February 2011

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Laptop thefts dampen moraleTwenty-two laptops missing from OFC and library

Twenty two laptop computers were stolen from both the Opportunity for Change Program and the library computer room. The theft has not only hurt the budget but also students and teachers. Librarian Ann Collins said ten brand-new HP laptop computers were stolen from the library computer classroom, room 277. Director of Opportunity for Change (OFC) Brian Poon received a disturbing phone call on his way to work: science teacher Michael McKittrick and English teacher Julia Rocco discovered two shat-tered windows and 12 2005 Macbook G4 laptops missing on Jan. 4. McKittrick noticed that the glass on the door of the OFC science classroom, room 254, had been broken into. McKit-trick assumed students vandalized the otherwise untouched room. Rocco dis-covered the empty laptop cart in the OFC kitchen, adjacent to the science room. Librarians Shelley Mains and Bridget Knightly said the window to the locked door of the library computer room was

Lunar New Year embraces traditional Chinese aspects

By Kerry GrovePhotography Manager

Photo by Kerry Grove

Junior Josephine Ko performed on the dulcimer in the Chinese New Year celebration hosted by juniors Emily Chin and Alan Zhou of Asian-Pacific American Club (APAC).

By Yijin YangStaff Writer

LAPTOPS continued on page 6

While students trudge along the icy sidewalks dreaming of February vacation to break up the new semester, the Chin family buzz about the kitchen in prepara-tion for a New Year. Every February, Chinese families com-mence the Lunar New Year. The beginning of a New Lunar Year is marked by a classic meal cherished by family, and the young grow up with these traditions. On the eve of the New Year, family members celebrate with a feast to sym-bolize unity. Other themes of Chinese New Year include family, happiness and prosperity. Also, the Chinese wish their elders to have good health and longev-ity, according to Chinese teacher Lihua Shorter. Chinese New Year is not only a time for spending time with family but also a period to receive new luck early in the year through everlasting traditional customs. “The New Year is a fresh slate,” said senior Kristen Chin. February is a busy month, especially for students. During the Chinese New

Year, the family promises to slow down from their hectic schedules and come together. “On Chinese New Year, I can count on everyone being at the table, including myself, and it’s really nice,” said Kristen. Every member of the Chin family is busy in the kitchen as they prepare for their traditional “hot pot” meal, which consists of a pot filled with boiling water surrounded by a colorful selection of over ten different raw foods, including squid, octopus, dried cellophane noodles, tofu, beef, fresh Napa cabbage, dandelion greens and ham. During the dinner, the family of five sits at the kitchen table and lowers metal ladles filled with each individual’s selection of raw foods into the boiling water. While waiting for the food to cook, the Chin family will “talk, joke around and spend time together as a family,” said Kristen Chin. Then the food is accompa-nied with a “myriad” of sauces, according to sophomore Ian Chin. Mouthwatering golden-brown, crispy, pan-fried rounds of dough filled with pork and shrimp are added to the splash of color

also broken. Adult Education was the last known program to use room 277. According to Mains and Knightly, Adult Education always lock their rooms after class. They also said the laptop cart had a standard padlock with a key, but the key was not taken. According to Poon, math teacher Kellei Thompson and Rocco were in their rooms until around 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 and all of the OFC students had gone home. Poon assumed the computers were stolen anywhere between 5 and 11 p.m., when the main school doors lock for the night. Poon said the crime scene showed that the thieves most likely broke the glass on the doors of both the OFC science room and kitchen. McKittrick and Rocco said that after breaking the glass, the thieves probably opened the door from the outside by reaching their hand through the shattered window. Regardless of price, the loss of the laptops is detrimental to the community. The HP laptops stolen from the library room were bought at the beginning of the school year. Knightly estimated that each

NEW YEAR continued on page 5

Sophomore Jacob Heineman of OFC huddles around an Apple desktop, working on an essay. Since the burglary, students have struggled to readjust to the laptop shortage.


laptop was worth $1,000. Although the monetary price of the OFC laptops was given their age, the students felt the effects of the burglary on their schoolwork and homework. “It wasn’t like 12 $1,000 computers

were stolen,” Poon said, attempting to make light of the situation. “It was more like seven paperweights and five laptops that you wouldn’t necessarily want, but were functional for word processing.”

Brookline Teen CenterPage 2

Spring Sports PreviewPage 22

Bat Boy MusicalPage 12

Stress Pages 14 and 15

Teen Center to start construction after five years in the making

There has always been no place for the teen community to gather outside of school; a vacuum in the Brookline com-munity. However, next year, the Brookline Teen Center (BTC) will fill that vacuum. Social worker and BTC co-founder Paul Epstein said construction is scheduled to start this upcoming August. The project began five years ago, when Epstein and others recognized the need for a safe environment for teenagers to hang out and have fun. “We said, ‘Let’s not sit here and be sad about it; let’s do some-thing about it,’” Epstein said. The hard work has finally paid off: after fundraising $3 mil-lion, a 25-year lease has been taken out on a 10,000 square foot space. The center will be on the second and third floors of the garage at 40 Aspinwall Street, across from the Pierce School and behind the Walgreens, according to Epstein. Choosing a location was a long process, Epstein said. The garage was chosen for its generous space and convenient location. The academic center of the BTC is one room on the third floor, but the center does not include the entire third floor. Epstein described it as the mez-zanine level. The facilities for the center include a fitness center, a gym that will double as a basketball court and multi-purpose room for movie screenings, concerts, open-mike nights and more. There will be a music studio and rehearsal space for bands and students. Ad-ditionally, there will be a studio for group exercise or dance. According to Epstein, there will be adult leaders, such as Berklee College students, help-ing teens in the recording studio, or instructors leading exercise classes. Other amenities will include recreation rooms with pool tables and video games, a café and bowl-ing. The academic level, which will be similar to a classroom, will be a quiet place for students to do homework and study. Students will also have the opportunity to privately meet with social work-ers in staff offices, according to Epstein. The BTC will be a member-ship-based organization, and any 7th through 12th grader who lives in Brookline or attends a Brook-line public school will be eligible for membership. This will make the center a place for students from public and private schools to meet and form friendships, filling the chasm that sometimes exists between public and private school students. While there will be a mem-bership fee, membership will be made available to all eligible. “No kid will ever not be able to join because of money,” said Epstein. The long-term fundraising goal is $8-10 million, partly to keep membership fees low and help students who cannot af-ford a membership, according

to Epstein. The money from fundraising and membership fees will be used to maintain facilities and pay staff. In the past five years, student interns and staff met with Brook-line residents and businesses to fundraise. The BTC has many teen interns, who have been working with the organization for any-where from four to one years. The time spent working toward a common goal forged a com-munity, especially between the student interns. “You wouldn’t think kids so different would become friends, but we’re such a close group,” four year intern senior Bianca Se-nopoulos said. “It just shows dif-ferent people can come together and accomplish great things.” “Working as a group, some people need to step up and take charge and other times you need to step back and let other people express their ideas,” said three year intern senior Avi Cohen, a

third year intern. Cohen has learned much of leadership, cooperation and teamwork while “working as a group,” he said. “Some people need to step up and take charge, and other times you need to step back and let other people express their ideas,” Cohen said. “I love the leadership of the kids. They would take on projects that adults would probably do, and they did a great job,” said social worker Ayanna Kilpatrick, who has been working on the project for three years. Senopoulos, Cohen and one year intern sophomore Briah Mendez Rainey all agreed that working with the BTC has helped improve their public speaking skills. “My public speaking was ab-solutely terrible,” Mendez Rainey said. “I would get really scared before I talked to anybody, and now my presentations are better: I have better eye contact.”

Not only has the BTC helped the student interns, but it will also help future student members who will come after it is built. The center will be open after school four days a week and on the weekends. “The BTC is getting teenag-ers off the streets to a safe place if they need it,” said Mendez Rainey. Aside from providing a fun space for teens to gather, the BTC will bring the Brookline community together. “With the social isolation from technology, people stay at home on their computers or Wii, and it is going to tie people into the community more,” said Senopoulos. “It will get kids in a different, more diverse setting where social skills can be used.” Not only will the BTC cre-ate stronger bonds within the community but may also create a safe environment where teen creativity may be harnessed for beneficial projects and activities,

not detrimental accidents. “I think that it will decrease crime, because we always find out Monday morning that there was an incident that happened over the weekend, always the same time, with kids with nowhere to go and nothing to do,” said Kilpatrick. “So I’m hopeful that on Friday and Saturday nights we attract enough fun stuff to do that kids aren’t doing bad things.” The student interns’ work is motivated by personal incentives. They are applying their own ideas from brainstorming to blueprint to reality. “I’ve wanted things to do in Brookline other than walk up and down Coolidge Corner and Brookline Village,” Cohen said. Kilpatrick emphasized the teen leadership in each aspect of the center as the key to its future success. “The best is that it is cre-ated by them,” said Kilpatrick. “Whatever you see when the building opens has been created by the kids. It’s amazing. And that’s why I think it will work.” “Teens have been at the forefront of it and leading the way,” said Epstein. “I see myself as a facilitator for their work and ideas.” The students emphasized the teen leadership and ideas and hope the center will accom-modate every student member’s needs. “The teens designed it for the teens,” said Cohen. “It’s by teens for teens and it will always be like that.” The design by teens will make it a place that teens will want to go. “It should be a fun place to be, you should definitely go check it out,” said Mendez Rainey. “I would go there all the time. There are only so many times you can walk up and down Coolidge Corner, especially on the winter nights, “ said Cohen. “It is going to be fun to go and meet new people and do whatever you want.” For more information, visit brooklineteencenter.org.Kira Simon can be contacted at [email protected].

2 Febuary 2011News The Sagamore

By Kira SimonManaging Editor

Graphic courtesy of Brookline Teen center

The blueprints for the Brookline Teen Center (BTC), to be located on the second and third floors over the garage at 40 Aspinwall Street, feature an academic center, couches for video games, a dining area and an outdoor patio. The BTC was designed by students, for students.

Graphic courtesy of Brookline Teen center

Student designers intend to include a pool table, a ping pong table and a kitchen for teen leisure. The BTC features fewer walls to physically encourage future teenage members to meet and hang out.

Staffing cuts cause library to call on students

At the end of last year, library assistant Todd Nardin was let go from the library staff due to budget cuts. To make up for the loss, the library expanded its volunteer program, in which students can work in the library for community service credit. Retired librarian Beverly Shinn started the volunteer program last year. In it’s first year, the program only allowed students to come in before and after school and had about four to five volunteers. This year, the program allows students to come in during their free blocks. As a result, the number of volunteers has significantly increased. Despite the eager student volunteers, the program has yet to fully replace Nardin. “With any volunteer program it takes a certain amount of work on the librarians’ side to train volunteers,” said librarian Ann Collins. “That takes a tremendous amount of work, and what we get back is great, but it’s not as much as we would have if we had a full-time adult library assistant who knows the system.” In her first year here, Head of Library Operations Shelley Mains is in charge of the volunteer program. She and other librarians train the volunteers to check books in and out, register and delete books from the system, answer the phone, shelve books and other tasks involved in running a library. Additionally, students can complete spe-cialized tasks based on their own talents or interests, such as making displays or helping out with computer-based jobs.

3NewsFebuary 2011 The Sagamore

By Jesse Mayfield-SheehanStaff Writer


Junior Amanda Frankel shelves a book. The library created the new volunteer program to replace library assistant Todd Nardin due to last year’s budget cuts.

Mains finds there are some difficulties in working with part-time student library assistants. “One of the things that I’m learning, just being at Brookline High School for the first time, and probably all of us librarians are learning, is that it’s hard to get students to commit to one shift, because people’s business and their schedules change,” said Mains. “Not everybody is ready to show up Tuesday at 10 a.m. every single Tuesday throughout the year.” In spite of these obstacles, Mains is grateful for all the hard work the volunteers have put in. “I feel like we could not keep the library in the shape it’s in without the volunteers,” said Mains. The volunteers, like junior Amanda Frankel, are also grateful for the experience they get from the program. “I think it’s really fun and really inter-esting,” said Frankel. “It’s a good way to get community service credit, and it’s really nice to learn how a library works.” Senior volunteer Juliana Rezende was surprised when she worked in the library. “It’s so fun,” said Rezende. “At first I was like, ‘OK, volunteering at the library, it’s going to be really boring,’ but there’s so much to do.” Frankel says she will probably stay with the program next year. That is good news for Mains, as she plans to use this year’s volunteers as mentors for new volunteers next year, “so we can keep developing it and have it be even more interesting to students who participate.”Jesse Mayfield-Sheehan can be contacted at [email protected]

Knightly added that now only the humanities lab is big enough to host an entire class. “It’s booked solid all of the time,” said Knightly. “So now teachers are frustrated by how they are going to do their classes that require computers.” The OFC students were more concerned than the stu-dents who used the library computer room laptops. “Students were upset. They were angry,” said Poon. “Then, the 10th and 11th graders got worried about senior papers. Both classes independently expressed, ‘Oh my goodness, is someone’s senior paper on that laptop?’” Fortunately, no senior pa-pers or important documents were lost with the theft of the OFC laptops. According to the report by the Brookline Police Depart-ment for the OFC laptops, the

McKittrick, who says his favorite part of his job is helping “highly intelligent, articulate and creative” students “overcome their issues and realize their suc-cess,” was upset by the burglary. “I knew that the computers had low dollar value but held a high value for our program,” McKittrick said. “My classes were going to suffer, so I was sad and frustrated.” Knightly and Mains were also distressed by the theft. They believe adapting to the loss is more difficult for the teachers than for the students. “I don’t think students realize what’s going on and the impact it is having on them,” said Mains. “When we have tried to teach a whole class with half the number of computers, some students didn’t have a chance to get on one.”

Community reels after laptop thefts

LAPTOPS continued from page 1

Investigation Department is re-sponding but has yet to discover the perpetrators of the crime. “The police took a report. They were going to pursue the servers or satellites to see if anyone was trying to move com-puters, but they came up with nothing,” said Poon, who is not optimistic that the thieves will be caught. Officer Michael J. Keaveney, the initial responder to the OFC crime, asked Poon for any infor-mation that he could have heard or obtained, but Poon had none to share. “It’s rare in our community that something like this would happen and you wouldn’t hear something. I have heard noth-ing,” said Poon. “If our students wanted to take them, they could have taken them in far less risky ways.” Knightly shook her head when asked if she predicted the

Two incidents of burglary were committed behind locked doors. The perpetrators broke into the OFC kitchen, room 256 (left); the OFC science room, room 254; and the library computer lab, room 277. While the windows of the doors have been temporarily replaced by wood, laptop carts will remain empty due to a debilitated school budget.

Photos by Kerry Grove

stolen laptops would be recov-ered and the criminals would be caught. According to Knightly, the police and the head of school security were contacted. Officers of the Brookline Police Depart-ment dusted for fingerprints, but there are currently no recorded leads. According to Poon and Rocco, OFC computer liaisons Lisa Francescon and Scott Moore have been working to restore the working desktop computers in the OFC classrooms. Although the program will be stretched for resources, students will be able to work on school assignments such as senior papers. “We are fortunate to be at a school like BHS where we have the resources and the support to make up for the loss,” said Rocco. For the library, because the computers were recently purchased, Knightly and Mains predicted no new laptops in the

next two years due to the dimin-ished budget. Looking ahead towards the future, Poon said he “would be psyched” if OFC could get “2007 functioning laptops that could hit Internet and word process-ing.” Poon added that brand new laptops holding a minimal value of $1,000 a piece would be vulnerable to repeat burglary. Despite his and others’ op-timistic views, the theft shocked Poon especially because of its direct effect on OFC. “What were you think-ing that you needed to steal 12 computers from Opportunity For Change? You need to steal computers from a program that works with at-risk kids to gradu-ate from high school?” said Poon. “What puts someone in a position that they make choices that are needlessly destructive?” Kerry Grove can be contacted at [email protected]

MLK assembly captivates students

At this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. assembly, junior Anna Shuqom spoke on her experiences in Brookline, in Georgia and in Qatar, a country in the Persian Gulf. The speech focused on comparing and contrasting these places. Shuqom grew up in a suburb of Atlanta, attending a school for both students from the inner city and suburbs. “There was a separation between the two groups, but not of hate,” Shuqom said. “The separation consisted of an under-standing that the other group was different and it would be out of the ordinary to cross paths with them.” Shuqom noticed differences in the methods that minorities were disciplined. “In Atlanta, I grew up in a sort of bubble that sheltered me from crossing paths with the minori-ties of the school,” Shuqom said. “For example, the teacher would

approach discipline differently if there were more minorities in the classroom by using threats, discipline and calling the student out. This made me very uncom-fortable to be around, but it was the norm.” Shuqom feels there has been diversity in the three places she has lived in, but it manifested itself in different ways. “In Atlanta, you get the bare essential American vibe,” Shuqom said. “BHS was just a plethora of many different cul-tures. All of which I felt were accepted and embraced. Qatar was a foreign country where I was a guest, so I had to abide by the moral codes and accept the country’s Muslim culture. This, however, was not restricting or overbearing in any way.” Shuqom decided to speak at the assembly after talking with social worker Hope Schroy and guidance counselor Clifton Jones. “My favorite thing about my speech was that I had personal examples in it, which I felt gave people a more literal depiction of

my experiences, as if they could visualize actually being there with me,” Shuqom said. Shuqom said that her speech has received many accolades from teachers and students alike. “The comments I have re-ceived have been really wonderful feedback on how I presented the details of my years in Atlanta and Qatar,” said Shuqom. “The comments were mostly positive recognition, and I ended up re-ceiving extra credit from one of my teachers. In all, they were all fantastic!” Shuqom said that she be-lieved her speech focused on stereotypes and racism. “I think the most important thing that I spoke about was that, no matter where in the world I lived, the same factors of diversity, be they negative or positive, existed in everyday life,” said Shuqom. In reference to her decision to move to Qatar, Shuqom was glad that she went and feels she learned a lot. “I ended up meeting people

Substance abuse program For many young adults substance abuse can not only be destructive for their futures but also an impediment to their education. It is the job of the Substance Abuse Program to help students through these problems and guide them away from the danger of drugs. The Substance Abuse Pro-gram is broken up into three separate and different branches: Prevention, Intervention and Diversionary. Each branch has a distinct purpose and is utterly essential to the program as a whole. Prevention takes many dif-ferent in the community. Some students, known as peerleaders, serve as positive role models, and make up the prevention branch. Peerleaders speak to fresh-men about drug use, run the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) Club, and have massive campaigns to raise awareness about drug related issues. The peerleaders have a significant impact on bringing awareness around drug use,

smoking, drinking and driving. “60% of the kids who go to Brookline High School in the last 30 days have not drunk alcohol or smoked weed,” said social worker and prevention specialist Hope Schroy. The Intervention branch handles students who have a drug problem and have to fix it. The sublevels within the Intervention branch are broken up into scenarios: a parent turns in a child abusing substances, a student turns himself in or the school catches the student on

school grounds with drugs. “There is a continuum,” said Schroy. “So some kids who you are worried about are using off the charts and they might need more services like rehab, and then there are some kids who never use, and then most kids are somewhere in between.” The Diversionary program diverts students caught by police out of the court system. This pro-gram is mandated by the police and has longer sessions ranging from a quarter to a semester de-pending on each individual case.

The Substance Abuse Pro-gram does not only act as a form of punishment for those caught with drugs, but also as an outlet for students who would like to talk about their own drug prob-lems or the drug problems of their family members. All conversations with the social workers are completely confidential and there are no repercussions from the school with coming in to see a social worker about a substance abuse problem. The Substance Abuse Pro-

gram has benefited the school. Drinking has decreased signifi-cantly and the school has received an award from the state com-mending its efforts, according to Schroy. The Substance Abuse Pro-gram has been helping students with drug problems for 25 years and through the hard work of students and teachers alike, Brookline has become a safe haven for those with substance abuse problems. Corey Grill can be contacted at [email protected].

4 February 2011News The Sagamore

By Rose LaPlanteManaging Editor

By Corey GrillStaff Writer



Members of the Jazz Band accompany senior Roi Ankori-Karlinsky in “Make this Dream Come True.” Other musical performances included renditions of “Amazing Grace” and “America the Beauitful.”

from all over the world who are now my close contacts, all who share intriguing stories of where they have lived in their lives,” Shuqom said. “I got to travel throughout the Middle East and Asia through sports, service trips and leisure. I felt like I had a duty

to explore that region as much as I could, and I am very fortunate that I went last year. I learned a lot from it and intend on carrying those things with me throughout my life.”Rose LaPlante can be contacted at [email protected]

Sophomore Jonathan Oh is captivated by African American Scholars Director Chris Vick’s inspirational speech at the Jan. 20 MLK assembly.

Graphic by Anna Parkhurst

Unavoidable waitlists upset students

“You can’t always get what you want, and if you try sometimes, you find you get what you need,” said Headmaster Bob Weintraub quoting the Rolling Stones song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” This is Weintraub’s approach to scheduling for students. Take, for example, AP Physics Cal-culus. The science department can fit 22 students in the section, but 29 students want to take it. While some students may take AP Physics Broad as a second choice, not all students want to compromise their first choice classes and would rather be on a waitlist to see if they can get into the class. Junior Ziv Scully was not able to get into the AP Physics Calculus class for this year, because of high demand among seniors. “I was on the waitlist for AP Phys-ics C,” said Scully. “I wasn’t put in the class because seniors got priority and there was only one section. As a result, I’m taking a physics course outside of school.” When students are not admitted to their desired classes due to limited space, they are put onto waitlist until a spot opens up in one of their ideal classes. According to Weintraub, the school “tries, tries and tries again to keep all students off of waitlists, but sometimes it is inevitable.”

5NewsFebruary 2011 The Sagamore

By Max FriedmanLayout Editor

Graphic by Sally Yoon

Waitlists for popular classes may increase in magnitude and frequency as class size increases.

Family comes together over dinner

already displayed on kitchen table. Dumplings, another traditional and celebrated part of Asian cuisine, are another part of the feast. The Chins stick a dime into one of the dumplings to symbolize prosperity for one destined lucky family member who will bite down on it. “Although we said one dime only, usually 5 or 6 make it into the dumplings,” Ian Chin said. For the culmination of the gluttonous Asian cuisine feast, the Chin family makes rice cakes, a sweet and sa-vory pastry. In Chinese, the rice cakes are called “Nian Gao” which translates to “New Year cake.” Because no one in the family gets the day off on Chinese New Year, there is not sufficient time to celebrate all of the tradi-tions. However, the Chin family makes an effort to make a greeting call to the extended family every New Year, called “Bai Nian.” The Chin family ends the night by exchanging red envelopes, or “Hong Boa,” filled with money. The empty plates that litter the table signal the beginning of the end of the Chinese New Year. The vivacity spreads the joy of a promisingly prosper-ous New Year throughout the house.Yijin Yang can be contacted at [email protected]

Juniors Greg Starr and Ollie Banton, students who take Chinese classes, sit behind a booth at the Chinese New Year celebration on Feb. 3. They presented flowers that are widely appreciated in China, such as the peony. Students also sold a spread of Chinese food outside of the MLK Room.


There are ways to navigate these waitlists and to maximize students’ chances of being accepted into their ideal classes. “We usually get 95 percent of the students their choice,” said Weintraub. “Unfortunately, 5 percent don’t. Now this doesn’t mean that 5 percent don’t get what they want because they could still get their second choice.” Being waitlisted may become a growing problem in the next few years due to increasing grade population. The graduating senior class is about 420 students while the incoming freshman class is about 475 students. “The budget for classes usually stays about the same year to year,” said Wein-traub. “With the increasing class sizes, more shifting will have to be done, but we know how we are going to handle the situation.” Weintraub took a metaphorical approach to describe the carefulness required in the class scheduling process. “We want to bend the tree as much as we can, but we don’t want to break the tree,” Weintraub said. While Assistant Headmaster Hal Mason, English Curriculum Coordinator Mary Burchenal and Wiser all agree that waitlists are not a serious problem, they all advise students to premeditate their classes. Wiser said that if students write a first choice class of AP Environmental Science but, two weeks into the class, decide to take AP Physics, they would probably be out of luck. And Science Curriculum Coordinator Ed Wiser

said that most of his waitlist issues are resolved within the first two weeks of school. “After two weeks of school it is very difficult to join a class, especially one that moves at an AP or Advanced rate,” Wiser said. Burchenal believes that while it is possible to get all first or second choice classes senior year, it is unlikely, especially with many specialty or advanced courses. “Oftentimes when a student is a senior and taking many singleton classes, they become ‘blocked up,’ meaning that their schedule is limited by AP science classes or advanced language classes or other specialty classes only offered one period,” said Burchenal. “You probably aren’t going to get every class you want.” If a student is assigned an undesired class, Burchenal suggested he or she talk to a guidance counselor, not the teacher of the class. “When a student comes to me and says, ‘Mr. Sedlak said I could join his D-block class,’ I think of three things,” said Burchenal. “One: Mr. Sedlak wouldn’t say that; two: his class is full and three: that they should have approached their guidance counselor or me when they wanted to switch. It is bad to get the teacher involved because it isn’t really their choice to decide who gets to move up on the waitlist.” The earlier students tell their guid-ance counselors of their scheduling conflicts, the more likely they will be resolved. Max Friedman can be contacted at [email protected]

NEW YEAR continued from page 1

6 Febuary 2011News The Sagamore

The News in BriefSemi is postponed to March 25

Junior Semi-formal is being potponed from March 4 to March 25, according to the high school PTO.

Two cases of graffiti The school uncovered two incidents of graffiti on Jan. 26. Teachers reported cases in the boys bathroom of the Unified Arts building and the main building. Custodians have removed the vandalism. The perpetrators have not yet been identified, but the school reported the incidents to the police. Conse-quences include facing minimal charges, paying restoration and additional consequences imposed by the school.

Model United Nations goes to MIT The Model United Nations (MUN) club attended the MIT MUN conference from Feb. 4 to Feb. 6 with chaperones science teacher Julia Speyer and club adviser Mark Wheeler. Of the 18 students who participated, eight won awards: senior Joe Sax won an Outstanding Delegate award; junior Sabina Lee and sophomore Metin Toksoz-Exley won Honorable Mentions; senior Sophie Lazar, senior Andrew Silva, junior Paula Kates, freshman Diego Fernandez-Pages and freshman Henry Shref-fler won Verbal Commendations.

Student wins Congressional Award Junior Colby Bermel received the Silver Medal of the Con-gressional Award on Feb. 4 from Congressman Barney Frank. He devoted about 1,200 hours of voluntary public service, per-sonal development, physical fitness and expedition/exploration.

2012 spring semester China exchange meeting

Alumni spoke about their experiences on the China Ex-change in an informational meeting on Feb. 10 during X-block in room 226 regarding the 2012 China Exchange trip to Xi’an. The application deadline for next year’s exchange trip is March 4, 2011.

Community service fair TeenLife presented a community service fair with repre-sentatives from nearly 50 organizations at the Chestnut Hill Mall on Feb. 13 from noon to 4 p.m. Every person attending the fair received a free copy of the 2011 TeenLife Guide to Community Service. The guide features 200 non-profit organi-zations that provide volunteering opportunities for teens.

PTO Movie Showing The PTO will show the movie Race to Nowhere by Vicki Abeles on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Roberts-Dubbs Auditorium. The movie explores the disadvantages of America’s achieve-ment-based society.

Ocean Sciences Team goes to MIT The Ocean Sciences Team went to MIT on Feb. 5 to compete in the regional bowl for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, known as the Blue Lobster Bowl. Five seniors participat-ed: Selda Buyukozturk, Alex Grinman, George Tan, Katherine Kim and Esben Iversen. Club advisers Dean Lindsay Murphy and guidance counselor Ellen Herz chaperoned the trip. The

team was defeated by Newton North in a close match and did not advance to the national bowl.

By Sabina Lee, Sarah Plovnick and Anna Parkhurst

School optimistically awaits solar panels

The Environmental Action Club (EAC) has obtained per-mission from school and town authorities to install solar panels on the roof of the Tappan Gym but the club needs to raise ap-proximately $100,000 to do so. According to club members junior Sarah Kahl and freshman David Toppelberg, the planned panels will provide roughly half of the yearly energy needs for the Tappan Gym: 325,000 kilowatt-hours per year. The planned solar panels would save the town of Brookline approximately $55,000 each year, based on current energy prices of 16.9 cents per kilowatt-hour, and eliminate 326,300 pounds of car-bon dioxide emissions per year, based on regional average data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. However, the town has no plans to pay for any of the costs of the project. Kahl and Toppelberg esti-mated that based on the cost of purchasing and installing the solar panels, the project requires $100,000 to $150,000. “It’s a lot of money,” said Kahl. The EAC plans to raise money in a variety of ways. Toppelberg said that the club will try to attract donations from Brookline residents, especially students, adding that “the vast

majority” of students are not aware of the project but that the club plans to change that. Students were unaware of the solar panels but enthusiastic once they learned about it. “I’ve never heard about that,” said senior Alexandra Wong. “No, but that sounds cool,” said junior Nigel Harriman. When the project gets more awareness, Toppelberg is “con-vinced that students are going to try to push this thing forward, because a lot of students here are very environmentally aware.” “I would put some money towards it, said junior Kimon Stephanopoulos. According to Toppelberg, the club will also pursue corpo-rate sponsors looking to boost their environmental credibility. Kahl cited Polar Beverages, the company that sells Polar Spring water, as an example. “They’re always trying to ‘go green’ on their bottles,” Kahl said. “So we could put up their flyers and generally advertise them around the school.” According to Kahl, the club is also applying for grants from foundations and nonprofits, such as Do Something. These grants are for as much as $5,000. According to a representa-tive from NSTAR who identified herself as Mia L., most of the town’s power comes from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, with wind power making up a small fraction. The representa-tive said that specific data on

NSTAR’s energy sources was not available. Solar power works on sunny days when the panels are produc-ing a lot of electricity. More energy will be pro-duced by the panels, compared to the amount of energy used by the school. The extra energy will flow out into the power lines and into “the grid,” causing the building’s electricity meter to run backwards. On days with little sunlight, the building will draw almost all of its power from NSTAR’s power lines. According to Toppelberg, the buildings that would be powered by the panels currently cost the town approximately $250,000 in electricity costs, not including natural gas used for heating. Assistant Headmaster Hal Mason confirmed that plan has gotten the necessary approval. He described the high cost of the project as a problem but said that it would be helpful to the town if the club succeeds. When the EAC raises the money it needs, it plans to have the panels installed by groSolar LLC, a company with a presence in the Northeast and California that installs solar panels and equipment manufactured by various other companies. Anyone wishing to donate should contact history teacher Roger Grande, adviser of the project.Ben Eggleston can be contacted at [email protected]

By Ben EgglestonStaff Writer


With four snow days under our belts, students are wondering how these days will be made up in June. The school has planned for five makeup days until June 25. After one more snow day, the school must decide on extending the last day of school. Superintendent William Lu-pini has addressed this issue only twice before within his seven-year career at Brookline, according to a Brookline Tab article published on Feb. 9. Lupini does not be-lieve the state will allow certain districts to curtail the 180-day school year despite the numerous snow days, the article said. The school year has been extended to June 23.

Evacuations of Tappan Gym caused by overheated motor

Students evacuated the Tap-pan Gym during Z-block on Feb. 9 due to a burned out motor in the heating system, which created fumes. The fire department re-sponded to an automatic fire alarm and found the motor within the hour. A and B-block classes in the Tappan Gym were cancelled while the building was being ventilated.

Excessive Snowdays Provoke ConcernsPhoto by Kerry Grove

By Sabina LeeWriting Editor

By Sabina LeeWriting Editor

Supported by students and teachers, the writing center is a promising addition to the com-munity. The English department set the goal of creating a writing center where students can come find help for various writing assignments. The writing center is new this year, and it is accessible to students from all grades. For now, the writing center is a chair pushed in to a long gray desk pressed against the right wall of the English department in room 394. The desk is well supplied with pa-per, writing utensils and a computer for students to use. There is also a log-in book which reveals that the number of students coming in to use the writing center grows each day. “Any student working on any writing assignment can bring something to the writing center and get help with it,” said English teacher John Andrews, director of the project. “So history projects, lab reports, English papers, college essays, any of those.” Andrews submitted his idea for the center to the 21st Century Fund, which supports teacher-proposed projects that benefit the community. If the Writing Center is successful during the next few years, the 21st Century Fund will continue to support it financially.

“Friends of mine had been involved in writing centers in col-leges and universities when they were students,” said Andrews. “I thought that our high school should have something like that and that it would be a benefit for kids.” Senior Rei Yamada used the Writing Center for help with her college essay. She said that the Writing Center is a great place for students to get help. Yamada also recommended that seniors begin to volunteer at the Writing Center to allow the center to be open more often and attract a greater number of students. Currently, the center is run by English teachers as an official duty and is held at least one block each day. Each block is covered through-out the week. However, one goal for the center is to eventually train students to become coaches them-selves and have input on revising the material of their peers. “I think that there’s a different conversation that happens when kids help each other with writing than when a teacher helps kids with their writing,” said Andrews. “By helping another student with a writing assignment, the student is learning more about writing than if they were writing their own essays, so there are good benefits both ways. That was the real heart of the proposal.” Andrews hopes to train stu-

dents so that by the end of the year, the center will be mostly student-run. Furthermore, with more students volunteering at the Writing Center, the center will be open more often and therefore more accessible. English teacher Alison Fryd-man agrees that the Writing Center could gain more publicity if it were open more often, such as after school, before school and during T-block. Frydman works at the writing center several blocks a weeks. She appreciates that the help given to students from the Writing Center is free, which is helpful to families who might otherwise have hired a private tutor. Andrews added to the advan-tages of the Writing Center. “Everybody benefits from hav-ing more people read their work than just their teacher,” Andrews said. “The more eyes that are on an assignment, the more it can improve the assignment. So we’re hoping that kids will see that and benefit from that.” In the past few days a lot of changes hoped to shape the center. “I am meeting with NHS students who will be volunteeering to staff the center,” Andrews said. “Our new schedule will start the week after vacation. We also may be changing the location from the English office.”Corrina Roche-Cross can be contacted at [email protected]

7NewsFebuary 2011 The Sagamore

By Corrina Roche-CrossStaff Writer

Administration NarrationBy Juvan Bonni

Staff Writer

Dedicated and hardwork-ing are insufficient to describe Dean Adrian Mims’s determi-nation and commitment. “For the first seven years I was here at Brookline, I worked a separate job, just so I could remain here,” said Mims. He began his work here as a METCO tutor but also worked nighttime jobs at a marketing company and several different banks. Meanwhile, Mims was attending necessary classes to become certified to teach. Mims has always been clear about his ambitions of becom-ing a teacher. “I was going to commit full time to public education as a teacher, that was where my heart was,” Mims said. “ I love teaching. I love working with students. I love helping students. That’s really what my passion is.” Though his interests were different when he went to col-lege, his sense of commitment was still present, even in the face of adversity. When Mims attended the University of South Carolina, he dealt with an appalling amount of discrimination and racism as an electrical engineering major. Originally, he had devel-oped an interest in electrical engineering and wished to pursue it in college. But due to the ceaseless harassment during his time in the electrical engi-neering college, he changed his major to mathematics during his junior year. “Their electrical engineer-

engineering college, who agreed to help Mims through this situ-ation. However, the chairman had made empty promises. “The second time I met with him, he asked me, ‘Do you feel like you’re a marked man?’ I told him ‘Yes, I did feel like I was a marked man’ and he said, ‘You are.’ And I left his office and changed my major to math.” Mims never gave up on his goal to graduate from the univer-sity with a degree, even though he faced much adversity.

“I took that anger that I had about that particular situation and used it to motivate me,” said Mims. “And it was hard, because I had two jobs while I was in college. But it made me stronger, though. It made me tough.” Mims graduated from col-lege in 1994. In that same year, he began to work at the school. He became Dean of Students in 2007 and teaches math as well. Immediately after coming to the school, Mims fell in love with its diversity. “I love what BHS stands for.

I grew up in a town where there was no diversity. So coming to BHS, seeing the diversity, kids coming from all different parts of the world, all different languages and cultures, I loved it,” said Mims. Throughout his life, Mims said his parents inspired his determination. “They taught me that if you have a dream or a goal, you don’t let anything stand in your way,” said Mims.Juvan Bonni can be contacted at [email protected]

Dean Adrian Mims smiles as a proud member of what he calls the “diverse” and open-minded Brookline community. He overcame racial prejudices and unjust harassment by graduating at the University of South Carolina with preserverence, determination and a dream.

Photo by Rohan Lewis

ing college needed to grow in a lot of ways,” Mims said. “They were not very welcoming and did not appreciate African-American students.” Mims experienced problems early on that quickly escalated. “Things had gotten so bad for me there that they had changed my grades on my transcript and there were a couple of professors who were marking problems wrong on my exam when they were actually right,” said Mims. His father and uncle met with the chairman of the electrical

Co-Chair of Student Legislature junior Eden Zik spoke with the Sagamore this month

• Student Legislature passed a bill on Feb. 10 changing the election process to Legislature. Student may now vote for up to four candidates. Students may not vote for the same candidate multiple times. • Current subcommittees that exist include: Attendance & Grades Committee; Electronics Committee; and National Honors Society Committee. • Public Relations Committee, Vacation Homework & Policy Committee and the Elections Policy Committee do not exist.

Additional topics that the Legislature is addressing:o Should the handbook determine student laptop usage? •Legislature sent out a survey amongst its members. Cur-rently, the official policy regarding student laptop usage during class is “vague,” Zik said. •The new Electronics Committee will continue discussing this topic.o Should representatives work to increase civic engagement? •Student Coucil is hosting a sophomore assembly addressing and encouraging civic engagement. Zik said the council believes that all students should participate actively in the student gov-ernment.

W e t h e P e o p l e . . .

Student Government can be found on Formspring at formspring.com/bhsgovernment; Facebook at BHS Government; and Zik can be con-tacted at [email protected]. The Sagamore can be contacted at [email protected].

Writing center hopes for future student-to-student interaction

Opinions In a controversial editorial decision, publishing company NewSouth Books and Twain scholar Alan Gribben have de-cided to publish an edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn sans racial profanity. In an interview with Pub-lisher’s Weekly, Gribben said that his new edition “is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind... Race matters in these books. It’s a matter of how you express that in the 21st century.” NewSouth’s updated version of the book omits the word “nig-ger” and, in its place, uses the word “slave.” The editors say that they hope to limit the offensive references towards Native Ameri-cans, as well. These steps are, for the most part, a response to the outspoken discomfort of students who are obligated to read the novel in classes at their schools. In a 1998 lawsuit that received national at-tention, passionate parent Kathy Monteiro harangued her daugh-ter’s school system for requiring her daughter to read what she be-lieved to be a racially insensitive novel that exacerbated the tense racial issues already plaguing the school. In 1885, Massachussetts’s Concord Public Library banned The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from their collection, releasing a statement afterwards that described the novel as a piece of literature of “the veriest trash and suitable only for the slums.” Decade after decade, hundreds of schools and libraries leave The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn omitted from their required lists, some even frowning upon the novel’s placement on the optional list. The excessive use

Huck’s mouth wrongfully cleaned?By Ben Berke

Layout Editor

of the N-word seems to have sparked much of this debate, and superficially it seems that Alan Gribben’s modernized volume is the perfect solution to the novel’s biggest problem. Gribben’s trimmings make the great American novel seem-ingly more appropriate for schools. For many, the novel’s credo is that the Mississippi River and the Western frontier are havens from the hypocrisies and inanities of established East Coast society. Why can’t this theme still resound if the N-word is omitted? Had Twain’s sole purpose in writing The Adventures of Huck-leberry Finn been to romanticize life on the Mississippi River, the derogatory diatribes hurled at Jim and other African-Americans chapter after chapter would be entirely inappropriate and un-necessary. Throughout the book, Twain’s portrayal of African

Americans is consistently pejo-rative. Every black character in the story fits the bug-eyed Negro stereotype so popularly depicted in the minstrel shows of the era’s Jim Crow South: goofy, unedu-cated and gullibly superstitious. The N-word is one of the most frequently occurring nouns in the novel, and its underlying racism can be understandably revolting to readers uncomfortable with the word and its connotations. However, Mark Twain did not write this novel so he could recklessly insult African-Amer-icans. Ernest Hemmingway did not say “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckle-berry Finn” because he loved the way it insulted black people as it glorified life on the Mississippi. Twain clearly wants to turn heads with his racist language. It’s not that Twain’s language is simply outdated, as the N-word could be used casually back in

his day. While Twain’s depiction of African-American characters certainly upholds Kathy Mon-teiro’s accusation of the novel’s racism, it is this same depiction that allows Twain to add depth to the novel, bringing it fathoms beyond the realm of “trash for the slums.” Twain makes Jim the sole successful parent in the novel. Jim never sees his own family during the story, but he certainly becomes a father figure for Huck. Jim expresses a warmth towards him that no one else in the book seems to possess, and Twain makes Jim conform to a stereo-type so that he does not seem like an exception or an outlier from the real African-American population. Twain takes a character who is degraded and barely treated like a human being, labeled as an idiot, as nothing more than a beast or property, and gives him the only compassionate soul in the book. Neither Huck’s family nor any of the other families along the river display the amount of love that Huck witnesses in Jim as he cries out to the river his sins of beating his daughter, praying for forgiveness. Twain’s use of the N-word reflects many characters’ visions of Jim, a vision that stipulates that Jim deserves this word, that he has no feelings, that he doesn’t deserve the respect that humans should receive. However, Huck and Jim share the only happy companionship in this novel, and by giving Jim the ability to love and teach, Twain not only makes Jim much more than a beast or mere piece of property, but lifts him out of the murky depths of slavery and turns him into a benevolent, earnest guardian. While Huck may realize

that slavery is wrong along his journey, Jim breaks free from his acceptance of his treatment as a Neanderthal of the subclass and blossoms into a free, empowered, multifaceted individual. “Slave” certainly suggests a lack of respect, but it lacks the muscle of prejudice the N-word brings. This slur is what demon-strates to the reader that no one accepts Jim as a human at the beginning of the novel. It is what relays the hatred that the word “slave” cannot. It is what makes Jim’s onerous journey emanate hope and significance. It is what allows him to stand out, what gives him passion. Evidently, Monteiro, Gib-bens and the Concord Library underestimate some major com-ponents of Twain’s novel. While Twain allows ruthlessly racist acts and speeches to take place throughout the novel, he uses these to pick at the inherent truth: that African Americans are humans, as well. Twain used the N-word throughout his book not be-cause he didn’t understand its acrimony; rather, he recognized its acrimony, and used it to help create a debatably more impor-tant journey for the secondary character of this novel, in which Jim transforms from an naive slave, worthy of no respect, to a brave, liberated guardian. Though the effort to censor the novel from sensitive eyes is well-intentioned, removing the slurs dilutes the themes. Sure, it’s more appropriate for 8-year-olds who shouldn’t know such derogatory slurs any-way, but was this book really writ-ten for an audience that hopes to ignore the severity of racism in America, with or without the N-word?Ben Berke can be contacted [email protected].

Snow. It’s a word I’ve heard every day since the New Year. If it starts snowing during class, there’s always a person who points it out in a way that makes me think they’ve never seen it before. This inevitably leads to a flurry of conversation concerning the snow and the weather forecast and whether or not people think there will be enough of it to cancel school the next day. We’ve had more snow days than usual this year. As soon as I get the call from Lupini, joy surges through me at the thought of sleeping in and having a calm day of relaxation in the middle of the week. That is, until I remember that I’ll have to shovel the foot of snow that caused the whole snow day in the first place.

Greenough is going to kill usBy Olga Birbrayer

Contributing Writer My arms are getting tired at just the thought of digging through all that heavy snow to the pavement with an unwieldy shovel for hours at a time. If I’m really lucky, a snow plow will come by, and I’ll have a new wall of dirty frozen slush to tunnel through as I lose feeling in my toes completely. Obviously, shoveling isn’t my favorite thing to do, but this year I’m looking at shoveling from a different perspective: that of a fed-up pedestrian. All of this snow mixed in with my daily walk to school has forced me to see just how necessary a cleared sidewalk is. It’s not just a chore that we do to make our wintry New England lives more convenient. Shoveling snow is a matter of safety. I’ve always known that snow has its dangers. Cars can lose control on slippery roads, drivers have less visibility

when it’s snowing and pedestri-ans, especially clumsy ones like me, can fall and hurt themselves. But why did I only just recently realize how important it is to have cleared sidewalks and driveways? It may seem stupid, but the reason is because I’m afraid of walking down Greenough Street. I should clarify: I have no issues with Greenough until there’s a snowstorm. But every year when I walk to school after the snow starts piling up, there’s no place that’s cleaned worse than the street I have to trek across to get to school. During the winters of the previous two years, I simply thought of walking down the minimally-cleared sidewalks of Greenough with dread. This year, however, that dread has escalated to genuine fear, the level of which falls somewhere between that of spiders and of losing my cell

phone (both of which are pretty terrifying). The quality of cleared snow on Greenough’s sidewalks dips even further below the level of

past years. There are several places where it looks like no one has shoveled at all this winter

Graphic By Anna Parkhurst

Photo by Kerry GroveDue to icy, neglected and unshoveled sidewalks on Greenough Street, students walk along-side cars in the street on their way to school.

SNOW continued on page 11

9OpinionsFebruary 2011 The Sagamore

Editors-in-ChiefEmma MurphySarah Plovnick

Managing EditorsVicky Kim, Layout and Design

Rose LaPlante, WritingKira Simon, Writing

Business ManagerAnita Knopov

Writing EditorsSabina Lee, News

Clara Dorfman, OpinionsAyush Kumar, Arts

Colby Bermel, Sports

Business TeamMatthew Goroff, Adverstisements and Subscriptions

Evan Sternstein, Fundraising

Marcella Anderson, Faculty AdviserAndrew Kimball, Faculty Adviser

Lindsay Wise, Faculty Adviser

[email protected] The Sagamore is an independent, school-affiliated publication,

produced monthly by the students of Brookline High School. It is an open forum for the BHS community.

Opinions expressed in this publication, unless otherwise noted, are not necessarily those of staff, faculty or school administrators. Individual articles reflect the opinions of their respective writers

and not of the newspaper as a whole. Letters to the Editor are encouraged as a means of reader participation.

All letters should be emailed to [email protected]. They are subject to editing for clarity and length.

Subscriptions ($20 per year for addresses in Brookline) and changes of address should be sent to:

The Sagamore Brookline High School

115 Greenough Street, 02445

Layout EditorsMax Friedman, News

Ben Berke, ArtsJake Wolf-Sorokin, Sports

Visuals and DesignKerry Grove, Photography Manager

The SagamoreFounded in 1893

Staff WritersMaya Beit-Arie

Juvan BonniBen EgglestonJamie Francona

Corey GrillShanShan GuoAndrea KimDaniel Krane

Joon LeeRohan Lewis

Jesse Mayfield-Sheehan

Ayesha MehrotraAmy Park

Anna ParkhurstAdam Rintell

Corrina Roche-CrossSara Sebahar

Sabine ShaughnessyMax ShoreYijin Yang

LETTERS FROM THE EDITORS You are what you eat. And this month, I am a chocolate bar. It all started when Sarah and I attended the Have A Heart: A Chocolate Extravaganza. It was like spend-ing a few hours in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, but minus the Oompa Loompas. Every time I eat chocolate, I explode with energy, similar to the rich flavors of lava cake drenched in homemade cherry sauce exploding in my mouth. But after every sugar rush, I crash into a sleepy, slug-gish state, similar to the smooth, satisfying taste of a Viennese chocolate from Ser-enade Chocolateir. No matter what you eat, your mood will be affected by it. Take bananas for example: they truly are a super food. Studies have shown that eating a banana before a test helps you focus better. In my personal experience, every time I’ve eaten a banana the morning before an exam, I’ve been less nervous and my scores have risen. I don’t know the history of “you are what you eat,” but it must have originated somewhere. It holds the same level of truth as the saying that dog owners look like their dogs: silly, but surprisingly true. It makes me wonder what other seem-ingly futile phrases are actually true. I’m not sure, but I’ve definitely met a few dog owners who bear an unfortunate resem-blance to their pet.

Always, Emma

You wouldn’t believe what goes into producing 20 to 28 pages of news and features every month. There’s the interviews, the writ-ing and the six stages of editing. There’s the raising of the $1000 we need to print every month. There’s the photos and the layout, and the long hours spent at school. When you have 36 teenagers working together on all of this, some interesting things are bound to happen. Let’s take this month as an example. Or maybe just Jake. He was an inch away from getting himself arrested, and then he almost got himself killed. In the course of a week, he ended up walking to school covered with spilled beer, suspiciously concealing an empty bottle in a paper bag (this was all for profes-sional reasons, of course). A few days later, he almost poisoned himself by pouring boiling water into a plastic cup and nearly drinking it. Then there was our team bonding ice skating excursion, but this was not your average ice skating trip. Ayush (allegedly) got offered a job to drive the zamboni, and Emma (allegedly) made Max bleed. Finally, there were the arts vs. news section showdown and a declaration of true love (via text message, of course). So now you know what we’re really doing when we stay at school until 9 pm and come back on Saturdays. But it’s all to bring you the 20 to 28 pages of news and features which you (hopefully) enjoy every month.

Best,Sarah

editorialsubstance abuse punishment:

a balancing act School sports policies agree on one thing: if you get caught with drugs or alcohol, there will be consequences. The severity of these consequences, however, varies depending on the team. Coaches struggle to find the balance between enforcing consequences that will effectively prevent substance abuse and holding on to valuable players who will help their teams. Under the school’s current policy, on a first violation, players caught in possession, or in the vicinity of drugs and alcohol, are suspended for either two weeks or two competitions (whichever covers the longer time period). After a second violation, players are suspended for either the next 12 weeks or the next 12 competitions, essentially an entire season. This policy is harsher than the Massachusetts Interscholas-tic Athletic Association’s policy, which does not punish students

unless they are in possession of drugs or alcohol. However, some coaches’ policies are even harsher than the school’s policy. The coaches of the crew and wrestling teams, among others, enforce a zero tolerance policy. If a player is caught using illicit substances, he or she is kicked off the team. So which policy is the most effective, and which is the fairest to athletes? It would be a lie to say that any policy will prevent ath-letes from choosing to participate in the use of illicit substances. No matter what the potential consequences, when faced with a quick decision about whether to attend a party and participate in the use of drugs and alcohol, the general mindset is, “I won’t get caught.” But with zero tolerance poli-cies, athletes are more likely to think twice, think about the con-sequences, and think that they

would rather help their teams in their next two meets than risking it all for one Saturday night. That being said, zero toler-ance policies can put teams in difficult positions. Losing a player for a season, whether they’re the star of the team or a substitute from the bench, disadvantages the not just that player, but the entire team. Though seeing a teammate punished serves as an example for other players, it also serves as a punishment: the team will be short a player, and therefore won’t do as well. So, the next time you are faced with that quick Saturday night decision, think about it like this: you might not get caught, but if you do, you will not be the only one who has to face the consequences. You will be punishing your teammates as well as yourself.You can contact The Sagamore at [email protected].

The Sagamore wants your ideas, your cartoons, your photos

[email protected]

Political Cartoon

Graphic by Amy Park

10 February 2011Opinions The Sagamore

Ayush Ablaze

By Ayush KumarWriting Editor

Ayush’s Quote Of The Month:

Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now, quiet! They’re about to an-nounce the lottery numbers.

—Homer Simpson


WARNING: Do NOT try this at home. Consequences can be fatal and induce random spurts of hysterical laughter, involuntary moaning, severe stomachaches and loss of the ability to locate your mode of trans-portation.

There’s no such thing as too much chocolate. It’s a popular phrase, and we used to think it was true. That was when we were young, naïve and unacquainted with the world. It was also before we attended the Chocolate Extravaganza. On Feb. 6, the Brookline Ro-tary Club held the Have A Heart: A Chocolate Extravaganza event at the Holiday Inn on Beacon Street to benefit the Brookline Food Pantry. Businesses from all over Brookline attended the event and set up tables laden with chocolate desserts. Being the chocolate enthu-siasts and critics that we are, we jumped at the opportunity. The $25 entrance fee was a bit pricey for broke teenagers, but knowing that it would go toward feeding other people’s stomachs as well as our own made it well worth it. As soon as we walked in, we were in heaven. The room was overflowing with the warm, rich scents of dark, milk and white chocolate. Vendors served ev-erything from molten lava cake to chocolate-dipped ice cream. Unfortunately, the feeling of heaven only lasted for as long as we could hold off the stomach-aches. Hopefully, our pain has saved you some in the future, because now, if you’re ever looking for the best chocolate in the area, you won’t have to try them all to find out. Whether you’re looking for the best chocolate candy or Brookline’s most decadent chocolate dessert, we’ve got the answer for you. Best Chocolate Candy:

1. Winner: The Viennese truffle from Serenade Chocolatier in Brookline Village. Description: A square-shaped chocolate with a smooth hazelnut layer sandwiched between two

Chocolate overload

By Sarah Plovnick andEmma Murphy

Editors-In-Chief

smooth layers of dark chocolate.

Tester Comments:Sarah: Chocolate nutty yummi-ness.Emma: I’m in creamy chocolate heaven!

2. Chocolate truffle from Party Favors

Description: The truffles were roughly the size of a quarter, with a hard milk chocolate exterior and smooth filling. Sarah’s truffle had white chocolate drizzled on top with caramel inside. Emma’s truffle had flecks of coffee crunch on top with a mocha filling.

Tester Comments:Sarah: Very sweet.Emma: The mocha is very strong... I feel a caffeine rush coming on!

3. Chocolate truffle from L.A. Burdick

Description: Dark chocolate con-cealed a smooth, dark filling that tasted strongly of liquor.

Tester Comments:Sarah: A bit too sophisticated for my tastes.Emma: Ummm, yummy-ish.

Honorable mention for best chocolate cause: Chocolate from Equal Exchange. According to their brochure, “Equal Exchange buys directly from small-scale farmer co-operatives, owned and run by the farmers themselves.” Fair trade and fairly delicious: a perfect match.

Description: Dark chocolate pieces infused with different fla-vors. Sarah tried dark chocolate with hints of mint, while Emma tried Chocolate Caramel Crunch with sea salt.

Tester Comments:Sarah: Tastes a bit like chocolate toothpaste. Emma: The sea salt is an unusual ingredient, but it’s surprisingly good. You can’t really taste the caramel, but the sea salt cuts the sweetness of the chocolate very nicely.

Most Decadent Chocolate Desert:

Photo by Sarah Plovnick

On Feb. 6, the Brookline Rotary Club held Have A Heart: A Chocolate Extravaganza. A chocolate showpiece featuring masquerade masks

I had quite the epiphany this summer when I was on vacation in England: I’ve been living in the United States for four years. Now, you’re probably think-ing, “Ayush, the day is finally here. You’ve completely lost it. That’s the stupidest intro to a column I’ve ever read. That’s not called an epiphany; it’s called being slow at realizing mundane things.” Nah, it’s not. Because for me, you see, living for four years in one place is not only a big deal. It’s almost a record. Born in India, I moved to England, then back to India, and now I’ve lived here since seventh grade. That accounts for about six different houses and seven new schools. Now that’s nothing special in a place like Brookline, where you can find people with even crazier immigration stories. Still, I feel like I’m a very different person because of the experience. If you’ve never been through it yourself, you have to under-stand that moving during one’s childhood is never a personal choice. Rather, you have to go with what your elders feel is best for you. Jobs get transferred, opportunities get relocated and sometimes, people can just use a change. Now, look, I’m not complain-ing about my journey. It’s given me the chance to see different cultures and witness things from various perspectives. (Also, it gave me a pretty cool accent for a while. Tragically, this was also the time when Batman seemed more interesting than girls.) The constant moves also left emotional scars, the major one being the fact that I had only developed the ability to form close relationships with people at a much later age than others. It’s excruciating to leave people behind when you’ve only just begun to feel comfortable around them. Long distance things don’t work in real life; you have to get real and start from scratch. Of course making new friends is fun and all, but when you have to do it again and again, it

loses value and becomes a chore. You begin questioning its impor-tance and start getting scared of having someone get too close, because that only makes it worse when it’s time to say goodbye. In fact, I’ll fully admit it: I’m 100 percent desensitized to all that now. I have had to let go of people so many times that I doubt I can ever be normal in that sense ever again. The memories still live on, though. I remember my first day at Pierce School. I remember hating every single class. I remember avoiding everyone. I remember crying afterwards. But I also remember my first time swinging a baseball bat. My first trip to New York City. My first pumpkin carving on Halloween. My first friend here, Robert Liu. (Yes, this is a shameless shout-out. Hi, Robert!) And, of course, I remember coming to BHS, when, for the first time, I didn’t feel alone in moving schools. Every other eighth grader in town shared the same trepidation about sitting alone at lunch alone and the same nervousness about not achieving their goals during their four years of high school. Depending on who you are at the moment, whether you’re a cute little freshman reading this in the library or a bored second-semester senior sneaking this under your math textbook in class, you have a finite amount of time left here. Make the most of it. Treasure your friends, family and teach-ers because, before you know it, you’ll be the one shopping for graduation robes. As for me, I doubt I’ll shed a single tear that day. See, now, this is awkward, be-cause I usually end these columns with something a little lighter. There is absolutely no natural transition for this one, though. So I’ll escape quietly, leaving you with a few more words of wisdom from the great Homer Simpson: “I have three kids and no money. Why can’t I have no kids and three money?”Ayush Kumar can be contacted at [email protected].

1. Winner: Elaborate chocolate cake from The Fireplace in Wash-ington Square.

Description: A mini chocolate cake that looked like a molten chocolate lava cake, but tasted even better. Topped with a tower of hand-whipped cream, choco-late sauce and homemade cherry sauce made from real cherries, this chocolate cake’s presenta-tion alone was mouthwatering. Its flavorful explosion of cherries and chocolate had us blissfully floating on chocolate clouds.

Tester Comments: Sarah: Looks sweeter than it is, but it’s still delicious.Emma: WINNER!

2. Bonbons from Golden Temple

Description: Hardened, rich dark chocolate covering an entire scoop of strawberry ice cream.

Tester Comments: Sarah: How do they make it so that the ice cream doesn’t melt?! Emma: My two favorite things, chocolate and ice cream, but together. Genius!

Honorable mention for best classic: Chocolate-filled crepe from Paris Creperie

Description: A delicate crepe filled with melted chocolate.

Tester comments:Sarah: SO GOOD!Emma: Agreed!

Fruity and delicious, but not quite winners:

1. Blueberry cup from Party FavorsDescription: A dark chocolate cup with white chocolate shavings and a blueberry on top. Inside is a white chocolate filling flavored with blueberries.

Tester Comments:Sarah: Fruity and creamy.Emma: It’s berry-licious!Chocolate-covered fruit from Edible Arrangements

2. Chocolate covered fruit from Edible Arrangements

Description: Sarah had a chocolate-covered banana slice while Emma tried a chocolate-covered apple slice. Chocolate-covered fruit is always good, but the quality of these slices was nothing special.

Tester Comments:Sarah: Chocolate and banana is a good combo, but the chocolate quality is lacking here.Emma: I like the idea of a choc-olate-covered apple slice, but the chocolate was hard and fell off, so it was more like an apple slice with chocolate on the side.

Best Table Display:

Party Favors was a clear win-ner. Pink ribbons and chocolate aromas emanated and the racks of cupcakes, cake and chocolates seemed never-ending. To top it all off, they had hot pink bouquets and pure chocolate Mardi Gras masks. How could we not give them special recognition?Sarah Plovnick and Emma Murphy can be contacted at [email protected].

No more snow

By Juvan Bonni andNabeel HussainContributing Writers

Dangerous icy streetsand there are huge heaps of snow along the street that are probably going to stay there until spring comes. My issue is that all of this piled-up snow is endanger-ing those of us who have to walk down this street. How is it a danger? Well, for one, the snow is slippery, and after hundreds of people have trekked over the snow left on sidewalks, it starts to harden and eventually turns into a layer of ice, which is even worse. I learned just how slippery stomped-upon snow can be when I became a victim of Greenough’s ice during my fresh-man year. I fell just yards away from the wonderfully shoveled

and salted sidewalk in front of the school after slipping on a patch of ice and landing face-down. I didn’t want to get up, since there were way too many witnesses to prevent me from acting as if the fall had never happened. I’m happy to say that I’ve lived this incident down and haven’t had a repeat performance so far this year. However, I have seen others fall on Greenough in the past month and a half, and while everyone seems to have survived relatively unscathed (other than some possible bruis-ing of their egos), there’s always the risk of serious injury. As harmful as an injury could be, people are in even greater jeopardy when they don’t use the

sidewalks and choose to share the street with the cars. The danger lies in the possibility of a driver losing control. I hope this kind of thing never happens. Even so, I’m not saying that we should cower at home, too afraid to leave. People can’t live their lives thinking about all of the things that can hurt them. But that doesn’t mean that measures shouldn’t be taken to alleviate some of the sources of danger. All of the snow left on Gre-enough is making it harder for us to get to school in a safe and efficient way. Maybe instead of enduring it, something can finally be done.You can contact The Sagamore at [email protected].

SNOW continued from page 8

11OpinionsFebruary 2011 The Sagamore

So many meetings, so little timeBy Aden BrownContributing Writer

Cartoon by Vicky Kim

It’s long block, and it’s at least 100 degrees in the classroom. You’re sweating profusely. Surrounding you are three square fans that only make noise, with-out ever seeming to do their job. Your teacher continues to ramble on, but you don’t catch a single word she says. It’s almost July. Staying in school until the early days of summer is practi-cally a sure thing this year given the amount of snow days we’ve been having. When we first get that 5 a.m. phone call announcing a snow day, we thing it’s is a blessing from above. But we soon come to realize that we cannot leave our houses until we’ve shoveled the whole driveway. These snow days are quickly becoming miserable. Of course, it’s not our fault that all these snow days are coming our way. Unlike summer break, they’re not planned. But it still seems a little unfair that these spontane-ous occasions are eating away at our future vacation. Other high schools around

the country get out much ear-lier. As our friends and family from other parts of the country will be enjoying their vacation in late June, we will still be in school making up the days that we missed back in January. At this point, it is quite prob-able that students would prefer late starts from now on, instead of full-on snow days that could very well extend our school year until the last possible day. We cannot simply play in the snow, although Headmaster Bob Weintraub suggested we do so in a recent phone call announcing a snow day. As students, we have colos-sal amounts of homework and assignments to complete and cannot just run outside and sled down the nearest hill when the snow begins to fall. Granted, the first snow day is always exciting and many of us probably did go sledding or build a snowman that day. But the novelty is wearing off. So, now that the holidays are long gone, let it NOT snow so we can salvage what’s left of summer.Juvan Bonni and Nabeel Hussain can be contacted at [email protected].

“Make sure you all check in with me on your projects before class.” I dread these words with a passion. A few teachers of mine have made student-teacher meet-ings on homework assignments necessary. This wouldn’t be a problem, if I actually had the time to meet. I am at school from 7:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Z-block classes and sports don’t leave a busy student with a lot of spare time. This often means that usual conference times, like before or after school, are unavailable to me. Luckily, I have a free block, and I didn’t sign up for a club, otherwise I’d have no time at all. But unfortunately, teachers are often busy during the times I’m free, which makes meeting

with them near impossible. I have approached teachers multiple times with scheduling issues and every time they expect me to work them out myself. It is true that if I want to ask a teacher something, or if I miss a test, it is my responsibility to find a time that works for both of us. If my teacher requires me to check in with him or her, I don’t see how it is my responsibility alone and not the teacher’s, to schedule the meeting. My teachers, upon hearing my arguments, generally state that it is my responsibility to get all of my work done, including checking in with them. One of my teachers, after asking me to meet him after school, told me, “It’s homework. I’m having you do it outside of class, so you must find a way to meet with me.” I argued that I often do my homework at 7 p.m. and if my

I could not write this article. I tried four times, yelled at mul-tiple editors and took numerous procrastination “walks.” I was unwilling to admit to myself that the next chapter of my life will be applying to college. In eighth grade, I wrote about my eagerness to go to col-lege, how free, exciting and fun it would be. My sister, at 11 years old, knows she is going to “go to Harvard and live in London or the south of France.” Did I men-tion that only an obnoxious and indecisive older brother could not have his entire life planned out already, down to the floral arrangements at his wedding? On a recent weekend, I visited my cousin at Yale. And there, college life seemed to be all it was cracked up to be. Lots of work, interesting people and midnight snowball fights. Yet I could not come home and declare that “I HAD A GREAT TIME AT YALE.” All I have heard about re-cently is how few people get into the “most competitive” schools. I had been tricked into believing that every school would deliver an amazing education. I did not find this to be true. Who am I to

Accepting the next stepBy Jake Wolf-Sorokin

Layout Editor

pretend Yale’s facilities are com-parable with every other school in the country? I did not want to be labeled another Brookline kid caught up with the Ivies. Instead, I became another Brookline kid pretending to not care about getting into a “most competitive” school. I almost lied to myself, lied to my friends and family and lied to the school community in this piece. I almost wrote the words that might well be the mantra of college admissions. I almost told you, “There is no such thing as a perfect school, only a perfect fit.” Ironically, this is exactly what everyone is warned not to do. I firmly believe in not changing myself for a college, or anything, and in pursuing my passion. I am sorry, but these beliefs trump everything I almost said, every-thing that is nice to hear. I want to navigate my way through my last year and a half in high school finding balance and doing things I love. I will be myself throughout the college process. I want to go to a “most com-petitive” school. This is the truth. I do not care about the statistics. All good things come through a journey. Students participate in the “Ithaka Project” as they travel towards their high school di-ploma. Our staff recognizes that to graduate high school, there will

teacher wanted to meet me then, I’d be fine with that. My teacher shrugged and told me to get to my next class. A student has enough trou-bles without having to worry about scheduling. If all of my teachers decided to make meet-ings mandatory, I’d have no time to eat lunch, no time for extracur-ricular activities, and I’d still miss quite a few assignments. Of course, it could certainly be a lot worse for me: I could have no free blocks, for instance. But there are certainly students who don’t have free blocks and have tighter schedules than mine. Upon hearing me say this, one of my teachers was intrigued. “I am interested in hearing about your issue,” he said to me on one of my many days with a jam-packed schedule. “Why don’t you meet me after class to talk about it?”You can contact The Sagamore at [email protected].


be bumps in the road, and that we should embrace the bumps and learn from our struggles. My parents and guidance counselors also preach about how to “beat the college process” and “ensure success.” However, in our drive to ensure happiness and admission, we forget to learn from our mistakes. One of my cousin’s friends at Yale wrote their college essay without grammar. Challenging the admissions officer to embrace a new format for a college essay may have been a mistake. It was a mistake, but one to be learned from. The gustiness impressed the admissions officer, who re-quested the essay with grammar by the end of the week and later admitted the student. I WILL NOT do this. I will follow my own passions and be true to myself. I have always been taught to embrace my mistakes. The college process will be no different. I will make mistakes, and I will be proud of each and every one. Applying to the “most competitive” schools will not be easy and does not guarantee admission. But what it does guarantee is that I will not make the mistake of being dishonest; I will not pretend to not be interested.Jake Wolf-Sorokin can be contacted at [email protected].

&Arts Entertainment

Supporting cast members increase musical’s charisma

Receiving a lead role for anything is very difficult and re-warding. Whether it’s the captain of the basketball team, the club president or getting the lead role for a musical. More lines in a show, however, do not always lead to a character’s popularity with the audience. And characters with a few memo-rable lines often cause the crowd to leave saying, “Remember when this character said this!” Bat Boy, this year’s musical, is about a half-boy half-bat who is found by a group of teenagers. The town, however, repulses bat boy. Many people do not like him and want him killed. As with most shows, the cast features a lot of important supporting characters alongside the main protagonists. The sup-porting cast in Bat Boy has a very

important role. Sophomore Zev Fogelman took pride in his role. “Being a supporting charac-ter is a lot of fun. We may have fewer lines, but our job of helping to move along the story in a play or musical is crucial to the end result,” Fogelman said. Fogelman said that while he did not have as many lines, the extra free time during rehearsals allowed him to get to know his fellow cast mates and the pit band better. Junior Anthony Re provided an explanation for the role of the supporting cast member. “The supporting cast mem-ber provides interesting dialogue between the main characters and the rest of the cast. The dialogue creates a back and forth that helps move the story along.” While supporting members may not have as big a role in the show, the audition process for the

role was just as rigorous. “I had to memorize a mono-logue for the audition, as well as sing a song,” said Fogelman. “I had just found out that day the auditions were that day, so I decided to a monologue that I had done before and I looked up one of the songs on YouTube in the library. I was really nervous going in, but I was so happy when I got the part.” A new director also came in this year, providing the actors with a different audi-tioning experience. “An interesting difference from last year’s audition process was that we had to sing a song from the musical,” said Re. “We didn’t have to go through the stress of find-ing a song that was in your range and sounded good.” The audition process pro-vided a clean slate for all of the actors and actresses auditioning, making mistakes more promi-

nent. From the auditions, the cast was formed and the group began rehearsing after school. “It’s really tough to balance a long rehearsal schedule and school work,” said Re. “It’s good for students to arrange something with a teacher beforehand to let them know that it is going to be tougher for us to get in our work every day. Some of us do stay up those extra hours to work, but some of us just can’t stay up that late to work.” However, once the group got to know each other, a tight bond that Re described as similar to a close group of friends formed. “We have become a really close group,” said Re. “We have a bunch of inside jokes and we just have fun at rehearsals working together.” Fogelman and Re both de-scribed the show as bizarre and weird, but very fun to work on.

“When I first heard about Bat Boy, I thought it was about baseball,” said Re. “Then I looked it up on Wikipedia and thought it was so bizarre. I still think that this show is bizarre, but it was a lot of fun to work on.” While Fogelman was more familiar with the show, he de-scribed the experience of work-ing on the show as “memorable” and “a lot of fun.” Once the first show started, the hard work for all the cast members finally paid off as an audience sat and watched the culmination of their work. The show was filled with moments of great happiness and utter sadness. Comedy and horror took place for two hours, as time flew by for the actors performing their hearts out on the stage.Joon Lee can be contacted at [email protected].

Students strive to shine individually in small strings ensembles

Among backpacks strewn across floors covered with crum-pled papers, stray chairs, mis-placed ladders or sets for upcom-ing drama productions, students rehearse tirelessly. Several days a week since early January, members of the orchestra have been making their way into school early. They have been meeting in the Black Box, White Box and the Roberts-Dubbs Auditorium to prepare songs in small chamber music groups. The groups are composed of four to five performers who play cello, violin, viola, piano, bass and other orchestral instruments. It is this small group configuration that sets chamber music apart from other types of classical music. To achieve these small groups, Steven Lipsitt, the or-chestra’s conductor, split the musicians into groups and then gave them free rein to pick their own songs and prepare for the concert themselves, only pitching in to help when needed.

This experience has been new for some, like freshman Pearl Choi, while others, like sophomore Eliana von Krusen-stiern, are more experienced in chamber music groups. Whether veterans or rookies, the chamber music experience has been well received by the performers. “It’s a nice way to start out

the day, just hanging out with your friends,” said von Krusenstiern. Choi agreed, adding that the experience has brought her closer to the members of her group. However, not all felt that being in smaller groups built closer relationships. “At 7:30 a.m. nobody’s really all that much of a conversational-

ist,” said Jack Ruske, a sophomore who plays the violin in a quintet. Ruske did address other positive aspects of the experi-ence, noting that in chamber music, “you get to play your own individual part, and so you stand out, while still making good music as a whole with the rest of the players.”

Most groups got to pick their own music and were faced with a dilemma: Lady Gaga or Schubert? They could choose modern songs with string arrangements or stick with music already written for strings, which was ultimately what von Krusenstiern and Choi’s group did. With the independence and benefits of being in a small group also comes responsibility. “If you make a mistake, it’s re-ally easily heard,” said Ruske. “In a large group, if you play a wrong note or you mess up something, it doesn’t really matter because you have eleven other people playing the same thing. But in this you’re playing your own part, so when you mess up everyone can hear.” And with lots of hard work, groups have gone from being “disoriented” and playing “in the wrong time” to a “more together and cohesive” sound, according to Choi. After a little more practice, the groups will showcase their hard work and efforts on Feb. 17, when the chamber music groups perform. Daniel Krane can be contacted at [email protected].

By Joon LeeStaff Writer

By Daniel KraneStaff Writer

Photo by Daniel KraneClockwise from left, Andrea Kim, Frances Love, Pearl Choi and Eliana von Krusenstiern prepare for their Feb. 17 concert. Small chamber music groups practice early each morning in the auditorium.

Photos by Kerry GroveVisually stunning and emotionally fluctuating, this year’s flamboyant musical Batboy, directed by Ezra Flam, was performed on Feb. 9-12 in the Roberts/Dubbs Auditorium. The cast of Bat Boy: The Musical performed their show four times, one afternoon showtime on Wednesday and performances at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Student actors double as playwrights for March States Festival

By Adam RintellStaff Writer

“Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive... IT’S ALIVE!” This line from the 1932 hit movie Frankenstein first brought the words of Mary Shelley off the printed page. This year, a cast of 14 members will be reinventing the age-old tale for the annual States Drama Festival. Under the direction of drama teachers Mary Mastandrea and Mark Vanderzee, the play will be arranged in a unique way. Each actor appearing on stage will also be one of the play-wrights. Senior Max Doyle loves the creative aspect. “It’s so easy for any cast member to make a sug-gestion or write an alternate script or scene and for it to be seriously considered as a pos-sible part of the play,” he said.

“We often break into groups and write a scene before per-forming it in front of everyone and it really makes it feel like it is the actor’s and the director’s play.” New to the school this year, sophomore Jackie Merrill agrees. “We have extremely cre-ative people working on this. When I walk into the room, I can really feel the artistic gears churning,” Merrill said. Doyle enjoys the creative at-mosphere too.“I really like get-ting into groups with the cast and bouncing ideas off of each other to find a great scene or story or character idea,” Doyle said. Sophomore Jake Gonnella loves “the family aspect of it and the relationship with the actors.” He added, “There’s a lot of good energy. I crave the feeling of relief when you know you are done and you did a good

job.” The classic story has been re-imagined, set in the modern era with some dark twists. It will stray from what has in some ways begun to define the Fran-kenstein story. So it will not be centered around a big green man with stitches on his forehead and bolts in his neck, i.e. the “Hal-loween-icized” version of the creature. “This is not your grandfather’s Frankenstein,” said Merrill. Cast members believe anyone can identify with the struggles of the main characters. It large-ly involves topics and issues that everyone wrestles with in real life, as well as interesting science-fiction aspects that will be sure to amaze. The play will involve contro-versial topics in today’s medical world such as human cloning, recreating life and ethics regard-

ing sustaining or ending life. “I think something that really separates this play from others is the amount of science we are looking at,” said Doyle. “We’re researching in order to prepare ourselves for the content of the story that involves characters in the medical field working on science experiments.” The cast has been work-ing tirelessly for months, first watching older film adaptations and later writing skits and sepa-rate scenes. They have also done research into modern medical developments. “We are always looking up articles online and watching documentaries, looking for re-alistic words and information we can use in sections that deal with science, so we can feel that our play is well researched,” said Doyle. Another plot twist in the play will be the format of the

competition. At each stage, the schools involved will have no more than forty minutes to perform and only five minutes on each end to move the set in and out. Merrill feels that this more basic setup “could give the au-dience more of an opportunity to imagine rather than see with their eyes.” The last time BHS performed a cast-written play in the festi-val, the group won in the finals of the competition. “We joke about that a lot when we think about how we’re writing a play as a cast for the festival again,” said Doyle. Preliminary rounds of the competition will take place at the Roberts-Dubbs Auditorium on March 5. There will also be performances open to everyone on March 24 and 25. Adam Rintell can be contacted at [email protected].

Photos by Briana SchoenBrookline High actors reached the semi-finals with their production of Rimers of Eldritch during last year’s States Drama Festival. From left to right, Becky Danning, Kate Hilts, Hannah Rimm, Yonit Friedman and Celia Givens perform in the 2010 festival. Students are working dilligently in preparation for this year’s fesitval beginning on March 5.

13ArtsFebruary 2011 The Sagamore

Anxiety Homework Panic Attack Sleep Deprivation Aches SAT Teachers Tests Quizzes Time Crunch Coffee Parents Caffeine Grades Broken Computers Essays GPA Papers Pruebas Lost Textbooks Second Quarter Meditation Relationships Sports Competition Extracurriculars Junior Year ACT Midyear Exams Final Exams Friends Public Speaking AP Exams Z-block Being on Time Facebook Peer Pressure School Sib-lings N-ing Out AWOLs Pop Quiz Snow College Science Math Contests Playoffs Honors Classes Projects Presentations Enemies Alarm Clocks Waiting for the T World Language Speaking/Listening Tests Be-ing Broke Insomnia Walking In The Rain Without An Umbrella Driver’s Ed Deadlines Failing Jobs Alarm Clocks Wating for the T World Language Speaking/Listening Tests Being Broke Insomnia Walking In The Rain Without An Umbrella Driver’s Ed Deadlines Pruebas Lost Textbooks Second Quarter Meditation Relationships Sleep Deprivation Aches SAT Teachers Tests Quizzes Failing Jobs Midyear Exams Final Exams Junior Year

N-ing Out AWOLs Pop Quiz Snow College Science Math Contests

Anxiety Homework Panic Attack Sleep Deprivation Aches SAT Teachers Tests Quizzes Time Crunch Coffee P a r -ents Caffeine Grades Broken Computers Es- s a y s GPA Papers Pruebas Lost Textbooks Sec-ond Quarter Meditation

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Teachers Tests Quizzes Time Crunch Cof- fee Parents Caf- feine Grades Broken Computers Essays GPA Papers Pruebas Losing expensive Textbooks

By Ayesha Mehrotra

For many students, the demands of homework have consequences, including a loss of sleep. While some students struggle to stay awake throughout the day, others have created systems to avoid sleep deprivation. Junior Isa Moss was new to Brookline High School last year and was unaccustomed to the heavy workload. She found it hard to function since she was going to bed very late. “I got really stressed from all the work that was piling up,” she said. “It was awful.” Realizing that she would have a heightened workload her junior year, Moss created a system to al-leviate the strain. When she got her schedule in the mail, she made a budget detailing the amount of time to spend on homework for each class, including breaks. The effects of the system were immediate: Moss averaged two to three additional hours of sleep per night. Furthermore, she found it easier to make time for friends and sports. The budget was especially helpful during field hockey season. While following a schedule is effective for Moss, rigid systems are not the only means of working productively. After doing homework at the library a few times, junior Mariana Toledo realized that she is most efficient in that environment. “When I’m at the library, there’s nothing there to distract me,” said Toledo. “So I can do my home-work a lot faster.” Senior Abe Santos has found a way to spend time with his friends while working. Along with nine other members of his math class, Santos participates in a math study group that meets in preparation for upcoming tests. “We set aside time to actually do all the work we have to do, and then after that’s all done, we’ll hang out,” said Santos. According to Santos, The League of Extraordinary Mathematicians, as they call themselves, has benefited tremendously from these meetings. Santos emphasized that group collaboration can be an effective study method. “People should definitely do it, because you learn a lot when you have a group,” said Santos.

By Andrea Kim

Who do you feel most pressured by? Irritation, frustration and no motivation. With pressure from all sides, students have different ways of coping. According to junior Ayla Sanchez, her parents are “always on top of her” about school work. From checking homework and tests to checking in with her teachers, her parents consistently pressure her to an extreme. This pressure caused her to feel like she lost herself to the point that she had no idea what she liked to do anymore. Sanchez is not the only one dealing with pressure from her parents. In fact, parents seem to be one of the most common causes of stress in students’ lives. Junior Jeonghee Woo’s parents pressure her to do better on the SATs. The SATs are incredibly hard for her, since Korean is her first language. Moreover, according to Woo, her parents prevent her from hanging out with her friends so that she can study more at home. Sophomore Jacob Dana, like Sanchez and Woo, says that his parents pressure him, but not as extremely. “I can just tell when they’re disappointed,” said Dana. On the other hand, to sophomore Leah Sherman, parents are not so much of a problem. Although she has to deal with stress from family, she believes that holding on to friendships is one of the biggest problems for her. English teacher Peter Sedlak believes that there are many causes of stress, including parents. “Students might say ‘my parents would kill me if I got a B or a C,’ so there’s definitely that kind of pres-sure,” said Sedlak. Sedlak also said that parents pressure students to apply to certain schools, which especially causes seniors stress. However, he thinks that the students putting pressure on themselves throughout the college application process by applying to top-tier schools is a greater stressor than external forces. Furthermore, Sedlak believes that teachers are one of the reasons why students feel pressured. He thinks that it might vary from teacher to teacher, but teachers do have some unintentional role in pressuring students.

Here are some tips for stress remedy. Going clockwise: Tense your fingers and toes, and then relax them. Focus on relaxing your body. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Focus on your breathing and nothing else around you. Keep 30 minute blocks. Work for 30 minutes with no distractions and take a break once you finish. Be self-aware! Recognize when you are thinking negatively. Stop yourself and focus on practicing a positive attitude. Verbally reinforce a positive

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STRESSFUL SURVEYSWhat class stresses you out the most?

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What class gives you the most homework?

*Various classes were given surveys in January with two questions: “What class stresses you out the most?” and “What class give you the most homework?” Responses were calculated by Sagamore staff members.

STRESSING ABOUT STRESS

Anxiety Homework Panic Attack Sleep Deprivation Aches SAT Teachers Tests Quizzes Time Crunch Coffee Parents Caffeine Grades Broken Computers Essays GPA Papers Pruebas Lost Textbooks Second Quarter Meditation Relationships Sports Competition Extracurriculars Junior Year ACT Midyear Exams Final Exams Friends Public Speaking AP Exams Z-block Being on Time Facebook Peer Pressure School Sib-lings N-ing Out AWOLs Pop Quiz Snow College Science Math Contests Playoffs Honors Classes Projects Presentations Enemies Alarm Clocks Waiting for the T World Language Speaking/Listening Tests Be-ing Broke Insomnia Walking In The Rain Without An Umbrella Driver’s Ed Deadlines Failing Jobs Alarm Clocks Wating for the T World Language Speaking/Listening Tests Being Broke Insomnia Walking In The Rain Without An Umbrella Driver’s Ed Deadlines Pruebas Lost Textbooks Second Quarter Meditation Relationships Sleep Deprivation Aches SAT Teachers Tests Quizzes Failing Jobs Midyear Exams Final Exams Junior Year

N-ing Out AWOLs Pop Quiz Snow College Science Math Contests

Anxiety Homework Panic Attack Sleep Deprivation Aches SAT Teachers Tests Quizzes Time Crunch Coffee P a r -ents Caffeine Grades Broken Computers Es- s a y s GPA Papers Pruebas Lost Textbooks Sec-ond Quarter MeditationLang

uages

Math

30% (34 people)

Teachers Tests Quizzes Time Crunch Cof- fee Parents Caf- feine Grades Broken Computers Essays GPA Papers Pruebas Losing expensive Textbooks

All is quiet, except for the constant tapping of a student typing away on a key board. Years ago, that stu-dent would have gone to bed hours ago, but those elementary school days remain in the past. A glance at the clock. At least two more hours filled with notes and essays loom ahead before the student can consider going to bed just to rise again in a few short hours. Years of difficult classes and demanding extracurricular activities may look pleasing on a college appli-cation, but psychologist June Bowman thinks there is more to it. According to Bowman, some parents and students do not recognize that colleges like well-rounded applicants rather than ones “just taking five APs and studying ten hours a night and not having a life,” she said. Senior Lekha Puri, who took three AP classes in both her junior and senior years, emphasized the signifi-cance of self-assessment while bearing a full class load. “If people want to try it, it’s all about the effort you put in,” said Puri. “Know what you can handle.” College, years away for some, motivates students to choose particular classes. But the effects on the mind and body of over-scheduling are immediate. Parents want their kids to get into a good school, according to psychology intern Liz Niemiec. They “push them to find their niche.” This can burn students out and induce anxiety attacks when accompanied by short amounts of sleep and a poor diet.

Stress and work

Design by Vicky Kim

Technology: the blessing and curse of modern education. With the Internet at their fingertips, students can write essays about Napoleon Bonaparte one minute and chat with their Facebook friends the next. People incorporate these tools so frequently into daily life that technology’s influence on stress slips past the eye, yet the results are felt. Shockwaves of stress spread like wildfire in a world of high-speed online com-munication. Students can easily communicate stress and negative feelings with peers through quick commu-nication, according to psychologist Bob Babigian. To combat stressing over homework, sophomore Kenny Vertus limits hanging out with friends, but a quick glance at his cell phone can prove detrimental. “When I do cut back from friends, I usually text them,” said Vertus. He and his friends communicate to each other “all the negatives” they feel about assignments. Junior Coco Faber, who does not have a Facebook account or a cell phone, successfully avoids the distrac-tion of technology. “A lot of people I talk to say that they get distracted by Facebook,” said Faber. “It probably helps that I don’t have that.” So turn off the cell phone and close that Facebook window open on the computer. That way there is no reason to say, “What happened? It’s already 7 p.m.!”

One of the largest and most influential components of stress is overlooked for its apparent simplicity: the mind. The mind acts as a muscle. Just like in sports, one can train his/her brain to perform in a certain way after years of repetition. Patterns emerge that if unattended can persist in higher education and future careers. “If you freak out all the time and get straight As, you think you have to freak out all the time to succeed in life,” said Niemic. “You need to stop that train.” Patterns such as this can develop as early as middle school but do not become prominent until high school when students are challenged. “By the time students are in high school, they are afraid to admit that they like to play,” said Niemiec. “Play isn’t just fun. It’s therapeutic.” There are, according to Niemic, two different mindsets: the reactive, which gets worked up about a problem, and the proactive, which tries to solve the problem. In distressing situations it is better to form a habit of building a positive attitude. The reactive mindset is a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” as Babigian described it. If you say that you are going to do poorly on a test, you will. You will psyche yourself out. Babigian emphasized the significance of recognizing an unhealthy mindset. You cannot begin to combat anxiety with applicable techniques unless he/she identifies the stressors. Senior Laura Cohen prevents anxiety by choosing to recognize possible sources of stress and evaluating them. “If something happened in the past and there’s nothing you can do to fix it, there’s no point in just dwelling over it and you just have to move on,” said Cohen. “A lot of people stress for days about what could have happened and what should have happened and what they could have done et cetera, but there’s no point to it. It’s in the past.”

Here are some tips for stress remedy. Going clockwise: Tense your fingers and toes, and then relax them. Focus on relaxing your body. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Focus on your breathing and nothing else around you. Keep sm

all charms or thing

s in your pocket or in your b

ackpack as a sym

bol of g

ood luck. This reinforces a sense of safety and

security in the face of anxiety. Set up your w

ork period

s in 30 minute blocks. Work for 30 minutes with no distractions and take a break once you finish. Be self-aware! Recognize when you are thinking negatively. Stop yourself and focus on practicing a positive attitude. Verbally reinforce a positive

STRESSFUL SURVEYSWhat class stresses you out the most?

Languag

es

Math

What class gives you the most homework?

Stress and technology

Stress and the mind

*Various classes were given surveys in January with two questions: “What class stresses you out the most?” and “What class give you the most homework?” Responses were calculated by Sagamore staff members.

By A

nna Parkhurst

STRESSING ABOUT STRESSB

y Anna Parkhurst

By A

nna Parkhurst

While in our last column we discussed the brilliant genres of music coming out of the computer age, this month we can’t stress enough the alarming premise that the computer age has exacerbated: a myo-pic focus on singles. There’s no risk in buying one song that you can’t get out of your head, but riddle me this: did you like “I Want Candy” so much that you risked buying any one of Aaron Carter’s three consecutive epony-mous albums? What happened after the Click Five finally released their full album after their hit single “Just the Girl” swept the nation? We’ll tell you: the Click 5’s album was popularly received in Southeast Asia, but nowhere else. Bassist Ethan Mentzer described the rest of their journey as such: “There was a point where it felt like we were in an airplane and the engines just died. It was a long, slow glide down.” Aaron Carter and his 36 producers’ album earned a lackluster C- from Enter-tainment Weekly, the same publication that benevolently bestowed an A upon Hilary Duff’s third album, Hilary Duff. So how did it come to be that we all know the names of these one-hit-per-album dilettantes? The faults lie with our nation’s vehe-ment addiction to iTunes and unimagina-

By Ben Berke and Evan SternsteinLayout Editor and Fundraising


tive, monotone radio stations, for those are the engines that make an artist with only one produced song famous. With the ability to download individual songs now readily available, the public quickly turns its attention to ephemeral boys and girls who can squeak out new vocals over an all-too-familiar chord progression. It is easy to imagine the digital age mu-sician’s thought process: should I focus my energy on producing one hit or spread my energy thin to produce a full-length album that would earn me the same money? Artists these days crank out albums so that their one good song can make it big on the charts. For instance, Usher made 2010 his ban-ner year by producing two full albums. But try listening to either in its entirety. Then leave Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue on for its duration. Neither the consistency nor the coherency of Usher’s album can compare. Where’s the sense in extolling an artist who does one-twelfth of the work? If one song is good, the other eleven shouldn’t matter, right? Once a sanctimonious outlet for only the artist’s most original and creative com-positions, the album has devolved into a convenient platter to market one song, and we wrongfully acquit the artists who contribute to its degradation. It’s time we praised those few artists that carefully craft their sound to make a record full of songs that seamlessly mesh together, creating a unified effect without any song more conspicuous than another. It’s time we let Mos Def ’s Auditorium dominate Chris Brown’s Graffiti on a track vs. track smack-down. It’s time we thanked the Shins for the four-year effort behind Wincing the Night Away and realized that tracks one, two, and 4-13 on Avril Lavigne’s Let Go are just producer-pushed nonsense.Ben Berke and Evan Sterinstein can be contacted at [email protected].

Not quite a chorus and not quite an a cappella group, Glee has spread from television to the White Box during most X-blocks. However, according to club founder sophomore Carlos Rios, “Un-fortunately, we haven’t been able to accomplish really anything.” Rios started Glee Club at the beginning of this year after encourage-ment from his guidance counselor Ellen Herz. “She helped me through the ups and downs,” said Rios. “Whenever I have a setback in Glee, she’s always the one I can come to.” Rios was initially driven by the show itself. “After I saw Glee, it gave me a huge inspiration to use music of modern pop culture,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but I’ve never known how to do it, so when I saw Glee, it helped me come up with original ideas which I’ve been able to use for the club.” The official adviser of Glee Club is music teacher Mike Driscoll. Though he is too busy to attend Glee Club meetings, Rios said he is “more of a mentor to me than to the club.” One problem Driscoll has helped Rios to solve is the challenge of perfect-ing songs quickly. Rios said that the club had plans for performances related to Halloween and to Christmas but were not able to prepare enough by the time

the holidays arrived. Driscoll helped Rios set deadlines for preparing songs, which according to Driscoll encouraged the group “to have a goal and to keep working toward that goal.” The club has been through struggles with membership. They had six members during the first half of the year, but three recently had to drop out. “It’s always difficult to start a group,” said Driscoll. Despite the challenges, Rios values this experience as the first time he has led a club. The members “see me as a leader, which is something that I didn’t fully expect to happen,” said Rios. He has big plans for the rest of the year. He’s hoping to do some mash-ups, such as Beyoncé’s “Halo” with Jordan Sparks’ “No Air” or Rihanna’s “Disturbia” with Miley Cyrus’ “Can’t Be Tamed.” He’s also open to ideas from club members, and said that these ideas help him expand to other genres. Rios is hoping that the club will be able to perform 12 songs at a concert that he’s planning in spring. Though Glee is small, the members are connected in that all except Rios are new to singing. “A lot of them were pretty shy in the beginning of the year and they’ve been able to open up more,” said Rios. So though it may seem like Glee Club has not “been able to accomplish really anything,” it has certainly made an impact in Rios’ life.Sarah Plovnick can be contacted at [email protected].

By Sarah PlovnickCo-Editor in Chief

New club struggles to stay afloat

Welcome

to the


The February Artspace show, “Mag-netic,” features student work from many art classes around the school. Above are just a few of the highlights.

Trippin’ Tunes

Ben

& E

van’s

XV- “Mirror’s Edge”

Wolf Parade-“I Am My Father’s Son”

Dr. Dog- “From”Chamillionaire- “Good Morning”

Photo by Kerry GroveGlee Club, founded by Carlos Rios this fall, has had membership problems recently. Rios wants to perfect songs quickly, but the club has only met once this month.

G EE16 Arts The Sagamore February 2011

17 Arts

What makes hip hop good? Nothing is more painful than hearing someone complain about how bad rap music is, especially when their experience with the genre is limited to artists like Chingy and Soulja Boy. It’s true that rap has been through a lean phase these past few years, but it’s far from dead. How did things get this bad? Why is rap in recession? The biggest problem is that many people in our generation aren’t aware of that other side of hip-hop, the side that is both lyrically em-powering and technically sound. Neither of these aspects is reflected through album sales or the iTunes downloads. So the question remains: what is good rap? Being a matter of opinion, the answer varies. For some people, lyrics are irrelevant. Aslong as they can sway to a beat, they couldn’t care less. Then there are the polar op-posites of these people, who care only about lyrics, and classify “pop-rap” as shallow and unbearable.Lyrics are an integral part of rap. This includes not only message, but also choice of words. Good lyrics make the listener feel in the moment. They can change emotions rapidly, sending that shiver down your spine. It’s a good feeling, but one that doesn’t occur too often in today’s rap. Rhyme delivery is critical, too. Nothing else matters if there is no rhythm and flow. Production is also an understat-ed element of hip-hop music. Those deep lyrics don’t mean a thing if they’re over shoddy beats. So we can narrow the analy-sist of rap music down to three core elements: lyrical content, delivery and production. Additionally, there is the appeal of the artist outside of their music, the so-called X-factor. As Eminem said himself, he wouldn’t have sold half the records he did if he were black. The mere fact that he is conspicuous means that a wider range of people can re-late to him. Other artists who have gotten famous because of the X-factor include 50 Cent (shot 9 times and survived) and Kanye West’s childlike tantrums and diatribes (just ask Taylor Swift). Progressive rap (or rap with deep-er messages) on the other hand, involves a whole other set of factors that determine how good or bad something is. Self-awareness is a crucial trait that determines how good a hip-hop artist is. If music is made with the intention of it being catchy yet shallow, then it can’t be compared to artists who create more profound tracks about social and political issues. The near future looks bright for the genre. Forthcoming albums such as Dr. Dre’s Detox, Lupe Fiasco’s L.A.S.E.R.S., Nas’ Lost Tapes: Vol. 2 and Jay Z’s collaboration album with Kanye West Watch The Throne are all highly anticipated. 2010 in particular was a slow year. Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Eminem’s Recovery are really the only major highlights. This year is off to a good start though, with Talib Kweli’s Gutter Rainbows turning out to be yet another ex-cellently produced record, as well as some exciting prospects opening up with youngsters like B.o.B. Only time will tell what will happen as the genre evolves. The choice is up to you, the listener. Support the kind of rap you enjoy and that’s the kind of rap you’ll keep getting. Editor’s note: This is in no way shape or form a Top 10 list or anything. Loosely ranked, we want to display artists who have shined in their respective categories, whether it’s emceeing, lyrical content or production.

Eminem – He’s noteworthy be-cause of his rapid yet clear pronunciation,

his ability to bend words to rhyme and his melody and syncopation. That’s quite the mouthful,

but the Detroit native has left a mark on the rap game that won’t ever be touched.

Album: The Marshall Mathers LP [2000] Song: “Stan”Jay-Z – A true veteran of the rap game, Jay-Z is respected every-

where. He varies his flow, and he’s come out with innumerable hits. Album: The Blueprint [2001] Song: “Dead Presidents II”

Nas – It ain’t easy going up against Jay-Z, but Nas ended up crushing him with some vicious tracks in their feud. Fast-forward a decade and Jay-Z has hit the

mainstream and is rolling around in money, but Nas is still the king of flow.Album: Illmatic [1994] Song: “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)”

The Notorious B.I.G.– Biggie’s flow is unmatchable and irreplaceable. Content-wise, however, his work really suffers. The golden stuff is slightly overshadowed by some

unnecessarily graphic and nasty songs.Album: Life After Death [1997] Song: “Machine Gun Funk”

Royce da 5’9” – A stylish rapper with killer flow who’s worked with legends like Emi-nem, it’s surprising that he hasn’t found mainstream success. However, his rap group,

Slaughterhouse, recently signed with Shady Records. This should give his career a boost. Album: Slaughterhouse [2009] Song: “Bad Meets Evil”

GZA – An unbelievable freestyler, ‘The Genius’ can do no wrong. On Wu-Tang joints, his verses stand out as the smoothest. Liquid Swords 2 is coming out this year.

Album: Liquid Swords [1995] Song: “Cold World”Mos Def– He has a huge range, rocking tracks about love and more

somber ones about racism and peace in Islam.Album: Black on Both Sides [1999]. Song: “Mathematics”Rakim – He was way ahead of his time, in addition to pioneering com-plex rhyme patterns. Generously talented, his name is up there with the best.Album: The 18th Letter [1997] Song: “When I B On Tha Mic”T.I. – When he’s good, he’s great. When he’s bad, he’s terrible. His early work is still one of the best examples of Dirty South (which involes Southern slang and simple lyrics) at its rawest. Album: King [2006] Song:“Slide Show”Tupac – A symbol and martyr of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry, Tupac Skakur was a gangsta rapper, but he described the hardships of ghetto vio-lence, racism, misogyny, and other social problems so well that he’ll be remembered as one of the greatest lyricists of all time.Album: The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory [1996]Song: “Changes”

DJ Premier – His discography is overwhelming, and he’s the champion of samplers. He works with the most skilled emcees, which has to be tough because he has to make beats that can compli-

ment complex rhymes.Album: Nas – Illmatic [1994] Song: Nas, KRS-One & Rakim – “Classic”

Dr. Dre – An absolute giant in the hip-hop production world, Dr. Dre pioneered West Coast G-funk, an extremely dense sound involving elements of funk and jazz.

Album: Dr. Dre – The Chronic 2001 [1999] Song: “The Next Episode”Kanye West – Say what you will about his clumsy rapping and inflated ego,

the man knows how to make music. Even 808s & Heartbreak, his worst album lyrically, sounds fantastic.

Album: Kanye West – Graduation [2007] Song: “Flashing Lights”Scott Scorch – Anybody who can make 50 Cent’s heinous rhymes sound

melodious deserves credit. Storch is an absolute god with piano-dominated beats.

Album: 50 Cent – The Massacre [2005] Song: Fat Joe – “Make It Rain”

Swizz Beatz – He’s done a staggering amount of production for just about everybody in the game.

Album: One Man Band Man [2007] Song: DMX – “Party Up”

Emcees

Lyricists

producers

Article by writing editors Ayush Kumar and Colby Bermel


The Sagamore February 2011

Other time travelMust-Sees

Back to the Future- Michael J. Fox stars as a boy from 1985 stuck in 1955 whose time traveling accidentally prevents his parents from falling in love.17 Again- Romantic comedy about an unhappy man who transforms into his 17-year-old self and tries to win back his wife and kids.Groundhog Day- Stars Bill Murray as an egotistical meteorologist who is stuck reliving Groundhog Day until he becomes a better person.Run Lola Run- German film with creative cinematic technique about a girl who has 20 minutes to obtain 100,000 francs to save her boyfriend’s life.

A rtist of the Month

Amelia Thelen

While NBA players like Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce dominate Boston basketball courts, our own Amelia Thelen was there too, but she brought a different kind of game. On Feb. 4, Thelen performed twice with her dance group Contemporarily Out Of Order with both the Junior Company and Adult Company during the Celtics’ pre-game show. Thelen started dancing in sixth grade because her neighbor, an older role model, suggested it. “I kind of kept quitting ev-erything that I did, so it was just another thing I was trying, and then, I just stuck with it,” said

By Anita KnopovBusiness Manager

Thelen. T h e l e n i n i t i a l l y started with a ballet class but, as a high school junior, she mostly fo-cuses on con-te m p o r a r y and modern dance.She decided to p u r s u e dance be -cause she was able to see herself im-proving over time. “It wasn’t like scoring a goal,” said Thelen. “I could see in my exhibitions myself getting better. I could literally see my progress. Also, I think dance is really pretty, and it’s fun to be a part of something as beautiful as dance and be able to perform on stage. It’s really something to strive for.” In addition to four prac-tices a week in school, Thelen also practices four times a week outside of school, each practice lasting for at least two hours. She had to audition for

both of the dance companies she is with right now, and enjoys being a part of both. “With the Adult Company, the dancers can really pick up the choreography quickly, so it’s more difficult, but both of the groups are challenging and I’ve had great experiences.” Junior Sarah Kahl, one of Thelen’s closest friends, focuses on the diligence and effort that Thelen routinely puts into her dancing. “She will basically jump through hoops to make sure everything is up to par with her dance,” said Kahl. Kahl added that the hard work pays off because Contem-porarily Out of Order is taken really seriously, “and for some,

it’s basically a profession.” T h e l e n might have s h o w s a l l weekend long and rehears-als for up to six hours in one day. Thelen’s cur-rent focus is the showcase by the Adult Company on Feb. 12. “Since the Adult Com-pany is a new

company, it’s kind of our coming out performance,” said Thelen. “It’s our chance to show Boston that we are here to show off our talent. We’ve been mostly work-ing on that show.” In the future, dancing is something Thelen looks forward to continuing but not on a profes-sional level. “I want to do it for fun. It’s an extremely competitive field, and I started late. I would like to continue dancing, just for me.”Anita Knopov can be contacted at [email protected].

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

LAST FROM The PASTK

ira’s


as Sigmund Freud and Joan of Arc (who is not, as Ted thought, Noah’s wife). There are so many won-derful things about this movie. First, it makes history fun. As a self-proclaimed history nerd (I could easily rattle off my top five favorite European and American historical figures with reasons why I love them), I love movies about history. Furthermore it takes important historical figures and gives them quirky personali-ties. While they do things that they would never have actually done, like ogle girls in the mall or go down water slides, it makes the figures extremely likable. My understanding of the subtle references to the kid-napped historical figures makes me, and anyone else who watches the movie and comprehends the references, feel smart. One such example is that Napoleon goes to a water park called Waterloo (the name of the site where he was defeated). Another is when

Bill tells Freud he has a “minor Oedipal complex.” Also, the way Bill and Ted talk is hilarious. They describe almost everything good as “most excellent” or “bodacious.” Bad things are “bogus” or “heinous,” and most sentences end with “dude.” Their syntax sounds very proper, but their surfer dude ac-cents render that proper speech priceless. One example of this is when Bill thinks Ted is dead and says, “Bogus. Heinous. Most non-triumphant. Ah, Ted, don’t be dead, dude.” What Bill and Ted, along with the audience, learn at the end of the movie is that history can be fun. I think that’s a really important lesson, because his-tory repeats itself. While there aren’t any amazing cinematic techniques or important themes, this film takes something that is usually boring and makes it exhilarating.Kira Simon can be contacted at [email protected].


“Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” This is what Ted says to Bill while asking people outside the convenience store, the Circle K, if they know when the Mongols lived. I love this quote because it sums up Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: strange things are afoot. Bill and Ted ’s Excellent Adventure is a wacky 1980s comedy about two slack-ers trying to be rock stars. The boys are failing history and must travel through time and bring back historical figures for their history report. The film stars Keanu Reeves as Ted and Alex Winter as Bill, with George Carlin as their guide from the future. Bill and Ted travel by a magical phone booth to many different times and places, from ancient Greece to Napoleonic Europe. They kidnap characters of whom they previously knew nothing, such

Restaurant of the Month: Dok Bua

I had never been to Dok Bua before. All I knew was that my friends had gone and raved about it. After Rod Dee (my go-to Thai food restaurant) moved from Coolidge Corner to Washington Square, I was happy to hear that I could still get quality Thai food in Coolidge Corner. When we went to Dok Bua for lunch, the atmo-sphere was pleasant. The restaurant was neither crowded nor loud, so it was easy to hear each other talk. We sat at a table right next to a display of snack foods that you’d never see at Star Market or Whole Foods, like baked squid and toasted prawn, neatly packaged in red containers. We spent quite a bit of time admiring the snack foods and trying to work up the nerve to buy some, which we didn’t end up doing. However, more adven-turous restaurant-goers should definitely sample the exotic variety. The menu at Dok Bua is full of options. There are appetizers, soup, side orders, yum salads, house specialties, vegetarian


the Mango Curry as I don’t like curry or mangoes in general, everyone else at the table loved it. We all, however, immensely enjoyed the Pad-Se-Ew. Our orders came with side dishes. We chose dumplings and egg rolls, both of which were small, but the perfect size given the amount of other food we had. I enjoyed the egg rolls more

because they paired nicely with the sauce from the Popcorn Chicken, but the dumplings were also delicious. Overall, the service at Dok Bua is prompt and accommodating, which always gives any restaurant an overall boost. When choosing which Thai food

restaurant to go to in Brook-line, it comes down to loca-

tion. I love Dok Bua, but I am still

a loyal Rod Dee customer; both are high-quality Thai places. My suggestion is that if you are in Coolidge Corner, especially in the winter, make the quicker trip to Dok Bua. You will be more than satisfied. The restaurant is located at 411 Harvard Street, just beyond Dorado and across from the Israeli Book Shop.Kira Simon can be contacted at [email protected].

“It’s fun to be a part of

something as beautiful as dance and be able to perform

on stage.”-Amelia Thelen

entrees, special noodle dishes, stir-fried noodles, Thai noodle soup, Thai curry, fried rice plates, rice plates, fish, and Thai des-serts. Our first courses, Popcorn Chicken and Fresh Rolls (spring rolls), came shortly after we sat down. Both came with their own sauces that perfectly accentu-

ated the flavors. They were also conveniently bite-sized. Next, the main courses arrived, emanating a mouth-watering aroma. We ordered Pad-Se-Ew (sautéed wide rice noodles with tofu) and Chinese broccoli. Our other dish was Mango Curry, made with coconut milk, yellow curry and vegetables. While I personally did not enjoy

Photo courtesy of Amelia Thelen

Amelia Thelen with two others from her dance ensemble. Thelen excitedly anticipates showing Boston what the group is all about.

Photo by Kerry GroveThai vegetarian curry at Dok Bua.

18 Arts The Sagamore February 2011

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The Arts in BriefSpring Play

This year’s Spring Play will kick off with a matinee on March 9 at 3:30 p.m. in the Black Box. Neighborhood 3, directed by Summer Williams, will have additional performances on March 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m. and March 12 at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The story follows a group of children who become infatuated with a video game called Neighborhood 3. Following the trend of previous years, this Spring Play contains dark humor with serious undertones.

open Mic Open Mic Night will be held on March 1 at 7 p.m. in Room 120. Open Mic Nights are held monthly to raise money for Girls’ Rock Camp Boston, a non-profit organization for girls between the ages of 8 and 16 interested in music. The events are held in the band room and feature a variety of musicians. There is no entrance fee, but a hat is passed around for donations. The goal of Open Mic Nights is to raise $800–1,000 to purchase a new instrument for the camp.

By Ayesha Merohtra

Jodi Picoult Author Jodi Picoult will be at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. She will be reading from her newest novel, Sing You Home, which will be released on March 1. Picoult is well known for her previous novels Nineteen Min-utes, Change of Heart, and My Sister’s Keeper, the latter of which was made into a movie. Tickets for the Picoult appearance will be available at the Brook-line Booksmith for $5.

What’s up, Arts?Monday Tuesday WednesdayThursday Friday Saturday

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Bat Boy: The Musical @ 3:30 p.m. in the Robert/Dubbs Auditorium

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Bat Boy: The Musical @ 7:30 p.m. in the Roberts/Dubbs Auditorium



Dr. Dog @ 9:00 p.m. at the Para-dise Lounge

Galactic @ 9:00 p.m. at the Paradise Lounge

Girl Talk @ 6:00 p.m. at the House of Blues

Self-made musician ‘something special’

By Shanshan GuoStaff Writer

With sunlight catching on scarlet curtains and illuminating the room with red and brown hues, musician Bella Ortiz’s room is where music and talent blends together to create a warm haven of retro art. Her passion for music and playing guitar started when she was just six years old. She was introduced to the music world by her father’s side of the family, which consists of craftsmen and musicians. Now a sophomore, Ortiz

is a unique musician. She takes her inspira-tion from all different genres and never sticks to just one distinct voice. “I tend to keep my music really simple,” said Ortiz. “Even as of now, I’m still trying to figure my style out.” Ortiz started writ-ing her own lyrics about two years ago. At first, she was more focused on playing, writing lyrics down with the hope that a substitute might be able to sing them. But after settling down and singing her own lyrics, she decided to stick with singing them herself. Sophomore Abby Raisz has collaborated and worked with Ortiz in the past. “What’s really in-

spiring is that she writes all of her own music and doesn’t have fancy guitar or voice lessons,” said Raisz. “She’s very independent, which is a great quality. Bella honestly doesn’t have a style that can be defined. She’s a mix of so many wonderful sounds and emotions. Her ability to connect her music with so many different types of people really gives them something special in every single performance.” Eager to share her music with her peers, Ortiz posted some of her polished pieces on both YouTube and Facebook, where she was soon flooded by positive

feedback and encouragement. This gave her the courage to perform her music in front of a larger live audience: the school-wide monthly Open Mic Nights. “The best part of open mics is that it allows for people to re-ally see and hear my music,” said Ortiz, who feels that getting to know other people and their mu-sic is the best part of performing. “There is more of a connection in live performances compared to just recording the music and posting it up on the Internet.” Music teacher Carolyn Cas-tellano said that Ortiz is always open to new ideas and even interns for Girls Rock Camp Bos-ton, the organization for which the open mics raise money. Ortiz has forgone music lessons for three years and has decided that it’s the best deci-sion for her as it gives her more freedom and the space develop independently. But this doesn’t mean she doesn’t have all the support she needs from others. “Without my family and friends I would not be the same musician or person I am today,” she said. Like all musicians, Ortiz has experienced the ups and downs of performing and playing. While the negatives include pressure and people starting to expect certain things from her music, the positives are definitely plentiful. “Music is important because it tends to bring people together. If you are a musician who takes the risk of putting yourself out there and you get a good response, you feel really supported and good about yourself.” Shanshan Guo can be contacted at [email protected].

Photo courtesy of Bella OrtizOrtiz playing her Fender Telecaster guitar. Ortiz has been playing music since age six.

Shen Yun Chinese Dance @ 2:00 p.m. at the Wang Theatre


Happy Valentine’s Day!Dear Sabine

When I see you, I get but-terflies.Will you be my valentine?

To Shruti “the cutie” Nayar

I am really glad that we are able to share each morning of the week together.

From Zach Albert

To Danny Rabkin

From our blissful days to our passionate nights, our bromance has blossomed into a full-blown bro-lation-ship. Regardless of your current girlfriend, I would like to make this official, Danny. Will you facebook marry me?

From Dmitriy Gridnev To Kat BohrsI love you.Happy Valentine’s Day :]

From Abe Santos

To Ana Bachman

Hello!

From Matthew

To Glen Cocoa

You go Glen Cocoa!

From Gretchen Weiners

To Ximena

Meja 41207

From Elijah

To Ayush Kumar

Ayush I LOVE YOU

From Sung-Jae Park

To DAK

I secretly admire you. Call me at 857-222-1266

From Secret Admirer

To Gabrielle Hunt

You’re as sweet as your cookies

From Merlin Katz

To Tabitha Russo

UR AN AWESOME FRIEND DUDE

From Gabrielle Hunt

To Vlada Georgieva

I luv you zomgmkay kthxbai

From Jackie Merrill

To Tim GladyshevSorry, Simone

From Sung-Jae ParkTo Vik and Thomas

Webassign/Halo Party

From Sung-Jae Park

To Sophie ?????

Happy Valentine’s Day <3

From Fantastic Gentleman

To Caroline

I love you, Rosabella

From Burak

To Jesus

Happy Valentine’s Day! I am glad to be with you!

From Sabrina Lee

To Aaron Whishinsky

Happy Valentine’s Day. You are the love of my life.

From Matthew Greene

To Corina

Hola amiga!Eres una persona muy especial, gracias por tu amistad. Feliz dia de san valentin!

From Julie Tomayo

To Gabe

Happy Valentine’s Day

From Dan

To Him

:) Hey you

From her

To Anita Knopov “the money maker”

I love you as much as I love Shabu Zen

From “beauty maker”

I wanna give a shoutout to the chess club and all of its members

From Josh

To Abi

NO, I will not see the justin beiber movie with you

From Max

To Sam Shapiro

We love you and want to spend time with you.

Love Grace and Me-gan

Dear Anita Knopov,

My love for you transcends borders even the us - cana-dian one. happy valentines day. Be mine?

From Eve Yekelchik (bhs grad)

p.s. will you go to semi with me?

Dear Lily

It seems that every time I turn around, I’m looking up you’re looking down, but I know that when I see your face, there’s not a thing that I would change. You make my heart beat like an 808 drum; yes, your love is, in fact, my drug. Cause you’re bittersweetyou knock me off of my feet, and I can't help myself I don't want anyone else. I’ve been here all along so why can’t you see? You be-long with me.

Yours, AZ

To Sedlak

Will you be my val-entine?

From anonymous

Sports

Photo by Kerry GroveWhile the MIAA mandates certain procedures regarding athletes’ substance abuse, some coaches hold their atheletes to a higher standard. This standard is different from the Athletic Department’s own policy which is seen as less strict, but is still harsher than that of the MIAA.

By Max FriedmanLayout Editor

Zero tolerance policy creates stir

Recent illegal social gather-ings have affected some due to suspensions. Some team policies extend further than the MIAA or the BHS drug and alcohol policies have entailed. Some coaches implement policies that would result in more severe punishments, like being removed from a team upon first offense. Boys varsity crew coach Katy Ruderman was adamant in saying that she doesn’t want to worry about what her team is doing on the weekend but would rather focus on her athletes’ improve-

ment. Thus, she has applied a zero-tolerance policy. “I have seen teammates in the past get kicked off of the team,” said Ruderman. “But as a coach, I don’t want to be focus-ing on anything other than their improvement and readiness for races.” There are different scenarios to deal with drug and alcohol us-age. “The MIAA policy just deals with being under the influence of alcohol and drugs,” said Athletics Director Pete Rittenburg. “The BHS policy deals with knowingly being at a party where there are alcohol and drugs. And, I could definitely see a person losing captainship or receiving a more

serious reprimand.” In the past, Ruderman has been on two different teams with zero-tolerance policies, including the BHS varsity girls crew team. “The execution of this policy was solely my job as head coach of the boys varsity team, but I did look to program director Joel Skaliotis’ zero-tolerance policy with confidence,” said Ruderman. “This goes along exactly with the policy I had as girls junior varsity coach and that Joel Skaliotis has had as program director.” Skaliotis’s zero-tolerance policy as coach was established in 2004 and boasts of not having a student in his program have her season ended due to drug or alcohol use since 2005, nearly

six years since the last breach in policy. “There is a finite amount of time that I can spend coaching the team,” said Skaliotis. “I can spend that time figuring out ways to help us develop, or I can spend that time going to meetings with the athletic director and filling out paperwork. “We have a lot of people who are working very hard and who are very interested in making the team go faster. Going out, doing drugs, going drinking on the weekends works directly against that. So, we’re not interested in having people on the team who are interested in doing that.” According to Rittenburg, the girls and boys volleyball coach

also has a zero-tolerance policy during the season. In addition, the policy for the wrestling team is that if a student spends time suspended during another season, they will spend time suspended during the wrestling season. Junior Nigel Gongora be-lieves that drug use is a serious offense and that the wrestling team’s policy is appropriate. “Wrestling is a tough sport, as it requires an athlete’s full at-tention,” Gongora said. “If any team member is distracted or compromised due to drug use, the entire team suffers during a meet.” One key for Rittenburg is that all policies are in print before they are implemented, and not made up on the spot. He also realizes that some teams have further policies, but he believes it is the coach’s role to implement a team policy. Some teams take the BHS policy and add to it that second offenses result in expulsion from the team. Boys varsity basketball coach Mark Fiedor has had his athletes miss games this season, but he still tries to stick to BHS policy, as he believes it is effective. “Two strikes on the drug and alcohol policy and they are done for the season,” said Fiedor. “But no kid has been suspended for the entire season under my tenure.” Although Skaliotis takes a different approach than Fiedor, both are satisfied with their respective policies. “It’s been effective both in keeping the team under control and making a clear signal about who we want to be part of the team,” said Skaliotis. Said junior Kasra Pourra-himi, a wrestler, “It can be kind of harsh with rules like the ones about just being in the presence of substances. But, it keeps us away from getting in bad situations by being that way.”Max Friedman can be contacted at [email protected].

Springing into the next seasonBy Jamie Francona

Staff Writer

Photo by Bryana Schoen

As the spring approaches, coaches and players are focusing on filling the void left behind by last year’s seniors. Kyle Kazanjian-Amory is one of the players for baseball coach Joe Campagna to replace this year.

As days are added to the end of the school year from endless snow days, both the baseball and boys lacrosse teams hope their seasons will undergo an extension and maybe even the addition of a state championship trophy, while the softball team sees a light at the end of their tunnel. Last year, the school was proud to support the baseball and boys lacrosse teams throughout the state tournament. Although they were both defeated in the early rounds of the playoffs, even more successful seasons are just around the corner. After a difficult season for

Coach Joe Campagna’s baseball team, including the suspension of seven of his players due to the possession and use of illegal substances, the team’s success is still noteworthy. Graduated senior Kyle Kaza-njian-Amory and current senior Alex Rozek were among six bat-ting leaders in the entire Carey Division. Kazanjian-Amory finished the season with a .351 batting average, while Rozek batted .365 at the plate. Campagna has made it clear that the leadership, pitching and batting of team MVP Kazanjian-Amory will have to be filled by a returning player.

SPRING PREVIEW continued on page 24.

23February 2011 SportsThe Sagamore

Rec. Basketball ballin’ for funBy Evan Sternstein

Fundraising

Forget Wade, Bosh, and “King” James. The Bulls of the recreational basketball league have the real “Big Three.” Juniors Campbell Narron and Jon Gold and senior Ben Notelovitz are preparaing to dominate on the competition this winter. Recreational basketball, or “rec ball” as it’s commonly re-ferred to, has seen an increase in popularity over the past few years. This spike in participation can be attributed to the fun nature of the league, which allows players to dress up in silly attire. There are one to two games every week. Notelovitz loves the atmo-sphere and team chemistry on the Bulls. “We’re kind of a goofy group of kids, so everyone wears some-thing silly, whether it’s red high socks, white shooter sleeves or headbands,” said Notelovitz. “I’ve been wearing a wristband with a skull and crossbones that says ‘Bad to the Bone,’ which also happens to be our team motto.” This laid-back atmosphere of the league, which is in play until mid-April, is what attracts so many new players every year. Some former basketball team members, including Notelovitz, have made the transition from the intense competition of a varsity basketball team to the less-demanding schedule and friendly competition that the recreational league has to offer.

the competitive play at the var-sity level, friendly competition between the teams is intense nonetheless. “Celtics are going to bring home the title. Watch out, Bulls,” Evans said. The trash talk does not faze Notelovitz, who uses his height

(6’4”) to intimidate opponents. However, in a league with over a dozen players towering over six feet, height can only get you so far. While the competition is friendly and the games are all in good fun, no one likes losing. Strong contenders for the

title include Magic, fronted by senior Ben Daugherty; Heat, with senior members Kyle Chambers, Nicholai Hansen and junior Alec “A-Mack” Macklis; and the previ-ously mentioned Celtics. Notelovitz thinks he and his team can defeat these tough competitors en route to the

championship. “People have been known to call me the ‘LeBron-James-meets-Michael-Jordan-of-bas-ketball’. But to call me that would just be an insult to my game,” said Notelovitz.Evan Sternstein can be contacted at [email protected].


Brookline Recreation Basketball program provides an alternative to the traditional school team. “The rec league is fun and competative, but not too serious and time-consuming,” said junior Nathan Evans, who has played for several years.

Futsal brings rivalry and passion By Colby Bermel

Writing Editor

Coyotes vs. Gamerz

GAMERZ

COYOTES

Red Sox and Yankees. Brook-line and Newton North. Anna’s and Baja Betty’s. And now, an-other rivalry can be added to this list that trumps them all: Gamerz and Coyotes. Why would videogame play-ers versus a species of canine be considered a rivalry? Well, it is not literally gamers and coyotes bat-tling it out: these are the names of two futsal teams. Junior Arjun Mahadevan emphasized that the differences between futsal and outdoor soc-cer stem from the different playing spaces. Futsal is played in a much smaller, confined court than a regular outdoor soccer pitch. “It really focuses on fundamentals such as passing, touch and skill, whereas in outdoor soccer, it’s more about speed,” said Mahadevan, a Gamer. “So, your technique is paramount in indoor soccer.” Extremely physical play and emotions running high are char-acteristic of futsal. Anything can happen in a split second, even a certain writer getting nailed by the ball when writing down this very fact. According to junior Alan Zhou, a Coyote, the two teams were initially formed with mem-bers of the Pierce and Lawrence indoor soccer teams. Many play-ers on the Gamerz graduated from Pierce, and many of the Coyotes attended Lawrence. However, as these people met

other players, they expanded their teams. Junior Lucas Della Ventura, a Gamer, summarized this multi-year rivalry perfectly. “The Gamerz-Coyotes ri-valry is a rivalry not only on the pitch, but all over the media. It’s a truly ferocious rivalry,” said Della Ventura. “There is especially a lot of talk from the Coyote players who love to hate.” Trash talking from both sides characterizes tensions between the two squads, as both Gamerz and Coyotes love to assert their supposed dominance over the other team. Junior Zander

Varatanian, a Gamer, said, what motivates him to play futsal, “Doin’ work on people. It’s how I roll. It’s no big deal.” However, the Coyotes came back with a shot of their own. “Zander is the captain, a star player, and a playmaker,” said junior Dean Pontius, the Coy-otes’ captain. “He’s a black swan: powerful yet elegant.” Some, despite being friends with the players, prefer not to get involved in the messy rivalry. Junior Henry Brawer, friends with Gamerz and Coyotes alike, said that he does not care about the

rivalry. “ I’d rather be dropping a Harrier,” said Brawer, referring to a “killstreak reward” that can be used to kill opponents in the best-selling console title “Call of Duty: Black Ops.” Speaking of videogames, the popular electronic recreational activity is the main part of the Gamerz’ philosophy. According to junior Joe Pold, the captain, he “came out of the womb with a controller in [his] hand.” Additionally, instead of Gamerz having last names on the backs of their jerseys, they have “gamertags,” or videogame

usernames. Examples of this are “DeathStarr22” and “FerretsBite-Hard.” Mahadevan believes that “gaming” is more than just a fond pastime. “Gaming’s not a hobby. It’s a lifestyle. When I game, I’m with my friends wire-lessly,” said Mahadevan. “When I play a game of futsal, I’m on the pitch with them.” However, what it really comes down to is on-the-pitch performance. The first Gamerz-Coyotes matchup resulted in a Gamerz win of 8-5. Highlights from the Gamerz side were the junior Tito Curran’s 4 goals and Della Ventura’s two. On their second meeting, the Coyotes won with a close score of 4-3. Many Coyotes had outstand-ing performances, including junior Tommy Kim’s two goals, junior Aidan Fouhy’s stellar goalkeeping (in addition to a full-court goal) and the great overall efforts of juniors Sebastian Do-brow and Travis James. Looking past the mess of verbal sparring and game perfor-mances, what really matters in the end are the sustained friendships and passion for the sport. This is something agreed upon by Gamerz and Coyotes alike. “It’s all about loving the game and the kids you are playing with,” said Dobrow, a Coyote. “It’s so fun to go out there on a Sunday and play your best friends in a game you all look forward to. At the end of the day, we all know it’s just for fun and there are no hard feelings.”Colby Bermel can be contacted at [email protected].

Favorite Pro Teams: Manchester City, Arsenal

Pump-Up Music: “Halo 2: Mjolnir Mix” – Martin O’Donnell

Favorite Pro Teams: West Ham United, Real Madrid

Pump-Up Music: Anything by Owl City

Photo courtesy of Arjun Mahadevan

Fa c e OFF


“I prefer to play for fun with friends as opposed to competitive-ly with other schools,” said Notelovitz, “which is why I decided not to play my se-nior year for the school’s team.” J u n i o r Nathan Ev-ans has played basketball for eight or nine years. As a member of the Celtics, h e a g r e e d that “the rec league is fun and competi-tive, but not too serious a n d t i m e -consuming.” W h i l e the competi-tion does not match up with

24 February 2011Sports The Sagamore

By Colby BermelWriting Editor


Colby’s caLL

As the baseball team mourns the loss of a graduated all-star, the boys lacrosse team celebrates the return of 10 seniors. While this could propose difficulties for future years, this year’s team is full of momentum going off of last season’s playoff run.

The team, coached by Steve Zella, finished the 2010 season with an 8-8 conference record, tying rival Newton North for third place in the Carey Division. However, the team was able to pull ahead with an 11-9 overall record. The return of seniors Matt

Teams hope for spring successHillman and Eli Yannekis and to junior Jason Lee is a promising start for the team. This unstop-pable trio scored a combined 92 goals, while also contributing 67 assists last year. The Warrior’s lacrosse team will also suffer the loss of a notable graduate in goalie Kevin Nguyen.

He finished off last season with a 69 percent save average, ranking at the top of the Carey Division. Sophomore Jake Bamberger will step into Nguyen’s place and at-tempt to follow in his footsteps. While Zella’s team looks forward to experience and game knowledge with the return of

team, composed mainly of ju-niors, is excited for the upcoming season and expects to make a solid and memorable playoff run to commemorate their coach’s twentieth year. “We need to win the games we are supposed to win,” said Nar-ron. “If we can do that, we can win the conference championship.” While both boys teams look forward to promising seasons, the softball team, which has struggled to be competitive in the past few years, also looks forward to a new beginning. The team will have a new head coach to replace Peter Marinelli, last year’s coach. The girls are looking forward to a new start, fresh attitudes and more teamwork. “My goal for this year is that we win a few games. But more so, that we do not lose by the slaughter rule. That was a problem last year, and it was embarrassing,” said junior Olivia Delvecchio, a starter. “I just don’t want the program to suffer any-more. Hopefully, we can all come together as a team this year.” The softball team will open up their season at Newton South. With a new coach, a new roster and new attitudes, the team’s dynamic is slowly changing and hopefully their record will soon follow.Jamie Francona can be contacted at [email protected].

Photo by Bryana SchoenDuring the 2010 Spring season, the boys lacrosse team made it to the playoffs with an overall 11-9 record. This year, the team hopes to recreate this same success by working hard overcoming the loss of a few of their valuable players.

Continued from page 22

10 seniors, Cam-pagna’s team looks forward to enthusi-asm, hard work and years of upcoming success. Campa gna ’s team is solid up the middle, with returning all-star catcher Rozek; p itcher, junior Campbel l Nar-ron, who was also ranked in the Carey Division; middle infielders seniors Jacob Ebbs and Jake Morgenstern and centerfielder senior Ben Daugherty. “The key com-ponents of our lineup are return-ing,” said Narron. “And, overall, we have a lot of new players that would have already been on varsity teams at other schools.” Campa gna ’s

Brashness in sports has been around for ages, particularly in the NFL. It started as a simple bold statement, like Joe Namath’s now-famous guarantee that his team would win the 1969 Super Bowl. However, in today’s times, athletes are talking trash both on the field and through the media. Before the Patriots-Jets divisional playoff game this year, Jets players publicly bashed their opponent with profanity-laced statements directed at Pats players (like Antonio Cromartie calling Tom Brady an “a--hole”) and death threats. Coach Bill Belichick is famous for saying little at press conferences and going out of his way not to incite opponents. In the one instance this postseason when Wes Welker fired back at the Jets, Belichick benched him for the Pats’ first offensive possession. The Patriots ownership is known for making good decisions. When wide receiver Randy Moss said he “didn’t feel any love” from the Pats front office in the final year of his contract, the Patriots released him. There was no room for Moss’s brazen attitude.

While the Patriots ended up losing 28-21 in an intense matchup, the Pats set a good example by not lowering themselves to the level of the Jets’ unsportsmanlike tactics and juvenile trash talk. Even though the Patriots didn’t make it to Super Bowl XLV, the Kraft ownership continues to distinguish the organization as a model professional sports franchise. The day after the Super Bowl, I had the privilege of talking with Patriots presi-dent Jonathan Kraft. He and his father, Bob Kraft (BHS ‘59), have strong ties to Brookline and youth sports. Jonathan Kraft coaches youth soccer and football, and the Kraft family spearheaded the turf installation at the Kraft Family Athletic Facility at Harry Downes Field. Kraft is a philanthropist at heart, hav-ing given much to the Boston community over the years. Here are some excerpts from our conversation. Is it any consolation to the playoff loss that Belichick was named Coach of the Year and Brady was named MVP? “Those awards are nice. If you win them as a byproduct of the team doing what they ultimately want to do, then it’s great. Having spoken with both Tom and Bill, I know they both feel the same way.” What advice might you give a BHS football player hoping to play in the NFL? “Getting to the NFL isn’t about being the best athlete. It’s about reaching your physical potential, but then it’s about your desire, passion and knowledge of the game. The best athletes aren’t the best football players. It’s the guys who make the most out of their athletic abilities who then have the passion and the brains for the game.”Colby Bermel can be contacted at [email protected].


Gymnastics

Prof i lelayer

Senior Timothy Gladyshev is a promi-nent member of the boys swim team. Last year, he was the Massachusetts state cham-pion in the 100-yard breastroke event. The year before, he came in second place in the Nebraska state meet as a sophomore.

Sag: How did you get into swimming?TG: I was kind of weak when I was a child, so I needed to get some muscle mass. Swimming was the sport to do that because it works every muscle. I kept at it, I liked it, and I got pretty good at it.

Sag: Have you been a strong swimmer your whole career?TG: I was actually really bad when I started swimming. I just kept at it and got pretty good when I was about 12. Then, I got a little worse again, but now I’m catching back up.

Sag: How important is swimming in your life?TG: It’s a pretty big factor. I’ve been doing it for so long and I’ve put so many hours in. I used to practice in the morning, but not so much anymore because I have school and stuff; I kind of stopped that. But, my freshman and sophomore years, I practiced in the morning for my high school team and my club team in Nebraska. Now, I’m spending about two hours a day swimming, so it’s a pretty significant factor.

Sag: What has been the highlight of your swimming career?TG: I would say the trip to junior nation-als has been the highlight of my career. I placed 32nd in the country in the 100-yard breast stroke with a [time of] 58.54 [seconds]. I really liked it. It was a fun trip to Orlando.

Sag: What are you looking forward to the most this year?TG: I am looking forward to the states meet because my rival, who I beat by a fraction of a second last year, has gotten faster. He’s actually faster than my fastest time, so it’s going to be a really close race. I’m looking forward to it.

Matt Goroff can be contacted at [email protected].

By Matt GoroffAds & Subscriptions

TimGladyshev

On the gymnastics team, senior Rei Yamada has found a challenge, a passion and a home. Ever since seventh grade, Yamada has devoted herself to the sport, especially the balance beam.

Sag: How is the team’s spirit? RY: Our team is good at cheering for each other. We have our own cheer that the gymnastics team has been doing since before I arrived at BHS and judges like us for our supportive attitude. Especially with the balance beam this year, our coaches came up with a rule that for every fall that anyone takes, the whole team will have to do conditioning during the next practice. This means that every single fall I make affects the whole team. The pressure defi-nitely works, and there have been meets when none of us have fallen.

Sag: What do you think of the team’s unity? RY: The team’s community is fantastic. Especially this year, the team is much smaller and we all get along well. These are people with whom I spend two or three hours almost every day, so you get to know each other pretty well. In previous years, before I was a senior, my captains were people who I could ask for advice about anything.

Sag: What will you take with you from being on the team? RY: I will definitely take the four years of memories with me. In addition, gym-nastics, especially this year, has taught me

By Clara DorfmanWriting Editor

how to use time effectively. As a senior, I had to do college applications. That was really stressful in December, but knowing that I would not get home from gymnastics until past nine on some days forced me to make use of my time.

Sag: What have you learned from doing gymnastics? RY: One major thing I have learned from doing gymnastics, and I believe this goes for being a part of any team, is commit-ment. Even though each of us competes and gets judged individually, we are all part of one team. In the end, the individual scores add up to make one total score for the team.Clara Dorfman can be contacted [email protected].

Boys Swimming

Gymnastics

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Warriors Sports

Boys Basketball 6-7

Girls Hockey 1-14

Gymnastics 0-10

Girls Indoor Track 2-3

Alpine Skiing N/A

Girls Basketball 10-5

Boys Indoor Track 3-2

Boys Swimming/Diving 5-3

Boys Hockey 3-12

Team RecordWhat’s Hot?Track and field dominates

On Friday, Feb. 4, both the boys and girls track and field teams beat Framingham at the Reggie Lewis Track and Ath-letic Center in Boston with scores of 64-31 (boys) and 67-27

(girls). In the boys 1-mile run event, senior Romey Sklar came in first place with a time of 4:32.66, followed by senior

Christian Sampson, one second behind Sklar. In the girls 1-mile run, senior Leah Gellineau came in third place. For

the boys 600-meter run, senior Will Jackson came in second with junior Max Shore finishing close behind in third place.

Boys swim and dive excels in conference championships

On Feb. 3 and 4, the boys swim team placed second overall at the Bay State Conference Swim & Dive Championships. Highlights from the meet include senior Tim Gladyshev’s two first place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley

and the 100-yard breastroke, junior Zach Albert’s first place finish in the 100-yard butterfly and two relay teams coming

in first place for both the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Girls hockey wins a gameOn Jan. 28, the girls hockey team won their first game in five

years against Peabody with a score of 6-5. Highlights from the game were eighth-grader Gabby Rizika’s hat trick (in-cluding the game-winning goal), junior Sydney Karnovsky’s two goals and two assists and junior Katherine Wolinski’s

four assists.

By Colby Bermel

Wrestling 8-9-1

ScoreboardAll records as of 2/8/2011


Rittenburg leads the Warriors’ fightsBy Sara Sebahar

Staff Writer

Trophies and articles line the walls and shelves. Papers cover most open space. Surrounded by all of the papers on the desk sits a small pencil holder deco-rated with a colorful drawing and stickers. This is where Athletics Director Pete Rittenburg comes to work every day, in what he believes is organized chaos, to conquer what some believe is one of the toughest jobs in the school. Beginning as an English teacher and a track coach, Rit-tenburg has been at the school for 10 years. Three years after arriv-ing, he was appointed as athletics director and kept his post as an English teacher. As athletic direc-tor, he manages approximately 40 sports, 70 teams and 90 coaches, all while maintaining the War-riors’ website and trying to spend all his extra time with his family. Somehow, he still finds time to attend as many home games as possible. “Mr. Rittenburg is a gentle, thoughtful, knowledgeable, mod-est, sometimes humorous, very hard-working man,” said Head-master Bob Weintraub. “I really appreciate that he calls me from his cell to tell me the scores of games, particularly when we win and he knows I will be happy.” Rittenburg said that the job is both challenging and exciting and takes him in many different directions. “Every day can have a lot of problem-solving. There are so

many people. We’ve got 1,500 athletes spread out over our three seasons and all those coaches, parents, faculty and staff in the building,” said Rittenburg. “You’re dealing with all kinds of interpersonal relationships. Things aren’t always smooth.” Although Rittenburg enjoys the challenges and excitement his job brings him, he said that there are also setbacks. According to Rittenburg, one of the greatest issues is time

because there is a lot to do and never enough time to do it. He said there are family sacrifices, which result in a constant juggling act. However, he feels good com-mitting that time to the youth of Brookline. As athletics director, Rit-tenburg has great influence on the lives of students and coaches because he runs the “after-school school,” where athletes see their coaches more than their teach-ers. This makes it important to

hire good coaches. Rittenburg is aware of the importance of his position, and he hopes to get through to students, considering he was once a student-athlete. Rittenburg stressed the importance of academics first: athletics serve as a complement to students’ academic training. He said that a lot of his tie is spent working with students, parents and coaches in attempt to keep athletics in perspective. Athletics “are a great thing

and for a lot of reasons, but they’re not the only thing,” said Rittenburg. “We know that no matter how good you are, you’re not going to make a living off of athletics forever. So, you’d bet-ter be set up to do other things, and then we hope kids develop lifelong pursuits and stay healthy.” Rittenburg ran track for many years, competing at high levels, but he didn’t think that he was going to be an athlete the rest of his life and that is what kept him motivated academically. “It’s really difficult to watch people who steer themselves away from the classroom and don’t make the necessary commitment to the classroom, because all it takes is one: pick your injury, one knee injury or one anything. Something could happen, and that athletic dream blows up.” Rittenburg said that if a student does not have support that involves a good and solid educational background or a de-sire to do something else, then the rest of his or her life is going to be tough. “It’s hard to see young people who’ve peaked at 18 or 20. They are always looking back and say-ing, ‘That’s the best my life ever was or ever will be,’ and that’s kind of sad,” Rittenburg said. Rittenburg’s secretary, Judy Doyle, believes that he has all the qualities of a leader, is always fair and is always listening. She said that he has never refused anyone to come and speak to him, and that his door is “always open.”Sara Sebahar can be contacted [email protected].


Athletics Director Pete Rittenburg has been working at the high school for 10 years. In addition to his duties as Athletics Director, Rittenburg serves as an English teacher and used to be a track coach.

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Sports Sho


Basketball: The boys basketball team is

fighting for a playoff spot after a balanced season.

According to Jonah Morgenstern-Gaines, Se-

nior captain Eli Yannekis “shows leadership on and

off the court.”

The girls team has secured a playoff spot and hopes for

the best.For more on the Basketball

teams policies see page 22.

Gymnastics: Although the team did not advance beyond the Bay State Meet, the gymnasts improved a lot over the season. They are looking forward to being even stronger next year.

Training for sports & life

Wrestling: The wrestler’s beat

Newton North and have been striving for the

playoffs all season.For more on Wrestling team’s policies

see page 22.

By Sabine ShaughnessyStaff Writer

Sporting a white polo with a popped collar and a navy baseball cap that reads Brookline, 25-year-old Athletic Trainer Alex Jzyk sang along to a song in falsetto while wrapping a student’s ankle. Among a crowd of injured athletes lingering in the training

room on a typically busy Friday afternoon, Jzyk knows what it’s like to be in their shoes. He understands the frustra-tion of their injuries and in high school, he never had the luxury of a staff dedicated solely to athletes’ injuries. “I had an elbow injury and I was a baseball player. My elbow injury probably cost me playing

college baseball because I didn’t have somebody I could go see and get treatment from,” said Jzyk. “I wanted to make sure that athletes didn’t go through the same thing that I did.” Jzyk started working towards becoming an athletic trainer in college and quickly fell in love with it. Now he is enjoying his third

year working at Brookline High. Athletic trainer Jason Edel-stein believes Jzyk’s “enthusiasm and positive attitude is infec-tious.” Senior Andy Triedman, the ski team’s captain, agrees that Jzyk’s personality has helped him cope with injury. “I think he is the cream of the crop in athletic training. His up-beat attitude has helped me push through my injuries and achieve past my greatest achievements,” said Triedman. According to Jzyk, he tries to keep the students optimistic despite their injuries. “I was there not too long ago. I see what they are going through, and I am able to relate to them,” said Jzyk. “Keeping kids in a good mood is such an important part of recovery.” Athletics Director Pete Rit-tenburg believes Jzyk has helped to make students feel more comfortable confronting their injuries. “In a lot of cases, athletes and coaches tend to be trainer-averse by nature, but I think his personality breaks down a lot of those walls,” said Rittenburg. “He is very good at communicating to people that he is with them and

not against them.” Jzyk has tried to make the training room a welcoming place for students. “The athletic training room is a place where you want kids to be comfortable, without a doubt,” said Jzyk. “We want everything to be open; we want kids to be in here and feel safe.” Jzyk creates an upbeat at-mosphere in the training room by playing a constant stream of music in the background. Some days feature a themed playlist, such as Techno Friday. “The music? You have got to have Techno Friday. Everyone wants to get into a good mood for the start of the weekend,” says Jzyk. In addition to the music, the training room’s walls are covered with a mix of diagrams of muscles, inspirational posters and colorful drawings. A section of a wall has “BHS Senior Warriors” painted on it and is surrounded with past seniors’ signatures. “Going to the training room and visiting Alex is the thing that I look forward to, like a cup of hot chocolate after a blizzard’s cold,” said Triedman.Sabine Shaughnessy can be contacted at [email protected].


Athletic trainer Alex Jzyk has endeared himself to students through his warm and welcoming personal-ity. Many students, injured or otherwise, spend free time in the training room with Jzyk and the staff.

Photos courtesy of Nick Weber, Simone Feldman and Rei Yamada.

Photos by Kerry Grove.

Swimming: The team came in second place at the Bay State Cham-pionship Meet. The team is continuing on through sectionals and states.

Documents

February 2011