous movie paltheater attendance. There is no longer a need to leave the aces—for a communal experience that justifies the ticket
house to be entertained.
price and inspires you to get off that sofa.”
‘Even as home entertainment
systems get bigger, there’s
a longing for the thrills
associated with the heyday
of glamorous movie palaces—
for a communal experience
that justifies the ticket
price and inspires you to
get off that sofa.’
ENTERTAINMENT DECEMBER 2014
23