Author: adviser

Jessica Garcia’s article “Watch Yo Profamity” from the October 5 High Life school newspaper was horrible. Not just her erroneous insight on the subject of “profanity”, but the overall wording of her article. When did it become ok to use profanity at any K-12 public school? When did it become “fashionable” to consider cursing a part of a teen’s “normal” everyday vernacular? Not all things that are done outside of school are acceptable inside of school. Also, sorry Jessica, but many of our students DO NOT CURSE. Try cursing on a job interview. Many career jobs do not allow cursing while at work – such as education, i.e. Poly High School. Not to mention self-respect should factor in somewhere. Jessica, you stated in our article that “… because I cuss in front of my friends doesn’t mean I’m gonna do it to an adult.” Sorry Jessica, you blew that one with your article. Lasly, Article 1, Section 48900, Item (i) of the California Education Code allows for a student to be expelled or suspended for habitual cursing. Ray Porter, CSO

Just being a high school junior and having two long years still ahead of me makes me want to cry and throw my backpack in the trash and just saying “Forget this!” I am so sure that I am not the only one, but I am one of the few that at least try to get through it with a smile, not to judge anyone. Depression, anxiety, stress and etc. are very common conditions in many students at Poly and yet again it is not taken seriously. Me: *has an anxiety attack* Other people: “Don’t exaggerate you will be fine.” No I will not! If you have gone through this you will understand. I know, what does this have to do with positive vibes? Actually it has a lot to do with this. These are all some of the first things a person whines about when they get into this topic. Getting that out of the way, what are we even doing whining about these things? Life is so long and amazing, looking at it from another perspective. I won’t tell you to fake it in life either, but you do not have to see it the way you probably do. This obviously does not apply to everyone, but for those to whom it does, trust that you are not alone. I won’t tell you life’s easy because it’s surely is not; the one thing we can do is deal with it and keep going because how happy or depressing life is depends only on yourself. High school, relationships, friendships, etc.; these things are stressful, but think of the many good time you have with the people you interact with and the things you enjoy doing with them. This is your life and let me say that I know you will get through all these things, because a year from now you won’t care, and even a year from then you won’t care about the things you once cared about. I know I am not the most positive person, not even close, but I do hope this gives many of you the chance to rethink and analyze things.

Have you ever had those days when you’ve been a little bit off schedule? Maybe your alarm was a little off, or you thought it was an even day when it’s actually an odd. Whatever the case may be, sometimes things don’t go according to plan. We’ve all had a bad day, it’s a part of being a teenager. But what about when you come to school, and have to wait in the tardy pass line with 50 other students? Then you have to deal with cutters, the staff member trying to print out a pass, and some freshman who’s taking ten minutes to put in his ID number because he forgot it. Then you finally get to the front of the line, ready to have your ID scanned to go to the class you were so elated to, just to be told they’re not writing anymore passes. I think we can all agree, that’s pretty sucky. Half the students don’t want to have to go to school in the first place, but if they actually go through the effort to stand in line to show up to class, you should at least give them a pass. What if they have a big quiz or test that they need to get to? Or maybe they’re missing important notes. Whatever the case may be, there is no justification for denying a student access to their education; whether they’re in class for twenty minutes, thirty minutes, or fifty minutes. I’m sure if it was up to the students, they would rather be at home sleeping than on Jackrabbit Lane waiting for the period to be over so they can get in. It goes both ways; it saves the teachers time so they don’t have to reteach a whole lesson. It would be beneficial on both sides, but I guess things are the way they are for a reason.

I recall where I was on October 1, 2017. It was another casual Sunday, the birds were chirping, and the sun’s rays sluggishly made their way over my bed. I had a headache from the night before (I had stayed up catching up on the new season of How to Get Away with Murder). I stayed in bed till around 11:00ish when the sun was directly over my covers, got up, and took a lengthy shower serenaded by the Jungle Rules album by French Montana. I had made my way downstairs into the kitchen to prepare a quick brunch for a friend who I hadn’t seen in over a year. We had become friends early on through our equal interest in ending poverty, becoming political actors, and changing the world. Our eternal optimism drew us together. We both spoke about our lives reviewing the year we had been apart while we indulged in the best coffee a seasoned keurig owner can prepare. We both laughed and smiled as he discussed the several sweethearts he had made during his freshman year at college on the East Coast. Later, in keeping with our old habits, we discussed the news and the various topics that had occurred in the last year. However, the topic of conversation found its way to be the Orlando night club shooting that had taken place a year earlier. We had both been personally affected as members of the LGBTQ community, and when we spoke of that night we were just grateful that it had been a year and that the occurrence was just an occurrence. It was naive to think so. October 2, 2017 was a day that I realize now is part of a horrifying pattern which seems to define the legacy of this generation. I woke up that Monday morning and saw the horrifying images being revolved on the news. Hundreds of terrfied people running in herds across the familiar streets of Las Vegas. We as a generation have become so numb to the violence which so consistently has plagued our society and hence our news and media. We may say we sympathize with the victims of countless crimes of gun violence but in addition to posting a photo on social media we may consider actually calling out our representatives for their actions. We the people have the power to impact the direction our representatives vote along both sides. And we need to realize what impact we would have if we are to create real action. There were 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013: 270,237 suicides (58.2% of total deaths); 174,773 homicides (37.7%); and 9,983 unintentional deaths (2.2%). Guns were the leading cause of death by homicide (66.6% of all homicides) and by suicide (52.2% of all suicides). Firearms were the 12th leading cause of all deaths, representing 1.3% of total deaths topping liver disease, hypertension, and Parkinson’s disease, as well as deaths from fires, drowning, and machinery accidents. I believe both parties and the president should use the same ferocity that they have shown to condemn the terror attack in Manhattan to condemn the Las Vegas shooting and change America’s gun laws, but it is also up to us to call upon our representatives to follow through with the words of their constituents. And I understand, guns are a means of defense, however, of the 29,618,300 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.79% of victims (235,700) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm, the least-employed protective behavior. In 2010 there were 230 “justifiable homicides” in which a private citizen used a firearm to kill a felon, compared to 8,275 criminal gun homicides (or, 36 criminal homicides for every “justifiable homicide”). This is most likely because in several cases legally owned guns are frequently stolen by criminals, and repurposed for negligent purposes. I understand in times of great distress such as now we see new cases of violence taken by one person against another causes us to want to have the option to defend our families with the use of weapons, but the greatest strength is our democratic process. If we are to truly take it in hand our communities have the chance to become safer. We must not become numb to the fact that the world is ever changing, and now after all the carnage we must change for it.