You may remember the plea issued in our last edition of The Bear Flag Republic (Something along the lines
of “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send us things”). While the majority of the student body has since responded with
the usual resounding silence, we are proud to announce that a precious few have given us their own work to present
to you in this latest edition. So to these few, many thanks from the Bear Flag Republic editorial staff. The rest of you
will hopefully enjoy these students’ submissions and (should a miracle occur) be inspired to share your own opinion
with the rest of the M-A world. The opportunity to express yourself is a rare one in a high school curriculum- why
not let it all out to the people who are desperately asking for your input? We know as well as any other idealistic
publication that the apathy barrier is a tough one to break, but it is our belief that you students have a stronger voice
than many are willing to admit. Our plea has not changed, but perhaps this time, your response will.
All the best,
The Bear Flag Republic Editorial Staff
Contact us: [email protected] -Facebook Profile under John Charles Fremont
It was just like any other
Friday– students looked
bedraggled, sleep-deprived, and
the only thing on anyone’s mind
was the pending weekend. There
are so many things to remember
in a week –homework,
responsibilities, extracurriculars,
jobs– its seems that no one had
the capacity to remember that this
Friday, in particular, was different.
In fact, exactly eight years
ago that Friday, our nation was
threatened and American lives
were lost. Yet eight years later, and
that dark day seems all but
forgotten. That Friday, everyone
headed their papers with the date
–September 11, 2009– but few
acknowledged the terror and grief
which it will forever be associated
with.
Edition 3 May 15, 2009
When a high-school student
is heard reminiscing about the bliss
of childhood, one can surmise that
their youth, according to them, is
over. But when did sixteen become
the new experienced and wise eighty-
five?
Many adults would lump the
teenage years right in with childhood
in terms of relative happiness and
unconcern. Of course it’s not all
carefree, but there should be a
certain level of joy that interrupts the
stress.
Right?
Tired eyes, unfocused gazes
and slumped shoulders tell a different
story. Braggart’s tales of staying up
all night for homework, cramming in
sports and extracurriculars, acing a
test at the expense of sleep: all a part
of countless (continued on pg 2)
"We Bear News"
9/11-Citizen Kane
Dear Reader,
16: The New 85?-Pancho Villa
In years past, 9/11 was a day
marked by assemblies, class
discussions, journal responses –at the
very least a moment of silence over the
daily announcements. At night, candles
used to line the streets, each a small,
flickering spark of hope. Each previous
9/11, we have reunited as a nation and
remembered the unity and camaraderie
and pride that the attacks instigated, if
only for a moment. (continued on pg 7)
The Bear Flag Republic
Volume 2, Edition 2 November 6, 2009
"We Bear The News"
Pancho Villa
1
(though not all) students’ lives.
Not to say that these things
are all bad- indeed, too much
unstructured time can be as
detrimental to mental health as an
overly packed schedule. But when
every teacher considers their class
to be of top priority, and every
coach is pressuring students to
excel, and every activity is
clamoring for a top spot on the
schedule, things can get tricky to
balance.
Those of us at the Bear Flag
Republic like to think that we
understand the dilemma faced by
most students. Friends, boyfriends
and girlfriends, underground
newspapers, parents, and teachers
are all pulling us in different
directions, like a sadistic version of
tug-of-war played with a human
rather than the traditional rope. The
trick is to never lose sight of what
is most important to you, no matter
how strained your limbs become
from excessive tugging. So take a
break one of these days, and do
something you like. Chances are,
you will be refreshed enough to
reenter the game with minimal joint
pain.
16: The New 85? (cont)We do not, unfortunately,
have the power to remove the
inordinate amounts of pressure
that so often reduce us to misty-
eyed daydreams of “back in the
day”. We do, however, have the
power to shift our own schedules
a little bit to accommodate the
guilty pleasures and quirky
activities that make such pressure
a little easier to bear. Please do so,
Bears. Give responsibility the finger
and take time for yourself once in
awhile. It might just be the mental
health boost you have needed all
along. 0
Fashion-Anonymous Student
I feel like a coke bottle. Or
worse, a freeway billboard; a
shameless product placement
plug for coca-cola in a blockbuster
film. And rightfully so, I’m wearing
a Freshman Transition Leader
shirt. It is a good thing that of all
those founders of this, and
presidents of that that live over in
Atherton none of them invented
coke or I feel justified in saying that
they would have sued the shirts off
our backs for copy right
infringement. They would have
methodically possessed every last
light bulb and rigging out of our new
performing arts center or painted
a giant polar bear popping the top
of a fizzy refreshment on the 65
foot stage house for all of
Middlefield to see.
At the same time, coke
advertisements don’t just work
because they are recognizable,
they work because they look good;
They look clean, simple, and well
designed. And so do our shirts. The
color scheme, font and font size all
look like a team of marketers
worked them out for optimal
viewing conditions. They of course
were worked out by such a highly
paid team, but barring a Pepsi
preference, the front of the shirt
looks good.
The back has the one
critical flaw in that it touts the 8,760
hours I am supposed to spend
“paving paths for our freshman.” I
wrote that number out of memory
because I have had it mockingly
recited to me countless times.
Aside from the obvious fact that I
don’t spend every minute of my
school day laying bricks before the
feet of needy underclassmen, the
number was accurate for only one out
of the one hundred and eighty seven
days of school. I wore it first two days
before school at Freshman Orientation
when I had more than a full school
year to go, and I’m wearing it now, with
less. I appreciate being called a leader
of 2010 but given that the freshman
transition program consists of lessons
only in the first semester, it would like
being a leader in 2009 as well, when
the lessons actually take place.
Sadly, this stylish T is out of
stock, if you want to get an early
reserve on next year’s (I’m thinking,
“Silly Leader, Transition is for
Freshman!”) You’d better start
warming up to Stuart now and sign up
for Freshman Transition early. You
wouldn’t want to miss being a leader
2011. Don’t worry, by that time I will
have paved all the roads, you can work
on some buildings. 0
xkcd.com
2
Everyone
Everyone
Longs for the moment
In the sun
Beneath the tree
Off of work
With their love
Everyone
Gets it
Eventually-Private Joker
Wished
I can never remember
The things I can’t forget
The things that haven't
Happened yet
They will make me who I am
And tell me who to be
I sometimes wish
They had happened to me
But then
I sometimes wish for the moon
I sometimes wish for the stars
I sometimes wish for the world
And I sometime wish for this
But not yet
-Georges Danton
Peace
I leave
The leaf
Uncrunched-Private Joker
The Jump
The man stares out
The man stares in
The man can’t help but
succumb to his whim
The cliff stares up
The cliff stares down
The cliff already sees him
under his mound
The sea stands by
The sea stands still
The sea just watches and
waits for his will
The shame pushes foreword
The shame pushes back
The shame pressures this man
to say alack
His mind says yes
His mind says no
His mind keeps him
stuck in this low
The man falls slow
The man falls fast
The man takes a breath
that is his last
Death moves in
Death moves out
Death never tells him
what life is about
-Private Joker
Music In My Bones
I was born with music in my
bones
I was born without the voice
I was born without the hands
I was born without the ears
But I was born with music in
my bones
-Private Joker
Anonymous
… I admit, I’m not a poet,
but I am a teenager just like you…
You may think life’s hard,
No benefits after your next turn,
Opportunities like road signs,
Flashing by then gone by the time
You want to take hold…
I'm scared of heights,
Bright lights hope shines in the
dark,
It’s not a walk in the park,
It’s more like salsa dancing in New
York…
Abolitionists and politicians,
Skinny jeans or“I’m here to Please”
Nerdy or flirty,
Teachers pet or future vet,
First to last or skipping class?
Which disguise do you wear?-Loony Toon
Pretty Things
There’s nothing left to leave behind
Nothing left for me to hang on to
All my pretty things are only in my mind
And all I have to show for it is you
And buying’s not the answer
All that leads to is more pain
It’ll just make us remember
None of our pretty things remain
I could look for it tomorrow
Just like I looked for it today
It was all gone so long ago
We had to give it all away
We have nothing left to borrow
And nothing left to gain
We have none of what we started with
We had so much when we came
-Georges Danton
Poems Poems Poems Poems Poems"Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason.""Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason.""Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason.""Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason.""Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason."
-Novalis -Novalis -Novalis -Novalis -Novalis
3
Leadership has begun an
ambitious program to raise
awareness over environmental
issues, and cut down on paper
usage. At the same time the continue
their same quality advertisements, as
represented by plastering the school
with bland posters which more often
then not are fraught with blank white
space.
What the F***.
First, I have to point out the
obvious. For all the high talk and trash
piles leadership makes, it isn’t quite
apparent what they are doing. We
have to give them some credit, the
new recycling bins are amazing, and
I’ve heard some rumors about
education pieces (though I haven’t
seen anything except for that failure
of a global warming assembly). But
let’s step back for a second, how
much is leadership actually doing?
They still make the same low quality
high quantity posters which are less
advertisement and more chunks of
wall. They still mass produce flyers
which permeate the school so readily,
that you can find stacks of school
events from last year stacked in
some classrooms. Leadership
simply is talking the talk, but we sure
aren’t seeing any walk.
Lets take club training, a
perfectly good leadership activity
which I had the distinct honor of
enduring. Lots of papers were
passed out. Several sheets all asking
for mission statements and goals,
with more blank unused spaces and
inspirational pep talks than Gandhi
the Movie (hint: they both were really,
really long). Instead of students
walking out of the training with
handfuls of useless papers,
leadership had actually followed its
own paper saving plan. They should
have entered the mission
statements and stuff they wanted
into a computer, and then printed out
as needed, and they should have
consolidated all those rules into one
board, in one place, which clubs can
easily reference. Hell, they could
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN JERK?
The Center for Sex and Culture, or CSC, will once again celebrate Masturbation Month (known more
commonly, perhaps, as “May”) with its annual Masturbate-a-thon. And while Masturbation Month is
still far away, ambitious wankers may want to get practicing- the record to beat is nine hours and fifty-
eight minutes for guys and seven hours and six minutes for girls. Not an endurance athlete? Not to
worry, there are prizes awarded for number of orgasms and longest squirt.
even put it online. But the point is
that they could have saved
hundreds of sheets of paper by not
following the same shotgun
approach to Leadership that they
have over every year in student
memory.
But I have to say, there was
one very interesting part of club
training, when each person was
given a sheet showing
advertisement ideas. What followed
was a long list of often zany, often
ridiculous, and often brill iant
advertising ideas. I was amazed that
leadership had a sheet which
suggested they do advertisements
other than monotone
announcements (though props to
Sam Hausman for spicing up the
announcements) and confusing
posters. Leadership has in its hands
the greatest tool for advertisement,
a holy grail if you will, and they pass
over it, doing the same stuff, not
progressing past the achievement
of a class one third the size, god
knows how man years ago at the
start of leadership.
Real, true Leadership is
about inspiration. And I’ll be honest;
our school’s leadership has not
inspired me in the least bit, not for a
moment. When I think of our
schools environmental “movement”
which got so much press attention
last year, I don’t think of any real
change, I think of a bunch of kids
looking cool and spouting buzz
words. When I think of our
advertising, I think only of the chunk
of paper I stepped on while going to
third period. Nice try leadership,
better luck next generation. 0
Mark R. Brown
folders which were packed with
random information, including a few
sheets with legitimate information,
diluted over seemingly dozens of
bullet points. All this amidst “training”
4
MA's Top Real Estate: The Green-Citizen Kane Our green can be a difficult place to navigate. With the help of the Bear Flag Republic’s
very own real estate experts, however, all areas of this wondrous place can be yours to
explore! Follow these guidelines for a self-guided tour around the green.
Sector 1: D-Wing side, against the
lockers
This sheltered region provides excellent
cover from the pouring rain, blazing sun,
and other manifestations of
atmospheric wrath. Freshmen crowd
the section of hallway closest to the E-
wing bathrooms, while clusters of
juniors converge under this weather-
proof haven in the area near Pride Hall’s
entrance. The comfortable concrete
allows students to sit, stand, or sleep
as they see fit- but beware of overly
affectionate couples that frequent this
shaded territory.
Sector 2: Benches close to
the library (and surrounding
vegetation)
The perfect place to sit in a
tightly-knit circle and enjoy
lunch ONLY with those you
feel are worthy of your
presence. The limited number
of trees makes their
accompanying shade an ideal
boundary- fill up the shaded
area with friends and make
sure no one new joins your
circle for meals. Males are
discouraged from visiting this
area (although exceptions are
made when it comes to
benches), as it is a
predominantly female
presence in the lunch circles
on the grass.
Sector 3: The grass/benches
adjacent to the B-wing and
closest to the library
This peculiar province is perfect for
those who desire a social lunch
hour. Conveniently close to the
junior-ridden benches outside of B-
21, this corner of the grass
provides enterprising young
sophomores the chance to make
a mad, giggly dash towards the
nearest upperclassman and throw
themselves into a wildly feminine
series of hugs. No dignity? No
problem! Sector 3 is all about fun
activities like this, no matter how
degrading.
Sector 4: Outside of
B-21
U p p e r c l a s s m e n
frequent this region of
the green, but that’s no
reason to be afraid.
Well, as long as you’ve
got an excellent
reason to be there.
Visitors rarely enter
this area, but if you
know someone who’s
already there, then go
ahead…
Sector 5: The outside of
the C-Wing Pride Hall
entrance
Want an experience with
upperclassmen, but unable
to muster the fortitude to
enter Sector 4? Sector 5 is a
favorite for travelers who like
a good conversation (and
can’t help but feel they need
a VIP pass for Sector 4)
No Man’s Land: Grass area
at the center of all sectors
This zone is largely empty
and serves as a connector
between all of the sectors.
Travel here is perilous,
however; somehow,
everyone seems to be staring at any person who ventures into
No Man’s Land. The fainthearted should bring a friend- the nagging
feeling of being watched simultaneously by every luncher out
there can be disconcerting. 5
The road to this year ’s
homecoming started with a dream, a
dream of a dance at the finest
institution which our school had ever
held a dance at, a dream of a magical
night filled with sober revelries and
dancing, a dream of a truly special
time to be savored for our lives. This
dream was promptly broken with the
bankruptcy of the Fox Theater. In the
mad scramble to find a new venue,
Leadership turned towards the Hiller
Aviation Museum to hold the dance.
All I can say is: bad call.
But let’s move to the basics
of the dance. When approaching the
entrance, there were adequate
decorations around. The dance also
had the nice effect of separating the
entrance and dance floor with a solid
curtain, which allowed the
imagination to explore the
possibilities of what the dance
actually looked like. When I finally
walked past the curtain I was severely
disappointed. Dimmed lights, small
dance floor, decent DJ, what’s new?
There were no real decorations to be
easily viewed, and for some reason
the temperature was jacked up
beyond belief. This is where the main
flaws of the dance come in- a high
temperature dance, limited dance
space, and cramped dancing, all of
which led to an oven of hell. Every
person I knew had to take break after
break, heading for either the fresh air
of the fenced-in patio or the cool
drinks of the excellently run drink
stand.
To be perfectly honest, the
dance was a dance, with the
small difference being the inferno
of a dance floor. People
segregated during dancing; there
was your normal array of freaking
(despite the so called “contracts”
we signed). People left early,
many leaving as soon as they
were able, and other than the
novelty of being able to check out
a few cool planes, there was
nothing special or magical about
the evening. It was remarkably
average.
Grade: C-
Homecoming-Private Joker
Meet the Staff of the
Bear FlagBear FlagBear FlagBear FlagBear Flag
Republic Republic Republic Republic Republic
6
Every morning when I bike to school, I
cross Willow where it intersects Coleman. I
see two kids- one on my side of the street and
the other facing me. When the light turns green
and we cross, one of the kids crosses with
me and the other walks towards us. They
know each other.
They stop to high five, but they have to
get to school. I don’t usually talk to either kid in
the morning; its cold, I’m in a hurry, and I don’t
know them, but I know the kid on the other
side of the street goes to Willow Oaks and the
kid on my side of the street goes to M-A. I guess
it’s just weird. They move in opposite
directions, but they probably don’t live more
than a mile apart. This kid on my side of the
street lives so close to Willow that he walks
through their parking lot on his way to M-A.
Every day, when I watch those kids, I
think, “At least one of them has a chance.” I’m
not overly familiar with Willow, but I don’t need
to be to know it’s not a great school. I’m not
failing anything, but I don’t need to be to know
that M-A has built itself to help those who are.
And why not, we can afford it. Menlo Atherton
High School is one of the best funded public
schools in the country. Property values in
Menlo Park aren’t so high just for kicks, they
plummet when you go outside the school
district limit. It’s worth something to go to M-A.
Your parents are probably paying thousands
more a year for you to go to school here. I
know mine are. And yet, according to Google
maps, my rout between the two schools is 1.1
miles and should take four minutes by car.
It isn’t about being on the wrong side
of town; a lot of East Palo Alto goes to M-A. Its
about being on the wrong side of the wrong
side of town. It’s about getting an apartment
on the wrong block when your kids are still in
daycare, and not being able to afford to move
when they grow up, or not even knowing that
you should.
What are the chances of someone
doing well there versus here? I don’t have a
statistic to show you, I don’t know exactly, but
ask around. What kind of chance does the kid
walking towards me have? I don’t know, but
we are giving you a lot of chances. Take them.
Like I said, at least one of them has a chance,
it would be a shame if nobody took it. 0
Challenge-Georges DantonBut 9/11/09 came and went
as if it were any other day. Not only
was it not even mentioned over the
announcements, but not a single
one of my teachers came even
remotely close to the subject.
Although I’ll concede that it
is an event from the past, M-A’s
overall lack of acknowledgement
begs the question of priorities in
education. While standard
education, such as math and
grammar, is undeniably important,
it is equally important if not vital to
also be aware of and understand
current news and events which
directly apply to real life. It is not
solely the tragedy that makes it
worthy of acknowledgment, but also
the sheer relevancy that 9/11 has
to many of the US’s current
situations.
I went through the whole day
as if in a daze, incapable of
understanding why sentence
diagramming and Renaissance
history were more pressing issues
than terrorism and war in the Middle
East.
9/11 (cont)Several times in the past,
similar situations have been
presented. Last year, for example,
while all other schools in the
country were holding school-wide
assemblies, I was forced to cut
class to go watch President
Obama’s inauguration. Naturally it
was ridiculous for me to express
any desire to see one of the most
significant events in recent history
–not when there were essays to
write and posters to be made. And
again while other schools in the
area all gathered in their gyms to
witness Obama’s address to the
students of America, I again found
myself unenlightened, excluded,
and facing a massive amount of
Spanish worksheets.
Just as we cannot allow
ourselves to overlook 9/11, we
cannot continue to refuse
participation in monumental
events. There is education beyond
school –matters of greater
precedence than grammar– and it
would be irresponsible for us to
remain in the dark. 0
The Dangers of Driving
Better rethink that road trip, Spot. In
Alaska, it is illegal to tether a dog to the roof
of a car. Damn.
Apparently this was a problem in Eureka,
California… It’s illegal to use the road as a
bed. And I wouldn’t go to Chico, they’ve
outlawed growing rutabagas in roadways.
If driving on sidewalks is your thing, Oregon
is the perfect place for you. But watch out,
for it is illegal to not yield to pedestrians
while cruising the sidewalk.
Attention Meat Lovers: Scavenging road kill
is quite legal in West Virginia. I’m moving.7
Pickup Line Corner
We challenge you to check these off as you use them.
o I’d like to get my basilisk into your chamber
of secrets.
o Do you have any raisins? No? How about a
date?
o You can fall off a building, you can fall out a
tree, but baby, the best way to fall is in love with
me.
o I hope your day is as radiant as your smile.
o Wow! Are you really as beautiful as you
seem or do you remind me of myself?
o Hi, the voices in my head told me to come
over and talk to you.
o I bet you $20 you’re gonna turn me down.
Cult Corner: Spotlight Dr. Fredrick LenzDr. Fredrick Lenz, better known as Rama, made
his money as a motivational speaker at about $5000 a
pop. He preached the idea that, among others, “The
more money you make, the better you meditate.”
Rama had his followers stare at him for hours at a
time until they started to see him glow, and then told them
they were psychic. They thanked him and signed up for
his next cult-hike into the desert. (“I never knew
brainwashing could be so much fun...” -Rama follower
after desert trip. Seriously.)
He did raise an interesting discourse on how
women were being turned into sexual slaves in one of his
bestselling books- “A woman is cajoled into believing
that her opinions are valued, her integrity is admired and
that she is special beyond all others, when in fact she is
actually viewed as a useful commodity for sexual
pleasure.” What Rama forgot to mention is that he told
women that he only slept with people who showed a
special kind of karma. Any woman he wanted to sleep
with showed a special karma, and if that wasn’t enough,
apparently having sex with him raised a woman to a higher
level of spirituality. Go figure.
Health Bulletin Corner: Rats.
We know MA has rats.
We’ve seen them.
Drama kids claim they’ve seen them.
They might be mice, but we think they're rats.
We don’t know where they are during the day
so we decided to do some research on other
edifices with rats.
We found out they are everywhere: every
house, every building, every boat.
This is not an article! It is a public service
announcement: Beware of the rats. They are
EVERYWHERE.
Even. At. Your. School.
Youtube Corner - “Jackchop”
Arguably, “Jackchop” is the worst
infomercial of all time, though it should be noted
that the video was purposely humorous. As the
infomercial man went off in wild yet enthusiastic
rants that reminded me of a foul mouthed Billy
Mays with some perverted strange accent from
hell, I learned all about the Jackchop product, and
how its innovative way of cutting and setting up
pumpkins would save lots of time. But in truth, I
just learned how the man could mutilate himself
in more dumb ways than Anakin Skywalker when
he fell in that lava pit. “Jackchop” isn’t comedy,
its just pure shock, as the man tears out eyes,
cuts his tongue, gouges his chest, and still
manages to chop off his thumb, all in a two
minuet infomercial delivered with enough fake
blood to fill a bathtub. I wish I could recommend
this video, but I’ll be honest, unless you want to
see a man mutilate himself in four to many ways
and then offer you a glow stick, it’s not worth the
watch. Stay away from Jackchop.
8