Students around school have had varying opinions about the effective-ness of cameras.

“I don’t think there is a way to prevent these types of things,” Junior Amin Ronaghi said.

While a variety of options are still on the drawing board, there is no clear solution to preventing future vandalism.

“The biggest and best deterrent is the student body,” Kellerman said.

The Campanile Monday, March 17, 2008http://voice.paly.netVol. XC, No. 7

Since 1918

Palo Alto Senior High School

Paly freshmen plan dance to raise money for poor Africans

News: A1-A3 Opinion: A4-A5, A8 Spotlight: A6-A7 Sports: A9-A12Lifestyles: B1 Features: B2-B6A&E: B7-B12

Students boogie for Africa

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Permit #44Palo Alto, Calif.

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As a result of the Martin Luther King weekend library vandalism, the Palo Alto High School administration is considering installing security cameras in the library as a deterrent towards similar acts in the future.

The damages from the vandal-ism amounted to less than $500, Paly Librarian Rachel Kellerman said. While the monetary damages may seem small, the money used to repair the damages must be taken from the small amount set aside for buying books, posters and library services.

“We don’t want to have to spend money on things like this,” Keller-man said.

In addition to monetary dam-age, small changes will be made in the library.

“One change due to the vandal-ism is that the library is opening a little later in the day,” Kellerman said. “[Library Assistant Deborah] Henry and I have to make a complete loop around the library every morning [to make sure no vandalism or theft had occurred during the previous night].”

Mock trial team to compete for state title

Library considers adding security cameras

So far, no formal plans have been made to install a security system, according to Kellerman.

“The cameras are just an idea,” Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson said. “There is no timeline.”

Other ideas are also being dis-cussed with the administration.

“We could change all the locks on the doors and install motion de-tecting lights on the outside of the library,” Berkson said.

According to Berkson, the cost of the potential cameras would be under $1000 dollars.

A major concern of Kellerman’s is how the vandals entered the li-brary, most likely through a hatch in the roof.

“We want to keep kids safe,” Kellerman said. “We need to make sure there is a deterrent. If kids think there is a security system [in place] it will hopefully help.”

ASB prepares for prom

Over the past couple of months, Palo Alto High School’s Associated Student Body has not only worked to make the school appeal more to the student populace and ensure that events run smoothly, but also continued to beautify the campus.

Planning for prom is currently under-way. Prom will be held at San Francisco City Hall on Apr. 5 with the theme “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” a spin-off of Tony Bennett’s signature song. However, the decorations are meant to be a surprise and will not be revealed until the night of the dance.

Limousine sign-ups have begun and will last until Mar. 20. ASB has also already set the prom ticket prices at $85 with an ASB card and $95 without.

“Prom is more expensive this year because the location, San Francisco City Hall, was much more expensive to reserve,” ASB Treasurer Bowen Wang said.

The tickets can be purchased at the auditor’s office up until the Friday before the dance, but ASB encourages students to buy them ahead of time from the online Paly store, The Viking Shoppe or to pur-chase them in the Tower Building.

According to Wang, Paly spent over $54,000 on all of last year’s dances, with prom making up the majority of the expenses.

“This year dance expenses will only be higher,” Wang said.

ASB is also participating in semester projects.

“A semester project is a project that each officers comes up with to improve the school or make Paly a more fun place,” ASB President Mohammed Abid said.

The projects are designed to help improve Paly by making the school look better, helping it run more efficiently, adding more entertainment for the student body or by helping students improve their academics.

One major project that several mem-bers of ASB are working on is the renova-tion of the “senior deck.” The students in charge, Senior Class President Sahar Raz, Junior Class President Erik Klingbeil and Sophomore Class President Alex Freeman, hope to expand the deck and change it to resemble an amphitheater.

“The project is set,” Abid said. “[Klingbeil] has already made a contract for rebuilding and tearing down the cur-rent deck.”

A project that involves adding or building to the school is considered a capital investment and requires a long process to gain school approval. The pro-cess includes notifying the school about the project, why ASB wants to do it and where the funding would come from.

After Paly approves the project, the school will receive projected expenditures and ASB will work with Assistant Prin-cipal Chuck Merritt and the construction company to work out the details of the project.

See ASB, Page A3

Details of proposed four block schedule and 8:15 start debated. PAGE A5

A look inside the everyday lives and jobs of Palystaffers.

A day in the life...

PAGE A10

PAGE B6

Paly boys pirouette and plié their way to the dance studio

Boys pursue ballet hopes

Student council members focus on semester projects

Fun in the sun on campus

View this edition’s photo collage in vivid color.

http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=6499

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By Jillian LiuStaff Writer

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OPINION

Saved by the bell?

Release your inner ninja

FEATURES

SPORTS

INDEX

SPOTLIGHT

Paly students involved in the ancient Japanese martial art of ninjutsu.

NEWS

PAGE A6

ONLINE

By Alex GreeneStaff Writer

Palo Alto High School’s Mock Trial team will compete in the Califor-nia State Mock Trial Competition from Mar. 28 through Mar. 30 in Riverside after its victory at the Santa Clara county finals on Feb. 29.

The Mock Trial team pulled through setbacks from earlier in the year including a relatively new team,

Mock Trial captain and defense attor-ney Andrew Nizamian said.

“Our win at county was unexpect-ed,” sophomore witness Eoin Whitney said. “We only had a few practices and no scrimmages against each other, but the team just came together under Andrew [Nizamian].”

Mock Trial competitions follow the style of a real trial, with each school bringing both a defense and

prosecution team. Each side consists of a pre-trial attorney, three trial at-torneys, four witnesses and a clerk or bailiff. One school’s defense competes against another school’s prosecution and argues the case before a judge and scoring attorneys, whose score is based on both material and presentation. Each county sends one team to states. Santa Clara county has 24 teams — the most of any county.

“Winning county was incredible since Santa Clara county has 24 teams with experienced law firms helping them out,” Nizamian said.

Paly’s Mock Trial team lost 12 out of 18 of its members last year; this year originally was only ex-pected to be a period of rebuilding.

“No one expected us to win this

By Auster ChenStaff Writer

Paly mock trial wins county competition, qualifying for states, after numerous hardships

See MOCK TRIAL, Page A3

By Kevin HarveyStaff Writer

See BASKETBALL, Page A2

Basketball team focuses on future after CCS infraction ends season

A&E

Find me in the club

PAGE B8

Illusions and Abyss’ The Glow offer night clubs for teens.

Paly staffer pitches PETA

PAGE B5

Paly staff member Ronald Brown speaks about his animal activism.

Julia Benton/The CampanileAfter the vandalism that took place over the Martin Luther King Day weekend, Paly Librarian Rachel Kellerman is considering using some of the library’s limited budget on security cameras.

Courtesy of Amin RonaghiSenior Andrew Nizamian gives his closing statement.

The Palo Alto High School boys Varsity basketball team was recently disqualified from the Central Coast Section playoffs after forfeiting 11 winning games from their overall season record due to the ineligibility of senior forward Ed Hall, effectively ending their season.

Hall, who transferred to Paly from Australia in the middle of first semester, already completed

eight semesters of high school in Oct. of 2007 while still in Australia.

However, the Australian public school sys-tem continues grade school through a thirteenth year, which then interfered with Hall’s CCS eligibility.

During Aug. 2007, Hall discussed his plans to transfer to Paly with the administration, including his desire to continue playing basketball, as he did for his school in Australia.

“I talked about my plans with the administra-tion for months before attending Paly,” Hall said. “I wanted to make sure that I was able to play no matter what. I really wanted to continue play-ing basketball through high school, as I always have.”

However, because he began attending Paly on Nov. 25, more than half-way through the first

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Diepenbrock, who says he was unaware of Hall’s infraction, had to forfeit 11 of the team’s wins.

After further inquiry, McEvoy reported the discrepancy in Hall’s transcript to CCS headquarters

CCS eligibility rules state that players must have semester grades

on their transcript.

Hansen approved Hall’s transcript, and says he was not aware of the

infraction.

Hall is ineligible to play having already completed eight semesters

of high school.

On the Road AgainPaly gearheads restore classic rides

Lifestyles, B1

with The Campanile’s ownGloria Yu and Alex Greene

This edition featuring

Erik Klingbeil

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A & E The CampanileB12 • March 17, 2008

Bistro 412Address: 412 Emerson StreetHours: Tue.-Thurs.: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.: 5:30 p.m.- 2 a.m.Price Range: $5-$35

Bistro 412 serves innovative, but expensive American cuisine, including filet-wrapped asparagus and grilled salmon with pasta in a creamy sauce.

By Julia BentonStaff Writer

Don’t be too surprised if, while walking through downtown Palo Alto, an alien saucer appears to have crashed into the sidewall of the Comerica Bank building. Or, while heading to Gelato Classico for a chocolate ice cream, there are two green aliens climbing up the nearby stairway. And don’t be alarmed by the boy fishing for mail outside the Hamilton Station Post Office.

These images are part of artist Greg Brown’s series of trompe-l’oeil murals, titled “Palo Alto Pedestrians,” which are scattered throughout Palo Alto. Brown completed most of his public murals of aliens, bank robbers and pelicans in the mid-1970s and many still remain today.

“When I first started painting the murals I thought they might last around two years, or until somebody painted over them,” Brown said. “I didn’t expect them to be preserved.”

Brown became interested in art at a young age and began painting with oil paints by the time he was eight. When he was 12 years old, Brown began an apprentice-ship with Italian painter Roberto Lupetti.

“It got to the point where I was so involved in art that I didn’t know how to do anything else,” Brown said. “It was either make it with the art or I don’t know.”

After graduating from Palo Alto High School in 1969, Brown moved to London for a year to pursue his interest in art. While there, he wrote a screenplay with a friend and returned to California to produce it. Though the screen-play was never made into an actual movie, Brown began showing some of his artwork in local galleries.

“I painted and sold paintings in galleries for a number of years before I did mural work, but I found the murals to be a lot more fun just because of the activity and inter-action with people,” Brown said. “Every project is with a new personality and that is something that has always intrigued me.”

Brown worked on a few small murals around Palo Alto before he started on his pedestrian mural series. His first inspiration for the Palo Alto series came to him by accident.

“I was just doodling one day and I came up with a character that I wanted to see on a wall,” Brown said. “It was a little guy with a trench coat that people called ‘The Spy.’”

After receiving permission from the city, Brown painted his first mural on a wall of the building where Taxi’s Diner is now located in downtown Palo Alto. Brown later added a bird to the spy’s hat because so many people believed that the man was real and were scared of the suspicious-looking figure.

“A city council member was frightened by the mural when he went to buy a newspaper nearby,” Brown said. “He went to a city council meeting and said that if this was public art we don’t want it, this is terrible, get rid of it. So I quickly went out and painted another one.”

Brown’s second mural, of a man pushing an alien in a stroller, is still located on the wall of Restoration Hardware at 280 University Ave. Brown originally painted a cat in the stroller, but later changed it to the alien.

Brown later painted 13 other murals around Palo Alto. His creations include “Two Aliens Climbing Stairway” (436 Emerson St.), “Bird on Lady’s Garden Hose” (499 Hamilton Ave.) and “Polar Bear on Crutch Consulting With Doctor in Inset Archway” (Building G at Stanford Shopping Center).

“We asked Greg [Brown] to paint a mural for us because we loved his whimsical creations downtown,” Nora Cain, Director of the Stanford Health Library, said. “He did a great job and now a lot of people stop to take their picture by the mural.”

To create his Palo Alto murals, Brown draws detailed drawings of his planned design to be approved by the city. He then blows up the drawing using a projector on to butcher paper and traces his design on the wall.

After mixing his paints, Brown paints the mural, which usually takes him a few days to complete though the length of time depends on the size and detail of each specific mural.

Brown uses acrylic paints to create the murals because they dry quickly.

“I was trained in oils and I love oil paints, but they take six months to dry,” Brown said. “You can’t use them on the side of a building that gets exposure to sun and rain.”

Though Brown doesn’t have a favorite subject to paint, he enjoys interacting with and painting people. Brown paints his murals with the mindset that a passerby can either become involved with the painting or just simply walk by.

“They’re kind of like open-ended stories,” Brown said, referring to his murals. “Whatever somebody wants to make of them, that’s what they are.”

Many of the characters Brown uses for his paintings are from his imagination, but for most of the human char-acters in the Palo Alto murals he used models.

“My models were a brother-in-law, my wife and a friend,” Brown said. “I just put them in different predica-ments.”

For Brown, there’s not a big difference between paint-ing murals and painting on canvas; the main difference is that the murals are simply larger.

“I’ve done a thousand square foot murals and I can do them in the same time it takes me to do a painting that is just 10 by 20 inches because the murals are bigger, looser

and you use bigger brushes.” Brown said. “The smaller the painting, the more intricate it needs to be and it’s more time consuming for me.”

Brown has painted murals in Europe, as well as in the United States. Palo Alto’s “sister city” of Linkoping, Sweden is home to one of Brown’s murals. The mural is of a violin player hanging from a second floor balcony on a concert hall.

“I don’t really have a favorite,” Brown said of his murals. “I can go through a portfolio and say I’ll probably never do a mural better than that, but generally the one I just finished is the one I like best.”

Brown works on private projects in addition to creat-ing public murals. Usually a client will not have a prefer-ence as to what Brown paints, though he tries to make the process a collaborative effort.

“I still make the mural somehow be a part of their personality and their eccentricities.” Brown said. “Whether they ask for it or not, usually it involves the client.”

Brown is currently working on a few small projects and recently completed a painting which he has been try-ing to finish for over a year. Brown will also be teaching a mural painting workshop over the summer in Palo Alto for artists ages 13 to 18 years. Participants in the work-shop will design and paint a mural on a wall inside the Rinconada Pool area.

“We’re going to try to make the mural look really special,” Brown said. “I would like to leave something that has a professional feel to it.”

Artist Greg Brown’s series of trompe-l’oeil murals, which are painted around Palo Alto, includes “Bird on Lady’s Garden Hose” (left) and “Polar Bear on Crutch Consulting With Doctor in Inset Archway”(right).

Julia Benton/The Campanile

Local artist paints the town

By Alan ChuSenior Staff Writer

Eating at Bistro 412 is essentially eat-ing for atmosphere. The ambiance oozes muted elegance and the lights seem to reflect that, since they are dimmed down low as if someone forgot to flip the switch on. Soft rock plays in the background. The sole exception to the clean, sleek image is a turntable tucked away behind a podium.

The architecture is a vague rectangle but the wall bends in one sharp angle, so the building appears to be missing a few chunks. The building is relatively small as most of the tables are outside in the back on the patio. The patio itself is a brick courtyard with several umbrellas.

Inside, there are only four tables along with chairs similar to lawn chairs. One side of the inside wall is devoted solely to the bar, set up along with two plasma screen televisions.

The opposite side is filled with couches instead of the traditional booths and tiny black tables that can barely fit more than four plates. The decoration is sparse. Noth-ing hangs about the walls or placed on top of the hardwood floor. The environment is sterile with low lighting.

There is a small staff, about two appear outside in the room at one time or another. One of the waiters seems to be completely devoted to serving. Another tends to the bar, whether there are customers or not. This seems strange since the room needs at least two people to serve customers.

The menu is brochure-like and concise, with only two pages of text. The menu only states the names and prices of items. This lowers the ordering time considerably, but it makes the restaurant seem like a bleak building, devoted only to efficiency.

Like most restaurants, the food comes with a considerable wait time. Even though the style is American Cuisine, there are no traditional American dishes. Bistro 412 seems to take a purist route of only having entrees and no sides.

The apple salad ($8.00) is nothing more than a medley of lettuce and apples on a small ceramic plate. The price seems to be set by the plate and not the salad itself. The plate is drizzled with dressing in a decorative swirling fashion, but this is superfluous, since the decoration is never eaten, only looked upon. The vinaigrette dressing is not too sour. The apples add a crunch to the whole dish but contribute no extra taste.

The steak frites ($23.00), on the other hand, seems worthy of its price. The steak is tender and soft enough to eat without

a knife. The beef’s taste seems to dance lightly on the palette, giving a pleasant and addictive aftertaste.

The whole dish is served with garlic fries, which contrasts the steak with its sharp, spicy taste. Thankfully, the two complement each other’s taste instead of overriding each other.

The braised lamb shank ($25.00) should not be on the menu. The dish is not even remotely American. But the taste keeps it there. The lamb shank comes on top of a bed of couscous in a relatively large plate.

The lamb itself is nothing but fat lay-ered with more fat. The meat underneath the layers of lard tastes bland and unappetizing, but the couscous saves the whole dish. It is is mixed with tomatoes and similar vegetables in a tomato-based sauce. The

couscous rice-like taste gives way to the tomato and herbs mixed into the dish.

Unfortunately, the filet mignon ($32.00) is not softer than its less expen-sive counterpart. Like the apple salad’s plate, the filet mignon’s plate is creatively decorated. However, the steak is on top of garlic mashed potatoes, which are smooth and creamy and have garlic pieces blended in.

Unlike the garlic fries, the flavor seems muted by the starchy taste of the potatoes. The garlic and potatoes do not work well with the steak. The steak is actually more flavorful than the mashed potatoes.

The dessert choices are not even on the menu. They are offered by the waiters and no prices are given along with them. The berry crepe ($7.00) is nothing more than a fist-sized crepe filled with glazed blueberries and strawberries. The plate also sports berry-flavored sherbet. On the whole, there is nothing that warrants the price. The taste is nothing to write home about; the unripe fruits and sugar cancel out to form a bland dish.

Bistro 412’s food is too expensive for its own good, but the place has a certain charm to it. It almost drowns in its own elegance, but manages to stay afloat by embracing its bare bones approach. The price might be justified by the ambiance, but there are other restaurants that provide similar, if not better, environments.

The Campanile: I heard you like Tila Tequila.Erik Klingbeil: Well we…we share a little thing goin’ on the side. It all started when I was back in my hometown of Mexico and…TC: But she’s from Texas.EK: Oh... well, there you go. She and I were goin’ on a little fling in Mexico. I was just, uh, I was just chillin’ with my G girls, mmmm-hmmmm. TC: How does Tila know you?EK: Tila knows me from somewhere else and let me tell you, it’s not the school, it’s not the track, it’s not the car... maybe the bathroom... maybe my bedroom... I don’t know.TC: Dance Pole...EK: Kinda dance pole? Party stage.TC: Do you think one could compare her to Monica Lewinsky?EK: Yes, only just a little wilder. I’d say she’s got the whole hair thing down. She’s a little shorter. TC: I just want to know if you’re with her or not.EK: Basically, she loves me passionately. Can you ignore that? She loves me! Passionately!TC: I wanna talk to you about your election. Got any words for your supporters?EK: Tila Tequila is going to be my campaign manager this year, so she’s gonna be hollerin’ back at all these girls and she’ll have a little special somethin’ for the guys.TC: Stripes and stars?EK: Stripes and stars! Green and white! TC: Can you recite some of the lines from Tila’s song? EK: Um, basically it’s just something about... “I don’t wanna f*** your man because, uh, because they all, basically, wanna f*** me. I already did anyway.” That’s slightly paraphrased.TC: She kinda puts my feelings into words. EK: Does she really? She makes my heart sing. Most girls make it go a little thump thump, but she makes my heart sing.TC: What is the point of running in the pool for track? EK: So running in the pool, let me tell you, is something else. It’s something special called Aqua Jogging. It’s got like this whole new sound: Awkwa JJaowggin.TC: So it’s with a soft “J”?EK: Soft “J”...it started in Germany actually.TC: What happened to your presidential walk from back in the day? EK: I had the best presidential walk but apparently my chiropractor’s not to happy with it. When I started to get disjointed spinal columns they had a little problem there. It wasn’t fun. They was all fusin’ together and s*** like that.TC: If you want me to vote for you, just do my physics project. What do you do in ASB?EK: We got all the scandals lined up. When we come in the door, there’s a list. Then we vote on the scandals. Sometimes we do some work, on occasion. There’s usually not enough time for that, though.TC: Are you Gossip Girl? EK: Yes. I get all the dirt on the dirty. TC: Why do you have so many pajamas? EK: It started off as kind of a casual thing...TC: Showing everyone that you’re the common man? EK: Yeah, the common man vote... I put a hard hat on earlier today, threw a little dirt on myself. Mira would know all about that, wouldn’t you, my little bird. My little white oleander. Come, my antelope! We’ll flock in the fields together! Come, my antelope. Come to me. It’s warm here. Just hold me. It’s okay, don’t speak. Don’t speak.TC: She’s just trying to get close to you because you’re a man of power.EK: I know. I’ll show you, Mira, a little bit of my power. Just come by fourth period, my little lovebird. My heart weeps when I see this girl. It’s like... something else.TC: You and women: is it the hair? The personality? The position? The social standing? EK: Number one is the power. TC: How many Monica Lewinskys do you have? EK: I want to keep their identities secret, but one of their names starts with “M.” If I am GeorgeW. Bush, my boy Alex over here is my Dick Cheney. That really says it all.TC: Do you have any words for your brothers?EK: You are all my brothers. TC: Parting words? You should probably tell everybody to go to the Poetry Slam.EK: Don’t go to the Poetry Slam!! Vote Klingbeil.

Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile

Elegant atmosphere, cuisine at Bistro 412

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A & EThe Campanile

By Pauline SlakeyStaff Writer

With genuine Polish food, a friendly atmosphere and Polish paraphernalia, Palo Alto’s Polish Deli takes “small business” to the next level. Since its opening in March 2006, the Polish Deli has attracted all sorts of customers, ranging from Polish immigrants to Stanford football players.

The smell of grilled sausage and spices surround a small room and a clear display case of cold meats and pastas buzzes. The left wall is adorned with a large shelf that spans across the entire wall and holds various condi-ments for sale.

A small outdoor grill is placed in the back and seating is scattered throughout the store.

The man behind the counter is none other than the friendly store owner Marcin Klosek, who speaks with a thick Polish accent. He works the store alone, takes charge of the cooking and handles the genuine Pol-ish food available at his deli.

Although there is not a large seating capacity, the store’s friendly atmosphere makes up for it.

Klosek incorporates Polish cul-ture into a comfortable atmosphere. The store often becomes crowded on Fridays and Saturdays with eager football players and hungry business-men.

The Polish Deli offers a wide variety of Polish foods. Although most of the food is frozen and canned, Pol-ish Deli serves freshly grilled Polish sausages, its most popular item.

All the Polish sausages and in-gredients come directly from Poland, although the distribution center is located in Chicago.

Each Polish sausage is served in a white French bread bun topped off with original Polish mustard and sauerkraut. The sausages offered are regular ($6.00), Hunter ($7.50), Country ($6.50), Kabanosy ($6.50) and Slaska ($6.00).

The sausages absorb many of the flavors from the grill, giving them a roasted taste while still keeping their juicy flavor.

When Klosek grills them right outside the store, it is reminiscent of a backyard barbeque. Although it takes five to ten minutes to grill each sau-sage, the wait is undoubtedly worthwhile.

The Hunter sausage ($7.50) is the store’s most popular sausage. It is plump and flavorful with just the right amount of saltiness. The sausage

has a juicy, slightly crunchy texture. The sauerkraut on top of the sausage gives it an added sweet, cold crunch, while the mustard — originally from Poland — softens up the sausage’s thick, savory texture.

The Country Polish sausage ($6.50) has a chunky texture and succulent flavor with a peppery after-taste. The Ka-banosy ($6.50) is a thin sau-sage, with a crunchy, light taste. Polish

sausages are known for having more flavor than American sausages.

“I can’t really explain why Pol-ish sausages taste so much better, but I know that they do and many of my customers agree,” Klosek said. “It probably has to do with the fact that Polish sausages are less processed by machines and have more natural ingredients.”

The majority of Polish food is organic, a quality that Klosek prides himself in as shown by all of the Konfitures (dense jams made of fresh fruit and sugar), which are made from 50 percent organic fruit.

“People can decide for them-selves if they like the natural taste of the sausages,” Klosek said. “Although I almost guarantee that they will.”

There is also a large selection of frozen meats and pastas available to

take home including veal wieners, pork rolls, double bacon, country bacon, home made sausages, Poledu-ica, “Kishka” or blood sausages, head cheeses, Polish hams and smoked Baleron, all of which range from $5.29/lb to $10.29/lb.

Pierogi, a Polish pasta, is another popular food offered by the Polish Deli. Pierogi looks like ravioli but has a much stronger and heavier taste to it.

“Originally pierogi was from China,” Klosek said. “However, Poland liked it so much that they adopted it.”

There are many different types of pierogi available including pierogi with cheese, onion, mushroom, sau-erkraut or fruit.

“Pierogi has an original flavor much different from ravioli,” Klosek said. “It has intense flavors and I would recommend it for everyone to try.”

The Polish Deli not only sells food, but also Polish films of ro-mance, comedy and drama, which are presented in a small display case placed against the far back wall of the store.

“The Polish videos are an added plus,” Klosek said. “I figured that videos are never going to go stale or out-of-date, so why not add them in. I see a lot of Polish customers purchase them so I plan on continuing to keep them in the store.”

Other foods that Polish Deli of-fers include Polish konfiture, spices, bread sticks, tea, lentils, pastas, sauces and canned foods such as pickles and tomato juice, which are set on a large shelf spanning across the entire left wall.

Authentic Polish treats also of-fered include cookies and candies that satisfy customers’ sweet tooths including Delicie Szampanskie cookies (made with sponge cake and rich raspberry filling, topped with chocolate) and the Prince Polo Clas-sic candy bar (a chocolate-covered wafer bar).

Catering is also available for those who want an authentic tastes of Poland at their next event.

Only a block away from Cali-fornia Ave. off El Camino Real, the Polish Deli makes for a fantastic lunch stop. The sausages are guaranteed to satisfy one’s hunger; if a single sausage isn’t enough, one could order three, as Stanford football players are known to do.

Locals relish authentic sausage at Polish Deli

March 17, 2008 • B11

Small business with big flavor brings appetizing food, Polish culture to Palo Alto

Klosek’s freshly grilled Polish sausages are each served with original Polish mustard and tasteful sauerkraut on French bread. The deli also offers a variety of other authentic Polish foods including Polish konfiture, pierogi, spices, tea, candy bars, cookies and chocolate.

Hannah McGovern/The Campanile

Polish DeliLocation: 456 Cambridge Ave.Hours: Tues.-Fri.: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat: 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.; Sun:10 a.m.- 2 p.m.Prices: $6.50 - $7.50

“Polish sausages are less pro-cessed by machines and have more natural ingredients.”

Marcin KlosekStore owner

+In Bruges

Director: Martin McDonaghCast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Running Time: 1hr. 41 min.Rating: R

+

A & E The CampanileB10 • March 17, 2008

By Ryan McLeodStaff Writer

There are very few movies in this world that can sport an R rating, hired killers as protagonists and an unend-ing barrage of words unrepeatable in print and yet fill a movie theater with senior citizens. In Bruges is one of those select few and not just because the title could easily describe a travel documentary about the medieval Belgian city of Bruges.

In Bruges is the writing-directing debut of Martin McDonagh, who recently won an Academy Award for his short film “Six Shooter.” Mc-Donagh’s past as an award-winning playwright haunts the film, as it suffers from sluggish pacing better suited to the stage.

However, the script remains darkly comedic and the brilliant screen treatment shows a flair for direction that marks In Bruges as a must-see example of movie-making done right.

In Bruges takes the tired genre of action films and crafts a plot that pokes fun at many of the old clichés. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play hired hit men who have botched a job and now find themselves keeping a low profile in the beautiful, if utterly boring, titular tourist destination of Bruges. The younger, played by Far-rell, acts like a surly teenager on a fam-ily vacation, while the senior, played

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By Amy StringerFeatures Editor

Tucked quietly away in the Village Court strip mall off of San Antonio Road in Mountain View, Oregano’s Wood-Fired Pizza incon-spicuously provides quality, tradi-tional Italian dining. Upon entering the restaurant, one is greeted by the friendly staff and a casually stylish atmosphere, perfect for a dinner with a group of friends or with the family at a reasonable price.

With its high ceilings, spacious dining areas, wooden dining tables and granite bar where one can watch the pizzas being individually made in the wood-fired ovens, Oregano’s creates an environment of combined quiet elegance and inconspicuous informality. The service is of consis-tently high quality.

Whether one is in the mood for garlic fries ($4.99) or bruschetta ($5.99), there is an enticing array of appetizers from which to choose. The garlic bread ($4.50) was slightly disap-pointing. The wafer-thin pizza bread could not adequately sustain the crisp Parmesan cheese piled onto it, giving it an unappetizing burnt taste. However, the vast assortment of entrees makes up for this sub-par appetizer.

While the restaurant’s name gives it away as an eatery known for its pizza, the popular dish is far from the only option available to customers. In fact, one may find it difficult to make a decision between an adventurous option, such as the caramelized pear pizza ($10.79), and a classic dish, like the cheese ravioli ($9.99). On the menu, the restaurant promises that “one pizza will satisfy an individual’s healthy appetite,” a statement true to its word.

A simple choice like the Hawaiian pizza ($9.99) assures qual-ity taste and satisfaction. The delicious h o m e m a d e pizza is topped with sauce and just the right amount of cheese, although all pizzas can be ordered without cheese. The pizza is then layered with delicious Canadian bacon and fresh, ripe pineapple.

Another classic pizza option is the pepperoni pizza ($8.99). Its tangy pizza sauce covered with a layer of cheese and topped with pepperoni is just spicy enough to entertain one’s taste buds. The pizza crust is light

by Gleeson, takes the opportunity to enjoy himself. Hijinks ensue, but the story takes a turn for the worse when their boss (Ralph Fiennes) appears.

Although much of the story can be described as “dark humor,” the picture is rarely laugh-out-loud

funny; gags are more likely to have thought-provoking moral messages than punch lines.

In one instance, Farrell’s charac-ter compares Bruges to purgatory in a comedic monologue which would be incredibly funny except that view-

and thin, reminiscent of gourmet Ital-ian cuisine, yet not at all too crispy or burnt.

Aside from the diverse assort-ment of optional pizzas, there are also multiple delectable pasta choices from which to select one’s meal. The fettuccine alfredo ($10.99) provides a fulfilling portion of fettuccine served with a thick Parmesan cream sauce. While it is certainly creamy, as it should be, the sauce is not at all obtrusive.

The fettuccine alfredo can also be ordered with chicken or prawns for more flavor with a few extra dollars. Another sat-isfying pasta

dish is the chicken pesto pasta ($8.49), which offers spaghetti topped with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and a wonderfully creamy pesto sauce.

Vegetarians also have an assort-ment of options to choose from, such as the tasty vegetarian fantasy pizza ($11.99), the creamy penne prima-vera pasta ($10.99), the vegetarian calzone ($10.49), and much more. Additionally, a simple and affordable

kid’s menu is available for children under 12.

While any of these entrees will satisfy an individual’s appetite, the desserts should not be overlooked, as there are some tasty options.

The old-fashioned sundae ($3.99) is composed of vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce and whipped cream, a large enough portion to share and en-joy with a friend. The tiramisu ($5.99) offers a huge serving of a rich layered cake of ladyfingers and chocolate, and the brownie with ice cream ($5.99) is surprisingly warm with a cake-like texture. While one may come to Oregano’s for its well-known pizza dishes, one will stay and come again, for its pasta gems, desserts and friendly atmosphere that only a family-owned restaurant can provide.

Oregano’s Pizza combines classic dishes with casual style

In Bruges defies clichés of caper comedy

Colin Farrell gives a haunting performance as an assassin in In Bruges. Director Martin McDonagh incorporates fast-paced, dramatic scenes into a small-town setting to show the soft side of a killer.

By Rye DruzinSenior Staff Writer

The J&J Hawaiian BBQ is a franchise restaurant in a nondescript location next to 7-Eleven in Menlo Park. Yet its low-key personality hides a huge selection of cheap, filling and tasty food.The Hawaiian barbeque is more well-known for its Chinese food; one can buy an entree with either chow mein or fried rice for only $4.68, and a second entrée for an extra dollar. Almost everything that J&J offers is exceptional, even by Chinese restaurant standards.

Most of the food is fried, so the restaurant is not for those afraid of raising their choles-

terol, but it is for those who want a thicker wallet. The selection of entrees, from orange chicken to Mongolian beef to sweet and sour pork, offers the customer an overwhelming number of choices.

The orange chicken and imperial chicken are the best. Both are fried but crispy and are not dripping with fat or grease. The portions are large, with generous helpings of fried rice or chow mein and enough food for two people to eat if one chooses the two entrée meal.

J&J also offers chicken teriyaki bowls ($5.39), which come with steamed rice, veg-gies and chicken teriyaki, all drenched in teriyaki sauce.

The steamed rice is perfect and the chicken is tender. The only problem is that the steamed veggies hold a lot of water and dilute the teriyaki sauce. However, compared to local establishments such as the Sushi House, J&J gives you more bang for your buck.

The restaurant also carries a variety of canned Hawaiian Sun drinks with many dif-ferent flavors along with traditional soft drinks, all for 99 cents each.

J&J is the perfect place for the diner on the run, with the food already made and kept hot. Food is never microwaved, but you can still order and pay in five minutes or less, depending on the crowd.

J&J is popular with a lot of locals so its never surprising to see a crowd. The atmo-sphere is relaxed, as many families dine there. Even when it is busy, the restaurant keeps the line moving and the food pumping. Noise is not an issue and abundant seating means that you have time to sit down to enjoy your meal.

J&J is also close to Palo Alto High School, allowing those with a car to drive over and pick up food during lunchtime. It is also a nice place to go to if you are strolling through downtown Menlo Park, which is right across the train tracks.

The only downside is that traffic in the area is usually pretty bad and parking can be a

problem because the 7-Eleven takes up half of the parking spots in front of the restaurant.

But whether you are looking for a quick meal or simply looking to sit down and relax somewhere, J&J Hawaiian Barbeque is the place for you.

ing the town through his eyes gives the statement an awkward truth. The shift from comedy to tragedy within the script is handled fairly well by the consistent presence of comedic and dramatic elements. None of the themes change and the twisted humor

continues uninterrupted throughout the movie.

Both the script and the actors seamlessly integrate humor into well-structured, layered characters. Farrell, usually a hit-or-miss actor in lead roles, finally delivers a commend-able performance in In Bruges, diving through layers of personality well past his restless, cynical exterior.

As details of his past are revealed, a haunting guilt appears in his char-acter even as he tries to suppress it. Fiennes and Gleason both show their strengths as character actors, the for-mer adding enough energy to drive the film through a major plot twist just as the action begins to bog down in drama and endless dialogue.

The movie, of course, has flaws. McDonagh’s script contains good character development, plot twists, depth, symbolism and humor-hallmarks of a good script, but not necessarily a good screenplay. The movie has a tendency to violate the law of “show, don’t tell,” bogging down scenes (and especially phone conversations) with excess chatter while the camera idles.

The pacing also suffers from a lack of screen writing experience. The movie feels as if it should be divided into two acts, as the plot begins to drag about an hour into the film, only to be followed by a sudden revelation that changes the plot dramatically — the

J&J Hawaiian BBQ well-known for cheap Chinese dishes

perfect place to split the film with an intermission.

Flaws aside, In Bruges is a mostly successful effort to do something dif-ferent. Poignant at times, then thrilling or even comedic, In Bruges appeals to a far wider audience than the subject matter would suggest. The film also shocks with tremendously un-PC cracks at the following: midgets, tour-ists, drug addicts, the morbidly obese, Americans, Belgians, Canadians and more Belgians, as well as everyone else in the film.

Beyond the humor, though, is a stunning movie with resounding questions about the nature of guilt and morality.

In Bruges leaves the audience asking whether or not the story should end happily for the, sympathetic, yet undeniably evil, characters. This a sign of how well-made movie can last in one’s mind long after the credits stop rolling.

Oregano’s combines a homey atmosphere, high-quality pizzas and innovative recipes, to create a comfortable and quiet restaurant.

+J&J BBQ

Location: 1170 Alma St., Menlo Park Hours: Mon.-Sun., 11 a.m.-9p.m.Phone: (650)-323-6137Prices: $3.00-$7.00

Oregano’s

Location: 4546 El Camino Real, Los AltosHours: Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.- 10 p.m.; Sun., 4-9 p.m.Phone: (650) 941-3600Prices: $4.00-$15.00

Hannah McGovern/The Campanile

Boston.com

On the menu, the restaurant prom-ises that “one pizza will satisfy an individual’s healthy appetite,” a statement true to its word.

Action-packed, darkly comic shoot-em-up debut by award-winning playwright shatters trends of genre

A & E March 17, 2008 • B9The Campanile

By Cassie WedemeyerStaff Writer

What distinguishes Koma’s sushi from other sushi restaurants in the Bay Area is its family-friendly atmosphere. Restaurants such as Miyake and Sushi Tomo do not have the same feeling of welcomeness that Koma’s offers.

Koma’s moved to Menlo Park four years ago. The owners, who are also parents of a Palo Alto High School junior, have run the restaurant since it began at its original location in Fremont 16 years ago.

A popular spot for business lunches and family dinners, Koma’s relaxing atmosphere proves to be for all types of customers. Slightly resembling a comfy dining room with plain walls and lighting, the setting at Koma’s is generally laid back.

Around busy hours is the restaurant’s small size and capacity tends to be a problem. Although Koma’s fills up quickly, the service is fast so a group doesn’t have to wait long for a table. The food is served in a fashionable manner. It is evident that effort has been put in to making the dishes presentably pleasing, both in taste and look.

The appetizers can be eaten either as a nice starter or a significant part of the meal, like the miso soup ($1.75). The perfect starter to a Japanese meal, the soup is light and refreshing, with more flavor than miso soups from other sushi restaurants. The edamame (soybeans, $3.50) would be one of the starters, while the sashimi appetizer ($11.50) is more filling. The assorted version of the sashimi appetizer

may cost more, but it comes with white tuna, scallops, shrimps, yellowtail and other sorts of raw fish, all pleasing to the taste buds. The waitress was even nice enough to throw in a complimentary miso soup.

Even though it is only an appetizer, the assorted sashimi plate serves more as an op-portunity to try the variety of the raw seafood. Some are better than others; the surfer clam is chewy and light while the scallops have a good flavor but a somewhat unlikable texture.

For the main course, the bento boxes are the perfect combination of rice, sushi, salad and another food of choice. An especially solid choice is the shrimp tempura bento box ($12.50). The deep-fried shrimp has the perfect amount of crunch to make the dish tasty and the shrimp is not drowned in batter.

Another bento box option is the chicken bento ($14.50) in which, once again, the main part of the dish, teriyaki chicken, goes tastefully with the sides. One of the choices for sides in the bento box is the traditional California roll. Almost always a sushi favorite, Koma’s is no exception in making sure their California rolls are just as high-quality as the rest of their food.

Other types of sushi can be ordered separately, such as the temake (hand-rolled sushi), with spicy tuna or salmon skin. The spicy tuna roll has the right amount of spice, and the salmon skin roll, although slightly burnt, is satisfying as well.

For dessert, mochi, a rice bean ice cream ($1.75), comes in the flavors of red bean, green tea, mango, coffee and strawberry. The mochi

is just the right size so that it is enjoyable but not too filling.

Located on El Camino Real in Menlo Park, Koma’s is not the easiest restaurant to get to, but it is obvious that people are willing to take the slight detour, parking behind the restaurant and walking around to the front along busy El Camino Real. Even though Koma’s is on a busy street, the noise does not filter into the restaurant.

Other than the wait upon first arriving at Koma’s when it is full, one can still eat in about an hour depending on how quickly one wishes to eat. The food comes relatively quickly, the appetizers arrive a good ten minutes before the main dishes.

Although a little pricey for students, the quality of food at Koma’s is worth its price. The fish is fresh and the sushi is seasoned carefully to make sure the customers have an assortment of dishes that compliment each other.

Nothing too extraordinary, Koma’s will provide a good meal just like any other res-taurant would, it all depends on if a person is willing to wait for quality sushi.

Janet’s new album Discipline could be “So Much Betta”By Anna Waldron

Staff WriterWith her latest album, Discipline,

pop artist Janet Jackson tries to recap-ture the magic she created earlier in her career. Jackson is probably hoping for a comeback with this album by replacing her longtime team of pro-ducers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and her record label, Virgin Records, with Island Def Jam. However, these changes prove to be detrimental to her career rather than helpful. Discipline has too few hit tracks and lacks variety in vocals.

Jackson’s excessive production and technical manipulation of her singing makes it difficult to hear the lyrics because it muddles her voice, which was heard so clearly on her previous albums, Damita Jo and 20 Y.O.

Discipline is more of a step back-ward than a step forward for Jackson, who’s long music career dates back to the early ‘80s. Famous for exploring her sexuality in her lyrics and songs, Jackson holds nothing back in the futuristic-themed Discipline. Most of the songs are either erotic and too fast-paced for dancing or are tiresomely slow to express the pain of a break-up. The overall effect: choppiness.

For an album with 23 tracks, it feels 18 songs too long. The talking interludes of Jackson conversing with her space-age butler “Q” and taking a “bathroom break” only further inter-rupt the flow of the album.

The interludes are extremely unnecessary and only aggravate the listener. Jackson does not show growth in her lyrics or singing, but projects a tired image as her voice lacks emotion and remains monotonous.

Despite too many slow songs that could serve as soulful lullabies, there are a handful of songs that have the potential to save Discipline and could become radio hits.

The album should have been titled “Feedback” instead of Disci-

pline because it is the best song on the album and captures the futuristic and sexy theme Jackson was aiming to project. “Discipline” barely registers on the album since it is the second to last track and the few listeners who actually listen to the entirety of Discipline will be confronted with a major disappoint-ment.

In true Jackson style, “Feedback,” the first song on the album, opens with an explanation of why she’s still hot and sexy: “Light skin, dark skin, my Asian persuasion/I got them all that’s why these girls out here hatin’/Cause I’m sexy.” The chorus is catchy and

whether a listener likes it or not, the lyrics will be imprinted on the brain because the song is very repetitive.

Despite “Feedback’s” lack of creativity in lyrics, listeners will want to dance.

Following “Feedback” is “LUV,” anoth-er potential hit. The song toys with car and

driving metaphors citing, “I should have stopped at the red light,” and “He hit me with his luv, luv, luv.” She paints a picture of herself as being a “deer caught in the headlights” because she never expected herself to fall in love with this particular guy. While

the car allusions may be interesting and creative, it goes overboard with cliches such as “He crashed into my heart.” Rihanna’s “Shut Up and Drive” is much more effective using these analogies. “LUV” is fun because the music is similar to Kanye West’s suc-cessful hit “Good Life” and shows the capabilities and talents of Jackson’s sweet, high voice.

“Rock with You” and “2nite” are songs fit to blast through the speakers of all Abercrombie and Fitch stores because of their fast-paced beat and techno vibes.

The two songs are very similar in instrumentals and although they are energetic songs, each song has a slower beat than “Feedback” and

“LUV.” What makes Discipline frustrating and disappointing is the album’s poor structure. After the first five upbeat songs, the album goes into a seemingly depressing slump. All the songs drag on for too long and Jackson’s voice is an indiscernible, wimpy whisper.

Before listeners fall asleep after three long songs and a few annoy-ing interludes, “So Much Betta” and “The 1” featuring Missy Elliot will wake them up, but then the album loses its energy again and ends on a low note.

To name a few unfortunate songs that made their way onto this album are “Rollercoaster,” “Can’t B Good” and “Never Letchu Go.” Appropri-

ately titled “Rollercoaster,” the song takes the listener on an unpleasant and confusing ride.

It opens with a Jamaican feeling with banging drums, but is quickly overridden by a clapping sound. The song is not entirely bad, but what makes it strange is the bridge towards the song’s end when the music changes and is replaced with a cheesy ‘80s-style beat.

“Can’t B Good” is probably the worst song on the album and is there-fore aptly named. The music is too much of a throwback to the ‘80s with its slow beat and soap opera feel.

What makes it uncomfortable and displeasing to listen to is the heavy breathing in the background. The song is supposed to be seductive and allur-ing, but the breathing is too much and serves as a major distraction.

The beginning of “Never Letchu Go” is reminiscent of Beverly Hills 90210’s opening theme music. Like “Can’t B Good,” its beat and lyrics match the characteristics of a soap op-era in that it is overbearingly slow and too sappy. Jackson’s sing-songy voice becomes irritating in this seemingly never ending, repetitive song.

While the futuristic theme of the album attempts to capture audi-ences by being hip and up with the times, Jackson’s voice gets lost in the over-computerized music which makes the album boring and tedious to listen to.

Jackson has the talent to produce a better comeback album. Although there are a few upbeat and fun songs for dancing to, the interludes and ‘tear-jerking’ slow songs serve as filler and interrupt the album’s flow.

Discipline

Artist: Janet Jackson Label: Island Def JamRunning Time: 1 hr. 20 min.

Janet Jackson’s recent comeback record a step backward, lacks both lyrical, musical variety

www.latimes.com

Local family operates small, friendly restaurant perfect for either business lunches or family dinnersWelcoming setting, quality sushi characterize popular Koma’s Sushi

Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile

Potstickers and sushi, especially the California Roll, are favorites at Koma’s Sushi, a family-friendly restaurant which serves high quality food worth its price.

Jackson, who has not released an album since 20 Y.O., released in 2006, and is viewed as a musical has-been, is attempting to recapture the magic she created earlier in her career. The lyrics and songs in her new album, Discipline, are far from inspirational and original.

For an album with 23 tracks, it feels 18 songs too long.

Koma’s Sushi

Location: 221 El Camino Real, Menlo Park Hours: Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. Dinner: Mon.-Sat. 5

Prices: $7-$24

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The sweet serenade of the alarm clock woke me up. Half-blind with sleep, I managed to shut off the air raid siren and shuffled toward the kitchen. I poured myself a bowl of cereal. After adding milk, I spooned some into my mouth. The taste had all three of my favorite adjectives rolled up into one neat package: cold, wet and slimy. Swallowing the spoonful would take Herculean fortitude, none of which I had at the moment. I wistfully thought of breakfast alternatives to the rank breakfast. It was then and there that I had an epiphany. Why should any child suffer through what I had to? I started to ponder the other delicious foods that can be eaten for the most important meal of the day.

After extensive research, I can now share my list of alternatives with the rest of the world. First off, there are several plain and simple egg dishes. Let me count the ways one unborn chicken can be cooked. Eggs can be eaten scrambled, boiled, sunny-side-up, sunny-side-down and my personal favorite, simply raw. Of course, there are as many ways to eat an egg as there are Pokèmon to catch. But I digress from my list of breakfast foods. If time and skill with a hot pan are on your side, then the egg is the best way to go. If you are a Rocky Balboa impersonator, then drinking eggs is the next obvious choice.

Next up are cakes. Rather, pan-cakes — pancakes stacked as high as the Eiffel Tower and dripping with sweet syrup. Unlike the egg, the batter cannot really be changed without repercussions to the smooth cake taste. Instead the toppings can change. From drizzled with chocolate to adorned with fruit, the pancake can have it all. Then there is the long lost cousin to the pancakes, waffles. They have dips to trap syrup from running down the side into its soft egg flavor interior. Waffles also have numer-ous toppings, ranging from whipped cream to candied fruits. Each has its own advantages and taste. It depends on what is available, since a waffle iron is needed to make a waffle. Thankfully there is a compromise between the two: French toast.

The bread of the toast reflects the cake and egg taste and soaks up the sweet nectar of syrup. It can sport the toppings like an old pro. The toast can be eaten alone, but that option only ex-ists in theory. I’m not willing to travel down the path less traveled, and I will not make you. Whoever goes down the path of no toppings and no syrup is braver and hardier than me.

Then there is the vile spawn of demons that exists under the guise of a smiling Quaker. I am talking about hot cereal, or oatmeal. So now, along with concentrating on swallowing the slush, I have to worry about not burn-ing my tongue. Making cold sludge hot is like making cows purple: perverse and unnecessary. If anyone eats this, it is only for health reasons. If it is for the taste, they are just reconfirming that evolution has a long way to go. Fruit can be added, but I would not waste good food and mix it into a bland swampy mess of a meal. If your taste buds were burned off and flavor is just a fife’s dream, then eating hot cereal is a possible course of action.

The latest addition to my list is a classic. If time and money are things of the past, then leftovers for breakfast are perfect. Nothing quite says sophis-tication like eating cold pizza in the morning. Personally, the congealed tomato sauce carries the taste to a new level of appreciation. There are other choices besides pizza. The sky is the limit. I mean hamburgers can be eaten for breakfast, but I’d rather have the juicy burger later when I am fully functional and can taste every com-ponent. The possibilities are endless. From cold fries to hot cakes, breakfast does not have to be a chore.

So next time when you are shov-ing down that spoonful of foulness, be comforted by the thought that there are bigger and better things out there.

By Kelley ShinStaff Writer

A line of teenagers strings along the side of the building and stops at the corner as each one waits in anticipa-tion. Once at the front of the line, the wait ends; the doors of the club open. The area inside is dark with special lighting effects, a stage, some tables and about two hundred teenagers dancing or mingling in crowds.

These types of teen events that mimic the typical clubbing scene are growing increasingly popular in the Bay Area. Nightclubs like The Abyss and restaurants like Illusions Fayrouz Dining and Entertainment have held teen club nights in the past and are becoming routine as the number of interested teens grows.

The Abyss on California Ave., typically a nightclub for the 21-and-over crowd, holds teen nightclub events known as “Glow” nights on special Sunday nights when there is no school on the consecutive Monday and is open every Sunday night during the summer. Junior Eric Jones first heard about The Glow from his friends.

“It’s a good way to meet new people,” Jones said. “It’s basically a school dance, but better because there are a lot of new people. Around 200 to 300 people usually go. Also, it has the best DJs around and sometimes there are even live performances.”

Although some consider The Glow to be a great socializing oppor-tunity, others feel differently. Junior Jessica Cruz, who currently attends Foothill Middle College, did not get a good im-pression of the teen nightclub.

“I used to go regularly, but I don’t really like it anymore,” Cruz said. “The music isn’t that great and it is a bit extreme.”

The Glow advertises a special guest DJ performance from Wild 94.9, a local radio station. However, Cruz said that the music is different from songs played on the radio and is disappointing.

Junior Ashraf El Gamal has also attended a Glow Sunday before and like Cruz found it to be extreme.

“It seemed like the people there were desperate and weird,” El Gamal said. “There are people just making out all over the place and it was kind of intimidating.”

Inside, there is a bar, a dining area, a main stage and a smaller stage with cages on top of it. However, many of those features are unavailable when the club is open as The Glow.

The bar sells only non-alcoholic beverages and both the eating area and the cages are off limits. The Glow is designed for teenagers with ages

ranging from 14 through 17 with a few restrictions.

A current form of identification is required to enter and once inside the club, students are not allowed to leave and return.

Although the club’s capacity is 1,000 people, individuals have the option of buying pre-sale tickets to ensure a spot.

Tickets bought before 7:30 p.m. cost $5. After 7:30 p.m., tickets are sold for $20. Glow nights are held from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Another place for local teen club nights is Illusions Fayrouz Dining and Entertainment, located on 260 S. California Ave. Similar to The Glow, teen nights at Illusions, known as the “All-Peninsula Under 18 Parties,” are not the restaurant’s primary concern, as Illusions is regularly a Mediterra-nean restaurant. In general, students

By Henry BeckerFeatures Editor

A horsefaced man walks into the glamor-ous casinos of the wealthy and wins fabulous sums. He catches the eye of a young woman and quickly they retire to his suite. Before they make love, she unrolls his sleeve and sees a number tattooed on his arm.

“What is that?” she gasps.The Counterfeiters, an Austrian film writ-

ten and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, spirals back to tell the story of the mysterious man. Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is the alleged “King of the Counterfeiters” in prewar Germany and, unfortunately for him, a Jew. Caught by the counterfeiting bureau of the Schutsztaffel (SS), Sorowitsch makes use of his talents to remain alive until he is moved to Operation Bernhard, a last-ditch effort of the Nazis to fake U.S. and British money to survive as the war slowly ends.

Ruzowitzky presents the familiar WWII saga of the survivor that draws comparisons to Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, but with an interesting twist of psychology that keeps the movie fresh.

Who does the audience root for: the absolute idealist, who will die for his cause and doom a few alongside him, or the survivor, who complies with orders to save himself and his comrades? It is an old question, but Ruzowitzky continues to ponder it. His own grandparents were Nazi sympathizers and a sense of betrayal comes through the movie powerfully, as Sorowitsch is forced to work for his Nazi oppressors in the effort to live.

Portraying Sorowitsch is a dangerous line to walk for an actor, but Markovics performs well and creates a man with the face of a cardsharp who values life fiercely, but lies to protect his fellow workers from punishment and bargains for medicines and good treatment. However, Markovics’ mask of a face seems overdone at

agree that Illusions is better for a teen night.

“I’ve been to Illusions before and it was a lot better [than The Glow], mostly because a lot more people that I knew went,” El Gamal said.

Sophomore Silvia Maraboli at-tends and enjoys the teen nights at Illusions.

“The Illusions dances are excit-ing,” Maraboli said. “The fact that there are people from other schools is both a positive and a negative. It’s fun to see different faces from the usual, but sometimes there are some pretty sketch guys.”

Unlike the dances at The Glow, the Illusions teen nights are new addi-tions to the restaurant’s entertainment services. So far two dances were held at the restaurant, the first of which took place on Dec. 1. Mark Spitz, the basketball coach of Crystal Springs Uplands School, approached his friend and Illusions’ general manager Ulysses King about promoting a teen night to raise money for the Crystal Springs Women’s Basketball Team.

“I though it was a great cause and a great idea,” King said. We actually had done teen nights before, but had stopped doing it three years ago and decided to try it again.”

The Crystal Springs basketball team organized the event with help from Illusions.

“It’s more than just renting out space, we have to make sure that ev-erything will run smoothly and safely, otherwise there can be wrong elements such as kids getting into trouble or unhappy parents,” King said.

The first All-Peninsula Under 18 Party was a hit and the basketball team decided to plan another event on Feb. 17. Unlike the previous dance, the second was for a special occa-sion, Valentine’s Day, and was titled “CRUSH Valentine’s Party.”

Many students learn of these dances through friends or Facebook. For both of the All-Peninsula Under 18 Parties, Facebook events were created by the teenagers in charge of planning the event. Information about prices, time, music and other details were provided on the Facebook event page. Tickets can also be purchased through the event page and there was the additional option of being put on the guest list either by messaging a representative via Facebook or calling a specified telephone number.

All-Peninsula Under 18 parties collaborate with www.brownpaper-tickets.com. Tickets online sell for $15, five dollars cheaper than ones at the door. There is a limited early bird pre-sale and a VIP admission for $35. VIP admission includes priority entry, seating in exclusive areas and free non-alcoholic beverages. Teen nights

times and out of place. A million times an SS officer looks down on Sorowitsch, but he stands mute, face resolutely down.

The point is made: he’s no martyr. But this theme adds a heavy tone to the whole movie. Sorowitsch is always looking down and away, removed emotionally from the audience. Long-faced characters with sordid pasts are interesting, but hard to relate to.

In contrast, fellow inmate Adolf Burger (August Diehl) does not simply stand by as he fuels the war machine. The audience loves the scrappy Sorowitsch but has qualms over his compromise with the enemy. In the thick of war, it’s hard to say who is more right; Burger protests when Sorowitsch asks him to comply with his logic of pleasing authority. “It’s the ideal of the thing,” he contends.

While Sorowitsch’s character is more real and believable, Burger is passionate and more watchable. The comparison says a lot about the movie’s restrained style. The camera follows a man from camp to camp, where he works and is threatened. He cannot leave. The prisoners rarely fight the guards, usually each other, and there is a desire to know what is going on out-side. Beyond the prison walls, the war rages on, but the prisoners are inside dressed in smocks printing money.

However, that tense feeling of ambiguity is a saving grace of the movie. As The Counterfeit-ers progresses, Ruzowitsky hints at changing times. The best character in the film, SS com-mander Herzog (Devid Striesow) drops clues of Nazi trouble, desperation to print money and the need to meet deadlines. The officer who catches Sorowitsch initially, Herzog is also most understandable, because he is just a middle-man caught up in the situation. He functions as Ruzowitzky’s testament to the man who stands by and does nothing and is perfectly charming and monstrous at the same time. He has a wife and kids and most chilling, is not so different

from Sorowitsch. Both men have to survive. Sorowitsch is not likable at first — he’s just a counterfeiter — but throughout the movie he learns to be a hero. One senses that both men are playing their set roles in life.

When Sorowitsch and Herzog are together, The Counterfeiters is at its best. The dynamic tension to either live dishonorably or fight drives the movie, which quickly becomes a study on how average people change depending upon the situation. This is the novelty that revitalizes the film and elevates it beyond the usual WWII movie, which helps explain why it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film this year. In part it might be the debt the Academy feels it owes to any WWII movie since the definition of war became so conflicted recently, but The Counterfeiters has a nuanced angle to merit it.

Ultimately, the movie boils down to So-rowitsch. The audience watches a man who survives and protects his companions through his cleverness. He is arguably the hero, but he also has unheroic characteristics, nor is he entirely good anyway. Viewers want to know what he is thinking, but he is frustratingly opaque. Perhaps his moral ambiguity is Ruzowitsky’s point, but he leaves all final decisions to the audience.

The Counterfeiters

Magnolia Filmproduktion

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last from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Spitz, a local DJ under the name Spaztik Emcee, was in charge of the music for the events at Illusions. Maraboli said that there have been promises of special guest performances, but the music less remarkable.

“The club often promises a guest performer who is supposed to be really special, but they end up being lame and unheard of, or they just don’t show up at all,” Maraboli said.

Overall the teen nights have been positive and will probably become routine, according to King.

“There were no fights and very little drinking,” King said. “In gen-eral it was a great turnout and we are considering making the teen nights a permanent event.”

The same rules from past events would apply to future dances. Like The Glow, Illusions advocates the “no ins and outs” policy. A dress code is also enforced by Illusions, requiring boys to wear collared shirts and cautioning the ladies to keep it “PG-13.”

“Another thing kids have to keep in mind is that by coming to these events they are susceptible to a search,” King said. “So far there haven’t been problems, but if we see something suspicious we have the right to search them for alcohol or drugs.”

The next upcoming teen club night at Illusions will take place on Mar. 21 as a fundraising event. Illu-sions is hoping for a big turnout and another successful night.

“I have been to Illusions once and not that many people showed up, but I did think it was a lot better than The Glow,” Cruz said. “There is another club called Barcelona, but barely anyone goes or even knows about it.”

Barcelona is an all-ages venue located in Sunnyvale on 769 N. Ma-thilda Avenue. The nightclub is open on both Friday and Saturday nights when it is not hosting concerts.

1Barcelona has a Latin vibe and two dance floors. One usually plays Spanish music such as meringue, salsa and reggaeton, while the other floor plays mostly hip-hop and top 40 selections. These teen nightclubs offer teenagers both an alternative to school dances and a chance to meet new people.

“I like the dances because they’re more fun and exciting than Paly dances. They are less strict and you see a lot of new faces,” Maraboli said.

Inmate Adolf Burger (August Diehl, left) opposes survivor Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markoviks, right), who fuels the German war machine to save his fellow workers.

Teen dances at nightclubs gain popularityUnder-18 nightclubs offer safe dance venues for Paly students

The Counterfeiters sustain suspense through ambiguity

Director: Stefan RuzowitskyCast: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid StriesowRunning Time: 98 min.Rating: R

www.dkwan.comTeenagers and students dance at The Glow during the Abyss nightclub. The Abyss holds special events on Sunday nights for teens under 18, and the Glow usually attracts around 200 to 300 teenagers.

“I like the dances because they’re more fun and excit-ing than Paly dances.”

Sophie Marabolisophomore

March 17, 2008 • B7The Campanile Features

FeaturesB6 • March 17, 2008 The Campanile

By Gloria YuStaff Writer

Trailing the room with pirouettes and sashay turns, Palo Alto High School senior Alexei Koseff dances with confidence as he admires how far his passion for ballet has taken him. Koseff, junior Alex Nee and Paly Class of 2006 grad Bret East-erling, all manage to acquire mental and physical toughness through ballet while combating societal standards and stereotypes.

Koseff, who began dancing in kindergarten, now takes lessons at Dance Connection in Palo Alto and is the Paly Dance Company’s only male dancer. He discovered his passion for ballet after watching friends perform tap-dancing at a school carnival. This motivated him to enroll in an all-boy tap class and, over the years, he began to experiment with different styles of dance until he settled with ballet.

“I’ve always been a creative person and it’s a physical activity that appeals to that side of me,” Koseff said. “Also, I’ve made a lot of really great friends at my studio.”

Dancing, like most sports, serves as a community for making friends and creating bonds with those who share the same interests. However, since the ballet industry runs low on male ballet dancers, Koseff, Nee and Easterling are in a unique position.

“It gives me a different position and perspective than other people, which sets me apart in things like col-lege applications,” Koseff said.

Koseff’s interest in dancing was not always as prominent as it is today. Hardships that come with dancing ballet consist of arduous hours of body-straining exercises and the main-tenance of harmonizing one’s physical and mental capabilities. Ballet, a fluid yet learned discipline, causes stress in achieving this precision. However, aside from the critique of the style of dance itself, male ballet dancers face another specific type of criticism.

Many stereotypes associated with male ballet dancers can plague a dancer’s confidence.

“In middle school, I was teased incessantly, but it was during a time I was feeling undervalued at my studio,” Koseff said.

At times, Koseff considered quit-ting as an escape to evade the harass-ment of classmates who taunted him for dancing.

Ballet can be seen as one of the most expressive forms of dance. The widely held opinion that society encourages males to conceal any emotion, and in turn mask any sign of sensitivity with a facade of tough-ness, fosters the underlying notion

behind society’s prejudice against male dancers.

“The most frustrating thing is the assumption that you’re gay and the idea that it’s bad,” Koseff said. “I can deal with that, but I think it’s even worse for people who are gay, because it’s like they are a lesser person.”

Koseff said one of the reasons people choose to look down on male ballet dancers is because dancing ballet does not make them “manly” enough. Not only does society sustain the concept that men cannot express emotion, but that they also cannot be graceful or delicate either.

This denigration of constant teas-ing resulted in many days of fear and torn confidence during which Koseff went home crying.

“I seriously considered quitting, because I thought it would make ev-erything better and there was no reason for me to continue,” Koseff said.

Fortunately, one of Koseff’s fam-ily friends, who saw him perform at a show, was encouraging about his dancing and told Koseff to stay true to himself.

“It would have been like throwing away my passion for a bunch of stupid boys,” Koseff said.

Currently, Koseff attends dance class every Monday through Thursday for two to three hours each day. Danc-ing is such an important part of Kos-eff’s life that on the week-ends, he also attends prac-tice for his competition team. In the fall, Koseff participates annually in “The Nut-cracker” and in June, his studio holds a yearly dance show. In his studio, he takes part in a performance team where he competes and performs every year aside from his regular dance class.

“Dance is a huge time com-mitment,” Koseff said. “I’m really devoted to school, so it’s tough to find the time to do homework, go to dance and still have fun.”

As a result of the long hours of commitment required by ballet, Nee, who began dancing ballet at the age of 11, stopped his ballet lessons in his sophomore year of high school but continues to include what he learned from ballet into his other activities.

He began his ballet career the summer he attended a summer camp at the Dance Connection in Palo Alto’s

Cubberly Community Center. Nee, like Koseff, was exposed to many forms of dance such as jazz, hip-hop, tap and, ultimately, ballet.

“I was the only guy there and I realized I kind of liked that,” Nee said.

At the end of the summer camp, Nee won a competition and received a prize of a year’s-worth of free les-sons.

After taking these lessons, Nee took his new level of experience and expanded upon it when he transferred schools and attended classes at the Pacific Ballet Company for the fol-lowing two years.

Nee’s decision to quit ballet did not stop him from using the knowledge he learned from dancing and applying it to other aspects of his interests. At the time, Nee was also committed to gymnastics and theater. He viewed ballet as the lowest of his priorities and decided to continue it only to enhance his other activities.

“Ballet fed into both of the oth-ers,” Nee said. “It is much more fluid and interpretive in nature. You can feel the music and, although you’re doing set moves, you can accentuate them differently.”

Other difficulties faced by male ballet dancers stem from the ex-pected competition with girls in the

same field and accidentally dropping any dance part-ners. In most ballet parts, the male per-sona acts as the support of the female figure as she poses in an ar-abesque, a po-sition where one stands on

one leg and raises the other leg straight out behind him or her.

The difficulties shared between male ballet dancers are universal. Easterling has also experienced hardships.

Easterling, who graduated from Paly in 2006 and currently attends Julliard Conservatory in New York City, shares similar experiences of ballet.

“I was always at the studio [as a child] in the back of classes in my crib trying to follow along,” Easterling said. “I’ve been dancing ever since. I was not ever interested in ballet as a performance art. I only took it for the training so I could have a strong tech-nical foundation for when I attempt to do less classical movement.”

Students face physical, social trials associated with ballet

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After falling in love with dancing at a young age, Easterling is proud of where his passion has taken him. The dynamic curriculum at Julliard produces two concerts per semester. In addition, students perform their own choreographed works.

Usually, Easterling’s school schedule consists of “work,” which includes dancing, choreographing and other elements in creating art, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., five days a week.

The environment at Julliard cre-ates an atmosphere more tolerant of male ballet dancers.

“Coming into Juilliard I knew that technical proficiency was my biggest weakness,” Easterling said. “I have been working hard on sculpting my body so I can produce lines that have direction and are aesthetically pleas-ing. Therefore, when I have to perform movement I am most stressed about making sure that I apply the ideas and principles that I learn in ballet.”

In fact, Easterling said that male dancers may have an easier time than female dancers strictly because of the ratio of men to women dancers. For example, more opportunities are given to men because of their rarity.

“Besides the struggles both guys and girls face to fulfill the demands that dance asks, the only difficulty that is gender specific to men is lifting,” Easterling said. “Male ballet dancers usually have partners and lifting and pressing women over and over again

throughout rehearsals can be really hard on their back.”

While the time commitment and strenuous hours of practice can be compared to that of any other sport, males who do in ballet are exposed to harsh criticisms from society.

“The worst thing about being a male dancer is that there are a lot of people who look at you badly for it,” Koseff said. “I went through a really tough time in middle school because other boys would harass me. It took a lot to put it behind me initially, but I was lucky to have a lot of support. When everyone matured a little bit, at the very least the judgments to my face went away.”

Nee said being a male dancer certainly has its upsides.

“There aren’t many guy dancers, so you’re the odd one out,” Nee said. “But then again, you’re the only guy in a room full of fairly attractive girls in tight leotards.”

While men who dance ballet are often times viewed under a negative light, those males who participate in this sport consider it one of the most rewarding experiences of their life.

“It’s so intense, athletic and dif-ficult, that it’s comparable to any sport, with an extra layer of artistry added on,” Koseff said. “I don’t think it’s bad at all that anyone should manage to succeed at something like that.”

Although Nee does not see bal-let in his future, he still includes his

ballet techniques in his other artistic dance activities.

“There’s more freedom and connection with emotion than in other sports,” Nee said. “Ballet has helped me with theater, juggling and unicycling because it improves your coordination and balance.”

Last summer, Koseff performed in his first solo performance and made it to finals of a national competition that was held in Las Vegas.

“I guess dance has just opened me up to a lot of new experiences,” Koseff said. “Sometimes, my studio goes to dance conventions and I’ll get the experience of competing and auditioning, which is comparable to a lot of situations in life.”

Evidently, lessons learned through ballet and dealing with the harangue that comes with being a male dancer is strengthening in the end.

“I do not see myself performing classical repertoire anytime soon. I only see ballet in my future as a way to help me grow a more solid technical foundation,” Easterling said.

Whether or not ballet continues to play a role in Eastering’s, Nee’s and Koseff’s future, the three have gained valuable skills and have also learned to stay true to what they love.

“I always want to dance, because it’s so important to who I am,” Koseff said. “I really enjoy both the exercise and the expression, so I’ll always find a way to make it part of my life.”

Male Paly upperclassmen overcome feminine stereotypes to pursue classical dance form

Senior Alexei Koseff, who has been dancing since kindergarten, trains rigorously for 12 hours every week. Koseff also faces the stigma of being a male ballet dancer in a sport associated with women.

Julia Benton/The Campanile

“The most frustrating thing is the assumption that you’re gay, and the idea that it’s bad. I can deal with that, but I think it’s even more hurt-ful for people who are gay, because it’s like they are a lesser person.”

Alexi KoseffSenior

March 17, 2008 • B5The Campanile Features

By Hannah BystritskyStaff Writer

Senior Emily Merritt always wanted to study abroad in Spain.

“I decided I wanted to go to Spain because I was born there and lived there until I was three,” Merritt said. “I had no memory of living there, since I was too young to remember any of it and I wanted to experience my ‘home country’ as less of a tourist.”

Like Merritt, a number of Palo Alto High School students are taking advantage of opportunities to study and travel abroad. A slew of programs allow students to take either a semes-ter or a year off to go to school in a foreign country.

“I was in the province of Andaluc-cía, in a town called Chiclana de la Frontera, right by the coast,” Merritt said. “School was pretty cra-zy, because on top of learning in Spanish, the way they teach is really dif-ferent than in California.”

Like Merritt, junior Caitlin Wat-son wants to travel abroad to fully immerse herself in a new culture and learn from a different group of people.

“I want to leave Palo Alto because I want to become fluent in Spanish and also well-versed and experienced with a culture pretty different from

my own,” Watson, who will be trav-eling to Spain next year, said. “I do not want to get locked into this kind of super-academic, high-pressure lifestyle and never really experience anything else. The fact that I can do this now, when I’m still really young, is great. I want to take full advantage of the possibilities that are out there for students.”

While traveling abroad can be an educational and fun experience, students admit it is also stressful and challenging. Leaving home and living on her own in Spain was at times chal-lenging for Merritt, especially when it came to being part of a household of strangers.

“The hardest part about traveling was probably getting along with my young host siblings,” Merritt said. “I’m an only child, so it was my first time having broth-ers and sisters. In any case, I think I handled it pretty well,

even when they would come in my room and bug me when I was trying to sleep in on Saturday mornings. Also, I can’t even begin to tell you how many lectures I gave on saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’”

Another challenge for some students is interpreting the cultural differences and adapting to different social norms.

Senior Claire Lesikar had a simi-lar problem when she traveled to Spain during her junior year.

“Picking up on the different subtleties of social situations was fairly difficult for me,” Lesikar said. “It was pretty similar, but there were some differences I had to decode.”

Admission into a program is relatively accessible, but there are still many obstacles to traveling abroad.

Students must find a host family, figure out school credit and follow host rules — all of which can be fairly challenging.

“Since I’m going away, I have to complete all [of] my credits earlier and figure out college applications,” Watson said. “If you are planning to travel, you definitely want to figure out your credits ahead of time and know your post-high school plans.”

Learning the language and being fully submerged in a different culture can be a challenging transition. Merritt found that without the fully developed skills of a native speaker, it was dif-ficult to keep up with conversation and socializing.

“I felt like a complete idiot when I spoke,” Merritt said. “Despite having learned Spanish for so long, I still felt like a fool half the time I opened my mouth. Sometimes people would cor-rect me, but most of the time they’d just laugh. You have to get over those things because they really help you learn. I ended up getting a lot better at speaking Spanish and I came away with an accent particular not just to that region of Spain, but to the town I was staying in.”

By Annie VoughtStaff Writer

Students at Palo Alto High School are familiar with the shell-pink Suzuki Samurai jeep with “Summer” emblazoned across the sides in glittering letters.

The vehicle zips daily through the staff parking lot with a boogie-board in tow. But the jeep is set apart from others in the parking lot in another way: a bumper sticker that reads “Real Men are Kind to Animals.” The owner of the sticker — and of the car — is Paly staff member Ronald Brown, whose campaigning for animal rights advocacy is visible on walls and bulletin boards throughout Paly’s campus. He cites the phrase on the sticker as his own personal credo.

“Contrary to what some may think, ‘real men’ are so self-assured that they can be compassionate,” he said.

Brown, who has been a member of the Paly staff for five years, was previously a teacher in Wisconsin at both private and public high schools. For the past 25 years, he has been strongly committed to the welfare of animals, annually making financial contributions to 15 different animal rights organizations with his wife, Summer Peters and actively getting involved in various animal-related issues.

“I think that the Earth is sacred,” Brown said. “Plants and animals are sacred. Earth itself has historically been the ‘Mother,’ but I think that [people] are spoiling it.”

His outlook and personal philosophy on the importance of animal welfare are perfectly summarized, Brown said, by the words of renowned 18th and 19th century philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham.

Bentham, one of the earliest proponents of animal rights, questioned the ethics of mankind’s treatment of other creatures.

“The question is not ‘Can they reason?’ nor ‘Can they talk?’; but, ‘Can they suffer?’” Bentham wrote of animal treatment.

Brown, alongside thousands of others, firmly states that the ideas raised by Bentham are still relevant when considering today’s treatment of and compassion toward animals, if not more so than ever.

He believes strongly in the importance of creating awareness about animal suffer-ing and thus tries to make visible the various actions Paly students can take to help protect animals by placing posters and flyers through-out campus.

“Until you know that there is suffering, you just don’t see it,” Brown said. “But once you know that it is there, you see it every-where ... I want to make young people aware of noblesse oblige — the obligation of the nobility to do something for the greater good. Those who have the advantages should make the world better.”

Brown, an avid boxer, found inspira-tion for these ideas in the words of his old coach.

“He said, ‘When you come to die, if you haven’t made the world a better place, then you haven’t done anything,’” Brown said.

Brown, who some may refer to as an animal-rights activist, prefers the term “hu-mane educator.”

Another challenge for some stu-dents can be following the rules of their host household and learning what is considered socially appropriate in a new culture.

Living with a host family can be difficult because guests must adapt to the rules and customs of their new family.

“You have to be willing to com-promise with your host family and become a member of their house hold.” Merritt said. “I met a lot of kids who came through my same program who

didn’t like being told what to do by their host family, and who felt like they should be able to do whatever they feel like.”

Although Lesikar faced some challenges, overall she accomplished everything she hoped to while study-ing abroad.

“I gained foreign language flu-ency, new friends and unforgettable experiences,” Lesikar said. “Basically, everything everyone wants to gain when they live abroad. I feel like I’ve made some amazing friends, had some

crazy adventures and really improved my Spanish.”

Despite the challenges she faced, Merritt also said she had a very posi-tive experience.

“If I could go again, I would in a split second,” Merritt said. “I had so much fun, and I learned a lot, espe-cially about myself. Every once in a while I think ‘Man, I wish I was back in Spain’ or ‘I bet it’s a great day to go to one of its beaches today.’ It was a great experience and you take a lot away from it.”

“Sometimes people would cor-rect [my Spanish], but most of the time they’d just laugh. You have to get over those things because they really help you learn.”

Emily Merrittsenior

“In truth that’s what I do, whether I’m talking to young people or whether I’m writing animal-related letters to the editor or whatever.”

His posters, many of which are produced by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, succeed in drawing the attention of Paly stu-dents. Brown said he believes the presence of animal rights advocacy in a community is crucial because it makes the concept of animal advocacy more mainstream and accessible to members of said community.

Even if students do not always stop to read his posters, Brown said, they will absorb their messages at least in part through their subconscious, thereby beginning the first step toward mainstreaming the idea of supporting animal rights.

“I’m trying to raise awareness, so that when people hear about an important issue, they are already familiar with the idea of animal rights,” Brown said. “When I started advocating for animals 25 years ago, it was an unheard of thing. But now it’s not so off-the-wall.”

Although Paly students may now be fa-miliar with the PETA signs, few are aware of the other measures Brown takes to aid animals and to protect their rights.

Brown was deeply involved in the moun-tain lion controversy that struck Palo Alto in May of 2004, when a police officer shot and killed a mountain lion that had strayed into a family’s backyard.

The Palo Alto Police Department, which partook in a search for the mountain lion since the first report of its presence arose that morning, made a crucial decision to shoot the cougar with a rifle rather than with a tranquil-izer dart for fear that the animal might attack neighborhood residents before the drugs could take effect.

After news of the mountain lion’s death reached the public, many members of the lo-cal community expressed outrage at the city’s chosen course of action.

“The town was wild,” Brown said. “The mayor told me that there had never been more fervor, chaos, anger and hubbub about anything in Palo Alto, ever.”

Brown then began to collect signatures from students and faculty at Paly who were displeased by the mountain lion’s death, even-tually presenting the mayor with a list of over 350 names from the Paly community.

He also wrote to PAPD police chief Lynne Johnson, who told him that she “didn’t think they would do something like this again.”

“I thought the whole thing was handled terribly,” Brown said. “But I like to think that my part, plus the indignation of everyone else, will mean that this really won’t happen again.”

Brown has not always claimed a history of standing up for animal rights, however. Brown, who grew up in Wisconsin, comes from a family which has a strong hunting tradition. Eventually, though, Brown’s enthusiasm for hunting started to wear thin.

“As I would hunt, I’d shoot the animal, and then I’d see its eyes slowly start to glaze,” Brown recounted. “And then you think, ‘this animal was just trying to get by and then this S.O.B., myself, came by and shot it.’”

Brown gave up hunting at the age of 20 and turned to vegetarianism.

“My father was heartbroken,” he said. “But I didn’t need to hunt. When you hunt, you lose respect for life.”

Despite his personal choice to remain a vegetarian, Brown does not demand that others necessarily remove meat from their diets. He asks, however, for those who eat meat to be “respectful of the animals.”

Unfortunately, many current methods of the meat farming industry are in blatant violation of a federal law and of what most animal activists consider to be rather basic moral standards.

Brown recently took part in helping to draw awareness to the atrocities committed by Westland/Hallmark, a California slaugh-terhouse whose violation of various humane slaughter acts resulted in a tremendous scandal this winter.

Legal battles are still running over the scandal sparked by secret video footage of non-ambulatory cattle being forcibly dragged into slaughter by Westland/Hallmark workers — a direct violation of Congress’s Humane Slaughter Act.

“If an animal can’t even walk, then it shouldn’t be eaten,” Brown said. “But [the employees] defied the law, dragging the ani-mals into slaughter and spearing and shoving them with forklifts. Cru-elty shouldn’t be profit-able — if you are going to eat meat, you should be respectful.”

When such important animal rights is-sues surface, Brown makes a point to write to newspapers and his letters are nearly always published.

By persistently contacting both California senators and newspapers, Brown helped to bring the attention of the nation toward the unlawful practices of the Westland/Hallmark slaughterhouse.

Other animal rights activists were out-raged by the abusive behavior of the slaugh-terhouse employees and the collective efforts of these activists and humane educators led to

the arrests of the workers and a 36-state-wide recall of the house’s beef.

Brown also laments the fact that the same laws, which were instated to regulate the humane slaughter of cattle and other farm animals, do not yet apply to poultry.

“[The laws] should be amended to include poultry. Poultry are slaughtered in ghastly fashions,” Brown said, referring to the infamously torturous methods that many American slaughterhouses employ on chick-ens and other fowl.

However, stricter controls of poultry slaughter would cause the industry to lose some profit, which might explain their slug-gishness in becoming legislation.

“The bottom line is money — it’s always money,” Brown said.

Although many animal rights activists exert their energy toward legal reform, Brown remains truer to his title of “humane educator” by working instead through methods of direct contact and gathering awareness.

Brown is aided by PETA’s Action Alert e-mail system, which contacts subscribers with information regarding critical opportunities to help animals.

He frequently takes action on both world-wide and local matters, such as the Westland/Hallmark slaughter case.

“If somebody presents me with a petition, that’s nice, I’ll sign it,” Brown said. “But one person can’t change laws. It’s like trying to stick your finger into a dyke.”

Instead, he tries to change the ways in which people think about and approach situations involving animal liberties. Brown and Peters decided to continue to support animal causes after they pass way. The sole beneficiaries of their will are the 15 animal rights organizations to which they already contribute.

“People aren’t getting anything,” Brown said.

He hopes that Paly students, as well as the rest of the world, will be encouraged to

help support animals in any way they can.

“It’s as Gandhi once said: ‘The great-ness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.’”

Although entirely committed to the wel-fare of animals today, Brown still regrets his hunting past, insisting

that it turned him “bloodthirsty” and caused him to “lose reverence for life.”

“Fortunately I became sickened at what I was doing,” Brown said. “The greatest single influence on my life’s permanent values is Tho-reau, and I agree particularly with one quote of his, ‘Life is better than death, be it man or moose or pine tree.’ Loving all nature at last, if I were raising small children, I would take them to the woods armed only with cameras and would do like the Kodak commercial recommends: ‘Leave nature the way you found it!’ Maybe life will allow me to live long enough to make some amends.”

Senior Emily Merritt spent her junior year studying language in the Spanish coastal town of Chiclana de la Frontera. She cites cultural immersion as one of the most enriching aspects of studying abroad.

Courtesy of Emily Merritt

Staff member defends animal rightsPaly staffer Ron Brown advocates the humane treatment of animals through posters, letters

Students seeking culture, adventure elect to study abroad

Julia Benton/The Campanile

Ronald Brown, known for posting PETA posters (right) around Paly’s campus, also passionately defends animal rights in many other ways. He strongly believes that mankind has a responsibility to care for the Earth and its living creatures.

“Plants and animals are sacred. Earth itself has historically been the ‘Mother,’ but I think that [people] are spoiling it.”

Ronald BrownPaly staff member

FeaturesB4 • March 17, 2008 The Campanile

Antique buildings illustrate history of downtown Palo AltoPopular hotels, theaters, train stations around town feature distinctive historical character, unique detail

Students learn auto skills on their own, spend time to rebuild classic cars CARS, Continued from B1

10% off with student ID!410 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA

(650)323-0409

Melinda WedemeyerRealtor, Alain Pinel

578 University Ave.Palo Alto, CA 94307(650) 543-1109mwedemeyer@apr.com

JJ and F

By Yvonne LinStaff Writer

The town of Palo Alto has a long history and its old age only adds value and color to its story. Many of the buildings that Palo Alto students pass by daily may be as old, if not older than their grandparents.

Hotel President

Tenants of the President Hotel Apartments in downtown enjoy a great housing bargain and live in the once classiest hotel in Palo Alto. Shortly after the completion of its construc-tion, the Hotel President welcomed its first guests in 1929, right when staying in downtown hotels was a new national craze that indicated class and good taste.

According to the Palo Alto His-tory Project Web site, auto-friendly motels like the Cabana and Dina’s Garden started to spring up along El Camino Real in the 1950s and 1960s. This occurrence caused the Hotel President to lose its customer base, despite its business success. The Ho-tel President was converted to studio apartments in 1968.

Dennis Backlund, resident at the apartment for 26 years and Historic Preservation Planner for City of Palo Alto, said all the current structures in the apartment, including tiles and plaster, remained the same.

“If you see something that has no reason to be there [around the apartment] today, there probably was something — it was [probably] taken out,” Backlund said.

The elevator inside the President Hotel Apartment installed in the 1950s is still in use and squeaks loudly when in motion.

Luxurious dark leather coats the entire interior of the elevator box, with detailed floral patterns stained on it. Although parts of the leather coating are peeling off, it is still evident that the hotel had no doubt once been the symbol of sophistication and class in Palo Alto.

Backlund said before a theft in the 1980s, the hotel-converted apartment lobby resembled a palace; extravagant gilded mirrors were hung near the en-trance and antique Persian rugs were lavishly spread across the floor.

“There was all sorts of theft going on in the ‘80s,” Backlund said.

Backlund said someone stole the entire rug and all the armchairs in the lobby one evening and the criminal was never apprehended.

“‘Greed is good’ was the slogan of the time,” Backlund said.

However, the frequent crime occurrence stopped by the end of the ‘80s. Now, primarily Stanford graduate students and singles live in the apartments, mostly due to its proximity to stores and its relatively low rent.

The Varsity TheatreWhile it may be hard to picture

downtown Palo Alto without the hip Borders Bookstore on University Avenue, the Varsity Theatre used to be a place where townspeople would gather to watch the latest movies in its one-screen auditorium. Hints of the building’s past can still be spotted if one knows what to look for.

Along with its saved marquee, the red and white neon lights shaped in block letters that used to be the theater’s sign are still left intact and hangs above Borders’ banner. The impressive sand-colored arches and pillars surrounding the courtyard remain unchanged since the theater’s opening in 1927.

The gilded interior walls of what is now Borders, crafted in decorative forms such as floral patterns, emblems

and childish faces, suggest that the Varsity Theatre had once been a glori-ous movie theater. After fifty years of showing Hollywood blockbusters, the Varsity Theatre underwent transfor-mation in 1987 and became a revival house where only aged, classic films played. Sadly, it stopped showing films in 1994.

Although some art lovers urged the city to preserve the beloved Varsity Theatre and utilize it as a performing arts center or a historical museum, the Borders retail chain eventually bought the theater. Because the restoration and preservation project would cost an enormous sum of approximately five million dollars, the city rejected the proposal.

Although the efforts to preserve the historic building failed, Borders agreed to preserve most of its original interior. The two large ornamental decorations found in the ceiling of Borders are remains of where the chan-delier of the theater used to hang.

In order to reconstruct the build-ing, the stadium-style auditorium as well as the ascending stairs were knocked down. However, the preser-vation group succeeded in persuading Borders to keep the marquee, court-

yard and some of its interior features. Backlund, who also planned the recon-struction project, said Borders initially was reluctant to invest on maintaining the theater’s interior. However, Bor-ders later changed its mind.

“Now that they see that having the additional historical value and decora-tion is an attractive asset for customers who come [to Borders] to buy books, they must be happy to have kept the old features,” Backlund said.

When students read about the rail-road expansion in 1920s in their U.S. history class, most do not immediately connect Palo Alto as relevant to this important social revolution.

When they busily pass by or wait at the Palo Alto Caltrain station, they often dismiss the now defunct cream-colored building erected by the railroad tracks. The purpose and past of the building remain a mystery to most.

Today, although the South Pa-cific Depot is no longer teeming with bustling crowds waiting in queue to purchase train tickets, its status as one of the most significant historical

landmarks in Palo Alto remain un-challenged.

Completed in 1941 by the South-ern Pacific Company, just years before the decline in railroad popularity, the single-story Palo Alto Station served a total of about 600 residents and Stanford students.

This newly finished station, which replaced the one built in 1897, had an arcade in front and a marquee at the rear. Its elaborate interior design also befitted the hub city that it served, consisting of a ticketing office, wait-ing room, rest rooms and baggage rooms. The station was designed in the Streamline Moderne style — hip at the time — which features curving forms and long horizontal lines. Backlund said the ticketing office was operated manually and the Palo Alto depot was once the third most trafficked station in California.

The mural in its interior above the ticketing booth can still be seen today. The art done by John McQuarrie depicts the Leland Stanford’s dream of a prospering university influenced by a pageant of transportation: steam trains along with hopeful settlers on horseback and wagons rushing west-ward to California.

Today, the red Southern Pacific Line logo still adorns the main win-dows of the building, but doors to the ticketing lobby were closed long ago; a thin layer of dust now covers the floor of the once bustling lobby and automated ticketing machines replace friendly faces manning the station.

Refurbished in the early 1980s, the Palo Alto station has become a regional transit center for bus pas-sengers and Caltrain commuters.

The Stanford Theatre Unlike its nearby rival the Varsity

Theatre and many other outmoded single-screen theatres, the Stanford Theatre did not meet the dismal fate of closure. Thanks to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Stanford Theatre has survived the trials of time.

The Stanford Theatre was built in 1925 for $300,000 and was immedi-ately praised by the local press to be the pride of the Peninsula. At the time, the Stanford showed premiers of such classics as The Philadelphia Story and Rear Window, hosting opening nights with celebrity blessings and drawing crowds of movie aficionados.

However, declining business in the 1960s led the theater to modify its offering; for a brief period, the Stan-ford showed obscure off-Broadway plays and bland pop acts that received no praise and little notice. Unsuccess-ful at this new endeavor, by the early 1980s the Stanford reverted back to showing films, this time of second-run variety.

However, when the Stanford’s showing of old movies attracted the attention of David Woodley Packard, who later poured five million dollars into the restoration project, he single-handedly ensured that the theater would be restored to its former glory with great accuracy.

To do so, Packard’s crew pains-takingly searched for original pho-tographs of the theater in the ‘30s to serve as models for replication. Additionally, the crew brought in the original construction team from Los Angeles to manage the restoration project.

After decades, these historical landmarks of Palo Alto are still stand-ing erect. They are reminiscent of the city’s past as it undergoes social transformation and evolves into the charming town Palo Alto High School students have come to know.

sports and other activities, dedicating time to working on a car or buying auto parts is difficult.

“The ‘67 Cougar, which I got first, I’ve spent almost a year and a half on and I’m not completely done,” Fittoria said. “I have school, sports and all these other things. It takes a long time.”

Despite the problems, Fittoria cites many advantages of rebuilding cars.

“You can take a muscle car from the ‘60s or ‘70s and make it look however you want,” Fittoria said. “You can make it faster, bigger and louder. And it’s that sense that you made it yourself. I can say that these are my cars, that I rebuilt them.”

Another benefit is the relatively inexpen-sive cost of these cars.

“Rebuilding it yourself is a lot less money than paying someone to do all the work,” Fit-toria said. “When you have the knowledge to do all the work, it’s a lot cheaper. At most,

doing all the work on a car is maybe a couple thousand dollars.”

Maggi is taking a different path with his car, investing a self-estimated $10,000 from his parents and personal savings to fix up his VW Bug, not to mention countless hours of working and fixing.

“I spend hours mulling over in my mind, making sure I’m doing it right,” Maggi said. “I had to replace certain things, which led to replacing other things, so I spent more money. The biggest thing this has used up is time but it’s worth it. ”

Not only did Maggi add changes such as custom black rims, a new engine and custom interior details, he also repaired all of the problems that seemed to plague the car.

“I sanded off all the paint, dealt with the rust because it’s a pretty old car, painted and restored the frame, put in new brake lines and fixed holes,” Maggi said.

Maggi also installed a custom air suspen-sion system and took the car to a paint shop to give it a distinctive blue color.

“The air suspension is probably the car’s most unique feature,” Maggi said. “I can make the car go within a few inches of the ground and then raise it up when I want to drive it. It adds a new level to the car because you don’t see a lot of cars with air suspension.”

Likewise, the awe and impression a rebuilt car has motivates Fittoria.

“I rebuild these cars so that I can drive them and be in this nice looking car,” Fittoria said. “When I go down University Avenue, people stare at my car and notice it.”

Despite the frustration of challenging car parts and the difficult balance between other activities and his project, Maggi is also looking forward to his final product.

“I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted it to look like and I’m surprised as to how close my original dream my car has come to,” Maggi said. “I’m pretty proud of myself. This isn’t something you see everyday, someone in high school doing this kind of stuff. The sense of accomplishment is definitely worthwhile.”

Julia Benton/The CampanileDriven by his interest in automobiles, senior Michael Fittoria has rebuilt five cars, transforming both the physical and mechanical capabilities of his cars.

The Southern Pacific Railroad Depot95 University Ave.Founded 1941

The Varsity Theatre456 University Ave.Founded 1927

Historic Buildings in Palo Alto

The Stanford Theatre221 University Ave.Founded 1925

The Hotel President488 University Ave.

Founded 1929

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ity A

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eEl Cam

ino

Real

Alma Street

Middlefield Road

Julia Benton/The Campanile, Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile

The Palo Alto Southern Pacific Railroad Depot

March 17, 2008 • B3The Campanile Features

By Rebecca AllenNews Editor

As Tiffany opens her eyes, she realizes that school begins in 40 min-utes. She has been awake for the past four hours and has gotten less than two hours of sleep. Palo Alto High School senior “Tiffany,” who, like the other sources in this article chose to remain anonymous, has battled insomnia for the majority of her teenage years and often struggles to get more than three hours of sleep a night.

“Most of the time, I sleep a little bit,” Tiffany said. “But I have experi-enced periods of time when I just don’t sleep at all for a few days.”

Insomnia is defined as a chronic inability to fall asleep or remain asleep for an adequate length of time. According to a 2004 study on teen-age sleeping patterns, 17 percent of students aged 14 to 18 have persistent enough sleeping patterns and habits to be defined as insomniacs.

Tiffany first started having sleeping problems in middle school, which soon escalated into full-blown insomnia. Some nights she would not sleep at all; often, she got less than an hour of sleep.

“I stopped sleeping normally be-cause I got extremely anxious and just couldn’t sleep,” Tiffany said. “Now I don’t sleep just because I’m used to not sleeping. I just stay up.”

Caused by a multitude of fac-tors, typical insomnia is often due to anxiety. There are two main types of insomnia: short-term (transient) and long-term (chronic). Stress and poor mental state are cited as causes for both types of insomnia and often the severity of stress can impact how long the insomnia lasts.

“Matt,” a Paly sophomore, was diagnosed with insomnia in the sev-enth grade when he stopped sleeping through the night.

After his parents’ divorce, he began staying up late due to anxiety over his situation and when school began to get more difficult, his sleep-ing patterns became more and more irregular.

“It is hard to say that the only thing that caused my insomnia was my parents’ divorce or stress about school,” Matt said. “I know that I have always had a very active mind and imagination and that makes it very hard for me to focus on sleeping. The problems come because once you start thinking about sleep and how you don’t sleep enough, it is impossible to stop thinking about it.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, both a stressor and a poor mental attitude about a person’s inability to sleep or even a fear of sleep can trigger insomnia.

“[The affect of sleep deprivation] depends on how long it’s been since I’ve slept,” Tiffany said. “If I get a little sleep, I actually think I have more energy; I get an adrenaline rush.”

According to the sleep study, 15 percent of teens drive drowsy and with below minimum attention to the road which increases the rate of accidents in and around schools.

Additionally, 73 percent of teens who develop anxiety and increased stress at school do not sleep well the previous night, thus increasing the tension they feel at school. Conversely, over 80 percent of the teens who do sleep on a regular pattern have an average GPA between 3.2 and 4.0, whereas students who suffer from sleeping disorders and irregularities have a much lower average.

Though there is medication avail-able to help insomniacs and those who have trouble sleeping at night, students like Matt and Tiffany do not see those as viable options for them.

“Taking medication like Ambien when I can’t sleep causes me to be a completely different person the next day,” Matt said. “I am absolutely not willing to sacrifice my personality and my energy level just so I can sleep a little more. The medicine disorients you the entire day.”

Ambien, a sleep aid, is classified as a hypnotic and users often report of experiencing at least minor side effects the next day, which include drowsi-ness and feeling disoriented. However, symptoms can be more serious such as becoming a more aggressive person and having violent tendencies.

Tiffany believes that it is not worth taking a sleep aid in order to get more sleep.

“I think that I am completely dif-ferent than I would be with a ‘healthy’ sleep pattern,” Tiffany said.

Beyond diagnosed insomnia, teen insomnia is a serious issue for students, particularly in high-stress school districts such as Palo Alto.

Teen insomnia is defined as an interrupted sleep schedule due to out-side forces such as school, social life, pressure and in many cases hormonal imbalances. The main hormone that interrupts a teen’s ability to sleep is estrogen, which, though released more prominently in a female body, is pres-ent in both men and women.

Estrogen can also be found in cattle and pesticides in food and when a person eats an excessive amount of food, he or she releases more estrogen.

When both men and women go through puberty, estrogen is released to stimulate sex organs and changes the circadian rhythm, which normally controls sleep pattern.

Senior Alexei Koseff said that due to school pressure, extracurricular activities and constant distractions, it is impossible for him to get a full night’s sleep and come to school well rested the next day.

“I get hours of homework every night, from math and English espe-cially,” Koseff said. “But then I feel the need to check my Facebook, my e-mail, PerezHilton.com and so on. I’m aware that I need to go to bed, but I still get distracted for at least an hour.”

Many students claim that because of the constant work and pressure to

take additional Advanced Placement classes, getting the recommended amount of sleep each night is unre-alistic.

“The workload at Paly is huge and I’m always trying to find time to fit it in,” Koseff said. “I think the non-stop intensity of being at this school contributes to my need to just chill for some time each day, but that time can only come when I really need to be sleeping.”

According to The National Sleep Foundation, high school students are supposed to get eight to twelve hours of sleep a night.

However, 85 percent of students do not come near eight hours a sleep a night, averaging around six hours each night.

During the ages of 14 to 18, sleep is crucial not only for health reasons but also allows students to learn better.

“Sleep serves not only a restor-ative function for adolescents’ bodies

and brains, but it is also a key time when they process what they’ve learned during the day,” Jodi A. Min-dell, Associate Director of the Sleep Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said.

The study shows most teenag-ers are turning to caffeine in lieu of sleep.

About 75 percent of all 14- to 18-year-olds drink at least one bev-erage with caffeine and out of that population, one third of those teens drink two or more beverages.

The study recommends keeping electronics outside of the room, doing homework earlier in the day and exer-cise to improve sleeping patterns.

However, it also acknowledges that making a real difference is unlikely without later start times at schools.

“In the competition between the natural tendency to stay up late and early school start times, a teen’s sleep is what loses out,” Mindell said.

For Tiffany and Matt, sleep deprivation is more than just stress and distractions. It is internal, and school only serves as complicating the problem.

“I don’t think anything Paly has done is the cause of not sleeping but I do think that teachers and administra-tors could be more understanding of the affects of losing sleep,” Tiffany said.

Though Matt thinks that insomnia is a personal issue that each person has to deal with on his or her own accord, he also thinks that Paly has a responsibility to take care of each student and make sure that they are mentally stable.

“I understand that the teachers have a duty to teach,” Matt said. “But by taking accountability for the amount of work given and the early start time, we can start to eradicate the problems with our sleep schedules and help each student become more stable.”

By Jon ShanStaff Writer

Twenty minutes checking Facebook, ten minutes on Gmail, then another fifteen minutes spent on Facebook. The incremental amount of time initially spent avoiding homework snowballs, growing exponentially until the typical high school student’s procrastination reaches its zenith.

For many students, logging in to check their numerous online accounts is a time-consuming task. Now, a new Palo Alto-based company called PageOnce may have the solu-tion: a personal content aggregator.

Personal content aggregators are web-pages that collect information from other web-pages and transmits the data back to a centralized homepage. Like many other services online, PageOnce is a free service available at www.pageonce.com/utr.htm

After signing in, users are presented with a page filled with icons of various service providers, including Yahoo, Netflix, Facebook, Myspace and more. Clicking each site brings up a sign-in box, allowing users to input their usernames and passwords.

Once on the site, users are presented with a site that is divided into six tabs, with the homepage showing a summary of all the information and the tabs giving detailed infor-mation about each category such as finance, shopping and travel.

From PageOnce, students can stay up-dated on their Facebook messages, check their e-mails, find out when their next Netflix DVD will come and how many minutes are left on their cell phone plan. Parents can also use it to cross reference their credit cards with their checking accounts, keep tabs on the delivery status of items ordered from places like Ama-zon.com, check up on their phone bills or even stay up to date on their investment portfolios. One drawback to the program is its inability to send or otherwise edit information directly from the PageOnce homepage. Replying to e-mails or social network “wall posts” requires going to the actual page.

Instead, PageOnce provides links that automatically log users into those accounts and if they fall victim to credit card fraud, PageOnce displays the telephone number of their credit card company.

Privacy advocates worried about the site’s venerability may be somewhat comforted in knowing that PageOnce uses 128-bit en-cryption, the highest industry standard for

data protection and is audited and tested by reputable third party security firms.

The company was founded in mid 2007 by CEO Guy Goldstein and Hakim Kufman. PageOnce recently received a $1.5 million boost from venture capitalists and has a de-veloper team based in Israel. A three person staff is currently working out of a building on El Camino Street.

According to Goldstein, the user base has grown to over 10,000 users. The program is currently invite-only, similar to Gmail in its early stages.

“We are currently in private beta right now and we will go to public beta within the next few weeks,” Goldstein said. “Although we are in beta, we are finding that people are finding us.”

A new “Invite friends” link was added, allowing for current beta users to invite friends and family to use the service.

Companies like Yahoo! and Google have fought not only for dominance as search en-gines, but also as the user’s homepage.

Each of those services (like iGoogle and My Yahoo!) has customizable modules showing news, blog posts and RSS feeds. On iGoogle, users can add on custom widgets such as clocks and calendars.

However, neither of these programs al-low users to directly access any log-in based accounts outside of the service tied with their own.

From the iGoogle.com homepage, us-ers cannot check their Yahoo! Mail and vice versa whereas PageOnce can and is currently attempting to fill that niche with its service.

“Ideally we would like for PageOnce to be where users log in every day,” VP of Marketing Aimen Minhaf said.

The feedback the company has received from users has also been positive and en-couraging.

“Overall people really like it,” Minhaf said. “They [users] say they were looking for something like this.”

Like many other free services, PageOnce may find methods of revenue, such as ad-vertisements, in order to bring in funding for development. For now, the site is free of advertisements.

Like all web services, PageOnce provides links to its privacy and terms of service page on every page.

“We are currently talking to VCs [venture capitalists],” Minhaf said. “The more accounts people put in, the more they frequently use it, the better. Our goal right now is to try to make the service as useful as possible for customers on a frequent basis.”

Recently, PageOnce was chosen by the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, a organization devoted to potentially promis-ing connecting Israeli start-ups to resources including investors and the media.

Created in mid-2007, PageOnce allows users to access all their accounts such as Facebook, e-mail and phone bills from one central location. The service is currently in private beta but is expected to become public beta in the upcoming month.

Students under stress battle insomniaTeen insomniacs unable to fall asleep due to academic and social pressures, anxiety

PageOnce offers a new approach to using the Internet

According to The National Sleep Foundation, only 15 percent of high school students are getting the recommended amount of sleep. Insomia is caused by stress and anxiety, but distractions such as extracurriculars, homework can also influence sleep deprivation.

Allie BollellaThe Campanile

FeaturesB2 • March 17, 2008 The Campanile

By Kevin HarveyStaff Writer

Most students at Palo Alto High School do not expect a history of severe racism in their greater com-munity. Most students discuss the United States’ shadowy history tainted by racial prejudice and how people continue to work to overcome it. However, these students are not aware of the fact that during the 1920s and mid-1940s, many residents of Palo Alto and Stanford University were members of the racist hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 by veterans of the Confederate army after the Civil War in an attempt to resist the northern states’ plans of reconstructing the South.

The Klan used violence and ter-rorism, such as lynching or cross burn-ing, to display their white-supremacist views and to intimidate social or ethnic groups that they believed were of lower status. However, the first iteration of the Ku Klux Klan began to disintegrate after President Ulysses S. Grant passed the Civil Rights Act of 1871.

Both Palo Alto and Stanford University established their own distinct chapters of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s and mid-1940s. Their members acted on their hatred of African-Americans, Catholics, Jews, homosexuals and immigrants throughout the community.

A second wave of Klan followers emerged in 1915 when D.W. Griffith’s film, Birth of a Nation, was released. The film was based on Reverend Thomas Dix-on’s book, The Clans-men, which romanticized the original f o r m a t i o n and actions of the Klan.

The propagandist’s film dis-played images of white men rescuing terrified Southern white women from haunting-looking black men and

protecting the South from negative black influence.

Klan membership dramatically increased in the late 1910s to six million members across the country, which was about one quarter of the American male population during the time period. Many women were involved in the Klan as well.

In 1923, Palo Alto first encoun-tered the Klan when Robert Burnett, a Texan and engineering graduate of Stanford University, advised the Palo Alto Times of his determination to create a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Palo Alto.

By the next year, two local chap-ters emerged. One was a Palo Alto chapter, made up of some of the area’s businessmen and political figures and the other was at Stanford University, comprised of at least seven members of its staff. Later that same year, a women’s auxiliary of the Palo Alto chapter was instated and consisted of over 50 members.

Unabashed, the two chapters of the Klan held many of their meetings publicly and throughout Palo Alto, both out in the streets or in public facilities.

According to the Palo Alto Times archive, initiations of new members were carried out and witnessed by as few as a hundred local resident or as many as a few thousand. They were organized by assigned recruiters, or Kleagles. Venues, such as the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds and numer-ous other halls in the area, were used for initiations and demonstrations. The Klan gatherings were extremely

formal and each event w o u ld b e conducted by an assigned leader. All m e m b e r s w o u ld b e

suited in a white hooded robe and a cross was burned as members chanted and made speeches.

At this time, Palo Alto Police Chief Chester F. Noble used his au-

thority to repress the growing Klan movement within Palo Alto by aid-ing potential minority victims and empowering building owners to not rent their sites to the Klan. He made a valiant effort to eliminate Klan corrup-tion within the police force by firing officers whom he discovered to be Klan members and by preventing po-lice compliance with Klan activities, according to the Palo Alto Times.

Noble was later brought to trial and falsely accused by enraged Klan members of financial corruption and dismissal of charges against numerous criminals. Noble was testified against by multiple Klan members, including Burnett.

Outward violence by the Klan was relatively dormant during the 1920s. The Klan was able to intimidate the social and ethnic groups that it despised because of its large size.

The Klan drastically adapted since the 1920s and was much more secretive and covert. They no longer held large marches or gatherings, and all actions that were labeled as the Klan’s were generally more terrorist-like intimidation rather than intimidation by the masses.

During the mid-1940s, Palo Alto residents suspected that there had been a second uprising of the Ku Klux Klan. However, the suspicion was never corroborated.

On May 31, 1946, a three-foot-high Ku Klux Klan insignia was painted in bright red on the intersection of Homer Avenue and Ramona Street, which was formerly a dominantly black populated area of town.

The menacing insignia disturbed local residents and Palo Alto Chief of Police Howard A. Zink immediately took action to repress any further up-rising, vandalism or violence. Earlier that year, the home of an African-American WWII veteran named John T. Walker was burned to the ground in Redwood City, after the 22-year-old veteran was repeatedly threatened.

Despite the collaboration with the Palo Alto Police Department and other

local police departments, no one was ever convicted for the crime.

Most students react to this little-known fragment of Palo Alto’s past with disbelief.

“I know that the Ku Klux Klan was very wide spread, but I did not make the association that they were so prolific as to spread here too,” junior Nadav Shiffman said.

Despite the popularity of the Klan in certain areas, the Klan has mostly disappeared in the U.S.

“While the crimes of the sort have subsided, the tensions are still there,” Shiffman said. “Perhaps it will always be there as long as we continue to view race as an issue.”

Ku Klux Klan hate crimes darken Palo Alto’s history

Hospitalized students receive unique education

Antique images from the 1920s and 1930s depict Ku Klux Klan members, dressed in white robes, engaging in illegal activities and secret rituals. The painting of the Klan’s insignia in 1946 in Palo Alto (right) alludes to a possible second uprising of the Klan in the 1940s.

Both Palo Alto and Stanford Uni-versity had their own distinct chap-ters of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s and mid-1940s.

www.old-picture.com, cache.viewimages.com, www.paloaltodailynews.com

PAUSD and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital collaborate to continue education for residents of the hospital

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Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital School, the second oldest school in PAUSD, accommodates its young patients by providing personalized instruction during their stay at the hospital. The school has an enrollment of about 50 students.

By Michael HamadaStaff Writer

When teacher Cameron Sunde walks into her elementary school classroom, she sees an ordinary classroom full of children’s books, crayons, chairs, student artwork and colorful paper cutouts. It is almost nine in the morning, but Sunde’s first students will not arrive for another half an hour, so she read-ies her lesson plans for the day. The place is spotless; it has to stay clean and organized for good reason. As average as the classroom may seem at first glance, it is one of the most unique schoolrooms in the entire Palo Alto Unified School District.

A closer look will reveal a biohazard box placed near medical gloves and disinfectant spray in the corner of the room. At the entrance of the facility, visitors will even be questioned about recent illnesses and possible exposure to disease.

There is even the option of picking up a face-mask for one’s own protection. Some-times the students of Sunde’s classroom can-not make it to class and will require bedside teaching. These are the conditions that the students of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) School must endure to keep up with their schooling.

Even though the LPCH School, founded in 1924, is the second oldest school in the PAUSD behind Palo Alto High School, most students do not even know it exists.

The school is a collaboration program between the PAUSD and the LPCH to provide education to critically and chronically ill chil-dren during their stay at the hospital.

“The LPCH School is the same in almost every aspect as any of the other schools in the district, except that LPCH students become residents in the district, staying at either the hospital or the Ronald McDonald House,” PAUSD Associate Superintendent Marilyn Cook said.

Sunde is proud of her students who insist on continuing their education despite the dif-ficult circumstances they face.

“The children who come here are gener-ally more mature and their responses are more adult-like because of the things they have been through,” said Sunde, the leading teacher at the LPCH school.

According to Sunde, most of the patients who attend the school are in the hospital for transplants, which usually require a hospital stay of over 100 days.

“Since a regular school year is about 180 days, a student in the hospital for a transplant is missing about two thirds of their school

year,” Sunde said. “So most kids will want to try and keep up with their schooling if their condition permits them.”

However, it is not always easy for the students at LPCH.

“Some students will come into class in wheelchairs or other medical paraphernalia,” Cook said.

Most students, because of their medical conditions, are unable to work together in class. This is the reason for why most of the students receive one-on-one teaching. There are also a few group classes that include art and theater.

The LPCH school currently has an enroll-ment of about 50 students who’s grade levels range from kindergarten through 12th grade. Of the 210 children in the hospital only a certain number are of the right age and are in

a stable enough condition to attend the school. Although the school program is funded by the PAUSD and all the teachers are provided by the district, only about two percent of the students who attend the LPCH school are from the city of Palo Alto.

When a new student enters the school, teachers at the LPCH school will contact the school the child was previously attending and obtain information about where the student stands regarding his or her schooling. The teachers will then develop a student-specific curriculum to match the needs of each student with material obtained either from the school the student previously attended or from the PAUSD.

“It is a complex process that requires a lot of preparation from the staff,” Sunde said. “But it is the only solution when you have

so many students at different grade levels, who have all learned different things at their previous schools.”

Maia Evrigenis, a seventh grader cur-rently attending the LPCH school, was skepti-cal at first about this new school.

“When I was first diagnosed with leuke-mia and moved from Sutter Middle School in Sacramento, I was scared about school and how hard it was going to be,” Evrigenis said.

However, when Evrigenis began attend-ing the LPCH school she soon realized that everything was going to turn out fine.

“The best part is that the teachers are so fun and they are your friends,” Evrigenis said. “You also get a lot of one-on-one attention which is great because when you go through chemo, it makes you forget about things.”

According to a LPCH report, there are students from China, Jordan and Samoa currently attending the school. Students receive an average of three and a half hours of classroom instruction per day unless they are receiving bedside teaching. The report also stated that children who become ill have responded better to treatment if they maintain similar routines.

“Students who attend the LPCH school are given a district transcript with course credits from the PAUSD,” Marilyn Cook said. “We have also arranged with the College Board to have students take Advanced Placement and SAT tests at the LPCH school.”

Evrigenis said the atmosphere is laid back, but it is still difficult for the students to be away from friends and miss out on the social aspect of going to a regular school.

“Of course you make friends, but I miss being around my friends at home a lot,” Evrigenis said.

Attending the LPCH school is as good as any school, as some students have gradu-ated from the program and are now attending prestigious universities. Cook and Sunde said some graduates and past attendees are currently enrolled at Stanford University, University of California at Los Angeles and Dartmouth College.

“Probably the most memorable thing for me is putting together the Hospital School Prom each year,” Kathy Ho, a LPCH high school teacher, said. “There are so many kids who miss their own proms, or who will never get to go to one and we want all our students to have as normal a life as possible.”

LPCH school alumnus Alexandra, whose full name has been withheld for privacy rea-sons, said that her friends never understood what a gift the school was to students like her.

“The opportunity is not just to have what is essentially three private tutors on hand for four hours a day, but it is also a break and distraction from being sick,” Alexandra said. “For a little while each day, fellow students and I can pretend that we aren’t sick, but instead, in a special school with relaxed, but smart teachers.”

Teachers at the LPCH school have their work cut out for them, but it is the students who defy the odds and choose to continue their schooling regardless of their unfortunate situations.

“These kids have a very different perspec-tive because of their situations, so they are inspiring to me and to the other kids around them,” Ho said. “Our kids are special.”

Lifestyles

FEATURES

Features • A&E • People Monday, March 17, 2008The Campanile

Media’s momentum manipulative

Chris Clayton Jon Shan

A&E

On Mar. 4, Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island all held primaries or caucuses; according to the media, Hillary Clinton won a “definitive vic-tory,” taking Ohio by approximately 10 percent, the Texas primary by a little over three percent and Rhode Island by approximately 18 percent. Obama took Vermont by over 20 percent and, with 41 percent of the precincts report-ing, was winning the Texas caucus by over 12 percent.

Finally, when the delegates were tallied (not including those from the Texas caucus, which on Thursd, have not been delegated to each candidate, as the caucus results are not complete), Clinton had gained fewer than 20 del-egates across the four states, hardly a resounding victory, as these delegates comprised less than 10 percent of the total delegates at stake that night, and substantially less than one percent of the total delegates to date.

But what, then, did Clinton win that night? Although the delegate count remained virtually unchanged, she gained political momentum.

Political momentum has been emphasized enormously throughout this campaign, almost entirely by the media, as being nearly as important as the relative delegate totals. But what is political momentum, then, save a fabrication of the media, created to allow for another topic of discussion, and increase ratings by encouraging potential voters to continue watching a station?

Political momentum, in and of itself, is meaningless; one rarely sees the candidates proclaiming that they have the momentum of the country behind them or that their momentum will carry them to the nomination. Instead, they discuss why they are better, and imply that their superior policies cause others to rally behind them.

Thus, the media is responsible for this phenomenon, and deserves criti-cism for its irresponsibility in creat-ing this false perception that extends far outside their role as information providers and affect politics in a de-ceptive manner counterproductive to our democracy.

Conversely, this momentum has played a role in helping Barack Obama, particularly after his virtual tie with Clinton on Super Tuesday, and his 11 consecutive victories be-tween then and the March 4 primaries and caucuses. Either way, the media should not create this pendulum that alters the “momentum” of the race, and unfairly advantages one candidate or the other.

The problem with momentum is that it derives from nothing other than the previous victories of each candidate and does not reflect the actual merits of each candidate. Voters should be voting based upon whom they believe would be a supe-rior commander-in-chief, whom they believe will be best able to win in the general election, whose policies they agree with more, and whom they believe will more effectively facilitate the transformation of these policies into concrete legislation and executive action.

What the entire concept of politi-cal momentum encourages is voting based upon the previous primary victories of each candidate, something that is reflected very little, if at all, in the reasons for which one should sup-port a candidate, and is certainly no manner by which one should choose for whom one will vote.

The media needs to realize that it cannot extend its power beyond serv-ing the people, without bias in news, and with intelligent commentary in opinion. It must refrain from swing-ing elections by offering manipulative information that is irrelevant to the reasons for which voters should vote for a candidate.

FEATURES

By Kelly ZhouStaff Writer

Rolling up to his house after four weeks away during the summer, Palo Alto High School senior Michael Fittoria expected to find everything as he had left it. Instead, he found something else: potential.

“I suddenly saw two nice muscle cars [1967 and 1969 Mercury Cou-gars] just standing there, and by nice, I mean pieces of junk,” Fittoria said “But I could see that a year from now, those cars would definitely come out really well. Just seeing what I could do with these cars made me feel so good.”

Driven by his love for cars, Fitto-ria started taking apart and rebuilding cars about two years ago.

“My dad gave me a car, an ‘88 Jaguar, as a present for graduating sophomore year and I started work-ing on it,” Fittoria said. “I started just because my dad always used to work on cars and I thought it was fun.”

“You can take a muscle car from the ‘60s or ‘70s and make it

look however you want. You can make it faster, bigger

and louder. I can say that these are my cars, that

I rebuilt them.”

Michael Fittoriasenior

“I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted it to look like and I’m surprised as to how close to my original dream my car has cometo. I’m pretty proud of myself.” Stefano Maggijunior

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By Annie Vought

the mural of the story is...

By Julia Benton

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Another Paly student, junior Stefano Maggi, is working on finish-ing rebuilding a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle, also commonly referred to as a “bug”.

“I really like to tinker around and rebuild things and I’ve always been interested in the way things work,” Maggi said. “Cars interested me because it was something I could rebuild. It sounded really fun and re-warding and I got a lot of inspiration from other people’s projects.”

Maggi expects to complete his project this month after finishing some minor details on the car, including the bumpers and front fenders. He started working on his Bug about two years ago, removing all of the parts and teaching himself how to rebuild a car.

“I took it apart out of interest and I thought I was just going to put it back together as it had been before, but as I started taking more and more parts out, things were in such bad shape

that I decided to fix the car,” Maggi said. “I could see that it had been in an accident before.”

Similarly, Fittoria learned how to rebuild cars by himself, with some as-sistance from his father. Although his car had many problems when Fittoria first received it, such as a lack of an engine and a hood, he rebuilt the car and later sold it.

“I replaced both the engine and the transmission, changed the interior, it was pretty nice,” Fittoria said. “I didn’t really want a Jaguar though. [Later] I sold it because I didn’t need it and it was taking up room.”

Since remaking his Jaguar, Fitto-ria has rebuilt four other cars: a 1967 Mercury Cougar, a 1969 Mercury Cougar, a 1996 Nissan Sentra, and a 1968 Chevy Impala. Although the cars are not entirely finished, most are up and running.

“I drive my ‘68 Impala to school, it’s almost completely done,” Fittoria said. “The only two that aren’t done are

the ‘67 and ‘69 Cougars.

The ‘67 was a complete disaster when I got it. It didn’t even have an engine to begin with. There are some small details to be finished but they’re pretty much ready to go.”

Fittoria is making extensive changes to the cars’ mechanical power and physical appearance, including interior changes, adding a nitrous kit for extra horsepower and replacing the engines.

“For the ‘96 Nissan Sentra, I put nice touches on it like new lights, racing seats, a nice steering wheel, new rims and tires, blue light gauges and a special stereo system,” Fittoria said. “I wanted it to look like a sporty racing car.”

However, all these changes did not come easily.

“There were a lot of difficulties,” Fittoria said. “I’d think that something was fine but when I sanded a part down, like the interior floor panels, I’d

see that the rust was a lot thicker or that there were

holes. The little problems made it harder.”

Maggi experienced a similar technical situation with his car.

“The front end of my car gave me a lot of trouble. At first, when I installed it, I could visibly see that the wheel on the driver’s side was more forward than the other side. I measured everything but the results were completely inconclusive.”

Because of other modifications Maggi had made, it was necessary for him to find the solution.

“This problem haunted me for more than six months,” Maggi said.

After changing the front fenders and adjusting the front suspension, Maggi resolved the problem and aligned the front end of the car.

For both Maggi and Fittoria, time is an important issue. Facing school,

sleepless in Palo Alto

By Becca Allen

B2

SportS The CampanileA12 • March 17, 2008

By Zal DordiStaff Writer

After a less than satisfactory start to last year’s season, the Palo Alto High School Varsity baseball team looks to start off strong with a talented core of players.

The Vikings closed out the 2007 season with four wins in their final six games, fol-lowing an upsetting 3-14 start. For the first seventeen games of the season the Vikings faced many setbacks, including the arm injury of former pitcher Alex Schmarzo.

With Schmarzo out, the Paly pitching staff lost its most important member, crippling the team for what would effectively be the rest of the season.

This season, the Vikings will rely on the youth to power the squad. Though the Vikings have several seniors including Peter Abrams, Will Goodspeed, Michael Martin and Tyger Pederson returning for their final season, the performance of the juniors and sophomores will be key to the amount of success the cur-rent squad will have.

The Vikings will likely begin the season with a two-man rotation. Goodspeed and junior Steven Burk look to be the two mainstays for the Vikings this season. Senior Tommy Dalton will pitch out of the bullpen as the two-inning closer and will get spot starts during three-game weeks.

The team began their pre-season schedule with three extremely tough games. On opening day, the team suffered a demoralizing loss at the hands of Westmont High School.

Senior Neal Ketchum got the call to start for the Vikings, but struggled early on against a clearly superior Westmont team and was relieved by Burke in the fourth with six runs credited to Ketchum’s name.

It would not get easier for the Viking pitching staff, who simply could not find the plate all day. Junior Colin Byrne entered with the Vikings trailing 10-0 in the seventh and gave up a two-run round-tripper giving Westmont their dozen.

The Vikings went down in order in the bottom half of the inning making the final score 12-0.Things would not get better for the Vikings as they dropped their second game 9-0 at the hands of Saint Francis High School.

After two shut-outs and a rained-out game against Serra High School on Feb. 21, the Vikings found their first bright spot of the season by scoring a run in a 9-1 loss to Bellarmine College Prepatory. After the disappointing 0-3 start to the season, the Vikings finally got

their first win of the season in a 21-5 blowout against Fremont High School at home.

Abrams high-lighted the offensive performance with a three-run home run, clearing the right field fence and land-ing in the District Of-fice parking lot. The Vikings hope that the offensive surge in the Fremont game is a clear indication of true abilities of the club.

“I thought this year was going to be a lot like last year, “Abrams said. “But ever since

[Pete] Colombo started working out with us, we’ve got a lot more energy and focus. We could definitely make the playoffs.”

With Colombo returning as an assistant coach and the team fresh off a huge victory over Fremont, the green and white look ahead to successful league play further on in the season. In the first league game of the season the Vikings faced Homestead High School at Homestead in the first game of a two game series. Burk got the call for Paly and pitched a two-hit shutout.

“He hit the spots,” catcher Abrams said of Burk. “He didn’t let the bad calls get to him. He bulldogged up.”

Meanwhile Burke’s Viking offense gave him plenty of support by plating four runs in the first inning against the Mustangs.

Sophomore Wade Hauser highlighted the of-fense with two singles out of Paly’s nine hits. In the second game of the two-game series with Homestead, things did not begin well for Goodspeed, who got the start for the Vikings for their first league game at home.

Goodspeed gave up a leadoff single on the first pitch of the game and walked the number three hitter before giving up a one -out two run double.

After two more walks the southpaw hit the eighth batter of the inning with the bases loaded bringing home the third run of the inning.

The Mustangs would not let up in their offensive assault.

In the top of the second inning, Homestead gathered two hits and a sacrifice fly to add

another run to their lead. The Vikings struck back for one of their own in the bottom half after junior Will Holder hit a leadoff double over the left fielder’s head.

After stealing third he scored on a sacrifice fly by Burk putting the score at 4-1.

The Mustangs broke loose from the Vi-kings in the fourth. After a one-out walk the number three hitter for Homestead launched a Goodspeed pitch over the wall in center for a two-run jack.

After getting the second out of the inning, Goodspeed walked and hit a batter before being relieved by Dalton with two outs in the fourth.

The Vikings almost escaped the fourth with only two runs of damage, unfortunately the third baseman, sophomore Wade Hauser, overthrew Holder at first base allowing two more runs scored before Dalton could end the inning by forcing a groundout.

Kevin Johnson gave the Vikings some life and energy after the long top of the fourth with a one-out solo shot to left-center, but that would be all the Viking offense could muster on the day.

The Homestead Mustangs gained an-other run after a leadoff triple in the fifth. In the sixth, Dalton surrendered a leadoff home run and another one later on in the inning before being relieved by Byrne.

Byrne gave up a double to the first batter he faced. This allowed a twelfth run to score. Byrne then walked the next hitter before settling down to induce a groundout to end the inning.

After hitting the first batter in the seventh inning, Byrne struck out the side halting the Mustangs offense at an even dozen.

The Vikings went down quietly in the bot-tom half of the inning putting the final score at 12-2 and the team’s record at 1-1 (2-4).

Hopefully through experience and team-work, the team will see more wins in the upcoming season.

Vikings expect a successful seasonVarsity baseball team strives to improve season record through teamwork, experience

Hannah McGovern/The Campanile

Junior Will Holder hits a double in the Vikings’ Mar. 7 home game against Homestead High School. The Vikings will attempt to improve upon a slow start to their last season by relying on a blend of youth and experience.

Hannah McGovern/The CampanileSophomore Gracie Cain handles the ball past Woodside defender in Paly’s 3-1 win on Mar. 8. The Vikings began the season with a huge overtime win and look to play strong throughout the season.

Girls’ lacrosse succeeds despite inexperience

Scores

Upcoming games

Fremont @ HomeFebruary 29, 21-5 W

Homestead @ HomesteadMarch 5, 6-0 W

Homestead @ HomeMarch 7, 2-12 L

Los Gatos @ Los GatosMarch 19, 3:30p.m.

Carlmont @ CarlmontMarch 22, 11 a.m.

Baseball

Scores

Upcoming games

Monterey @ HomeMarch 1, 10-6 W

Henry M. Gunn @ HomeMarch 20, 7 p.m.

Lacrosse

By Austin SmithA&E Editor

It’s official: in its entire history, the Palo Alto High School girls’ Var-sity lacrosse team has remained un-defeated. With a 9-8 overtime victory over Woodside High School on Mar. 8, the team won their first match of their first season since the team was assembled this spring.

This team was finally assembled after over four years of community pressure for the creation of a team at Paly. However, lack of funds left

parents and players fighting in vain for a team for their girls to play on. The team was finally approved this season by school officials.

There have always been club teams in the area which include teams such as the Tomahawks, but the play-ers have found value in putting on their Paly green and white.

“It feels great to represent your school,” junior Caroline Lucas-Conwell said. “We used to always have club teams to play on, but this is different.”

As an expansion team, the Vi-kings are dealing with unique circum-stances as they try to build a program that will hopefully have success in years to come.

“There are so many girls out here who have literally never picked up a stick before,” head coach Jen Gray said. “There are six first-time players on varsity, and one hundred percent of our JV players are new to the sport.”

Gray believes that the new team’s inexperience will not undermine

the team’s success throughout the season.

“The new players are still really good athletes,” Gray said. “They don’t have any bad habits so they learn quick. Everything we do in practice they have down perfectly by the next game.”

The Vikings showed signs of struggle in their first scrimmage at Menlo Atherton High School on Feb. 29, falling miserably 16-0.

“We barely had time to practice before that game,” Gray said. “I think if we went back and did that over again, we’d have success. Our improvement in those few weeks has been incredible.”

That improvement was evident come Mar. 8, as the girls defied expectations and defeated a more established Woodside team.

“The team looked awesome,” Gray said. “They were really excited to get out there. We outplayed them too. We only scored nine but we missed a lot of shots we should have made.”

Despite its youth and inexperi-ence as a whole, the team is not without its leaders.

Junior captain Helene Zahoud-anis has been the biggest weapon for the Viking attack so far this season, as she has led the team with two goals against Woodside.

“Helene has experience and is just an all-around good athlete,” sophomore Claire Cooper said. “She’s a great team player who is really fast and aggressive on the field. She has great stick control and ball handling skills.”

The only senior on the team, captain Kati Dahm has been playing the sport the longest.

“Kati brings a lot of knowledge to the team,” Gray said. “She’s a natural leader off the field and she definitely

brings shows her leadership on the field.”

Yet it is not the individual play-ers that give the team its best chance at success.

The Vikings, more so than any other team in the league, have a depth of skilled players on the bench. Against Woodside, the Vi-kings’ nine goals were scored by a total of seven dif-ferent players.

“I’m proud of our depth and our bench players,” Gray said. “Everyone contributed. Everyone’s a scoring threat.”

The players, however, attribute their success to the hard work and knowledge of Gray and her assistant coaches Nicole Hyde and Mark Dahm.

“Jen’s so smart and she definitely knows what she’s doing,” Lucas-Con-well said. “Our coaches can be intense at times, but they get us playing hard and the improvement is really cool.”

The team’s more experienced agree that Gray has done her part in helping the young players and the newcomers mature.

“Gray’s shown a lot of patience,” Dahm said. “She goes through the drills with us, ingraining the basic technique into the younger players’ heads. Everyone comes from dif-ferent sports, so it’s all about incor-porating and channeling everyone’s athletic ability into the basic lacrosse skills.”

Even only one game into the team’s first season, the players are

“The new players are still re-ally good athletes. They don’t have any bad habits so they learn quick. Everything we do in practice they have down perfectly by the next game.”

Jen Grayhead coach

“I thought this year was going to be a lot like last year, but ever since [Pete] Colombo started working out with us, we’ve got a lot more energy and focus. We could definitely make the playoffs.”

Peter Abrams senior catcher

looking ahead to the future of the program.

There is a wealth of talent amongst the younger players, includ-ing freshman stars Gracie Cain and Hannah Elmore.

“[Cain and Elmore] both play soccer so they know how to work the field,” Cooper said. “They are so fast and ag-gressive. ”

The Vikings’ first big test is looming in the not too distant future.

The squad will face off on Mar. 20 at Henry M. Gunn High School, a match which will mark the first time in history that they have faced their cross-town rival.

“In terms of our future, that’s going to be a big game for us,” Gray said. “It’s always good for the team momentum when you beat your rival.”

Finally representing their school colors, they look to seek bragging rights.

“It means a lot to us,” Dahm said. “We finally get the chance to carry on the Paly tradition.”

SportS March 17, 2008 • A11 The Campanile

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PASportsOnline.comNew! From Palo Alto Online

By Sam JonesSports Editor

Despite having a roster domi-nated by young players, the Paly boys’ Varsity tennis team got off to a blister-ing start in the 2008 season.

The Vikings started the season with an 8-1 overall record (4-0 league) despite a wave of sicknesses and injuries that depleted most of the team’s roster. The Vikings’ resiliency already showed in the first weeks of a long season, which is a good sign for the young squad.

The Vikings are still coping with the loss of Kyle Shulman, Matt Sev-erson and Jason Mah, three graduates who played an integral part on last year’s squad.

“Kyle and Matt were undefeated last season in doubles, so to lose them was definitely a big hit to the team,” Head Coach Andy Harader said.

However, the new additions to the team have already begun to play at a very high level, and are filling the gaps quickly providing for a young team with a deep roster.

The new players on the team are freshman Baramee Wongbanchai, sophomores Drew Pearson and Grant Audet and junior John Mitchell.

Wongbanchai, in particular, has made a significant impact on the team early in the season.

As a freshman, he already holds the second singles position on the team, and is displaying skill and matu-rity in his play that is uncharacteristic for one so young.

“Jang [Wongbanchai] is a really solid player,” senior captain David Plotkin said. “He is definitely going to be a dominant presence on the team over the next few years.”

The Vikings opened league play with a match against crosstown rival Henry M. Gunn High School on Feb. 26. The contest was a crucial one as Paly and Gunn are two favorites to capture the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) title this year.

Before the game, both teams knew full well that an early win would give the victor a leg up in what is sure to be a tight race for the SCVAL De Anza Division crown.

The match was evenly played, with each team racking up crucial victories. The third seeded doubles and fourth seeded singles matches were postponed to Feb. 27 due to darkness, as Gunn held a tight 3-2 lead.

With Paly needing both wins to defeat Gunn, the doubles team of ju-niors Alan Chen and Cory McCroskey came through 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), and junior Dan Schwartz pulled off a huge third set victory, 6-4, 6-7 (9-11), 6-3. These clutch victories earned the Vikings a very important 4-3 win.

The victory was of great impor-tance for the Vikings, providing the team with momentum as they enter the long season of league play.

“Beating Gunn was huge for us,” senior captain Kushal Tantry said. “Even though we had a bunch of guys who were sick or injured, we still managed to pull it out. The match was a big confidence boost for the team.”

The Vikings then moved on to play in the California High School Tennis Classic on Feb. 28 and 29 in Fresno. In the first round, Paly faced off against Clovis West High School. The Vikings dominated from the first serve in a 6-1 statement win for the squad.

In the quarterfinals, the Vikings were matched up against Alameda High School. Paly’s momentum from

the previous match aided in a solid 5-2 victory over the opposition.

The Vikings found themselves facing off against a solid Davis High School team in the semifinals, but were not daunted by the competition. With the team playing at its finest level, the young squad won once again in a 5-2 victory that displayed just how strong the young Viking squad is.

The Vikings met a familiar foe in the finals though, as Gunn dominated the other side of the bracket to set up an unexpected early season rematch between the crosstown rivals. But with the Vikings running out of steam and plagued by minor injuries and ill-nesses, the squad could not retain its

momentum in the tournament, losing 2-5 to Gunn.

Despite the tough loss in the finals, the Vikings feel proud of what they accomplished in the tournament.

“It was definitely one of the best performances I’ve seen in the Fresno tournament in the four years I’ve been on the team,” Tantry said. “We played some solid tennis, and placing second out of 16 teams is never something to be ashamed of.”

However, returning home from the loss to Gunn, the Vikings knew they needed to recapture their mo-mentum.

The team responded in a big way to its tough loss against Gunn

Paly boys’ tennis displays dominance early in season

Senior Kushal Tantry hits a backhand in a home victory against Mountain View High School on Mar. 6. Although the Varsity tennis squad is young and has been plagued by injuries early in the season, the Vikings have demonstrated impressive poise and confidence.

Despite setbacks due to injuries, the Vikings rack up an impressive streak of crucial victoriesby thrashing Lynbrook High School 6-1 on Mar. 4.

This dominant performance by the Vikings was only the first of a slew of blowouts. The hungry squad hit the road on Mar. 5 to face off against a strong Aptos High School team.

Though Aptos has a strong singles line-up, the Vikings were able to take three of the four matches. The only loss was by junior Sam Wong, who put up a valiant effort despite struggling with injuries.

The Vikings also swept the doubles contests, en route to another impressive 6-1 victory.

Entering their home match against Mountain View High School on Mar. 6, the players expected a big performance. Their confidence was apparent throughout the match, as the Vikings swept Mountain View in a 7-0 dismantling.

With all of the momentum behind the Vikings, the team faced off against Los Altos High School at home on Mar. 11. Once again, the team was explosive in a 6-1 victory.

This streak of Paly domination has only added fuel to the determina-tion of the squad.

“Those four straight big wins were huge for the guys,” Harader said. “We have only been growing stronger after every match so far.”

Despite all of the youth and new additions to the squad, the Vikings are quickly developing a strong sense of camaraderie.

“The early season matches and the Fresno trip bonded us as a team,” Tantry said. “Everyone has each other’s backs, and it’s a supportive rather than a competitive atmosphere overall.”

With the performances that the Vikings have given so far, the sky is the limit for the deep and talented squad.

“It has been a long time since Paly has had a premiere tennis team, but we can definitely claim that this season,” Harader said. “We have al-ready beaten some of the best teams in the area, and with the youth that we have, we will only get better as the season progresses.”

Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile

SportS The CampanileA10 • March 17, 2008

By Lindsay YangStaff Writer

A three-foot long metal sword slashes through the air in an arc. Shihan, or senior instructor, Yaron Galant teaches the fluidity of the movement: first slicing the sword above the head and second, completing the swing with the power of the shoulders. Galant then explains to the class about the importance of the sword technique in feudal Japan, from the place where Ninjutsu, the art of the Ninja, originated.

Ninjutsu, a more than 2000-year-old martial art that had managed to remain a secret until 40 to 50 years ago but is now gaining international popularity, traditionally trains people to become ninjas.

Although commonly associated with spying and assassination, Ninjutsu can also help people improve a person’s mental focus and physical balance.

“Ninjutsu has helped me stay in shape,” Palo Alto High School sophomore Nathan Wilen, who takes classes from Palo Alto Nin-jutsu, said. “Ninjutsu has also taught me how to keep a level head and how to stay calm.”

The Palo Alto Ninjutsu class, founded by Galant, who used to teach in Israel and Sunnyvale, is held on Tuesdays at Mitchell Park Community Center and on Thursdays at Cubberly Community Center from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

“You come here and you learn and you learn and you learn,” Galant said. “You train, and you get better. There are no thresholds. This [Ninjutsu] is a continuous learning ex-perience starting from the first time a person enters the school.”

Palo Alto Ninjutsu, which belongs to the international Bujinkan Ninjutsu school in Japan, admits students from any experience level and is non-competitive.

Although basic and advanced ranks are designated by color belts, ranks are not heav-ily stressed.

“There are no separate classes for different ranks,” Galant said. “They all work together and benefit in their own way.”

Between two and eight students attend each session, and although the group is in-tended for adults, Wilen, who is 15, joined after finding interest in Ninjutsu. Others joined without any previous experience or from past experiences with different kinds of martial arts.

“When I started, I wanted something that uses techniques and that uses skill,” student Doug Albrecht, 49, said. “It works on tech-nique and sensitivity rather than overpowering someone with strength.”

Ninjutsu focuses more on skill as each class session concentrates on posture, balance and timing. From reviewing basic positions to executing a series of kicks, Ninjutsu values precision.

“[After starting Ninjutsu], Nathan [Wilen] is more aware of where he is in the physical

environment,” Wilen’s mother Stephanie Wilen said.

Wilen finds that the Palo Alto Ninjutsu class is not physically demanding. In addition to the fighting aspects, students learn how to develop better flexibility, body movement, awareness, coordination, preparation and mental self-defense.

Especially when reviewing the different forms of Ninjutsu at the beginning of each class, Ninjutsu takes on a more philosophi-cal nature, Wilen said. Each session begins with a Japanese saying, bowing and clapping. Members then warm-up with rolls and review basic stances. Finally, the class progresses to learning new combat skills such as falls and rolls, throws, locks, punches, kicks, blocks, chokes and strikes. In addition to hand-to-hand combat, the Palo Alto Ninjutsu class also uses

a variety of weaponry: staffs from pen-size to six feet long, knives, long swords and short swords. Despite the different weapons that are taught, members of the class are not required to participate in any fighting to move to higher levels.

Nevertheless, most people participate, even in an intimidating exercise that requires a person to sit with their eyes closed while anticipating a strike from an opponent.

The opponent, who stands with a staff raised above the person’s head, brings the staff down as quickly as possible. The students practice knowing rather than thinking as they sit under the staff and roll away when they sense harm. They believe that every intention can be sensed and avoided.

“I thought it was a bit sketchy at first,” Wilen said. “It was kind of scary having a

By DJ HsuehStaff Writer

With two new coaches, a handful of returning players and no seniors, Palo Alto High School’s Varsity softball team faces many challenges this year.

Last year’s record was disappointing, but the team is working hard to improve.

“We’re trying to establish a new look,” Head Coach Jake Halas said. “The girls are young, but when they get out on the field, they work hard and well as a team. Everyone has a really great attitude.”

The team is mostly freshmen and sophomores, with only two juniors on the team.

“We’ve got some really strong underclassmen,” sophomore shortstop Lauren Bucolo said. “I think we’re stronger as a team than individual players.”

In addition to the many new players, the team has a new head coach, Jake Halas, who also teaches at Paly.

“I really like our new coach, he’s pointing us in the right direction,” Bucolo said.

Junior outfielder Pam Wong agrees with Bucolo.“He’s really personable and has realistic goals for

the team,” Wong said. “He understands that each of the players have something to offer, and really knows what he’s doing.”

The team also has a new assistant coach, Adam Yon-kers, who is also a Social Studies teacher at Paly. The team has a great pitching staff, but is working to improve its offense. It also suffers from a lack of players.

“I think we’re looking pretty strong throughout,” sophomore first basemen/catcher Ryan Flanagan said. “Our pitching is looking really good, but so is our infield and our outfield, so I wouldn’t say there are any holes. We just need to get our bats on the ball. I’d say our biggest weakness would probably just be that we don’t have many subs, but that just gives everyone more playing time.”

Although their first game against Aragon High School was a 5-0 loss, the team played well.

“It was our first game, so it was the first time we’ve ever played together and some people were in brand new positions,” sophomore third baseman Kristen Dauler said. “It was definitely an eye opener to what we need to work on to be a better team and make it to CCS.”

During the game, the team struggled with many small errors.

“I don’t think the score reflected how we played,” Halas said. “Aragon has a really good program, but it was a good game. We out hit them consistently, but we also made many more errors. They scored all their runs in one inning.”

The team was able to recover for their next game against Menlo-Atherton, beating their opponents soundly even though they only had nine players available.The bats were hot, as Paly scored multiple runs in a few rallies.

However, the young team struggled in their next game against a solid Mountain View High School team. Although they were winning 2-1 at the bottom of the third, Mountain View stepped up their game and Paly was un-

By Chris GallagherStaff Writer

Unknowing rivals see Palo Alto High School’s badminton team as the group that won only one game last season and finished last in its division.

They unfortunately fail to see that Paly’s badminton team, after a divided and difficult season last year, is preparing for a new year during which its members hope to achieve a greater sense of team unity and overall skill.

“Last year, the Varsity players kept to themselves and didn’t teach any of the new players the basics,” junior Allen Chen said. “We hope to change that by having the Varsity team teach the less experienced players.”

Chen’s plan is shared by many others who hope to strengthen the unity of the team and improve the general strength of the team as a whole.

“People tend to work with other players who are doing the same thing,” Coach Kara Prentice said.

The difficulty with uniting the team is that there is not any real need for cross training between doubles and singles players, Prentice said.

person holding a stick above your head, but the first time you succeed, it is really reward-ing.”

As part of deception training to disguise and redirect intentions, students learn numer-ous feints and sequences of attacks.

Ninjas often deliver powder into their opponents eyes as a blinding technique and students incorporate those practices into the sequences.

Most Ninjutsu techniques overlap with skills from other martial arts such as Judo, Jujitsu, Aikido and Karate.

“The typical Ninjutsu class varies,” Gal-ant said. “Some days, we will work more with grappling, which is more judo and jujitsu. Other weeks we will focus on punching and literally use boxing gloves and bags to strengthen the shoulders and arms. Ninjutsu really runs the gamut.”

Palo Alto Ninjutsu classes also practice on many different surfaces, working outside on Tuesdays and indoors on Thursdays. Class members try to perfect their skills on uneven grass fields, hard concrete floors and soft, more physically forgiving mats. By receiving specific feedback, reflexes and muscles reflect accordingly and adapt rather than accept one single synthetic environment, Galant said.

The feedback that the students receive from Ninjutsu is rewarding and many ideas can be applied to everyday life, according to the many of the members of Palo Alto Ninjutsu.

“At work, I am often in a situation where things are not flowing well,” Galant said. “A lot of people come to me with a lot of problems and need attention at once. This is very similar situation to fighting against a number of op-ponents. Everybody deals me their blows in different ways with each person at their own pace. I have learned how to overcome this potentially overwhelming environment.”

Similarly, black belt Ayelet Lorberbaum, 30, has learned how to reach kamai, or bal-ance, in her life.

“I deal with every aspect of my life better,” Lorberbaum said. “For everything in my life, I try to stay balanced and focused.”

Ancient art of Ninjutsu taught in Palo AltoMartial art teaches students physical techniques, disciplines the mind

Badminton team plans to improve upon fundamentals“Last year we were less orga-

nized,” Chen said. “We didn’t really have a lot of morale either.”

Chen and other key players like senior Isaac Yao and junior Hansen Moon hope to strengthen the team’s morale, which has been somewhat dampened over the last few years.

“I think that our record just shows that we’ve got nothing to lose this season,” junior Young Hsu said.

Many other players share Hsu’s optimism and recognize that the team must focus on what it has to gain through hard, well rounded practices, rather than how it has performed in the past.

“Although we have lost some players, people who played on Varsity last year will be playing again and will be more used to the Varsity team,” Prentice said.

The Varsity teams from rival schools are made up of players who may never have been exposed to the level of play experienced in higher-level matches. Paly hopes to have a leg up in this regard, as the team is more experienced in these types of matches.

“Our Varsity girls are pretty strong this year,” Prentice said. “After

looking at last years rosters from other schools, that seems to be the area that we will perform best in this year.”

Many members of the team believe that the current juniors are were better overall than those of other schools. The team hopes that since others lost many of their star play-ers to graduation, these fresh juniors will perform well on Varsity.

“The roster is very young with the varsity team being main-ly juniors this year,” Hsu said. “I think we have a lot of potential.”

Players like Hsu and Chen are an important part of the badminton team’s leadership, as the team has no captains. The more experienced members of the team have traditionally taken this responsibility upon themselves.

“It is nice to have players who take the time to teach people without ever being asked,” Prentice said.

It is leaders like these varsity players who will train new members of the team.

Occasionally, prospective play-ers are admitted onto the team from tryouts, which are all based on future skill that is founded in natural ability, Prentice said.

“Ultimately, Paly is not going to get better without new blood,” Chen

said. “We hope to really strengthen the roots of the team this year.”

These long-term goals of building a foun-dation for later years is shared by many members of the team. They hope to bring the

team upwards as a unit over time, rather than divide the team based on skill.

“The scoring system that is currently established benefits a well rounded team,” Prentice said.

The badminton team won their first match at home against Los Altos High School and their next home match will be against Gunn High School on Mar. 18.

“I think our toughest teams will be Monta Vista and Lynbrook,” Prentice

able to stop their multiple run streaks. The game ended in a disappointing 11-1 loss.

The team recovered early last week in a game against Lynbrook High School, a team that is in the higher De Anza League. The Vikings started slowly in the first in-ning, but then came out strong and scored six runs in the third inning.

Both teams were unable to score until the top of the seventh when Lynbrook was able to send a runner home. Paly remained strong, though and ended the game with an important 6-1 win.

The team suffered a setback in the top of the sixth inning, when freshman utility player Gracie Marshall had a collision with a runner and received a deep cut on her ear.

“The batter ran into me, but I didn’t feel anything,” Marshall said. “I only noticed it a minute or two later when I saw blood all over my hands and jersey.”

Wong, who had been sick the previous week, entered the game as centerfielder while freshman outfielder Ma-riah Philips moved to second base. Philips hadn’t played infield this season, but she immediately fielded a hard-hit ground ball and flipped it to second base for the second out of the inning.

The Vikings have made a few mistakes this year, but are hopeful in improving their record. There is no doubt the young team will gain experience each game they play. The team is confident they can take that experience and turn it into success.

Sophomore pitcher Kelly Jenks strongly fires the ball in a game against Lynbrook High School.

Hannah McGovern/The Campanile

Yaron Galant (right side) defends himself from two assailants with his arms and steals the stick, which is a replacement for a sword. Galant teaches Ninjutsu at the Mitchell Park Community Center and the Cubberly Community Center.

Varsity softball works to recuperate from last year’s record

said. “Monta Vista didn’t lose many people and I don’t think we’ll be able to beat them.”

The team showed its conviction in its match against Los Altos High School, winning in both varsity and junior varsity. The varsity boys won all their matches against Los Altos, start-ing with a crushing victory by Yao. He really worked the angles and slammed the birdie at his opponents feet.

“As a player I always start slow,” Yao said. “But I hope to make it to the playoffs this year.”

Chen played extremely well in his match, getting huge air on his slams and nailing many behind-the-back shots. Varsity one and two girls singles lost to the 2007 Central Coast Section champions. However, the varsity three girls singles, Kathy Woo, won her match.

“I knew her and that she had been fourth in CCS last year,” Young said. “I was really excited and nervous to play her.”

Varsity one mixed doubles lost to Los Altos, but Moon attributes their poor playing to junior Alyssa Burton’s leg injury. They lost their last game 10-15. Varsity two and three mixed doubles won their games, however,

coming together near the end of their matches to pull it out.

“We won our first game, had some trouble in our second game and then came back in the third,” senior Eric Hassine said.

Varsity one and two boys doubles won their matches, but Varsity three lost their game to their Los Altos opponents.

“We got together in the third game and started listening to each other,” sophomore Ryan Bell said.

Varsity one and two girls doubles lost their matches to formidable Los Altos players. Varsity three players, Petrina Chie and Vika Kreitz won their match.

The team was very supportive of each other, many of the players coming to cheer on their teammates and giving words of advice between games.

The badminton team will hope-fully perform better this year than last year as a result of the team’s plan to improve practices, strengthen team unity and bolster team spirit.

They are entering the year with a greater level of optimism and lead-ership than they had last year, which will definitely benefit them throughout the season.

“It is nice to have players who take the time to teach people without ever being asked.”

Kara PrenticeBadminton Coach

Elizabeth Petit /The Campanile

SportsA9 March 17, 2008

The Campanile

By Alexi DaganSports Section Editor

The Palo Alto High School Varsity Swim-ming and Diving team kicked off their respec-tive seasons with a meet against Woodside High School, in which they both took first and second place in nearly every event against the Wildcats.

Highlights from the meet, which does not count towards the team’s league record, include incredible double wins from fresh-man Sabrina Lee swimming the 200-yard and 50-yard freestyle, junior Mark Higgins in the 200-yard Individual Medley and 100-yard backstroke, as well as senior co-captain Geng

By Mira ParekhStaff Writer

As the spring sports season be-gins, Palo Alto High School’s Track and Field team looks forward to leap-ing into a new and exciting season.

However, this year Paly will have to compete throughout the season without the host of standout runners that helped lead the team last season.

Although the girls’ performance was lackluster last year with a 2-4 record in the Santa Clara Valley Ath-letic League, the girls’ distance team’s biggest obstacle this year is the loss of star distance runners Renata Cummins and Alicia Ivanhoe.

The Vikings, who struggled last year with a virtually non-existent sprint team, will also have to find a runner to fill the hole left by sole sprinter Aly Seedman, who graduated last spring.

The boys’ team, which finished undefeated last year with a 6-0 record, will have to regroup after losing standout sprinters Will Frazier and Trenton Hart as well as shotputer Fred Koloto.

Despite the losses, the team looks forward to stellar performances from sophomore distance runner Philip MacQuitty, junior runner Charlie Avis and seniors Julius Berezin and Willie Xiang.

Even after losing graduate Sam Margevicius, the boys’ hurdle team is looking forward to a promising season led by returning senior Mohammed Abid and junior Pascal Truninger, a foreign exchange student from Switzerland.

Along with new runners, the track team this year will have several new coaches for events such as sprinting, hurdles and throwing.

Allye Mullins, Paly’s Student Activities Director, and science teacher Michelle Steingart will both coach hurdles. Nick Van Der Burg is the new coach for the boys sprint team and Brandon Shalkowski is the new throw coach. Joe Giannani, who coaches both girls’ and boys’ 800- and 400-meter events and the 4x400 meter relay, is optimistic for the season de-spite the team’s heavy losses.

“The Varsity boys’ 4x400 relay team is returning from CCS,” Gian-nani said. “They should be one of our top performers throughout the season and are trying to shoot for breaking the school record which they barely missed last year.”

Giannani hopes that losing Frazier from the relay lineup will

Despite several losses for boys’ and girls’ track, members remain optimistic about this season’s upcoming meetssimply be an opportunity to some of the younger boys to display potential rather than a contributing factor that hurts the squad.

“We’re looking to replace Will in the 4x400 and there are lots of people competing for that spot, which could potentially be filled by junior Paul Brown or sophomore Dan Jones,” Giannani said. “It’s going to be hard to choose, but hopefully the competition will bring out the best in people.”

As for the girl’s Varsity team, Giannani feels that a major drawback is the number of runners on the team, which is small compared to previous years.

One thing that will help the girls through the season is the recovery of star runner Mia Lattanzi, who is return-ing after spending a lot of time battling injuries. Paul Jones, the Varsity girls’ Head Coach, feels that the team has great potential and will improve as the season progresses.

“We’ll be missing Renata [Cum-mins] and Alicia [Ivanhoe], but we’re strong in distance running,” Jones said. “We will have Mia [Lattanzi] back and senior Leah Gaeta who is new, but performed well during cross country. However, the team is young and inexperienced in the hurdles and inexperienced in the throws.”

The girls’ team also suffered the loss of junior Cate Olsen, no longer attending Paly, who led the team in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles as a freshman and sophomore. Jones also believes that the girls’ relay team, although young, displays a lot of potential. Joe Park, who primarily coaches the relay team, agrees with Jones.

“The girls’ relay team is young and has mainly sophomores and fresh-men. It has a lot of potential, but it’s almost like everything is starting from ground zero,” Park said. “The biggest thing to look for though out the season will be improvement. Senior year is definitely going to be good.”

In additon, Van Der Burg feels that improvement will be key for the boys sprint team, which is also relatively young this year.

“It’s hard to tell who is really go-ing to be leading the team; I don’t think I will know that until mid-April,” Van Der Burg said. “Its a young team, there are no seniors. At this point everyone is in the middle of the pack. Also, I haven’t been able to work on an off-season workout since I am new and have had to re-train many of the boys. No matter which way you cut it, I think next year is going to be better.”

Paly started the season with mixed results in their first meet against Mountain View High School, hosted at Paly on Mar. 6.

In the 4x100-meter, relay the girls were off to a strong start and in the lead until the last leg when a faulty hand-off disqualified the team. The boys’ relay team, starring Brown, Jones, junior Ariel Arsac-Ellison and Abid, finished with a time of 45.0 seconds, beating Mountain View soundly.

Paly’s boys’ and girls’ teams struggled in the mile event however, with Berezin leading the boys in third place overall with a time of 4:37 and Gaeta in fourth overall in the girl’s mile with a time of 5:25. The 400-me-ter event showed improvement with Gaeta finishing second in the girls’ race with a time of 1:05 and Xiang in second with a time of 52.9 seconds.

Gaeta, who is new to the Paly track team, hopes that this first race will only help to improve her strategy in the mile and 400.

“I’m happy with my mile time, but I’m not happy with my strategy,”

Gaeta said. “I think I could have kept up, but it’s my first race. Now I will know how to place better.”

Both girls’ and boys’ teams per-formed well in the 100-meter sprints, an event that Paly girls stuggled with last year due to a lack of sprinters.

Sophomore Emily Yeates, who placed first in the 200-meters, and sophomore Erika Hoglund led the girls 100-meter with times 12.9 seconds and 13.0 seconds, respectively.

Among the boys, Jones led the pack with 11.1 seconds followed by Brown with 11.2 seconds. Paly also dominated the girls’ and boys’ 800-meter with Lattanzi leading the girls and finishing with 2:19 and MacQuitty with a fast time of 2:03 in the boys’ race.

Although shotput star Fred Ko-loto graduated last year, Paly won the event with outstanding performances from juniors Ashraf El Gamal, who threw a distance of 40’ 2’’ to capture first, and Andy Maliska, who threw 37’10” to place second. Truninger led the long jump with a distance of 18’ 6”

to clinch first place for Paly. Truninger also led Paly in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.6 seconds followed by senior Mohammed Abid who fin-ished with a time of 18.3 seconds.

Abid and Truninger also swept the competition in the 300 meter hurdles with times 44.6 and 44.8, respectively.

Girls’ hurdles similarly per-formed well, with sophomore Marissa Florant in first place with a time of 18.19 seconds and junior Megha Ram coming in second with 18.5 seconds.

Although boy’s 4x400 meter relay got off to a rocky start, Paly

excelled in the 3200-meter with the help of cross country star junior Charlie Avis, who ran the two miles with a speedy time of 9:53 followed by junior Skyler Cummins, who came in third with 10:06. Avis, who is new to the track team, thinks that the team is looking good and will hopefully get far in CCS.

“The team looks good, “ Avis said. “I can’t compare with older teams, but there is a strong core of cross country runners that are on the team. We can definitely make CCS semifinals.”

Despite the strong showing in the first meet, Paly will have a long road ahead to winning the league.

Wang in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke.

“The team as a whole did really well, and I think we’re all pleased with the good times we put out,” Higgins said.

Head Coach Danny Dye was also pleased with the results from the meet.

“My expectations were more than met,” Dye said. “They showed their training and strong base.”

Both the girls’ and the boys’ teams have high expectations to live up to, after the suc-cess of both of last year’s teams.

“Last year’s season went almost exactly the way I had planned it to for the girls’ team,”

Dye said. “Monta Vista [High School] had a very strong team but we had the depth to beat them and win leagues.”

The boys’ team also won the league title and went on to place second in the Central Coast Section Championships, while the girls’ team placed third in CCS.

The boys’ team now has a record of 40 straight wins in dual meets, and the girls’ team won five league championships in a row, the most in Paly’s history, and is looking to bring that record to six straight wins.

Dye said the girls’ team is more talented than last year’s team, as the sophomores and ju-niors bring more experience and confidence.

“The girls are the most cohesive group I have ever coached,” Dye said. “They all get along, treat each other fairly and support one another. It makes it fun; I enjoy coaching them. They want to win CCS and they can do that, they have the talent.”

Dye is also very confident in the success of the boys’ team because, despite their lack of depth, the swimmers have talent.

Dye said he believes that Higgins has to the opportunity to have All-American times once again as well as place first in CCS, while junior Tim Wenzlau could break the school record in the 100-yard backstroke, and senior Michael Fortune is looking to break the school record in the 50-yard freestyle.

Last year’s All-American 400-yard freestyle relay, which consisted of Higgins, Wenzlau, Wang and Fortune, is still intact and preparing for another successful season.

“The boys’ team has the opportunity to win leagues, and they want to take second in CCS and push Bellarmine [College Prep] which has a 24-year CCS winning streak,” Dye said. “The boys’ team is the most talented I have ever coached, but they are going to have to want it.”

Both teams continued to dominate their opponents in the Spring Invitational, hosted by Paly on Mar. 7 and 8. The boys’ team swam against Lynbrook High School, Wilcox High School, The Kings Academy and the Bel-larmine College Prep B-team, and won with a score of 264 points.

“Everyone came out hard and swam really well considering how many yards we have been swimming in practice,” Wang said. “There are always things we still need to tweak but we’re at a good point for the second meet of the season.”

Wang placed first in the 100-yard breast-stroke, just one of many first-place finishes for the Vikings during the meet.

Elizabeth Petit /The Campanile

At the first league meet this season, junior Megha Ram hurdles for the first time this season against Mountain View High School where the girls’ Varsity team suffered a loss of 56-71. However, the boys’ Varsity team secured a win of 80-47 at the same meet.

Varsity swimmers and divers begin their new season strong

Michela Fossati-Bellani/The Campanile

Senior co-captain Geng Wang swims breaststroke in practice. Wang won the 100-yard breaststroke event in the meet against Woodside High School and in the Spring Invitational helping lead his team to strong wins in both meets.

Track and fieldScores Upcoming gamesMountain View @ Palo AltoMarch 6, B.V. 80-47 W and G.V. 56-71 L

Palo Alto @ Gunn H.S.March 20, 3:30 PMLos Gatos @ Palo AltoApril 1, 5:30 PM

Swimming

Scores

Upcoming games

Woodside @ WoodsideFebruary 29, W

Spring Invitational @ Palo Alto March 7-8, W

Menlo H.S. @ Palo AltoApril 1, 3:30 PM

Lynbrook @ Palo AltoApril 4, 3:30 PM

Track hopes for stellar performance in upcoming season

Senior co-captain senior Scott Mielke feels that the team’s performance in the invita-tional is a good indicator of how the team will do against other teams in their league.

“In our league we should be fine judging by our performance this weekend,” Mielke said. “CCS should be a lot harder though, we’re banking on some big performances and wins.”

The girls’ team swam against Lynbrook, Wilcox, and Los Altos High School, and won with a total of 302 points.

Freshman standout Sabrina Lee took first in the 200-yard freestyle and fourth in the 100-yard backstroke, and has high expecta-tions for the remainder of the season.

“As the season goes on I hope to do well in other events as well,” Lee said. “To begin the season with that win felt really good.”

Dye remains optimistic about the future of both teams.

“[The meet] was a good example of how they are focused on what they want to ac-complish,” Dye said. “I am looking forward to the duel season.”

OpiniOnA8 • March 17, 2008 The Campanile

This year’s election will be the nation’s 55th consecutive quadrennial presidential election. As I listened to one particular group of people who discussed their birthdays, I noticed that many of them had birthdays late in the year. It was then that I realized just how many young citizens around the United States cannot vote this year be-cause their birthday is just weeks after the voting date. It is these few weeks every four years that cause the U.S. to lose many valuable votes. Instead of losing these crucial votes, it would be a more beneficial if there were a new amendment stating that those that are currently 18 or those that will turn 18 in the year of the presidential election are able to vote.

Currently, anyone whose 18th birthday falls between the dates of Nov. 2 and Dec. 31 cannot vote. This seems inherently unjust. Those that lose their right to vote because of those 58 days — not even two months — are forced to wait another four years before their voices are heard. In 1990 alone, the average number of births per month was 346,500, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Based on this data, there are about 693,000 17-year-olds with birthdays past the election day. The U.S. voting pool is losing approximately 700,000 potential voters every year due to the current voting-age amendment. These people will be 21 years old before they can vote for the first time, while people who were just a couple of months older than them will be voting for the second time.

It is understandable that there should be an age limit for those able to vote. Many people have not gained enough understanding of this country and the world before the age of 18. However, it is doubtful that people will be more mature after another two months. The voting results in an election are supposed to represent the majority of the nation’s choice. If a large number of the nation’s con-stituents are missing from the voting pool, the country’s final decision may be misrepresented.

This year’s election is undoubt-edly one of the most important presi-dential elections that our country will ever face. There is a good chance that our country’s next president will be a minority. For the first time ever, there is a chance there will be a black or female president. Because of the effects and implications of this land-mark presidential election, this year’s election has also managed to capture the interest of hundreds of thousands of youths across the county.

Campaigners want youths to get involved; politicians know that the youth vote holds some of the most important because there are such a large group. If there is such an active youth participation in this year’s elec-tion why silence their voices? In 1971, the 26th amendment was officially ratified, stating that, “the right of citi-zens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” The amendment specifically states that no one 18 or older should be denied the right to vote. It does not say that anyone younger than the age of 18 should not be allowed to vote. By making an amendment that allows anyone that will turn 18 in the year of presidential election vote, the active youth participation that America is currently experiencing will only con-tinue to energize the movement.

There is a crucial link separating intelligence and youth in America’s faulty voting age amendment. What legislators need to realize is that age does not necessarily determine intel-ligence or maturity. Surely the differ-ence between the average 18-year-old and a 17-year-and-10-month-old is negligible. The current voting age rule hinders those who have an active inter-est in politics and want to get involved. If there were an amendment stating that those that will turn 18-years-old in the year of the election may vote, anyone who wanted to participate in the campaign would be able to. This kind of amendment would only help to emphasize the amount of change possible for this country.

By Becky BylerStaff Writer

Naviance, Palo Alto High School’s latest online addition to its college advising program, effectively helps students manage their college application process and syncs helpful planning tools and college information on an easy-to-use Web site. However, despite its helpful nature, the funding for the program could be better used on other college resources.

Paly purchased Naviance last spring for $2,000 in an effort to aid juniors in the college application process. It will also cost the school $1,200 annually in management fees. The College and Career Center was allocated more funding for this service.

Naviance is an all-inclusive, college-planning Web site for high school students. It offers information on prospective colleges and careers and helps students gather information to choose the right college for them.

Naviance also allows Paly college counselors the ability to communicate with program users, adding a more personal touch to what could have been just another college-planning Web site.

The most helpful aspect of Na-viance is that it brings together all of the resources that the CCC already has. Although the CCC previously of-fered similar services, such as detailed career tests and scholarship searches, most students did not utilize these resources. For example, the CCC offered personal career tests though an online service called Bridges, but most students did not even realize the service was available. With Naviance, students are not only offered this ser-vice, but the test results are saved to a personal profile that can be accessed at any time.

However, the CCC should not have to use Naviance to increase student usage of its resources. Instead, more attempts should be made to let students know what the CCC has to offer.

Also, with Naviance, the CCC’s multitude of college information books, scholarship opportunities and colleges admission statistics are now available to students online. This al-lows students, who previously did not use the CCC, to gain from the useful information offered.

Nevertheless, most of the infor-mation offered is not new and can be found virtually anywhere on the Internet. The information that is not easily found on the Internet, such as Paly college acceptance statistics, should have been available online a long time ago. It should not have taken the purchase of a new program for this information to be readily ac-cessible.

Naviance is appealing to stu-dents, parents and advisors because, although it is not the only Web site to offer these services, the services are all located in the same place, which allows quick access to a breath of information. This not only saves time, but also creates better student manage-ment of college materials.

The site’s multiple organiza-tional resources, such as college visit schedules and personal profiles, help students to effectively organize and juxtapose personal and college information. Naviance’s “About Me” section also offers a location for students to record activities, awards, and notes, hopefully making it easier to fill out applications.

Although Naviance is a great resource for college planning, it is not the best option to further aid students in the college admission process.

Many students already use Collegeboard.com, a Web site like Naviance that connects students to col-lege information, and so the purchase of a similar program seems almost unnecessary and a waste of funds.

The College Board’s resources are similar to Naviance’s, both being incredibly helpful in the college ap-plication process and having 24-hour access. However, this nationally-used organization surpasses Naviance be-

cause of its more appealing format and price: schools do not have to pay if its students access and use Colleg-eboard.com.

For Naviance to be successful, it should be formatted more like the College Board Web site.

Having links to SAT testing in-formation, as well as the inclusion of nationwide testing scores, not solely testing scores from the Palo Alto Uni-fied School District, would also help students.

Naviance would also be im-proved if students could sign up for Advanced Placement or SAT tests while being logged into the Web site. Currently only College Board offers this service.

The CCC must make Naviance more appealing to students. It is not enough to just have a college informa-tion program; it needs to be one that caters exactly to students needs, like the College Board’s Web site.

It is in the best interest of both students and the CCC if the funds used to purchase and maintain Naviance were also allocated to other college resources that provide a more personal experience.

For example, the funds could be used to increase the availability of counselors by paying for addi-tional working hours. A personal meeting with a counselor is much more effective in aiding students in the college process than an online

program, according to College Board, which stresses not only establishing a personal relationship with college counselors, but also meeting regularly with them.

Funds could also be used to expand the current facilities or to pur-chase more college books so that more students would be able to utilize the current resources the CCC offers.

Naviance was purchased for the benefit of Paly’s students, but despite the program’s usefulness, the CCC should instead expand on the resources it already offers. College resource expansion or increased counselor working hours would benefit students much more than anything an online program, like Naviance, could offer.

Naviance offers useful resources in new formThe College and Career Center could have used money spent on Naviance more effectively

Current standardized tests inadequate in assessing studentsStandardized tests should expand difficulty options available for students in different areas

Youthful Change

Gabrielle Hadley

By Chris ClaytonOpinion Editor

Standardized tests, such as the SAT and the ACT, have long provided colleges an objective standard of measuring the abilities of students in various academic fields, compared with other students; thus, these tests factor into the college-admissions process. Although colleges must employ an objective standard of assessing applicants’ relative cognitive abilities, the current standardized tests required by many colleges fail to provide an adequate level of objective assessment.

Standardized tests are essential to the college-admissions process, as the objectivity of these tests provides colleges with another means by which to evaluate students, apart from other less-objective measures like grades. Grades often reflect not only the academic performance of

an individual, but also the grading policy of a particular school. Thus, a 4.0-unweighted grade point average at one school may not reflect a similar level of academic achievement as the same GPA at another school.

This is not meant as an implication that colleges should not review these factors when considering the merits of different applicants. But because the scores on standardized tests derive from a raw score, and not a subjective grading policy, these tests provide a crucial as-sessment of students’ relative abilities.

Unfortunately, the standardized tests cur-rently considered during the college admissions process, particularly the SAT Reasoning and Subject tests, provide an inadequate assessment of students for various reasons. Primarily, most of these tests fail to provide adequate assessment at different levels of ability, particularly for

students enrolled in honors-level and Advanced Placement courses.

Thus, students enrolled in higher-level courses often receive scores similar to students enrolled in lower-level courses, because the tests incorporate no measure of assessing abilities at higher levels of education.

For example, the SAT Subject Test Math-ematics 2, a common choice for students who wish to demonstrate their abilities in mathemat-ics, covers only through trigonometry, or, at most, the equivalent of the Palo Alto High School mathematics course Trigonometry/Analytical Geometry A.

Thus, a student who completes this course, or its equivalent at other schools, could expect to obtain a score of 800, the highest possible score, which students who completed the Palo Alto High School mathematics courses or the

equivalent courses at other schools, Analysis H, AP Calculus AB or AP Calculus BC, could expectably receive upon completing these examinations.

This problem extends, however, not only to the mathematics portions of the test and the mathematics subject test, but to any other exami-nation that covers material covered completely in regular-lane courses, but not material covered in denser AP and honors-level courses.

Essentially, although colleges can with greater ease differentiate between the abilities of a student who receives a score of 750 on a subject test and the abilities of a student who receives a score of 600 on the same subject test, colleges cannot differentiate between different students, all of whom receive scores of 800 on the same subject test.

Thus, these standardized tests should ex-pand the options available to students, in terms of difficulty in subject matter, on examinations pertaining to the same subject category, such as mathematics and history in order to expand and clarify the actual meaning of these subject tests, beyond the limitations of a single test available in each general academic area.

Although students have, to an extent, the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of more complex material on AP examinations, this opportunity extends neither to students enrolled in higher-level, non-AP courses nor to students enrolled in AP-level courses that are not classi-fied as AP courses.

Moreover, the AP examinations currently prove insufficient, as many colleges do not consider them or do not require students to re-port them during the admissions process. Even those colleges that do consider them at all, do not consider them as important as other factors, including other standardized tests and grades.

The SAT, for example, does not need to include many additional subject tests to allow these different tests; merely providing two to three subject tests in each necessary category would be sufficient, as they could include both the subject-tests available now as well as a couple of higher-level subject tests (for example, for mathematics, pre-calculus, or even calculus).

The standardized tests would be accommo-dated for practicality, and only levels of academic studies that a significant number of students take would be incorporated into the new subject-tests. Colleges should continue to consider standard-ized tests in the college admissions process, as they provide a necessary, objective assessment of students’ relative abilities.

However, these tests must be altered and expanded in order to better provide students with opportunities to demonstrate the full extent of their knowledge as part of the college admis-sions process.

Hannah McGovern/The CampanileAlthough standardized tests, such as the SAT, provide colleges with a systematic way to evaluate applicants, they provide inadequate assessments of students because of their failure to provide different difficulty levels for students of ability levels.

Hannah McGovern/The CampanileThe College and Career Center recently purchased Naviance, a college advising program that lets advisors communicate with students and helps them choose universities that fit their personalities.

SpotlightA6 • March 17, 2008 The Campanile

The Days of Our Lives

By Miki KenrickStaff Writer

Scott Reese is an integral part of the Palo Alto High School scene, always there to say “hi” to and always willing to help.

A big part of the Paly security team, Reese seldom shares his first name because he wants students to call him by his last name only.

“This is my 17th year working at Paly and it never seems to get old,” Reese said.

Reese grew up in Redwood City and moved to Palo Alto when he was 13. He later graduated from Cubberly High School in 1975.

Reese first became involved in the Paly community when he started coaching Varsity and frosh-soph foot-ball. He also helped coach baseball, girls softball and track.

During this time he was working as a Paly security guard as well, but decided to work solely as a security guard when his life outside Paly got busier.

The older of Reese’s two sons, who are 12 and 17, plays hockey and travels around California and to other states, always accompanied by his father. Because of this, Reese had less time to coach and decided to stick to a full-time security job.

“We travel around many parts of California and we have also been to Colorado for hockey,” Reese said. “Not many of the parents have such a flexible job as I do, so I am lucky that I get to go.”

Reese’s day begins when he drives to Paly from his home in Sunnyvale, where he lives with his wife and two sons.

With the bicycle that he totes to and from home every day, Reese

cruises around Paly throughout the school day.

The main purpose of his job is to secure the Paly campus, weed out the non-students and make sure the Paly students are behaving appropriately. Overall, Reese says that he loves get-ting to know the Paly students.

“My job may seem boring, but there is always something different and crazy going on at Paly,” Reese said. “I used to write down all the crazy things I had seen, but after a couple years there were too many times to remember.”

In his 17 years at Paly, Reese has witnessed acts “too inappropriate” to discuss.

“I can say one of the weirdest things was in my second year of work-ing at Paly when I saw a student throw a bottle at a police car and break the back windshield,” Reese said. “The cop came back and arrested him on the spot; I just couldn’t believe I saw him do that.”

According to Reese, his job al-ways has surprises in store for him.

“Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you’re proved wrong,” Reese said.

When Reese’s work day ends at 3:30 p.m., his second job begins which is taking care of his kids. This includes making sure they’re fed, have their homework done and taking them to sports activities.

When asked if there was anything else he wanted to share with the Paly community, Reese had one more comment.

“It’s interesting to see how the kids as freshmen come in so rigid and as they mature, they realize they can approach me,” Reese said. “I’m really not as bad as I seem.”

Scott Reese

Michela Fossati-Bellani/The Campanile

Noel Beitler..

and

Paula Harvey

Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile

By Allison ColemanStaff Writer

The Academic Resource Center is a great place to make up tests, study or find a tutor. Many people, however, do not know about all the work and different responsibilities that go into making the ARC run on a daily basis.

Noël Beitler and Paula Harvey, who manage the ARC, have a whole host of re-sponsibilities.

When Beitler first arrives in the morning, she said that one of the first things she does is heat water so that students can make hot cocoa, but many of her true responsibilities lie in setting up tutoring sessions. On one morning alone, a volunteer who works with Beitler delivered over 50 call slips to tutors and tutees, reminding each participant of their respective appointments during the day.

A good portion of Beitler’s lunch is also spent setting up tutoring appointments and making sure that they are kept. Beitler says that one of the things that makes her most upset is when a tutor fails to show up for an appoint-ment, or when a tutee asks to have a tutor, but then fails to arrive for the appointment.

Beitler works to make sure that everyone is matched up in one way or another if one person does not show up.

“I call myself an academic matchmaker,” Beitler said. “I just kind of mix and match to make sure that everyone has a partner.”

Harvey agreed that a lot of the work that she and Beitler do in the ARC is setting up tutoring pairs throughout all grades and in a variety of subjects.

Another significant part of their daily responsibilities includes working with par-ent volunteers to make sure that they have something to do. Beitler and Harvey must also make sure each of the volunteers knows how to give tests to students who come in for make-up tests.

Beitler says she really enjoys working with the volunteers and believes that they enjoy working in the ARC because it is “right in the middle of everything and they get to interact with a lot of students and teachers.”

For Harvey, the best part of working in the ARC is that she gets to work in an setting with so many young students.

“I really like working in an environment with so many teenagers who are excited about the next step in their lives and where they are going,” Harvey said.

Beitler personally loves working in the ARC because she enjoys interacting with students and seeing them successfully gradu-ate after she has worked with them over the course of four years.

Beitler and Harvey both view the ARC as a symbol of rescue.

“I see the ARC as a safety net for stu-dents and I like being a part of that system,” Harvey said.

Beitler tends to agree with Harvey.“The ARC is a place where you can help

rescue yourself academically,” Beitler said. “I just love being the person who’s in the middle of all this.”

March 17, 2008 • A7 The Campanile Spotlight

The Days of Our Lives

Allie Bollella/The Campanile

Terri Webberand

Lee Gregg

By Crystal WangStaff Writer

Palo Alto High School’s English Special Education teacher Jenny Chin and her math contemporary Lily Donchik run busy lives, creating and carrying out 12 very different curriculums for 12 very different students.

“It’s interesting because each student has such a different program that there is a lot of variety in my job and in what I’m providing,” Chin said.

Each curriculum is tailored to the specific needs of the individual student. Chin and Donchik work with a wide range of disabilities including autism, mental retardation, physical disabilities and visual challenges.

“It can be really challenging to balance everything,” Chin said.

Chin arrives at school around 7:15 a.m. every morning and starts the day with an English class.

With five to six students with unique and personalized curriculums in one class, Chin may help one student with handwriting while another student works on reading.

“Everyday in my classroom is different and exciting,” Chin said. “I really love that about my job.”

Chin was originally a freshmen English teacher at Paly before getting involved with the Special Education program as a teacher aide two years ago. This year, Chin has returned as a Special Education teacher.

“The opportunity to become a Special Education teacher was a little surprising,” Chin said. “At the same time, it was very exciting. I had wanted to become a Special Education teacher for a couple of years.”

After first period English, Chin teaches the Academic Projects class with either English and math or science and history activities.

In third period, Chin teaches another class of English and then has a free period

during which she usually reviews lessons and develops upcoming curriculum.

Because there are only 12 students in the class, Chin is able to work with students one-on-one, which Chin says is one of her favorite aspects of the program.

“When I started teaching the class, the students themselves really affected me,” Chin said. “I got to know each one of them.”

After lunch, Chin teaches about money transactions in fifth period “Money Math.”

In addition to the two main teachers, six teacher aides volunteer their time to help in the classroom.

“One of the best parts of my job is having so much aide support in the classroom,” Chin said. “They inspire me to continue to devote my time and energy to making the best programs for my students.”

While a great number of volunteers is good to have, organization, management and coordination are crucial to have among the number of adults in the classroom.

“We each work in our own little world in many ways,” Chin said. “It’s sometimes challenging to communicate.”

Flexibility and patience are the most important characteristics to have as a Special Education teacher, Chin said.

During sixth period, Chin and Donchik teach the students about vocation eduction in a job preparatory class. The teachers review skills such as dressing appropriately for work, following directions and filling out job applica-tions. At the end of the day, the students take electives such as student service and art.

Chin enjoys teaching and watching her students grow throughout the year.

“One of my favorite things is seeing my students change, grow and perform day to day,” Chin said. “It is very inspiring to see someone who has so many challenges work to be successful everyday.”

By Nanor BalabanianStaff Writer

“Health Office, Terri Webber speaking, how may I help you?”

It is in no way common for Health Office Nurse Terri Webber to sit still during a regular day at Palo Alto High School.

Running from one patient to another, Webber hardly has a moment in her day to rest.

From the second she opens her office doors at 8 a.m. to the end of her day at 3:15 p.m., Webber is con-stantly helping sick students, calling doctors, giving medication and filling out paperwork.

“Mondays are typically the busi-est day of the week for me,” Webber said. “Especially around mid-day, which is when many sick students realize they cannot handle their illness anymore.”

Eight years ago, Webber decided to take a break from working at local hospitals and move to a high school for a change.

Having seen both a son and daughter graduate from Paly, she said she likes being able to relate to students.

“I like being a nurse at Paly because there is a lot of psychology involved,” Webber said. “I’ve had my own children go to Paly, which has helped me better understand the students here.”

The Health Office currently has two registered nurses that work on campus. Webber is on duty from Mon-days to Wednesdays and Lee Gregg takes over for the rest of the week.

“Because there are two of us working at this site, communicating with each other is essential,” Gregg said. “We attend meetings with our departments, the staff and, at times, the other Health Techs in the district.”

Gregg likes being part of the high school environment, from going to

sporting events to simply interacting with students.

“I guess I like being around students, even when they are sick.” Gregg said.

Both of the nurses’ top priority is the health of their students, and both strive to educate them about important health issues.

“We never know what could happen during the day on campus,” Gregg said. “But we are well trained and work hard at keeping all students and staff on campus safe.”

The nurses’ jobs are not only limited to the health office. Early in the year, Webber sometimes had to go to other elementary schools in the Palo Alto Unified School District during the day to help diabetic children.

The shortage of nurses during the beginning of the 2007-08 school year was a serious problem for Paly’s nurses as they tried to be in multiple places at the same time.

“It was hard to leave the school during the day,” Webber said. “But it needed to be done.”

After a week of hard work and stress dealing with students and pa-perwork in school, Webber relaxes by heading off to the San Jose Wind Symphony to play the clarinet.

“Playing the clarinet is my stress-release,” Webber said. “It’s a hobby I’ve had for a very long time.”

However, Webber has been happy working at Paly over the past eight years. She said that Paly students should be very proud to have two registered nurses on campus all the time who are open to talk to any stu-dent about any issue on a confidential basis.

“If students want to know more things about their health, we are always here for answering their questions and concerns,” Webber said. “I am always open and ready to help students in whatever they are in need of.”

Jenny ChinLily Donchik

and

Allie Bollella/The Campanile

PRO CON

March 17, 2008 • A5The Campanile OpiniOn

By Zach HarrisStaff Writer

The recently proposed changes to Palo Alto High School’s schedule would make stu-dents’ workloads more manageable, increase class productivity and give students a more realistic idea of life after high school.

The changes would include making classes on Monday through Thursday blocked, like Wednesday and Thursday currently are and starting school at 8:15 a.m. every day, while leaving seventh period unblocked to accommodate the journalism, band and sports programs.

Due to the 25 minutes of extra sleep that students would get with the new schedule, they would be more alert and ready to learn, espe-cially in their first and second period classes. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers aged 11 to 17 should get 8 1/2 to 9 1/4 hours of sleep per night.

In a 2006 poll conducted by the NSF, it was found that only 20% of adolescents get the recommended nine hours of sleep, while on average, a high school senior gets only 6.9 hours of sleep per night. If school were to start at 8:15 a.m. every day, students could at least get closer to the suggested nightly amount of rest, better preparing them for the next day’s classes.

If there were a block schedule every day, students could better manage their time and space out the amount of daily homework they do.

Having four block periods would also solve the testing problem most Paly depart-ments have. Paly’s current schedule allows for testing only on odd or even days depending on the departments, but with a four block schedule students would have more time to complete the test and with only four classes a day, teachers would have the option to give tests on the days they choose, without schedule restrictions.

Although there would be the same amount of total work, if students had each class every other day instead of every day they would be better able to decide for themselves which homework they wanted to do on which day, instead of having to do every class’ work for the next day. Students would have the oppor-tunity to learn to manage their own schedules successfully.

Additionally, if classes were an hour and a half long, teachers would have more time in class to better explain the material and better prepare students for homework and tests, giv-ing them a sufficient amount of time to answer any questions students may have about the following nights homework. A day between classes would give students enough time to talk to their teachers about homework they do not understand.

Currently, teachers have lessons that are too long for the standard 50-minute class. It would be easier for students to take in the information if it were given to them in one 90-minute block.

Even though students often complain about the length of block periods, if a four-day block schedule were to be implemented, teach-ers would then be forced to add more active

By Nolan WongStaff Writer

Although the proposed four-day block schedule at Palo Alto High School may offer prospects of extra sleep and greater depth of topics covered in classes, the proposed sched-ule has some flaws that could undermine these good intentions. The proposed block schedule would block classes on Mondays and Tuesdays in addition to the currently blocked classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Fridays would remain unblocked.

The argument in favor of the longer 90-minute classes states that students will be able

New block proposal raises disputeBlock schedule would improve student productivity, but force teachers to change lesson structure

By Laura KurtzSenior Staff Writer

The ARC is one of the most important extra programs at Paly and is used by many students on a daily basis. However, it appears that the district does not realize the center’s importance and unfortunately, this means that not all students have access to the ARC.

The ARC does not open until 8:30 a.m., and on all non-block days, first period ends at 8:40 a.m. This means that the students with first period preps do not have access to the textbooks, computers and other services that the ARC offers.

Although many students with first period preps choose to stay at home in the morning, many students are re-sponsible for driving younger siblings or neighbors to and from school. Other students must comply with the Palo Alto Unified School District’s public transportation schedules or can only get rides early. This means that they are forced to come to first period, but are unable to get work done unless they bring textbooks from home, which can get very uncomfortable if these students do not have lockers.

Although the library does have some textbooks, these textbooks must be checked out and students cannot

leave the library. Also, many people choose to eat breakfast at Paly and because of the library’s understand-ably stringent rules, students cannot eat in the library.

On all days with normal sched-ules, an average of a little over ten students come in every day, needing to use the ARC and all they find is a closed door.

The large room can be opened by the library staff or the people that work in the Health Office. However, the area with tests, quizzes, in-class essays, textbooks and computers can only be accessed by Ms. Beitler and Ms. Harvey who work in the ARC.

The ARC computers are two of the only three computers that can transfer data from a flash drive, some-thing that only one of the computers in the library can do. This computer is extremely slow and students can only use it to download a document, and then must email it to themselves to open on another computer.

However, the inability of first period prep students to access text-books and computers is not the biggest problem. The most important issue is that students with first preps are not able to make up tests and quizzes in the center. These students must come in at lunch or after school to make

up tests, because they are unable to during a prep.

It is unfair that these first period students are unable to use the ARC, while other students are. The root of the problem is a serious lack of funding.

The school only has enough money to pay one ARC worker from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The school managed to get enough money to keep the ARC open until 4:30 this year, and assistant principal Kimberly Diorio said that they are looking into opening it in the morning next year.

“We recognize that [the ARC] is a valuable service for our kids. Because

Students would benefit from longer ARC hours

and interesting learning techniques into their daily routine, making students more involved in the learning process.

Teachers have often opposed four days of block schedules because it would force them to revamp their lesson plans, often pushing two days’ lessons into one.

While this is understandable, teachers have a professional responsibility to adjust to the schedule the school provides, much like it would be if they moved to a different school.

The entire staff’s job includes creating a superior learning environment for Paly

it is so used, we will look for ways to improve it,” Diorio said.

The district office supplies Paly with money from the Partners In Education (PIE) Fund. Paly uses this money at its discretion, but mostly on teachers said Diorio.

The district needs to find a way to keep the ARC open 40 extra minutes four days a week. As it is, Beitler and Harvey share one person’s salary.

With the school and the people who work in the ARC making so many sacrifices, the district should be able to find some way to give a small amount of money for a very important program.

Morgan Pichinson/The Campanile

Students and faculty discuss the proposed changes to the daily schedule at the Block Schedule Meeting at lunch on Feb. 29. The faculty compiled feedback from the students and discussed how they might conduct student polls on the schedule.

Academic Resource Center should open earlier so students can make up tests before school and during first period preps

Verbatim“Mr. Geller and Mr.

Posada”“Ms. Lassen and Ms.

Vereyken”“Mr. Cronin and Ms.

Brockmann”

—Andy Maliska

junior

—Boys Swim Team —Caroline Lucas-Conwell

sophomore

“Ms. Predescu and Mr. Posada”

—Justin Austin

junior

Which two teachers should go to prom together?

students, even if that means putting in a little extra work

Having a block schedule in which students do not have all of their classes every day also helps prepare students for later in life. In college, most students will not have all of their classes every day and will still have to manage their time wisely. This is also true in business. Taking responsibility for one’s work load and planning one’s schedule accordingly is a valuable skill.

A later start, complimented by four days of block scheduling, would drastically improve the learning environment at Paly. Students would be more responsible for their own workloads, preparing them for the future and better rested due to the late start. The minor sacrifices needed for the schedule change are greatly disproportionate to the advantages of the new schedule.

to learn topics in greater depth and teachers will have more time to explain their subject material.

However, many students would face difficulties in paying attention throughout the period. Students often grow tired as the double-period wears on and subsequently absorb a smaller amount of the long lesson.

In addition to the difficulty of maintain-ing attention throughout the periods, students would receive an increased amount of infor-mation on each block day.

Because each blocked class would meet three times a week instead of the current four, teachers would have to cover more material to keep up with the curriculum. Math classes, for example, would have to teach the equivalent of two lessons on each block day.

“In a calculus class, I would just power through and we would do five sections a week,”

Paly math teacher Suzanne Antink said. “In a geometry class, I would probably do four sections a week. That means every block day I would do two sections and on Friday I would try to help everybody catch up with a summary because that’s a lot to learn in 90 minutes. If we slowed this pace, we wouldn’t finish the curriculum.”

With a larger amount of material to cover, students could face overloading. This is because the lessons that would have been taught gradually each day would be crammed into larger lessons which meet together every other day.

Students would have to cope with copi-ous amounts of information and at a certain point during each class students would face reductions in lesson retention.

These limits in student attention span can sometimes be seen in foreign language classes.

“Many students will reach a saturation point,” Paly Spanish teacher Kevin Duffy said. “Especially in the first semester of level one, you can easily reach that saturation point and the students are done learning for the day no matter how long the class is.”

Teachers, in turn, would have to adapt their lesson plans to involve more activities to further engage students so that they can stay focused as the class goes on.

“We would have to have a variety of activities for every block period, including having students up and around and moving

and make sure that they aren’t just sitting,” Duffy said.

Even so, with large amounts of material and a longer period, students would have to cope with setbacks in learning.

Inconsistent meetings would provide a weaker base for language classes. Ideally, foreign language classes should meet at least once a day to practice speaking and listening to that foreign language, Duffy said.

With inconsistent meetings every other day, fluency in foreign languages could suffer. Students would spend more time in each class session speaking and listening to a foreign language, but would not practice speaking and listening in a classroom environment for two days each week under a four-day block schedule. This would be comparatively worse than the current two-day block schedule.

Increases in the amount of material cov-ered would also correspond to an increase in homework. Many argue that students would have two days to complete more homework, but this is an illusion. In math classes, students would receive double homework assignments to correspond with the double lessons.

The amount of homework assigned for each class would be psychologically over-whelming. Students would receive two days’ worth of homework on one block day and many students would have to manage their time well to cope with the pile.

According to a study, done by University of Calgary professor Piers Steel that was published in January 2007 by the American Psychological Association, 26 percent of the American public identify themselves as chronic procrastinators.

Cited sources of this procrastination included new electronic novelties such as televisions, the Internet, cell phones, iPods and video games –– many of which are used regularly by high school students.

With such a high inclination for high school students to procrastinate, a good portion of Paly students may not be ready for a change in homework and time management.

Even though most Paly students tend to be high academic achievers, a portion of students still procrastinate chronically and would be harmed under the increased homework load of the block schedule.

Another problem is a decrease in class-room time. Under the current two-day block schedule, students receive about 240 minutes of classroom time, whereas under the proposed four-day block schedules, students would receive about 230 minutes of classroom time each week. This lost instruction time would hurt students because they would lose nearly 360 minutes of instruction time per class over the course of the year. Despite the proposed four-day block schedule’s good intentions, the proposed schedule has several flaws that could be detrimental to students’ learning.

These faults include lowered retention rates, more homework and less overall class time. For these reasons, Paly should consider either keeping the current two-day block schedule or making further modifications to the proposed schedules that would help reduce the aforementioned flaws.

EditorialsThe opinion of The Campanile

District should open up Internet wireless network

Allows students access to internet would encourage unhindered productivity

Corrections: Significant corrections will be noted in the upcoming edition. Please send any corrections requests to theeds08@googlegroups.com.

Letters to the Editors: E-mail all letters to edi-tors to theeds08@googlegroups.com. The Campanile welcomes and prints letters to the editors on a space-available basis.

The Campanile reserves the right to edit submis-sions for length. Please note that The Campanile only publishes signed letters.

Advertisements: Ads with The Campanile are printed with signed contracts. For more information, contact Campanile Business Managers by e-mail at campanile.ads@gmail.com.

OpinionA4 March 17, 2008

The Campanile

I would like to preface this piece of feedback by saying that I think the writer deserves a lot of credit for maintaining such a unique opinion in such a computer-dominated area.

That said, I think this article has many structural flaws. Blanket statements such as “most students use computers multiple times a week...” lose credibility when they have no statistics to back them up. I attended Palo Alto High School, I would guesstimate that about 99% of students use computers at least 5 times a week, however without statistical data this argument is very weak. This article is full of such statements with no statistical support.

Secondly, I think it is a great and very underrepre-sented argument that not all kids can afford computers and Internet access on a regular basis. However, again, without any numerical data or even a first-hand account of a student who has difficulty accessing a computer, this argument is similarly very much weakened.

I think this is a great start to a potentially great article, however suggest that next time the author ei-ther leaves out blanket statements, or better yet, finds statistical support for them.

–– Helen Sims, Paly alumnus

Unsupported statements plague article

Letters to the Editors

The CampanileEditors in Chief

Tyler Blake • Danielle Kim • Peter Lee Ryan Pfleiderer • Mia Pond • Tomer Schwartz

News EditorRebecca Allen

Lifestyles EditorKairen Wong

Opinion EditorChris Clayton

Photo ManagerHannah McGovern

Features EditorsHenry BeckerAmy Stringer

A&E EditorsSara ReihaniAustin Smith

Sports EditorsAlexi DaganSam Jones

Staff Writers

PhotographersMika Ben-Shaul • Julia Benton • Allie Bollella • Nora Brannen-Burt

Michela Fossati-Bellani • Stacy Levichev • Elizabeth Petit • Morgan Pichinson

Business ManagersGeng Wang Debbie Zhang

Advertising ManagerErik Krasner-Karpen

AdviserEsther Wojcicki

Spotlight EditorSarah Stringer

Graphics EditorErik Krasner-Karpen

Nanor BalabanianCatherine BensonAyelet BittonBecky BylerHannah BystritskyAlan ChenAuster ChenAlan ChuAllison ColemanZal Dordi

Rye DruzinChristian GallagherAlex GreeneChris GonnermanGabrielle HadleyMichael HamadaZach HarrisKevin HarveyDJ HsuehMikaela Kenrick

Laura KurtzYvonne LinJillian LiuJosh LoRyan McLeodMira ParekhJonathan ShanJulia ShapiroKelley ShinPauline Slakey

Annie VoughtAnna WaldronCrystal WangCassie WedemeyerAllison WhitsonEliot WilsonNolan WongLindsay YangGloria YuKelly Zhou

This letter was written in response to Alex Greene’s article, published Feb. 20, “Students should not be dependent on computers for school.”

It would have been a good idea to run this story by one of your many local mycologists before print-ing it. You could find any number by contacting the Mycological Society of San Francisco.

The statement that most concerns me is the one about avoiding all brightly colored mushroom as one means of being safe. This seemed to indicate that those are the most dangerous. Although some of those are poisonous, I can’t think of any that would kill an adult. Amanita muscaria causes alarming symptoms, but patients recover usually within 12-24 hours.

You do have some of the most deadly mushrooms in the world in the Bay Area. Interestingly enough, all are white or pale greenish or yellowish gray. They are the amatoxin containing amanitas. The one most commonly involved in life-threatening poisonings is Amanita phalloides.

The subject of mushroom mycophagy needs to be approached with a great deal of caution, especially in your part of the country, where, it is my understanding in discussions with some of your local experts, Amanita phalloides is sometimes one of the most common mush-rooms around.

–– Marilyn Shaw, former toxicology chair for the North American Mycological Assosiation

Mushroom article factually flawed

The following letters were written in response to Hannah Bystrisky’s article, published Feb. 20, “Mush-room gathering attracts local families.”

It’s great to see high school students showing an interest in mushrooms, but I’m afraid this article contains factual errors that could be deadly. Especially dangerous is this statement:

“Usually in nature, the brighter the color the mushroom has, the more dangerous and possibly fatal the mushroom is to consume.”

This is just plain wrong. Color is not an indica-tion of edibility or poisonousness. Amanita ocreata (sometimes called the destroying angel) is white and Amanita phalloides (a.k.a. death cap) is often muted tan or greenish, and they are two of the world’s deadliest mushrooms. On the other hand, Cantharellus cibarius (the golden or yellow chanterelle ) is bright yellow to orange and is among the most delicious edibles.

Another misconception: “Smaller mushrooms are the yummiest,” Souverneva said.

Boletus edulis (a.k.a. king bolete, porcini) is one of California’s largest mushrooms and is also one of the most delicious edibles, zealously sought after by pople from many cultures. Similarly, truffles can be the size of marbles or basketballs; regardless, they are among the most expensive and prized edible fungi in the world. There are countless tiny mushrooms that are nasty tasting, poisonous, even deadly. Size is ir-relevant to taste.

There are an awful lot of misconceptions about mushrooms. Unfortunately, this article contained some common ones. It’s always a good idea to double-check your facts when writing a story about matters of life and death.

–– Peter Curtis, San Francisco

This is a cool article about the film, which is already playing trailers in Austria’s and Germany’s cinemas, and I think it’s a really cool thriller.

The reason I write you is that I’m doing research about The Third Wave for about a year or so; it began as part of a scholarly paper (I finished highschool last year), but turned into a very interesting investigation about the truth. There are reasons that Jones’ story is exaggerated, so I did a lot of Googling –– now, one year later, I have contact to five of his ex-students. One of them sent me the link to your article, and when I read it, it was interseting that you mentioned “The Breakers”. I don’t know any text in the Web mentioning them (but I know about them because one of the students told me) –– where did you get your information from, and what was your approach to the research?

Best regards from the other side of the globe.–– Tobias Deml, Vienna

Interesting article about “Third Wave”

This letter was written in response to Sarah Stringer’s article, published Feb. 20, “Palo Alto’s ‘Third Wave’ inspires German filmmaker.”

I am the Co-Founder of BAMS!, the Bay Area’s newest mushroom society. Although the author mis-stated some of her mushroom “facts,” I appreciate her enthusiasm for the topic. Mushroom hunting is indeed fun and joyful. If you are considering eating wild mushrooms that you have collected, however, you must be absolutely sure of their identity, and this only happens through long experience. To reduce your chances of making an error, learn from the experts! Here in the Bay Area, we have many mushroom societies to choose from, and wonderful field guides that are geared to our specific area.

Hunt safely; there is plenty of information out there to help you along your (forest) path.

–– Debbie Viess

Mushroom hunting fun, but dangerous

Last month, Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) presented legislation that would prevent school administrators from taking retribution against journalism advisers for what their students publish in California. Specifically, the bill, Senate Bill 1370, states in Yee’s Feb. 29 press release that it “prohibit[s] an employee from being dismissed, suspended, disci-plined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against for acting to protect a student’s speech.”

The bill, referred to as the “Jour-nalism Teacher Protection Act,” adds to the rights already guaranteed to student publications by California Education Code Section 48950, en-acted in 1992. The law declares that “a student shall have the same right to exercise his or her right to free speech on campus as he or she enjoys when off campus.”

As a result of this earlier legis-lation, SB 1370 further checks the power of an administration’s ability to censor or in some way filter material published by students by limiting the severity of consequences that teacher may face if material is considered controversial or a breach of the First Amendment.

The Campanile strongly supports SB 1370 in its attempt to respect the true nature of journalism; the bill would better protect student publica-tions from administrative bias and censorship, respect the over-arching goals of and intentions behind student journalism programs and serve as a step in the right direction for journal-ism in general.

Such a law would not only em-power the writers of student publica-tions but also the respective audience

as their right to freedom of the press would be both protected and endorsed. Specifically, by prohibiting a school’s administration from pressuring pub-lication advisers, students would be able to report any information without being censored. Such an exception would be made to material deemed libelous, obscene or slanderous.

For example, Teri Hu of Fre-mont’s Irvington High School was a victim of school censorship, according to Yee’s Feb. 29 press release. Dur-ing the 2003-04 academic year, The Voice, Irvington’s newspaper advised by Hu, ran two controversial articles that she suspects led to her removal as journalism adviser. Specifically, Hu was asked by the administration both times to retract each story on grounds other than violation of the First Amendment.

While in support of SB 1370, The Campanile also recognizes the freedom of the student press at Palo Alto High School. During the course of this year, The Campanile wrote stories on the following subjects: student substance abuse, the reen-actment controversy, and the recent boys’ basketball disqualification. If published at other high schools around the country, there is a high probability that such articles would not run; these student voice would go unheard. SB 1370 allows these students to have the same opportunities Paly’s publications experience as there is relatively little censorship of articles or threatening of journalism advisers. The Campanile commends Paly for its consistent re-spect for student publications, which should serve as reference for all na-tional public high schools’ journalism programs.

This freedom of the press not only furthers the quality of student journalism, but entitles individuals to their first amendment rights of the United States’ Constitution. The Campanile congratulates SB 1370 for clearly recognizing students’ rights and providing them with the opportunity to write freely. Under this law, student journalists are protected against censorship and can fulfill their responsibility to the public by providing the truth. Moreover, Yee’s bill does not ban students’ pursuit of the truth but inspires and protects their courage.

In addition, with this freedom and expanded autonomy students will be forced to take more responsibility for published work. While this law would not remove or decrease an adviser’s power on a student publication, with less censorship students are able to report on subjects that matter to them, regardless of how controversial they may be. Because of this, The Campa-nile supports the very nature of Yee’s bill as it sends a powerful message to all student journalists of maturity and independence. SB 1370 will give stu-dents more of an opportunity to learn from their success and mistakes by gaining a stronger sense of ownership. This bill acknowledges the power and importance of student journalism as it respects and seriously recognizes the work of high school students.

According to Yee’s Feb. 29 press release, SB 1370 will be considered by the California State Senate in March. The Campanile strongly urges the Sen-ate to approve of this bill as it will not only serve justice to its constituents but model an example all journalism should follow.

Journalism bill necessary to protect free speech

Senate Bill 1370 protects students from censorship, allows students to report truth

When the Palo Alto High School wireless network was created more than three years ago, a writer for the Palo Alto Weekly discovered a secu-rity hole in the network that would have allowed anyone on a school or district computer access to confiden-tial student information.

In response, the Palo Alto Uni-fied School District placed limita-tions upon access to the Internet and proceeded to install Internet filters to protect its network infrastructure from any further breaches. By doing so, students at Palo Alto High School have been cut off from Wi Fi Internet access.

In an age when security holes are not uncommon, the district’s actions were justified; student privacy is of utmost importance. However, barring the wireless network at Paly has been problematic for students.

The Campanile believes that it is time for the district to re-evaluate it’s Internet usage policy and to either

open up or create a new wireless network for Paly students. Students should be given the ability to access the system on their own laptop com-puters in a manner that is responsible and secure.

Often, students need the Internet to complete schoolwork and carry out research. This is currently very difficult given the situation. Paly may offer excellent computers in the library and its computer labs, however nearly all computers are occupied during brunch and lunch in the library, and most Paly computer labs are inacces-sible to students who aren’t accessing them as part of their class.

It would be beneficial to students to have the ability to access the inter-net on their own personal laptops at school, as school-owned computers are not always available.

The Campanile firmly believes that if access to the Internet is being provided at local libraries, Stanford University, and entire cities like near-

by Mountain View, there is no reason why an accessible wireless network should not be set up for student use. How this is achieved will require the district to hear input from students, and The Campanile hopes that the district will work with the Paly student body, including ASB leadership, to make this possible.

Paly is currently facing increasing enrollment; at some point, a handful of library computers will not satisfy the needs of the growing student body.

The school has spent thousands of dollars on laptop mobile carts, which are largely only accessible for limited times during class period and are not available during lunch or brunch.

By making access to the Internet available and encouraging students to bring their own laptops, the district would allow Paly students to study and work on their own laptops and allow them to be more productive and unhindered by the amount of available computers in the library.

EditorialsThe opinion of The Campanile

District should open up Internet wireless network

Allows students access to internet would encourage unhindered productivity

Corrections: Significant corrections will be noted in the upcoming edition. Please send any corrections requests to theeds08@googlegroups.com.

Letters to the Editors: E-mail all letters to edi-tors to theeds08@googlegroups.com. The Campanile welcomes and prints letters to the editors on a space-available basis.

The Campanile reserves the right to edit submis-sions for length. Please note that The Campanile only publishes signed letters.

Advertisements: Ads with The Campanile are printed with signed contracts. For more information, contact Campanile Business Managers by e-mail at campanile.ads@gmail.com.

OpinionA4 March 17, 2008

The Campanile

I would like to preface this piece of feedback by saying that I think the writer deserves a lot of credit for maintaining such a unique opinion in such a computer-dominated area.

That said, I think this article has many structural flaws. Blanket statements such as “most students use computers multiple times a week...” lose credibility when they have no statistics to back them up. I attended Palo Alto High School, I would guesstimate that about 99% of students use computers at least 5 times a week, however without statistical data this argument is very weak. This article is full of such statements with no statistical support.

Secondly, I think it is a great and very underrepre-sented argument that not all kids can afford computers and Internet access on a regular basis. However, again, without any numerical data or even a first-hand account of a student who has difficulty accessing a computer, this argument is similarly very much weakened.

I think this is a great start to a potentially great article, however suggest that next time the author ei-ther leaves out blanket statements, or better yet, finds statistical support for them.

–– Helen Sims, Paly alumnus

Unsupported statements plague article

Letters to the Editors

The CampanileEditors in Chief

Tyler Blake • Danielle Kim • Peter Lee Ryan Pfleiderer • Mia Pond • Tomer Schwartz

News EditorRebecca Allen

Lifestyles EditorKairen Wong

Opinion EditorChris Clayton

Photo ManagerHannah McGovern

Features EditorsHenry BeckerAmy Stringer

A&E EditorsSara ReihaniAustin Smith

Sports EditorsAlexi DaganSam Jones

Staff Writers

PhotographersMika Ben-Shaul • Julia Benton • Allie Bollella • Nora Brannen-Burt

Michela Fossati-Bellani • Stacy Levichev • Elizabeth Petit • Morgan Pichinson

Business ManagersGeng Wang Debbie Zhang

Advertising ManagerErik Krasner-Karpen

AdviserEsther Wojcicki

Spotlight EditorSarah Stringer

Graphics EditorErik Krasner-Karpen

Nanor BalabanianCatherine BensonAyelet BittonBecky BylerHannah BystritskyAlan ChenAuster ChenAlan ChuAllison ColemanZal Dordi

Rye DruzinChristian GallagherAlex GreeneChris GonnermanGabrielle HadleyMichael HamadaZach HarrisKevin HarveyDJ HsuehMikaela Kenrick

Laura KurtzYvonne LinJillian LiuJosh LoRyan McLeodMira ParekhJonathan ShanJulia ShapiroKelley ShinPauline Slakey

Annie VoughtAnna WaldronCrystal WangCassie WedemeyerAllison WhitsonEliot WilsonNolan WongLindsay YangGloria YuKelly Zhou

This letter was written in response to Alex Greene’s article, published Feb. 20, “Students should not be dependent on computers for school.”

It would have been a good idea to run this story by one of your many local mycologists before print-ing it. You could find any number by contacting the Mycological Society of San Francisco.

The statement that most concerns me is the one about avoiding all brightly colored mushroom as one means of being safe. This seemed to indicate that those are the most dangerous. Although some of those are poisonous, I can’t think of any that would kill an adult. Amanita muscaria causes alarming symptoms, but patients recover usually within 12-24 hours.

You do have some of the most deadly mushrooms in the world in the Bay Area. Interestingly enough, all are white or pale greenish or yellowish gray. They are the amatoxin containing amanitas. The one most commonly involved in life-threatening poisonings is Amanita phalloides.

The subject of mushroom mycophagy needs to be approached with a great deal of caution, especially in your part of the country, where, it is my understanding in discussions with some of your local experts, Amanita phalloides is sometimes one of the most common mush-rooms around.

–– Marilyn Shaw, former toxicology chair for the North American Mycological Assosiation

Mushroom article factually flawed

The following letters were written in response to Hannah Bystrisky’s article, published Feb. 20, “Mush-room gathering attracts local families.”

It’s great to see high school students showing an interest in mushrooms, but I’m afraid this article contains factual errors that could be deadly. Especially dangerous is this statement:

“Usually in nature, the brighter the color the mushroom has, the more dangerous and possibly fatal the mushroom is to consume.”

This is just plain wrong. Color is not an indica-tion of edibility or poisonousness. Amanita ocreata (sometimes called the destroying angel) is white and Amanita phalloides (a.k.a. death cap) is often muted tan or greenish, and they are two of the world’s deadliest mushrooms. On the other hand, Cantharellus cibarius (the golden or yellow chanterelle ) is bright yellow to orange and is among the most delicious edibles.

Another misconception: “Smaller mushrooms are the yummiest,” Souverneva said.

Boletus edulis (a.k.a. king bolete, porcini) is one of California’s largest mushrooms and is also one of the most delicious edibles, zealously sought after by pople from many cultures. Similarly, truffles can be the size of marbles or basketballs; regardless, they are among the most expensive and prized edible fungi in the world. There are countless tiny mushrooms that are nasty tasting, poisonous, even deadly. Size is ir-relevant to taste.

There are an awful lot of misconceptions about mushrooms. Unfortunately, this article contained some common ones. It’s always a good idea to double-check your facts when writing a story about matters of life and death.

–– Peter Curtis, San Francisco

This is a cool article about the film, which is already playing trailers in Austria’s and Germany’s cinemas, and I think it’s a really cool thriller.

The reason I write you is that I’m doing research about The Third Wave for about a year or so; it began as part of a scholarly paper (I finished highschool last year), but turned into a very interesting investigation about the truth. There are reasons that Jones’ story is exaggerated, so I did a lot of Googling –– now, one year later, I have contact to five of his ex-students. One of them sent me the link to your article, and when I read it, it was interseting that you mentioned “The Breakers”. I don’t know any text in the Web mentioning them (but I know about them because one of the students told me) –– where did you get your information from, and what was your approach to the research?

Best regards from the other side of the globe.–– Tobias Deml, Vienna

Interesting article about “Third Wave”

This letter was written in response to Sarah Stringer’s article, published Feb. 20, “Palo Alto’s ‘Third Wave’ inspires German filmmaker.”

I am the Co-Founder of BAMS!, the Bay Area’s newest mushroom society. Although the author mis-stated some of her mushroom “facts,” I appreciate her enthusiasm for the topic. Mushroom hunting is indeed fun and joyful. If you are considering eating wild mushrooms that you have collected, however, you must be absolutely sure of their identity, and this only happens through long experience. To reduce your chances of making an error, learn from the experts! Here in the Bay Area, we have many mushroom societies to choose from, and wonderful field guides that are geared to our specific area.

Hunt safely; there is plenty of information out there to help you along your (forest) path.

–– Debbie Viess

Mushroom hunting fun, but dangerous

Last month, Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) presented legislation that would prevent school administrators from taking retribution against journalism advisers for what their students publish in California. Specifically, the bill, Senate Bill 1370, states in Yee’s Feb. 29 press release that it “prohibit[s] an employee from being dismissed, suspended, disci-plined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against for acting to protect a student’s speech.”

The bill, referred to as the “Jour-nalism Teacher Protection Act,” adds to the rights already guaranteed to student publications by California Education Code Section 48950, en-acted in 1992. The law declares that “a student shall have the same right to exercise his or her right to free speech on campus as he or she enjoys when off campus.”

As a result of this earlier legis-lation, SB 1370 further checks the power of an administration’s ability to censor or in some way filter material published by students by limiting the severity of consequences that teacher may face if material is considered controversial or a breach of the First Amendment.

The Campanile strongly supports SB 1370 in its attempt to respect the true nature of journalism; the bill would better protect student publica-tions from administrative bias and censorship, respect the over-arching goals of and intentions behind student journalism programs and serve as a step in the right direction for journal-ism in general.

Such a law would not only em-power the writers of student publica-tions but also the respective audience

as their right to freedom of the press would be both protected and endorsed. Specifically, by prohibiting a school’s administration from pressuring pub-lication advisers, students would be able to report any information without being censored. Such an exception would be made to material deemed libelous, obscene or slanderous.

For example, Teri Hu of Fre-mont’s Irvington High School was a victim of school censorship, according to Yee’s Feb. 29 press release. Dur-ing the 2003-04 academic year, The Voice, Irvington’s newspaper advised by Hu, ran two controversial articles that she suspects led to her removal as journalism adviser. Specifically, Hu was asked by the administration both times to retract each story on grounds other than violation of the First Amendment.

While in support of SB 1370, The Campanile also recognizes the freedom of the student press at Palo Alto High School. During the course of this year, The Campanile wrote stories on the following subjects: student substance abuse, the reen-actment controversy, and the recent boys’ basketball disqualification. If published at other high schools around the country, there is a high probability that such articles would not run; these student voice would go unheard. SB 1370 allows these students to have the same opportunities Paly’s publications experience as there is relatively little censorship of articles or threatening of journalism advisers. The Campanile commends Paly for its consistent re-spect for student publications, which should serve as reference for all na-tional public high schools’ journalism programs.

This freedom of the press not only furthers the quality of student journalism, but entitles individuals to their first amendment rights of the United States’ Constitution. The Campanile congratulates SB 1370 for clearly recognizing students’ rights and providing them with the opportunity to write freely. Under this law, student journalists are protected against censorship and can fulfill their responsibility to the public by providing the truth. Moreover, Yee’s bill does not ban students’ pursuit of the truth but inspires and protects their courage.

In addition, with this freedom and expanded autonomy students will be forced to take more responsibility for published work. While this law would not remove or decrease an adviser’s power on a student publication, with less censorship students are able to report on subjects that matter to them, regardless of how controversial they may be. Because of this, The Campa-nile supports the very nature of Yee’s bill as it sends a powerful message to all student journalists of maturity and independence. SB 1370 will give stu-dents more of an opportunity to learn from their success and mistakes by gaining a stronger sense of ownership. This bill acknowledges the power and importance of student journalism as it respects and seriously recognizes the work of high school students.

According to Yee’s Feb. 29 press release, SB 1370 will be considered by the California State Senate in March. The Campanile strongly urges the Sen-ate to approve of this bill as it will not only serve justice to its constituents but model an example all journalism should follow.

Journalism bill necessary to protect free speech

Senate Bill 1370 protects students from censorship, allows students to report truth

When the Palo Alto High School wireless network was created more than three years ago, a writer for the Palo Alto Weekly discovered a secu-rity hole in the network that would have allowed anyone on a school or district computer access to confiden-tial student information.

In response, the Palo Alto Uni-fied School District placed limita-tions upon access to the Internet and proceeded to install Internet filters to protect its network infrastructure from any further breaches. By doing so, students at Palo Alto High School have been cut off from Wi Fi Internet access.

In an age when security holes are not uncommon, the district’s actions were justified; student privacy is of utmost importance. However, barring the wireless network at Paly has been problematic for students.

The Campanile believes that it is time for the district to re-evaluate it’s Internet usage policy and to either

open up or create a new wireless network for Paly students. Students should be given the ability to access the system on their own laptop com-puters in a manner that is responsible and secure.

Often, students need the Internet to complete schoolwork and carry out research. This is currently very difficult given the situation. Paly may offer excellent computers in the library and its computer labs, however nearly all computers are occupied during brunch and lunch in the library, and most Paly computer labs are inacces-sible to students who aren’t accessing them as part of their class.

It would be beneficial to students to have the ability to access the inter-net on their own personal laptops at school, as school-owned computers are not always available.

The Campanile firmly believes that if access to the Internet is being provided at local libraries, Stanford University, and entire cities like near-

by Mountain View, there is no reason why an accessible wireless network should not be set up for student use. How this is achieved will require the district to hear input from students, and The Campanile hopes that the district will work with the Paly student body, including ASB leadership, to make this possible.

Paly is currently facing increasing enrollment; at some point, a handful of library computers will not satisfy the needs of the growing student body.

The school has spent thousands of dollars on laptop mobile carts, which are largely only accessible for limited times during class period and are not available during lunch or brunch.

By making access to the Internet available and encouraging students to bring their own laptops, the district would allow Paly students to study and work on their own laptops and allow them to be more productive and unhindered by the amount of available computers in the library.

News March 17, 2008 • A3 The Campanile

By Ayelet BittonStaff Writer

After working within the district at vari-ous different positions for the past 14 years, Associate Superintendent Marilyn Cook an-nounced her upcoming retirement from the Palo Alto Unified School District at the end of the 2007-08 school year.

Among her various positions, Marilyn Cook also served as Palo Alto High School’s principal.

“I was hired as the Paly principal in 1994,” Cook said. “After six years I moved over to the district office.”

After transferring to the District Office, Cook worked as Assistant Superintendent

for Human Resources for five years and then took on the role of Associate Superintendent for the entire district.

Cook holds an overseeing position with responsibilities ranging from curriculum and instruction to technology services to student support. She worked on a number of projects in various different departments throughout the district.

“It’s hard to think of something she hasn’t influenced,” PAUSD Superintendent Kevin Skelly said. “Any time you’re in a senior, lead-ing position, you have a big effect. Marilyn is a really smart curricular thinker. She’s given me a lot of advice in my first year here.”

Cook has enjoyed her time spent with the district. Cook said that after her retire-ment, she plans to look for more interesting things to do.

“This is the most fun place that a person can be in if he or she likes to learn and grow,” Cook said. “It’s great no matter who they are or how long they’ve been here.”

Cook is not certain about what she will do during her retirement. She may contribute to and become involved with certain projects at the district if something that she wants to help with arises.

“The district always has things for people to work on,” Cook said. “I really love the place. It’s a great place to be in.”

During Cook’s six years as the principal at Paly, she was very involved with and fre-quently interacted with both students and staff, English teacher Kaye Paugh said.

“One thing I always remembered about Cook was that she was very receptive,” Paugh

said. “She had a very calm presence and was very caring. She was delightful, organized and very bright.”

English teacher Mike McNulty also worked with Cook during her years in the Paly front office.

“The main reason that I liked her was that her door was always open,” McNulty said. “That was very nice. If you had a question for her, she would always have a straightforward answer for you right away, which might not sound like a big deal, but is a very help-ful characteristic in a work environ-ment.”

Cook has nu-merous memories from her years at Paly that include a number of difficult administrative deci-sions.

At the start of Cook’s very first year at Paly, PAUSD faced enormous budget cuts, which quickly trickled down to Paly. Cook faced difficult decisions from day one, including cutting staff and funding for pro-grams, Paugh said.

“A lot of students misunderstood her,” McNulty said. “She wasn’t out and about all the time, but she was really taking care of things behind the scenes.”

Still, Cook was also very fun and was involved in enjoyable times as well, Paugh said.

“She visited Paly the year before she was hired and thought Spirit Week was very clever and very interesting,” Paugh said. “The next year, she had a really great idea and came up with a costume with four quadrants. Each quadrant was a different color representing a different class, instead of just one supporting one class.”

Cook was also a major factor in the implementation and initiation of In Focus, the broadcast journalism program at Paly,

McNulty said.“She was never

afraid to try new things,” McNulty said. “She hated to follow the status quo. If someone could figure out a better way to do things, she would try it.”

Al l in a l l , Cook’s coworkers look favorably upon

all of her contributions to the Palo Alto com-munity and memories with her.

“I’ve worked for a lot of good people in my life,” McNulty said. “She is certainly one of them.”

Cook’s position of PAUSD associate su-perintendent is currently open to all potential applicants. Applications for the position are due by Apr. 4.

“Marilyn has a ton of history,” Skelly said. “She knows a ton. You don’t just replace that history.”

PAUSD administrator Marilyn Cook announces retirementFormer Paly principal contributed 14 years to the Palo Alto Unified School District in various leading roles

Stringent laws and expenses lead to fewer teen drivers

“[PAUSD] is the most fun place that a person can be in if he or she likes to learn and grow. It’s great no matter who they are or how long they’ve been here.”

Marilyn CookAssociate Superintendent

MOCK TRIAL, Continued from A1

“Although the semester projects seem like they could cost a lot of money, most cost very little, because funds come out of the ASB General fund, Paly Beautification account or various grants to which we apply,” Wang said.

For another semester project, Junior Class Site Council Representative Jenna Lose and Sopho-more Class Site Council Representative Olivia Diamond joined the Stressed Out Students (SOS) Committee to adjust the school’s bell schedules to a later start for next year. In February, the SOS Committee proposed four different class schedules with late starts.

Lately, Paly staff and students have been debating the possible schedules and the school may conduct a vote among the student body and staff. Results and a decision are to be released in March or April.

However, not all of the semester projects pro-posed by council members have been successfully carried out, mainly because of lack of interest or other reasons.

According to Abid, some student council members planned to host a school carnival, but li-ability issues forced ASB to terminate the proposed project. In another case, ASB had to abandon an

ASB, Continued from A1

Mock Trial team heads to state competition ASB plans to renovate deck

Marilyn Cook is remembered for her contributions as a Paly principal, Human Resources Assistant Superintendent and the PAUSD Associate Superintendent.

By Sarah StringerSpotlight Editor

A recent survey of American teenagers found that only 29.8 percent of teens now get their licenses upon eligibility, down from 43.8 percent in 1998.

The data, collected by the Federal Highway Administration, demonstrates a close to fifty percent decrease in teen drivers within the past ten years.

Experts cite various reasons as to why these numbers changed so drastically within ten years, including parents who are more willing to drive students, increases in insurance and gas costs, tighter state laws and chang-ing methods of driver education.

Still, many are surprised as to why fewer teens are driving now com-pared to ten years ago. Michael T. Marsden, dean of St. Norbert Col-lege in De Pere, Wisconsin and an expert on car cul-ture believes this goes against tradi-tional American teenage values.

“It’s a big change in a major American ritual of driving as early as possible,” Marsden said in an inter-view with the New York Times.

One of the reasons fewer teens may be delaying their trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles is because of the new difficulties and expenses that teens face when obtain-ing a driver’s license.

There are also fewer methods of obtaining drivers education, which further delays licensing.

During the 1980s, 90 percent of schools offered driver education to students as a class; now, only 20 percent of schools offer it and many of those programs are run after school or on weekends.

Students must then choose a private school or an internet program for their education. In California, students must complete 50 hours of driving with a permit before obtain-ing a license.

Palo Alto High School senior Samuel Kung said that he does not drive because he is putting off this process.

“I originally wanted to get started, but I got lazy,” Kung said. “I was in Hong Kong for the past two sum-

mers, so even if I did complete drivers education, I wouldn’t be able to do much while I was there and then when I came back I had other stuff to do, so I couldn’t really get to it.”

F o r n o w, Kung’s mother and friends drive him to where he needs to go, but he hopes to find the time to complete driver education sometime in the near future.

Other teenagers have different reasons for delaying driving lessons. Insurance costs have risen steadily, making it more expensive for teenag-ers to have cars.

Currently, most insurance poli-cies will cost 80 to 100 percent more when adding a 16-year-old driver to them, according to Allstate Corpora-tion.

Nolan Wong/The Campanile

Requirements for driving also make the process more time con-suming. Newer, more stringent laws for driving have been put in place in many states, including California. In 2006, the state enacted a new law requiring teens to have their license for one year before driving between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. and before transporting passengers under the age of 25.

Other states have adopted simi-lar graduated driver-licensing laws during the past decade to reduce the number of teen car crashes.

As a group, teenagers are in-volved in the highest number of auto-mobile crashes. According to “Saving Teenage Lives,” a study released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers.

While some states allow teen-agers to get restricted licenses six months after they turn 14, those states with new laws in place delay drivers’ licenses, mainly until one turns 16 years old. In New Jersey, learners must be 17 years old before they can get a restricted license.

Graduated licensing laws also restrict the hours at which teens may drive, the time before they may trans-port other minors and the number of hours they must accumulate in behind-the-wheel training.

These laws have helped decrease the number of teen fatalities in car crashes by 11 percent, according to a survey done in 2006 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

One of the main reasons these laws are effective is that they keep teenage drivers off the road.

Recent survey shows the number of American teen drivers has decreased by about fifteen percent since 1998

idea to hold a prom fashion show due to lack of interest from council members.

“Not only did no one in ASB take interest in it, but we felt that we had to focus our time and energy on the prom itself,” Wang said.

With the advent of such new additions, im-provements and events to Paly, students have much to look forward to.

“Senior deck” semester project pending school approval

However, there are still many teenagers who are eager to get their licenses, a traditional symbol for independence and maturity.

Paly senior Amanda Miller, for example, took driver’s education and got her license as soon as she turned 16.

Stacy Levichev/The Campanile

Over the past ten years, fewer high school students have been driving to school because of stringent state teen driving laws, increases in auto insurance costs and changing methods of driver education.

ASB UpdateProm at San Francisco City •Hall on April 5

“Senior deck” renovation •pending school approval

Stressed Out Students (SOS) •Committee modifying bell schedule for 2008-09 school year

“It’s a big change in a ma-jor American ritual of driv-ing as early as possible.”

Michael T. MarsdenDean of St. Norbert College

“I wanted my license so I could stop asking my parents for rides and I could be more independent,” Miller said. “Now I drive a lot.”

Miller said she now drives her-self everywhere, including her dance classes in San Jose and her job, when previously she would have had to go

to her parents or friends to ask for a ride. She also feels that she has much more freedom now that she is able to provide her own transportation.

“It is definitely a sign of inde-pendence for me,” Miller said. “I’m never even at home any more now that I can drive.”

year, but somehow we managed to gain 11 brilliant students and went undefeated,” Nizamian said.

The team’s new members include freshmen, sophomores and juniors in vari-ous courtroom roles ranging from attorneys to witnesses to pre-trial attorneys.

“The whole team has done a lot of work so far, stud-ied and reviewed lots of cases and un-der Andrew’s lead, we were able to make it all the way to states,” Whitney said.

Another obsta-cle the Mock Trial team overcame this season was learning to interpret material without the aid and guidance of a coach or experienced legal advisor, Nizamian said.

“Coaching and teaching the rest of the team was a little bit difficult at times,” Nizamian said. “Mainly, I just taught the team what I learned from [previous coach] Susan Stewart and [previous legal advi-

sor] Judge McKay, both of whom helped me a lot.”

Due to the fact that the team did not have an experienced coach, tryouts, practices, transportation and scrimmages were run by students with Nizamian tak-ing the lead.

Nizamian has also made valuable con-tributions to the team because he teaches the

team the majority of the content, the laws relating to the case and court-room protocol. He worked with each student to guide them as they cre-ated and developed direct and cross examinations skills as well as drafting

opening and closing arguments.“Andrew taught us most of the things

we know now,” sophomore prosecution attorney Ryan Flanagan said. “It’s thanks to Andrew that we were so successful.”

Before the state competition, the team plans to practice and review topics.

“To prepare for states, the Mock Trial team plans to continue practicing objec-

tions and knowledge of evidential rules,” Nizamian said.

The Mock Trial team may also hold some extra rounds to practice for the state competition.

“We are probably going to have a few more practices and a scrimmage against an-other high school to better prepare ourselves for states competitions,” Whitney said.

The mock trial team is also currently searching for donors to fund the last $5,000 needed to take the team all the way to Riverside for the state competition, Niza-mian said.

The team is looking for private dona-tions as well as financial contributions from local law firms. They may also raise some money on their own with a bake sale, a car wash or a dinner fundraiser at Chevy’s.

Despite the many setbacks the mock trial team has experienced, the team still made it to the state competition due to the entire team’s combined effort and contributions.

“We couldn’t believe that we had got-ten to the county finals,” Nizamian said. “When we all held hands waiting for the final verdict, we knew that no other team wanted or deserved the win more than we did.”

“No one expected us to win this year, but somehow we managed to gain 11 brilliant students and went undefeated.”

Andrew NizamianMock Trial captain

Eligibility infraction leads to basketball forfeitsBASKETBALL, Continued from A1

News The Campanile

• March 20: End of Quarter Third quarter grades are sent home.

• March 24-28: Spring BreakStudents and staff relax during their week off.

• April 5: Prom Juniors and seniors enjoy Prom, held in San Francisco City Hall.

A2 • March 17, 2008

Books Inc.’s arrival at Town and Country viewed positively

Stanford psych professor discusses work with students

NEWSBRIEFS

Town and Country is now home to one of the West Coast’s oldest bookstores. Books Inc. moved from Stanford Shopping Center, where it was located for the past 50 years, to Town and Country on Feb. 1.

“The new location is better in many ways,” store manager Eric Petersen said. “The layout of the store is more open and inviting than the old location. The location is easier for people to get to.”

The new store also has more room to hold events. During their grand opening week, Books Inc. had multiple authors come in to speak, including Carol Black and Frank Portman, author of King Dork.

Palo Alto High School is already benefiting from the opening of the new store. Only a week after the store opened, Manager Eric Petersen told the Paly librarian Rachel Kellerman that the store offered a “Paly Day” on Mar. 7 during which ten percent of all profits from that day would go towards the Paly library. The library made $608 from “Paly Day,” which will go towards buying materials and resources for the library.

“We’re very excited to be located across the street from the high school,” Petersen said. “The students bring a great energy to the center.”

Moving to Town and Country puts Books Inc. at the center of the Palo Alto community.

“We’re looking forward to building a strong relationship with the community,” Petersen said. “A bookstore is a great place to hang out, browse and meet friends. We are very excited to be closer to our customers.”

—Allison Whitson

Staff Writer

Dr. Philip Zimbardo, a professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University best known for leading the Stanford Prisoner Experiment in 1971, came to Palo Alto High School on Mar. 4 to discuss his new book, The Lucifer Effect, with Paly’s Advanced Placement Psychology classes.

In his talk, Zimbardo addressed the question his book poses: “What makes good people go bad?” He showed examples from psychological experiments and from current events that dem-onstrate his theories about the human capacity for both good and evil.

“Psychologists tend to ask little questions and they have very good methods for answering them,” Zimbardo said at the talk. “Sociologists and anthropologists try to ask big questions, but their methods can’t give them any definite answers. I’ve tried to apply the methods of psychology to the questions of sociology and anthropology.”

Zimbardo identified behaviors that lead ordinary people to perpetrate or to accept evils, and others that lead ordinary people to act heroically in the face of evil. He concluded that an edu-cational program designed to inspire the “heroic imagination” would help young people stand up to injustice.

Students who attended the lecture were mostly seniors who watch Zimbardo’s psychology videos in class. After the speech Zimbardo signed copies of The Lucifer Effect and “Dr. Z’s Lucifer Effect,” shirts of his own design, for members of the audience.

—Erik Krasner- KarpenGraphics Editor

On Feb. 29 and Mar. 1, the Palo Alto High School robotics team competed in Portland, Oregon where they finished 23rd out of 55 teams at the Pacific-Northwest Regional.

The team got off to a promising start that was cut short due to a broken sensor on one of the robot’s arms.

“For the upcoming competitions we feel comfortable that we have fixed the problem that happened in Portland, and that it will not happen again,” senior co-captain Daniel Shaffer said.

The robotics team’s next competition is the Silicon Valley Regional from Mar. 13 through Mar. 15 at the Event Center Arena in San Jose.

Attending the competition will be many local schools, such as rival Henry M. Gunn High School and Woodside High School. Last year’s champion, the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science, will also be competing.

“Right now, as a team, we are feeling very confident about our chances in the upcoming competitions,” Shaffer said.

At these events, each team’s robot competes against one another in a simple game. Teams score points by throwing yoga balls with their robots over bars or overpasses that are placed along a 60-to-70-foot track. Each time a ball is thrown over, a team scores eight points and each time the robot makes a lap around the track they are granted two points.

Paly’s robot is based on a Roman catapult that rolls on six six-inch wheels and flings balls over the overpass similar to how a catapult flings large stones.

“We have a lot of trust in our robot’s abilities and we take pride in building it on our own,” Shaffer said. “Some teams have other companies build the robot for them.”

The Robotics team will compete next at the Las Vegas Re-gional over spring break.

—Chris GonnermanSenior Staff Writer

Robotics team looks forward to upcoming competition

By Alan ChenStaff Writer

Palo Alto High School freshmen Ricky Minno and Sam Greene will host a dance called “Club for Kenya” at Club Il-lusion on Mar. 21 to help support African children in poverty. Although the dance is called “Club for Kenya,” proceeds will go to children all over Africa.

The tickets cost $15 for general ad-mission while VIP tickets cost $35. The VIP tickets allow patrons to by pass the line and includes free drinks and access to a special upstairs room. The pair first decided to host their own party at Club Illusion when they went to an Under-18 dance at Club Illusion hosted by Crystal Springs on Dec. 1, 2007.

“When we saw how nice Club Illu-sion was, Ricky and I decided that we wanted to host our own party,” Greene said. “We’re planning to have at least 450 people show up.”

All profits from the dance will be donated to the Friends of Lurdes Mutola Foundation, which helps children in Africa get out of poverty.

“Ricky and I knew that we would be making a lot of extra money and neither of us wanted it or needed it,” Greene said. “So we decided to give it away to charity. Luckily enough, one of Ricky’s mom’s friends helped us pick a good foundation to donate the money to.”

Although planning a large scale party may seem time consuming, Minno and Greene said that booking a spot at Club Illusion was very easy. According to Greene, not only did Club Illusion offer to provide a DJ, food and drinks, the manager was also willing to sell the extra tickets if Minno and Greene couldn’t sell them all.

“It was actually much easier than I thought it would be,” Minno said. “The

entire process has been really smooth, nothing bad has really happened yet.”

Though Minno and Greene are both Paly students, they want to open up the dance to students from all schools. They hope students from many high schools will come and have a good time.

“We really wanted to have other people from other schools because we both play soccer and we have a lot of friends from other schools,” Greene said. “We basically told our soccer friends and since they were interested, we decided to have the dance open to the schools around us.”

To help spread the word about their charity dance, Minno and Greene have representatives from a variety of schools, including Paly, Gunn, Los Altos, St. Francis and Mountain View High Schools help sell the tickets. Paly representative Ethan Plant is helping Minno and Greene sell the dance tickets around campus to both upper and lower- classmen.

“I’m basically helping sell all of the tickets and telling people about the event,” Plant said. “The tickets are selling really fast; they’re almost all sold out. It seems everyone wants to help out.”

While many school dances have had problems with student substance abuse, Minno and Greene are not worried about such behavior at their dance.

“Before, I was a little bit worried about seeing drunk people around,” Greene said. “But Club Illusion has re-ally strict rules and a low tolerance for drinking.”

Both are also looking forward to another charitable dance in the future.

“If everything goes well this time, we will definitely try to hold another dance before the end of the school year,” Greene said.

Paly freshmen to host dance for charityProceeds from dance at Club Illusion will benefit African children in poverty

Hannah McGovern/The Campanile

Freshmen Sam Greene and Ricky Minno plan a charitable dance that will help African children in poverty. The multi- school dance will be held at Club Illusion on California Ave. on Mar. 21.

Town and Country asked to eliminate Styrofoam

Upcoming Events

Paly student and World Centric confront businesses about polyurethane use

“We did not know or under-stand the sport’s eligibility guidelines for a student coming from Australia.”

Earl HansenAthletic Director

However, because he began attend-ing Paly on Nov. 25, more than halfway through the first semester, in time to participate in the basketball season.

Hall’s grades for first semester from Paly were audited and he began officially receiving grades at the begin-ning of second semester, which began Jan. 22.

“I talked to Ms. Singares and she told me that my grades for first semester would be audited and I would begin get-ting grades at the beginning of second semester,” Hall said. “If I had known that this was going to cause such a huge problem with basketball, I would have immediately told Diepenbrock what was going on.”

Without complete first semester grades on his transcript, Hall was ineli-gible to play on any sports teams during that semester.

“As far as I was concerned, all of the paperwork involved with Ed’s eligibility had been checked out,” boys’ Varsity bas-ketball head coach Peter Diepenbrock said. “I didn’t check every single thing out personally, though.”

The minor discrepancy in Hall’s transcript was discovered by Principal Jacqueline McEvoy at the end of first semester, after realizing that there was a student attending Paly who did not receive first semester grades.

After uncovering the identity of the student, McEvoy immediately reported the issue to both CCS com-

missioner Nancy Lazenby-Blaser and Diepenbrock.

“I immediately suggested that coach Diepenbrock stop playing him until the issue was resolved. However, I never thought the degree of the problem would be so great,” McEvoy said. “After talking to Diepenbrock, I called the CCS com-missioner and reported the issue.”

Despite the fact that he was still a legitimate high school senior, Hall was ineligible to play within CCS athletics

due to the fact that he had already com-pleted eight semesters of high school, stated in CIF Bylaw Article 20: 204.

“We did not know or understand the sport’s eligibility guidelines for a student coming from Australia,” Paly Athletic Director Earl Hansen said. “If we had known about the problem, this never would have happened.”

Paly and CCS partnered to fully uncover the extent of the problem and discussed whether Hall was eligible to play and finish out the 2007-08 season.

“CCS walked through the issue with

us and told us to further look through his transcript, as well as speak with his fam-ily and discuss the problem with coach Diepenbrock,” McEvoy said. “We just wanted to protect the team by having him wait to play until the situation was clarified. We really wanted to ensure that he was eligible.”

As a result of discordance with CCS rules, the final record for the boys’ basketball season changed from 17-8 to 6-19, changing 11 games their victories to losses.

“The consequences for the issue were already known and expected,” McEvoy said. “There could have been additional sanctions if we had not self-reported the problem. However, no matter how justified, it was still hard to explain to the team.”

The information regarding the forfeitures was released to the team members and their families at a private meeting in the gym on Feb. 16 by McE-voy, Hansen and Diepenbrock.

The administration received notice to the extent and consequence of the problem on Feb. 13, but wanted to give the team the opportunity to play against Henry M. Gunn High School on Feb. 15 with high hopes.

Letters were sent by McEvoy to 15 different schools within CCS to prevent information about the issue from being leaked to the team before they were formally be informed.

“The team was very disappointed,” Diepenbrock said. “But, they were really

positive and supported Ed through the problem.”

After the issue became public, Hall dealt with many accusations regarding his justifications for attending Paly in the first place.

“My family moved here because this is where my mother grew up,” Hall said. “I have family that lives in Palo Alto and my cousins went to Paly. I didn’t move here to be recruited by the basketball team.”

The public response to the issue was considerably large and emotional. Reactions posted by the public were on both the Paly Voice and the Palo Alto Weekly’s web sites. However, due to many violent and unnecessary reactions by the public, administrators from both Paly and Gunn sent letters to the Palo Alto Weekly requesting that the comment function for the story be shut down.

“Whenever anything like this hap-pens, it triggers bad sentiments about other issues,” McEvoy said. “People use these blogs to attack Paly or other schools, even if their attacks are not about a recent problem.”

To prevent a similar situation from occurring again, the administration is discussing and proposing new ideas about including more information about eligibility for sports in the Palo Alto Uni-fied School District entrance packet.

“The process is already estab-lished,” Hansen said. “This was a rare occurrence. A similar event will not happen again.”

By Ayelet BittonStaff Writer

World Centric, Palo Alto High School sophomore Isaac Plant and the City of Palo Alto met with Town and Country businesses last Thursday to discuss a pilot program to try out biocompostable products as an alternative to Styrofoam products.

“Styrofoam is horrible for the environment, so we’re trying to eliminate Styrofoam in Town and Country restaurants and eventually all of Palo Alto,” Plant said.

World Centric is a non-profit organization dedi-cated to reducing environmental degradation through education, community networks and sustainable enterprises, according to World Centric Research Associate Anna Ching. One of the current projects it is conducting is the production of green food-ware — products that decompose — as an alternative to Styrofoam, which does not.

Plant approached the city about the creation of a project to switch Styrofoam products to biocom-postable items and the two have formed a collabora-

tion with World Centric, according to Zero Waste Coordinator Annette Puskarich.

“We’re approaching businesses and asking them to try out the products as a pilot for thirty days at a discounted price,” Puskarich said. “The goals of the pilot are to try out the products, provide feedback from the business owners on how they hold up against regular products and to get customer feedback.”

World Centric offers food-ware made from bio-degradeabls such as sugar cane fiber, reed grass and corn starch.

“The hope is that once the restaurants transition to these [biodegradable] products, they will continue using them,” Puskarich said. Possible candidates for the pilot include businesses that use a significant amount of Styrofoam products which could include Kirk’s Steakburgers, the Sushi House, Spot: A Pizza Place and Douce France.

“They will use our products for one month, tell us what they think about the products and allow us to conduct exit surveys on customers,” Ching said.

Businesses who partake in the program will receive recognition in both the Palo Alto Weekly and the Palo Alto Daily News.

As the project expands, Plant hopes that other Paly students will become involved as well. Plant plans to hold a contest sponsored by World Centric for Paly students to design posters to promote the businesses involved and the project as another incentive.

64 billion Styrofoam products are thrown away every year in the US alone

Styrofoam does not decompose and is harmful to wildlife as well

Styrofoam contains chemicals harmful to the body

Recycling Styrofoam is costly

Styrofoam Facts