VOL. XLVII, NO. 6 MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL March 2, 201241717 PALM AVENUE, FREMONT, CA 94539

See CYBER,NEWS Page 3

By Anna ZengStaff Writer

Warriors sweep Cyber Foundations contest

MSJ will host an awards ceremony for the exceptional performance of the school’s three state finalists in the Cyber Founda-tions National Competition, an online ex-amination-based competition testing mas-tery in cyber security. Junior Jeffrey Yuan ranked fifth in the nation; Yuan, along with Senior Jeffrey Sun and Junior Brandon Wu, accepted trophies for being the top three performers in the state. These three students, along with Senior James Chang, Senior Ronald Kwan, Senior Sumukh Sridhara, Ju-nior Cory Cheung, and Senior Aaron Zhou, placed within the top 25 nationally.

Since the top three scorers in the state and one of the top five scorers in the nation attend MSJ, a representative from Cyber Foundations will come to MSJ to present the awards to the winning students. The date of the ceremony has yet to be arranged.

The Cyber Foundations competition was first hosted in the spring of 2011, where nearly 1,000 students participated against last spring’s finalists James Chang, Brandon Wu, and Senior Edward Wang. This year, students competed against 2,304 students from over 150 schools in 35 different states and territories, from October to November

of 2011. The online competition, hosted by the US Cyber Challenge (USCC), was di-vided into three modules: networking, op-

staff writer anna zeng

March 23Minimum DayEarly Release at 12:15 pm

Challenge Accepted: Write an album in 29 days

By Tanya RajaStaff Writer

February is a month famous for Valentines and an unusual number of days. Unknown to many people, this month is also February Al-bum Writing Month (FAWM). The challenge is simple – write 14 songs in the month of February. Since 2012 is a leap year, the song-writing quota has been increased to 14 ½, with the half-song being a collaboration with an-other participant.

Members of Songwriter’s Guild, a musical club on campus, successfully participated in the FAWM challenge. Junior Lucy Shen said, “My songwriting quality has really improved, and the FAWM community leaves very help-ful comments and feedback.” Junior Lilli Choung said, “I’ve gone from trying different varieties of music to finding something more concrete and my own style.” Both Choung and Shen, along with Seniors Joshua Wu and Jef-frey Sun, participated in the challenge, writing pieces varying from pop songs about pillows

and procrastination to instrumental violin and piano compositions.

Inspired after completing the better-known National Novel Writing Month (NaNoW-riMo) challenge, in which participants write a 50,000-word novel in November, singer Burr Settles initiated FAWM in February 2004. He got together with three friends and together, they recorded their progress on a blog. In to-tal, the group composed 66 songs in 28 days, with each member surpassing the 14-song goal. They garnered attention from several people who were interested in the project after stumbling across their blog, and due to this ex-pressed interest, Settles created www.FAWM.org to open up the challenge to the public. Since then, the project has generated almost 40,000 completed songs.

Participants of the FAWM challenge, com-monly referred to as “fawmers,” are encouraged to write a variety of songs. Fawmers have acted

See FAWM,NEWS Page 3

staff writer tanya raja

Recycling? How about TerraCycling?By Lindy Zeng

Staff Writer

MSJ’s Green Club has started a school-wide project called TerraCycle, named after the company that specializes in green tech-nology and innovations. In February, bins were set up around campus to gather empty potato chip bags. The collected chip bags are then sent to TerraCycle, a company who re-cycles this garbage by converting the waste into products such as reusable totes and bags. Through this effort, MSJ’s Green Club hopes to promote the idea of a cleaner earth.

TerraCycle was founded in 2001 by Princeton University student Tom Szaky. He established TerraCycle as a solution for eliminating waste that ends up in landfills.

See GREEN,NEWS Page 4

MSJ Songwriter’s Guild members Junior Lilli Choung (Vice President), Junior Lucy Shen (President), and Senior Joshua Wu, above, all wrote 14.5 songs in the month of February to successfully complete the FAWM challenge.

March 13-14California High School Exit Examination

March 11Daylight Savings Time begins

Junior Brandon Wu, Junior Jeffrey Yuan, and Senior Jeffrey Sun (above) were the top three California competitors in the Cyber Foundations National Competition (below), which tested mastery and knowledge of cyber security. Yuan also placed fifth in the US.

March 8Pre-registration forms due to math classes

staff writer lindy zengGreen Club, above, startedTerraCycle at MSJ, a new schoolwide project geared toward collecting used chip bags and converting them into reusable products.

photo by staff writer avery kruger, graphics editor angie wang

2 News www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

News in Brief

J. K. Rowling, above, recently announced her intentions to write a novel targeted towards adults.

hypable.com

COMPILED BY STAFF WRITERS JAYNELLE GAO, VISHAK MENON, AND

GRACE WU

brandigaliuzzi.wordpress.com

Free the Girls is a charity striving to help young women coming out of sex trafficking.

Rowling announces new novel J. K. Rowling, author of the

wildly successful Harry Potter bestselling series, has revealed her plans to write her first novel target-ing adults. After selling more than 450 million copies of Potter novels worldwide, many anxiously await to see how she will fare in this new genre. Rowling is optimistic and excited to approach this new frontier. “The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me,” she said, according to BBC. The book’s title and release date have yet to be an-nounced.

Bras join in fight against slaveryKimba Langas, a stay-at-home

mom collects unwanted bras for a charity called “Free the Girls” that gives them to young women com-ing out of sex trafficking in Mo-zambique, to sell in used clothing markets where bras are a luxury item and a source of income. She is encouraged by volunteers around the country who help her collect bras and is currently trying to raise enough money to ship 25,000 bras 10,000 miles. “Eventually it is going to change,” Langas says. “I know it is...I hope… [my son] will be like, ‘Slavery? What? Oh, I read about it in my textbook.’”

Obama visits SF ChinatownOn Feb. 16, 2012 President

Barack Obama made a surprise visit to San Francisco’s China-town and bought takeout from the Great Eastern restaurant. Diners were shocked by his spontaneous visit. Obama stayed for 20 minutes, greeting the diners and taking pic-tures with them. He paid around $100 for two big bags of dim sum. The President was in San Fran-cisco fundraising for his campaign through multiple sold-out events. His visit to the restaurant stirred up controversy after it was revealed that the restaurant still serves shark fin soup even after California out-lawed it in October. Obama signed the Shark Conservation Act, which keeps sharks from being grown for their fins, in January 2012.

huffingtonpost.com

President Obama made a surprise visit to the Great Eastern restaurant in Chinatown.

News Page 5: Jeffrey Sun is a senior.News Page 5: Raghu Dhara’s name was misspelled.Feature Page 9: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s name was misspelled.A&E Page 18: Justin Bieber’s name was misspelled.Sports Page 21: The third wrestling captain is David Kim.Photo Page 24: Paige Barrameda and Darryl Vo were not identified.

for the feb. 3, 2011 issue

New and improved weight roomBy Vishak Menon

Staff Writer

After weeks of planning and effort, MSJ’s new weight room is finally ready for use. The new facil-ity, which was transformed from its former use as an auto garage, is now fully functional and well-equipped. It is located in the E-Wing next to the woodshop room, and parallel to the track and field below. For years, students have worked out in the weight room located in the gym quad, but it was widely agreed that the space was cramped and unfit to be used as a full gym facility. After search-ing for a place on campus which would be large enough to support a new weight room, Athletic Di-rector Tom Thomsen decided the garage, which was roughly 1850 sq. ft., would be an ideal location.

After receiving permission from the department in charge of changing the use of facilities, Thomsen began the task of reno-vating and reshaping this unused space. With the help and support of donations from Mission Pos-

Peer Talk: “What Love is Not”By Nihar Parikh

Staff Writer

MSJ Peer Resource hosted a Peer Talk event on Feb. 23, 2012. The topic, entitled “What Love is Not,” focused on domestic vio-lence in teenage relationships, in response to the Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments (SAVE) organization’s Teen Dating Vio-lence Awareness Month.

SAVE’s mission is to provide solutions to domestic violence through support services, advo-cacy, and education, and to assist domestic violence victims and their families to end the cycle of violence. This month, they have shifted their focus to address teen-age domestic violence.

According to their statistics, approximately one in three high school students have been or will be involved in abusive relation-ships. In these unhealthy rela-tionships, one partner tries to gain power and control over the other by using different methods of abuse. Some examples of this behavior include extreme posses-siveness, use of put-downs, isola-tion of family and friends, and intimidation.

These actions all occur in a process the organization calls the “Cycle of Violence.” After the honeymoon phase of a relation-ship is over, the abuser usually builds tension by making their partner feel uncomfortable and wary. When the partner has had enough and tries to change the

situation by mentioning the sub-ject with the abuser, the abuser explodes and uses one or any com-bination of the forms of abuse, psychological, physical, sexual, or financial, to exert power over their partner.

The Peer Talk’s purpose was to increase awareness of teen do-mestic violence. Students in Peer Resource have seen several cases of unhealthy relationships in their counseling sessions and referrals, so they felt it necessary to touch upon the topic.

Junior Euni Kim, who co-orga-nized this Peer Talk with Sopho-more Praveena Fernes, said, “I do think it’s pretty significant be-cause, despite what everyone says, people in MSJ do get into rela-

staff writer anjali kanthilalPeer Resource officers Junior Euni Kim and Sophomore Praveena Fernes, above, led the “What Love is Not” Peer Talk to raise awareness of teen-age domestic violence.

sible, old drains were removed and the floor was fitted with new rubber flooring. Varsity Football Head Coach Sam Baugh also put in many hours to help with the re-designing process. In addition to a fresh coat of paint, now the walls are proudly adorned with a large letter “M” as well as the slogan “Where Championships Begin.” The new room also features a large bulletin board space which can be used by PE teachers to explain various muscle groups during their weight training unit or by the coaches of teams that conduct regular team workout sessions. After moving all the equipment from the old room into this new space, the weight room was finally ready to go.

While all the machines are still the same, the new leg room is sure to be appreciated by MSJ ath-letes every time they step inside. Junior Brandon Au, an athlete on both the Football and Track teams at MSJ, said, “The new weight room has definitely had a positive impact on me and my fellow workout buddies. Not only

is there more space to move about to conduct our plyometric jump-ing exercise, but also the rear-rangement of machines makes the workout flow better. As a result, it has helped me fit more efficient, rigorous workouts into a shorter amount of time. “

With the installation of a ste-reo, televisions, and new machines added to the room’s arsenal, fu-ture student athletes could have a weight room as good as any other at their disposal. In fact, with some minor tweaks here and there, this weight room could end up encouraging athletes to work out for free there in their respec-

tive sports’ offseasons.According to Vice Principal

Zack Larsen, the previous weight room facility located in the gym quad will now be used in coordi-nation with a cardio fitness unit for PE students as well as a place to conduct contemporary dance classes which are offered at MSJ. “It’s also a nice area to get kids of PE classes inside on rainy days to avoid confusion,” Larsen said. But for now, the room which for so long has been a symbol of MSJ’s prestigious sports programs, re-mains empty, with few remnants of the great athletes who passed through its doors. ▪

staff writer vishak menon

The new weight room in the E-Wing, above, offers added leg room and space to work out in.

tionships and yes, some of them do get abusive, though not necessarily physically. We hope to get people just aware of these issues. It’s im-possible to make them stop com-pletely, but if people know more about it and know what signs to look for, then maybe they can help us make a difference.”

SAVE representative Erin Daly attended the Peer Talk to facilitate the discussion and suggest ideas on how to spot abusive relation-ships and how to address them as a friend. She advocated healthy habits like reinforcing trust, open-ness, love, respect, acceptance, and shared values, and discouraged un-healthy habits like checking in too much, making ultimatums, making the partner feel guilty, and taking

mentally harmful substances. She enforced the notion that relation-ships are all about compromise.

Daly emphasized that with the right planning and prevention, teenage domestic violence can be minimized, and recommend-ed establishing specific support groups and help lines with parents, friends, and teachers.

Females aged 16 to 24 are more vulnerable to intimate partner vio-lence than any other age group, at a rate almost triple the national average. Peer Resource Officer Se-nior Diya Roy said, “MSJ students aren’t immune to domestic abuse. We hope this Peer Talk has raised awareness and possibly helped some students address these issues for themselves.” ▪

Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org News 3

CYBER | cyber security awardscontinued from page 1

erating systems, and system administration. Each module, which focuses on a key field of cyber security, allowed only two weeks to prepare for the exam. The cumulative score of all three examinations determined rank-ing. Top scorers in the school, state, and na-tion earn scholarships, trophies, and engrav-ings for their achievements.

The USCC, which runs the competition, is a national coalition of four organizations working together to improve future cyber security by increasing awareness in the “next generation of cyber security professionals.” The contest has received broad support from federal, state, and local officials, as well as educators, parents, and students. The num-ber of participating students has more than doubled since spring, and officials are noth-ing but optimistic.

“At the present time, educational op-tions… are few and far between. Public school budgets are being slashed at the same time that the cost of college is skyrocket-ing. In this most severe environment, Cyber

Foundations is one of the few beacons of educational opportunity for students,” said Erle Hall, a representative from the Depart-ment of Education.

Though the Cyber Foundations competi-tion is an entry-level competition, meaning that anybody without any prior knowledge can join, Yuan, Wu, and Sun, the three final-ists, have been long-time computer enthu-siasts. Since their younger years, they have been constantly learning about the vast field of computer science, by tinkering with the open-source operating system, Linux, fig-uring out algorithms, and programming in a variety of computer languages. They plan to pursue a future in computer science, but agree that the Computer Science club helped bring them together to participate in many other computer science competitions; some of these are CyberPatriot, American Computer Science League (ACSL), Cy-berQuests, ImagineCup, and the United States of America Computing Olympiad (USACO). ▪

On January 30, Adam Clark, a senior from John F. Kennedy High School, had the opportunity to talk with President Barack Obama over a live Google+ Hangout. Clark participated in a week-long YouTube com-petition where each contestant submitted a question for President Obama; he was one of the six selected participants from over 130,000 submissions to interview the Presi-dent live. A Google van from the Mountain View branch went to Kennedy High School and helped Clark prepare for the interview with President Obama more than 2,000 miles away in the White House’s Roosevelt Room. This was the first virtual town hall that streamed live on the White House You-

Tube Channel.Clark heard about this competi-

tion through one of his friends, who also prompted Clark’s government teacher, Ol-ivia Santillan, to instruct everyone in the class to write a question. Santillan ulti-mately submitted Clark’s question, which had the majority of student votes. After Clark’s question was selected, Clark, along with Santillan and a few other students from his AP Government class sat down to chat with the president. The president began the conversation by playfully thanking Clark for wearing a tie.

Clark asked the president, “At a time when Americans are struggling to pay for daily necessities, you’ve continued to push higher education for all Americans, but what is your plan to help students pay off all

FAWM | Feb. albumcontinued from page 1

upon this encouragement by creating new challenges, such as the “newspaper” challenge, which requires the participant to write a song based on a recent newspaper headline, or the “one chord” challenge, in which the participant must write an entire song using only one gui-tar chord. Fawmers are also encouraged to col-laborate with other fawmers in writing songs.

FAWM has induced the production of many creations, such as a three-way collabora-tion between Jefferson Pitcher, Christian Kief-er, and Matthew Gerken. The album Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 US Presiden-cies was released in 2008. As the title suggests, each of the 43 songs in the album was writ-ten about a president of the US. Each mem-ber of the trio wrote 14 songs, collaborating to write the 43rd, which is about then-President George Bush.

FAWM annually produces its own com-pilation CD series as well. Each compilation consists of songs produced in the correspond-ing year’s FAWM challenge, and indie-music critics from magazines like PopMatters and Wonkavisions have praised previous releases, such as Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies.

To participate in this challenge in the fu-ture, discuss song ideas, and ask for lyrics suggestions on the numerous forums of the FAWM community, sign up at www.FAWM.org. Registering requires no fee, but donations are enthusiastically welcomed. FAWM has a Twitter and Facebook page, as well as a call-in radio show. For more information about the project, visit any of these pages or the FAWM website. ▪

Visit www.thesmokesignal.org to hear MSJ FAWM participants’ compositions.

Kennedy HS interviews ObamaBy Frank Chen and Sonali Toppur

Centerspread Editor and Staff Writer

fawm.org

nbcbayarea.com

The February Album Writing Month website, shown above, featured a countdown timer (right), a nightly call-in radio show called the FAWMCast (bottom center), a cumulative song counter (bottom left), and weekly songwriting challenges (center).

Obama answers questions from Kennedy High School’s Adam Clark via a Google+ Hangout.

their student loans?” Obama answered that he was urging

Congress to act so that the interest rates on student loans don’t go up, and that his administration wants to extend existing tax breaks for families. “What we’ve tried to do is make college more affordable without putting a burden on tax payers.”

This YouTube competition offers stu-dents the opportunity to actively involve themselves in the nation’s politics. As the country draws closer to the presidential

elections, President Obama opened this line of communication to the public in the hopes of inspiring the younger generation to make themselves more politically aware and in-formed. “I think it sends a really important message to always try, you never know what’s going to happen, and that your opinion mat-ters,” said Santillan. “I felt really proud of my students. I felt really proud to sit with them while they were having a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” ▪

4 News www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

Mission Possible plans campus beautification

GREEN | club initiative to make MSJ more eco-friendlycontinued from page 1

TerraCycle first began producing products such as fertilizer and liquefied worm excre-ment packaged into used soda bottles. The business grew and expanded internationally into countries such as Norway, Spain, and Switzerland in 2011. The same year, the Ter-raCycle chapter in Brazil broke the Guin-ness Book of World Records for the largest recycled sculpture. For Earth Day 2011, the company partnered with Old Navy and Of-fice Depot to collect used pens and flip-flops in order to create recycled “flip-flop” play-grounds made out of the gathered material. TerraCycle searches for innovative solutions to turn non-recyclable items recyclable, creating new products that preserve or im-prove the quality of the material, which is also called “upcycling”. The waste collecting programs are termed “brigades” and upcycle the waste into products such as backpacks. For example, a Capri Sun brigade would collect Capri Sun juice pouches to convert into practical gear, such as duffel bags and

picture frames. Schools or organizations join the brigades and TerraCycle pays $0.02 to the school for every unit of each kind of litter collected.

Green Club received inspiration partly from the enormous success of the Terra-Cycle program at Chadbourne Elementary School. In September 2011, Chadbourne implemented the “Zero Waste Lunch” pro-gram, separating food waste and recyclables from regular trash. Chadbourne also re-placed their two-yard blue dumpster with a two-yard green dumpster that is used to collect compostable items. This reduced the amount of waste going into the landfill by 75 percent. The usual 12 to 15 bags of garbage waste is now only around three to four bags. Chadbourne estimates that if ev-ery school in the Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) enrolls in the TerraCycle program, about $40,000 to $80,000 could be saved. Volunteers at Chadbourne encourage others to rethink lunch waste as well. “Teach

By Aishwarya ThakurStaff Writer

Mission Possible has once again pro-vided MSJ the funds to renovate our cam-pus—which is badly in need of a renewal.The biggest complaint from students and parents alike is regarding MSJ’s lack of décor. Therefore, after taking students’, parents’, and teachers’ wishes into consid-eration, this year Mission Possible has de-cided to add trees and bushes to the area surrounding the library.

This project, set to start at the end of February, will involve planting native Cali-fornia plants on the slopes leading up to the library, facing the M-Wing and the gym. A new irrigation system will also be put in as

the current one hasn’t been used in twenty-five years. Currently, this area is a patch of dirt, but that is set to change come March.

Every year when Mission Possible de-cides how to spend the money they receive, they consult the teachers and administra-tors. This year, Vice Principal Zack Lars-en proposed the renovation of the area surrounding the library. Then, a Mission Possible committee voted on what they thought would be the best choice and what would benefit the school the most. Mis-sion Possible Treasurer Christina Broad-win said, “We wanted to pick [a project] that would be noticeable and impact a large portion of the population.” She also added that since the landscaping done at the front of the school near the A-Wing was so well-

received by both parents as well as students, they wanted to support something similar this year. “Well, people may ask how this is helping kids academically, but this [renova-tion] was needed. [One] should have pride in where they go to school and be proud of their campus,” Broadwin said.

Last year, Mission Possible donated $25,000 for the landscaping project and this year they are doing the same. This $25,000 comes solely from parent donations as well as corporate matching funds—money that is matched by companies where parents work. Mission Possible raised two times as much money this year as they did last year. Broadwin believes it is because parents can see their money actively being used towards the school. She said, “Parents drive by and

see their money in action.”The more money parents donate, the

more Mission Possible can do. This year they are also providing $4,200 worth of basketball backboards as well as $3,000 of weight room equipment. They hope to begin even more projects after their spring budget is finalized. In the future they are looking towards working on the lockers, the girls’ locker room, and any other mat-ters that teachers and administrators feel are pressing issues.

For now, the library renovation is their main project, and is set to finish by the end of March. With all the improvements that Mission Possible and parent donations are making achievable, MSJ is on its way to becoming a beautiful campus once more. ▪

them while they are young, they will live to remember,” the representatives from the school urge. “With a little effort and a little time, Zero Waste Lunch at FUSD should be achievable. Go green, FUSD!”

In addition to motivation from Chad-bourne, there are other sources of inspira-tion. “At first, we were just looking for a small way to make Mission greener,” the of-ficers say. “We noticed that there were large quantities of waste in the trash bins; waste that actually belonged in the recycling or compost bins.” With the support of the stu-dent body, faculty, administration, and the school district, MSJ Green Club also hopes to start a school garden like that of Ameri-can High School’s.

MSJ’s Green Club started placing bins in classrooms such as Math Teacher Linda Kadis’s in A-3 and Science Teacher Lisa Ishimine’s in M-1 in late February. They are currently expanding into the A- and B-wing cafeterias and the Bell Tower Quad. The club

plans to introduce the collection bins to the entire school as part of History Teacher Jeff Evans’s Service Learning Waste Reduction Project (SLWRP) during Service Learning Green Week at the end of March. With the help of the administration, L2, and the co-operation of the students, the waste can be collected and mailed back to TerraCycle.

The Green Club officers are optimis-tic about their success. Although a similar plan failed a few years ago, President Erika Cherk responds, “I think it’s really good for the school. At this point, it’s about seeing how the school responds to it. Chadbourne is successful because young children are eas-ier to control.” Because other high schools in the district are also stepping up to meet the challenge, Cherk continues, “It’s up to everyone in the end; everyone has to try to help make it succeed.” To learn more about MSJ’s Green Club and TerraCycle, visit ms-jgreenclub.wordpress.com. ▪

courtesy meilinda wangstaff writer lindy zeng courtesy melinda wang

staff writer aishwarya thakur

MSJ’s Green Club placed boxes like the ones above to collect empty potato chip bags for TerraCycle, which converts waste into reusable materials such as tote bags. TerraCycle has already proven successful at Chadbourne Elementary School.

Mission Possible plans to plant bushes and trees (artist’s depiction, left) in the area surrounding the library and near the E-Wing to beautify the dirt patches (right). They made the decision based on student, parent, and teacher wishes, and were inspired by the positive response to the new landscaping near the A-Wing.

courtesy zack larsen

the Smoke SignalMission San Jose High School

Est. 1964Vol. 47, No. 6 | March 2, 2012

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Editors-in-ChiEf Andrew Han, Diya RoynEws Allan Ko, Mekala Neelakantanopinion Anthony Chen, Courtney TamfEaturE Sida Lu, Edward Nguyen CEntErsprEad Frank Chen, Alice Zalana&E Alekya Rajanala, Maya Ramachandransports Omar El-Sadany, Sanjna Shukla GraphiCs Angie Wang, Kevin Zhai

wEb Aishwarya Thakur, Jonathon TengtECh Sai Chilakapati, Vipin DulambusinEss Rachel ChoiCirCulation Connor Williamsads Ditha Balaji, Jade ShiEvEnts Nihar Parikh, Sherry Xiao

writErs & photoGraphErs

Vishal Bajpai, Leland Bernstein, Jason Chen, Matt Farberov, Brandon Fuhs, Jaynelle Gao, Kevin He, Catherine Ho, Kenny Jacoby, Vivian Jair, Anjali Kanthilal, Avery Kruger, Vishak Menon, Jin Peng, Kyle Qian, Tanya Raja, Anusha Rijhsinghani, Hannah Shih, Sonali Toppur, Grace Wu, Kerrie Wu, Supriya Yelimeli, Anna Zeng, Lindy Zeng

advisor Sandra Cohen

Send letters to the editor to opinion@thesmokesignal.org. Letters under 300 words may be considered for publication and must include a full name and school affilia-tion. The Smoke Signal reserves the right to edit for clarity and length.

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By Anthony Chen Opinion Editor

In my years here at MSJ I’ve noticed a rather shortsighted men-tality concerning competition that is counterproductive to every indi-vidual who has it. In the scheme of things, each test is a competi-tion that leads up to competition in grades, competition in extracur-ricular activities, competition in college admissions, and perhaps competition in life. Viewing it as “you versus the world” though, will only hurt you.

Too often, students care about minute details, like scoring slightly higher than others on a test. There are always those students who, most often in jest, vaunt their higher test scores, but in the big picture none of that matters any-way. So what if you scored a couple points higher or lower than some-one else? Tests are a better metric of effort than intelligence, and whether you make the curve for a semester grade is entirely the result of hedging risk (but that’s another story). Comparing yourself to a class of 30, a class of 500, or even a school of 2000 doesn’t matter because there’s a whole world out there. There are schools like Phil-lips Andover and Whitney High School out there. And what hap-pens when you take the best from the world and put them together? That’ll happen in college and later on in professional careers.

Until then, you’re stuck here. Don’t be fazed by minor, day-to-day swings. To inflate your ego with such miniscule happenings like setting the curve is to delude yourself with images of grandeur;

celebrating the smallest of skirmish-es is a great way to forget the war. The king of ants is still an ant. Ig-norance is bliss, but reality is much better for you.

There’s nothing wrong with view-ing college admissions as a competi-tion. By the definition of “competi-tion,” that’s what it is. Where people go wrong is when they view it as a zero sum game. Others should not have to lose for you to win; focus on yourself, and not others. With this mentality, it ’s hardly even a compe-tition anymore. The point is not to beat others but to improve yourself.

For that kind of mentality to be effective, once again you’ll have to consider the denizens of the world and not just MSJ. The best way to improve is to find people who are better than you in every single way. Find people who are smarter, stron-ger, and sexier, and make them role models instead of making excuses about your own life or hating them. Don’t accept mediocrity, and don’t celebrate mediocrity; keep your ego in check and constantly improve yourself. You’ll go a lot farther this way than tricking yourself and pro-tecting your feelings and pride.

You shouldn’t be doing things simply for college admissions in or-der to beat others. Don’t do things just to add them to a list for your college application. In the grand scheme of life, it ’s a waste of time and effort. Do things you like do-ing, and invest in yourself; a dash of competition here and there, used correctly, can be an effective supple-mental motivator. ▪

Send letters to the editor to opinion@thesmokesignal.org

By Courtney TamOpinion Editor

She sits there dutifully, in the same spot on the black leather sofa every day, checking her message inbox. A senior citizen, her phone model superseding her teenage grandchildren’s 10 times over in sleekness, my grandmother rou-tinely explores all the different applica-tions on her phone. Camera, video re-corder, wallpaper archive, and much to my dismay, volume settings that result in 3am telemarketer calls amplified to epic proportions.

You would think that as a senior citizen, she would slow down and take life easy: possibly starting the day off with a relaxing cup of tea and biscuits or catching a showing of a classic film or the latest episode of a drama, but she is just the polar opposite.

The antithesis of laziness, she chal-lenges her mind with the complexity of technology daily: her ever-changing cell phone models, thin laptop, and webcam, taking to care in adjusting it just so that it syncs to her Skype ac-count.

Whether it is totaling two miles on the treadmill and subsequently hiking up the long flight of stairs 30 times, whipping up an entire three-course meal completely with dessert 15 min-utes after the slightest mention that I’m hungry, or going out to dinners, brunch, and a party all in the same weekend, she never ceases her activities. All while I’m having a lazy Saturday, sitting on the sofa catching a Harry Potter marathon.

Her age and seniority is not a fac-tor in her daily itinerary— sure she complains about the aches of old age, but she still has the herculean strength to strike flies dead in an instant, move with incredible dexterity and agility to grasp her phone at the slightest whis-

per of a ring, with a teenage penchant for waking up incredibly early and going to sleep in the wee hours of the morn-ing. Her eagerness to venture into new fields (she discovered touch screens on cell phones this week and recently added Friends to her ever-expanding repertoire of television shows) often puts individu-als a third of her age to shame.

As we seniors move through second semester at full speed, it’s conceivable to ease into the comfortable condition so often dubbed “senioritis,” living up to the hype after finally attaining “second semester senior” status after seven semes-ters of toiling through all our laborious academic endeavors.

It’s tempting to maintain an atti-tude of apathy, as whispers of “nothing I do matters anymore, as long as I pass my classes so I won’t get rescinded” are evidently growing louder in the hallways, but it should not be this way—never mind the upcoming AP tests and that what we learn in college and the future only builds upon what we learned in high school—but it’s our last semester at MSJ: it’s an opportunity to absorb everything we can from our high school community. It’s something we should all grasp and value as second semester seniors, making the most of our last three months as high school students.

Even though we’re finally second semester seniors, make sure to make the most of our statuses: it’s never too late to try something new, challenge ourselves to learn something complex. and let our-selves fall into a senior-like state.

Oh look, Grandma just picked up the latest issue of Popular Science. Guess she wants to learn about stem cell research now. ▪

Send letters to the editor to opinion@thesmokesignal.org

anthology

Second Semester Senior (Citizens) Constant Self-Improvement is Key

of Courts!

staff writer vivian jair

staff writer anusha rijhsinghani

Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Opinion 5

When Claremont McKenna acknowledged that their admissions dean had inflated the school’s SAT numbers for six years, the news shook the college admissions world. The news resulted in the elite California liberal arts school being pulled lower on all college ranking lists including the prominent U.S. Weekly. One list, Kiplinger, decided to go as far as to remove the school from its selection entirely.

However, more worries seem to be stemming from this scandal: if Claremont McKenna reported faulty SAT scores to the Department of Education, the department could suspend student aid and the college’s accreditor could choose to suspend accredi-tation. This is a common policy on dealing with a school that breaks the Department of Education’s rules, since it publishes consumer-oriented college data on its college navigation site and doesn’t want the validity of their data to be in question.

Former admission Dean Richard Vos inflated Claremont McKenna’s annual SAT scores by 10 to 20 points per test section. According to a state-ment from President Pamela Gann, “For the fall 2010 class, which is the most recent year that has been reported generally to the public, the [college] reported a combined median of 1,410 [out of a pos-sible 1600 on the SAT’s math and critical reading sections] when the actual should have been 1,400, and reported a 75th percentile score of 1,510 when the actual should have been 1,480.”

Claremont McKenna’s decision to acknowledge the scandal instead of denying it has made the case less serious. WASC President Ralph A. Wolff notes that the falsified data don’t mask any fundamental weakness at Claremont McKenna, it just makes al-ready good test scores look a little better. Also, the

actual inflation seems to be “the work of one per-son.”

The main question now is why the admission dean would risk the integrity and respect of the school merely to raise SAT scores by a few points? Ten points is similar to answering one more ques-tion right, changing someone from the 94th per-centile to maybe the 95th.

As we look towards the long-term effects of this scandal on future admissions, it isn’t looking too good for Claremont McKenna. Being dropped from college ranking lists hurts the school by de-creasing it’s publicity. Claremont McKenna will have less exposure to future students, and even if they are exposed to the college, it may be in only a negative light. This inflation of SAT scores may prompt some new rules and guidelines around sub-mitting admissions data for colleges nationwide, reforming data verification methods.

This incident offers a warning to all prospective students who place a great deal of importance on college rank and data. After all, Claremont McK-enna isn’t the first college to be caught attempting to boost rank and attract higher caliber students. Clemson University went under fire for purposely increasing the number of small classes at the ex-pense of expanding already large classes, since hav-ing many classes with fewer than 20 students can boost rank sizably. Baylor University practically bribed its incoming freshman to retake the SAT, raising the school’s average SAT scores by 10 points.

Colleges realize the value of a high rank and the following publicity, so they attempt to climb as high up on the list as possible. As long as students understand that the system is human, and that there are people behind those reported figures, they can appropriately judge how much value college rank really is. ▪

A scandal at Claremont McKenna By Sonali Toppur

Staff Writer

6 Opinion www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

The purpose of the GATE program is to “meet the unique advanced learning needs of gifted children… studies have demonstrated that students who are not challenged in their early education settings can plateau intellec-tually.” GATE testing is done early on in elemen-tary school to prepare students for honors level classes later on in their academic career. If one is GATE identified in third grade, they are automatically placed in higher level classes starting in fourth grade. These se-lected students are placed in “Gifted” read-ing and math programs. Though these are only subtle changes in an elementary school, they build up over time, and become more effective starting in Junior High and High School when a GATE student is automati-cally placed in honors level courses. It is key that students get tested as early as possible.

Gifted and talented:

By Anjali KanthilalStaff Writer

By Jaynelle GaoStaff Writer

Children enrolled at elementary schools in FUSD go through only a few years of educa-tion until they reach third grade and take a test as a part of screening to be GATE identified. Those who pass are GATE identified and are considered to be gifted and talented, if being able to attain high scores on a test given to 8 and 9-year-olds qualifies as showing attributes of giftedness and deserving of a differentiated learning environment. However, even under the highly unlikely circumstance that this “intelligence” test does accurately predict chil-dren’s abilities to achieve their full potential in high school honors classes, it would take at least a full five years from the time that they took the GATE test to even get to high school, so testing them at such a young age is probably not in their best interest.

Each spring, all third grade students may participate in FUSD assessment for gifted children. Test scores within the 98th and 99th percentile range are required for GATE identification under the Intellectual category. FUSD says about its GATE program, “it is our responsibility to provide [GATE identified] students with the necessary support and high quality differentiated learning opportunities, which enables each student to fully develop his/her unique individual potential.” According to the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), gifted children are those “who show, or have the potential for showing an exceptional level of performance in one or more areas of expression.”

“Back when I was in elementary school, I thought it was ridiculous to test a child for how ‘gifted’ he/she was...a lot of kids at the time let GATE affect their self esteem-positively or negatively. Honestly, I can't remember the GATE program really having an impact on my education, especially since now anyone can qualify for Honors/AP classes in high school, where it actually matters.” - Leena Yin, 11

“The GATE program has been a great source of motivation for me because I am pressured to chal-lenge myself through the classes' elevated level. However, sometimes I feel that a lot of people brag or place too much importance on the fact that they're in GATE. This discourages students who are not in GATE, creating a greater gap between GATE and non-GATE students.” - Catherine Wang, 9

According to FUSD, elementary schools use cluster grouping, which constitutes typically one or more clusters of six to eight GATE identi-fied students within a regular classroom set-ting so that the students are clustered together, rather than scattered amongst classrooms. They also receive “appropriately differentiated in-struction.” This is essentially splitting the grade school population into two groups that should be kept together. Labeling children as “gifted” while they are still young and segregating them from their peers to be included in a gifted pro-gram is only depriving them of social skills that are needed in the real world. It is more impor-tant for academically successful children to be allowed to integrate themselves with and learn from peers who may or may not be as academi-cally proficient but are talented in ways that can’t be measured by early “gifted and talented” tests.

The disparity between GATE identified students and regular students becomes more

apparent in junior high when honors classes are available. This is an opportunity for every-one in the grade to scope out who is “smart” and who is not just by looking at what classes someone is taking. When a student is la-beled as “gifted,” people’s expectations of him change and academic intelligence becomes a part of his identity. But if he fails to meet those expectations there is a good chance his self-esteem will drop because everyone ex-pects him to do well. On the other hand, if he does live up to others’ expectations, he may develop an inflated ego and an underdevel-oped work ethic and start to believe that his talent is capable of carrying him to success.

A major goal is to prevent students from becoming like either case, and just postpon-ing the GATE test in elementary may not be enough. Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, who spent her career studying the mentalities that lead to success, observed that believing in

fixed intelligence can undermine a person’s ability to succeed. She says, “Many people who believe in fixed intelligence also think you shouldn’t need hard work to do well…The fallacy comes when people generalize…that effort on any task, even very hard ones, implies low ability.” What every-one should keep in mind is that whether someone is GATE identified does not and should not lead him or her to degrade himself, or to view set backs as personal failures rather than opportunities for growth. If it even exists at all, fixed intelligence does nothing for a person if he doesn’t work hard. “Giftedness” does not go far in the real world.

The low reliability of early childhood testing and the setbacks it induces to children’s social and affective growth should lead FUSD to at least reconsider when they administer GATE-quali-fying tests. Postponement, along with a students’ change in attitude toward the “gifted” label, would decrease a future high school student’s feelings of incompetence, elitism, and stress. ▪

According to www.parentguidebook.com, test-ing a four and a half year old child or older will provide stable results for the student. Studies have shown that after this age the results are similar. This information is supported by other websites concerning early GATE testing. The FUSD GATE Program has made a list characterizing high achievers versus gifted stu-dents. They state that these “high-achieving” students are often “rule followers.” They are able to read situations, know what is expected, and carry out expectations to a high level.” GATE students are expected to be above standards at all times, and should be able to do so with ease. Early testing gives the students a chance to see that it is okay to “push the limits” and lets them mature along with the program. The Gifted and Talented Program provides a more challenging education for public school students who perform higher (or get better

test scores) than others their age. The students must be able to prove themselves by their be-havior, and not just academically. According to the FUSD GATE Program, “It is the dis-tricts’ goal to provide equitable, high quality differentiated learning opportunities for the GATE identified students to reach their full affective and academic potential.” The GATE Program states that every child is unique, and it tries to bring out the best qualities in every student. From my personal experience, an honors class just goes more in-depth than a college prep course. These CP courses also test stu-dents more on textbook material rather than lab work, or articles outside of class. Many of these classes also have the same book, just the amount of material covered and the intensity, or depth, of the questions on a test varies. One of the best parts about the GATE

program is the fact that if one is not so called “GATE identified”, they can become eligible for Honors Classes by other means. If a student at-tains an A or a B in a certain class and scores at an advanced level on the Californa Assesment tests (STAR), the student can be placed in Hon-ors classes if they qualify. A child can be tested as early as the third grade, but has the chance to still enroll in Honors classes later if the student and his or her parent believes it will benefit the student and they qualify based on the above. Of course, not every student will pass the test, but this gives the school a chance to see what stu-dents need to be challenged. Being tested for GATE early on is beneficial to a student’s learning. By taking more chal-lenging classes throughout his or her academic career, starting with elementary school, students identified early on as GATE students will be better prepared for the academic rigor ahead. ▪

testing too early?

centerspread editor frank chen

“The objective of the GATE program is to provide differentiated, yet challenging pro-grams for students of different abilities. I think differentiated (and challenging) edu-cational programs must be accessible to all students regardless of GATE/Honors qualifi-cation. So, I like that AP courses are available for all students who are genuinely interested in a particular subject matter.” -Sai Kumar, Chemistry Teacher

“When I took the GATE test in the second grade, I just barely missed the passing score by around 2 points. The fact that I'm not GATE identified actually made it a lot more difficult for me to take certain honors and advanced classes, which sucks a lot because that one score I received over 8 years ago is now holding me back from challenging myself in high school.” - Amanda Hong, 11

EDITORIAL: College AdmissionsThe Opinion of the Smoke Signal

Editorial Board

Send letters to the editors at opinion@thes-mokesignal.org by March 9, 2012 or comment

online at www.thesmokesignal.org.

High school students are almost adults, and thus we should be learning to take care of our-selves. Counselors are not and should not be holding our hands every step of the way on the journey to college. What counselors can do is guide us in the right direction, and they’ve been doing a terrific job of it. Counselors need to serve the entire student body, and not everyone is striv-ing to attend an Ivy League; each year 15 to 18 percent of the student body goes to community college, and around 25 percent of the student body goes to a state school. For those that do have their sights set on a school like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, or MIT, it’s important to take a moment and to understand why. Is it the stellar education we’ll receive, or do we strive to attend top-tier universities for their reputation?

MSJ is indubitably caught in “Ivy-mania”. Though the student body and the alumni net-works may certainly be stronger and more well-connected, when it comes to education, the mer-its of an Ivy League vary depending on the major and future career of choice. If we do pursue some kind of postgraduate study, whether a PhD, MD, JD, MBA, or some other degree, the graduate school is the first thing future employers will see; our undergraduate education will not be the pri-mary focus. If, however, we only intend to pursue a Bachelors degree, we need to place more em-phasis on the strength of certain majors at certain institutions. UC Berkeley is stronger than many Ivy League schools in engineering. Research will provide us with information on the backbone of programs and schools to which we apply; we can’t just base our decisions on reputation alone.

Through research, we’re going to figure out what colleges have strong programs in areas we’d like to pursue using resources like Naviance. However, taking that information into consid-eration is much easier said than done. So many apply to Ivy Leagues for the bragging rights. That means hours of writing, for both us and our counselors, applications fees, and more stress

than necessary, all for inflating egos. More often than not, we won’t get in.

We can’t ask of ourselves the impossible. Not everyone will rank nationally in competitions. College applications should not be about molding ourselves to fit the schools. As students and young adults, we should have the sensibility to be realistic about our undergraduate education.

Keeping the above in mind, there are many cas-es where it would be greatly beneficial to attend an Ivy League. For example, major investment banks tend to recruit mostly from Ivy League schools. The network we can potentially gain is priceless, especially for fields involving business or political science. So if you’re dead set on getting into an Ivy League, go forth and learn everything you can. It’s important to be realistic; some great resources to get a general idea of the profiles of admitted students are various “decisions” threads in forums on the internet. Keep in mind that “hooks” such as being an underrepresented minority or a legacy student can cause quite a bit of variation in admis-sion standard. Be realistic.

In the end, nobody will be able to convince us that attending Harvard may not be a good choice, and nobody can guarantee that attending Har-vard may even be a choice - not your parents, not this editorial, and not your counselors. There is no silver bullet. Do your research; don’t wait until se-nior year to look into possible colleges. Consider real-life advantages of attending Harvard’s under-grad program; there may not be as many as you’d think. Apply to colleges that you show a genuine interest in; put your efforts into schools that fit you the way you are. Though virtually no one can guarantee admission to top-tier schools, do what you can to maximize your chances wherever you want to apply. We all want to succeed, but worry-ing about things we can’t control won’t do us any good. ▪

Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Opinion 7

By Kyle QianStaff Writer

On Jan. 19, 2012, to the joy of hunchbacked students everywhere, Apple announced iBooks 2 for the iPad, which will feature interactive, digitized textbooks. Primarily targeting the K-12 audience, iBooks 2 seeks to bring “a more dynamic, engaging, and truly interactive way to read and learn”. Can it be? A world in which learning about vertebrae doesn’t require breaking our own? The integra-tion of tech-nology has for a long time been the next frontier for education, and this textbook initiative by Apple, if suc-cessful, will undoubtedly be the next step towards a true 21st century education. It seems like a win-win scenario, but behind the glossy metallic finish of the millions of iPads sold worldwide, seems to lie the question in the back of everyone’s minds: how are we going to pay for this? Apple’s Volume Purchase Program will al-low educational institutions to purchase digi-tized textbooks in volume, but tucked away at the very end of the FAQs reads this little ca-veat: “In the case of books, the student as the end user must redeem the book using his or her own Apple ID, and the student owns the book”. At $15 apiece, the textbooks may seem cheaper than their $75 paper counterparts, but considering that a paper textbook could last well over five years, purchasing a new e-text-book for every student every year quickly closes the price gap. Add to that, the cost of buying

an iPad ($500) for every student and providing tech support, as well as the fact that an iPad can’t survive a coffee spill like a biology book can. Fur-thermore, Apple has an annoyingly expensive (for customers) habit of releasing new toys every single year, so by the time five years have passed, the current iPad will more than likely be obso-lete, assuming they’ve all survived to begin with. Alternatives? Of course there are some! Well… kind of. The iBooks Author tool that allows any-one to create e-books and textbooks does indeed use the popular ePub format, but Apple has slyly

tweaked it so that it is essen-tially incompat-ible with any-thing other than Apple products. Furthermore, in what was called “greedy and evil” by Ed Bott, a writer for www.

ZDNet.com, a business technology news website published by CBS Interactive, the End User Li-cense Agreement for iBooks stipulates that any-thing written in the iBook format can only be sold through the iTunes store, from which Apple receives a 30 percent cut. If Apple rejects a book, it cannot be legally sold anywhere else. The idea that Apple is truly committed to the betterment of education seems dubious at best. In a California district like FUSD that already struggles with budget cuts, teacher salaries, and class sizes, paying for thousands of iPads isn’t go-ing to be on the agenda anytime soon. As Avram Piltch of Fox News writes, “It’s a [system] so ex-pensive that it will only help the privileged few.” Even with the supposed good intentions of expanding technology to classrooms, Apple has a long way to go. At this point, the promise just seems too good to be true. ▪

iBooks 2 expensive

geek.com

By Grace WuStaff Writer

Recently The New York Times released an investigative report on working conditions in Foxconn, a major electronics manufacturer for many large corporations such as Apple. The article focused on Foxconn’s factories in China, reporting on conditions in the factories and Apple’s role in the conditions. The article sparked widespread criticism and even protest from the mass media, but it’s easy to criticize from the comfort of our spacious workplaces and $4,200 average monthly salary. In order to understand the whole story, we must take a look at the circumstances that the Chinese workers face. We can’t simply compare American con-ditions to those conditions. Despite the poor conditions outlined in the article, thousands of eager Chinese workers lined up for hours on January 30 in Zheng-zhou, China for jobs in Foxconn’s Zheng-zhou campus. The base salary of 1,650 Yuan (US$261) may just be the cost of an iPod touch in America, but in China, a Foxconn job is seen as lucrative. The workers know that the salary at Foxconn is much higher than those offered by other companies.

The reality is that Foxconn’s conditions are idyllic compared to other small factories in China, where workers usually sleep under their work stations and can’t afford to rent apart-ments that are complementary at Foxconn. The company provides food and shelter at no cost to the workers, along with their monthly salary. Their living facilities resemble a city. Thousands of workers live in dorms and eat at industrial cafeterias. The company even offers onsite counseling for their workers, providing psychological counseling for those in need. Foxconn gained notoriety for attempted sui-cides but their suicide rates are low compared

to China’s suicide rate. Last year there were 18 suicides out of 700,000 Foxconn workers. Mean-while according to the World Health Organiza-tion, 14 out of 100,000 people committed suicide per year in China. One of the hopeful workers in line said,“Working conditions in smaller factories are even worse (than Foxconn). They have even longer work hours. The major reason is that sup-pliers are not at the top of the value chain and major brands can easily replace them. Also, work-ers in China do not have labor unions, and the Chinese government always protects the large companies.”

How can working conditions improve in China? As the worker said, improvements can only be made with the support of the Chinese government. Currently, the Chinese government protects the interest of the corporations due to fear of losing billions in revenue from manufac-turing, the biggest source of jobs in China. In fact, many cities in China offer a staggering amount in incentives and tax cuts to corporations in hopes of boosting the economy through manufacturing.

In an idealistic world, human labor rights would be a standard but working conditions will inevitably vary. Before feeling guilty and swear-ing to never buy another Apple product again, consider this: the only way that the less fortunate can move up is if they are given an opportunity to. Foxconn’s factories are presenting much better opportunities than were offered before. Through international trade China has been introduced to the global market; minimum wage and therefore standard of living will rise. According to official data released by the Chinese government, mini-mum wage has increased 12.5 percent every year from 2005 to 2010. The government has also planned to raise minimum wages 13 percent per year through 2015. In the foreseeable future China will work towards standardized labor laws, but without opportunity there is no potential for growth. ▪

Foxconn under fire

If you’re a standout, you’ll fit right in.There is a difference between communicating ideas and experiencing them. It’s the difference between memorizing a foreign language and thinking in one. Between studying ruins and excavating them. Between analyzing dreams and living them. The difference is huge. And it’s the very essence of the University of Chicago Summer Session. Where students are engaged at every level—intellectually, socially, personally, and professionally. Where you can benefit from the value of taking university courses in an accelerated, intensive format. Join us this summer for an extraordinary learning experience at the academic home to more than 85 Nobel laureates.

For students in high school, college, and beyond. June 18–August 24, 2012, 3, 4, 5, or 6-week sessions

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8 Ads www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

By Rachel ChoiStaff Writer

Smoke Signal Review: AP Books

Now that we’re well into second semester and more test prep books are magically appearing in the arms of students, the Smoke Signal offers a handy guide to the most popular AP review

books for the most popular tests.

AP StatisticsBarron’sThough Barron’s books are often criticized for be-

ing too verbose and complicated, the general consensus seems to be that for AP Statistics, Barron’s is the best choice. The book features one diagnostic test and five practice tests. (If you opt to buy the CD-ROM as well, that includes two more practice tests.) The book divides the information into four themes, which are further di-vided into fifteen topics.

Rating: 4/5 starsAmazon: $11.55With CD $19.75

AP BiologyCliffsNotesFor AP Biology, most reviewers online seem to agree

that CliffsNotes is the best choice, as it includes subject re-view, lab review, and two practice tests. It is, however, more than 200 pages shorter than the Barron’s AP Biology book, which may be good or bad.

Rating 5/5 starsAmazon:$9.60

AP PsychologyBarron’sBarron’s AP Psychology book seems to be a popular

pick for its subject review and practice tests. It also of-fers test-taking tips and studying strategies. If two prac-tice tests aren’t enough for you, you can always opt to buy the version with the additional CD-ROM, which has two more practice tests.

Rating: 5/5 starsAmazon:$9.63With CD: $19.79

AP Chinese Language and CultureBarron’sThe only test preparation book for AP Chinese by a

major company seems to be Barron’s, as Princeton Re-view and Kaplan don’t offer any yet. One advantage of this book is that it presents questions in both traditional and simplified characters, as the actual test does. There are two practice tests, and audio CDs that accompany the book offer practice material for the listening and speaking sections of the test.

Rating: 4/5 starsAmazon:$19.79

AP Human GeographyBarron’sFor AP Human Geography, it seems that Barron’s has

done pretty well. It has two practice exams, a diagnostic test, and subject review. As with most Barron’s books, there is also the option of purchasing an additional CD-ROM that contains two more practice tests—with automatic scoring.

Rating: 4/5 starsAmazon: $11.04With CD: $21.89

Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Feature 9

Man Survival Guide: Pumping iron

By Connor WilliamsStaff Writer

Alright men, you know what’s coming. The days are getting longer and the girls have been alerted on a primal level by the rain, that spring is coming. All of this means that pretty soon they will be able to see that holiday fluff. So what can you do? You can: move to Alaska(no one will ever see you in a swim suit again), have your brain put into a robot (no one judges robots, OR ELSE), or actually get back in shape.

Here are some guidelines on how to jump start your fitness routine. You should start easy, maybe go for a small jog or on a hike with friends. Then, as you get more comfortable, go for something a little bigger. You also have to make sure that you are eating food that will actually help you, not hurt you. Yes, I know that means no more delicious Panda Express.

Aerobic Exercise: This is where you should start, your heart needs to be ready for the exertion of more intense exercise. An added plus is that this is the best way to shed pounds.

Anything that you can think of that makes you breathe harder can be aerobic exercise. Some of the easiest to start doing are run-ning, swimming, biking, even playing Frisbee. The goal is to get your heart pounding. You should be getting a minimum of an hour of aerobic exercise every day, or longer depend-ing on your fitness level. As with every physi-cal activity you do, make sure you are ready for it. Drink lots of water and stay loose.

The ExercisesThese are some simple body weight exer-

cises to help build some muscle mass on your new lean and mean frame. The exercises hit upon the main muscle groups and are in-terchangeable with similar exercises. If you want, you can switch them up to focus on a specific area. Make sure you are using proper form and are doing them slowly.

Squats: These should be done with a straight vertical back, lowering until your knees are bent at a right angle with the ground. You should try to keep your knees over your toes and your back vertical. Do up to five reps of 30 each.

Pull Ups: Obviously these require a pull up bar, or any other sturdy thing to hang off of. You should place your hands about shoul-der width apart with your palms facing you. Then smoothly lift your chin over the bar and smoothly let yourself down. Do three reps of six (you can have a friend lift your feet if you need help finishing).

Push Ups: Place yourself in a plank po-sition, hands slightly more than shoulder width apart. Then lower yourself until your arms are at right angles. As you lower your-self, pinch your shoulder blades together. Make sure that your back and legs stay in a line. Do four reps of 25 to start out.

Sit Ups: Lay face up on the ground with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Sometimes it helps to have a friend hold your feet so you don’t move them. Cross your arms over your chest or hold your head in your hands, then raise your shoulders and body so that your elbows can touch your knees. Do four reps of 30 each.

After Workout Habits: Getting exercise is important, but so is eating right or resting; you won’t get all of the benefits without these.

To get a little extra protein after a work-out, try chocolate milk and a peanut and honey sandwich, or a granola bar. These are all healthy and yummy ways to eat right.

Hydration is another concern; if you don’t drink enough you won’t operate right. This is easily fixed if you carry a water bottle with you. After excessive exercise in hotter conditions you will need more water to replenish your lost fluids.

Rest is another factor many athletes forget about. You need time to let your body heal af-ter hard work. This can mean light exercise, like walking, or the obvious one: sleep. Another way to get the most out of your resting time is to loosen your muscles through massage or yoga. ▪

This is it. You have put in the time, the effort, and even sacrificed a little bit. You have earned a body that you can be proud of. Now all you have to do is maintain it and show it off (for the ladies). Go and enjoy yourselves men.

graphics by staff writer sherry xiao

walmartimages.com

10 Feature www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

It’s application season! As pre-registration nears, students will be on the prowl for a chance to get into the student organization of their dreams. But what if you’re not sure about what to go for? Here’s a look at five of MSJ’s most notable student organizations and classes that

require applications.

By Sherry Xiao and Anna ZengStaff Writers

Every year, a class of 25 students work together to produce MSJ’s yearbook, the Costanoan. The yearbook staff, working in four to five design teams, decides on an overarching theme and creates the year-book from scratch. Each design team is responsible for a certain number of pag-es to turn out in six weeks. The empty lay-outs are fleshed out with content such as pictures, quotes, and text blurbs to create pages, which are turned in to the appro-priate section editors on deadline. Edits are made, and the pages are then sent to the printer who sends back a tenta-tive copy of the section called a proof. The proof is then edited, and the finalized pages are sent back to the printer who sends back the final product. Each year, the yearbook staff looks for a diverse group of talented new students to help create the wide range of material found in the yearbook.

The Costanoan is looking for photogra-phers, page designers, writers, entrepre-neurs, and techies, among others; more details can be found on the application. The application can be picked up in the yearbook room, E1B, or downloaded from their website at msjyearbook.tum-blr.com. The application is due back to yearbook by March 5, interviews are scheduled around mid-March, and deci-sions are announced at the end of March. The number of staff openings varies from year to year depending on the number of seniors graduating, but generally no more than 15 new staff members are ac-cepted annually, including one freshman selected from the Hopkins yearbook staff. Last year, more than 25 students applied.

When asked about what qualities she’s looking for in the incoming staff, Costanoan Editor-in-Chief Harpreet Gill said, “Hardworking, outgoing, dedicat-ed, [and] talented. That’s pretty much it. If you’re dedicated, even if you’re not amazing and you work at it, you can get that skill.”

Room E1BTeacher: Jean Dotson

The Smoke Signal releases one issue every month, nine months a year. Each issue fol-lows a cycle that begins with beats and story ideas. On the first day of the cycle, mem-bers pitch story ideas for the upcoming issue and report on their beats. Beats are different parts of the school or community, for exam-ple the Math Department or Kennedy High School,that Journalism I students are assigned to keep up to date with throughout the year. Section editors, who are exclusively Journal-ism II and III students, decide which articles will run in the paper and assign writers to spe-cific stories. Writers are usually given around a week to write before stories are due back to editors. The work writers do in this week will vary depending on the type of story but often includes interviewing sources and doing re-search in person and online. During this time, students can also sign up to take photos for events being covered. Rough drafts undergo a series of edits before they are resubmitted as final drafts. Once the final drafts are in, the workload shifts from the writers to the editors. Editors create page layouts, make any neces-sary changes to articles, and compile a final-ized PDF file of the newspaper to send to the printer. Meanwhile, Journalism I students par-ticipate in classroom discussions on current events and other related activities. Several days after the file is sent, the printer delivers the papers to the journalism classroom and papers are distributed throughout the school.

The Smoke Signal is looking for students in-terested in writing, reporting, or photography to apply for its staff next year. Applications are available online at www.thesmokesignal.org, and are due back to N9 by March 5. Based on their written applications, prospective stu-dents will be selected for interviews with an Editor-in-Chief and members of the editorial board. Last year, around 60 students applied and 27 were accepted. This year’s decisions will be announced at the end of March.

Room N9Teacher : Sandra Cohen

L2 is responsible for organizing a host of different activities around campus. Sports Assemblies? That’s L2. Megan Nicole Con-cert? Also L2. Blood Drive? L2 once more. The 41 members of L2 are organized into 11 committees of two to five students. Students can choose to join the Sports, Family Festi-val, Homecoming and Multicultural, Com-munity and Charity Fashion Show, A-Team, Student-Teacher Relations, Publicity, Student Store, Elections, Campus Beautification, or Tech Committees.

While the titles of some committees are fairly self-explanatory, they often fail to cap-ture the scope of the committees’ work. For example, the Sports Committee is not only in charge of the school’s seasonal sports as-semblies, it is also responsible for promot-ing MSJ sports teams’ game days and host-ing the Ultimate Frisbee and 3v3 Basketball Tournaments. The Family Festival Committee is responsible for everything from finding a euro-bungee to finding performers to con-tacting sponsors. The committees work sep-arately for the most part, but L2 is ultimately responsible for organizing Homecoming Week, Multicultural Week, the canned food drive, blood drives, the Charity Fashion Show, Friday Activities, teacher luncheons, dances, ASB elections, campus beautifica-tion efforts, and a number of other miscel-laneous events.

Some of the committees also help man-age ASB’s internal matters. The Publicity Committee manages the ASB website, www.msjasb.org, the L2 Facebook page, the L2 Flickr photostream, and makes posters for ASB events. The Tech Committee sets up mu-sic, microphones, and Powerpoint presenta-tions at L2 events. The Campus Beautifica-tion Committee, in addition to planting trees and overseeing campus improvements, manages L2’s storage space.

For those interested, applications for L2 will be available online and in N7. Every year, between 80 and 100 students apply for L2, and 23 are accepted, not including the ASB and class officers who are required to take L2. All applicants are granted inter-views with the ASB officers.

ASB Vice President Allison Tong says, “[We are looking for students who are] hard work-ing, passionate, confident, can lead by ex-ample, and have the goal to give the stu-dent body an engaging experience during their time at MSJ.”

Room N7 and N8Teacher: Ben Breazeale

MSJ Television (MSJTV) is a student-run organization that produces a monthly school newscast. MSJTV puts in count-less hours of effort to create each broad-cast, which are ultimately what students see once a month during read. The entire MSJTV staff first meets in B31 to pitch story ideas. Anybody is welcome to participate in the meeting. Then, student journalists and videographers from a list of recruits are assigned their stories by the Directors of Journalism and Directors of Videog-raphy. Weekly meetings keep directors updated with the developing stories as the recruits cover their stories. The com-pleted video is sent to the Directors of Post-Production, who then assign a num-ber of students to edit. Every broadcast’s anchor filming is done in one meeting at a scriptwriter’s or anchor’s house; like all other video segments, anchor footage is assigned to students to edit. Finished seg-ments are sent to the Executive Producers to compile into the final episode, which is burned onto more than 60 DVDs to distrib-ute throughout the school. Other notable roles include the Public Relations Officer, Art Director, Webmasters, Treasurer, and Secretary.

Unlike the other student organizations mentioned on this page, MSJTV is not a class and is completely student-run. Any-one is eligible to join MSJTV at any time; expressing interest to the Directors or Ex-ecutive Producers, and then attending meetings, will earn one a spot on the list of recruits. Anchor positions will require applications, which are available upon request. Director positions also require ap-plications; these can be sent at the end of the year, also upon request.

Executive Producers Kevin Zhai and Sida Lu are looking for potential recruits that are willing to learn and eager to volunteer, so whether you enjoy asking questions, handling cameras, or editing videos, check out MSJTV!

Room B31Advisor: Jeff Evans

Peer Resource is a seventh period class dedicated to helping others. Students learn to live a better life and help others do the same. The class runs on “peers helping peers”, as Social Studies Teacher Jaime Richards said. At the beginning of the year, each student counselor is as-signed a “buddy”. The student counselor and his/her “buddy” will talk about any-thing and everything constantly through-out the year. Each week, student coun-selors will update each other about their respective buddies and learn how to bet-ter help them. In addition, Richards’s “Life Lesson” lectures run two or three times per week, helping students understand and deal with themselves and their peers. The class is further enriched by visits from psychologists, suicide hotline operators, and other individuals from a range of professions dedicated to improving so-cial well-being. The class organizes Red Ribbon Week, the Hero Wall, and Peer Talk Days, which are gatherings for MSJ students to speak out about stress, paren-tal divorce, relationships, depression, and other student issues.

All current MSJ students are encour-aged to apply, but Richards is on the lookout for compassionate, empathetic students with an aura of creativity and re-liability. Last year, approximately 75 ap-plications were sent in, and 29 students entered the class. Richards anticipates beginning the application process in mid-April, after Spring Break. Make sure to listen for it in the morning announce-ments!

Room B33Teacher: Jaime Richards

photo by graphics editor kevin zhai

Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Ad 11

12 Centerspread www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012 Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Centerspread 13

Temple Run Price: Free

-iPhone

Doodle JumpPrice: $0.99(full version) -iPhone, Android

Angry BirdsPrice: $0.99 (full version)-iPhone, Android

As Smartphone markets are growing at a rapid rate, it is becoming harder for users to keep up with the pace of growth. Thus, the Smoke Signal has selected the best apps in each of our categories to provide readers an insight into the best apps on the market.

apple.com, guardian.co.uk, jdwalt.com, market.android.com

The title says it all: “Doodle Jump – BE WARNED: Insanely Addictive!” Jump higher and higher until you drop to your death in one of the high-est grossing games in app history.

Unlike many app games, Fruit Ninja does not come with instant success. There is a gradual learning curve that comes with slicing various juicy fruits in mid-air to produce massive high scores. Remember to go for multi-fruit combos for maximum points!

Oh no! Those dirty pigs are stealing the birds’ eggs! Quick, the only way to stop them is to sling-shot the angry birds at the pigs’ towers of defense. The top game in over 50 countries, Angry Birds is the ultimate com-bination of both fun and strategy.

Spotify provides music, a neces-sity in today’s society. With Spo-tify, you can access (but not down-load) over 13 million songs and find any music you wish to hear from some of the main stream pop, hip hop and R&B to any old or new mu-sic. It streams music from a online database, so in order to access the music, you will need internet.

Pandora is an option for listening to over 750 radio stations directly from your iPhone, iOS, or Android device. It helps provide a huge variety of music with a fast, glitch-free operation. Be sure to take the time to get this app!

Camera Plus Pro lets users apply a va-riety of edits to their photos—includ-ing enhancing, colorizing, or chang-ing the tones. Camera Plus has 21 new Photo filters, and 9 Distortion effects.It’s a simple way to get good results!

With over 200 levels and numer-ous theme packs, Doodle Fit pres-ents the seemingly-simple task of aligning blocks into a larger shape with enjoyable graphics. It is free on Apple devices, but costs $1.49 on Android phones.

Like the name implies, Charadium II is an online version of charades. One player draws a given word while other random players try to guess the object as fast as possible.This game will always be very fun!

The Moron Test puts one’s true intelligence to the test, throwing tricky and imaginative challenges at the player. Some individual sections are free, but in order to play the entire game, one must pay $0.99.

Frustrated that your smartphone’s battery life can’t last through the day? The Battery Boost Magic app monitors your phone’s activity and suggests tips that enhance battery life The app also guides the phone through its charg-ing by either speeding up the charg-ing process or by charging gradually.

Need to do your homework on the go? The Apple Pages app allows us-ers to create, edit, and view docu-ments anywhere. Coupled with iCloud software, edited or newly created documents can be directly sent to a computer of choice or can be directly printed from the iPhone.

PdaNet is a highly useful app that allows you to tether your phone to your computer without the need for rooting. By connecting your phone to your computer with a USB cable, you can use the 4G or 3G service avail-able on your smartphone to access the internet from your computer.

Dropbox is a fantastic app that allows you to share files among all your de-vices, meaning that you can access saved files and music on your com-puter through your phone. If you’re ever afraid of forgetting any file or document on your laptop or phone, just “drop” it in your Dropbox folder.

Now also available for Android, the Smoke Signal app is the easiest way to stay updat-ed on what’s going on around MSJ. With online exclusives, archives of issues, and a calendar with detailed events all at your fingertips, there has never been a bet-ter way to stay tuned to school events.

The flashlight app is a must-have app for all smart phone users. This app is great for reading books in the night, finding keys in the dark and for other activities which require having a bulky flashlight at hand. With this app users don’t need to carry around a huge flash-light to illuminate their surroundings.

Need to text to your friends for free? The WhatsApp, which is available in the Andriod, Apple, Blackberry, and Nokia markets, allows users to send unlimit-ed messages to friends, who have this app, anywhere in the world for free. This app, which costs only $0.99, is a money saver that can help users avoid pesky and over-priced texting charges. Keep-ing in touch will be easy with this app!

With Advanced Task Killer, you can keep your phone from being bogged down by ap-plications which continue to run as background services even after you exit them. This will save you a lot of battery as well as data, and is a lot more convenient to use than many of the stock task manag-ers phones provide you with.

Combining entertainment with word knowledge, Words with Friends is much more fun than the title implies. Simi-lar to Scrabble, players create words off of their opponent’s, leading up to mind-boggling chains. With powerful multiplier tiles, the game becomes a strategy-infused dash to the finish. One can play many games at once—with either friends or random opponents—and can close and resume at any time. There are two versions: a free one with ads, and a paid version without.

Instagram allows its users to apply 16 creative filters to photos, each consist-ing of different shaded and textured themes. Instagram can stimulate tilt-shifting to turn any photo into a neat, stylized square with a wide range of bor-ders to choose from, including filters to make photos black and white and sepia. It also allows users to make their own creation and share it through Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and other social networks. It is a very simple and fun way to stylize your photos to anything you would like .

Temple Run, the endless running adven-ture game, is the most addicting iPhone game yet. Jump, slide, and maneuver through the ancient temple walls and collect coins, but don’t get caught by the evil demon monkeys! The store en-ables you to buy and upgrade power-ups, characters, and backgrounds, us-ing the coins you collect on your runs. The more you spend in the store, the easier it is to improve your high score. Since the next upgrade or objective seems to always be just within reach, this game is nearly impossible to put down.

Fruit NinjaPrice: $1.26(full version) -iPhone, Android

InstagramPrice: Free-iPhone

SpotifyPrice: Free-iPhone, Android

PandoraPrice: Free -iPhone, Android

Camera Plus ProPrice: $1.99-iPhone, Android

Words with FriendsPrice: $2.99 (full version)-iPhone, Android

Doodle FitPrice: $1.49 (full version); Free on Apple devices-iPhone, Android

Charadium IIPrice: $1.99 (full version)-iPhone, Android

The Moron TestPrice: $0.99 (full version)-iPhone, Android

WhatsApp Mes-sengerPrice: $0.99-iPhone, Android

Battery Boost Magic Price: $1.99-Android

Apple PagesPrice: $9.99-iPhone

FlashlightPrice: Free-iPhone, Android

Advanced Task KillerPrice: Free-Android

PdaNetPrice: Free-iPhone, Android

DropboxPrice: Free-iPhone, Android

the Smoke Signal Price: Free-iPhone, Android

Most Addictive Media Apps Brain Games Productivity Must-Have (Utility)

By Sai Chilakapati, Catherine Ho, Kenny Jacoby, Vivian Jair and Jin PengStaff Writers

14 Ad www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Feature 15

Do you wake up in the morning feeling nothing like P. Diddy? Does your day include little to no swagger? Do you come home to a bleak and dreary existence which rivals that of dust mites? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then what you need is a swag upgrade. The best place to start is with your man-cave, your lair, your domain; yes

indeed, your room. These are the 5 Simple Steps to a Swagged-Out Room!

Step 1: COLORPlain boring walls are indicative of a plain

boring personality. Let your inner animal go wild and throw some paint on those walls. There are several ways you can achieve this. The traditional method is to simply buy a few gallons of paint, grab a brush, and get Tom Sawyer’ing. If you choose that route, please don’t be afraid to venture away from the most common (and dull) colors. Leave the “egg-shell matte” and “graywash blue” behind and go for something a bit more vibrant! It’s your room; let it speak to all who enter. Bright orange, neon green, and red/white or blue/yellow contrast are some extravagant sug-gestions. For more daring individuals, a great way to paint is to simply take a brush, dip it in an arbitrary color, and splatter everything in sight.

Step 2: DECORATIONLet your room be an expression of your

character. If your walls are empty or, even worse, if you have just one lonely painting, you need to add some zest to your domain. Try adding a few posters of celebrities, su-permodels, or equally attractive automobiles. After you add a few larger posters, “go big with the small”. Add some family pictures or pictures of friends. Anything to get rid of that boring space will suffice.

Step 3: SOUNDIf you are planning to invite people in

to your zone, you better be well equipped. Go to Walmart and buy a basic $30 speak-er set and you won’t regret it. In this day and age, laptop speakers just don’t cut it, let alone the measly speaker on your phone. Install your new sound system close to your bed and make sure that if there is a subwoofer, it’s placed directly under your bed to ensure that it gives the bed a little extra bounce.

Step 4: THEMEEveryone’s life has a theme, and accord-

ingly, so should his or her room. Whether your theme is sports, shoes, technology, par-tying, or Hello Kitty, your room should re-flect who you are as a person. If you are a star quarterback, don’t be afraid to show off some of those trophies or medals. Likewise, if you are a mad scientist, go ahead and show-case your achievements, not necessarily with a laboratory in your closet, but a certificate or plaque will do. One thing to be wary about when adding to your theme is that no one appreciates an obsession. As mentioned, the star quarterback should definitely showcase his achievements, but if the entire room is caked with narcissistic pictures of himself, his trophies, his awards, and maybe a few pic-tures of Tebow or Manning, it comes off as a bit compulsive.

Step 5: APPEALYou aren’t a pig, so don’t live like one. As

a high school student you should behave as one. Clean up your own filth. Don’t leave piles of nonsense lying around and hope that mommy will pick it up for you. Independence and the ability to proactively clean up after yourself are key to succeeding in life. If your boyfriend or girlfriend comes in to your room and is forced to traverse mountains of shirts, socks, and whatnot, you should be ashamed. Appeal is the last, but most certainly not the least important step in the process. Just like how you wouldn’t parade around town smell-ing like a garbage dump, your room shouldn’t either. Your part of the house should be the pride of the home, not the eye sore of the family. Invest in some Febreze, a broom, and perhaps a vacuum cleaner to get that half-eaten pizza out from under your bed. ▪

If you follow these 5 simple steps, your room, your life, and your future will undoubtedly reach their maximum swagger potential in no time!

‘Swagged-Out’ RoomBy Matt Farberov

Staff Writer

dreamstudioblog.argosynconsole.com, theneonpanda.com, simping.com, totalyhomedecor.com, graphic by graphics editor angie wang

16 Feature www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

We know you get sick and tired of MSJ lunches. It’s not as if the increase in price is an extra incen-tive to purchase from our school vendors. Here are a few popular lunch spots worth your time... and

money.

Chipotle Mexican GrillAddress: 5565 Automall Pkwy

Type of food: Mexican food; burritos, tacos, saladsDistance: 3.7 miles

Travel time: 10 minutesOrder time: 15 minutes

Price range: $7-$10Most popular orders: Steak Burrito, Steak Burrito

Bowl, Chips and GuacChipotle may not be the most authentic of

Mexican foods, but it’s still very popular among MSJ students. Lunch is only so long, so if you’re running low on time, be sure to take advantage of Chipotle’s

fax orders and iPhone order options!

Daily Bagel Cafe (commonly known as Bagel Shop)

Address: 40061 Mission BlvdType of food: American; bagels, croissants, sand-

wiches, donutsDistance: 1.6 miles

Travel time: 6 minutesOrder time: 5 minutes

Price range: $1-$4Most popular orders: Donuts, BLT Croissant

Sandwich, CoffeeYou’ve spent half your lunch period frantically

finishing your chemistry report, and now you’re hungry. Not to fear, Bagel Shop is here! Just a

little over a mile and a half away, Bagel Shop has a unique selection of sandwiches on your choice of a bagel, a croissant, or wheat bread. Though it’s a

small shop, don’t underestimate what its employees can whip up behind the counter.

Verde Tea Expresso BarAddress: 47954 Warm Springs Blvd

Type of food: Chinese; milk tea, boba teaDistance: 9 miles

Travel time: 10 minutesOrder time: 15 minutes

Price range: $5-$8Most popular orders: Pearl Tea, Popcorn

Chicken, Coconut ToastTaking advantage of long lunch periods

during Multicultural Week? Verde is a great stop if you want some quality milk tea and boba. A little on the expensive side, Verde’s

prices are worth the size of the drink. Verde is especially notable for its tub-sized tea. If you’re craving sweets, be sure to try the coconut toast.

Look out for specials and happy hour!

Mission BurgerAddress: 135 Anza St

Type of food: American; burgers, sandwiches, fast food

Distance: 1.5 milesTravel time: 5 minutesOrder time: 15 minutes

Price range: $2-$5Most popular orders: Teriyaki Burger, Chocolate

Malt, Onion RingsWe’ve all sped past it, but the lucky ones are those

who have been able to stop and eat at Mission Burger. While you’re waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for

your order (teriyaki burger with a side of onion rings), note Mission Burger’s popularity with your fellow MSJ classmates and engage in casual conversation.

Panera BreadAddress: 43317 Christy St

Type of food: American: soup, sandwiches, paninis, saladsDistance: 4 miles

Travel time: 11 minutesOrder time: 10 minutes

Price range: $7-$10Most popular orders: Mac & Cheese, Steak

Balsamico, Mediterranean Veggie, Tomato & Mozzarella

Looking for less grease? Panera is the place to go. Panera’s atmosphere is a little classier than

Mission Burger’s. While you’re there, try its famous Mac and Cheese, coupled with a soup or salad of your choice. If Panera’s indoor seating is

totally occupado, ask for the meal to go.

Super TacoAddress: 40798 Fremont Blvd

Type of food: Mexican; tacos, burritosDistance: 3 miles

Travel time: 10 minutesOrder time: 10 minutes

Price range: $5-$7Most popular orders: Carne Asada, Super Bur-

ritoOn a scale of one to Chipotle, Super Taco ranks highly among various Mexican restaurants in

Fremont. If you decide to take an adventure down Fremont Boulevard, try to stop by Super Taco for nothing less than (you guessed it) a Super Taco!

Ask for a complimentary serving of the legendary “green sauce”, a spicy addition that is tasteful but

not overpowering.

MSJ LUNCH HOTSPOTSBy Angie Wang & Supriya Yelimeli

Graphics Editor & Staff Writer

graphics by staff writer kevin he

Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Arts & Entertainment 17

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, authored over forty inspirational children’s books prized for their clever simplicity and ability to capture young minds with words and

whimsical characters. In honor of Dr. Seuss, March 2 is Read Across America Day.

In a town made of plastic and metal, twelve-year-old Ted lives surrounded by artificial plants and high city walls, isolated from the beauty of nature. When he finds out about the love of his life’s most pre-cious dream—to see a real Truffula Tree—he jumps at the chance to win her heart and embarks on a wild, exhilarating quest to find the elusive Lorax, a legendary creature who acts as the guardian of nature. Only after learning its story will he find the critically endangered Truffula Tree and win Audrey’s heart. As they journey together, Ted discov-ers more about the Lorax’s struggle to de-fend his forests and joins him in the fight to protect nature from the terrors of destructive industrialism.

The Smoke Signal was able to grab a couple moments with Senior Brandon Chen of the Ritards (pronounced rih-TARDS), an all-male acapella group that recently rocketed to fame after being invited to a private audition for the popular television show America’s Got Talent this past month. Though the Ritards have been performing since 2004, it wasn’t until their recent show in Reno for the radio station KTSF and their invitation to Ameri-ca’s Got Talent that the group began to attract significant media attention. Luckily, we were able to ask them some questions about their history, style, and future before they go on to become the next chart-topping musical sen-sation.

Smoke Signal: Where did you come up with the name “The Ritards”?Brandon Chen: The group was founded out of five members from Bay Area Crystal Chil-dren’s Choir. At the beginning, the group was nameless, and cofounder Jason Chou from Monta Vista High temporarily named it the “hot choir guys group.” Since many other acapella groups had punny names, eventually Jason came up with “The Ritards,” and the name has stuck due to its play on the musical term ritardando.

SS: Do you have a favorite musical style?

BC: The current group members enjoy music ranging from Korean pop to alternative rock to R&B. We each have different preferences, and this usually shows in the wide variety of genres we perform. For example, we have performed “We Intertwined” by The Hush Sound, “This Love” by Maroon 5, and “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder.

SS: How did the Ritards’ private audition for America’s Got Talent go?BC: The audition went really well. We don’t know whether we made it to the next round of auditions yet, but we performed well. Even if we don’t make it through, the invitation for the private audition in itself can be seen as a huge step for the group. It shows that we are finally breaking through and getting more and more attention from the media and the entertainment industry.

SS: Do you have a most memorable and most embarrassing performance?BC: We have been gaining more and more recognition from local organizations, and we have even been paid for a few. Recently, we were invited to perform for two days at a Lantern Festival in Reno. We were offered free rooms and meals for a weekend stay at a resort in Reno. Last year, we also performed in Union Square for hundreds of people. One embarrassing performance I remember was when we performed while missing a couple of members last week. In order to keep the show going, we had to quickly make up something to sing. It turned out much better than we expected, but obviously it wasn’t our best performance.

SS: How can fans reach you/request perfor-mances?BC: We can be contacted through our Fa-cebook page or website www.theritards.com. You can also check out some of our perfor-mances on our Youtube channel www.you-tube.com/theritards. ▪

The Ritards

By Kevin HeStaff Writer

By Kerrie WuStaff Writer

“National Reading Day is impor-

tant, but it’s more important to pay attention to what we read. I think

National Reading Day should be every

day.” -English Teacher Brian Rath

A blast from the past, West Wind Capitol 6 Drive-In, located just off of I-680 in San Jose at 3630 Hillcap Avenue, is a great place to watch new movies in a different atmo-sphere. They serve up a “double-feature” op-tion where you pay roughly $7, or a $5 special on Tuesday, to watch two recently-released movies. Open every day rain or shine, the drive-in begins its movies around when the sun sets, and continues the shows till around 2 am. One of the only drive-ins left in the country, West Wind prides itself with the largest screens nationwide, which loom up to 65 feet in the air.

Upon entering the drive-in, you must navigate through what seems to be a maze of other cars and ditches, making the ride up to your screen a bit tumultuous. You might want to arrive early in order to get a spot close to the middle of the viewing area, as plenty of movie-goers bring large trucks and other massive vehicles. Flashlights are a must, es-pecially if you wish to buy snacks, which are purchased across the drive-in in an arcade-like complex, due to the lack of lighting in the area. You could also save a bit of cash by bringing refreshments from home. Remem-

ber to leave the car with friends due to the somewhat unreliable area and the company present being somewhat mixed. Then you simply tune in to the radio station they pro-vide, (which plays the sound for the movie), get cozy in your blanket, sit back and enjoy.

Although the drive to San Jose is quite lengthy, it is well worth it to watch two mov-ies for the price of one in a regular theatre. At first, sitting in your car to enjoy a movie seems fully pleasant, yet eventually your neck begins to hurt as you have to anchor your head to see the screen. Your views are often obstructed by other cars or the people in the front seat of your own car. Ultimately, the drive-in does not possess the same comfort that accompanies a traditional theatre. But nothing can surpass the comfort and charm that comes with snuggling up in a few warm blankets in the trunk of a car watching your favorite actors and actresses on the big screen. Even though it may not be a regular alterna-tive to traditional theatres, it is well-worth a couple visits, especially if you are aiming to save money. West Wind Capitol 6 Drive-In is an enjoyable time accompanied with unique memories and experiences that can only come from a visit to a drive-in. So strap yourself and a couple of friends in the car and drive over to enjoy a movie like the Flint-stones did! ▪

By Ditha BalajiStaff Writer

openaircinema.us

“One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue

Fish was the first book I read front to

back, all by myself. I was four years old

and it took me three days. I was so happy and proud I finally finished it. I spent

the next day telling everyone I met, even

random strangers in the supermarket, about my amazing accomplishment.”

-Silvia Zannetti, 11

“I remember, after reading The

Lorax in third grade, I gained

a greater sense of environmental protec-

tion. I did not even notice the subtle implications of Dr. Seuss,

and I always loved hearing his stories during circle time.” -Richard Liang, 10

This adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s classic chil-dren’s book The Lorax features 3D animated computer graphics that preserve Dr. Seuss’s signature art style and is voiced by pop figures such as Disney star Zac Efron as the main character Ted and Grammy award-winner Taylor Swift as Audrey, his love interest. Universal Studios hopes to promote aware-ness for environmental protection, posting “green” tips on The Lorax movie website and partnering with numerous companies that hope to advertise eco-friendly products and activities with the movie. ▪

boxfont.com, imdb.com, drseuss.com, thelorax.com, moviewallpapers.com

1

2

3

answers: 1. Green eGGs and ham, 2. fox in socKs, 3. hor-ton hears a who, 4. how the Grinch stole christmas

“A quote I live by religiously is, ‘Those

that mind don’t matter and those that

matter don’t mind.’ It helps me out at

the toughest times!” -Jason Vu, 11

“Green Eggs and Ham was pretty much one of my

most favorite books when I was little. Dr. Seuss’s books were

always clever and made me laugh.”

-Neha Nayak, 11

Read Across America Day commemorates the birthday of the beloved Dr. Seuss. Since the publication of his first children’s book To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street in 1937, Dr. Seuss’s contributions to children’s literature have been the first exposure to reading for many. On this day librarians, teachers, parents, and community organizations host events in the spirit of bringing young readers into the world of literature and are encouraged to read to young children. In classrooms across the country, children are cooking green eggs and ham, constructing red-and–white striped tall hats, and sitting down in circles to journey into a vivid world of literary imagination. Universal Studios has also released an animated rendition of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax on March 2, just in time for his 108th birthday.

“I think some of Dr. Seuss’s morals, such

as patience from Horton Hears a Who, has taught me the small but

important things in daily life.” -Tiffany

Chang, 9

theritards.com

4

18 Arts & Entertainment www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

By Vishal BajpaiStaff Writer

Daniel Espinosa’s Safe House begins in South Africa with Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) being put under arrest at a safe house, which is guarded by Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds). Frost is a rogue CIA agent who possesses a file of high importance to the CIA, and Weston’s job is to find the file, and deliver it to his superiors.

After a couple of water boarding scenes, a group of rebels attack the safe house. In the resulting confu-sion Weston commandeers a civil-ian vehicle and, with Frost in the trunk, evades the rebels in a high speed chase around Cape Town.

From that point on the movie quickly disintegrates into fast-paced fight, chase, and explosion scenes. Frost escapes from Weston’s custody and starts a wild goose chase around Cape Town.

Safe House struggles with a pre-dictable, and awfully trite script, hard to follow action scenes, and feeble attempts to attract a more varied audience by awkwardly in-jecting scenes with Weston’s girl-friend.

The script has obvious problems. The movie follows many other fast paced secret agent films, admittedly these movies are usually good. But, when you watch a similar script played over and over with different characters for 20 years it gets dull fast. The Bourne trilogy, and many James Bond films are not only more creative than Safe House but also are better put together.

That brings us to our next issue, the action scenes are really hard to follow. You can’t always tell who’s punching whom, or when, or how. But that’s part of the action movie experience. Safe House, however, takes confusion to the next level. Awkward camera shifts and bad lighting makes it hard to tell if there is a fight going on at all.

Finally, Weston’s scenes where he calls his girlfriend, or meets her, are unnecessary and seem to be put in either to just take up time, or to add a lighter layer to the otherwise fast paced movie.

Washington and Reynolds give an incredible performance in Safe House, but the movie still falls flat due to its trite script, bad editing, and awkward scenes. ▪Rating: C

Not ‘Safe’ from boredom

On February 7, 2012, rock band The Fray released its third studio album, Scars and Stories. Comprised of the same piano ballads and soft rock that once entranced many old fans, Scars and Stories presents itself as a safe and likeable album for old Fray lovers, but won’t convert any non-lovers. Although stylistically it’s not an innovative album, Scars and Stories manages to tell inter-weaved tales of heartbreak, loss, and love through surprising lyrics that explore historical events and the human condition.

The first single, “Heartbeat”, released November 16, 2011, was written by lead singer Isaac Slade during his visit to Rwanda. A per-sonal friend of the Rwandan presi-dent, Slade stated: “I’m sitting with one of the guys who was respon-sible for ending one of the worst genocides of our time…it’s like

By Jade ShiStaff Writer

‘Scars and Stories’ Slightly Frayed

americansonGwriter.com

I saw the whole song in my head, of this guy coming in and taking a country by the hand, like feeling for the pulse…You just feel this electricity, this buzz, coming back to this country that’s come back to life.” “Heartbeat” utilizes an upbeat tempo, strong guitar chords, and a sentimental piano-ballad melody to tell its story.

Another song, “Munich” was written for a particle collider in France and Switzerland, a test to define what creates gravity, and what it means for the world. The lyrics describe change of the most terrifying form, rattling accustomed standards of life. The song filters in soothing violin melodies, along with the usual piano, guitar, and drums.

“1961” was written about the Berlin Wall and the divide it cre-ated between what ought to have been one unified city. With a strong guitar track and accompaniment, the song effectively parallels the

divide of the city and the loss of a brother, but ninety miles apart.

Each song in the album, though similar in musical quality, exhib-its an underlying, deeper meaning than that which the lyrics seeming-ly present. However, these mean-ings are usually not evident without a larger background story, so the album appears slightly bland in its artistic liberties.

Every song, regardless of the background story behind it, pres-ents a story of love and a relation-ship between people, about affec-tion both lost and found. Emotions are passionate and heartfelt, and there is just enough variation in the style of the songs to provoke casual interest in the listener, but not quite enough to rid it of a formulaic feel-ing. Regardless, despite their simi-larities, the musical qualities of the songs of Scars and Stories are enjoy-able and expressively enthralling. ▪Rating: B+

a ceshowbiz.com

By Hannah ShihStaff Writer

filmofilia.com

A- ‘Different Kind of Truth’

By Vipin DulamStaff Writer

vanhalen.com

Despite a star-studded cast, five directors, and beautiful sets, the much anticipated movie, The Vow, directed by Michael Sucsy, fell short of expectations.

The film begins with a glimpse into the married life of Paige (Ra-chel McAdams) and Leo (Chan-ning Tatum). One snowy day, Paige removes her seatbelt at a red light on the way home from the mov-ies to share a passionate kiss with Leo when a truck slams into their car. Due to her split second deci-sion, she is propelled through the windshield and suffers extensive brain damage. When she awakes in the hospital after the accident, Leo is stunned to find she has forgotten

the last five years of her life, and in fact believes she is engaged to her ex-fiancé Jeremy. Leo fights off her long estranged parents to convince her to come back to their home, and try to remember their life in fa-miliar surroundings. However, after a few days, Paige reverts back to the life of her memories. She is frus-trated with the numerous discrep-ancies between her memories of a law school prep life and the freely artistic, chaotic life the stranger, who claimed to be her husband, al-leged they led together.

The Vow had the potential to be a meaningful and tear-jerking tale, but the calculated emotionalism and predetermined happy ending to the story made its plot flat and pre-dictable. Leo’s continuous preach-

ing about the beauty of falling in love all over again was optimistic, and was one of the only touching aspects of the film. The majority of the film was focused on Paige’s bat-tle to rediscover herself rather than on the romantic aspect of Paige and Leo finding their way back to each other. Though this is not necessarily a bad thing, this emphasis departs from the marketed Hallmark ro-mance that viewers expected.

Laden with clichés and senti-mental quotes, the film rings arti-ficially at certain moments; despite the inspiration from a real life cou-ple. The plot seems unoriginal and familiar even with the great amount of talent involved. McAdams and Tatum follow through on their script, but seem to make no con-nection with their roles, simply per-forming in a lackluster way. Despite the solid, emotional acting expected by McAdams, the story does not come alive, and will be viewed more as a feel good film, forgotten before even exiting the theater rather than one that is worth remembering and mentioning. This movie is the epit-ome of the chick flick, and it is truly no coincidence that it opened on February 10, not long before Val-entine’s Day. However, boys, save your money and take your dates to a different flick. Trust me, you will all thank me later. ▪Rating: C+

Van Halen may be considered old by some hard rock fans, but with their newest album released February 7, the band proved that they definitely have not lost their genuine musical touch. Named A Different Kind of Truth, the band follows the hard rock and heavy metal musical styles typical of Van Halen. Despite being the band’s first album in fourteen years, A Dif-ferent Kind of Truth was a great piece of musical work. The bassist Wolfgang Van Halen did an amaz-ing job in many of the songs in this album, especially in “Tattoo” and “As Is.” His performance combined with lead vocalist David Lee Roth’s carried out exceptionally well.

A lot of the songs on the album started off with staccato and ended with thrilling guitar solos. Alex Van Halen’s drumming consisted of a wide variety of rhythms and main-tained perfect consistency with the bass guitarist.

The song “Honeybabysweetie-doll” was one of the only songs in the album that leaned more toward heavy metal, with less vocals and more focus on bass. On the other end of the spectrum, the song “You and Your Blues” most represented hard rock in its musical style.

Many of the songs had a sud-den shift from mellow, soft tunes to hard rock. Although this is a common characteristic of most Van Halen work, it didn’t work well in the song “Big River.” The abrupt-ness of the change didn’t match the solo that came up right after it.

Overall, Van Halen lived up to its name. Apart from carrying out their legacy, the three Van Halen brothers performed very well with their lead vocalist David Lee Roth, and had perfect synchrony through-out this album.

Van Halen released a great al-bum, and showed us that the words, “Once a great musician, always a great musician” are definitely true. ▪Rating: A-

Broken ‘Vow’

Friday, March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Arts & Entertainment 19

Loving Hut, nestled in an Asian shopping center in Milpitas, boasts a unique spread of vegan dishes infused with Thai, Malaysian, and Chinese culinary influences. This small, in-formal restaurant uses organic, meatless ingredients, none of which are derived from animal products. Loving Hut serves as a great place for date night, an outing with friends, or family dinner. The Smoke Signal’s editorial board decided to make a trip out to Loving Hut to ‘dip

their toes’ into the vegan syle of life.

Ambiance:Loving Hut’s brightly painted walls and subtle decor functioned to create a pleasant overall atmosphere. The restaurant was well-lit and decorated, but the to-go counter at the front of the restaurant definitely took away from the overall formality of the restaurant. In addition, the room was cluttered with ta-bles and did not provide the privacy the name “Loving Hut” suggests. In an attempt to en-courage vegetarianism, several wall hangings proudly displayed photographs of famous vegetarians, including Demi Moore, Ellen DeGeneres, and Albert Einstein. Though well-decorated, Loving Hut’s furnishings were not especially notable. Rating:

Service:We found that the staff was generally

helpful and easy to communicate with. Con-sidering we had a large party (of thirteen), the fact that the waiters were open to our every request was all the more impressive. Since we had made a reservation, we were told that our table was ready the moment we arrived. However, we did notice that even guests who had not called ahead of time were escorted to their tables almost immediately. One of the waitresses was particularly on top of things; as soon as one of us drained our glasses, she appeared at our table with a pitcher right away. The speed of service was certainly com-mendable, with dishes arriving without delay. Rating:

Food:We hurriedly ordered by handing the

waitress a list of dishes we’d chosen from their comprehensive menu. The staff was able to decipher our notes and serve us the food in an appropriate order. Our favorites include Golden Era, soy protein chunks, pan fried with garlic; Spicy Cha Cha, yam flour cres-cents seasoned with spices; Kung Pao Tofu; and Pad Thai. The Golden Era was especially tasty, with palatable spice that was zesty yet not overwhelming. The Pad Thai was also notable for its unique balance and blend of flavors that allowed each ingredient to con-tribute to the dish. However, dishes such as Happy Crispy Rice lacked the zing needed to deem it tastier than ordinary rice. Though ob-viously the food contained no meat, we con-stantly referred to dishes as “mock-chicken” and the like because of the dishes’ tendency to closely resemble meat in taste and texture.

For dessert, we ordered three dishes of cherry chocolate-chip Deep Fried Ice Cream to split among the thirteen of us. Neither the dish’s aesthetics nor its size was lacking. Served with slices of apple, orange, and car-rot, as well as a sizable amount of chocolate syrup, the Deep Fried Ice Cream certainly

made a lasting impression on our party as a whole.Rating:

Pricing:Loving Hut’s pricing is on the high end,

but generally not without good reason. Though $7.95 is a bit pricey for a serving of ice cream, the Deep Fried Ice Cream easily served four. The Ocean Basket, at $12.95, seemed a bit overpriced, considering that no real seafood was actually used. The Kung Pao Tofu ($10.95) came on a sizable platter, but the dish was mostly filled with other vegeta-bles rather than the tofu we had ordered; The Golden Era, also $10.95, came with more let-tuce than tofu chunks. Rating:

Loving Hut was definitely pricey, but the food was flavorful and would appeal even to ardent meat-lovers. We found that we got what we paid for, and those of us who tried vegan food for the first time left with last-ing impressions. For more information, visit www.vegetarianhouse.us/lovinghut.us. ▪Rating:

Restaurant Review: Loving Hut

The Lion King 3DThe Lion King became an instant hit when

it first hit theatres in 1994 thanks to its poi-gnant storyline about Simba’s desire to save his home. As of 2011, the film earned $952 million, which ranks number one of all time in gross income for a 2D animated film. Looking to revive interest in the film, Disney re-released the film on September 16, 2011 in 3D. Immediately, the film began seeing suc-cess, ranked number one at the box office for two weeks in a row. By the end of the film’s run in January 2012, it generated $94.2 mil-lion, which ranks it as one of the most suc-cessful re-releases in history. The film’s suc-cess served as a catalyst for Disney’s plan to re-release other classics like Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid starting in 2012.

Titanic 3DThe second highest grossing film of all-

time, Titanic was released to modest expecta-tions in 1997. At first, the film looked like a huge bust as it initially generated little inter-est while filming cost an unprecedented $200

million. However, the film gradually took off and by March 1998, Titanic shattered the one billion dollar mark in earnings. The film’s suc-cess is attributed to the love story between Jack Dawson (Leonardo Di Caprio) and Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) that moved the emotions of millions of fans worldwide. Hoping to recreate the film’s previous suc-cess, Paramount Pictures plans to re-release Titanic in 3D on April 6, 2012.

Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace 3DStar Wars I: The Phantom Menace wasn’t re-

leased until 1999 and was the fourth Star Wars film. However, the anticipation for the film led to huge sales at the box office. As of 2011, the film has earned $924 million worldwide, making it the highest earning Star Wars film ever. The film follows Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) as they try to protect Queen Amidala while she tries to find a peaceful end to a large-scale interplan-etary trade dispute. Fans got to re-experience the wonder at theatres again with the re-re-lease of the film in 3D on February 10.

The film industry’s decision to go high-tech will definitely benefit moviegoers ev-erywhere. Better sound and graphics effects combined with 3D technology provide a drastically different theatre experience com-pared to ten years ago. Re-releasing also grants film producers the opportunity of fine-tuning the movie for better flow. For ex-ample, newly implemented characters in Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace greatly improved the audience’s comprehension of the plot. Therefore, fans get to re-enjoy these classics in a new light. Likewise, since many of these films came out more than a decade ago, re-releasing gives the new generation a renewed opportunity of watching the film for the first time at the theatre. Re-releasing movies is a win-win for everyone: producers get extra in-come while the fans get treated to a different experience of the film. ▪

Re-Released MoviesBy Jason Chen

Staff Writer

By Alekya Rajanala & Angie WangA&E Editor & Graphics Editor

photos by Graphics editors anGie wanG & Kevin zhai

bloGspot.com, fortunecity.com, lionKinG.orG

With the invention of 3D technology as well as improvements in picture and sound quality, the box office has recently experi-enced a spike in the number of re-released movies. Let’s take a look at some of the in-dustry’s most successful films that are being re-released today.

20 Sports www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday March 2, 2012

By Brandon FuhsStaff Writer

Coach Steven Griggs is in his second year as the Varsity head coach of the base-ball team at MSJ. In his first year, he led the team to a 15-9 record, coaching the team to their first NCS appearance in 19 years. This is Griggs’ 18th year of coach-ing, as he tries to take a team to NCS for the 16th time in his coaching career. He was named coach of the week last year by Cal-Hi Sports after MSJ beat NCS cham-pions James Logan High School 1-0. As a reward, he and the entire varsity team went to an Oakland A’s game and a $500 donation was made out to the baseball pro-gram.

Smoke Signal: When and why did you start playing baseball?Steven Griggs: I started when I was five years old when I first came to the US from Japan. My father signed me up in any-thing that I stood a chance at, which in my case, was baseball. I sucked at everything else....

SS: Where have you played?SG: I played in South Bronx Little League along with playing ball for the local Eagles Aerie club. This continued until I was 12 and then I played Little League still, but switched to American League travel ball. I continued on to high school ball for four years then on to the Naval Academy for four years. I have played in the Tri-City men’s league, the Peninsula Mexican league and the South Bay Men’s league since get-ting out of the Navy, I’ve played for 18 and up, 27 and up, and 35 and up teams.

SS: What positions did you play?SG: I was a second baseman for the early days. I shifted to pitcher and catcher until my sophomore year in high school when I had a shoulder injury. I was then and am still a catcher.

SS: Where have you previously coached?SG: I have coached in numerous schools and baseball programs from Little Leagues, Babe Ruth, American Legion, and high schools. I have coached at San Lorenzo (twice), San Leandro, Arroyo (twice), Oakland Military Institution, Las Lomas, St Ignatius, San Francisco Waldorf, and now at MSJ.

SS: What are your coaching achieve-ments?SG: Over the years I have had seven play-ers drafted by major league teams, another eight got partial or full scholarships to col-lege, and in my best year had 14 out of 14 senior players go onto college with 7 mak-ing college baseball programs.

SS: Why did you come to MSJ?SG: I came to MSJ to take a Division 1 program that was probably in the lowest condition it could be and challenge the players, parents, program, school, and com-munity into turning it back into a leading area baseball program.

SS: How do you plan to continue your suc-cess at MSJ?SG: The way I coach and manage the pro-gram will hopefully develop it into a ma-ture working community baseball program. I always like to reiterate that it ’s not me that’s making NCS. The players are the ones that put in the hard work, I’m just along for the ride. ▪

Coaches’ Corner: Baseball All You Need to Know: Track and FieldBy Avery Kruger

Staff WriterMSJ’s Track and Field attracts a wide vari-

ety of athletes. From jumps to sprints to long distance, many people are often confused by the different events, so the Smoke Signal fea-tured an event-to-event spotlight of a typical meet.

Sprints/Long Distance: 100m: A sprint along the straight side of

the track which requires speed and strength. Due to the miniscule differences in finishing times, athletes must lean across the finish line to ensure their win.

200m: This sprint starts on the curve of the track and finishes at the end of the next straight. Very similar in terms of technique to the 100m.

400m: One lap around the track. Basically an extended sprint, runners must avoid “hit-ting the wall”, or running out of energy with about 100m left.

800m: Two laps around the track. Requires more endurance than sprints, but still requires speed. Tactics play a role in the race, and run-ners are likely to draft off of leaders and then beat them in the final sprint.

1600m: Four laps around the track, and almost exactly a mile. The 1600m is often a tactical affair; the win often depends on the strengths of runners’ finishing kicks, or final sprints.

3200m: Twice as long as the 1600m, it is an endurance race. Staying with the front pack of runners is important, as even a small gap can make catching up difficult both mentally and physically.

Relays: The 4x100 and 4x400 are the most com-

mon relays. Athletes hand off a baton to the next runner after completing their section, or leg, of the race. The hand-off is crucial to

performance, and a dropped baton may lead to disqualification.

Hurdles:110m hurdles: Runners must hurdle over

10 high hurdles in this sprint. Good form and speed are necessary to perform well.

300m hurdles: The 10 hurdles in this race are lower and spaced farther apart than in the 110m, but technique is still an important factor. Many runners must count their steps as they run to ensure they can hurdle with the correct leg when they get to the hurdle.

Jumps:Long Jump: Jumpers sprint down a run-

way and make a single leap into a sand pit. As with all other jumps, athletes must take mea-sured strides so they can jump from the correct point.

Triple Jump: Similar to the long jump, but athletes take a hop, a skip and then a leap into the pit. The jumps start farther back on the run-way so the athlete can land in the pit.

High Jump: Athletes jump over consecu-tively higher bars into a pit. Making use of tech-niques like the Fosbury Flop and the Western Roll, jumpers must practice perfect form; even a slightly misplaced leg could hit the bar and disqualify the jump.

Throws and Pole Vault: Discus: Throwers throw a metal disk, or

discus, as far as possible. By executing a spin, throwers can launch the discus far, but the tech-nique requires a lot of balance and rhythm.

Shot Put: Throwers throw a heavy metal ball, or shot, as far as possible. Using a technique similar to that of the discus, throwers can build rotational speed and torque to throw farther.

Pole Vault: Vaulters aim to get over a bar like in the high jump, but use a fiberglass pole to boost them into the air. Pole vaulters must have strength, speed, and balance to perform well. ▪ staff writer brandon fuhs

Steven Griggs plans to develop the team for future years.

By Sanjna Shukla and Omar El-Sadany

Sports Editors

I was a cynic, a non-be-Lin-ever. When Facebook informed that 32 friends posted about Jeremy Lin, I smirked to myself at their naiveté. As #Linsanity dominated Twitter, I pitied all my colleagues who were jumping on a bandwagon that I was sure would implode as quickly and abruptly as it developed. Surely one good cameo off the bench against the 8-17 New Jersey Nets did not transcend one into the level of su-perstardom.

But then came Lin’s first career start. 28 points, 8 assists. And then his second. 23 points, 10 assists. While still supremely confident that this was just a flash in a pan, I thought, at least it’ll make a good story.

And what a story has it been. Raised in the Bay Area, Lin, a Taiwanese-American citizen, eventually captained local Palo Alto High School to the Division II State Championships his senior year. Despite being named first-team All-State and Northern California Division II Player of the Year, the scholarship offers didn’t come. His dream school, Stanford University, just across the street from his high school couldn’t guarantee him a spot on the team. Eventually he settled on Harvard, a school that had graduated more Presidents of the US than it has NBA players. Despite massive success at Harvard, Lin remained

undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft, with the Golden State Warriors claiming him off the waivers in a move that many cited as a publicity stunt to attract the team’s huge Bay Area Asian-American following, rather than an actual testament to Lin’s basketball ability. And, to an extent, that proved true. Despite receiving among the loudest of cheers during the player intro-ductions, Lin played sparingly, spending time in the D-League, and only featur-ing for the Warriors in garbage time; his career-high 13 point performance came on the last day of the season in a meaningless blowout of the Portland Trail Blazers. And with the Warriors attempting to clear out cap space before the start of the 2011-12 season, Lin was released. Eventually signed by the Rockets, Lin lasted 12 days before being cut the day before the season started.

Lincorrect

Jeremy Lin’s story has astounded and inspired the masses, bas-ketball and non-basketball fans alike.

gamer-stack.com

In came the New York Knicks, and despite injuries to both Baron Davis and Iman Shumpert, Lin failed to see much of the court, only featuring for 55 minutes in the Knicks first 23 games; he was again sent down to the D-League- it seemed as if the previous season’s trend would continue, with the second-year player failing to make much of an impact in the league. But with the Knicks struggling and Lin facing the threat of being cut for the third time in a matter of months, Coach Mike D’Antoni gave Lin his chance against the Nets, and he took it with 25 points and 7 assists off the bench to give the team the spark they were looking for, potentially saving his job

Still, I was not satisfied. Countless scouts had seen him play. Both the Warriors and the Rockets had had plenty of time to ob-serve him. Even the Knicks were skepti-cal, only playing him as a wildcard, a last-ditch attempt. There was a reason this man was crashing on teammate Landry Fields’ couch. Simply put, non-conference players did not succeed in the NBA. Lin’s recent Ivy League-NBA predecessors are Jerome Allen and Chris Dudley. I didn’t know who they were either.

And then came the 38 point perfor-mance against the Los Angeles Lakers on National television, with Lin singlehand-edly bringing Madison Square Garden, the Mecca of professional basketball back to life, with the crowd chanting “MVP” every time he stepped to the foul line. He suc-ceeded that with the game winning three

pointer with 0.5 seconds on the clock against the Toronto Raptors. That was fol-lowed with a career high 14 assists against the Dallas Mavericks. And before I knew it, I found myself drawn in to the mania I had openly criticized only days before.

It’s easy to like Lin, the consummate underdog: a local Asian American kid who unconventionally sought out his dream. Throughout his meteoric rise, Lin has re-mained grounded and humble, an attribute his teammates and coaches constantly at-test too. He even rejected an appearance on the Late Night Show with David Letter-man, preferring to keep a low and modest profile.

Unfortunately, many have tried down-playing Lin’s success due to the novelty of his race in professional basketball. While Floyd Mayweather and others may dis-credit Lin’s accomplishments, the numbers speak for themselves. 20 points and seven assists are outstanding statistics, regardless of race.

Jeremy Lin still has a lot of work to do to consistently succeed in the league. A closer look reveals that his turnovers and shot selection need improvement. Additionally many concerns have been raised on Lin’s ability to succeed with Carmelo Anthony or Amar’e Stoudemire as the focal point in the offense. But for now, I’m content to hop on the bandwagon and appreciate the ride wherever this young man’s career goes.

I was wrong about Jeremy Lin once. You can bet that won’t happen again. ▪

Stem Cell Therapy in SportsBy Supriya Yelimeli

Staff Writer

Stem cell therapy is a medical procedure that involves introducing new cells into dam-aged tissue in order to treat disease or injury. This new method takes embryonic tissue from umbilical blood by positions it in the wound-ed areas. Although currently doctors are only using the therapy for speeding up the healing response, they will soon be able to heal stress fractures and muscle strains. This new form of medicine is allowing star athletes to extend their careers by years, but there are inherent risks to the operation and its success can be a gamble compared to more well known pro-cedures.

Colts’ Quarterback Peyton Manning re-cently traveled to Europe to receive stem cell therapy, as it is not yet approved in the U.S. While the NFL does not prohibit stem cell therapy - “unless a banned substance is used as part of the procedure,” said an NFL spokes-man - it is still very much a developing science and could produce harmful aftereffects. Besides the issue of safety, the treatment is controversial because it begins to cross the line between healing injuries and enhancing performance. With the introduction of regen-erative therapy, every athlete will be in line for the treatment. Along with Peyton Manning, Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon underwent surgery last year that involved using stem cells to help regenerate tissue in his shoulder and elbow. Colon is now on pace for one of the best seasons he’s had in years, which raises questions about the effects of the surgery.

Although it can’t be proved that the surgery gives a gained advantage, the treatment seems in line with the use of steroids and other per-formance enhancers. Organizations such as the NFL and MLB have also begun investi-gations on the use of Human Growth Hor-mone (HGH) in the therapy. The sports industry benefits greatly from the quick healing opportunity presented by stem cell therapy, but the ethics of the pro-cedures come into question when consider-ing that this form of medicine is still very new. Many of the patients are used as guinea pigs for a developing science- one that may involve the use of performance enhancers. Because the treatment is the latest and great-est, people have not subjected it to the same scrutiny given to other sports medicines. Stem cell therapy has definitely proven itself effec-tive, but it must be examined and thoroughly researched by the coaches and organizations that allow their athletes to carry out with the process. While the use of steroids is wrong, athletes have gotten used to this process, and with this new, shrouded treatment, a loop-hole has appeared in their favor. With new medicine and technology come new ways to work around the system and proper measures should be taken to ensure the integrity and safety of our athletes. ▪

NBA Beasts and BustsBy Jonathon Teng

Staff Writer

Aside from today’s sports headlines, who are the players making a name for themselves or those who have been forgotten? Here are a few players to pass up and a few to take note of.

BustsJimmer Fredette

Gaining national fame during his college basketball years at Brigham Young University, Fredette averaged nearly 28.9 ppg and 4.3 apg during his senior year. However, he has done nothing to live up to the high expectations as the former best player in college. Selected as the 10th pick in last year’s NBA draft to the Sacramento Kings, Fredette has been shooting a 33 percent overall from the field. Currently, Fredette has not proven his doubters wrong upon entering the NBA, and is not doing any-thing to change their beliefs.

Greg OdenConsidered as one of the biggest busts in

NBA history, especially since he was picked over Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant in the 2007 NBA Draft, Greg Oden has yet to step on the court this season. Oden has unluckily experienced three “season-end-ing” injuries, but the Portland Trail Blazers have still bound him with a contract, hoping that he would play this year. However, Oden has experienced another setback in his reha-bilitation and his hopes of playing are simply further placing doubt in Trail Blazers fans’ hearts.

Kwame BrownWhen Kwame Brown was chosen as first

pickin the 2001 NBA Draft by the Washing-ton Wizards, hopes were high. Contrary to his high prestige at that time, Brown has been a waste of money to all the teams he’s encoun-tered. Also, Brown is infamous for being one of the few players to have ever been booed by his own home court fans. Unfortunately, Brown now plays for our Golden State Warriors, but is injured and out for three months.

BeastsLaMarcus Aldridge

One of the most underrated players on one of the most unnoticed teams in the NBA is forward LaMarcus Aldridge. Averaging nearly 23.8 ppg and 8.6 rpg, Aldridge has an array of skills in his arsenal. His soft touch allows him to act as a threat on the perimeter and his 6’11’’ stature allows him to dominate down in the block. His selection for the 2012 NBA All-Star Reserve Team is well deserved and his stellar performance has allowed the Blazers to be strong contenders for the playoffs.

Kevin LoveLove is by far the most multi-talented big

man in the league. His amazing prowess from the three-point line and formidable strength in the post makes him a nightmare for any team to guard. Also, Love’s defensive stats, 13.7 rpg average (second highest in the league) paired with his 25.0 ppg average (fourth highest in the league), simply reinforce his dominance in the game. His high basketball IQ and pas-sion for the game have allowed the Minnesota Timberwolves to achieve a 13-15 record.

Blake GriffinEver since veteran Point Guard Chris Paul

was traded to the L.A. Clippers, Blake Grif-fin’s legend as one of the greatest dunkers in NBA history has grown. His unbelievable athletic abilities have allowed him to punish any defenders in the paint and also perform a dunk-contest show every game he completes in. Griffin’s 21.6 ppg and 11.20 rpg average statistics has significantly contributed to the Clippers and they have suddenly grown into an NBA Finals contender. Griffin continues to dazzle fans with his superhero leaps and hulk-ing talent that make him to be nothing short of what one would call, a beast. ▪

silverscreenandroll.comGreg Oden’s injuries have derailed a promising career.

sports.popcrunch.comPeyton Manning has been a beneficiary of stem cell therapy.

nysports.comBartolo Colon’s career has been revived with stem-cell therapy.

Friday, March 2,2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Sports 21

22 Sports www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday March 2, 2012

By Connor WilliamsStaff Writer

The trainers are designed to provide comfort and support for the runner to allow them to practice. They end up sacrific-ing weight for protection against running injury. Trainers are the most common among those. They do have the virtue of a light weight design making them similar to flats.

The flats drastically reduce weight. These are used for Cross Country races, usually at least 3 miles in distance over pavement, grass, gravel, or dirt. The weight of the shoecan cut time off of these races, at the price of stability and sup-port. This means that it is a lot easier to roll your ankle or have your arches collapse. While the time is reduced, the risk increases.

You probably have been hearing a lot lately about a revolu-tion occurring in running. People have stopped wearing shoes, on purpose, to help their running. The idea behind this is that shoes do not allow or feet to land as they would naturally with no shoe, so wearing no shoes works with the body’s natural bio-mechanical shock absorbing system.

To ease the transition into barefoot running shoe companies have developed a new kind of running shoe. Instead of going with a classical cushioned sole with a raised heel, these new shoes try to mimic how the foot falls without a shoe on. Some examples are the Vibram Five Fingers, the Nike Free Runs, or the New Balance Minimus.

Although barefoot-style shoes are the latest trend, we de-cided to stick to three traditional types of running shoes.To test to see if all these varieties are up to snuff we have done a side by side comparison of classical trainers to racing flats, as well as spikes.

We tested out these shoes by having Seniors Madison Hirsch and Avery Kruger run 100 meters and 400 meters and then comparing their times.

After comparing Avery and Madison’s times with the different styles of shoes, we conclude that traditional spikes are the most suited for track and field purposes. Although flats are designed to be more lightweight and easier to run with, when it came to long distance they fell a little too flat. The difference between the trainers and flats were indistu-ingishable when it came to 100 meters, but the trainers had the slowest times for the 400 meters. Overall, the spikes pro-vided the fastest times for both short and long distance. ▪

Avery Madison

100 m

400 m

14.93 sec

75.13 sec

14.74 sec

The spikes take to minimal style of flats and add the ad-vantage of traction. The spikes are designed for track races on a rubber track, as opposed to the “all terrain” treads on flats.They are also used for shorter distances than flats are used for, specifically sprint events. These shoes literally have spikes to allow for a great grip on the rubber surface of the track.

87.13 secAvery Madison

15.64 sec

68.64 sec

14.54 sec

83.74 sec

100 m

400 m

Avery Madison

11.65 sec

65.37 sec

14.42 sec

70.24 sec

100 m

400 m

MSJ Athletics has been a powerhouse in MVAL since its beginnings, winning 15 All-Sports trophies since 1964. From 1974 to 1982, MSJ captured eight straight All-Sports tro-phies, during which time the football, basketball, track and field, swimming, tennis, baseball, and cross-country teams all won numerous MVAL championships. We all know about the recent success stories of MSJ’s tennis, swimming, and water polo teams, but to most of us, many of the names across the gym quad and banners inside the gym remain a mystery to us.

Track: In the 1997 and 1998 school years, MSJ’s

track team was at high tide. The team finished 2nd and 3rd place at the CIF state champion-ships in each year respectively. The team did especially well due to its strength in all three categories of track and field, running, jumping and throwing. In the 1997 season, the team per-formed particularly well at the state meet. Jon Stevens, who went on to win both the 800m and 1600m races the next year, won the 1600m race while Drew Ostler placed second in the 800m

By Kenny Jacoby and Avery KrugerStaff Writers

and David Rodriguez, who later became an All-American in cross country, got second in the 3200. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many other MSJ athletes performed strongly, includ-ing pole vault school record-holder and current MSJ pole vaulting coach Sean Jones, school record-holding jumper Mike Johnson, and hur-dler Eric Allen. The school performed so well at higher levels because of its mix of talented and dedicated athletes, according to former track coach Jack Marden.

Football:

football team was ranked ninth in the state’s 3-A rankings, but did not go on to win NCS. Nevertheless, the team had an impressive 9-0-1 record through the regular season.

Baseball: MSJ Baseball had some of its glory days at

the same time that the football team was having huge success. Johnny Abrego, who was an essen-tial player on the 1980 football team, was a true multi-sport athlete. Not only did Abrego win the Kenco Company Award for his accomplish-ments in football, but he also became the 20th pick in the first round of the 1981 MLB annual draft, selected by the Philadelphia Phillies. After a brief MLB career, Abrego retired from profes-sional baseball, but has recently coached teams at Niles-Centerville Little League in Fremont. Four players from the 1986 football team played on the same baseball team that won NCS the spring before, including backup quarterback/defensive back and relief pitcher Rick Volpatti. Volpatti was recently a baseball coach at Mission San Jose Little League based at John Gomes Elementary School.

Wrestling:

Wrestling: In 1992, Keith Richards was selected to the

All-American High School Dream Team for wrestling by USA Magazine. 1992 was Richards’ senior year at MSJ, and in that year he amassed a 49-1 record. He also set the MSJ single-season record that year for most pins, with 35, and least times taken down, with four—both are records that still stand today. Over his four years at MSJ, Richards had a 170-3 individual record.

Mark Trice, another legendary MSJ wres-tler, was named All-American in the 1987-88 school year. Trice was also a star of the 1986 football team, but most of his individual accom-plishments came in wrestling. He was elected to the California High School Hall of Fame for his wrestling achievements in the CIF State Cham-pionships in the 1986 Junior Freestyle and the 1988 Junior Greco-Roman. Trice was a four-time MVAL champion, three-time NCS med-alist, and three-time state medalist. He finished with a 42-1 record in 1988, and with a career record of 164-11. Trice went on to coach various teams. Trice still holds the MSJ record for career takedowns, among others.

Sports success has been a tradition at MSJ for more than four decades, and continues to be one today. MSJ has won two All-Sports trophies in the last three years, and has a very bright fu-ture in athletics. With multiple MVAL cham-pionships having already come this year, MSJ looks to add yet another All-Sports trophy to its collection. ▪

sfgate.com

Gary Plummer, an MSJ alumnus, went on to win a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers.

bleacherreport.com

Johnny Abrego graduated to enjoy a brief MLB career with the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs.

From 1973 to 1986 MSJ Football won seven MVAL championships. In 1977, MSJ became the first team in MVAL history to move on and place first in NCS in the 3-A division, the largest classification at the time. This legendary team was led by linebacker Gary Plummer, who went on to play for and win a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers. In 1980, MSJ football placed second in NCS, led by linebacker Joe Krakoski. Krakoski went on to be drafted into the NFL by the Houston Oilers. In 1986, the

iwacc.orgDavid Rogriguez was an All-American in cross country.

thestarnews.comMark Trice now coaches at high schools throughout California.

photos by staff writer connor williams

Friday March 2, 2012 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Sports 23

24 Photo www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, March 2, 2012

photos by staff writers grace wu, sheery xiao, hannah shih, and tanya raja and graphics editor angie wang