Harika Adivikolanu

Whether it be staying up late finishing last minute homework and projects, stumbling through terrifying speeches in front of the class, or just going through inevitably awkward moments, high school is chock full of ordeals. As a senior with only a couple more days to graduate, I can’t help but feel as if by going through my fair share of trials I am more than ready to move on to college. But along with many seniors, I also find it difficult to leave the all the people I love behind. I guess it’s the natural process of losing something that makes you realize how important it was in the first place. Friends and family, financial security and second chances are only some of the things that will change this coming fall. In their place come new friends, independence, jobs, defining decisions and other complicated situations. It definitely won’t be an easy

Dougherty Valley10550 Albion RoadVol. 02 Ed. 03Wildcat Tribune

June 2012

Finals studying: dos and don’ts Once a wildcat, always a wildcat

Chakib Mouzaoui

Here we come to our final stretch before arriving at the ephemeral illusion of a paradise that is summer break. What? Come now, you can’t pretend that summer will last forever. However, the transition from school to summer isn’t the only change of pace we, as students, will experience. The reality is that our year is full of ups and downs, from a relaxed summer to a sharp increase in work during the first week of school, then a work-shift to preparations for first semester finals, then the dreaded April of AP Studying, then the more-dreaded Early May of Actual AP Testing, and then now. For many of us who have taken the AP tests, now is a time of severely decreased workload and projects to procrastinate on. For the rest, there are still mainly projects

to procrastinate on. Now is the time to switch from our post-AP pacing to our Finals-prep pacing! To help, here are some friendly guidelines on how (and how not) to get ‘er done!

5. DO use flashcards. You have some memorizing to do if you want to succeed in at least one of your finals. Flashcards are proven to be one of the best ways to memorize (for many of us, re-memorize) essentials, whether it be vocabulary terms, human anatomy, or even essential math formulas! My absolute favorite flashcard-using method is quizlet.com: it’s free, full of games, and sets are completely customizable. I usually get even huge lists memorized in a matter of days.

4. DO make study groups. You may think this would be counter-intuitive: with all of your pals around you, how

» continued, PG. 2 » continued, PG. 2

2011-2012: Farewell from the Wildcat Tribune

How to prepare for one of the most stressful weeks of the year

Greetings, fellow Wildcats! Wel-come to our last issue of the year. The Wildcat Tribune would like to thank the members of the Dougherty Valley High School community, including students, staff, and administration, for all their sup-port this year. The Tribune’s success this year would not have been possible without you. In particular, we would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Reimman, Ms. Vorhees, and most of all, the Tribune ad-visor, Mr. Ingram, for all of their help. Have a great summer and we’ll see you

can you not spend every opportunity possible to mess around? The truth is, with a collective motivation to study, once the job is actually done, you’ll find that your attention span is a lot more lax as compared to when you’re sitting alone.

3. DO study outside of the box. Students are often given a final review sheet. Most students find this enough to work off of and think that if they can complete their review guide, then they don’t need to study any more. They call it a “guide” for a reason: it’s purpose is not to give you a sense of overconfidence, it’s to show you which parts of the curriculum are worth reviewing. Also consider referring back to textbooks in order to review concepts . Most of our books are extremely comprehensive and provide a very different perspective of learning from the teacher. You can also watch YouTube videos related to the subject, or check out other articles, or even ask the other teachers for same subject questions to give you a “second perspective.” That way, you can be armed for anything a final can throw at you.

2 DO pace yourself. Cramming doesn’t work. Avoid it. Now that that’s out of the way, how to properly schedule your studies so that you

aren’t forced into an hour, sixteen minutes, and forty-nine precious seconds of sleep the day before That Important Final? It all begins with a plan. Use a planner you can write in, or a calendar you keep at home to write on, or even Google Calendar, if you find yourself wired-in more often than you experience real life. Divide the topics you need to study into certain days, and don’t fool yourself with the fallacy that “I’ll just study a bunch per day, and I won’t have to study for very long!” Take it nice and easy, for the sake of your attention span.

1: DO prioritize: It seems the biggest mistake we make in studying is that we go over what we already know well, and fail to adequately look into that which we are not as familiar with. Try taking a look at previous test scores, getting quizzed by a friend, or quickly skimming over a review guide to check what sections of the material you don’t feel comfortable with, and start with this material. No big deal if you aren’t able to devote yourself to some topic you know like the back of your hand: whatever mistake you may make due to lack of studying there is probably some stupid error that can’t be avoided with studying.

Speaking of cynicism, here are a list of truly terrible things that people are unfortunately going to turn to in response to finals. DON’T do these, in ascending order of desperation:

5. DON’T turn to drugs. You laugh, but I’m serious. Also stop laughing. Some find such drugs to increase their learning capacity for a certain period of time so that they can somehow cram textbooks in a single session. Enticing, right? Wrong. Drugs come with a plethora of side effects, from diarrhea to insomnia to vomiting, and what’s even more important than memorizing all of your stuff is feeling the part on the day of the test, and drugs will do anything but that.

4. DON’T miss the point. By “the point,” I mean concern yourself with topics that either won’t show up on the final or you won’t even see for the rest of your life. Just because it’s part of the textbook doesn’t mean it’s part of the test (notice how much smaller the test is than the textbook).Don’t be afraid to ask your teacher whether you have to know someobscure set of information for the test

Dos and don’ts of finals week 2 Wildcat Tribune Vol. 02, Ed. 02

transition from San Ramon. Even though most of us have shared in our complaints about the lack of entertainment here in San Ramon, we have all come to create a close community that we feel safe and comfortable in. Although many of us feel ready to move on from high school, no one is comfortable with leaving best friends behind. Personally, I’ve been through so much with my group of friends and we’ve become a family that we can lean on through the tough times and share our joys with during the happy times. We have been there for each other during every awkward or strange phase and obsession in our lives so far. And I can’t even imagine finding better friends anywhere else. But in the wise words of Mr. Bell, “A ship in a harbor is safe, but this is not what a ship is built to do.” We can’t let fear or sadness get in the way of exploring new opportunities. It might be a hard journey, having to start all over again but just remembering that we will all share similar struggles is comforting. And in this new age with technology and communication, everyone is just a phone call away! High school has definitely had a purpose: to help studenrts grow into who they are today. We’ve gone through finding the right kind of friends, work habits, pushing ourselves with extra curricular activities. The best advice I can give to the upcoming classes is just to find a balance and explore. Try to find out who you are as a person and what you can see yourself doing, but remember to have fun! Now it’s all about finally taking the things that we love to do and finding purpose and meaning in them possibly as careers. So class of 2012, here’s to all of you for your hard work! Remember to live, love, laugh and always stay curious. Remember: once a wildcat, always a wildcat.

Reflections« Continued from front page

» continued, PG. 6

Vol. 02, Ed. 02 Wildcat Tribune 3

PRO - Jamie Shen

Diversity week helps promote diversity by exposing us to differ-ent cultures. Dougherty Valley’s own diversity week included cul-tural performances, activities, and even a fashion show highlight-ing clothes from different cultures. On Monday, the first day of di-versity week, we all sat with smug looks, “too cool” for this endeavor the would expose us to different cultures. We all thought we knew everything. But the second that Cierra Green took stage in the quad and started rapping, we all the same couldn’t help but turn our heads. And slowly, as our cold facades melted, we began to see the world in color. By Wednesday, we were clap-ping and cheering for our friends in the fashion show, staring in awe at the Chinese umbrella dances. Our gazes followed the spinning vividly painted tops of the um-brellas and we were entranced. On Friday, when candies from dif-ferent cultures were handed out and henna tattoos wereoffered as a lunch time activity, we were eager to par-ticipate. Our peers were dressed in traditional clothes from their cultures in a plethora of colors and patterns with various embellishments– vivid dashes of purple and glimmering clusters of gold sequins twinkling in the afternoon sun. No more dubious glances, no more second guesses, and no more checking ourselves and overanalyzing what was “cool” or socially acceptable. It had become socially acceptable to be different and to embrace the differences. Di-

versity had become visibly “cool”. The success in diversity week could be largely traced back to simply gar-nering awareness and acceptance for diversity. Oftentimes, the misun-derstandings or misconceptions are what spark prejudice. Fundamen-tally, it’s undeniable that we’re all different- in one way or another, and we are bound to disagree or have dif-ferent ways of doing things. Diver-sity exposed us to different cultures other than our own and brought the school together through embracing our differences. Our differences be-came a gateway to bringing us all closer together. Through sharing our respective cultures, we all had some-thing to learn from someone else and we all had something to contribute. Diversity united us by making us feel as if we are not alone despite our differences – because we truly aren’t. Even through our differenc-es, we all still have something in common or something that another can teach us to enrich our own lives. Regardless of culture, regardless of race, we are all unique in our own way. And unique isn’t bad- in contrast, unique is good. In a world dominate by stereotypes and cookie cutter expectations to be one way or another, being different is refreshing. Diversity week made us stop and re-ally appreciate who we all are through exposing us to different cultures and making us more accommodating of others. It made us all recognize that despite our differences, we are all still interconnected. That makes us stronger –as individuals, as friends, as classmates, and as a school.

The pros and cons of Diversity Week

CON - Mimi Evans

I want to start by say-ing that I think diversi-ty is great; I don’t want my editorial to be criti-cized as being written by a culturally unedu-cated person. In fact, I think you’ll hardly find someone more will-ing to watch a foreign film or eat that myste-rious goop they serve after dim sum that has the look and consisten-cy of Polyjuice Potion (it’s Red Bean Soup, and it’s delicious). But I honestly don’t be-lieve that Diversity Week’s goal of pro-moting diversity really manages to happen. This problem really stems from the fact that as a high school, Dougherty Valley is al-ready one of the most diverse in terms of stu-dent ethnicity. We live in an American school where white students are actually a minority. Everyday we embrace the differences of cul-ture and come together (most of the time) in a harmonious coopera-tion. The key is that we do this without recog-nition. We shouldn’t need to have to be told to accept other people’s differences- we should do this because it is the right thing to do.But when you bring posters, modeling lunch-time shows and ethnic music into the equation, thing start

to become confusing. Suddenly your be-ing told what to do by the mainstream- and nothing gets teenage rebellion going like being told by some-one else what’s right. I actually considered wearing a Qi Pao, the really old-style Chinese dress, to the fashion show on Wednesday, before being a little bit overwhelmed with the thought of embarrass-ing myself in front of students. Sure I em-brace my culture, but do I really have to wear a dress to do it? During Diversity Week I also overheard some kids walking down the cor-ridor to the 4000 build-ing, one of them saying not-so-quietly when some Spanish music was playing in the back-ground “I don’t like this Mexican music.” I’m not saying that they shouldn’t throw in some more alternative music once in awhile, but whoever’s manning the soundboard should be prepared for the wrath against pounding song pounding song after unknown song through the speakers. In the end I think that the idea of Diversity Week is a good one; it’s just that we don’t need it. Most students man-age to coexist peace-fully in such a melt-ing pot- we don’t need any reminders to stir it.

4 Vol. 02, Ed. 02 Wildcat Tribune

Where are Dougherty Valley seniors headed next year?

Movies to look out for this summer 2012

J.r. Abueg

Where he’s headed: I’m heading to Bos-ton University in Boston, Massachu-setts with a scholarship from the United States Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. I will be a member of the school’s Charles River Army ROTC Battalion.

What he’s planning to major in: I plan to major in political science with a fo-cus in public policy and foreign policy.

What his favorite thing about DV is: My favorite thing about DV is how stu-dents can for close relationships and bonds with their teachers and mentors. It really helped me overcome numer-ous obstacles throughout high school. His advice for future seniors: Enjoy your senior year but don’t lose focus. It’s a lon-ger haul than you may think! Also, when it comes to applying for colleges, don’t settle for safe. Take a risk to go out of your comfort zone! It’ll be worth it in the end.

Caitlin Boynton

Where she’s headed: I’ll be attending Wil-lamette University in Salem, Oregon next year. It’s a small, private, liberal arts school.

What she’s planning to major in: I will probably be either a Psychology or an English major, but I haven’t declared yet. I will also most likely minor in mu-sic and continue to play my violin.

What her favorite thing about DV is: I re-ally love the overall atmosphere of DV. The students are all very accepting of each other and there is very little bullying. The teachers are also very motivating, and the students encourage each other. I feel like the positive environment at Dough-erty allows for students to learn a lot as well as enjoy coming to school each day.

Her advice for future seniors: One piece of advice I have for future seniors, is to be sure to find balance during your se-nior year. Work hard, get the college ap-plications in early, and do well in school. However, make time for fun as well, and embrace the time left you have with your friends and family before you leave.

Milad Imen

Where he’s headed: UC San Diego

What he’s planning to major in: Com-puter Science or Computer Engi-neering but I haven't yet decided.

What his favorite thing about DV is: The traditions that I saw created while I was there.

His advice for future seniors: If you are applying to UC San Diego, don't ran-dom bubble in your college selections (like many of us in the class of 2012 did!) but to be more broad, take your time and fill out your college applica-tions with care and diligence. To many larger colleges you're nothing but an ap-plication, so make sure it's a good one!

We checked in with three seniors to see what their plans are for the years ahead

» continued, PG. 6

Dylan Comay

As the last bells ring and notebooks fly into nearby trashcans, the summer of 2012 will be upon us. Sum-mer means a lot of things, such as beaches, vacations, and no homework but it also means new summer mov-ies! Here’s a list of some of the most anticipated flicks of the summer movie season.

Prometheus, rat-ed R, June 8th Back in 1979, a little sci-fi horror film Alien scared the pants off of moviegoers worldwide. Now the direc-tor Ridley Scott has created a prequel to the horror clas-sic staring Noomi Rapace, of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo fame. If you’re a fan of hor-ror movies, this one is defi-nitely worth checking out.

That’s My Boy, rat-

ed R, June 15th Fans of Adam Sandler will have probably already heard of his teaming up with former SNL star and member of The Lonely Island, Andy Sam-berg. For those who don’t know, Sander and Samberg play father and son in this crude comedy. When Sandler needs money, he turns to his long-abandoned son Samberg to make up for lost “father and son” time and hopefully get a piece of his sons paycheck.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, not rated, June 22 This movie’s title gives it all away, it’s a film about Abraham Lincoln hunt-ing down vampires. Either you’re sold on this premise immediately or this movie probably won’t be for you.

Brave, rated PG, June 22 Pixar’s newest offering features a butt-kicking hero-ine by the name of Merida

fighting to save her family and kingdom from an ancient curse. Pixar has rarely failed to astonish audiences with their superb animation and memo-rable stories, let’s hope this film ranks among their best.

The Amazing Spider-Man, rated PG-13, July 3 Peter Parker swings back onto the silver screen but not played by Toby Maguire this time around. This reboot stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as Peter and Gwen Sta-cy, who face off against Dr. Curt Connors AKA The Liz-ard. Expect lots of dazzling special effects from this retell-ing of a classic comic book.

Ted, rated R, July 13 An unconventional buddy comedy (a man and his stuffed bear?) is the latest from Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the hit TV show Family Guy. The trailers for this film promise a lot of raunchy humor that Mac-

Farlane probably wouldn’t get away with on his TV show.

The Dark Knight Ris-es, rated PG-13, July 20 Perhaps the most eagerly awaited summer release, The Dark Knight Rises is the third and final installment in the Christopher Nolan Batman saga. The last film The Dark Knight became one of the highest grossing films of all time and given the immensily positive reception to it, this sequel has a lot to live up to.

The Bourne Legacy, rated PG-13, August 3 The fourth in the Bourne trilogy takes a break from fo-cusing on Jason Bourne (Mark Wahlberg) and turns its focus to Jeremy Renner, who was recently in The Avengers. If this film can live up to its predecessors, it’ll be a show-stopping popcorn-munch-ing hell of an action flick.

Vol. 02, Ed. 02 Wildcat Tribune 5

Junior/senior ball: an expensive dateMimi Evans There’s no question that the Junior/Senior Prom is an event looked forward to; for many DVHS students it is similar to a signal of the change in season. Like the flowers that start to sprout with their eye-gouging pollen in spring, the prom is one of the first events to signal the culmination of the academic year. Whether you were lucky enough to be asked to the ball, or simply had the chance to witness the multiple creative ways students asked one an-other out during school hours, by the 18th of Friday antici-pation was palpable in the air by everyone on campus. One thing students weren’t excited for was the price. From the beginning students were upset with the cost of the one-night event. It’s not hard to see why: tick-ets for the ball ranged were set at $90 for ASB members and $110 for everyone else. Com-bine that with the expenses of a limo, (even roundtrip gas prices if you drove your own car wound be an upwards of $15), the cost of renting or purchasing a tux/dress, ac-cessories, tips and more, you’re looking at a minimum

of $250 for one night. Grant-ed, the Westin St. Francis lo-cated in trendy downtown SF is not cheap by any standards. Madeleine Han, a 11th grader who attended the ball com-mented that she “thought the cost was relatively fair, con-sidering that prom was held at a nice location and din-ner was provided.”But as the night wears on and the glam-our starts to wear off, the last slow dance of the night seems a lot like the last slow dance with a big wad of money be-fore the fairytale is over and your wallet is left high and dry with the consequences. Let’s face it- $90 is a lot of money to spend on anything for a high school student. Just to put it in per-spective for you, the cost of a ticket could buy 27 In-N-Out Double-Doubles. Yes, I really did just bring fast food into this. But if burgers aren’t really what you con-sider a worthwhile invest-ment in entertainment, con-sider this instead: that money could buy you half a dozen movie tickets. And were talking about the jacked-up movie theater prices and not even the Costco value pack. That means you could see The Avengers, Men in Black III, The Dictator, and The

Dark Knight Rises this sum-mer- and still have money for two more (assuming you don’t buy any crazy-expen-sive theater candy, that is). As it turns out, the leadership class, which is in charge of planning the event, doesn’t fix the prices. Mr. Bell, the leadership class’s teacher, told The Tribune “the hotel gives us a fixed price per person that covers everything they provide- from the venue to the food. But the leadership class swallows a lot the costs in terms of everything else.” This includes the cost for mu-sic, décor and a photo booth. So in reality, if you thought you got cheated on the price of your ticket, just imagine how much the leadership class invested in the night. A look at a couple photo booth rentals in the San Francisco area reveals an average of around $1000 for four hours. For those who suggest scaling down the event, that really isn’t an option. Sure, it would probably save a gross amount of money if the lead-ership class held the prom in the gym or even rented out one of the rooms at the Bridg-es Golf Club. A DJ could al-ways be replaced with some-one’s decked out iPod. But in reality people don’t go

to prom to dance in a big room to music. That’s what homecoming and the vari-ous themed dances through-out the year are for. We go to prom for the experience. The whole mystical aura that prom suggests- from imagin-ing the dream way to be asked out to the place you’re going to do your hair (yes guys, I’m speaking to you) entices us. We want to experience the thrill of buying that dress (though perhaps not the stick-er shock that comes with it), the chance to step out slickly out of the limo (or slink out of the taxi) into some glam-orous hotel. It’s that story we want to buy with our money, not the ballroom. And it re-ally is a much better story when the setting is in a hotel with such a pedigree that it has its own full-time money washer- we’re talking about a guy who literally cleans the coins that pass through the hotel until they sparkle. We might think that our money goes to paying for the food or the hotel, but really the $90 is buying a night full of memories. And for hours of pleasant ones with friends, the kind you’ll remember forever? $90 is a bargain.

Pictured above (left to right): Amy Shieh, Gr. 12; Stella Joh, Gr. 12; Nickie Nguyen, Gr. 12; Britney Lau, Gr. 12

« Continued from page four

« Continued from page four

6 Wildcat Tribune Vol. 02, Ed. 02

Tips for surviving finals weeksome obscure set of information for the test, but it’s probably best to take a shortcut and determine for yourself what will and won’t likely be on your final. Keep away from memorizing humongous lists that have never been mentioned in any homework assignment, in addition to purely extraneous information as just-for-fun real-life-applications or historical primary sources.

3. DON’T go minimalist. I’ve seen this all too frequently among my classmates. It is tempting, though: either you feel comfortable with your current grade or you’re determined to raise that grade and figure out how much rigor it takes to do so. Either way, we arrive at the same result: checking out the minimum final score you need to get a certain grade. When one sees that it’s impossible to achieve your ideal grade, or that one can categorically bomb the final and still feel comfortable, one tends to slack in a severe bout of myopia. The truth is that you can always do worse than expected and jeopardize your grade to unseen extents. Really, the best way to go about any course is to understand that you’re not aiming for a 150% or

a 50%, you’re aiming for perfection. You know you probably won’t reach perfection, but if you aim any lower, preparation will be lowered, and you will for sure receive a lower grade.

2. DON’T stress: On the other hand, there are a few cases to watch out for when you go “all-out.” It’s easy to be overwhelmed with the sheer

amount of work it seems you have to put up with relative to finals. It might not even be that much, but just a lot more than the post-AP relaxation work that you’re used to. We’ve all seen the effects: Facebook statuses complaining about or mocking finals, conversations between friends-at-heart get turned to mechanistic nothingness when the only subject brought to mind is finals, all that jazz.

People will enter their rooms on that last week of school and think “Oh my gosh this event will determine my success in life. If I screw this up, I screw myself up.” and think nothing else. Relax. Finals aren’t the end of the world, and you certainly aren’t going anywhere taking up your study time complaining about your study time.

1. DON’T #YOLO: You know it, it’s inevitable, really. Teenage society’s favorite mode of “carpe diem” has now officially entered the mainstream, and we see our peers fall into the throngs of hedonistic savagery that is encompassed by YOLO. What can we expect? Students everywhere, doing whatever they can to avoid the reality that is finals, under the justification of that horrid four-letter acronym. Don’t be

one of them. I dare you to not like those statuses regarding the abandon of study, and I urge you to keep up that ego of yours that determines the validity and legitimacy of thought. Say NO to YOLO. If you fail school, you fail education, and you fail to survive in real, adult society. Unless you’d rather live the miserable life of the failures, keep up the great work. You only live once, after all.

The Campaign, not rated, August 10 Comedy stars Will Ferrell and Zach Gilifi-anakis battle it out as rival politicians. Director Jay Roach also directed films such as Dinner for Schmucks (2010) and Meet the Fockers (2004) so fans of those comedies should eagerly expect more of the same brand of comedy in this new comedy.

The Expendables 2, not rated, August 17 And finally at the end of the summer movie season, The Expendables 2 promises more guns, more sweat, more blood, and more bi-ceps. This time around Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger join the band of mercenaries on a quest to blow a lot of stuff up real good.

There you have it, a summary of the most anticipated films of the summer mov-ie season and as always, happy screenings!

Summer moviesLooking back on baseballVidhi Sachdeva

With almost a third of baseball season done, it’s time to look back on some of the surprising teams. This season has been full of ups and downs, with many more ex-citing moments sure to come. The eastern division, consisting of Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, is prob-ably one of the toughest divisions in the American League. The Yankees have won the most World Series of these teams, but this year they place 11th in the AL. The Orioles have had a surprisingly successful sea-son so far. They rank first their divi-sion, as well as in the AL. The Red Sox had a terrible start, and are still struggling, failing to hit the .500 mark in many consecutive games this season. Their troubles started by blowing a 9-run lead to the Yan-

kees earlier in the season, and their struggles have only gotten worse. The central division is a little less surprising. This division includes the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Kan-sas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins. None of these teams have performed exceptionally well this season. Justin Verlander of the Ti-gers almost threw his 3rd perfect game of his career against the Pitts-burgh Pirates, but gave up a single in the top of the ninth. This division looks to be especially competitive heading into the rest of the season. The west division isn’t shock-ing either. The Texas Rangers have been doing well as usual, placing 3rd overall in the AL. The Oakland A’s have continued to struggle. They have seen better days offensively, but just can’t seem to make it work.

» continued, PG. 8

Vol. 02, Ed. 02 Wildcat Tribune 7

be smarter.• SAT/SAT II/ACT/AP Prep• Subject Tutoring• GPA Management• College Counseling• College Essay• College Application

C2’S SAT RESULTS

362 Points Total Average SATScore Improved! Writing Average: + 124 ptsMath Average: + 121 ptsReading Average: + 117 pts

124 121117

1.800.777.7000www.c2educate.comExpires 2/29/12

CUPERTINO: 408.865.1140 DUBLIN: 925.479.9400 FREMONT: 510.792.3700 MILLBRAE: 650.259.0290 WEST PORTAL: 415.759.1196

VISIT OUR BLOG AT C2EDUCATE.COM/BLOGS FOR SUCCESS STORIES

Bring your PSAT/SATScore Report for

FREE CONSULTATION

PSAT SCORE REPORT

Column: Hello, Stomach Husband!Anise Bacon

When was the last time you had a sit down family dinner with no complaints, no impatience, no worries? Try to remem-ber the last time you, dad, mom, and your irritable younger brother all delightfully agreed on one place to eat; remember the last time you communed with your fam-ily without whining of homework or so-cial time being wasted. Oh, and “family dinner” isn’t inclusive of the weekly In-N-Out slobbering in your friend’s attractive convertible. Having a hard time recall-ing these memories? Well, you’re in luck. Welcome to the Wildcat Tribune’s new food column, “Hello, Stomach Hus-band!” – well, if you prefer wife, that’s fine too; I’m pretty sure most females nowa-days would just like to not think of them-selves as the food servants. Each month, a new restaurant review will hopefully do its duty of satisfying your cantan-kerous tummy, or maybe add some more pressure to your bathroom scale. Most of us have heard of Guy Fi-eri, right? Round belly, bleached hair tips, trademark mustache, and cheer-ful sandpaper voice… who doesn’t love the host of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives? Well, it turns out that Guy’s original restaurant, Johnny’s Garlic, has a location a hop away in Dublin! If you haven’t been to Johnny’s Gar-

lic, your stomach has never experienced satisfaction – the restaurant at first seems like your typical sit-down comfort food restaurant, but upon walking in and be-ing smothered by savory aromas, you’ll realize that Johnny’s has everything to satisfy everyone from the screech-ing five-year-old to the exigent critic. The last time my family and I went, we started off with the Coconut Shrimp. We’re not big fans of overpriced appe-tizers, but I can guarantee you that this dish was well worth every cent. The flour and bread coating has just a pang of co-conut flavor, enough to satisfy a yearn-ing craving, but subtle enough as not to overpower the inner shrimp flavours. This coating doesn’t strip off the shrimp either, a problem I find in many dishes in which you end up with a pile of fried dough and a separate pile of meat scraps. During our visit, we decided to skip being health-conscious for once, ignor-ing the salads. I did hear that the Asian Chicken Crunch is particularly satis-fying though, if you want an opinion. For those who want a sting to their taste buds, I urge you to try the Hot and Spicy Wood Stone Fired Pizza. John-ny’s has a whole section of these piz-zas, but I found this one especially de-licious, with a wholesome bite and a jumpy aftertaste. The Penne Pesto Veg-etable Pasta was my personal favourite

– artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and fresh Italian flavours all melted in a home-made, basil-rich pesto cream sauce. I suppose if you’re exceptionally daring that day, you can ask for some Hunter’s Creations: alligator, quail, rabbit, ostrich, elk… all the wild creatures I would wretch at even the thought of seeing as steak. But, above all else, it is absolutely im-perative you try Guy’s Big Bite Burger. This is your heart attack, your atheroscle-rosis, what the foreign caricature of the typical American eats. This is also heav-en on earth. It’s half a pound of steak clothed with smoked Applewood bacon, rupturing your mouth with its perfectly peppered, lush explosion of satisfaction. The Maui onion rings are zings of spiced happiness when you’re already enjoying the meat, and the warm cheddar cheese evens all the flavours out, soothes your palate. Did I mention how it’s served on a fresh pretzel roll? Yeah. But words cannot sufficiently give this vicarious taste – try it yourself! And if you’re too concerned about calories, just stop wor-rying about being thin and just indulge yourself. Once won’t hurt too much! And, in case you were wondering, I have no connections with Johnny’s – or any res-taurants – and didn’t promise to advertise anything. So, take my opinions as honest and from the stomach: take your folks out to dinner; gain a few pounds; live life; eat!

« Continued from page seven

8 Wildcat Tribune Vol. 02, Ed. 02

Wildcat Tribune, Volume

02, Edition 03

Dougherty Valley High School’s one and only student-produced newspaper is devoted to reporting the truth while adhering to journalistic ethics.

For advertising inquiries, please contact: wildcat.tribune@yahoo.com

Letters, comments, and suggestions may be dropped off in room 1213 at Dougherty Valley High School, 10550 Albion Road, San Ramon, CA 94582.

Letters to the editor are encouraged and should not exceed 150 words. Please e-mail letters to wildcat.tribune@yahoo.com or drop off in room 1213. Not all letters will be published, especially if deemed derogatory, profane, or inappropriate.

Editor in Chief: Madeleine S. Han,Harika Adivikolanu

Executive Production Editor: Grace Zhang

Copy Editor: Srijhari Sureddi

Opinion/Editorial Editor: Mimi Evans

Features/Entertainment Editor: Dylan Comay

Sports Editor: Nikhil Jois

Photo/Graphic Editor: Tiuli Kulshi

Staff Writers: Michael Leung, Chakib Mouzaoui, Vidhi Sachdeva, Jamie

Shen

Staff Illustrators: Yuen Suhn Lee

Pictures provided by:J.r. Abueg, Caitlin Boynton, Amanda Hong and Stella Joh, Milad Imen,

Amanda Lee, Tiuli Kulshi

Advisor: Duane IngramRoom 1213

Principal: Jason Reimann

Contact Informationwildcat.tribune@yahoo.com

(925)-479-0523

Printer: JS Printing

Nikhil Jois

After switching coaches and having virtually no training camp, making it to the second round of the playoffs might seem like an accomplishment. But when that team is the Lakers, with a history of high standards after winning back to back titles in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 questions are raised after two straight years of second round losses. Following their 3-1 series loss to the Oklahoma Thunder, fans called for the Lakers to retool, Regardless of what actually happens, essential questions must still be raised, starting with “What’s next?” The panic following this year’s latest collapse in Lakerland spawned trade hopes involving Pau Gasol. In fact, the top trending topic on twitter after the Lakers’ loss in Game 5 was “#IdtradeGasolfor”. Statistically, this was Gasol’s worst season since arriving in LA in 2008, as he averaged 17.4 points per game during the regular season and even worse during the playoffs. These struggles led for calls for him to be traded, especially due to the Lakers’ limited

cap space. Next year, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, and Andrew Bynum are due to be paid $69 million. With hopes that they can acquire Net’s superstar Deron Williams, the Lakers’ are looking to unload one of their core players, who struggled mightily against the young Thunder. The draft will be no help to the Lakers, who have a late pick in the second round. As deep as the talent pool is this year, it is unlikely that the Lakers will acquire a revitalizing player in their current situation. As the Lakers begin to age, with Bryant 33, Gasol 31, and World Peace 32, they begin to cross the line of rebuilding and contending. The question then becomes who to trade. By popular opinion, the clear choice is Gasol, and it appears that they may be right. After all, this is the second straight year in which Gasol has put up disappointing numbers in the postseason. He has advanced past his prime and clearly does not function in Lamar Odom’s old role. However, attempts to unload him are hampered by his $19 million asking price. Another of the Lakers’ bigs that did not perform up to par during

the postseason was Andrew Bynum. However, unlike Gasol, Bynum is heading into his prime. Though Bynum often plays by his own rules, his full potential still remains to be seen and the Lakers look to be “his team” after Kobe retires. However, it is important to not be trigger-happy with trades. The Lakers need value for Gasol. The collapse during the playoffs was not entirely his fault, and the most favorable situation in which Gasol would be traded would be for Deron Williams. Anything less, and the Lakers may want to explore other options. It is clear that the Lakers need to retool. A flashy trade may be one way to do it, but the Lakers also need to add depth and bench production. Another key area is the point guard situation. Though Ramon Sessions was hailed as the cure-all it is clear that the point guard position needs some help. The Lakers have a while to think about their current situation and address their issues. Decisive action needs to be taken to regenerate a productive Lakers team, lest the door slam shut on the Lakers era.

So what’s next for the L.A. Lakers?

Their future this season is in trouble as Brandon McCarthy was sent to the DL. The LA An-gels and Seattle Mariners have had disappointing seasons so far, but things may change for both teams as the season continues. In the National League, the eastern division is looking good. The Washington Nation-als are in 6th overall, and are on a hot start. The Atlanta Braves are in 4th, due to their fantastic bullpen. The Miami Marlins are in 10th, and their sluggers are

looking fantastic on the field. The Phillies are in 15th but have a 6-game winning streak, and might end up being in the top ten later on this season. The central division isn’t performing as well as its east-ern counterpart. The Cincinnati Reds are 13th in the NL, but their bullpen is suffering, so they may fall in the ranks. The St. Louis Cardinals are the reign-ing champs from last season, but this season things are going the wrong way for them, with

many of their sluggers going to the DL. The Houston Astros are in 24th, but this young team has almost found its footing. The Pittsburgh Pirates have one the worst offenses this season, and it’s a surprise their still in 21st. The Cubs have more than 13 players on the DL and with what little players they have left, they can’t seem to function. The western is full of long-standing rivalries. The LA Dodgers and San Francisco Gi-ants have one of the most in-

tense rivalries apart from Yan-kees/Red Sox and Red Sox/Rays. The Dodgers are in 2nd, even without superstar Matt Kemp. The Giants’ bullpen looks weak, with Tim Lince-cum off to a bad start. The Colorado Rockies and San Di-ego Padres are both average teams who need better hitters. With the season near-ing its halfway point, some of these teams need to step it up and other just need to keep adding fuel to their fire.

Baseball