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  • Shooting at Torrance

    On January 5 at Gable Bowl House, three people were shot dead and four were left injured. The victims of the shooting were all in their twenties. One allegedly was trying to stop the fight that caused the commotion. This all broke out because of a fight between fathers at a family gathering. At the bowling alley, the day had been “crowded” according to eyewitnesses.

    As far as the victims, the 20-year-old who had been the youngest among the victims, had tried to stop the fight between the shooter’s group and the other men. People inside the bowling alley said, “There were 15 shots fired” and the commotion caused countless amounts of panic and chaos. Many families fled for cover as the rounds were fired.

    In a video released on social media, a woman held one of the victims as blood soaked the floor. As the video circulated, the more people were able to identify the shooter.

    An arrest took place two days later. The shooter was a man who was 47-years-old named Reginald Wallace. Wallace was a man who had been sentenced 17 years for assault with a deadly weapon and was released in 2017. He had been on parole at the time of the shooting. Now he is being sentence 25 to life for manslaughter and violating probation. Some might say, this incident remains as a horrible way to start off 2019.

  • Sailing Doesn’t Go so Smooth For The Jackrabbits

    On January 5-6, 2019, the Long Beach Poly sailing team competed again at the famed Rose Bowl Regatta, a race where over a hundred high school and college teams compete separately to win the inaugural race of 2019. Ironically, the regatta takes place in Long Beach, not at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena.

    The Jackrabbits have competed in the race for nearly ten years as an unofficial team. They haven’t yet reached recognition from the high school administration, but have a growing history of successful seasons.

    As a sailing team, they are given race courses with a start line and compete in their boat against thirty teams, similar to cross country. Multiple races are completed daily, constituting a regatta. The teams are scored in order of finish, and the team with the lowest average of race scores wins the event. The race committee changes the race course to keep the competitors attentive.

    In typical winter sailing, the event was forecasted to have light wind and few waves, conditions that are against Poly, who practices in the heavier afternoon breeze. Coach Mark Ryan has said that he has “been working with the team to help control the boat, even in light air.” This light air favors teams further south that are able to practice in very little wind. However, Ryan has been coaching the team for two years now and has seen them finish in the top five at many sailing events. He says that “for a team as small as Poly’s, they are doing fantastic.”

    He’s not wrong. The Jackrabbits have remained competitive against top sailing schools like Newport Harbor and Point Loma, often coming within striking distance and even emerging victorious.

    Poly and Wilson practice together, and Poly team captain Cameron Feves said that “the rivalry keeps everyone on their toes at practice and at regattas.” Feves is the team’s MVP and is “largely responsible for his frequent wins over the Bruin’s captain Trent Turigliatto,” according to Feves’ crew member, Julia Golison.

    Feves has already committed to sailing at George Washington University next year and is a fearsome opponent on the water. The regatta, however, didn’t pan out like Feves intended. He was defeated by Turigliatto by a slim 3 points. Turigliatto attributed this to “seeing the wind shifts” and not overall superior skill. Even so, a victory is a victory.

    The Jackrabbits  are currently in 12th place, holding a one point lead over the Bruins. While each member is unsatisfied with the current results, they have said that they will continue to practice hard and end the season well in March.

  • A Good Year For Movies – Marvel, Dumbo, The Lion King

    On March 8th, 2019, Captain Marvel will be released in theaters. After Avengers: Infinity War, more heroes are needed, which is where Captain Marvel enters… This movie is set in 1995 and  Carol Danvers gets introduced as a U.S. Air Force Officer who becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes. Carol Danvers ends up in space and joins Starforce, an elite military force of the Kree empire (they make their first appearance in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy). While in the process of joining the Starforce, Davers DNA ends up mixing up with Kree DNA, turning her into a hybrid. She ends up losing her memory, so the movie will also be about her rediscovering her human heritage.

    Marvel’s second movie being released this year is Avengers: Endgame. The movie will be released on April 26, 2019. *Spoiler alert!* Since Thanos successfully collected all the infinity stones, he snapped his fingers and made most of the superheroes in Avengers: Infinity War turn into ash and disappear… Now, in this movie, Tony Stark is stranded in space with limited oxygen, food, and water, putting his life in danger. Meanwhile, the remaining Avengers must figure out a way to bring back all of the other superheroes that were “killed” in Avengers: Infinity War.

    Marvel fans have been very lucky this year. Marvel is releasing a third movie, Spider-Man: Far from Home it’s set to hit theatres on July 5, 2019. In this movie, Peter Parker goes to Europe for summer vacation with his friends, where Parker finds himself trying to protect his friends from a new villain, Mysterio, one of Spider-man’s common enemies in the Marvel Comics.

    Another classic Disney movie that will be released as a live action reboot is “Dumbo.” The release date for this movie is on March 29, 2019. In this movie, a flying elephant, Dumbo, helps save a struggling circus, and later on, as the circus takes on a new adventure, Dumbo and his friends discover dark secrets beneath the joyful circus.

    This year on July 19 the classic Disney movie “The Lion King” will hit theatres, but this time as a live action reboot. Taking place in the African savanna, Simba is born, becoming the future king, but not everyone in the kingdom is happy for his arrival. Scar, Mufasa’s brother, was next in line for the throne, but now isn’t. In a later battle, Simba loses and is banished, but with the help of new friends, he will have to figure out a way to take back what belongs to him.

  • Senior Wrestler Andres De Los Santos

    Andres De Los Santos has been a part of Poly’s wrestling team since his freshman year and has devoted his more and more of his time into the sport each year. Now in the middle of his senior year, De Los Santos has accumulated numerous awards and levels and has a 17-2 record. “I don’t have a real reason why I started wrestling, I just started, it was cool, still is.” he said when asked why he chose the sport.

    De Los Santos feels as if the sport has taught him many important life lessons that he could not have learned elsewhere, “I’ve learned a lot in leadership, confidence, trust, being able to do things that  I didn’t think I was able to do.” he explains his battle with low self esteem and his personal growth into a man of confidence.

    The wrestling team prides itself as being a strong family-like bond. De Los Santos agrees, seeing as the sport calls for their closeness, “It’s a bit of a personal sport as well as a team effort. Although you are fighting for your team, at the end of the day, it’s all you. If you do something wrong in a match, it’s on you, not on your team.” he and his team members feed off each other’s mistakes and encouragement.

    When asked about what he will miss most about high school wrestling, he answer was simple, practice. “I like practice because it’s fun. It’s pretty much the only reason I come to school. And the coaches, I like them a lot. “ said De Los Santos.

    Being a part of a sport comes with a lot of stress, “There are times where you wanna give up and want to quit, but if you keep grinding, it gets easier. You get better, stronger, it pays off in the long road. “

    Through all the hardships, De Los Santos is never shy to express his gratitude for his team, “I’m proud of my team, and those who have been with me all 4 years. It’s been very tough, I don’t know how I haven’t quit, but I’m glad I haven’t. I’ve had some pretty memorable years.”

    Although his future isn’t completely set in stone, there may be a place for wrestling in his post high school life, “I’m going to college for sure, but wrestling in college, I’m not sure. I’m a bit hesitant because it’s a whole different ball game.”

    At times, he questions whether or not all the work is worth it,“It’s pretty normal for every sport, there’s time when I wonder why I’m doing this, I’m a senior, I could be home already, I could be doing stuff! My love for the sport keeps increasing, so that’s why I can’t quit.” De Los Santos continues to work hard and enjoy his senior year.

  • ASB Voting

  • 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?