Many news articles have come out recently stating that child prostitution has been legalized in California. This is because Governor Edmund Gerald “Jerry” Brown, Jr. signed into law SB-1322 (Senate Bill No. 1322) on September 26, 2016. This bill changed the way prostitution would be treated for minors. The existing laws were that it was a “crime to solicit or engage in any act of prostitution” or to “loiter in any public place with the intent to commit prostitution.” SB-1322 made the existing laws about prostitution in California inapplicable for those under the age of 18. This bill allows children who are trafficked into prostitution to no longer be tried as criminals, but instead as victims. So instead of having to serve prison time, Child Protective Services will be called.
Many of those against this new legislation claim that it will cause an increase in prostitution because now more children will want to prostitute because there will be almost no consequences. They also claim that more pimps will target children knowing that they don’t have to worry about the prostitutes getting caught and going to prison. This could be true in a minute minority of instances, but in the majority this will make it much easier for those victims of human trafficking to seek help.
Tag: Long Beach Polytechnic High School Newspaper
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Child Prostitution Is Still A No
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Flowers for Nobody
You walk into a store
Red packages in the shape of hearts invade every possible space.
You watch as nervous boyfriends and husbands approach
the flower display.Hoping for a perfect bouquet of roses, their petals velvety- soft, the color of A bleeding heart.
You turn away.But later, as you’re about to leave the store,
You turn back towards the flower display,
You ignore the looks of the boyfriends and husbands.
You feel their pity upon your back as you grab a bouquet of the most Perfect red roses.It’s as if
They know there is nobody to… So
You walk away.
You and your flowers
For nobody. -
Comedy Sports: Teachers vs. Students
Poly Comedy Sportz hosted a teachers versus students event on Friday, February 3, in the Poly Playhouse. Teachers versus students was a great event if you were looking for a good laugh. Admission was three dollars and they had snacks for sale too. It was an overall good audience of students and parents.
In the event, teachers and students that participated were divided into two teams: staff and students, and played games for points.
They had different types of games such as improvisation games, jokes, and even dance battles. At the end of the event, they played slow motion music and announced each of the players off the stage. One of the top players for the staff was journalism teacher Daryl Holmlund, who had some pretty good jokes. “A shoe walks into a bar. The bartender says, ‘We don’t accept your kind.’ The shoe says, ‘well, why not?’ The bartender says, ‘I’m sorry, we’re just giving you the boot,’” told Holmlund. There were many other fun jokes like this. Drama teacher and captain of the staff team Linda Bon said, “The staff came off swinging with all their weapon unleashed and some ended up browned-bagged. The staff triumphed.”
Brown-bagged is when a player said an offensive or just plain bad joke. They would get a brown bag put over their head and had to ask the crowd for an apology. Algebra teacher Steven Perrin, who got browned- bagged twice, said “We all had a great time and I’m sorry if they did not appreciate my jokes.”
The staff dominated most of the games and won the final score. “Although the students are experienced pros, the staff just appeared to want it more,” Bon said. The participating students were Ryan Bacon, Kaelah Franklin, Shank Vamanrav, Gabby Kaiser, Nicolas Garcia- Zacher, Mika Dao, Adrianna Luna, Eliana Valenzuela, and Veggie Bacon.
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Letter to My Ex
Dear Bitter Loser,
You really need to get your life together. You screwed up, deal with it! Stop calling and texting me; I blocked you for a reason. Stop texting my friends; they hate you and so do I. No, we can’t be friends. I tried being your friend after the break up; you screwed that up too. I don’t care that you miss me; the feeling isn’t mutual. I don’t care if your life is falling apart; it’s not my problem anymore. No, we can’t “talk it out,” there is nothing left to say. You f’d up. I hate you. End of story. Have a nice life, or maybe don’t; I couldn’t care less.Yours for-never, Jordyn
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Does Valentine’s = Love?
Love is a very beautiful thing. It can be possible for two soulmates to find each other at such a young age, but all this puppy love makes me roll my eyes so far back in my head, I’m scared they’ll fall out one day. I would love for a guy to offer me his hand, dance with me, and ask me questions other than “Send nudes?” but, sadly those days of young romance are just gone.
For example, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were both already married when they met each other. Yoko had been married twice and was 36 years old. I have yet to meet a couple who genuinely love each other and who have lasted as many years.I don’t believe that romance is dead, I believe love evolves, and relationships change. Since the Victorian era, women’s only goal in life has been to catch a husband and pop out a bunch of babies. The way we date may have changed, but our end goal hasn’t, and why is that? This is a new era and a new generation. Love is so much more than one day of gifts, than a marriage, than planning a future together. Love is now, love is for everyone, and it’s everywhere. Spreading love is everything, but being in love isn’t. Focus on yourself, be the amazing person you deserve, reach your goals, marriage doesn’t equal success.
If real love comes around, don’t celebrate it once a year with expensive gifts and empty promises. Love is everyday, Valentine’s is everyday. Single, taken, interested, irritated, high school is our time to grind, not plan a wedding.
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Perfect Timing: A Love Story
Savanna was shy, but a very sweet girl. There was a huge party coming up and her friends practically begged her to go. After a while she finally gave in. When she got to the party she expected her friends to meet her, but they didn’t. She didn’t recognize a single person there.
Eventually a group of strangers introduced themselves to her; most of them were guys but there was one that caught her attention. His name was Jeremy. When jeremy first met Savanna, he thought she was beyond beautiful , he was almost too shy to say hello. Jeremy and Savanna ended up talking the entire party. They opened up completely in a matter of moments. Nobody thought they were strangers; they felt as if they’ve always been one– they clicked. Time flew by and they found themselves apart going to different homes, without so much as each other’s digits.
Weeks went by and Savanna would find herself wondering where Jeremy went. Was he thinking about her? One day all the girls were talking about some new guy in school and she wanted to see what it was all about. They bumped into each other, it was raining and she felt it. She knew she had finally found her Jeremy. Jeremy couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not. This time he wasn’t going to let Savanna slip away. They hung at school everyday, constantly wondering if they each felt the same.
Months went by and still neither of them would confess until one day Savanna found the courage to finally tell Jeremy her feelings for him. Jeremy was walking on the air, he considered himself lucky to have such an amazing girl. She was his . He was hers. And they would never be alone again.
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No Environmental Justice, No Peace
My fellow People of Color are going through a struggle everyday, either it’s discrimination for the pigment of our skin, our culture, or our simple morals in life. When I think of the definition of environmental injustice, I automatically think of low income, impoverished communities, a variety of ethnicities, toxic dirty air, pollution all around, and nobody enforcing a law, regulations, or policies.
My name is Michelle Casian. I am here coming to you as a Youth Organizer with Communities for a Better Environment. I am here as a Woman of Color and a front line community member saying that I stand against these unjust oil refineries that are a part of the breaking of treaties like No DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline). I am living proof as someone who is fighting for my community against the oppressive powers that threaten to take the rights that everyone should be receiving. At the end
of the day, it shouldn’t matter about the color of your skin, your income, or anything you identify as. You have the human right to clean air, water, and soil.One thing I witness everyday is having to carry a burden that our communities have to deal with. We live next to a very industrial city that is heavily oil influenced. We’re next to one of the largest oil refineries on the West Coast (Tesoro) and the largest oil drilling site west of the Mississippi River. We deal with our air being so polluted that it puts us at a higher risk of getting cancer, asthma, and other diseases. You’ll never see an oil refinery located in the backyard of someone’s home in Beverly Hills, but we have to deal with a whole block of oil refineries in the very backyard of residents in Wilmington, CA, and we have to assume that that’s totally normal? Either way, if these oil companies actually tried to go put a refinery in a community like Malibu, everyone would lose their mind. That community would demand to get that refinery covered up or gone for good, and based off of their income, they’ll get their wishes granted, which has happened in the past. What I’m trying to say is, why is it acceptable that a local community like Wilmington has to deal with this, but other folks don’t?
This is an example of environmental racism. Some people can’t seem to get the hint that the environment is a serious problem, and especially for lower income communities. People have grown so used to getting treated badly that they think these situations are totally normal. We have a requirement to inform those who are not aware of this injustice and to fight for our right to clean air, water, and soil.
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Songs About Loving
1. “Silly Love Songs” by Wings
2. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Haley Reinhart
3. “I Want to Write You a Song” by One
Direction
4. “Friday, I’m In Love” by the Cure5. “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele
6. “Helplessly” by Tatiana Manaois
7. “As Long as You Love Me” by Sleeping at Last
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Kake Hashi Exchange Program at Poly
From February 2 through the 4, some of Poly’s own got a chance to host students from Akita, Japan, and got the opportunity to expose the exchange students to the campus and southern California. During their journey, they got a glimpse into the best, and the worst, of American culture, experiencing everything from Hollywood to Disneyland. A whopping twenty-three Japanese students, along with two chaperones, accompanied a select handful of Poly students around.
During this past summer, Poly students went to Japan, along with Christine Tram and Susan Watson, to visit the same students at their high school, Akita Minami. This unique exchange program is made possible by Kake Hashi (Japanese for building bridges), an organization that is aiming to form a bond between Japan and the United States by allowing youth of both nations to better understand each other’s culture. “Well, taking my students to Japan benefits my class because they get to actually use their Japanese in a real life situation, and they got to see all the stuff they learned in class. I wasn’t making up Japanese, I was teaching them real words,” said Watson with a reminiscent smile.
Can you imagine going to school for six days a week in a suit and tie, or a blazer and pleated skirt? That’s what daily life is like for a high school student in Japan. They uphold a professional appearance to keep up with their world renowned academic reputation. But, can you imagine not being able to show public displays of affection to your significant other? These sort of regulations are commonplace in a Japanese high school, so you can imagine their surprise when they came to Poly with couples snogging at every corner and fashion choices from ponchos and bell bottoms to flip flops and crop tops. Akita is covered in nearly three feet of snow right now, adding to the cultural distinction.
However, there are a few aspects of the culture that American students can relate to. Around this time of year, Japanese students are anxiously going through the process of pursuing a higher education in college. In America, we have numerous chances of getting a good enough SAT score to impress the colleges of our choice. In Japan, however, they have one shot. They go to said institution, take the test, and wait at the edge of their seats for results. Though this may seem inconceivable, Japanese students grew up with this healthy, competitive attitude towards their education, and consider anything else to be foreign. “It inspires me to just work hard and be grateful that I live in America, a country where, just like college, you have multiple opportunities to be successful,” said senior Tatiana Tate, as she recalls the difficulties Japanese students have to face.
Both Japanese and American students alike got an enriching experience from the exchange. Exposing the exchange students to American culture may have been rewarding by way of freedom of expression through clothing and physical contact with other humans, but could also remind them of their academic advantage from being in such a cultivating environment. American students, on the other hand, would jubilantly return to their five-day school weeks and multiple opportunities to achieve success in their scholastic endeavours. However, the slight division between the two is the very foundation of the bridges being built through the Kake Hashi program. The experiences it provide to students from both sides of the world are unforgettable, and emphasize the importance of blending cultures in order to improve global relationships. “No matter where you are from around the word, you typically have similar morals and similar hobbies,” said senior Kayla Sanders.
Future exchange opportunities in the Poly Japanese language department include partnerships with Long Beach’s sister city, Yokkaichi, that extend beyond surface level explorations. On July 20, 2017, two students and one teacher from each city will be sent on a three week trip to Japan to act as goodwill ambassadors. On July 31, four students and one teacher will embark on an eight day environmental summit, learning about innovative ways Yokkaichi is helping the planet become more environmentally friendly. Application deadline for both of these opportunities are on Friday, February 24.
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Holocaust Remembrance Project
January 30 marked the eighty-fourth year since Adolf Hitler was “elected” chancellor of Germany. What followed in the years after his rise to power was destruction on a massive scale, both in the form of a world war and in the slaughter of millions of innocent Jews.
Wars have always been a part of history, but genocide on this scale was unprecedented. Millions were complicit, complacent, or directly involved in the systematic extermination of Jewish, Roma, Slavic, Black, homosexual and disabled people. So many were targeted, and so many were comfortable turning a blind eye like the thousands of Germans who ignored the death camps practically in their own backyards. Chapman University in the City of Orange is one of many modern organizations that seeks to honor those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis and shed light upon how such a tragedy could occur.
Every year, they host a contest in which they challenge American students to watch survivor testimonies and then connect the survivor’s stories to their own lives. The students then create an art piece based on this connection.
Joylyn Souter, the English teacher who hosts this contest at Poly, has seen many terrific and moving projects come out of the contest. One can never really underestimate the connections that can come from watching these testimonials. It is a common mistake to view Holocaust survivors as a type of war hero or valorous figure. They are human beings, just like the rest of us, and that is the most important thing to remember.
There is power in these connections, these stories, such as that of former contest winner Danielle Spriggs. She sat down and opened her backpack to eat her lunch, and discovered that a pear her mother had packed for her was crushed and smeared all over the other food, rendering much of it inedible. She ate what she could and when the bell rang for class she went to class disappointed and still a little hungry.
Soon after, Spriggs would hear the story of Ilse Diament, who was freed from Bergen-Belsen by British Soldiers near the end of the war. After she was released from the camp, a doctor gave her a can of pears. The taste, even after years away from the hell that was Bergen-Belsen, was a sign of freedom to Diament.
Something as ordinary as a pear can connect people in two different situations and backgrounds, almost a hundred years apart. Unfortunately, the contest closed on Monday, February 6. Interested students are encouraged to see Ms. Souter in room 203 to partake in next year’s contest.
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Port of Long Beach Internship
Are you afraid of being pathetically broke this summer? Yes? Well fear no longer because the Port of Long Beach is offering a paid internship to high schoolers like yourself! For eight weeks students interested in international trade and other related fields will experience a real work environment and mentoring from professionals. Interns will be paid $10.50 an hour and work thirty hours a week. The program starts on June 26 and ends on August 17; however, the application period starts on February 6 and ends on March 6. To apply, students must meet certain requirements. You must be a junior or senior in high school in LBUSD; you must have a 2.5 GPA or higher; you need reliable transportation; you must be available for the entire eight weeks; you will have to attend the Port’s World Trade Week, Celebrating Education; and you must submit your application by 6:00 P.M. on March 6. Once the application is completed and signed by both you and your parent/guardian, it will be submitted, in person, to Pacific Gateway. You can download the application by visiting http://academy.polb.com/scholarships-internships/internship-info/high-school-information/ and clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.
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Senior Information Night a Success
This past Tuesday, February 7, Poly hosted Senior Parent Night from 6:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. All 12th grade students were expected to attend, along with a parent; students and parents were provided with the information that as a senior is necessary, like getting a cap and gown, a class ring, graduation DVD’s, graduation photos, graduation announcements, graduation leis/flowers, spirit wear, graduate night at Disneyland, yearbook, and most importantly, the senior packet, which includes the form required for graduating, free graduation tickets, and a senior picnic ticket. Senior packets were distributed until 6:30 P.M. in the Activity Office. The Senior Assembly began right away at the big gym with the head counselor Gayle Mashburn, who talked about the requirements for graduating. Sylvia Womack, a College and Career Center specialist, provided information on scholarships available for seniors. This was the perfect opportunity for seniors and their parents to get well informed about all the upcoming events. Then, from 7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. all the vendors gathered around Hare Square for Poly’s class of 2017 to purchase graduation items. Ngoc Nguyen, the Activities Director, was available that night for any questions parents had.