Category: Opinion

  • A Rude, but Subtle Awakening

    A Rude, but Subtle Awakening

    These past months have had a series of highs and lows. It’s been hard for me to stay consistent in many ways. I often catch myself overthinking small things such as the way I speak, write and solve homework problems.  With the COVID-19 pandemic being the root of many of my problems in the present day, I noticed that I’ve been overwhelming myself with thinking about my future. Although, before the pandemic I wasn’t very social, I hate the fact that I don’t always have the option to decide if I want to be. I am not a very social person, I keep my circle small and the few people that I confide in bring me joy through these times.  Recently,  while speaking to one of my friends I told them that I had been attempting to do too many things at once resulting in not getting anything done. I realized that I was ironically stressing myself out trying not to stress which resulted in not completing anything. I came to the conclusion that staying inside everyday while doing online school has made school my entire life. School is important to me but the question that I frequently ask myself is this: What’s next?

    I say to myself, “After school what can I do with my day, realistically speaking?” Then the only thing I come up with is doing homework so I have a better GPA which will make the chances of me getting accepted to a university greater. While confiding in my friend, they  reminded me of how unhealthy it can be to overwhelm ourselves. Hearing that from an outside source other than myself and my mother seemed to be a little more effective. My friend then offered to take me out of the house to clear my mind. After being away from my computer and my family,  just embracing the moment that I was currently experiencing, I felt a tremendous amount of weight lift off of my body. One particular outing my friend took me on was as simple as walking to the beach and sitting on the sand before sunset. Having experiences non-related to school has improved my capability to perform when solving problems. I appreciate the little things and experiences more than I have ever before. At this point in my life anything can happen, school shouldn’t be more important than myself.

  • Working out During Quarantine

    Working out During Quarantine

    Working out is endorsed by doctors and health-specialists for all kids or for anyone who may be in need of it. Many supply this need with walking, biking, or other hour-long activities that can be accomplished at a park or out in the open. Other workouts are done in gyms or closed-off workout spaces. Some people indulge in building up a private gym in their homes and have been unaffected by the change Covid-19 brought upon them. Others, however, have been left in the dark about how best to go about continuing their routine while stuck at home – and some people are too busy trying to support themselves or their dependents to worry about it.

     

    I have experienced this myself, even as a student with no workout-heavy extracurricular activities, the sharp decline in the amount of walking I accomplished in a day, walking from class to class, and walking around school with friends have left me uncommonly lethargic, eternally tired, and while my grades have taken a sharp upturn with the abundance of time I have to do nothing, my physical upkeep has been lacking. While no negative effects have shown long-term problems, should the world go back to normal, it shows me more clearly the lack of agency I take in keeping myself fit, as I usually rely on everyday exercise to keep me healthy.

     

    Without that outlet, I’ve been put in charge of my own health and wellness, and I’ve done my best to develop a small, important way to make sure you move about and give your body the smaller exercises it needs to stay healthy.

     

    1. Don’t sit at your computer all-day

    No matter what you believe, schoolwork won’t keep you glued to your chair all day. Every workspace and school schedule allows for small breaks to be taken in between bouts of work and classes. Don’t take this time for granted, and sit at your computer or on your phone, watching Youtube or Tik Tok. instead, get up, shake out your legs and stretch your arms, use every break you can to move as much of your body as possible.

    1. Have a small workout or stretch routine

    Set aside a small amount of time in your schedule to work out, no matter how intense it is. It can range from a small ten-minute low impact routine, or an hour-long weight-lifting routine. Any extra movement will be beneficial for your body, and its health. I prefer a ten-to-fifteen minute workout, short and simple, with hand weights to ensure I keep the strength in my arms and torso. There are plenty of examples of short, long, easy, and intense workouts out there if you look for them.

    1. Understand that you need to go outside

    With the threat of Covid-19, many fear going outside. By saying you need to go outside, I’m not encouraging you to go outside and have parties or visit others, but to sit or stand outside, with proper mask protection and sunscreen, and stretch or stand or walk. Breath in the air and let the sun warm you. Becoming stagnant inside can lead to more brittle bones with a lack of vitamin D, which can become a long-term problem. Make time every day to stand outside, and sit or lie down, in your front or backyard, if you can, or try to squeeze the time in when going out for needed groceries. 

    My main suggestion would be to do a pre-warm-up outside, or if your workout is short, spend your entire workout outside, if you are able to do so and with proper face protection. I do a combination of school work and workouts outside, intermittently throughout the week.

    Image result for Dumbbells

    Working out and moving around, no matter how often, is an activity that will help with the monotony of staying indoors and any feeling of stillness that may come upon you. These are three smaller ideas that I’ve come up with to help myself when facing being indoors for the unseeable future, and keeping your body strong is one of the main ways to combat this. 

     

    The next time you get a ten-minute break, rather than looking at screens, stand and stretch, take a breath, and move your body.

  • High Life Resolutions

    At the start of the New Year, a few of our staff members shared their New Year’s Resolutions.

     

    Zinia Francis

    1. Get a new wardrobe 
    2. Be more social with the people I enjoy 
    3. Take aesthetic pictures 

    Xandria Hines

    1. Text my friends at least once a week
    2. Create a resume & get a job

    Sierra Brott-Hunter 

    1. Get my drivers license 
    2. Get a job 
    3.  Not procrastinate 

    Daryl Holmlund, High Life Adviser

    1. Actually wear a tie to work for the first time since March 2020.
    2. Pack lunch for school that is more than a peanut butter sandwich and yogurt.
    3. Get more than five hours of sleep per night – for some reason I’ve been sleeping even less even though there’s nowhere to go and I’m working from home.

  • What should LBUSD do with $100 million? Students have ideas…

     

    The Long Beach Post has reported that Long Beach Unified School District is set to receive $99.4 million in federal funds from the December 2020 relief package. The money is based on LBUSD’s low-income and otherwise disadvantaged Title 1 student population. LBUSD spokesperson Chris Eftychiou told the Long Beach Post in an email that the district has been using federal funds from the earlier relief package for “technology, professional development, nutrition of students, distance learning and personal protective equipment.” 

    But what do Poly students think the district should use the money on? Our panel of writers made some suggestions.

     

    Xandria Hines

    With the grant of 99.4 million dollars given to the Long Beach Unified School District through the government’s relief funding, a lot of betterment can be done to the schools that LBUSD resides over, as well as those who work and learn there.

    With everyone stuck within their own homes for the time being, possibly until the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022, using that amount of money to tear down and rebuild some of the worst areas of the older schools would be a possible endeavor that could be done with the money. Allowing the schools to remain closed until the autumn/winter semester of 2022 would give the school board enough time to plan, budget, and rebuild some of the worst buildings that could become hazardous.

    If the reconstruction of hazardous areas is not a priority, however, the money could still be used for the reconstruction of schools, changing some of the unused, and more unused bathrooms into “sanitary stations”. With Covid-19 back on the rise in early 2021, schools may need to push back in-class schooling until the vaccine is distributed regularly and avoid of more severe effects, but for those who simply will not wait for such a time, having stations within the school where children and teens can pick up gloves to replace their ripped ones, pick up or refill their hand sanitizer, or replace masks they might accidentally throw away or break would help everyone stay safe at school.

    Using that money to redo anything about the standing school (repainting, cleaning, new desks, new supplies, etc.) would be a positive change for any high schooler that would be going back to school when it’s finally safe to do so.

     

    Chansochata Thon

    As an LBUSD student, I believe the most important area in which the budget can go is investing in better laptops for the students who cannot afford their own. First of all, the chromebooks that the school provides are not guaranteed to work well. Many of my friends and myself have a chromebook from school, and we have faced many issues. My chromebook, in particular, cannot handle having more than three tabs open when I am using zoom. This is a problem, because teachers usually require us to have multiple tabs open, whether it be a google doc, website, or peardeck. When I do have my zoom and more than 3 tabs open, the zoom becomes laggy and I cannot access the websites quickly, and at times I get disconnected. This causes stress, especially if the teacher gives a timed assignment. In addition, when I do get disconnected, I struggle in refocusing when I rejoin.

    In addition, the school can direct some of the money in helping students transition to a life with COVID-19. By this, I mean helping students cope and learn what to do when a family member is hospitalized. For me, when my dad was diagnosed with COVID-19, my family and I struggled in knowing what to do when he was sick, especially when his condition worsened. There seemed to be a lack of clarity of what to do, especially when we called an ambulance they would not take him to the hospital. So we had to take him to a hospital ourselves but did not know whether to go to urgent care or the emergency room. Furthermore, when he was admitted to the hospital, we had difficulty in learning how to pay bills. This caused immense stress, interrupting my motivation to learn. I believe some resources that may help include available/well known hot-lines or places that can aid families with bills, grocery, and information. In addition, these resources should also provide access for those whose first language is not English.

    Lastly, a resource that can directly help students during distanced learning is one-on-one tutors or a mentor who can track their grade and provide them support; this can be a tutor who students check up with or just someone who can be relied on for advice. These tutors should go towards the students who are evidently struggling the most with online school and want help (because if they need help but do not want it there will be lots of resistance on their part). This program could assure that the students who do not have the support at home can have access to what they need through Poly.

     

    Sierra Brott-Hunter

    I think that LBUSD SHOULD use the money on giving the students cord baggies filled with mask, hand sanitizer, thermometer. They also should provide better food. This is a good idea because if the students do not have a clean mask at home they have a mask in the bag. Another reason this a good idea to spend the money on the baggies is so students have hand sanitizer with them at all times and it would be easy to get out their backpacks they can also use it if they are in a rush between classes. A third reason this a good idea that should use the money on is the students have a thermometer to see if they have a fever before they go to school to let them know if they should stay home or not. I also think that LBUSD should use the money on better food. This is a good idea because the school food now is okay, but it is not the best food.

  • Opinion: Canceled SAT

    This month, all of Long Beach Poly’s students were notified that the October 14 SAT was canceled. I believe this was the right move by the school, to place health before anything else, but I and a lot of my peers can’t help but feel that we are at a disadvantage. 

    As a senior, I have not taken the SAT and many of my peers have not taken it either. Even though many colleges and universities have made the SAT optional, the word optional makes it feel as if it is still something crucial. 

    Even before quarantine, the SAT was inaccessible and too time-consuming for students. While some students can splurge on tutors and prep books, other students only have access to YouTube and libraries that only contain books that are outdated and worn out.  Not only that, but the high price of the SAT was not designed for communities of lower socioeconomic status. Even with the fee waiver, it still does not account for the money needed for a tutor.

    When the best variable used to predict a high SAT score is high household income, there should be a red flag. Throughout my 17 years in America, the one thing I am most certain of is that institutions continue to marginalize and overlook poor communities. In addition, how do we know if the SAT is an effective way of measuring intelligence? It can’t possibly be that intelligence is constant because each student is unique and come from their own culture. Due to this rich diversity, each student is intelligent in their own ways, yet the SAT fails to take that into consideration.

    In the future, I can only hope that the SAT can change. That the SAT can become a test that doesn’t measure income but truly measures a child’s own individual intelligence and potential for success.

     

  • my new normal: sierra brott-hunter

     

    Online school 

    The 2021 school year has started online and at home because of Covid 19 so I am here to talk about why I like online school and why I don’t like online. My routine for online school is that I wake up like 20 minutes I get ready and I get some food. I feed my dogs and give them water. I wait for my classes to start and that’s all I do.

     

    My reasons why I like online school

    1. I  can work at my own pace. Working at my own pace does not stress me out. 
    2. It is faster to do some assignments. I basically self teach myself things and so the assignments are fast and I like typing more than writing.
    3. If I need a break I can just take a break from it. Like if I’m doing an assignment, I can just stop and work on it later.
    4. I can teach myself faster. I don’t have to wait to move on. I can just move and go. 
    5. I learn a bit faster than actual school in the classroom. In classroom learning is a bit slower than online school because when you are in class you have to learn with everyone else but when it’s online the assignments are already posted and I can just  look at it and read it and get it done and move on to the other assignments. 

    There are many more reasons why I like online school but it’s time to give my reasons why I do not like online school.

      So here we go:

    1. Classes are too long. I don’t like long classes because they are stressful and sometimes it gets boring just looking at a screen and sitting in the same spot  for that long.
    2.  Some of my teachers are giving too much work. They pile so many assignments on, I do not like the piling of the assignments because some teachers think that we only have  work for their class and pile on five assignments that are due the same day  and it gets really stressful because I have other work to do for other classes.
    3. I get a headache from staring at a screen  for 90 minutes. I don’t even stare at my phone that long. I wear glasses. I know wearing glasses helps  when you are working on a computer and everything because of the bluelight thing they have in a lesne, but I don’t like staring at a screen that long because it hurts my eyes and it gives me bad headaches. It is not healthy to be looking at a screen that long for 90 minutes straight and for 7 hours out of the day.
    4. Some of my teachers don’t know how to explain things and give examples. So in two of my clases my teacher will just give us the assignment and be like here you go, imma put you in breakout rooms and the teacher never gives us directions. Then my other teacher will be like here is the work due by the end of the week and barely  gives us an explanation on how to do it. 
    5. I start to get distracted. Staring at one thing for a long time. I lose interest in it because it will have to be explained more than three times and I start to lose interest. I will look at my phone or get up and walk around to stretch my legs.
    6. I have to help with my dogs while I’m in class. So my dogs love attention don’t get me wrong I love my dogs but they love to bother me when I’m in class. They will high pitched bark or scratch at the door or scratch me, they will walk  were my computer charger is and it will get unplugged.
    7. I don’t like turning my camera on. I hate  showing my face on camera in zoom classes because sometimes I’ll just wake up and roll outta bed and go on zoom so I will be looking crusty. It’s also kinda awkward just having your face on the screen and having other people look at you.
    8.  The teachers always calls me to read. I hate reading out loud. I am an independent reader. I like reading by myself. 
    9. Some of my teachers don’t know how to work canvas. The teacher will be like i posted an assignment  and tell us to go do it and it will be locked  till 1:06 and we will tell the teacher and the teacher will start arguing with us and  finally realize it’s locked.
    10.  Canvas assignments disappear and I sometimes have to restart them. It gets really annoying when that happens, then I just get frustrated. I can go on and on about why I don’t really like online school. There are so many more reasons but just to make it short, that is why I like and I don’t like online school.

     

  • My New Normal: Kelly Rodriguez

    When I first wake up I get my Chromebook to start my first period without getting ready. Sometimes I sleep in my class or watch youtube when my teachers are not talking or when I am done with my work. My son (dog) always wants to play while I’m in class so I go outside with him while I’m in class and let him run around or just throw his toys so he can get it.

    Also, I have some reasons why I don’t like online school. One of them is I have a lot of siblings in the house. There is nowhere in the house that you can be by yourself. Also, my mom tells me to pick up my son’s (dog’s) mess or to clean up or help her with the kids because she doesn’t know how to work the Chromebook. It’s just hard to learn when there are a lot of people in the house. A lot of my teachers don’t know how to give examples of how things work online or how to work some of the apps they tell us to get on. Sometimes I don’t feel like being on zoom with them.

  • Why I’m glad schools are closed

    I was sitting in my TA period when it was first announced that schools would be closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Needless to say, there was a range of mixed feelings with my classmates; some excited, some upset, some afraid how it would affect the school year. Although I was a little anxious about the virus itself, most of that fear was for the effect on the economy. Schools closing, however, was a huge sigh of relief for me.

    I’ve learned a lot from Poly. The yearbook and newspaper teams are more responsible than my last school. The English teachers actually teach you how to compose essays without killing any existing passion you had coming into the class. The music students are held accountable, and the staff and administration encourage students to push themselves and be eligible to attend four-year universities.

    But I’m not upset about the cancelled events. I’m upset that I can’t edit or distribute a physical newspaper, but there were no events I was planning to attend aside from choir concerts and my graduation ceremony.

    I can’t say I hate Poly. But as a transfer student from another district, I can’t lie that I miss my previous high school. Four years ago, I had a completely different plan for my senior year. I never expected to be in a school with open enrollment or block schedules. At my last school, I was the de facto section leader in marching band. At Poly, I never even marched. I would never have thought I’d be writing (and especially drawing comics) on a newspaper team, either, yet here I am as a staff writer for The High Life. There were so many promises made to me in San Bernardino that I expected to be there for. So in a way, my senior year was disrupted a long time ago.

    Just as any stereotypical high school senior, I had a terrible case of senioritis coming into my final year. My two older siblings, who had similar feelings as me coming out of high school, became different people upon attending college. They used to leave me out of everything, tease me like most siblings, and always want to be alone. Since attending college, they are constantly calling me to chat or play video games, and they are almost always around friends whenever I call them. Heck, my brother has even asked me for help with writing and editing a screenplay.

    Seeing my siblings’ demeanors change after leaving high school has only made me more anxious to graduate. I’m sick of being told what I have to learn and when, and I want to have more freedom in my education. I find myself more productive in career building when I have a break from school, and whenever I have to go back, I feel drained, cranky, and sometimes a little depressed. After school, I don’t want to work on homework or personal projects, I don’t want to play my instruments, and I don’t even want to hang out with friends. While I love my teachers this year and enjoy my electives, the idea and pressure of having to survive another three months on little sleep and low motivation was killing my energy and creativity.

    Now that I am at home, I am able to work where I want to work. I can get up and walk around when I need to, and I have no more homework because now it is combined with my schoolwork. I no longer have to break my back lugging a full bag of books on my back, and I can keep my hands busy during lessons with whatever I feel like at the time. I’m wearing headphones less, playing my instruments more, and I feel more creative and less pressured by deadlines because I choose where I work. I’m at the point where I’m considering homeschooling my own children in the future.

    I don’t know if I regret coming to Poly. I probably wouldn’t be on the path I am now if I had chosen Wilson like I considered. But after four years of disappointment after freshman year trials, band drama, one of the hardest moves of my life, and newly developed social anxiety, I’m not sure I could have a better end to my senior year than this. I want this virus to end just as much as the next person, but I couldn’t be more grateful for the break from high school.

  • Hair Discrimination

    For some, hair is definitely a sensitive topic because essentially, it is a representation of who we are. What’s the first thing you notice about somebody besides their face? Most likely their hair. We all choose to wear our hair how we want but why is it that many black girls are ridiculed for their hair?

    There are things you should and should not say when talking about a black girl’s hair. Things you should say: “I love your hair!”  “How did you get it like that?”  “What products do you put in your hair?” Things you should NOT say: “You should do something with that hair.”  “That looks a mess!” And you absolutely do NOT call a black girl’s hair “nappy”!

    These are the few things that are and aren’t acceptable to say to a girl of any ethnic background. It is derogatory and undermining to the person receiving it and to the race as a whole. African-Americans have fought a long and hard battle and even to this day still continue to fight for our freedom to be who we are. We shouldn’t be told that the way we wear our hair is “out of uniform” or “needs to be more kept”.

    You should KEEP your salty opinions to yourself. For years, black women have been fired from their jobs for wearing their natural hair instead of choosing to change how they look just to appeal to others. Black girls have gotten their hair cut at school, they’ve been suspended, they’ve been bullied and embarrassed. Why can’t black girls be accepted for who they are and how they look? We can’t confidently wear the hair that we were given? Just because our hair isn’t straight, stringy, and boring does not mean that it is not beautiful! And who is to say it isn’t beautiful? I’ll wait.

    All textures of hair are beautiful and should be appreciated. If you do not have anything nice to say, it’s best to just shut up, sit back, and mind your business.

  • Is It Time to Bring Down the Patriarchy?

    Since the beginning of civilization in Mesopotamia, lives of women have been controlled by men. Women were denied many of the rights that men had, such as an education, but were expected to serve husbands and fathers.  The voice of oppressed women was not loud enough for men in power to hear until Mary Wollstonecraft started a “revolution in female manners” during the French Revolution, according to the political theorist Eileen Hunt Botting on Bringing Down the Patriarchy.  Although this did not create equality overnight, this was just the start of women coming together to bring down the patriarchy.

    Today, inequality still lives between men and women, which is a big problem. According to Marie Claire, women make 16% less money than a male employee of the same job, and it is worse for women of color.

    Even though we have made progress with reducing the wage gap, there is still a long road ahead of us, including aiming for more representation in government and senior positions for companies or firms, for example.

    The feminist movement is making strides in fighting for rights not just for women, but for fellow minorities in ways like speaking up about gender discrimination. Unity is the medicine for this patriarchal disease.

    I know people who think that there might not be a point in fighting for equality, some of them my friends. They think that equal rights for everyone or the end of discrimination is never going to be possible. But this is where they are wrong.

    By teaching young boys that catcalling women on the side of the street is unacceptable, by teaching young boys about toxic masculinity, by teaching them about how they can contribute their privilege and power to the feminist movement, by teaching women all around that other women will have their back in a sisterhood.

    By coming together, educating people, and having the will to fight for rights is how the patriarchy will one day be broken.

  • Futurama Appreciation

    For weeks, I’ve been binge-watching Futurama and as I come closer and closer to the end of the show, I have made my final decision: Futurama is indeed the best cartoon ever. With it’s first episode airing on March 28th, 1999 (my birthday, another reason why it’s the best), Futurama has released a numerous amount of gems, uncovering the many secrets of existence, spirituality, and the FUTURE. While many do regard this cartoon as “stupid” or “childish”, there is no doubt that it is very intellectual! The cartoon was created and produced by Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons (1989) so of course the show is great.

    Now why do I say that this show is the best cartoon ever? Well for starters, the show is pretty crazy. The most outrageous things can happen, ranging from adventures to Robot Hell to saving the world from a tiny ball of fire from the Sun who wants to turn the Earth into a big ball of fire in which it could rule. Things we’ve all experienced. The jokes are also hilarious, you can tell that the producers do put some thought into the things they say… Or maybe they’re on drugs, it’s pretty hard to tell. I especially like all the characters, my favorite being Bender Bending Rodriguez, the vulgar, self-absorbed, alcoholic robot. In one episode, Bender gets lost in space where he is left to drift through the universe for eternity. During his journey through space, Bender becomes God, then he meets God. God, who is literally the entire universe in which they live, reveals to him the secret of being God. He tells Bender that you can’t help everyone but you can’t not help anyone either concluding that, “when you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.” Deep, right? Probably not.

    Additionally, I believe the show opens our minds up to many possibilities of the future. Is it possible that we will coexist with robots? Will we ever be able to travel from planet to planet through the universe? Will we drive cars that hover off the ground? Will suicide booths exist? We’ll never know. But it’s nice to wonder. A show like this really makes you wonder if the creators are geniuses or if they’re smoking crack and quite frankly, if the show doesn’t make me wonder those things, is it truly good? Again, probably not. Now if you have watched this show and you’ve read this article and you completely disagree with me and you think I’m a big dumb baby, in the words of Bender Rodriguez, bite my shiny metal– nevermind.

  • High-Five Fridays Frighten Introverts

      As an introvert, there is nothing more terrifying than to see a group of bubbly people standing in line on a Friday morning with their hands ready to give you a high five.

       Yet this is exactly the view each Friday morning at Poly’s main gate. Teachers and staff from around campus partake in “High Five Fridays,” a school campaign meant to create an encouraging and positive atmosphere for students.

       This however is not the case. The only thing I am encouraged to do is go through the gate on 15th Street to avoid the awkwardness. Their positivity is not contagious. Physical contact with overzealous strangers as I keep a forced smile plastered on my face is the last thing I need on a Friday morning.

       As I’ve mentioned before, I am an introvert. Social settings have never been my forte, and dealing with too many people can really overwhelm me. Especially, too many enthusiastic people, this being one of the main reasons High Five Fridays and I have never really clicked.

      “High Five Fridays” is not for students to enjoy but rather forces us to be polite. The majority of people I know don’t smile back because they’re truly feeling encouraged but rather to not hurt the feelings of teachers who have taken the time to do this.

       And I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings either, but a campaign which was supposedly centered around students has really just become something students have to go through. Not for their own sake but for the sake of teachers and staff.

       My opinion however, does not reflect the opinion of the other 3700+ students on Poly’s main campus. So if someone somewhere has a better school experience due to this enthusiastic socialization, then I guess it’s a win for the campaign. I however, will continue to avoid that gate whenever I can and encourage whoever else can’t handle extroverts too early in the morning to do the same.