Author: adviser

  • Can I Just Graduate Already?

    Senioritis: I think it’s safe to say that most of us seniors suffer from this condition; making us sleep through first period and wait until the due date to even start an assignment. I know I’ve been slacking a lot this semester; I’ve shown up to school late everyday and I even turned in this article to my editor late. Senioritis definitely takes a toll on us and though many people say that senioritis is not real, trust me, it is. When you begin to slack off, your grades suffer. Even though it might be your last year in highschool, it is still very important to keep your grades up. If you don’t pass all of your classes you may miss out on the experience of walking the stage on graduation. And if you’ve been accepted into any universities, your acceptance can be revoked if your grades fall. We don’t want that to happen.

    Senioritis is a struggle, yes, but it isn’t terribly difficult to overcome. You just need to be motivated enough to actually do your work when it is assigned. Prioritize school work over social media and utilize all of the resources available to students. Your GPA will survive.

    The truth is though, senioritis isn’t exclusive to seniors. We all know that one kid who’s had senioritis since freshman year. Some of us started freshman year thinking it’s cool to not care about high school and kept that mindset. We are only three months away from graduating. If you could just stick it through for two more months it’ll be worth it. Good luck with your senioritis!

  • Stop Romanticizing Paedophilia!

    Thanks to Instagram’s explore page, users are able to view content that they would not normally come across on their own feed. This content may spark emotions that range from happy and uplifting to weird and controversial. So when I came across a photo of a person getting a tattoo of the iconic image of Lolita sucking on a lollipop, I was confused to say the least. Was this an act of praise towards Nabokov’s novel? Or, were they on the romanticized bandwagon of the age-gap relationship that this book has infamously portrayed?

    Since Lolita’s U.S. release in 1958, Vladimir Nobokov’s novel has created a blatant erotic fascination for young girls which can be found in movies, music, and books today. If you haven’t already guessed, Lolita is basically about paedophilia. The story is centered around Humbert Humbert, a man in his late thirties who spirals into a heated obsession for Dolores Haze, his 12 year old step-daughter.

    Since the book’s publication, two films (one by legendary director Stanley Kubrick), musical adaptations, ballets, and stage productions have been released to pay tribute to the novel. But Lolita has also had its influence elsewhere. One example being Luc Besson’s film, “Leon: The Professional.” It more or less follows the same premise in which 12 year old Mathilda joins forces with hitman Leon after her family is murdered. Again, the young girl is made to be more precious than what is typically observed among children in society. Why does any of this matter, you may ask? Well, because movies and other forms of entertainment have a great deal of influence over society. This Lolita-esque iconography is even more prevalent in mainstream music. In an article for The New Republic, Ira Wells stated that “today, popular culture rewards adult women who act like children for the collective erotic enjoyment.” A few of the recognizable artists include: Melanie Martinez, Lana del Rey, Britney Spears (from the early 2000s), and Katy Perry.

    In regards to the novel, John Updike, the late novelist and literary critic, stated  “Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically.” And I have to say that I agree. The novel is beautifully written. It has a way of provoking feelings of shock, anger, and sadness all within a few sentences. Even though it feels kind of gross reading a book about something so terrible, Nobokov has a way of reeling the reader in with his use of “punning comedy” and “dark poetics.” Another review by Vanity Fair stated that Lolita is “the only convincing love story of our century.” That is my issue with the book. It isn’t so much the novel itself as it is the admiration that has surrounded the main characters’ relationship. Humbert feeds off of Dolores’ innocence during her early teenage years and then victimizes her to the point of complete mental disillusionment by the time she is barely becoming a woman. Maybe it’s just me, but I do not find anything romantic about that, Vanity Fair.

    So even though the book was written 63 years ago, I feel like there isn’t enough conversation about its influence on American culture and how it may affect the young girls of today’s generation whose innocence is used as a ploy to mask people’s darkest desires.

  • A Birder Mystery!

    What is routine? A routine can be easily expressed as completing actions without consciously knowing it, because you’ve done it a million times before. 11:02am, exit science building, go downstairs. 11:20am, eat a sandwich. 11:32am walk upstairs to the next class. Exit, downstairs, sandwich, upstairs, next class. Exit, downstairs, sandwich, upstairs, next class. Exit, downstairs, sandwich, upstairs, next class. Exit, downstairs, sandwich, dead bird. Dead bird?? How out of routine, you say to yourself. How sad. How odd. How strange. How strange to see the fat corpse of a headless bird.

    I felt a hurricane of questions fill every nook in my brain– not to mention the fact that I was using my brain, which was also out of routine. Where could this bird have been headed, to have become beheaded? One can only imagine and solve, solve and imagine. I pulled out a cigarette to help manifest the mystery, only I didn’t, because I am both on campus and a minor.

    Upon closer inspection, the feathers can be seen as puffed, plucked, and gross, indicating the victim was stressed, in defense mode, and in desperate need of a bird bath when last alive. The likelihood of this case being ruled a suicide, was, questionable. Indeed, she could have fell from the floor above and snapped her neck, indeed she could have. But, where, I ask you, where is the head?! Perhaps the other pests ate it.

    The others! Yes, the victim was killed in a gang attack, I’ve decided. He just wasn’t like the other pigeons. He was fatter, so must’ve hogged all the leftovers, that is what set them off. But, could a pigeon really be a murderer? Yes, I believe so. I believe my poor, headless friend was in the wrong place at the wrong time, took the wrong birds lunch, and certainly paid for it. Oh man, did he truly truly pay for it. This bird has flown out of existence, and now his goose is cooked. Fly away headless homie, fly away.

  • Movie review of Ladybird!

    Every movie critic adored Ladybird, and I went in to the theater with high hopes. However, I left disappointed. One of my main issues with this movie was the fact that the main character is constantly complaining that she lives “on the wrong side of the tracks” and has “money issues” despite the fact that there is nothing to indicate she’s poor other than dialogue. Her house is actually pretty nice. She goes to a preppy private Catholic school. Her parents could afford adopting and paying for her racially ambiguous brother’s college education. Now, to be fair, most of her classmates are obviously very rich, but to me this whole aspect of the movie came across as privileged and painfully unaware of what is actually considered poor in America. Also, Ladybird, the main character, comes off as an attention-seeking spoiled brat. She ditches her token minority obese comic relief friend to join the popular clique, and when she gets bored with them she goes back to her old friend with zero repercussions. The main conflict of the movie is that Ladybird wants to go to a college in New York, but her mom wants her to go to college at UC Davis. That is the most suburban, mundane premise for a movie I have ever heard. Ladybird is Juno without the creativity or heart. It is Palo Alto without the grittiness or stylish angst. It is a celebration of mediocrity that is so caught up in trying to be relatable that it doesn’t realize how disconnected from the real world it is. Ladybird is what I like to call a “white girl movie”, and if you don’t know what I mean by that, you probably loved Ladybird.

  • Review of Stephen King’s Book: 11/22/63

    Stephen King: referred to as the master of horror, the magician of thrillers, the man when it comes to scare. Although, in writing about the beloved president John F. Kennedy’s death, King chose not to capture the horrific state of the nation, rather the beauty that preceded his death, and no one has done it better than He. Stephen King’s science fiction novel, 11/22/63, imagines life in an alternate reality if John F. Kennedy’s assassination had been prevented five decades ago. By stepping through a time portal in 2011, high school teacher, Jake Epping takes a stroll down memory lane into 1958. Rockabilly music, sock hops, and poodle skirts are all the rage. Assuming a new identity, Jake embarks on a mission to save America and stop Lee Harvey Oswald from blowing Kennedy’s brains out. While the action in the novel is extremely suspenseful, 11/22/63 is much more than a rescue mission. Even though the novel is fiction, King incorporates elements of the early sixties and historic details of Oswald’s life and Kennedy’s presidency that build up to the shooting and makes the story realistic. 11/22/63 is a great novel because it keeps the reader on the edge of their seat and asks the difficult questions like: Can one person really change the world? Should things just be allowed to take their natural course? And is time inescapable? King received many accolades for the novel such as the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller and the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Science Fiction. 11/22/63 was also adapted into a series on Hulu starring James Franco in 2016.

  • Space X : A New Space Race

     

     

    In 1903 man took flight for the first time. In 1969 one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind was made, and in 2017 Space X set the bar for reusable rockets. On Tuesday, February 6, 2018 Space X test launched the Falcon Heavy at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Falcon Heavy was expected to have a 50/50 chance of success. The 23 story tall rocket was equipped with two boosters and one core with 27 engines capable of producing 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

    The maiden voyage successfully landed the Heavy’s two self-landing reusable rocket boosters, and launched the payload of a Tesla roadster with a dummy sitting in the passenger seat, along with a track of David Bowie’s Space Oddity playing. Elon Musk said that the Roadster is  “just going to be out there in space for maybe millions or billions of years. Maybe discovered by some future alien race thinking what the heck, what were these guys doing? Did they worship this car? Why do they have a little car in the car? And that’ll really confuse them.”

    In a press Conference Space X founder and CEO Elon Musk stated that “we want a new space race… Space Races are exciting” Perhaps Space X will really start up another space race. The Falcon Heavy will dramatically decrease the cost of space flight, after all the Falcon Heavy can carry twice the capacity and is a fourth of the price of America’s biggest existing rocket the Delta 4 Heavy.

  • Possibility of Care Center Closing

    Possibility of Care Center Closing

    Is it true that the C.A.R.E Center closing, as people have been saying? Could the one safe place for some people on campus really be going away? Well the rumors are somewhat true. Sadly, as far as it is currently known the C.A.R.E Center will be closed for the 2018 – 2019 school year.

    On January 30, Poly’s School Site Council, which makes recommendations to the LBUSD School Board, held a meeting in which they talked about various topics. One topic being providing money to staff the C.A.R.E Center. School site council and the school board unanimously voted to not fund the C.A.R.E. Center next school year, in part by voting to fund other positions.

    At the February 27 School Site Council meeting about 30 students and a few teachers showed up to make statements in support of the C.A.R.E. Center. When asked about what the school could possibly do to provide funding for the C.A.R.E Center, junior Brandon Corza stated, “There should be a lot more active fundraising.” Clubs and sports can do fundraising and something as important as the C.A.R.E Center should be able to do some fundraising to help keep money flowing so it will not be at risk of closing.

    Michael Gray, C.A.R.E Center counselor, mentioned that people have been getting together to help raise money for the C.A.R.E Center. Students, parents, and even community members are coming together to help raise money. The downside of fundraising is that it would require producing a large amount of money every year.

    During the wellness week a fair was held in which some booths even had petitions students could sign. The petitions were for the C.A.R.E Center, mentioning that it is an important place on campus that students need and it should not close.

    History teacher Michael Tinsley discussed the importance of the program:  “If the C.A.R.E Center closed, our problems will be bigger. We would have an uptick in absences, potentially more students failing, social and emotional problems among students, and potentially something dangerous to staff and students.”

  • Fashion Week Overview

    I’m not the type of person to ever watch a fashion show, but when I heard about the Milan Fashion Week, I had to see it myself; via my phone screen, of course, because the show took place in Italy. The world’s top designers and brands showcased their Fall/Winter collections from February 21 through the 27th.

    The Dolce and Gabbana runway stole the show. Models were replaced by Drones, this vision of the future of fashion took a forty-five minute delay because guests were asked to turn off their phones’ wifi and bluetooth. Drones modeled a parade of the label’s new devotion handbags while Kendrick Lamar’s “All The Stars” was played.

    The most interesting moment of the week was when Gucci’s runway was turned into an operation room with bright surgical neon lights. Alessandro Michele’s collection was inexplicably interesting. The show itself suddenly became creepy when models carried out a replica of their heads, snakes, and a baby dragon.

    To complete the collection, accessories were a must. Dolce and Gabbana had a model showcase a headband, a pair of sunglasses, and earrings that were in the design of big red purses, all in the same outfit. Roberto Cavalli’s models wore loop around serpents, real or not they looked great on the model.

    The Milan Fashion week was worth watching. I hope to soon see the fashion trends that I saw on the runway around school. I enjoyed the outfits I saw and I hope my peers at school will soon adopt the trends brought by the fashion week.

  • Fake Drake

    In 2016, the iconic Canadian rapper Drake released his fourth studio album, titled Views, with the top charting song “Hotline Bling” serving as the lead single. When the music video and the single were released in 2015, Drake witnessed some intense meme-age and publicity. The psychedelic neon lights in the living room sized cube was something brand new and exciting many had not seen before–only, they had seen it before. And so have many others. As any art fanatic like myself may know, the famous modern artist, James Turrell, featured his groundbreaking studies of light, color, and space at LACMA in 2010. En lieu of Turrell being known for his vivacious presence in the art world, he is now known as the sole influence behind Drake’s music video.

    When accusations of copyright arose, the director of the music video said that any connection between the video and the artwork was “merely accidental” and there was no intention of content theft. But, in an interview, Turrell said that Drake “honored [his] work and [Turrell] was flattered by that,” and continued to say that he has in fact “enjoyed a lot more attention since [he] got involved.”

    Previous to the release of the album, Drake visited LACMA in 2014 and was accompanied by Rolling Stone. In their trip to the museum, Drake told the magazine that Turrell “was a big influence on the visuals for [his] last tour.” Turrell and the rapper even took time out of their adventure to meet, and Drake was photographed inside one of the artist’s famous light boxes. In the end, both artists came to a mutual conclusion. Turrell stated “While I am truly flattered to learn that Drake F’s with me, I nevertheless wish to make clear that neither I nor any of my woes was involved in any way in the making of the Hotline Bling video.”

    However, I personally think that Turrell was robbed of full credit and did not get his rightful piece in the collaboration. In the matter of artistry, there is and always will be a fine line between what is plagiarized and what is inspiration.

  • Care Center in Jeopardy

    Many of us Poly students have not been aware of one of the most important resources that we have here at Poly. The Care Center has helped many students through high school with any of the issues that they might have. Such as problems at school or at home And having someone who will listen if you just need someone to talk to. If you may not know, the Care Center will be shut down by next school year and Mr. Gray, counselor, will no longer be here; the students will no longer have a safe place to go to. I personally think the Care Center is necessary for those of us who may not have someone to talk to at home. Bottling things up can lead to severe mental health problems, which the school is ignoring by shutting down the center. It seems as if the school could care less about the mental and emotional health of its students. The school invests so much in athletes and the PACE program but cut something that everyone in the school can benefit from. In my opinion, the school should keep this program because many students need it. They might not admit to it because they might be embarrassed, but everyone needs someone to talk to sometimes. Many students have made very good friends in there and they find comfort in knowing they have safe space on campus. I wish people would think about the well-being of others more often. Mental health should be prioritized and spoken about freely and shamelessly. It’s normal to feel these things and if you are in this position you should be able to get a hold of help no matter the time or place. By taking the Care Center away, students are being stripped of things they might need, so we should do everything we can to help them and to keep the Care Center open.

  • What in the World?!?

    Monday, February 12

    Penny Lawrence, ex-deputy chief for the British charitable organization Oxfam, resigned because of her inability to act immediately in response to the sexual misconduct scandal involving Oxfam workers volunteering in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

    Tuesday, February 13

    Chinese prosecutors have charged senior politician Sun Zhengcai with bribery. He is accused of “illegally accepting a huge amount of assets from others” during his various posts over the years , the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing prosecutors.

    Wednesday, February 14

    Florida High School shooter was identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz.

    Thursday, February 15

    Authorities said three skiers died after being swept away by an avalanche in the French Pyrenees.

    Friday, February 16

    Italian police turned water cannons on anti-fascist protesters in Bologna who were trying to disrupt a planned campaign appearance by the head of the neo-fascist Forza Nuova.

    Saturday, February 17

    Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, the son of two Holocaust survivors, questioned Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki regarding a controversial bill on the Holocaust.

    Sunday, February 18

    The Israeli military said it struck 18 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, in response to an explosive device that wounded four soldiers along the border with the territory, as Gaza officials said the bodies of two Palestinian teenagers who were killed trying to infiltrate Israel were recovered Sunday.

    Monday, February 19

    Islamic State militants ambushed a group of Iraq’s Shiite-led paramilitary fighters, killing at least 27.

    Tuesday, February 20

    Search-and-rescue teams on Tuesday offered the first images of the site of an airplane crash in southern Iran that killed 65 people.

    Wednesday, February 21

    An unidentified man threw an explosive device at the US Embassy’s headquarters in Podgorica.

    *Information for this segment was used from the World Digest section of the Washington Post*

  • Where Did Everybody Go?

    After an explosion of tweets and posts regrading the threats of an alleged school shooting, many students decided to stay home from school on February 21. That morning,  Superintendent Chris Steinhauser sent out a group email stating, “We have been alerted to unsubstantiated social media rumors that a possible shooting was planned to occur at Poly High School.”

    Pictured is the empty parking lot with limited amounts of students attending school that morning.

     

    For more information, read Issue 10 released on Thursday, March 8.