The Drake Jolly Roger

The 2011-2012 school year welcomes the new clubs that are now part of our school. The new additions include the Politics Club, the Ocean Crusaders Club, the Drake News Association, the CIVIC Club, and the Daraja Club.

Students in the Drake News Association (DNA), take their “Passion” from the “P” in PIRATES to make a video news online club. Vice president, senior Ben Oseguera, says, “There hasn’t been a designated site for this news to go on yet, but we’re thinking of putting it on the Drake website or integrating [it] into the weekly bulletin.”

Senior Willa Murphy has also created the Politics Club. In this club, students discusses international, domestic, and local affairs. The students are also working toward spreading this passion for politics throughout the student body, and even young people within the community. “The young generation is usually the least involved in what’s going on, and I created the club in order to get more people interested in current issues,” said Murphy.

Last year, the Politics Club helped organize the petition for the new salad bar that has brought new crowds to the canteen. Murphy is currently working toward abolishing plastic bags in local grocery stores.

President of the new Ocean Crusaders Club senior Alya Toquinto makes use of her love of the beach and interest in environmental causes. “We will do several beach clean-ups on the weekends this year and do some mini-fundraisers so that we can send money to environmental oceanic organizations,” said Toquinto. Even though SEA-DISC has educated her on environmental issues, her love for the beach and yearning to make a difference has been there since day one.

Other students take the “I” in pirates and turn it into inspiration – in this case, on an international level. The Daraja Academy of Kenya was founded by local residents Jason and Jenni Doherty for the purpose of funding a free education for Kenyan girls who have the potential to succeed. The academy provides food, housing and schooling for exceptional girls who are hindered by poverty.

The Daraja Club raises money for these girls' tuitions.

Daraja Club president, junior Maddie Barto, describes the Dohertys as “truly good people who found something that inspired them to make a difference.”

This inspiration for educating and helping those affected by poverty has trickled down to Barto. She originally heard about it from her aunt, Julie Whyte, who has been an active participant in Daraja for several years. Whyte believes that committed high school students will bring energy and creative ideas on how to build these bridges from the U.S. to Kenya.

Barto said that in Swahili, “daraja” means bridge, and in many aspects the Daraja Academy of Kenya is a bridge from poverty to success, as well as a bridge of connection from girls in Kenya to students in Marin.

Barto is hoping that students will be able to connect with the girls at Daraja through Skype or even travel to the school in Kenya if enough money is raised. “This is something truly close to my heart and I want that inspiration to spread and raise awareness for youths around the world,” Barto said.

Whyte wrote in an e-mail, “I hope that they are able to launch a couple of projects that can help raise funds for the school, enabling even more exceptional Kenyan girls of poverty to find success and [their] true place in the global community. These girls are so different from the students in Marin in terms of money and opportunity, but they are also similar in their desires to express themselves and find out where they fit in the world.”

Junior Lindsy Mobley, president of the CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict) Club, has also been inspired by international causes – in her case, Iraq and Afghanistan. Mobley said that CIVIC is a non-profit organization that helps the innocent civilians in war-stricken countries, by giving them resources, such as medical treatment.

Mobley plans on raising money from bake sales and car washes to send to the CIVIC foundation. “We are also going to be sending letters to the president and senate to gain their recognition,” Mobley said.

Mobley said that she was inspired to establish an organization herself, after learning about the reality these innocent civilians endure, but when she found out there already was one, she decided to help them.

Junior Manami Takashina, vice president of the club, hopes that students will be interested and excited in aiding this program by “helping to fundraise and brainstorm ideas of other ways to help the program and ultimately the people.”

Junior Jasmine Gardner, new member of the CIVIC club, said, “I want to make a difference for victims of wars who had no choice to be uprooted. Also, [these] people don’t get recognition or help so I’m glad to be able to help them get their life back.”

   With the title The Devil Inside, I was expecting this movie to be about exorcism, but by the end it had brought the devil out of me because I had to sit through one the worst endings to any movie I have ever seen.

The Devil Inside is the perfect example of a low-budget, mockumentary-style horror movie in which you can see every event happen in the trailer. There are three essential scary scenes in the movie, each scarier than the one before. But for viewers who saw the trailer, none were surprising, thus ruining the movie.

The movie’s main character is a girl in her mid-twenties, Isabella Rossi, who hasn’t seen her mother since she was six years old. Her mother, Maria Rossi, started acting very strange and later killed three people when an exorcism was performed on her. The Devil Inside begins with a phone call to 911 and Maria Rossi demonically saying to a confused phone operator, “Three people…Three people are dead…I killed them.” After this line, the movie cuts to a crime scene, which is covered in blood.

It skips ahead about twenty years, and Isabella Rossi is in her mid-twenties. Her mother has been moved to a Catholic hospital for the mentally ill in Italy. Isabella wants to go find her mother because she hasn’t seen her in over 20 years, and decides to film her trip to Italy like a documentary.

Once the plot has been established, the audience members have to sit through a massive block of boring build-up, where there are a few fake interviews giving background details on the story, used instead of letting things naturally unfold. This continues for so long that the audience begins to forget the movie is supposed to be scary. At this point, a scary scene arrives but doesn’t last long, and then the whole process repeats itself.

At one point in the film, the priests working with Isabella decide she will need to witness an exorcism, which had nothing to do with the plot, contrary to expectations. It almost seems like the producers just threw in a scene to awaken the viewers who were falling asleep. But during the scene I was overjoyed just to see something scary, because that’s why I was there.

I’m not going to spoil the end, but it must be said that this movie has one of the worst climaxes ever. It seems as if the producers ran out of money during the filming of the final scene and just had to think of a way to end it as soon as possible. The last scene was pretty demonic and thrilling, until the random ending which ruined the entire thing.

The actors were all pretty low budget and sub-par. They were mostly just narrating scenes and shrieking from people being exorcised. The priests performing the exorcise, looked funny and I couldn’t really take them very seriously when they were chanting their prayers while grasping their demonic patients.

In the end, I give this movie one and a half hooks because it does have some freaky concepts and a few thrills that make you jump. The Devil Inside racked up a way higher-than-expected $34.5 million, so look for its producer Paramount Pictures to come out with a sequel or similar title. Let’s hope it carries a bit higher budget and some scenes not spoiled by the preview trailer.

Teens hug it out in a “cinnamon roll” at a Spirit Rock Teen Retreat | Courtesy of Mike Shoup

Wheeler has been meditating on and off at Woodacre’s Spirit Rock Meditation Center for her whole life. She is currently in the high school meditation class, and also volunteers at the centers Family Days. Spirit Rock, one of the first and most well-known meditation centers in the country, offers a welcoming place to meditate for a community of both Buddhist and non-Buddhist identified meditators, loosely based on the Vipassana tradition of Buddhism.

 Almost every Marin teen’s parents forced them to do an extracurricular activity as a kid —for some, perhaps it was soccer or even ballroom dancing, but for me it was meditation. Back in the day, it wasn’t that cool, but it grew on me anyways.

As I gradually moved up from Spirit Rock kid’s classes in the yurt (teepee-esque room) to more mature middle school ones, and then to the high school sessions I’m about to graduate from, meditation became more that just another thing I do. Once the mindfulness practice from class integrated itself into my daily life, attending class became a conscious choice to pursue what I had learned to love.

From Vipassana romances (meditation crushes), to hot seats (hard-core meditative 20 questions), to Hey Big Buddha (meditative Hey Big Booty), to teen retreats (sitting still for a really long time, with some really awesome people), my quirky mindfulness community somehow managed to help form the individual that I am today.

I found that by continuously going to a weekend class, the ideas taught there affected my decisions and thinking throughout the week. From homework to intoxicants, meditation classes helped me to make decisions that were aligned with what I believed, instead of just doing things without awareness. Basically, I learned how to keep it real, Vipassana style.

My meditation friend Kiana Souza said about the topic, “The realest experiences of my life have arrived thanks to Spirit Rock…the thought of my life without this class is surreal.”

Although still uncommon, communities of meditating teenagers are growing in popularity. When I was a freshman or sophomore, my high school meditation sangha (community of meditators) consisted of a random assortment of about 15 people. Now the class average is closer to 40. As friends bring friends, old people bring new people, and everyone that’s meant to be there finds their way there, the community is still growing.

There must be something that makes people come back to sit still and focus on their breath every week. Said my fellow long-time meditator, Julian Von Nagel, during our last meditation class, “I don’t really like meditating that much, but every 99 mediocre meditations you have are worth that one mind-blowing experience.”

That’s one way to look at it, but I think the real reason people come is more than just the meditation. Spending a Sunday night with a group of mindful teenagers who just want to be real with each other affects your mindset during the rest of the week. Said meditator, Amory Mowrey, “I really love Spirit Rock because of the community- it’s what keeps bringing me back. I can meditate anywhere I want, but there’s not a lot of places where I can meditate in a room full of beautiful people who really just want to love you.”

The structure of a Spirit Rock teen meditation class is loose, consisting of between 15 to 30 or even 45 minutes of meditation; brief check-ins with the sangha; council (a longer check-in where people share their thoughts or personal stories on a mindfulness topic such as right speech, right action, or right sexuality), games, and dharma talks (our lovely volunteer teachers sharing the Buddha’s wisdom).

People tend to be more open with themselves and each other during a meditation class, because of the accepting mood that is set and adopted by the meditators. The openness sprouts many close friendships and relationships which grow during the course of a session, which lasts about six weeks or longer. During a session, teenagers from high schools throughout the Bay Area get to know each other on what our meditation teachers would call a ‘deeper level.’

That said, ‘deeper level’ stuff might not be for you. Given, there are a lot of hippies (something I’ve been called myself) found at any kind of westernized meditation class. But to me, meditation is less about free love and interconnectedness—those ideals are easy to talk about but difficult to truly practice–and more about training the mind and keeping sane and grounded throughout the week, month, year, high school, and beyond. If you’re interested, hey, maybe it’s meant to be.

There’s magic afoot in the halls of this school. During a recent tutorial, this writer sat down with a group of Magic: The Gathering players to find out just why this game has become so popular lately, and whether or not it’s just another senioritis distraction.

Anyone walking around campus at lunch or looking around during tutorial may have noticed the clusters of students intently peering at selections of cards. To those who have never played Magic (as it’s known to the fans), it can be a confusing sight. There’s little order or structure immediately apparent when the cards are spread on the table, but there’s actually a very precise system controlling each move.

“It’s a very complex game, and it takes a while to become an advanced player,” said senior John Wheeler, “but it’s easy to get started.” According to Wheeler, who has played Magic intermittently since the sixth grade, anybody can learn the basic rules in a few games.

Senior John Wheeler, Magic Fanatic, finds his inner wizard. (Melissa Hubbell | JR)

In Magic, gameplay revolves around cards which represent lands, creatures, sorceries, artifacts, instants, and enchantments. Creature and enchantment cards can’t be played unless a player has sufficient lands on the table. Each player creates a deck with a unique mix of these cards, seeking a strategic advantage over the other players.

Wheeler claimed to have spent at least $300 on Magic cards over the years. “Most spend a lot more,” he said. “The benefits of spending more money are more cards, new sets, [and] better combos.”

To see what the game was really like, this reporter sat across the table from Wheeler with a borrowed deck to try to learn to play. Just drawing the first seven cards from the deck, the intricate web of effects and requirements between cards was evident.

At one end of the table, a pair of rookie players were discussing the particular rules of a single card with noticeable confusion and anger. At the other end, though, senior Namkai Fairfield was whipping through a match. According to Fairfield, he first picked up the game when he was seven but, like Wheeler, has been an on-and-off player since his introduction.

“I like the art about it,” Fairfield said. “You can be really creative about the way you design your decks and the technique you use to beat other people.”

Creating a deck is no easy task. Fairfield estimated that there are “thousands and thousands” of Magic cards, and he’s not exaggerating: The organization that produces the game, Wizards of the Coast, claims nearly 12,000 unique cards have been created since the game’s original release in 1993. The cards, have very entertaining names: “Koth of the Hammer,” “Viridian Claw,” and “Wurmcoil Engine,” to name a few.

The game has been a global success and approximately six million people around the world play. The surprising popularity of the game has spawned the rise of tournaments, some with major cash prizes.

Fairfield, who has competed in some local tournaments, said, “They’re fun, but I think it’s more fun just to play.” Wheeler, who has never played competitively before, plans to enter a tournament in San Rafael later this month.

As this reporter stumbled through the basic motions of play, Wheeler offered to help. With just a quick glance at the cards, he made a suggestion, but before the move could be completed, the bell rang. “You would have won,” he said helpfully as everybody began packing up for class.

Although this reporter’s experience with the game was brief, it’s safe to say that discounting this game as childish would be a mistake. There’s enough complexity and unpredictability to keep even the most intelligent player on his toes. If you’re looking for a new challenge, you could do far worse than trying your hand at Magic.

Many drugs were found on the bus to Utah | Courtesy of KSLnews.com

Bay Area teens on their way to the slopes were caught with more than just gloves and long johns. Packed in with their snow gear, students brought alcohol and drugs like marijuana and mushrooms.
The trip was managed by Summer Winter Action Tours (SWAT). In total, there were 30 buses and 2000 students headed to Utah, supervised by staff members who “were [all] young college students who joined right in on the partying with us,” said senior Jenny Domash.
“As soon as we got on the bus to leave for Utah, they told us how we would be making stops where people could get off and smoke pot and get some [alcohol],” she said.
Five tour buses carrying teens from the Bay Area stopped for dinner in Elko, Nevada. “Some kids decided [to ask] a man to buy them liquor and he called the cops in response,” Domash said. Afterward, six police cruisers arrived on the scene with drug-sniffing dogs.
Police asked for the teens’ possessions and stated that they would search the bus. Senior Morgan Clymer said, “They […] said that if we didn’t turn over any drugs or alcohol we had, they were going to send everyone home.” Some teens surrendered the drugs voluntarily. Domash explained that most people didn’t want to give up their possessions and contemplated where they could hide everything without the cops or dogs finding them.
“The only loss was most of the people’s, including the staff’s, narcotics,” said Domash. She also stated that the police were completely oblivious to all the liquor and marijuana still aboard the bus, plus whatever was on the other 25 buses coming from different areas.
None of the teens got in trouble with the staff, who were described by Domash as very lenient and even encouraged students to drink and smoke before arriving in Utah. There were no consequences from authorities either. The police stated that no single person possessed enough drugs to be charged with a felony.
Elko’s juvenile detention center only holds around 30 kids, so police saw no point in making over 250 arrests on misdemeanor charges.
“We could have stopped and got search warrants, searched every bag, and we would have still be writing search warrants a week later because it takes so much time to do that,” said Chief Dom Zumwalt in an article on KSL.com.
However, Elko police have started to investigate the bus company, Divine Transportation, and SWAT. The Elko police said that if an event like this occurs again, the drivers could be arrested for endangering teens and transporting drugs across state lines. In addition, the buses would be seized.
Zumwalt said that this isn’t the first time an event similar to this happened; another SWAT bust happened last year. Some of the parents even sued Divine Transportation and Summer Winter Action Tours for negligence. Those parents believe something similar may happen in the future.
Domash described the trip as poorly managed and “basically a festival of drugs and hangovers.” She said about a quarter of the people on the trip became sick at some point from excess drinking and many were sent to the 24-hour room, which was a room teens were sent to recover from their hangovers.
Domash said that during the last two days they went to a place called Club Sound which she describes as “Friction on steroids.” Clymer agreed, saying that, “At times, you could definitely say it was out of control.”
Despite the bus searches, only about 20 teens were sent home. The rest stayed to experience the slopes.

Liam Hunt smiles, conveying his optimistic attitude.

For Junior Liam Hunt, home and school were not the only priorities when his family decided to move halfway across the world from Australia this past June. Following his father’s legacy, he wanted to play basketball with the Pirates.

Hunt grew up hearing stories of his father winning the State Championships with the Pirates and wanted to follow in his footsteps as a basketball star. Hunt’s father attended Drake in the early 1980s and led the team to a state victory. His father’s jersey is hung in the gym and has remained a retired number since he graduated. Following high school, Mr. Hunt played professionally for over 20 years for the Western Australian National Team.

Although Liam Hunt has played for the Western Australian team over the past three years, playing for the Pirates was something he only dreamed about. Hunt’s main role model is his father and he aspires to be like him one day. “I have hopes of following in my father’s footsteps. I want to play professionally one day. Maybe not in Australia, but we’ll see,” said Hunt.

In mid-June, the Hunt family packed up their belongings and moved to San Anselmo. This 6’ 6’’ basketball champ now plays for the Pirates, whom have helped him through the transition from Australia. “The Drake team is very supportive,” said Hunt.

When he arrived in the Bay Area, he joined the Drake AAU summer club basketball team that traveled throughout California. “All the guys on the team were great; none of them are bad guys and they all treat me really awesome. That was a really big plus when I moved here, because it’s tough making such a big change in your life.”

As the summer came to a close, the Drake AAU team lost the championship game by 15 points. “We lost our mental strength,” said Hunt. Although they were defeated over the summer, this year’s basketball season started up on November 7 and Hunt expects a good season.

Just months before, Hunt was competing with his team nationally against the other Australian states, such as Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. “[In Australia] we try to play smart, that is, mentally smart. I never really liked it. I’ve made three national teams and I enjoyed one, but I had some pretty tough coaches,” said Hunt.

At the conclusion of summer, Hunt joined another extremely competitive club basketball team named the NBBA Spiders. Seniors Joey Euphrat, Ryan Euphrat, and Kamran Rathod also play alongside Hunt for the Spiders. The team traveled throughout the state in addition to Reno, Nevada where they won the gold medal.”We beat Arkansas, Wisconsin, Hawaii and many other states. The whole team played hard, which was great,” stated Hunt.

Hunt has played basketball since he was nine-years-old and doesn’t expect his career will end when he graduates high school. “I would love to play in a division-1 college. If I could go anywhere it would be St. Mary’s. They have a load of good Australian kids,” said Hunt.

Hunt is looking forward to the Drake season and believes they’ll go far with the talented players and varsity Coach Doug Donnellan. “Hopefully Coach has everything planned out because we have a really good team this year,” said Hunt.

Following basketball season, Hunt is considering using his talents in another sport: volleyball. For Hunt, reaching the top of the net shouldn’t be a problem. “I can dunk pretty easily, but I don’t have many hops,” said Hunt jokingly referring to his inability to jump. We will have to wait and see what Hunt can bring in addition to his basketball skills.

Although the move halfway across the world wasn’t easy, and he still misses his Australian family, “Hunt seems to be fitting into to Drake just fine. He’s really funny and outgoing,” said senior Nicolina Higgins. He also has some adjusting to do, “Everything here is opposite; the toilets flush the opposite way and the cars are on the wrong side as well,” said Hunt.

The basketball season has commenced, and it is time to look for the new 6’6’’ Australian champion, Liam Hunt.

The music is blasting by the senior tree. Free cake is being served to cake walkers dressed in pink on Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Advisories look for markers, yarn, glitter and stickers so they can try to win the pumpkin decorating contest. Students glance between the numerous colorful posters that adorn our grey, gum stricken halls, as they pass from class to class. Leadership students, as usual, have been busy spreading their signs of spirit throughout the school.

On November 2, Leadership advisor, Kendall Galli, informed her Leadership class that their funds have dropped sufficiently, to the point that it is questionable whether they can continue their usual activities. “Leadership has no incurred ‘debt’ but in fact is short of funding due to the decrease in Pirate Package sales, which is our primary source of income,” said Kendall Galli, Leadership advisor.

During the 2006/2007 school year, 527 pirate packages were sold, which earned $52,755 for Leadership. Then 379 Pirate Packages were purchased throughout the 2009/2010 school year. The number have consistently dwindled over the years to a total of 219 packages purchased so far this year, which has raised $24,115, according to accounts of the budget office. This leaves $200 available for Winter Formal and $600 available for next year’s Homecoming Fund.

Yearbook and Leadership split the profits of the Pirate Package, since a discounted yearbook is a part of the package deal. Yearbook receives 55% of the Pirate Package profits and Leadership receives 45%. Galli said that Leadership’s lacking funds is also due to the fact that yearbook prices have remained the same for the past ten years, even though the cost of colored printing has increased.
Junior class co-president Grace Gurung reflects Leadership’s diminishing package sales over the last five years, “I think the economy is a factor, but students don’t realize how much money the Pirate Package actually saves. Students only see the initial purchase of $110, but not the long term effect of discounts throughout the year.”

The pirate package includes $20 off yearbook, $5 off each dance, free admission to sporting events other than MCALS and playoffs, and discounted admission to music events, such as Battle of the Bands. Galli said that ASB students are also convincing local vendors to make discounts and shopping perks available to students with ASB stickers on their ID cards.

Leadership’s initial reaction to Galli’s news was stress and eagerness to solve the problem. They have been busy brainstorming ideas to recover their budget, according to Leadership student junior Annie Maguire. “This year, instead of just selling Pirate Packages in the beginning of the year, we plan to continue selling them throughout the year. For our last Pancake Breakfast we sold seven [pirate packages], so we are hoping for more purchases throughout the year,” Maguire said.

Galli also acknowledges the faltering effectiveness of Pirate mail through e-mail. “Yes it is green. Yes, it is eco-friendly, but most parents ignore the school e-mails in their inbox. I believe the main contribution to the decrease of Pirate Package purchases is that it is not well advertised.” She takes responsibility for the lack communication to students and parents about the availability and importance of the Pirate Package sales.

Students admire the posters that Leadership posted by the D-SHAC

In the last e-mail Galli sent via Pirate Mail, she announced the recently added benefits to purchasing a package, including a raffle to win a permanent parking place for the basketball season and a free Winter Formal ticket.  ASB President, senior Anna Cichocki, is also writing a parent letter to be emailed home to families in the hopes of spreading awareness of the package.

The diminishing purchases over the last five years have left $200 for Winter Formal, which must be enough for a DJ, decorations and supplies. “It’s going to be hard to pull Winter Formal all together with the little that we have. We think Winter Formal is still on, but we’ll see how it turns out,” admits other junior class co-president, Carlee Murray.

Leadership’s funding is divided into budgets for each committee of Leadership, including outreach, dances and lunch activities.  Like many school organizations, students buy the supplies for their committee and are later reimbursed by the budget office. “I know a lot of students who have made small purchases for supplies and these small purchases have added up. Students usually buy the supplies themselves, and usually for cheap stuff that we don’t really need,” explained Murray. These costs add up and drain Leadership’s funds.

Leadership receives no help from parent clubs and fundraisers. Maguire believes that the Leadership students can solve and deal with adult problems. “The past year I have learned skills that could be used in a company. We learn to do receipts, budget our money and advertise events similar to the way a business would function,” Maguire stated.

The misconception that Leadership carelessly spends their unlimited budget of money was addressed by Gurung. “Students believe that we have so much money, yet this year we are close to nothing. They believe our money grows on trees and that we can just get as much as we want.”

Purchases of the packages are directly used for the Yearbook and for Leadership’s activities including all advisory and lunch activities, rally supplies,  staff appreciations, food for winning advisories, and performances of Youth Speakers such as  ‘Til’ Dawn’ and The Princeton Footnotes. Leadership also provides all art and office supplies used for publicity and events, including dances, Homecoming festivities, senior celebrations and clubs.

Maguire reveals the true hardship that Leadership endures. “Our lacking funds have made it harder for us to put on school events, but it has also forced us to become more creative and thrifty with our money. If I could hope anything, I would hope that our impact on the school does not falter.”

Leadership also tries to extend their spirit outside the school by doing the “the little things” throughout the community. “People don’t realize how much we do for the school, the little things such as the posters, the hall decorations and our outreach to the community,” said Murray. She said that in October, Leadership decorated Cedars of Marin, a home for mentally challenged people, in honor of Halloween.

Maguire says that she believes Leadership’s role is to encourage students to put themselves out there through fun activities. “Even though some people think the activities we promote are embarrassing, we do them in order to create a positive and accepting environment at school,” she said. “Since we are stuck here, we might as well make it fun and you never know what little things will make a person’s day.”

Maguire conveyed in her optimistic attitude that she is excited to see what she and her fellow Leadership members can make of their discouraging situation. “It will be interesting to see what we can come up with using our creativity. Pushing ourselves to mature quickly and become self-sufficient is great preparation for our nation’s current economy,” she conceded.

These small spirited things around our school community reflect the true mission of Leadership. Galli wrote in an email, “We do our best to make sound financial decisions in Leadership and for the last six plus years we have really made a difference in student activities at Drake [and] the overall cultural feeling on our campus. It would be very sad to have to offer ‘less’ in terms of student activities to the students of Drake.”

Some club members hang out and participate during a PALs meeting (Sydney Silver | JR).

It’s likely you know someone affected by the fastest growing developmental disability in America: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), commonly referred to as Autism.

The integration of autistic students into school setting has shifted stereotypes. Previously, stereotypes have been thrown around by the uninformed, depicting someone with Autism as “socially awkward” or “retarded.” However, the Autism spectrum is a wide one, so the difficulties for one autistic person may be very different for another.

Statistically Speaking

Six out of every 1,000 children has Autism, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). ASD is a range of neurodevelopment disorders that limit social and cognitive abilities. Those affected by Autism may engage in repeated behaviors such as rocking back and forth and hand flapping. A milder disorder on the Autism spectrum is Aspergers Syndrome.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that the symptoms of ASD appear during the first three years of life. According to the NINDS, some early symptoms of the disorder are no babbling by age one, and loss of social interaction and responsiveness such as smiling or responding to one’s own name.

In older children the symptoms may include inability to make friends, initiate and sustain conversation, inflexible adherence to specific rituals/routines, and repetitive use of language. There are co-occurring conditions associated with Autism, including epilepsy, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

The difference between Autism and Aspergers is that those with Aspergers generally have good language and cognitive abilities, whereas those affected by Autism have compromised cognitive ability [according to the Autistic Society]. Additionally, those afflicted by Aspergers do not have any speech delay.

Those with Aspergers, have difficulty with social interaction, like those with Autism. Most will not be able to detect voice inflection that suggests humor or irony. These factors make the give-and-take nature of conversations difficult for many people with Aspergers Syndrome.

Oak Hill students have fun using instruments in order to expand their learning experiences (oakhillschool.org).

Public School Programs and Specialty Schools

While there is no cure for Autism, a common treatment is educational and behavioral interaction, which uses training sessions to help children learn social and language skills.

In our own school, the Special Education program provides these interventions to the 10-15 students who are currently in the program.

Not all Autistic students are in Special Education. “Most identified autistic kids have Special Education, but not all. I know of several right now that probably have Aspergers Syndrome who do not get Special [Education] Services,” said Special Education teacher Alison Waters.

Each student in Special Education has an Independent Education Plan (IEP) that specifies the needs of the child, accomodations, or differences in learning, that all teachers must follow.

The academic environment ranges from students needing extra help with homework to needing to be in a Special Education day class outside of the general curriculum. Waters thinks this flexibility is what’s so great about the program, “That’s the nice thing about Special Ed.; it’s geared toward helping kids as they need it.”

The goal of the Special Education class is to, “Help the students understand what they’re struggling with, teach them compensatory strategies and how to cope with what they have. Work around it and work through it, instead of giving up,” said Waters. The primary goal is to mainstream the kids in Special Education as much as possible. “Drake does a really good job of that and is very inclusive, so we’re lucky,” she said.

An example of this mainstreaming is Partners at Lunch, also known as P.A.L.s club. An Autistic student (who will be named Jane for this article) says she enjoys going to school here and being a member of P.A.L.s, “Well, I like to see all kinds of pals, freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors. And every month we always celebrate the birthdays [of club members].”

For Autistic students like Jane, there is the option to go to a general high school and be part of a special day class or go to a specialized school that focuses on Autistic education solely.

The Oak Hill School in San Anselmo near Red Hill Field is one of those specialized schools. One of the school’s teachers, Lori Calzaretta, believes that the only real disadvantage of going to a specialized school such as The Oak Hill School is the fact that the students don’t get typical peer interaction. “That is really the only disadvantage I see,” she stated.

Similar to the Special Education class at Drake, the education at The Oak Hill School is individualized. Calzaretta’s class is made up of five students that range from ages thirteen to twenty-one. Since each class is comprised of students with similar difficulties, her class is able to focus on the skills that are needed by her particular group of students. “We do a lot of money math and shopping out in the community… We’re just teaching our kids how to function and deal with themselves in society and the community,” Calzaretta said.

The needs of each Autistic student vary greatly. “We truly have a spectrum here,” Calzaretta said, “Some of them have difficulty with words and communicating, some have difficulty with repetitive behavior, some have difficulty interacting socially. There’s not one kid who’s the same as the rest.”

Calzaretta thinks that the advantage of going to Oak Hill is the 3 to 5 teacher-to-student ratio, since it allows the teachers to focus on the needs of all the kids in a specific manner.

Students at the Oak Hill School pose during one outdoor adventure on campus (oakhillschool.org).

There’s Something About the iPad

Calzaretta noted that the recent breakthrough of iPad learning for Autistic children has been very beneficial for students at The Oak Hill School. Students at the school are able to work on their math and writing skills on the iPad. “There are kids that have a really hard time communicating and they use the iPad to communicate. It’s pretty fascinating,” said Calzaretta.

This discovery of iPads revolutionizing the lives of many Autistic children has been covered in many different new sources; particularly the CBS 60 Minutes segment which reported on The Beverly School in Toronto, Canada where the first studies of Autism education with the iPad are underway. So far, the studies have indicated that the iPad is improving the abilities of students by helping them interact/socialize and enhancing attention spans.

Calzaretta is in just as much awe as the teachers at The Beverly School; “We’ve had computer programs for years, but there’s something about the iPad that makes it work.”

Be A Friend

Senior Lauren Silver has volunteered at Oak Hill over the past two summers and has found it a highly rewarding experience. “One thing that really moved me is that [the students] still have this very human desire to connect. Sometimes it was very sad because they don’t have the means to interact in some ways,” said Silver. She said that the students found their own ways to communicate with her. One student would just hold hands with Silver, and she describes the experience of showing her that “there are a lot of different ways to connect with people.” The Oak Hill School welcomes high school students to volunteer.

Calzaretta comments that Autism has become the new “in” thing to research, but she wants to remind people, “The biggest thing is to open yourself up to someone that’s Autistic. There are friendships there to be made… Open yourself up, be a friend.”

Hey everyone, we know the site’s been a little… out of date recently, but we’re working through some severe technical issues right now. We hope to be back to normal by next issue, but sadly we can’t make any guarantees right now. Thanks for sticking with us through this, and remember to pick up a hard copy of the Jolly Roger!

It verges on unfairness to liken The Strokes to any other band. For every similarity one might draw, there are a handful of comparative characteristics which The Strokes dominate.

Cover art for The Strokes' new album.

The foremost strong-suit of the New York City indie rock band is its digression from formula. Not once on their 2011 LP Angles does a song proceed along the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus drudgery that musical prodigies like Nickelback can’t deviate from to save their dignity.

Instead, nearly every song on the album features some sort of unexpected interlude, solo, or harmony to keep each track from dragging. The solo on the second track, “Under Cover of Darkness,” for instance, features a change in time signature and guitarist Nick Valensi noodling in the minor scales of the progression, a refreshing divergence from the vice grip that most guitarists have around the simpler pentatonic scale.

But time allotted for creativity on this LP isn’t limited to flashy guitar work; Angles shows a more inventive side of the band as a whole than The Strokes’ previous albums, and those of their contemporaries. Although fans of the band’s other three LPs will recognize Fabrizio Moretti’s characteristic drum style, his versatility is easily heard, and the exactness with which he treats his fills creates an almost drum-machine-like precision.

Similarly, lead singer Julian Casablancas shows an increased degree of maturity and experimentation on this album, as compared to its predecessors. Casablancas makes his vocal and stylistic range much more evident than it has been in years past: the minimalist, dreamy tone of “Call Me Back,” the deep, drawn-out Muse-esque howls on “Metabolism,” and the vocal punctuation on “Taken For a Fool” reminiscent of Cake’s John McCrea speak to Casablancas’ pleasing growth from the admittedly predictable lyricisms of Angles’ antecedents.
Even bass player Nikolai Fraiture is allowed some time in the creativity spotlight on this album. “Games” features a verse backed only by a simple drumbeat and two harmonized bass lines, a musical strategy that few bands are bold enough to use.

Band members’ individual innovation transposes into a tastefully motley array of tones, tempos, and transitions. Around nearly every corner of Angles is an unexpected subtlety, or a flourish or drop-off in sound—a garnish on the musical salad that saturates the album with delightful surprises. Whether it’s the ran-into-a-brick-wall change of pace after the chorus on “Two Kinds of Happiness” or the playful 7th note that the bassist slips in at the end of “Taken For a Fool,” The Strokes’ attention to variation make the predominating descriptor of this LP fresh.

Even though Angles has an undoubted individuality, one of the best things about the album is the concentration of reminders of other bands; whether they show inspiration, tribute, or merely coincidence, I found myself happily searching my memory for “that song that this one reminds me of,” or the band that The Strokes might listen to in their free time.

The progression of the album’s opener, “Machu Piccu,” for example, reminded me of James Mercer’s lyrics on Broken Bells’ 2010 debut. And the vocals of the next track never fail to remind me of Saves The Day and Say Anything, while the synth solo on the album’s closer, “Life Is Simple In The Moonlight,” sounds remarkably like Daft Punk.

This album does, despite its upsides, disappoint in some regards, taking away that coveted last half-hook, in my mind. Primarily, Angles is distractingly experimental at times. The predominant example is the harmony on “You’re So Right,” the weakest song on the album, which is afflicted with a sort of Thom-Yorke-on-his-off-day ambient discordance that drives my uncomfortable fingers to the skip track button.

Although it doesn’t work one hundred percent of the time, the experimentation on this LP is highly successful, more often than not: Casablancas and crew make good use of stereo sound—swinging rhythms and vocals from one speaker to another—and fearlessly use risky harmony intervals. The innovative flare of this album, accompanied by mementos of previous records and artists, is confidently set in front of us for judgment. Fortunately for The Strokes, it all works brilliantly.