Oaktown Teen Times

Oakland's Teen Newspaper

December 2011 Volume 5, Issue 1News & Views of Youth in Oakland, California

'Dream Act'puts collegewithin reach for immigrants

Occupy moves into classroomsLessons involve wealth distribution, reporting techniques, fishbowl talks

Undocumented students can apply for 2013 Cal Grants, scholarships;path to citizenship still a concern

Playing sports to fulfill physical education credits is once again an option being exercised at Skyline High School.

This alternative method of getting P.E. credits has not been used in about 10 years, though school officials say it has always been available.

Assistant Principal Jeff Rogers said that the system of giving credit for sports was a “hassle” when it was used previ-ously but that he has been working with the rest of the administration to smooth

out the problems and re-implement it.Assistant Principal Vinnie Blye said

the reason the school is now encouraging athletes to use sports to fulfill P.E. re-quirements is that there were not enough sections of P.E. to handle all the students who needed to take it.

The shift in attitude about credits for sports coincides with severe budget cuts, including a P.E. teacher's position.

Students can play sports instead of tak-ing P.E., dance, JROTC or marching band to fulfill their physical education gradua-tion requirements, but they must adhere to several provisions.

First, students must finish the whole season of the sport they play, logging in at least 90 hours of activity for five credits

See OCCUPY page 3

– page 4

graffitiartists

paint with pride

Many teachers across Oakland have been pre-occupied this semester with creat-ing lessons based on a local story that went worldwide — Occupy Oakland.

Occupy Oakland is part of the Oc-cupy Wall Street movement. Participants argue that too much of the power and wealth in America is held by just 1 percent of the population. The local arm of the movement included an encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza, marches, a general strike and other forms of protest. Occupy Oak-land received worldwide news coverage after police shut down the encampment and an Iraq War veteran reportedly

Skyline athletes can receive credit for sports; some P.E. teachers worriedPolicy revived in budget crisis; students must log 90 hours

LAURA TRANSkyline High

was injured by one of their tear gas canisters.At Oakland Technical High School, teachers incorpo-

rated the Occupy protests into their curriculum in a vari-ety of ways from open-ended class discussions to chang-ing their warm up exercises at the beginning of class.

Oakland Tech English/history teacher Elizabeth Hau-gen had a general class discussion about peoples’ experi-ences in and opinions about the Nov. 2 general strike.

A variety of opinions about the Occupy protests were expressed, from warm support to concern and dislike.

Haugen also incorporated the Occupy protests into her government class by comparing it to the Tea Party move-ment.

Another Oakland Tech teacher, Spanish teacher Deir-dre Snyder, asked her class about the Occupy protests in a set of Spanish language questions at the beginning of

FRONT-LINE REPORTs Media Academy juniors Diego Garcia and Kemish Rosales interview a reluctant source — a teacher from a private school who had called in sick — during Occupy Oakland's general strike on Nov. 2. They were covering the event for the Green & Gold school newspaper and stayed for two hours. Reporters from Skyline's news-paper, the Oracle, spent the school day covering the strike and tweeting about it.

Thanks to Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers, undocumented students now have a better opportunity to take their education to a higher level.

Brown signed AB 131, also known as the California Dream Act, into law on Oct. 8, giving students who are not United States citizens access to public funding from the state, including scholarships and grants for college. The money will be available to eligible students on Jan. 1, 2013.

For Jessica, an undocumented student at Fremont Federation whose name has been changed for this story, the passing of this bill means more than just money.

“The Dream Act to me, means a whole different life,” said Jessica. “I can get money that I would need to get the good quality education that everyone deserves.”

Like other students who lack U.S. citizenship, Jessica has an emotional story as to why her family decided to come to America.

“My father always wanted a better life for his family,” Jessica said. “He would go back and forth to the United States for work. He saw himself strug-gling to maintain three children and a wife.”

Jessica was brought to the United States illegally from Mexico when she was only a few months old. Her family chose to come to the U.S. for a better life, especially to give Jessica and her siblings a bet-ter education.

Jessica is an honor roll student whom teachers praise for her hard work, pleasant attitude and excel-lent writing.

But until the law passed, Jessica thought she would have to take a semester or a year off to save up money to pay for college. She is a junior and now will be able to apply for Cal Grants and other funding when she is a senior. Her hope is to go to University of California, either Berkeley or Davis, and major in child development.

For years, undocumented high school students in California have been unable to receive state scholar-ships or grants because of their citizenship status. Californians passed Prop. 187 in 1994, banning the state from giving undocumented students aid.

Not everyone is happy about the Dream Act’s passage.

A group led by California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, has started collecting signatures to let voters decide if the law should be reversed, according to the Sacramento Bee.

“The so-called ‘Dream Act’ is an economic night-mare,” Donnelly wrote in a press release. “It will cost tens of millions in the first year alone.”

But at Fremont, many adults who work with un-documented students and watch them struggle, are thrilled that the state Dream Act passed.

“Many immigrant families value education, and this act [will be] supportive of what families want for their children,” said Nidya Baez, Fremont's col-lege and career counselor.

ALEANNA sANTOs

Media AcademyKATELYN BAUZON

photo by Lisa Shafer / Media Academy

sHOWING THEIR AGE "Temporary" portables at Fremont's Media Academy are more than 40 years old. Teachers and students complain about rotting wood, termites, rodents, mold and other problems in the structures that were supposed to be replaced with Measure B money, approved by voters in 2006.

CREDIT RUsH Football play-er Kendrick Payne and other Skyline athletes could receive five P.E. credits if they log 90 hours in their sport with a coach who has a teaching credential.

Momentum is growing for a plan to rebuild the whole Fremont High

School campus.It is unclear how much money

the school district will try to raise for the project, but some people say it could be as much as $70 million.

“Rebuilding the facilities would be one of the most critical ways we can improve the image of the

District eyes rebuilding of Fremont High

see FREMONT page 3

see P.E. page 2

Voters would first needto approve bond issue to pay for construction

Media Academy Oakland Technical HighJORRAY HART CALEB sMITH

school,” said Athletic Director Paul Coover, who has watched Fremont teams struggle to field enough athletes to remain com-petitive.

The school board would first have to get voters to approve a bond measure to pay for the Fremont construction and other school projects in Oakland. If vot-ers approve the plan, Fremont has been prioritized to be rebuilt first, according to Fremont Principal Daniel Hurst.

“It hasn’t been a guarantee that the school board will approve the [plan] to rebuild Fremont, but the school board has put it at the top of its list,” said Hurst, who

photo by Ashley Stills / McClymonds High

photo by Juan Aguilar / Media Academy

Media Academy

or 180 hours for 10 credits.“If you're a dedicated athlete, 180

hours a season is no problem,” said senior Shane Sasada, a basketball and tennis player.

To meet California Education Code requirements, students wishing to play sports instead of taking P.E. also have to be physically active for at least 400 minutes over two weeks, averaging out to 40 minutes of activity a day.

Most school sports require at least this amount of time.

“I could practice for 40 minutes a day. That’s nothing,” said senior baseball player Taylor Jones.

Coaches with students earning P.E.

mtvauditions

LoCaL teens– page 4

photo by Araceli Ramos / Media Academy

baCk-to-baCksiLver bowLs

for maCk

see DREAM page 2

– page 8

Last year, a million dollars was slashed from Skyline High School's budget. Through retire-ments, layoffs and transfers, the number of teachers was shrunk as part of the effort to find savings. At the same time, a seventh period was added to the school day, and the student population continued to hover around 2,000.

The result: a massive rise in class sizes, with some so large they are breaking the teachers union contract — and exhausting some students’ patience.

“The oxygen isn’t fresh and delicious,” said senior Chrystal Nguyen, who began the year in overcrowded Advanced Placement Statistics and Honors Physiology classrooms. More seriously, she said, it has been difficult to con-centrate in such packed classes.

In the beginning of the school year, Nguyen’s class had 39 students, according to Patrick Lecourt, her physiology teacher — nine more than what the union contract permits for a lab science class. Her statistics class had 38 students, according to Mohamed Bailey, the statistics teacher.

Laura Kim Yee, a senior in that same AP Stats class, described the number of students as “high enough for students to be sitting on the top of the back counters ... and it’s difficult to receive indi-vidual attention from the teacher.”

Administrators noted that every year has some chaotic first days. “It’s normal for classes to be overcrowded in the beginning of the school year. It’s unavoidable,” said Principal Troy Johnston.

However, this year has been fundamentally different, teachers say, and there may simply not be enough teachers for the school’s current population.

“This problem is not really our administration. The problem is the

state and district budgeting sys-tem,” said Vincent Tolliver, a mu-sic teacher and a teachers union representative. Skyline, he thinks, has reached the limits of what it can do with current resources.

The teacher contract provides both maximum class sizes and deadlines for when that has to happen — the 15th school day. How-ever, by the end of the first marking period — the 30th school day — this “balancing” still had not been com-pleted.

Beth Napier, for example, said one of her chemistry classes still had 43 students after six weeks, even though lab science classes are only supposed to have 31, according to the contract rules.

“Students sit in the back of the classroom [on lab tables], and I’m constantly trying to squeeze through the crowd. Students are packed in like sardines,” she said.

Napier added that the over-crowding has imposed serious limitations on her ability to teach her subject.

“[Students] are horsing around and not listening while I’m teach-

December 2011 Oaktown Teen TimesNews2

Ready or not, OUSD schoolsget timely quake wake-up

ELIZABETH HANSkyline High

Just hours after Oakland High students evacuated to the field as part of a statewide earthquake drill, two earthquakes shook the East Bay.

At 2:41 p.m. on Oct. 20, a 4.0 magnitude quake centered near the University of California, Berke-ley rumbled through the Oakland High campus. A 3.8 quake would follow at 8:16 p.m.

Although the school’s official earthquake policy is to “duck, cover and hold on” inside class-rooms, students cooperated with instructions to leave their class-rooms and assemble on the field.

When the actual earthquake hit, however, many teachers used the more traditional instructions.

“It’s an earthquake! Get down!” yelled math teacher Aaron Low.

Other teachers and students were confused about how to respond to the afternoon earth-quake. One teacher allowed her students to leave early after the quake, citing fear of aftershocks. However, Assistant Principal Ben Schmookler instructed students to remain in class.

“At first, I thought it was some-one shaking my desk,” said junior Michelle Sou. “It was surprising because it happened the same day” as the drill.

Minutes after the quake, school officials announced that there had been no injuries or damage. News

reports indicated neither quake caused serious damage or injuries in the Bay Area.

The annual drill, known as the Great California ShakeOut, began in 2008 and broke the record for the largest drill in the United States that year. According to shakeout.org, 8.6 million people participated in the 2011 drill.

For some students, the drill was a reminder that earthquakes are part of living in California.

“Everybody take care,” said senior Kiichijirou Estrelon during the morning drill. “Watch out for earthquakes. Don’t die. See you guys in school.”

But not every Oakland school participated in the drill.

At Fremont Federation of High Schools, some staff talked about the drill only after they experienced the 4.0 earthquake during the school's third period.

“We did not know about [the drill] beforehand,” said Sarah Mazzotta, vice principal of Media Academy.

Mazzotta, who is also a structural engineer, said that planning for a quake is difficult.

“The challenging thing is that there’s a lot of different opinions on what to do,” she said. “An earth-quake is hard to predict, because there are so many variables, it’s hard to come up with a plan.”

With additional reporting from Diego Garcia of Media Academy.

PLOTTING IDEAs (Left to right) Priscilla Seng of Oakland Tech and Philicia Ragsdale and Amy Wong of Oakland High identify truck routes and sources of pollution in West Oakland.

sHAKING OUTsIDE Students at Oakland High School evacuated to the football field rather than practice the "Duck, Cover and Hold" procedure most participants exercised during the Great California ShakeOut on Oct. 20. Later that day, two real earthquakes rocked Oakland.

photo by Quailyn Scoll / Skyline High

photo by Adonte Matthews / Oakland High

photo by Lea Hamilton / Skyline High

The greening of West Oakland would require less cement, more parks and even ponds stocked with fish. It would need more foot traffic and public transportation. And most of all, it would take more mixed-income housing and retail.

Those ideas were part of a blueprint for West Oakland that 13 Oakland students created during their summer internship at The Rose Foundation, an environmental nonprofit based in Oakland.

“This was the first time students from McClymonds, Mandela, Oakland Tech, Oakland High, Street Academy and Skyline came up with their own vision of a healthy, sustainable community,” said Jill Ratner, president of The Rose Foundation.

“After all their work identifying the sources of pollution in the neighborhood and testimony about diesel fumes, they were able to present a truly beautiful blueprint for what they really want in their community,” Ratner added.

The blueprint was developed in response to the Sustainable Communities Strategy — a strategy to guide land-use planning or design, namely the disposition of land, resources, facilities, ser-vices and public transportation for the next 25 years. It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions per person as required by California’s SB 375, which was signed into law in 2008.

Two local agencies — Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments — are preparing work-shops in January, and will release a scenario for public comment in March or April.

The summer project also coincided with a pilot project by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean lead pollution at several West Oakland locations. For the first time, the EPA used a technology that it says is harmless to people, less in-vasive and less costly. It uses fish bones to chemically bond with lead.

The idea was to go beyond identifying toxic elements, health issues such as asthma, and pollutants, which students in McClymonds’ Law & Government Academy had tackled as part of a focus on environmental justice. McClymonds students, who testified before the EPA and state and local boards, won an award for their com-munity service last year.

“The summer was devoted to making West Oakland sustainable and empowering the voice of the youth,” said Ratner.

One of those voices comes from Taneka O’Guin, a senior at Oakland Technical High School.

“Working on sustainability taught me to rethink urban planning and how that affects the community,” said O’Guin.

In order to create a blueprint, students visited the self-reliant house at Merritt College and heard from experts on sustainability and environmental technology. One speaker, Dr. Paloma Pazel, emphasized the “six wins” necessary to make a sustainable com-munity: better health; end of gentrification and displacement; affordable housing; reliable transportation; economic opportunity and community activism.

students map out strategy for greener West Oakland

sTEPHEN VANCEMcClymonds High

from page 1

from page 1

credit must keep logs of the hours. A student who doesn’t finish a season or doesn’t log the minimum hours needed would have to retake P.E. or complete a season of another sport to earn the credits.

Supporters of this path for P.E. credits see several benefits.

“It would be really nice to have an extra class because I wanted to take a Spanish class right now,” said freshman foot-ball player Nazhee Flowers.

Freshman Fernando Hernan-dez said he believes that playing sports instead of taking a P.E. class is a good way for people to “get more pumped up and stay active.”

Senior basketball player Par-is Davis agrees that this would be a more convenient way to earn credits, especially since it would mean athletes wouldn't have to do “run days” in P.E.

“Running eight laps [around the track] on game days really messed up my basketball play,”

P.E.: Critics voice concernsDavis said.

James Salazar, a physical education teacher and baseball coach, said he believes the alternative path to P.E. credits could be beneficial as long as the program is “run correctly and appropriately according to the state Education Code frame-work and standards.”

Others worry that the system could hurt physical education.

“Money, no money, law, no law — any way you look at it, the erosion of P.E. programs is helping fuel the declining health of the youth of America,” said Dennis Fink, chairman of the P.E. department.

However, a district policy states that only a credentialed physical education teacher can give grades and credit.

Senior golfer Temmara Saephan has another concern.

“It’s unfair that some people who won’t put in a lot of effort should get the same amount of credits as another student who constantly strains themselves at practice,” she said.

"Working on sustainability taught me to rethink urban planning and how it affects the community."

—Taneka O'GuinOakland Tech senior

Skyline class sizes swell after cuts

ing,” she said. “I’ve been afraid to do labs because the lab safety rules are ignored.”

As of Oct. 14, Napier said she had 189 students in total, even though the union contract limits a lab science teacher to having just 155.

Tolliver said he and the union filed a formal grievance with the district over the issue in early October. The grievance also included similar issues at the district’s other two large comprehensive high schools, Oakland Tech and Oakland High.

Since then, money was found to hire two more math teachers and pay some science teachers to teach a sixth section. However, even as late as early December, some classes at the school were still overenrolled.

While the administration continues to tinker with schedules and the union grievance gets filed, some see the problems as linked to the larger economic and politi-cal picture. Napier urges students and parents to demand the school district address the issue.

“It’s really them who can make a difference,” she said.

Hours after state drill,Oakland experiences4.0 and 3.5 temblors

AEGIs sTAFFOakland High

DREAM: Some say law will help motivate students

Barbie Penn, a program assis-tant with Mills Educational Talent Search, said the law should help many high school students.

“If undocumented students are

given access to financial aid, then I believe the students will be more motivated” in high school, said Penn.

Although students such as Jes-sica may be closer to reaching their dreams for college, one huge hur-

dle still exists — unless the federal government passes a similar law for undocumented students that includes a path to citizenship, they will finish their college degrees and still be unable to work legally in America.

FILLED UPStudents in some Sky-line High classes sit on counters in the back because of overcrowd-ing.

Class sizes are "high enough for students to be sitting on the top of back counters."

—Laura Kim Yeesenior in AP Stats

December 2011Oaktown Teen Times News3

McClymonds High ERIC GANT

Mack, Techjoin forces to help lowerdropout rate

FREMONT:Plan would replace field

They took a survey on how fights and bullying affect learning. They wore stickers that read “Watch my back.” And they painted “48%” on

their faces to remind themselves that only 48 percent of African Americans and Lati-nos graduate high school in Oakland.

These were some of the “actions” that 14 students took after a two-day Real Hard retreat sponsored by Oakland Kids First on Nov. 12 and 13.

“Students recognize that their commu-nity is going downhill and want immediate change and improvement, “ said Angelique Villasana, a junior at McClymonds High School. “They’re willing to take action.”

The activities grew out of the retreat for students from rival high schools, Oakland Technical and McClymonds. Participants focused on the question: What stops a high school student from learning in Oakland? Peers, teachers or the environment?

Through classroom exercises, the goal was to write and enforce a code of conduct that would improve interaction between students and teachers and stop students from dropping out. Five students from McClymonds and nine from rival Oakland Technical High School attended the retreat.

Real Hard is an after-school leadership training program that meets twice a week for two hours each session. Participating students from McClymonds and Oakland Tech receive a stipend of $350 a semester.

It was not the first time that the stu-

dents tackled issues like bullying, teachers' indifference and violence. However, this time students concentrated on relationships between teacher and student as well as among students.

Students also gathered more informa-tion than before. The survey at Oakland Tech, for instance, revealed that 54 percent of students feel that fights and bullying in school — whether they are personally involved in them or not — affect their learning and academic success.

“The students really enjoyed our week of action,” said Doris Edwards, a senior at Oakland Tech and Real Hard participant.

Edwards said the face painting action brought awareness to the low graduation rate in Oakland public high schools and the need for change.

“We were asking students to join those of us who plan to graduate on time,” she said.

At McClymonds, students proudly pa-raded their “We Got Your Back” stickers in psychedelic green, yellow and orange.

“It was a day of creating a culture of community,” said Stephen Vance, a senior at Mack and president of All City Council, Oakland citywide high schools' student government.

estimated the cost would be $50 million to $70 million.

Indeed, district facilities officials are already working on finding professional architects to come up with a master plan for the project.

“The master plan focus will be on rede-veloping the site for sustainability, reduc-ing energy required ... possibly including solar panels,” wrote Tadashi Nakadegawa, Oakland Unified School District facilities planning and management director, in an e-mail to the Green & Gold newspaper.

Construction would start no sooner than summer of 2013, according to Nakade-gawa.

Many people feel Fremont desperately needs the modernization. For example, they note that the football field is only 90 yards. Athletes who use it complain the artificial turf is too firm and burns their skin. The field also has a set of lopsided goal posts. While the soccer team can use the field for games, the football team must travel by bus to play home games at Curt Flood Field off Coolidge Avenue.

Some of Fremont’s portables are also in disrepair. The red portables, which house many Media Academy classes, were sup-posed to be a temporary fix and replaced decades ago.

Teachers complain that the tile floors are falling apart, the walls need fresh paint, and some walls have holes. Mice, termites and mold are also a problem, they say.

“They should tear all the portables and replace them with brand new ones,” said Media Academy senior Diana Le while taking a class in one of the red portables.

In 2006, Oakland voters approved Measure B, which included a $10 million plan to modernize Fremont Federation and

replace many of the portables as well as the gym.

According to a March 2010 report, how-ever, the district has only spent $545,932 of that money at Fremont, fixing portable classrooms at College Preparatory & Ar-chitecture Academy and a few science labs.

While the rest of Fremont’s moderniza-tion has been put on hold, the district has used more than $21 million of Measure B to rebuild parts of Oakland High.

Nakadegawa said that while “Oakland High had some specific conditions that were deficient … It is clear that Fremont is due for some significant improvements.”

Reaction to the plan is not all positive.Many students are excited, but some are

upset the project has been delayed for so long or are skeptical that it will ever actu-ally happen.

“It’s great that they’re rebuilding the school, but I also don’t like that it’s not go-ing to be built by the time I’m gone,” said Siliveinusi Tomasi, a Mandela senior who has had to play all his home games more than 2 miles away from Fremont.

The Fremont athletic director is not holding his breath.

“I won’t believe that they’re rebuilding the school until I see it,” Coover said.

from page 1Putting school rivalry aside, students from Mack, Techget to work at two-day retreat

GOT YOUR BACK McClymonds student Quinny Hill (left) and Spanish teacher Rachael Hereford wear stickers with positive messages as part of a two-day retreat aimed to reduce dropouts in Oakland.

UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD? Both goalposts on the football field at Fremont Federation of High Schools are lopsided. The field is only 90 yards long, making it unacceptable for the school to host football games on campus.

photo by Stephen Vance / McClymonds Highphoto by Juan Aguilar / Media Academy

Vaniece RutherfordOakland High

OCCUPY: Lessons include first-hand reportingfrom page 1

class. This helped the class practice

the subjunctive verb forms in Spanish. The Spanish language questions also helped link the cur-riculum to current events.

“Just because we’re speaking Spanish doesn’t mean not talking about real life,” said Snyder.

Many teachers at Fremont Federation of High Schools also used the movement as a basis for lessons.

During the first week of Oc-cupy Wall Street, social studies teacher Elizabeth Siarny began teaching her Media Academy students about the movement. She gave them news articles on the movement and led fishbowl discussions about what they read.

“I wanted students to have more information, instead of [just] going by what they hear, in order for them to be able to make their own critical decision about if they support the movement or not,” Siarny said.

Joanna Brownson, an alge-bra teacher at Media Academy,

wanted her class to have a bet-ter understanding of what the movement's “99 percent” and “1 percent” represent.

Brownson’s class created a vi-sual representation of what wealth the 1 percent of population shares (40 percent) versus the amount of the wealth that the other 99 percent of population shares (60 percent) in America. Students also calculated the average hourly wage of the people in both the 99 percent and the 1 percent.

“Math is used to create policies or defend injustice,” said Brown-son. “If you don’t understand it, you are more likely to be a victim of that injustice.”

At Fremont's College Prepara-tory & Architecture Academy, social studies teacher Elizabeth Schuster informed her classes about the Occupy Wall Street by having them look at New York Times slideshows of the protests for their morning warmups.

After the slideshows, Shuster’s students broke into discussion groups to explain if they agreed with the protests or not.

Schuster's colleague, Ad-

vanced Placement U.S. Govern-ment teacher Ji Suk Lee, had her students read articles and then answered their questions.

“I learned that the 99 percent going against the 1 percent wants better resources and for the money to be split equally,” said Lee's student Unique James.

The Oakland Education As-sociation originally proposed to strike on Nov. 2, but later decided to encourage teachers to take a personal day to strike instead. About 300 Oakland district teach-ers requested a substitute that day.

Oakland High senior Lei Fisiiahi said that even substitute teachers turned to Occupy for les-sons on the general strike day.

“One of our subs talked to us about propaganda,” she said. “But then he was telling us our govern-ment was corrupt. I said to him, 'Wait, are you supposed to be tell-ing us that?' He was just telling us his side of the story.”

Not all classes on Occupy took place on school grounds.

Journalism teachers from Skyline and Media Academy took students to the general strike to

do interviews, take photographs, send updates on Twitter, all part of reporting on a national story.

“Honestly, experiencing Oc-cupy Oakland first hand was beautiful,” wrote Skyline student Stephanie Yu about her reporting experience for the Oracle. “For me, it had been my first protest of any sort, and although I know the city’s reputation doesn’t reflect

GETTING THE SCOOP Skyline Oracle reporter Hannah Ayasse (left) interviews Betty Olsen-Jones, Oakland Education Association president, during the general strike on Nov. 2. Many members of the teachers union took a personal day on Nov. 2 to attend Occupy Oakland rallies and demand more money for education.

substitute tellsstudents about Occupy arrest

the city itself, I was still wary, due to the susceptibility of demonstra-tions becoming violent.”

Yu's newspaper colleague, Hannah Ayasse, said that she had been to protests before but that Occupy Oakland was different.

“Perhaps this new-found impression was due to the nature of my purpose there. I was interviewing as many people as I could, and most seemed passion-ate about their cause,” she wrote.

While the causes the people represented varied, Ayasse found that the people she interviewed who were over 30 shared one sentiment — “They were happy to see a high school student at the protest.”

Media Academy journalists also discovered new perspectives at the strike.

“Being at the strike first hand was more exciting than learn-ing about it in class,” said Diego Garcia, a junior and news editor of the Green & Gold newspaper “It showed how communities are able to come together to protest the government for something they believe in.”

A woman who substitutes fre-quently for Oakland High School told students she went to Occupy Oakland to “protect our rights,” not knowing how high the price would be for her.

Mara Randle says she was beaten and arrested by the Oakland Police Department during a protest in downtown Oakland on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

That was the first of two days police evicted protesters who had set up camp in Frank Ogawa Plaza as part of the Occupy Oakland and Occupy Wall Street movements.

Police did not return calls or e-mails for comment on the case.

“I went to the protest because of the economic inequality,” said Randle, adding that she wanted “to protect our rights of the First

Amendment.”In carrying out the first of two

evacuations, police arrested more than 100 people. They fired tear gas and bean bags into the crowd, and allegedly injured Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen.

Randle said she did not want to discuss the specifics of her arrest.

However, she did say, “I pled not guilty, and I’m sticking to it. I will return to court and fight until the charges are dropped because some things are worth fighting for.”

Randle is due to return to court at the end of January.

“I was scared; I felt violated,” said Randle. “I had never been to jail nor arrested before.”

Ayasse found the people she interviewed who were over 30 shared one sentiment — "They were happy to see a high school student at the protest."

MARA RANDLE

photo by Yelena Keller / Skyline High

photo by Thanh Nguyen / Oakland High

December 2011 www.oaktownteentimes.orgOaktown Teen Times

thePulse4

vandalizing public property is what gives graffiti a bad reputation, he said.

A competitor who goes by the name “Amend” also is concerned about what taggers do to the art.

“Cats nowadays have no respect,” Amend said. “All they do is tag everywhere regardless of what it is. Back in the day, there were people like that, but they died out because all they did was simple tags on the walls. They never did any big pieces or murals. They need to show they have dif-ferent styles and something to contribute to the world."

Proponents say that graffiti is an art when done in the right place and that those who tag on public property and have “bomb wars” affect the reputation of graffiti artists who actually put a lot of work and dedica-

The annual Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle is meant to bring graffiti artists together from all over the world to showcase their skills.

This year, there were about 25 partici-pating artists at the event, which took place Oct. 8 in West Oakland.

Every year, each artist is provided with spray cans and an 8-foot-by-10-foot can-vas. The competition begins after competi-tors are assigned a four- to five-letter word to represent.

This year, the word was “proud.” Art-ists were then expected to develop a piece about being proud or what the word proud meant to them. They were given five hours. Then, the graffiti pieces were judged by legendary graffiti artists, who announced the winner at the end of the show.

“This year’s competitors were cool,” said Eric Montes, a student from Envision High School. “They all had their own style and flow to their art; each one was unique.”

One of the judges explained that youth today need to learn how to respect the art culture and not go up and down tagging wherever they desire. Destroying and

PRIDE in graffiti artJEsUs MEDINA

& GUADALUPE HERNANDEZ

tion to their creations. Supporters also say that, just like any

other form of art, graffiti is a form of expression. When done right, it can be a beautiful thing. Although you most likely can find it anywhere, it is a practice that takes a lot of effort, technique and skill to master.

“The battle this year is pretty cool,” said Oakland High junior Omar Valdovinos. “There’s a lot of different styles.”

Some said the atmosphere of this year’s competition was really chill.

While artists were creating their pieces, other attendees could participate in a T-shirt stencil workshop, enter another battle designed for teens to show off their skills in a book with pens, markers and pencils, or skate at the local skating park.

Los Rakas, a rap group made up of for-mer Oakland High students, also performed at the event.

“It was a good turnout,” said Montes. “I saw a lot of different styles that show Oakland Pride. They did the word ‘proud’ good."

Deadmau5 gives astonishing performance at Bill Graham

It is an MTV reality show that aims to help young people real-ize their aspirations. “Made” has helped teens become models, class presidents and hip hop

dancers. And on Nov. 8, a producer from

“Made” came to Fremont Federation of High Schools to interview 19 students who want to be featured as they are made into someone else.

The auditions were open to all Fre-mont schools, but all the students who auditioned were from Media Academy.

“They are looking for someone fresh, unique and different with an uncommon dream that will look good on television,” said Media Academy director Michael Jackson, who contacted MTV to set up the interviews.

This is not the first time famous people have come to Fremont. In the past, Fremont has hosted music stars Rihanna and Dr. Dre, activist Dolores Huerta, astronaut Alan Shepard and former CBS news anchor Dan Rather.

But MTV had never been to Fremont.“It was not a public interview like

‘American Idol’ where you make a fool of yourself in front of everyone,” Jackson said. “They were five-minute interviews with one guy [from MTV].”

Junior Katelyn Bauzon auditioned.

“I want to be made into a skateboard-er,” said Bauzon. “It’s different and out of my element.”

Junior Juan Aguilar told MTV he wants to be made into a soccer coach.

“I look at myself as being a soccer coach in the future,” said Aguilar, who asked to be taken to a professional soccer practice.

A Fremont student on “Made” could have wider positive effects, some say.

“It would give Fremont a good im-age,” said Aguilar.

Bauzon agrees. “Hopefully, it will get this school heard.”

Will Fremont be heard? Stay tuned.

GLORIA 'JACK' MEJIA-CUELLARMedia Academy

Teens want reality show to help them skate, coach

sAY 'GLEEs' Oakland High School students have created a new glee club, fashioned after the popular television show "Glee" on FOX Television. The club's first showcase was held at the school on Dec. 9.

PAINTING PRIDE A graffiti artist paints an 8-foot-by-10-foot canvas with the word "proud" as part of the 2011 Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle on Oct. 8.

photo by Oakland High Aegis

Based on audience ap-plause, laughter and whistles — and a packed front section of the the-ater — the first showcase

for Oakland High's new Glee Club was nothing short of “B-U-TIFUL.”

And that was fitting for a showcase with the same theme.

Hundreds of students attended the three-hour event held Dec. 9 in the school theater.

Despite some technical problems, such as screeching microphones and music that occasionally stopped, the audience and performers remained enthusiastic.

According to Peter Ye, the emcee of the showcase and founder of the 50-member club, the theme of “B-U-TIFUL” was picked strategically. In fact, he explained the choice to mem-bers selected for the club at their first meeting.

“That’s our theme because we know that there are plenty of people in the world struggling to accept themselves,” Le said. “The Glee Club wants every-one to know that who you are is beauti-ful, no matter what.”

Performances included an a capella rendition of “True Colors” and skits about students standing up against pres-sure to look a certain way.

To earn a spot in the showcase, students had to audition on Oct. 4 and 5

in front of judges: Glee Club President Le, Vice President Kerri Chao, Trea-surer Rita Krouch, Secretary Xiaodi Li, Historian Limheng Sung and faculty sponsor Malia Lehman.

“It was nerve-wracking to audition in front of the judges and other appli-cants,” said junior Esther Ngo.

Le, also the club president, said he was inspired to start the club by the popular FOX Television show "Glee."

Despite the enthusiasm for the club by members and fans, some Oakland High students, including junior Kevin Mai, look down on Glee Club and even predict that it will fail.

“Glee Club sucks,” said Mai.However, most club members put

that sort of criticism aside.“I know Glee Club will make it,”

Ngo said. “Watch and see.” In an effort to raise funds, the club

entered “Glee Give a Note,” a contest sponsored by FOX that will award $50,000 to schools with the most online votes. As part of the contest, the Glee Club posted a video online in which members spoke about the lack of music classes at Oakland High.

According to the contest website, the school received 2,395 votes before the contest closed Nov. 7. Winners were scheduled to be named Dec. 15.

Meanwhile, the club has already won the admiration of Principal Alicia Romero — she recently hired a music teacher, Jonathan Ulrich, and is re-arranging schedules for students who want to take music.

RITA KROUCH & LEI FIsIIAHI

Oakland High

OHigh gleeful with club

The night of Oct. 29 was a night to remember for electronic music fans, new and old. The night consisted of a great DJ line-up, including former rock

star Tommy Lee and his partner Aero, Feed, A-TRACK, Fatboy Slim and the main headliner, deadmau5, himself.

Fans in deadmau5 costumes and others waited patiently, filling the sidewalk leading up to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. The auditorium quickly filled up from the bottom floor to the second floor. The mood of the crowd was welcoming and full of the

typical love, peace and respect of a regular rave.

The show itself was spectacular, with each DJ stirring up the crowd more and more with familiar tracks. A-Track showed that he is still the record-scratch king, while Fatboy Slim proved that he may be old, but he still has the energy and music to move the crowd.

All of this led up to deadmau5, who gave an astonishing performance with a wonder-ful light show that corresponded with his music. More than a DJ, deadmau5 uses an array of electronic instruments to craft his music live.

If you weren’t distracted by the music or light shows, you’d surely be staring at

his giant mouse head bobbing up and down to the music as he prepared the next song to play. Deadmau5 is known for playing around and having fun with his fans. Unlike many DJs, he is known for stepping off the stage to dance to his own music, as he did when special guest Sofi sang “Sofi Needs a Leader.”

Many say that the electronic rave scene seemed almost dead underground, but DJs and producers such a deadmau5 have helped revive it, even finding commercial success with numerous awards, including a Grammy nomination, sell-out tours around the globe, and even a performance at the 2010 Winter Olympics.Visit www.deadmau5.com for more information.

DEADMAU5 keeps the electronic

rave scene alive

and fans astonished,

especially when he bobs his

giant mouse head to

his music, or dances off stage.

CHRIsTIAN HERNANDEZOakland Unity High

Oakland High

FREMONT TEENSAUDITION TO BE

"I want to be made into a skateboarder. It's different and out of my element."

—Katelyn Bauzon,Media Academy junior

"Cats nowadays have no respect ... all they do is tag everywhere, regardless of what it is."

—Amendgraffiti artist

photo by Jesus Medina / Oakland High

www.deadmau5.com

fill out a questionnaire and a psycho-logical profile. Yacco, now a broadcast journalism teacher, was one of the 24 students selected for the experiment.

Zimbardo randomly assigned the prisoner and guard roles to the students, who did not know they had been chosen due to similar psychological profiles.

For the first day of the experiment, Yacco drove to a Palo Alto home, where he was ar-rested by a police-man, taken to the Palo Alto police station, then taken to the makeshift prison.

“They blindfold-ed me and drove me off,” said Yacco. “I didn’t know where I was going.”

It was part of the experiment that made the experience more realistic, Yacco explained.

Later, Yacco learned the experi-

ment was held in a Stan-ford basement. He said it

did not look like a real prison.“On the first day, they took all of our

clothes from us,” said Yacco.Yacco and the other 24 prisoners were

then given smocks to wear and caps to cover their hair. They were sprayed to get rid of potential lice and germs. Each pris-

Media Academy teacher Richard Yacco is celebrat-ing 40 years of freedom from prison.

He was not incarcer-ated in a real prison in 1971, but one set up by researchers at Stanford University.

Led by psycholo-gist Philip G. Zim-bardo, the study was designed to explore the way people react when given power or when deprived of power by society.

The experiment is now world fa-mous and is often mentioned in sociol-ogy and psychology textbooks.

Joanna Acentares, a psychologist at Fre-mont's Tiger Clinic, was in college when she first heard about the Stanford prison experiment.

“At first I was blown away,” said Acentares. “I was shocked but interested to see how people reacted under different conditions given to you by society.”

At the time of the experiment, Yacco was a community college student.

To qualify, interested participants had to

GLORIA 'JACK' MEJIA-CUELLARMedia Academy

oaktownteentimes.org

5December 2011

Many people begin high school feeling like there’s all the time in the world, when the reality is that your time here goes by extremely fast. I can under-stand that for most of us, the idea of

reading seems crazy with our already-packed sched-ules. However, I truly believe that reading helps you connect with ideas in a different way, allows you to have a hobby, and gives you something to look for-ward to. So I made a list of five novels that everyone should read before they graduate high school.

1. "Sold" by Patricia McCormickThis is a novel about a 13-year-old girl from Nepal

who thinks that she has gotten a job working as a maid to pay off her family’s debt, but ends up being sold into prostitution across the Indian border. The novel is a short and easy-to-read free verse narrated from the first person point of view. Not only will this book move you, it will inform you about the problem of sex traffick-ing in today’s world. Follow Lakshmi and her struggle through a life that seems horribly unchangeable.

Oaktown Teen Times

Soon the guards started punishing the prisoners who rebelled, taking away their cots and waking them in the middle of the night to exercise ... Yacco was placed in solitary confinement for rebelling.

'Free' for 40 years, teacher recalls prison experiment

EOSA critics issue report card on four autumn movies

2. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper LeeFor those of you who haven’t read this book on

your own or for class yet, read it. This award-winning book follows the lives of Scout Fitch and her brother Jem during the most serious years of the Great De-pression. When their father, Atticus, defends a black man accused of raping a white woman, the entire Alabama town is shaken. This book will show you the prejudice in American history, and how you can always do what’s right, no matter what the situation.

3. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" by John BoyneBruno, a 9-year-old boy in Nazi Germany, moves

because of his father’s promotion to commander of the Auschwitz death camp. Uprooted from his home and friends, Bruno now lives in an isolated house in Germany’s wilderness. At his new home, Bruno experiences unbearable boredom and decides to explore his new surroundings. He quickly finds an odd fence with strange people kept behind it. There he meets another young boy and their friendship grows, despite the lonely separation that the fence brings.

In this book, you will see just how bru-tal the concentration camps were as you read from the perspective of an innocent child.

books to check out (and read!)

before you graduate . . .

4. "Beauty Queens" by Libba BrayFor the 50 girls in the Miss Teen Dream pag-

eant, things are going anything but smoothly. When their plane crashes on an unknown island, they have to try to survive on their own in the wild. But it appears that there are more secrets hid-den within the jungle than they realize and worst of all, they’ve run out of mascara. This laugh-out-loud funny story will open your eyes to friendship, teenage struggles and how sometimes show-ing your ninja skills is what makes you a lady.

5. "Divergent" by Veronica RothWhat if you could choose who you would be for

the rest of your life? What if this choice decided who your new family would be, and whether or not you’d leave the old one behind? What if you had to do all this at 16 years old? For Beatrice and her fellow classmates, choosing is their fate. She has to decide what section of society she will enter: the honest, the brave, the selfless, the smart, or the truthful. But how can you make such a huge decision when so much is on the line? And what do you do if you’re different from all the others? This thrilling story will have you rooting for Beatrice through her journey in society.

oner had a chain and a lock attached to each of his legs and was given a number. Yacco was prisoner 1037.

“There were three people in each cell, which was really a small room,” Yacco said. “We had cots but no toilet.”

Soon after the experiment began, one prisoner began to disobey orders.

“He said ‘This is an experiment,’ which was against the rules,” said Yacco. “He started a rebellion against the guards.”

Things escalated from there, Yacco said. Soon the guards started punishing the pris-oners who rebelled, taking away their cots and waking them in the middle of the night to exercise.

Though Yacco was placed in solitary confinement for rebelling, some prison-ers refused to rebel. “I was in protests and marches [at the time] and I thought our generation was more liberal and open to challenging authority,” said Yacco.

After three days, the prisoner who had started the rebellion was released. He

promised to return and break everyone out of prison. As the experiment progressed, the guards became more hostile.

“One of the guards was sadistic,” said Yacco. “The rest went along with it but didn’t generate what he did.”

When another prisoner was released, the guards had the rest of the prisoners chant, “Prisoner 819 is a bad prisoner.”

The prisoners didn’t know it at the time, but 819 was in another room where he could hear their chant and began to cry.

“He really thought we thought he was a bad prisoner,” said Yacco. “I was say-ing something I didn’t believe in and I hurt another person.”

Yacco decided to leave the study early.“I was turning 20 the next week and I

realized I didn’t want to spend my birthday in the experiment,” said Yacco.

Yacco went to a simulated parole hearing, where he presented his case. The next day, one day before the experiment officially ended, the parole board released him.

Some of the prisoners who had been let go had had mental breakdowns during the experiment, Yacco said.

“The parole board felt I was going to be the next one, but I disagree,” said Yacco.

In the end, Yacco said he thinks the ex-periment proved people act the way society expects them to act. “I even see that with students here,” said Yacco. “They have a lot of potential but do tend to fall into the role society assigns them.”

Acentares sees the experiment as a cau-tionary tale. “If we don't pay attention [to the roles society gives us], we fall into a trap where we do what society tells us to do.”

Students at Castlemont's East Oakland School of the Arts have been busy watching movies and critiquing them so you can make a better decision of where to spend your money and

time if you want to catch up on some of this fall's flicks. Here are four of their picks and pans.

Captain america Steve Rogers is an unusually tiny man who

wants to be a soldier in World War II. When he finally gets his wish, he is chosen for an experi-ment that will turn him into a super hero: Captain America! Now he has to stop the villainous Red Skull from taking over the world, as part of some unclear plot. “Captain America” has a lot of ac-tion and fight scenes and some good visuals. Al-though Hayley Atwell is not a very good actress (I wanted to punch her in her emotionless face), I recommend “Captain America” for those who enjoy action and super heroes. Even though Cap-tain America's “super powers” could be better, this movie is worth watching if you have nothing else to do, I give “Captain America” a B-.

Guadalupe Bueonostro / EOSA

dream house Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) has just quit his

job to spend more time with his wife and two daughters. He has a perfect life until he discov-ers the home he and his family recently moved into was the site of three tragic murders. Even worse, Peter Ward, the man who committed the murders, has been released from prison and is stalking the Atentons. The mystery begins as Will has to find out why his neighbors kept this hidden from him and why Peter Ward is after his family. If you like movies with suspense and mystery then you will enjoy “Dream House,” although a major plot twist is given away in the trailer and the ending is a bit predictable. I give “Dream House” a C+.

Guadalupe Bueonostro / EOSA

hanna Hanna is not the typical teenage girl, given

that she spends all her days training to become a professional assassin. Her dad, an ex-CIA agent, has isolated her from the real world and sent her to live in Finland. Curiosity draws her to go to the United States on a mission. Going through obstacles and secret agents, Hanna uncovers who

she really is, and what her true purpose is. Be-cause of its thrilling plot twists, wonderful acting and intriguing story line, I highly recommend this movie. I give “Hanna” an A-.

Esmeralda Argueta / EOSA

bad teacher Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) has re-

signed her job as a middle school teacher to go off and marry her wealthy fiancee. Little does she know that her husband-to-be will break off their engagement. She is now forced to return to the middle school she resigned from, but she hates her job and is awful at it. She is now obsessed with finding a rich new man. Elizabeth lies and steals in order to get the money for her boob job.

“Bad Teacher” has a very entertaining plot. The ending is ironic and perfectly written. I recommend this movie for the people who like to laugh at small jokes and enjoy a semi-cheesy flick here and there. I give “Bad Teacher” a B-.

Esmeralda Argueta / EOSAFor other more film reviews by these writers,

visit www.oaktownteentimes.org.

RICHARD YACCO

REYNA COLT-LACAYO Skyline High

'Captain America' = B+

'Bad Teacher' = B-

Sony P

icturesP

aramount P

ictures / Marvel E

ntertainment

The school district has plans to rebuild Fremont’s cam-pus, but it’s not a guarantee, Principal Daniel Hurst told the Green & Gold recently.

We believe that Fremont is in dire need of being rebuilt. It is unfair that schools that did not need the renovations as badly have already been rebuilt.

Schools like Oakland High have been given tens of millions of dol-lars. Meanwhile, Fre-mont was only given $545,932, less than six percent of the $10 million from Measure B that was promised. The district complains that enrollment is dropping at Fremont, but they are not giving us the money to rebuild and modernize our build-ings.

Oakland High was already in relatively good condition and has had high enrollment rates. Fremont’s portables, in turn, are unsanitary and hazardous to students’ health. Most of the portables have been infested with rodents and have severe termite damage.

The wood on the Media Academy portables is so rot-ten that during the summer, thieves were able to take the doors off their hinges, break into the portables and steal valuable equipment. The portables are so old and unsafe that many students feared the portables would collapse during the magnitude 4.0 earthquake on Oct. 20.

If the district gave us the funding that we needed, then we would be able to get rid of the unsafe portables and get stable buildings. Students should feel safe being on their high school campus.

The Fremont football field is not the right size, so our football players cannot use it for home games. Instead, they have to travel to Curt Flood field. Many students don’t go to games because they are too far away. If our field was rebuilt, more students would attend the games and build school spirit.

Despite not having enough resources and new equip-ment, students at Fremont have worked hard and im-proved test scores on standardized tests. We believe they deserve to have a better, modernized campus with more resources to help them succeed.

This editorial represents the consensus view of Media Academy's Green & Gold newspaper staff and not necessarily that of the Oaktown Teen Times.

Attitude, attitude, attitude. Just take me. I’m being forced into a class that I don’t like. And it’s not even math or physics. It’s dance, and I’m

no dancer. In truth, I’d rather spike a vol-leyball.

This fall, McClymonds High School created a new policy to place the major-ity of the girls in a dance class instead of physical education. A class filled with 15 girls—some of whom don’t want to dance—can be suffocating.

“The deal was trying to build unity, sisterhood and telling a young lady what they need to know,” said Lakeisha Golden, math and dance instructor.

The adminis-tration may have made a big mistake. Indeed, corralling “drama girls” into a small class might not have been the smartest decision.

“They are lucky to be in a class with 15 people instead in a class of 35-40 with me yelling at them,” said Jeremy Namkung, physical education instructor and vice

principal.But then, who really had a choice? Cer-

tainly not I.The tensions inside the dance class

run higher than they would in normal P.E. Drama is in the air. Past rivals in the same room create a hostile environment. No guys to insert humor in the situation—it’s down-right catty.

“We wanted to make it an all-girl class so they would feel more comfortable,” said Namkung.

But instead students call each other “b” word and the “h” word. In fact, every curse word in the book flies across the room, faster than a pirouette. And more lethal.

“It’s on them being on the dance class. Those are the same girls that complained and even failed my class,” said Namkung.

For those of us who didn’t complain or fail traditional physical education, this seems to be a harsh punishment. Dealing with endless backtalk, shouting matches and disrespectful comments in the room discour-

ages girls to remain in the class.

However, girls who enjoy dancing just ignore the drama.

“I just like danc-ing,” said Nia Bell, a junior.

Students face the problem of an indif-ferent administration who discourages the idea of transferring out of dance (espe-cially since the vice principal teaches P.E.). It becomes extremely difficult and time consuming for a girl to

attempt to switch dance class to P.E.

“It depends on the time of the year. But some manage to switch. It’s really based on time,” said Golden.

Until I can switch back to P.E., I’ll feel like I’m in a telenovela.

Forcing girls into dance classcreates hostile environment

Speak Out!Oaktown Teen Times

It's time for a new FremontEditorial

the portables are so old and unsafe that many students feared they would collapse during the magnitude 4.0 earthquake on oct. 20.

Oaktown Teen Times is a fiscally spon-sored project of Media Alliance, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization. It is printed free-of-charge by the Bay Area News Group and the Oakland Tribune, but all content is produced by students in Oakland high schools. Stu-dents exercise their freedom of expression granted under the First Amendment and the California Education Code, Section 48907. Teachers or students who would like to participate in the Oaktown Teen Times are invited to contact us at oaktownteen@gmail.com. A student does not need to be enrolled in a journalism class to contribute material. We welcome financial support, letters to the editor, story tips and advertising. Please contact us at oaktownteen@gmail.com or call 510-759-7185.

MANAGING EDITORLisa Shafer

OTT JOURNALISM ADVISERS & COACHESPatricia Arabia, Mandela / FremontNadine Joseph, McClymonds HighChristopher Scheer, Skyline High Lisa Shafer, Media Academy / FremontMarguerite Sheffer, EOSA / CastlemontPamela Tapia, McClymonds HighLara Trale, Oakland HighJoel Wing, Oakland Technical HighDaniel Zarazua, Oakland Unity High

Our thanks to the Bay Area News Group

Occupy camp was fine

Letter to the editor contest

ott honors mack journalist

At 5 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 14, police went into Frank Ogawa Plaza and evicted all Oc-cupy Oakland protesters who were there.

I believe the Oakland protesters had the right to be out there voicing their opinions.

The First Amend-ment guarantees free-dom of speech, which gives us all the rights to speak what we want to say and to say what we think. It also gives "we, the people" the freedom to have peaceful assembly, which the protesters were doing.

During the many weeks the protesters camped in the plaza, there were only a few incidences of violence. Yes, one person was shot and killed, but for

the most part, Occupiers had been peacefully protesting the unequal distribution of wealth in America.

Freedom of assembly should allow us to rally where we want, when we want, as long as we’re peaceful. The City’s offer for protesters to use the plaza from 6 a.m to 10 p.m. is absurd. If we can protest during the day, we should also be able to at night. The protest is about fixing Oakland. Oakland’s problems don’t stop at night. Neither should the protest.

The people who occupied downtown Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza weren't organized enough.

When I went there to interview and ob-serve Occupy Oakland this fall, most of the people didn’t know exactly what they were

fighting for. They were just angry people. They wanted change, but they didn’t know exactly what they wanted to change or what they needed to do to change it.

Some protesters were there for reasons unrelated to the movement. I wonder if some people in the oc-cupation simply set up so that they could steal from other protesters.

The City of Oakland was right to evict protesters from Frank Ogawa Plaza because they had just become a nuisance. The City was not denying them the right to protest; protesters were allowed to camp at nearby Snow Park for another week after the Plaza eviction, and protesters are still welcome to protest during the day at the Plaza.

The Occupy movement needs to organize itself. If they want to see real change, they need to appoint someone who can speak directly to Mayor Jean Quan to talk about the changes that need to be made.

Oakland High ADONTE MATTHEWs

6www.oaktownteentimes.orgDecember 2011

If we can protest during the day,

we should also be able to at night.

[The protesters] had just become

a nuisance.

Oakland High

Oakland High

KAILAH JOHNsON-BRYANT

A class filled with 15 girls—some of whom don't want to dance—can be suffocating ... Indeed, coralling 'drama girls' into a small class might not have been the smartest decision.

The Oaktown Teen Times is proud to announce Silvia Cardona-Tapia as its first contributor of the issue for the 2011-12 school year.

Cardona-Tapia, 16, a 10th grader, is a second-year member of McClymonds' on-line student news site, macksmack.

She also plays JV volleyball and does the statistics for the McClymonds football team.

Last year, she was involved in Culture Keepers, mentoring middle school students and creating a genealogy of her family.

For this issue of the Oaktown Teen Times, Cardona-Tapia covered her school's victory in the Silver Bowl (page 8), as both a reporter and photographer, and wrote a column on this page in which she protests a move by McClymonds staff that placed girls into a dance class in place of physical educa-

tion. Last year, she wrote about iPads that were promised to McClymonds students but never delivered.

“Silvia has helped recruit a team of reporters. She's enthusiastic, opinionated, curious and bold — all characteristics of a budding journalist,” said Nadine Joseph, who advises macksmack along with Pamela Tapia, Silvia's older sister.

Lisa Shafer, managing editor of the Oaktown Teen Times, also praised Cardona-Tapia.

“I have never met Silvia in person, but I feel like I know her because of her strong writing voice,” said Shafer. “The photo-graphs she took at the Silver Bowl are as vivid as her writing. We look forward to more of her contributions this year and in the future.”

matthews & Johnson-brYant

siLvia Cardona-tapia

City was right to evict

McClymonds High

We want to hear what you think about the stories and issues in our paper—and we'll pay $25 for the best letter we receive from a student in Oakland!

Please limit your letters to 300 words, and make sure you give us your full name, school, grade and age, plus how

we can contact you if we have questions. Letters can be sent to oaktownteen@

gmail.com or 253 Wayne Ave., Oakland, CA 94606.

Teachers, please look for a lesson plan on letters to the editor. Click on "lessons" at www.oaktownteentimes.org.

occupy oakland as seen by Mandela Law Academy

Teen mothers need support, not scorn

Reporter gets scoop from former teenage mom

December 2011 www.oaktownteentimes.orgOaktown Teen Times

7

When one sees a preg-nant girl pushing that baby stroller, you can’t expect the initial reaction to

be nice. Most of the time, it ain't nice. People might say all sorts of things without knowing what happened. They automatically assume the young mother is “promiscuous,” “dumb,” “a hoochie,” or “ratchet.”

Teenage pregnancy has been a hot issue over the years due to movies and shows such as “Teen Mom,” “16 and Pregnant,” “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and “Juno,” which glamorize the issue.

“There is no fear and shame in teen pregnancy anymore,” Michelle Hankins, who runs a young mothers support group in Georgia. told ABC News. “Seeing all these teen moms in the media, it makes them less fearful. It’s desensitized them. There’s just an immunity to the shock value of it.”

About 1,100 teen girls give birth every day in the United States, accord-ing to the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, which means that one in every 10 new American mothers is a teenager.

ABC News states that the U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy of any developed nation, twice as high as Canada’s and higher than all of its European counterparts.

Oracle reporter Norris Cooper asked a former teenage mother who was preg-nant at 15 to answer some questions about her experiences. The mother, now 38, graduated from Oakland Tech and still lives in Oakland today.

What were your initial thoughts when you discovered you were pregnant?

I would have to admit to being ter-rified and extremely scared. I had no plans, no idea what would happen once the baby came. I didn't even know if I wanted to continue with the pregnancy. I asked myself, how would my mom react? How would my boyfriend take the news? How will my life change?

How did your friends react to your pregnancy? My friends, it turned out to be, weren’t really my friends. Through rough life experiences or the obstacles you face, you’ll learn who’s really your friend. I thought I would have support and empathy from my friends, but no one understood. Instead, everyone sim-ply judged me and acted as if I was an entire new person.

How were you able to cope with the pressures of being a teen

mom and maintaining your aca-demic and social life?

Being a teen mom was the most stressful time in my life. When you realize that you, a kid, will be caring for another, the feeling is overwhelming to say the least. I had much help from my older relatives and most of all my mom. My mom was the one who was there, helped babysit, and who overall allowed me to still maintain a social and academic life. Though I wasn’t a normal teen, I still got to enjoy certain occa-sions such as dances and prom. Thanks to the support given by my mother, we made the best of the situation.

What was it like having a baby while attending school?

Normally, I would do homework, hang out with friends and go to the school basketball and football games. Once I had the baby, my days became infused with long hours and nights of homework and caring for my baby girl. It taught me a skill I use today—that’s time management. So, school was the same except I didn’t attend as many games, if any, and my baby became the focus of my life.

What was the hardest aspect about being a teen mom?

The hardest thing about being a team mom was dealing with the expenses and time the baby took. Beside that, the ridicule was among the hardest to deal with. Everywhere you go, people assume I was asinine, a hoe, or a girl who came from a bad family. All these prejudging stereotypes can be very annoying and hurtful. There were very few people who saw I made a mistake and was trying to make the best of the situation.

Did the father play an active role in the baby's life throughout the pregnancy and birth?

Sadly to say, no. The father of my daughter said he’d be there, said he’d support me, but as the heat and pres-

In a nation with such high rates of teenage pregnancy, we must consider how we treat teen moms and look at the circumstances that led to their situa-tions. Before you start thinking badly of that young mother, think about what might have happened to her that made her pregnant in the first place.

Not all of these young mothers are irresponsible. Condoms break all the time; not every pill is 100 percent effec-tive. You might assume she’s promiscu-ous, but she may have been raped.

People are quick to assume and don't

A teenage mother gets respect from me because she will have one of the most important responsibilities anyone can have — to be able to take care of a precious human life.

'When you realize that you, a kid, will be caring for another, the feeling is overwhelming.'

— Oakland Tech grad and former teen mom

sure of the pregnancy built, he slowly disappeared and became more distant than ever.

How did the pregnancy affect you emotionally?

The pregnancy was the most devas-tating news to hear. I, so many times, refused to believe I was pregnant. I took many tests and all the results came back the same. I was, in fact, pregnant. I cried for so long, I became upset with myself. I believed I had ruined my life. It was a very unstable part of my life. In the end, I was happy I decided to go through with the pregnancy. I had to do lots of maturing. I finally learned what it meant to take responsibility for your actions.

Skyline HighwiLLiam pham

Skyline Highnorris Cooper

City was right to evict

Skyline student mourns loss of mom amid senior year stress

A few months ago my mom was forgetting things most people would remember. Then she collapsed outside the Raley’s in Benicia.

My grandmother took her to the hospital, and doctors sent her to another one, in Sacramento. There, she was diagnosed with a one-inch tumor in the middle of her brain.

My grandmother told the doctors not to tell me that my mother was going to die, but that she might get better. When I moved in with my dad and stepmom, my grandma told them not to tell me.

“Bullsh*t,” is what my dad said to this secrecy. “I will not lie to you; you have the right to know.”

When my dad had me go to someone who could break the bad news to me quickly, I burst into tears—not because my mom was dying but because my grandmother was not going to tell me and was going to deceive me until she actu-ally died.

We don’t always react to death in “normal” or predictable ways. What hurt the most, at that moment, was knowing that my grandma would lie to me to “ease

the pain.”She thought this would protect my feel-

ings, but actually if I hadn’t found out my mother was definitely going to die, I might have been even more devastated when she did pass away. It would have destroyed me, and, with my anger, I might have gone crazy and even harmed myself to “ease the pain.”

Instead, I knew what was coming. I was able to speak to my mom more, or at least be there with her, and to be one of the last people she saw before she died.

Phone calls were very hard, however, because the tumor made it hard for her to speak or hold a conversation. When my mom turned 60, I could not even call her

to say “Happy Birthday.” In fact, I rarely even called at all because I couldn’t lie to my mom that she was OK, and I didn’t want to tell her she was dying and then five minutes later have her forget what I said.

Spending time with my mom at the end of her life was particularly important because growing up I had major anger is-sues and sometimes I was very mean to my mom. For that, I feel like the most ungrate-ful person on Earth. I rarely ever told her that I loved her, or even thanked her for the little things, such as giving me a roof over my head, food and clothes. Sure, most kids wouldn’t be that thoughtful, either, but, still, I often demanded things instead of asking politely.

On Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, at around 10:30 p.m., my mother passed away.

This is probably the hardest thing for a teenager to go through, especially since I’m a senior and trying to make the transi-tion to college.

On top of all this, my dad is getting irritated at me because I can’t focus like he wants me to, and I don’t really talk about it like he wants me to, which I think is unfair.

On the bright side, my aunt who lives in Davis said I can come over when I want

I rarely ever told her that I loved her, or even thanked her for the little things, such as giving me a roof over my head, food and clothes. Sure, most kids wouldn’t be that thoughtful, either, but, still, I often demanded things instead of asking politely.

Skyline HighJaCob breuner

think what may have really happened.I know what you're thinking, “Yeah,

but what about Sally? Everybody knew that she was going to get knocked up soon, the way she acts.”

Well, Sally gets respect from me because she will have one of the most important responsibilities anyone can have — to be able to take care of a pre-cious human life.

These young mothers need all the support they can get to help them get through their pregnancies and raise their children. Being a parent is really hard emotionally, physically and financially, especially if the parent still attending high school or college.

I greatly admire teen mothers. To be able to persevere through all the judgment, emotional stress and pain is something to be proud of.

The ability to give life is amazing and many men will always envy woman for that. So when you see these young mothers, don’t be so hateful and start to judge. Instead, praise them for having come this far and wish them luck for their rest of their journey.

of Mandela students say they support the Occupy Movement, based on a survey of 113 students.

of Mandela students think that Oakland should have let the Occupiers stay in the plaza.

to get away from all this and “chillax” with my cousin. We could go paintballing, play video games or just swim in their pool.

I appreciate this kindness. It makes me feel better about my situation.

I think I’ll make it through the year.

of Mandela students support the violence and vandalism in the Occupy Movement.

of Mandela students think that Mayor Jean Quan should be recalled based on her handling of Occupy Oakland.

74% 90% 10% 75%

www.oaktownteentimes.orgDecember 2011 Oaktown Teen Times

8

Cheerleaders uniformly frustrated

When Fremont had its first and only home football game against McCly-monds this season, the cheerleaders may not

have been wearing traditional green and gold uniforms, but they still brought good-old fashioned Tiger Spirit.

Instead of skirts and sweaters in the school colors, the cheerleaders wore black leggings and white T-shirts with the slogan of “Fremont Laney Camp 2008,” which Athletic Director Darlene Miller gave to the cheer team to wear.

“We got started late on fundraising,” said senior cheerleader Jorray Hart.

The cheerleaders were told that they had to raise $200 each to pay for their own uniforms.

They were trying to reach their deadline to purchase the uniforms for the home-coming game against Castlemont, but fell short. [In the end, that game was cancelled because the Oakland Athletic League ruled Fremont used ineligible football players during the season.]

Now, several weeks into basketball's pre-season schedule, the cheerleaders have yet to get their uniforms, despite steady efforts to raise funds.

The cheerleaders have sold popcorn on

their own and Lady Tiger T-shirts through the YMCA After School Program. One of the cheerleaders sold snacks at lunch to help raise her share of the uniform money.

Some cheerleaders wonder why the school doesn't provide the uniforms, espe-cially when it does for other athletes.

“It’s disrespectful to cheerleaders," said freshman cheerleader Keyioni Moore. "The school should help us because we are the school and the school would be dead with-out cheerleaders."

The cheerleading team has about nine active members, but up to a few dozen girls started practicing at the beginning of the year. It is unclear how many quit out of frustration of having no uniforms and only one home game.

At that home game, which took place Oct. 14, the cheerleaders kept the spirit going. They held up green and gold signs spelling out “F-R-E-M-O-N-T” and “T-I-

Oaktown Teen Times wants to cover more sports from more schools. We invite you to send us your sports

shorts — articles or updates of less than 200 words. We also are happy to run fantastic statistics or facts that would interest readers about prep sports in the city. We would love to highlight an athlete who has risen to the top of a sport or in academics. Send information to oaktownteen@gmail.com or suggestions of what you'd like to see published here.

UNITY WINS SOCCER TITLE Oakland Unity High's soccer team made a huge impression after its win against Leadership Public Schools Richmond in the Bay Area Charter Schools Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship. Unity players and fans were very excited after the win, their first soccer championship ever. The final score was 3-1, with the first goal scored by 11th grader Juan Del Toro and the second and third goals scored by 11th grader Jesus Zepeda. Most of the team is built up by the classes of 2012 and 2013, and most of players have been on the team since their freshman year. The soccer team had never gotten this far, but they were close in 2008, when they finished as runners-up. "After three years of trying, I feel accomplished of taking it home," said senior Carlos Cervantes, a captain. "I can honestly say that, so far, [this] has been the highlight of my senior year."

— Carolina Burciaga, Oakland Unity High

FREMONT RUNS IN STATE MEET Juan Aguilar was the first cross country runner from Fremont Federa-tion of High Schools to qualify for the state meet in seven years. The state meet was held Nov. 26 in Fresno. Aguilar finished 201st out of 209, but was pleased — especially since he only trained a week for the state race with his coach, Paul Coover. "I feel proud of myself because I didn't quit. I kept going, and I had good confidence in myself," said Aguilar.

— Fernanda Lopez,Media Academy

TITANS VOLLEYBALL ENDS 10-0 The Skyline Titans volleyball team ended its season with a 10-0 regular season record. They finished in first place in the Oakland Athletic League, which allowed them to advance to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoffs. In the first round, however, Skyline had a tough draw, facing reigning Northern California champions San Ramon Valley and its 19-5 record. The Titans lost three sets to zero, sending themselves out of the play-offs. “I expected us to do better,” said Alexis Hasty, Titans captain and out-side hitter. “We played hard, but we gave in too easily. Our focus wasn’t with us.” Senior Brittney Creighton agreed that even though the competition was tough, the team could have done better. “We made a lot of little mistakes and we didn’t cover the ball as much as we should have,” she said. Middle hitter Kenza Hall was upset about the loss. ”I was disappointed in the team as a whole,” she said. Despite the loss, Creighton was proud of her team for making it all the way to the state playoffs for the ninth year in a row. “It was nice to finish the season undefeated,” she added.

— Anais Broer & Eian Dort,

Skyline High

The cheerleaders have been told that they have to raise $200 each to pay for their own uniforms.

sILVIA CARDONA-TAPIA

KENNY PERRYMedia Academy

sILVER YARDs Running back Harold Halcomb III, a senior at Mack, carries the ball down the field for another one of his 162 yards. Halcomb also scored two touchdowns in the 33-19 win over Skyline in the 2011 Silver Bowl.

TIGER PRIDEFremont's cheerleading squad roots on the Tigers during an Oct. 14 football game against McClymonds. The girls still did not have uniforms at the start of the basketballpre-season.

ceremony to remember Davis’ accomplish-ments. It made me think about how much Davis meant to the team and how all of the Raiders fans would miss him.

John Madden, the sports broadcaster and former coach who led the Raiders to a Super Bowl victory in 1977, was there to honor Davis. He lit a torch for Davis and silence overtook the stadium.

I looked around me and saw the whole stadium filled with sadness and grief.

When the game was all over, people were filled with satisfaction. The Raid-ers team had won 24-17 to the Cleveland Browns and they had said their last good-bye to the great Al Davis.

McClymonds High

Despite a younger team (only seven seniors) and a close first half (score tied at 13-13), the McClymonds Warriors scored three touch-

downs in the second half to win the Silver Bowl on Nov. 25 over Skyline 33-19.

This was the second consecutive Silver Bowl victory led by quarterback Eddie Heard. The team finished the season 9-2.

Senior running back Harold Halcomb III ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns including the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, according to news reports.

After that play, Skyline attempted a lateral, which was fumbled and recovered by Mack's Jason Brooks for a touchdown, stretching the lead to 25-13. A similar play led to a 40-yard run and touchdown by Lovell Samuels, making the score 33-13.

Coming off the field, the Warriors were all smiles. One said, "We got this game."

But Skyline quarterback Jamal Mayo managed to run for his second touchdown to make the score 33-19. The game ended with another interception by Eddie Heard.

Several Mack grads who had played football rushed onto the field, including Denzale Johnson, now a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley. Johnson was part of last year's squad, which finished the season undefeated 12-0.

"Feels good to watch Mack win. That's

Mack is back as OAL king

what we're here for," said Johnson.The Silver Bowl is the game played to

crown the Oakland Section champion.The coaching staff praised the Titans. "Skyline has a great program, they came

prepared," said Coach Curtis McCauley. "Now we are going to enjoy the victory; come February, it's back to the weight room."

McClymonds has won four of the past six championship games and adds another Silver Bowl title to its collection of six, sec-ond behind Skyline, which holds 16 titles.

Warriors beat Titans 33-19 to take second straight title;Halcomb runs for 162 yards

Popcorn and snack sales not enough to put squadin traditional cheer clothes

G-E-R-S” and asked some fans to help hold them. They also made a sign that said “The Warriors” on butcher paper for the Tigers to run through and tear apart at the start of the second half.

Traditional cheerleading uniforms or not, the spirit was welcomed by football players.

“We need each other,” said quarter-back Gregory Pierson. “Cheerleaders are the drums of the band. We the band; they’re the drums.”

From Raider Nation, with love and sorrow for Al

photo by Silvia Cardona-Tapia / McClymonds High

I was one of the Oakland Raider fans who gathered at the game versus the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 16 to remember former team owner Al Davis, who unex-pectedly died on Oct. 8.

My experience at the game began when I arrived at the Oakland Coliseum at 11:15 a.m. I made my way through the Coli-seum’s parking lot to meet my friends and began tailgating for the first time.

There was such a sense of love between all Raider fans—it didn’t matter if Browns fans passed by. There wasn’t any tension between the fans. I met so many great

people and had a good time bonding with other Raiders fans.

We made our way to the line where everyone anxiously waited to get in. When we were inside walking to our seats, all you could hear was fans shouting, “Raid-ers!” I could see fans wearing RIP Al Davis shirts and holding signs to remem-ber him.

The audience gave a moment of silence to commemorate Davis. During small breaks between the game, they played short clips of Davis’ career on the big screens. Those clips made many fans around me burst out crying.

When half time came, there was a small

ALONDRA ALVARADO Media Academy

JUsT WIN, BABY! From left: The Oakland Raiders take on the Cleveland Browns at the Oakland Coliseum on Oct. 16, eight days after Raiders owner Al Davis died. A fan holds up a sign honoring Al Davis and his famous motto, "Just Win Baby." Raiders fans Carlos Chavarria, Jose Cortez, Bianca Martinez and Ivan Chavarria tailgate before the game.

photos by Alondra Alvarado / Media Academy

Sports Shorts

JUAN AGUILAR

Sports

Meanwhile, football players at Fre-mont were protesting a decision by the OAL that ended their season prematurely and left them out of playoff contention.

Fremont was forced to forfeit wins against Skyline, Oakland Tech and Oak-land High and cancel its game against Castlemont due to ineligible players.

Fremont contends that all OAL teams had similar ineligible players. This article contains some informa-tion from MaxPreps and the Oakland Tribune.

photo by Laura Lem / Media Academy