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  • Must Read Romances

    Young adult romance author, Kasie West has had a very full career, pumping out at least one new book every year since 2013.

    She just put out a story that is included in the holiday anthology book, Snow in Love.

    She has also announced two new books: Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss and Maybe This Time will hit the shelves in early 2019. In order to be prepared for these new releases, here are a few most loved YA romances by Kasie West:

    The Distance Between Us 

    This book follows a young Caymen Meyers as she and her mother struggle to keep their family doll store up and running. Caymen also wonders if she wants to be the one who end up running, should they get out of debt.

    This book is great because it follows the life of a low-income family and shows how that upbringing contrasts with that of Zander, a rich teen who is just as lost as Caymen. The romance is cute and fluffy, it never feels rushed. The supporting characters have enough personality, you almost want the whole book to be with them. It’s pretty in pink with a lot more dry humor. 9/10

    P.S. I Like You

    This book is a quick read and consists of an exchanging of letters. A shy girl doodles the lyrics to her favorite song, when board during class. The next day, to her surprise, someone else continues said lyrics. From then on, the two exchange letters stored underneath their shared desk, forming a close bond and mutual crush. The only problem is, they have no idea who the other person is. West depicts a healthy and strong female friendship that you don’t see often in media, that alone is worth the read. Not to mention the chemistry between the main character and the love interest is strongest in this compared to the rest of West’s novels.

    8/10

    The Fill-In Boyfriend 

    By the title alone, you can guess this plotline. It’s prom night and Gia just got dumped. In need of a date, she asks a stranger to pretend to be her boyfriend, can you guess what happens next? Although this trope has been done to death, it’s still interesting to see what West is able to do with it to make it her own. It’s also refreshing to read an ending that isn’t tied up in a nice big bow, it makes it seem more real.

    10/10

  • Girls Volleyball Pictures v. Millikan

    Girls Volleyball Pictures v. Millikan

  • Summer Sadness

    Failing a class during the regular school year leads to the necessity of attending to summer school. At Poly we have the liberty of not wearing uniforms but for the rest of the other High Schools I wish to remind the students that in the month of July the weather average is above 80 .

    In the summer you will have to wake up early, trade bikinis for notebooks, sweat instead of tan, hold pencils instead of ice cream, and show up to a classroom where even the staff doesn’t want to be there. For more than two hours every weekday in a one month period surrounded by four very interesting walls covered by a ceiling that has over 3,000 tiny holes, you will be missing out on awesome adventures that your friends will never forget like enjoying the aesthetic of fun outdoor places, the waves at the beaches, poolside parties, camping, and traveling.

    The horror is not only for students but also for the teachers who may or may not put up with cranky, disrespectful, and dull teenagers. Just to let you know, the clock will not gain speed if you keep looking at it. And lastly, by taking your struggling course more seriously during the semester, attending school during your three months of freedom could have been avoided.   

  • 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.

  • Yet Another Example of Why People Don’t Take Modern Feminism Seriously

    Modern feminism has done it again, negatively impacting the lives of women. On January 31, 2018, Formula One, which is high-class single-seat auto racing, banned grid girls from its tradition.

    A grid girl is similar to a restaurant hostess. Their duties can comprise of holding umbrellas for drivers while he or she works on their vehicle. They promote sponsored products through their attire. For award ceremonies, they accompany the winning drivers and engage with the fan base. These women have a particular interest in racing and in modeling. To sum it up, they get paid to travel around the world and look pretty.

    The managing director of Commercial Operations at Formula One, Sean Bratches stated, “Over the last year we have looked at a number of areas which we felt needed updating so as to be more in tune with our vision for this great sport. While the practice of employing grid girls has been a staple of Formula One Grands Prix for decades, we feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern-day societal norms. We don’t believe the practice is appropriate or relevant to Formula One and its fans, old and new, across the world.”

    In my opinion, Bratches made this statement in reaction to the rising tides of feminism, and the many sexual harassment allegations in the media. I can’t see a different good reason to end a tradition that many people loved.

    It first began with the eradication of the walk-on girls employed by the Professional Darts Corporation. Walk-on girls accompany the players on their way to the stage after talks with the broadcasters. This happened a few days before Formula One made its decision to ban grid girls. The root cause of this is not Formula One or Bratches, it’s feminism.

    Feminists are praising this ban because they believe occupations like grid girls and walk-on girls objectify women. The definition of objectification is to degrade someone or something to the status of a mere object. If that were the case, then why do the women in this industry feel empowered and beautiful? Being objectified means that the girls would feel degraded, but they don’t because, to them, their job is glamorous.

    On YouTube, former grid girls were invited to speak their minds concerning the ban on channels like Loose Women and Good Morning Britain. These women were disappointed and shocked that feminism is failing them and I am too.

    I wish this wasn’t a controversial issue because just standing there and looking pretty brings happiness to some women. Not all women need to be involved in the STEM field and not all women want to. Can feminists please grapple this insane idea?

    These women lost their jobs. For some, it was their only source of income. The attire might be skimpy at times, but compared to how the average woman dresses today I don’t see much of a difference.

    No one forced these women to become grid girls. They don’t feel oppressed, threatened, objectified, or sexually harassed. They are capitalizing on their attractiveness, which isn’t a bad thing, its’s actually smart. So, why are the women that are not in this field so bothered by this?

  • 75th Annual Golden Globes

    The new year kicked off on January 7th with the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at 5 pm EST.  presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, several actors, productions, and series were awarded for their excellence and achievements in film and television.

    The Golden Globe Awards are known for their silver tongued speakers and announcers that use their voices to speak out about issues that are socially significant and detrimental to certain communities. This year the “Times Up!” “Why We Wear Black” and “#Me Too” movement were big hits for several celebrities campaigns. Laura Dern, America Ferrera, Debra Messing, Emma Watson, Millie Bobby Brown, Shailene Woodley, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Oprah to name a few.

    But the biggest statements of the night were that of the fashion statements. A large majority of the celebrities who attended wore black to symbolize their fight for a life free of sexual abuse and sexism in the entertainment industry. Natalie Portman notoriously spoke about the lack of female director recognition in the movie industry and said, “And here, are the all male nominees” as she announced the award for Best Director.

    Oprah Winfrey was the first African American female to accept the Cecil B. Demille Golden Globe in recognition of her many accomplishments meanwhile eloquently speaking during the night that was already rife with politics.

    To close her speech, Oprah hinted at the audience about a possible run for the presidential candidacy, perhaps in 2020. In addition to a bold dress code that celebrities followed, many brought outspoken dates who, just by their attendance, spoke volumes.

    A disappointing aspect of the entire award show was the lack of solidarity in protest from the male population of nominees. But sometimes, men must use the platform and privilege they are given to be able to actually be heard and make a difference.

  • Horoscopes Jan 2018!

    The Signs Studying 

    Aries: *throws textbook*

    Taurus: wings it and gets 100%

    Gemini: doesn’t even lift an eyebrow

    Cancer: cleans room instead

    Leo: screw this *does anything other than study*

    Virgo: procrastinates by eating

    Libra: starts right when they get home

    Scorpio: cries endless tears of self pity

    Sagittarius: whines, but eventually gets it done

    Capricorn: studies right before the test and gets an A

    Aquarius: over it

    Pisces: we had a test???

  • Humans of Poly: G-Vaq and his G-Gains

    “Practice makes permanent, it does not make perfect because no one is perfect.” stated Gabriel Vasquez a freshman most likely known as “Gvaq” (pronounced “Gvac”) a cross country athlete.

    The nickname “-Vaq” comes a long way, from a talented poly student named Christian Vasquez who was a great varsity cross country track runner being called “Cvaq”, even his older brother Jose was called “Jvaq” also a talented Poly student athlete, and since he is the youngest sibling he proudly takes the name too.

    Being active and working out helps Gvaq cope with stress and gives him a sense of mission and purpose.

    At the young age of 14, Gvaq already has plans on enrolling to become an United States Marine so he has started preparing early.

    “I’ve embedded working out at a young age to always practice because I know that in the future I will be doing the exact same thing, I need to hold myself accountable wherever I am, wither be at home school or even just waiting for bus because practice make permanent,” stated Gvaq.

    Lastly, Gvaq said “I want everyone to know that life is going to throw a lot of challenges your way and how you deal with it, is going to define who you are!”

  • Tips for Internships

    Internships help gain work experiences to help build up your resume, reach goals, improve team working, engagement, employability, communicating, and interpersonal skills, through trainings.

    First impressions are very important, so keep in mind that to be a professional you must dress like a professional, shake hands, make eye contact, smile, be friendly and confident. Don’t wait for the internships to come to you, besides the thousands on-line internship web sites and books, network through family, friends, friends’ family, and school contacts to find out about possible internships. While being an intern you will have a great opportunity to network with people working in your field.

    Treat your internship like its real job by showing up for work on-time and being prepared. Find a mentor in the same work field that will support you and provide you with advice. Establish good relationships with your coworkers.

    Stay off your phone and social media during shift hours, this will show others you are willing to learn, are motivated and have a genuine interest in your job, also ask questions when possible. Such internship programs, even volunteer opportunities, will provide you with real world experiences, and build a career foundation.

    Research shows that companies recruit about 85 percent of internships and similar experiential education programs participants to become full time workforces.

    So put all your effort in now and before you know it you will go from being an intern to an employee.

  • METS Student Isaac Covarrubias Wins Logo Contest

    METS Student Isaac Covarrubias Wins Logo Contest

    METS recently changed their name to Poly Arts, also known as PARTS. To go with their new name, a contest was held to design the new logo. The assistant principal Stacie Alexander said, “A reason why we decided to change the name and have a logo contest was because the teachers and students are not really connected. They just feel like they’re assigned in there and we want them to become connected and feel like more of a family.” She also stated, “When I was in a meeting I asked the teachers if they felt they were connected to their pathway and they said, ‘no,’ and the teachers came up with the idea of changing the name to better fit what classes we offer and to have the students come up with the logo so they could be part of the process of becoming better connected to everyone in their pathway.”

    The logo contest started a couple months ago and ended about a few weeks ago. There was voting online at Back to School Night and voting here at school. Two people submitted their artworks and the winner has been picked.

    The winner of the contest is sophomore Isaac Covarrubias. Covarrubias stated, “I saw it on Schoolloop and I had some spare time so I decided to enter the contest.” He said that just the drawing itself took 10 to 15 minutes because at first they didn’t ask for the drawing to be colored. Later he colored it and made small alterations. The artwork will be shown online and T-shirts will be made.

    Covarrubias stated, “My mom saw my artwork and she helped me and gave me advice on what I should fix.” Poly teacher Erica Sands will be awarding Covarrubias with a prize, though he doesn’t yet know what.