Triton Tribune 2009

2010-07-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

A Letter to My Students

2009-07-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

When I was a senior in high school my English teacher gave me an incredible gift. Actually, she gave it to our entire class, in the days leading up to our graduation, and now I am passing this gift onto you.

Her endowment came in just a few simple words and they went like this.

Dear students, she said, you are being told that these are the best days of your life, and this is such a great lie. These are not the best days of your life. Most decidedly not. Not even close.

I remember receiving her declaration like a lifeline, my lungs expanding like balloons attached to an automatic helium pump beneath the walls of my chest. I had gone through my high school years fearing that I had missed out somehow, that the good things had passed me by because I was not terribly popular, pithy, pretty or rich. I didn’t wear the right clothes. I rode the bus to school. I liked to read too much. My elbows were too bony. My shirts never fit quite right. I tried too hard. I knew that I was missing out.

Our school presented a musical my senior year – if I remember right it was Grease – and the excitement of the performances stuffed up the hallways of my high school in the days leading up to opening night. I wanted to go and see. No one invited me to go along with them. I asked my mom to the Saturday night show, and we went. When we arrived at the auditorium, some of the other kids talked and laughed and made jokes with me. It was fun. My mom said I could go and sit with them if I wanted to, that she’d be fine sitting alone. But I knew I had to sit with her. No one had asked me over to the chairs next to them.

And so I feared with all my heart that the best days of my life were such a terrible bust. Then came Mrs. Coehlo’s wonderful words. These are not the best days of your life, she said. She promised. She promised and I believed. Whether or not you’re the lead in Grease or the skinny girl sitting next to your mom, it doesn’t matter, because it gets so much better than this.

You must go forward into the great unknown and come to understand that there are love affairs to be had, children to bear, countries to visit, mountains to climb. There are things to study, colleges to attend, people to meet, dreams to behold, songs to learn, friends to cherish, jokes to laugh at, and dances to groove.

You must still go out there and live in your first, very own apartment, with the leaky faucet and without the dishwasher so that you can grow mold on your cheese and fur on your tomatoes and slime on your turkey. You must feel so proud of this accomplishment. You must promise yourself to eat healthy and immediately fall off the wagon and survive on Dominoes Pizza for a week. You must hurt sometimes, because hurt – if you let it – can become incredibly instructive. You will watch as your ennui blossoms into possibility and you flourish. You must simply trust me on this point. Someday you will know exactly what I mean.

You must get your first job, your first true love, your first broken heart, your first taste of justice, and your first whiff of the amazing expanse of whatever you know to be grace. You must become your own friend, and when you do this, you will have accomplished an incredible feat. You must learn to recognize what this feels like, because you will probably have to do it again, and again, and again. We humans like to turn on ourselves, and the knives we throw in our own backs cut hard and deep.

You must learn to do this less. You need your own companionship so much.

You will go forward and you will remember these days, some of you more fondly than others. Remember this, too, though. You can tell a lot about a person in their later years by how much their adolescence still means to them. Life is a journey toward what is ahead. And so –

Take risks, but make them smart ones. Don’t get yourself killed doing dumb things, like drinking and driving, taking too many drugs, having reckless sex, or just being stupid with guns. Know that whatever happens to you and however hard you fall, you can get up, somehow. Bear in mind that getting up is easier if somebody extends a hand in help. Be a hand for somebody else. Hope. Always hope. Don’t worry so much about looking foolish. Remember it’s always better to learn than to know. Laugh. Dance. Be.

After all, the music, the moment? You know that you own it.

--S. Martin

2009-07-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

The moment it was out of my mouth, everything seemed to stop completely, except for Mrs. Moore’s eyes, which grew progressively bigger.

“Where?”

I could feel my best friend suck in her breath beside me as her mother stared, mouth agape.

“Indiana,” I said again.

Mrs. Moore’s eyebrows began a hesitant crawl to the middle of her forehead, where they finally perched, twin question marks already asking her next question.

“Why?”

Now this was tricky. Why indeed? I quickly considered a host of possible answers, all of them perfectly reasonable: I wanted to go to a big school, Indiana University had lots of great departments and programs, it would be good for me to move out of San Diego…

My head was brimming over with answers, but they were frustratingly slow making their way out of my mouth. Mistaking my silence for doubt, Mrs. Moore took the opportunity to intervene.

“Erin,” she said, leaning toward me over her kitchen table, “there’s still time.”

She grabbed my hand and launched into what I imagine was meant to be a pep-talk. I unproductively sprinkled her speech about the Ivy League and my creativity and being better than a public university and what about Brown with “Yes, buts” and “No, buts.” Finally she exhausted her own list of reasons and I left her house, head spinning but one thought firmly in place: I wanted to move as far away as possible from people like her.

What she said probably shouldn’t have surprised me. I spent my four high school years having my head crammed with typical prep school rhetoric. Most of my friends bought into the idea that a prestigious private college; a lucrative career as a doctor, lawyer, or businessperson; and a big house with a spouse and 2.5 kids made up exactly the kind of life they should hope for.

I knew I wanted something different.

So it was with stubborn pride that I watched my classmates scatter over the East Coast and nestle into life at tiny colleges and top-tier universities. And it was with a heart full of excitement and a stomach full of nerves that I boarded a plane bound for what seemed to everyone but me to be the unlikeliest of college destinations.

I won’t lie to you: I was scared shitless. I knew absolutely no one at I.U. I had never set foot on the campus that was to be my home for the next four years. I spent the first night in my broom-closet dorm room sweating in the late-August Midwestern heat, listening to the chorus of crickets and cicadas and the lonely call of a train whistle, wondering if this was going to work out, if I would find my way in a sea of 34,999 other students. Frankly, I felt a bit like a pet shop gold fish that suddenly finds itself set loose in the middle of the ocean.

So I swam. And I kept swimming and I kept swimming and I kept swimming.

I didn’t always know the way. I fell on my ass quite a few times (and I don’t just mean that figuratively – Indiana ice is a difficult thing for a Californian). I spent tearful nights on the phone with my mom; sometimes felt dulled by the slow tempo of Midwestern life; found the radical politics of my anarchist-vegan dorm mates confounding at best, downright scary at worst; and I never did become the Hoosier basketball superfan every Indiana undergrad is expected to be.

No, I didn’t always know the way. And that was okay, because I made my own. My life in college was full of good literature, strange classes on everything from human reproduction to Wagnerian opera, and plenty of music. It was populated by the oddest and most dynamic of characters. There was Jolita Washington, who spent at least an hour every day jumping on the miniature trampoline she had wheeled into her dorm room. And Matt Kocher, the vegan activist who smelled like vanilla soy milk and sat on the floor of my room telling me Bulgarian folk tales. And the boys in my band, who brought me tall boys of PBR and encouraged me to rock out in ways my childhood piano teacher never had. And Murray Sperber, the hippie lit professor who told me stories of Ginsberg chanting to his dog in Vietnam-era Berkeley and worried over the effect a future in academia would have on my spirit. His advice at graduation stays with me still: “Never predict your own future," he said. "The gods will hear you and bite you in the ass.”

Good advice. But I’d like to add something else: Don’t let anyone predict your future for you either. If you have a good feeling, a strong conviction, an urge to step off the straight and narrow path and see what lies beyond the big houses and the comfortable careers, don’t just step off – jump in feet first, screaming and laughing straight into the great unknown. You just might find exactly what you didn’t know you were looking for. -- Erin Cory

Im going all the way

2009-07-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

I don’t fall apart because of the hope that lives in my heart. Not minding what other people think, not minding what other people say, I give it all. I give it all to my education.

I have been taught and I believe that my education is what will determine the rest of my life. I can be a failure and give up and say it’s too hard. I can’t. It’s not possible. Or I can feel the fear and still commit myself to success. People just don’t understand what my education means to me. I don’t want to be part of the statistics. Another Hispanic girl that is pregnant. Or in fact another Hispanic who drops out.

Throughout my life I have had a lot of good role models that have told me how important it is to get a good education and to eventually go to college.

Last September, my brother and I joined Reality Changers, a program that builds first generation college students. This program helps students get through high school with anything they need. Students are expected to follow rules such as maintain good grades and serve community service hours. The program prepares them for tests such as the SAT and helps them fill out college applications in their senior year.

Seeing my friends actually commit to and go through the process made me believe even more that I could do it too.

I was born in Leon Guanajuato I was brought to California when I was one. I am considered an illegal alien when it’s not my fault. It’s very disappointing to find myself without the same college opportunities as people that are born here. But it’s even more disappointing to find teenagers throw their life away by making bad choices because they want to be cool and accepted.

I don’t doubt it and I live out of hope that I will go to college and a very good college and I know that I am going to commit to it.

One day I was talking with my cousin Elena. And we somehow started to have a conversation about education and how life is hard. It knocked me off my feet when she told me college was too hard and she was not planning to go. It was shocking to hear her way of thinking. I could not believe it. How could she not take advantage of the many advantages she has? How could she not want to reach out and grab the dream?

I believe and I know that I will attend college. I also want to be a good role model for my niece and for the tae kwon do kids that look up to me.

Just like there has been good role models in my life there has also been and will always be people and situations that will try to stop me from my battle. They may slow me down but they will not stop me because I’m the only obstacle to my success.

The good thing is that I don’t plan to hold me back.

I am going all the way, I am going to college!

By Alma Mendoza

China

2009-07-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

“So do you guys have malls in China?” or “Why is your English so good if you live in China?” These are the type of questions I get when I tell people that I have lived in China for the past two years.

It all started that one day, when my dad strolled into my room. “Hey Caroline, how do you feel about moving to China?” he questioned me, leaning against the doorframe of my room, with his arms crossed. Distractedly, I looked up from my laptop screen. I was sitting cross-legged on my bed. I peered towards the doorway where my dad stood. “Um… sure Dad, that would be cool,” I said, not taking him seriously. Little did I know that that moment would change my life forever.

Whenever I meet new people, I tell them I’m from San Jose, the place I have lived for 13 years of my life. Then eventually comes the time where I decide to spring the news about how I have lived in China for the past two years, and I watch my friends piece together the puzzle in their brain. “…Wait, China? I thought you were American!” they almost always end up saying. The way they say the word “China” is as if they are choking out the words “Pluto”. To clarify for them, I say, “I AM American, I just happened to have moved to China.” Then I wait for their expected reaction. “Oh… then why is your English so good? And oh! Does China have movie theaters or what?” they seem to always question. I can tell they have already made assumptions about me from just that one sentence. Probably thoughts like “Oh my God, she must be one of those people that can’t speak English, and dress weird” or “Wow, she must have no life, because she’s been in China all this time” run through their head. So I feel the need to explain, the need to use the “Yeah I live in China, BUT…!” statement, to make myself seem like I’m someone that I’m not.

Sure, moving to China was an experience I was not prepared for. And yes, my life is different there, but it’s not as different as everyone thinks of it as. In China, I live in an environment where I still speak English with my friends and teachers. I play volleyball after school. I still prep for the SATs, I still have tons of homework, just like any other American teenager. In China, I still watch TV shows like Gossip Girl. I keep up with the latest music and movies. I still use my English name. In fact, the first time I ever got called by my Chinese name was two years ago. The first time I even learned to write my Chinese name was also two years ago.

The point is, even though China has the world’s biggest population of more than one million individuals, it is not as poor or “third world” as you might think of it as. In every country, there are rich and poor people, it all really just depends. Just because China isn’t the United States doesn’t mean it’s worse, or that anyone from China work in restaurants once they come here. Even if someone that has once lived in China moves to America, it doesn’t mean they don’t know anything about America and are assumed to be weird. I used to make the same assumptions about people in the same situation I am in, but now I understand their point of view. I used to be embarrassed, or I try as hard as I can avoid the topic of where I go to school, but now I know it’s okay for me to tell people I live in China. I am happy to explain my situation and prove people’s judgments wrong.

-- By Caroline Zhong

Passion

2009-07-24T11:22:00.001-07:00

Passion is a thing that brings out the best in us. It evokes emotion and allows us to feel. Everyone should have something they are passionate about.

Passion is important for balance in everyday life. We all do what we have to do, but what about what we want to do? Sometimes we want to do things that are fun for the sake of them being fun and those are the things that are the roots of happiness.

I feel without passion we are little more than robots just alive to consume, complete a task, and repeat. But with a passion we can go from sad or depressed to happy and engaged. That little thing can give a person purpose so instead of just going to a job, coming back, eating and sleeping, and buying things for cheap thrills. Passion is something to be exited about or to look forward to. I have writing words and stories that take me to places far beyond my own.

Words can take me out of my rut they can let me explore recess of my mind that I could never just speak of or think about they create a different world, one that is told to me through my mind which I then shape and form to my liking. My words let me feel in ways that my routine days don’t let me.

If someone doesn’t have passion, like writing is for me, I feel sorry for them. I remember what it was like to just do things because it was not an option to do nothing. But even now as these words flow so much better on this subject than any of the previous ones I tried writing this column on. I can’t help but feel happy. A feeling, which is much more gratifying than bored necessity with which I wrote on other subjects. That feeling of bored necessity expands to everyone without passion. To be passionate about something is to be whole.

Anyone who has a television knows it is possible to lose hours to it. But when I do I rarely find myself truly happy or entertained I barely feel anything at all. It is just something to fill the time. When I write though, I find myself happy and at feeling something.

There are those who say they are happy with their routine that it is all they need. But they are lying, routine inherently lacks excitement or things that evoke emotion, it’s just the nature of routine. Others think they have no passion, and that their life is depressing. It’s not true. Everyone has something we just need to find it. I feel lucky that I found it early in life.

Passion is not always hard to find just try something new. Pursue a lifelong dream or try something you have wanted to do. Go with friends when they do something that gives them joy, just get out and do it.

Regardless of whether its running, music or writing. We all need a passion to entertain us like a radio on the road trip of life.

- Alexander Escobedo

For all the Single Father's Out there

2009-07-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Fighting for custody of a child is a battle for most couples that get divorced. The question of responsibility is an important one. To whom will the child go, the mother or the father?

In most situations the child goes to the mother because most people – including judges – think moms love and care the best. They’re wrong. A lot of dads are good at this, too.

I should know… my dad fought a long custody battle with my mom and we’ve been together since I was two years old. We’ve had good and bad times, some arguments and confusion but we’ve never given up on each other.

Every year for my birthday, which is Christmas Eve, my Dad and I go to vacation in Disney World. We go to Epcot Center and visit the Japanese pavilion. Inside the pavilion there is a jewelry store by the name of Mikimoto, which is very well known in Japan. One year there was a pearl bracelet on display that I had my eye on. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been fond of pearls. When we went back to our hotel room, my dad furtively called the store and purchased the bracelet over the phone. The next day during dinner, he surprised me with the best birthday gift ever, as if the trip to Disney World wasn’t enough. I will remember that forever and I thank him for that all the time.

Many people still question, however, if a man much less a single father, can still raise a child just as well as a mother. My dad recalls from his own experience once when I was 3 years old at Sea World. “All the moms were staring at me changing your diaper, they couldn’t believe that I was doing that. An older woman around 60 years old came up to me and asked where is her mother? I responded ‘I am her mother. We’re divorced and she is not around.’ She was in absolute shock.”

It is very aggravating when many people assume that fathers can’t raise a child, because they can. After the incident, my dad did his best to try to prove not only to himself but also for other single fathers that a man is just as capable of raising a child as a mother.

There are many fathers that never get the chance to have custody but to those who do, I hope they realize what a great privilege it is to raise a child.

For me I think anyone who has the patience and time is a perfect candidate to take care of his or her child. Whether it is someone with a disability, man or a woman, rich or poor, if you’ re not selfish and always remember to put the child before you, you can be the best parent on earth just as long as you’re there and have the patience, you’re okay.

Nevertheless I appreciate both my parents and the sacrifices that they have made for me. I still see my mother every now and then and we get along very well but we are not as close to each other like the relationship I have with my Dad. My Dad and I are pretty close, he has given me the best he ever had, he has enrolled me in private schools since I was attending pre-school and has shown me places that I am very fond of both local and distant, all within my sixteen years of life on earth. We’ve become so close, that I feel like we’re best friends.

My Dad probably has the most patience that I’ve ever known and I know I can depend on him. He is always there when I need him whether it’s picking me up after practice or from a friend’s house. I know that he will be there and for that I respect him all the way.

So it goes to show that, yes, a man can raise a child. When I hear the question, “Is a man suitable to a raise a child?” My response is yes, I think so because I think anyone can be a great parent, you just need patience and dedication.

Somtimes Godbye Is a Second Chance

2009-07-24T11:11:00.001-07:00

Sometimes we hurt the people we care about most, but what's amazing is that they love us anyways.

I wonder why Zoya gave me a second chance. It wasn't the reasonable thing to do and I definitely didn't deserve it. But that doesn't mean I'm not grateful for it. In fact, I'm indebted to her.

Zoya and I were like Rachel and Monica of "Friends" in 8th grade (We were both obsessed with that show). We wrote each other notes everyday and talked at our lockers every passing period. We studied for tests together and shared all the hard questions with only each other. We talked about the boys we liked, the teachers we hated, and whatever was on our minds.

May was already a generally stressful month. The school year was ending which meant projects, studying for finals, and homework galore. It was the worst time for something to come up, but something did. I remember when Zoya called me crying because her favorite cousin had just died in a car crash. She told me tearfully that she was supposed to visit her that summer and now she couldn't. I felt her pain, but I was so dumbstruck that I was clueless on what to do. I comforted her with the usual "I'm so sorry, I know it'll get better soon".

The next morning I spotted her in the cafeteria with red, sunken eyes and I guiltily remembered what had happened to her. I wished I knew the right thing to do, but I didn’t. I could only manage to say, “Did you get number five on the math homework last night?” She acted natural, but I saw the horrified look in her eyes. After that mishap, all I could do was pretend nothing had happened and hope she would move on.

How wrong I was. It came out of nowhere on a fairly normal day. I was reassuring her that she’d do well on her geometry final. Then she lashed out at me pointing out that was exactly what I’d said about her dead cousin. “How could you ignore what I’m going through? How could you pretend everything’s okay and do nothing to help?” she asked. I felt ridden with shame immediately. I apologized profusely and asked for forgiveness. She said she forgave me, but I knew it’d never be the same again.

For awhile, we were just acquaintances that merely greeted each other in the halls. A summer passed with no contact but in 9th grade, through mutual friends, we sat at the same lunch table. We talked to each other once more and I was grateful she didn’t give me the cold shoulder. I wanted to prove I could be a better friend and person than I was before. I helped her on little things like homework, talked to her when she looked lonely, comforted her through all the hardships, and anything else a selfless friend would do. I am forever appreciative that she gave me a second chance because both of us would have missed out on a truly great friendship.

I believe in second chances because sometimes you just don’t realize how important some things are until they’re gone. The second chance makes you value the person or thing so much more.

Many people would say giving someone a second chance is just giving them the opportunity to take advantage of you again, but others believe in the better side of people and give them the benefit of the doubt. Second chances don’t always turn out the way you expect, but you’ll never know how it’ll turn out unless you give it a try.

There are limits on second chances however. You cannot allow people to walk all over you, but simply show them that you have faith that they can redeem themselves.

Everyone is different and depending on the person, he or she may or may not be willing to give that chance. But I give second chances, because Zoya gave me a reason to.

By Jennifer Sun

What is"RESPECT?"

2009-07-24T11:10:00.006-07:00

It’s a late night in the kitchen with a heat light shining over me. I was sitting there waiting till my mother came. My mother walks up to me and says “We need to talk” and I reply ”ok.” So I stare into her eyes with lots to say. She tells me that “she doesn’t even know who I am anymore”, but I tell her “she never really knew me.”

My mother got so angry that I talked back to her. She told me that I have to respect her. I thought to myself for a while why? Why respect a person who doesn’t know me or respect me. My mother just looked into my eyes and walked away, she felt so ashamed of what I became. I felt so bad at the end but I knew I must not apologize because if I did, then I would be letting her disrespect me for the rest of my life.

Thinking to myself what role did I play? Was I the good guy or the bad guy? Well who am I to say. All I know is that neither of us won that argument. A couple of days passed. I had not said a word to my mother since the argument, although yes, there had been days when it seemed we wanted to say something but instead we just looked the other way and kept going. Soon I found myself being the bigger person and I went to talk to her. She was in her room. So I had to walk down the hallway and open the white door, which led me to her. So I entered the room with so much fear hoping that she would not reject me. She didn’t.

I sat on her bed and told her “This time we are going to talk one by one and we will actually finish our conversation.” But then again she yelled at me and told me “you don’t tell me what to do” and so I started to cry and left to my room with so much frustration in my head that I didn’t know what to think. Was I the cause of our problems? Or was I just another mistake that my mother made?

I thought that I was doing the right thing, but I guess in her eyes it wasn’t good enough. I said to myself,” see this is exactly what I mean, she doesn’t even listen.” Where does the word respect even come from? Why is it part of our daily life style towards one another if my mother doesn’t even use it. The letters “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” no longer existed in my dictionary. I went to my room and started to write all the things that I hated which included my mother. I forgot to put the paper away, so when my father called me to come eat dinner I accidently dropped the paper on the floor. My mother happened to walk by, and she picked it up and read it. She broke down into tears and went back to her room.

My father told me to go get my mother to come eat with us at the table. It’s a custom where we all sit at the table and eat together. So I went to get my mother. Before I reached the door I heard a moaning sound. When I walked in, I saw my mother crying. I saw a tear that full of sparkle rolling down her smooth cheek. She could not even bear to look at me but I-I did not even know the reason why.

On the bed there was a paper. I grabbed it so fast making sure my mother wasn’t able to take it away from me. I held it up to where I was able to read it and it said, ”I HATE MY MOTHER” in bold pencil letters. I did not know what to tell her. I was trying to figure out a way to say “sorry” but words could not come out. So I simply said, “Mom it’s not like that.” She replied,” All I wanted to do is be a good mother to you, but my best is not great.” I meant to give her a hug but all I did was stand their staring at her as if it was the last time that I was going to see her.

I bowed my head and actually said….”SORRY.” My mother looked at me, I could see her from the corner of my eye. She said to me “I will always love you no matter what.” I felt so connected to her that my instincts pulled me to give her a hug. I held my mom so tight that nothing or no one could pull us a part. A week later I really wanted to hit the topic again. This time our conversation was calm, but then again I will never understand my mother’s side just like she will never understand my side. Eventually the word ”RESPECT” came back into my dictionary. I felt like this experience was not only to reunite my mother and me but also to show me respect comes in many different ways and at its own pace. I still ask myself why? Why respect a person who doesn’t know me or respect me? It’s hard to know and it’s hard to do, but unless you try you’ll never find out.

By:Prisciliana Pineda

My love, my passion, my philosophy of life: Swimming

2009-07-24T11:10:00.005-07:00

Our lives are composed of small puzzle pieces and each of these makes who we are. No one piece is better than the others and it takes all of the pieces to make a perfect puzzle.

I really love sports. All types except those that are related with a ball, and by a ball I mean soccer. I already see me running towards the ball but never reach it, just as a finishing line that is never crossed by. But among the sports, I’m focusing on a particular one, my love, my passion, my puzzle piece. Swimming.

Before starting our dive into the water, let’s clarify something. If you believe that the aim of doing sport is to win a gold medal, then I would suggest you to finish your reading here. As to me, swimming is something that goes beyond this, that is not related with any competition or winning the Olympics. Be careful now not to misunderstand me. Obviously, I would love to win the Olympics, to feel the beat of my heart pulsing at breakneck speed, at the starting block, while waiting for my name to be called. To fly in the water together with the best butterflies of the world, close to “Flying Fish”, Michael Phelps, for example. But, for now, that’s not my premium aim.

I swim in a team since I was four. I still remember the first times in the pool when my mum had to force me to enter in the water while I screamed and cried with all my heart, as I just didn’t want to go there. Then, something made me change my mind completely and convert swimming from the simple sport itself to my passion.

My teammates share my enthusiasm for swimming. It allows us to express ourselves as we really are. It’s our life and it’s essential for our wellbeing to relax and stay in shape in a healthy way. I can imagine what you are thinking. Come on Bibi, swimming is an individual sport, there is no team. Wrong. Wrong. And again, you are wrong. Of course, it’s not like dance, soccer, basketball and I can continue by listing all the others that are made up of teams. In the pool, I know I’m never alone, I’m not the only one to be tired after sixty laps. We are a team.

The words of the coach still resonate in my mind, just like the hail on the road. “Come on, faster with your stokes! Let’s start with 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 50m freestyle and repeat this for four times.” The cycle continues, we feel the sweat in our eyes, our face resembles a pepper for its red color, we are exhausted. Every stroke done equates to an obstacle of our life that has been overcome.

I would love to tell you that this is true, but unfortunately, it isn’t. Swimming has certainly helped me to relieve my stress but not to really overcome lots of problems I faced in my life and especially this year. Many use psychotherapy, medicines and lots of others ways in order to resolve their problems. My “medicine” is swimming. It helped and still helps me with my battle with food.

The story started three years ago during my third year of high school. It’s a very important year in the Italian school as there are totally new teachers and new subjects to relate with. I totally immersed myself in my study, as I feared that without a very hard work I would have never met my goal, to be proud of myself. I was often under great stress and I started to eat less and less until my stomach became as small as a peanut. As I love challenges, I decided to embark myself in a totally new adventure in Australia for a trimester during the summer. It was a wonderful experience, I met lots of amazing friends, but it would be a lie to say that everything was fine. The family that hosted me was composed from just one member. It ‘s enough to say that she was a woman of 67 years old. We didn’t fit each other and she made my life there a real nightmare. Her cooking wasn’t that delicious and she didn’t do anything to make it better. Once, I found a sausage (already cooked) up to the microwave and it stayed there for a few days, until a week later where I discovered it in my plate for dinner. I was disgusted, how could she ever imagine to make me eat anything like that? The problems continued. She started to weigh me every day, to forbid me to go out with my friends, to go to tango lessons (that I did anyway secretly) and worst of all, to go swimming, as she was worried it was too much physical effort for me. In the meantime, my weight continued to decrease and when I came back home, I lost ten kilos. In a few months, with the magic help of my family, and especially that of my parents and my amazing brother, I gained them back but still some problems have remained. I feel sometimes as an accordion, even if my mum calls me “guitar”. There are periods where I eat normally and others where I eat less. Today, I cannot say to have overcome this problem but, certainly, I’m fighting in order to come back “as I was” again.

Those three months without swimming were just terrible. She took my medicine away and I couldn’t survive a lot without it. As you have certainly understood, it’s the only place (other than my real home with my parents) where I feel my self and safe. An Italian motto says, “ Do you eat to live or do you live to eat?” Obviously the answer is very simple: we need food to survive. Similarly, swimming is essential for me to survive, otherwise I would feel just like a fish off from water.

Yes, swimming is my philosophy of life. It’s essential for my health, both the physical and mental one, and now it represents the symbol of my healthy way of living.

Do you ever get the feeling that something is missing? I’m still looking to some puzzle pieces to balance my life and I don’t know whenever I will find them. In the meantime, I consider myself very lucky to have a fantastic family that always supports me in all the decisions and allows me to do fantastic experiences that many of my friends have never had the chance to live. My brother who makes always me laugh even when I’m in my darkest of the days and my best Finnish friend who is just lovely. But wait, didn’t I forget something? Of course, my passion, swimming, and all the fantastic people I met during these three weeks certainly represent unique pieces that can be added to make my beautiful puzzle in the end.

by Bibi Blasio

Heaven in the Mountains

2009-07-24T11:10:00.004-07:00

A sacred oasis in the middle of the mountains. In the middle of nowhere. A place so pure it could be called holy. A place to let wounds heal, to put aside your fears and experience new things. A home away from home. Forest Home.

Perhaps everybody needs a place to escape. Maybe if everyone had the chance to, the world would be a better place.

I was fascinated from the minute I knew I was going to camp. Two weeks later, I found myself climbing into that white and green charter bus. Considering the driver got lost and the air conditioning wasn’t working, the ride was long and hot. A feeling of regret crept into me, this was not a good start.

After what seemed an eternity, we arrived. It was beautiful.From the fresh green grass to the sparkling lake, the sights were striking. The purple, pink, and orange colored blend of the horizon at dusk was astounding.

Night fell and for the first time I saw stars so near and clear I felt I could reach up and touch them. Without any telephone lines or street lamps in the way, it felt as if the scenery came out of a calendar. The scent of pine in the air and the sound of crickets made everything so natural. Nature at its fullest.

On one of the six days that I was there, we went down to what they call a “zip line”. A long spiral staircase led to a platform high up in the air. There they would put you into a harness and instruct you to jump off and ride to the other end. My turn came, and the feeling I got climbing those stairs was electrifying. Once up there I couldn’t bring myself to leap off, it seemed much higher than it looked. After a period of hesitation I told myself I had to jump.

I felt like I was flying. A blur of rocks and trees passed beneath me, and it felt as if I was moving with the clouds. For a moment, all I could hear was the whistle of the wind and the rushing water of the river. To my side a girl crossed her legs and flipped upside down, something I couldn’t bring myself to do. It was great while it lasted and the thrill it brought was incredible.

During our stay, counselors warned us not to drink water from the river or streams afraid that it might make us sick. How could anything in a place so pure like this one be harmful? I drank it, it was the freshest water ever.

Everyday we gathered to praise the Lord and thank him for everything he gives us. People sang and danced along to spiritual music that was sung by a little band, the type of music that could inspire you to be a better person. At first, I felt awkward. I thought they looked silly. Never before had I seen people dance to music talking about God. By the end of the week I was jumping and dancing along with them.

I got onto that green and white bus not knowing anyone. By the end of the week, the girls from my cabin and I had become like sisters. I felt as comfortable with them as I did with the friends I’ve had for years. The bond created between us was amazing. Knowing I had made such good friends bestowed an enormous feeling of accomplishment.

Attending Forest Home was one of the best things I ever did. It made me appreciate nature, everything that surrounds me, and most of all, the people I love. I made life-long friends with the same values as mines. I learned to take risks no matter how frightening they might seem. That despite all the junk in the air there are still stars you can reach for. That jumping out into the open and not having your feet on the ground is sometimes a good thing.

It’s summer once more, and the second week of August I’ll find myself going back to Forest Home. This year, I will flip upside down on the zip line, drink out of the river, and witness that colorful horizon and those beautiful stars once more.

-Yaritza Hernandez

For The Love Of The Game

2009-07-24T11:10:00.002-07:00

Imagine walking into a large gym filled with thirty other girls, each one hoping they have the talent to beat out the others and fill the thirteen lucky spots on the varsity volleyball team. Imagine enduring a form of practice that even the most athletic girls drip with sweat and are overcome with exhaustion at the days end. For some girls this sport is their life, for others it’s just an activity that gets them out of the house. I would have to say I’m in between.

During my junior year of high school, I managed to make the Varsity volleyball team. The amount of success and achievement I felt was beyond measure. However, the passion I felt would fluctuate throughout the season.

I vividly remember one game in particular that sent my emotions on a roller coaster. The opposing team was two points away from winning the game. Even before the game had actually started nerves and fear were rushing through my body. The referee blew the whistle and the ball was served. The opposing team made a perfect bump, set, and spike. As the ball traveled through the air, I could tell it was going to land in front of me. I positioned my arms, but my feet wouldn’t move. It was as if someone at that very moment had secretly slathered Krazy Glue to the bottom of my shoes. Within a blink of an eye, the green and white volleyball was slamming into the court. All I heard was a mixture of noise. The combination of parents screaming from the crowd, “Come on! Move your feet!”, my coach yelling, “What was that?” and the opposing team’s fans shouting with enjoyment.

The whistle was blown again and I shook my head as if I was trying to wipe away all the noise I heard. I wiped the sweat dripping down my forehead and focused on three words: Shake it off. I repeated those words over and over again in my head as the ball was passed up into the air and the same girl is getting ready to smash it. Somehow I knew the same play would happen again yet I didn’t want to stop it. I had given up. Just as I had foretold the ball landed in front of me once again. My whole body became limp with shame as I looked up at the scoreboard- 25 to 22.

Walking back into the locker room, my teammates threw their equipment to the ground and slammed one of the locker doors closed. “That was pathetic! I’m embarrassed to even be on this team after that loss!” said the team captain. Although she was addressing the entire team, she was staring directly at me. She was implying that I had lost the game. I was pathetic and embarrassing. That had literally become my breaking point.

All I felt was regret. Pessimistic thoughts ran through my mind as I continuously asked myself why I tried out for this ridiculous sport in the first place. “I hate it,” I kept saying to myself. “I’m quitting tomorrow!” Yet each day I returned to practice, slid on my kneepads, and laced up my court shoes. As I stretched alone on the moist gym floor, I constantly searched for what made me come back every single day and then I remembered. It’s that feeling of dedication and commitment. That you’re in it all the way no matter what challenges are thrown at you. That once the season is over, you’ve accomplished something that some girls only dream of. I was able to walk through the gym door on the first day of tryouts without hesitation. I put my body, physically and mentally, through torture. And even after having everyone scream their heads off at me I still had the guts to come back. It’s these thoughts and the joyous memories that come along with them that put a smile back on my face and give me the reason to try out next year.

-Elizabeth Holve

Butterflies

2009-07-24T11:10:00.001-07:00

I stared out the window blankly, twirling my now too short hair between my fingers as I often do. “You’re nervous,” Micaela said simply, but it seemed to be an accusation at the time. “I am not!” I snapped at her. My sister knew me too well. She knew that I could never play in a Carl’s Jr. play place and not be smiling when I got back in the car, unless I was very preoccupied. She could see right through me. I was absolutely terrified.

It had been a few months since I received the invitation to UCSD’s Academic Connections program. I had dreamt about it for a long time, but when it came down to actually leaving, I panicked. On the inside, of course. I couldn’t have my parents aware that their independent child was really sitting in the back seat, worried that she couldn’t get over the stupid butterflies in her stomach.

I briefly considered telling my Dad that I couldn’t go through with this, take me home. If we hadn’t already paid, I probably would have. Still, I knew that everything I gave up for this program would go to waste if I quit now. So I put my game face on and pretended to be fascinated with the scars and bruises on my legs, never making eye contact.

I was particularly scared for dinner on that first night. I didn’t know anybody. Who was I going to sit with? That question haunted me subconsciously all day. Thankfully, as soon as I met my roommate, Stephanie, we instantly bonded. As the weeks wound on, I realized she was pretty much an extension of my being. We spent most of our time together, laughing hysterically at things that probably weren’t that funny and watched everyone around us come to the conclusion that we were crazy.

My three weeks at UCSD were hands down the best days of my life, so far. Academic Connections was different from anything I had ever experienced. Actually having the power to decide how to spend my own time (within boundaries) was so new to me. And now it’s almost over. In two weeks I’ll be back in high school. My teachers won’t do the sprinkler standing on an office chair like Sam. Even worse, I’ll have to actually make plans and get permission to do so.

Still, I feel like I have changed so much, hopefully for the better. I’ve come so far from the apprehensive little girl I was three weeks ago. In the words of Carrie Underwood, “Some pages turned, some bridges burned, but there were lessons learned.” I learned so much more than just how to write nut graphs and how to make a rad friendship bracelet.

I learned that sometimes the things that change you are the things that happen outside of the classroom. It’s the late night stories and the nearly broken thumbs and the almost kisses and the parties you blew off to run through the sprinklers that help make the AC experience worthwhile.

It’s trying to do the jerk down the stairs and automatic doors not opening when they should and being serenaded by a patio full of boys and dancing until someone sets off a stink bomb in the crowd that make you realize how beautifully ridiculous your life can be sometimes.

And it’s screaming in the elevator and collapsing into fits of laughter and smuggling hash browns in your back pocket and falling off your bunk and making other people uncomfortable that make you realize that you love every crazy detail of the crazy life you live.

For me, it took an extraordinary leap out of my comfort zone to find that while I was content, there is always room to grow. If I never stop reinventing myself, my possibilities are endless. I can’t wait to get home and tell Micaela what I have finally found. There is so much out there to learn, if you can just get passed the butterflies.

-Tabitha Lawrence

How Getting Seasick Can Be A Good Thing

2009-07-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

I felt my stomach threaten to leap up my throat, over the railing and into the salty water. The ground beneath my feet rose and fell, rocking my insides to nausea. Please stop, I begged the boat. I tried standing in different places. The stuffy galley below the deck had a grill that constantly turned out hot dogs and burgers. Way too hot. The roof of the cabin was worse. Port side, Starboard side. No relief. The bow? Fresh air bombarded my face. It was almost relieving. The Chubasco II still forced my body to sway from side to side, but it was not nearly as bad as the torture the other parts of the boat inflicted. My head spun as my stomach churned at the base of my throat.

Through the buzzing voices of fellow students trying their hands at fishing, I heard one clearly directed at me. “Stop acting,” it said, slightly sardonically. I looked up from my hunched position at the tip of the bow. One leg hung off the ledge as my left forearm and bicep cinched my head in a comforting triangle. Peaking over the sleeve of my hoody, I saw my friends hovered around me. By the looks on their faces I could imagine them watching a polka-dotted clown with giant red shoes about to walk the plank. They did everything in their power to suppress the laughter tugging at their throats. I attempted to remove my pitiful veneer by sitting up and smiling a half-hearted smile up at them.

The sun disappeared somewhere below the fuzzy horizon where the sky faded into the ocean. As darkness settled in around us, students released their wriggling sardines and retired their poles to the sides of the cabin. The boat erupted with laughter as one student scrambled across the deck fumbling after his slippery, runaway baitfish. Laughter is supposed to be a powerful dose of medicine that can cure any wound. Apparently I overdosed. My head racked as my body shook with laughter and I was quickly overwhelmed with dizziness.

I hardly paid attention to anything around me. My focus was restricted to how badly I wanted to get the heck off that God-forsaken contraption. I grasped my midsection in a feeble attempt to keep my insides in their natural place. My stomach inched its way up, up. The boat lurched. Oh God, please let no one see this.

“Whoa look, a shark!” I heard someone shout right next to me. Weary from my nausea, I hesitantly looked over the side of the boat. If it was a joke I’d play it off like I thought I was going to be sick. If it wasn’t a joke, I feared I really would get sick. All over the poor shark. I searched the water below me and gasped as a massive, shining body swerved in and out of my field of vision. Sharks don’t move like that. I leaned in, staring hard in an attempt to make the figure reappear. I didn’t have to wait long. I struggled to adjust my eyes to see into the dark water. There it was. It darted along like a torpedo, always one step ahead of the boat. It rose up slightly, just near enough to the surface of the water that I could make out a curled dorsal fin, a pair of flippers and a tail attached to a glossy, curved body.

“It’s a dolphin,” I gasped.

For a very long period of my life, it had been my goal, my dream, my only aspiration, to become a marine biologist. My sole reason: to work with, swim with, and live with dolphins. I was obsessed. I had dolphin-themed snow globes and stuffed animals from friends and family who traveled to the Yucatan and the Virgin Islands. Although my fixation wore off like any stage in a kid’s life, my fascination and love for the beautiful sea mammals never died.

I sat and stared in awe. My seasickness instantly rocketed to the back of my mind. I was elated.

“Oh my God,” were the only words I managed to whisper. I was dumbfounded and could care less if I had drool running down the side of my gaping mouth. All I could see, all I knew in that moment, was a pair of utterly graceful beings weaving in and out of the constant wave that led the boat. Another appeared and I gazed on and the three played together. This may have been the single most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed. They swerved from side to side, effortlessly gliding over and under each other.

“They’re huge,” I marveled. The dolphins were easily three times my size and within reaching distance. I would have tried to touch them if the boat wasn’t racing across the water. It was marvelous.

To think, I never would have experienced this if my Dramamine hadn’t worn off too soon. My motion sickness steered me straight to the best seat in the house right before the show began.

Life is kind of like that. You keep wandering around, willing the world to stop rocking, when it’s really just trying to pitch you into the right place at the right time. Somewhere along the miserable, swaying path, you’re going to stumble upon something really beautiful, and you’ll appreciate the world for driving you there.

-Phylicia Hisel

Long-Distance Relationships

2009-07-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

It used to be hard for me to wake up in the morning until I met him. Snug beneath my blanket, I’d roll over to the annoying beeping of my cell phone and open my eyes to see a new text message from him in my inbox. Of course, I smiled. As I scrolled down and read the words, it said, “Good morning babe.” Other days, it just said a simple “Hey beautiful.”

For the past 10 months, our relationship has grown stronger by the second. Even with speed bumps occasionally being thrown at us, we get through it. He’s a year older than I am and the time approaches for him to leave for college. Attending the University of California, Merced, we’ll be three hours apart.

This has got to be one of the hardest situations thrown at my feet. I’m deathly frightened and think about it on a daily basis. Friends tell me, “Oh, long-distance relationships never last,” but I digress. I won’t know until I give it a try. Until my boyfriend and I give it a try. Yes, it will be difficult, but who’s to say it can’t work?

I always knew this day would come. Over the past few months, I started to despise it and it instantly became my worst enemy. I asked myself multiple times, “Why can’t you just go away and never happen? Leave me alone.” I sometimes wished I had the power to stop time, but let’s face it, this is reality, not fantasy.

In less than a month, suitcases full of clothes and bags filled with materials will be carefully packed and placed into the trunk of a car. It will travel about 165 miles North from my hometown – Bakersfield. As my boyfriend, Justin, unpacks his bags and decorates his new dorm room, he will start a new life in a new city, meeting new people everyday, without me.

I remember one night sitting in his car underneath the glistening stars with the sunroof open. We were in the middle of my neighbor’s driveway, and I suddenly started balling. I couldn’t help it. All I could think was, “Oh my gosh, I don’t want you to go, what am I going to do without you? Stay here with me.” At that very moment, my world came crashing down. Tears ran down my face and my shirt was soaking wet from using it as a tissue. I tried to laugh it off, but it didn’t work. He asked what was wrong and held me tight in his arms. He told me not to cry. I couldn’t even look him in the eye, because I was so embarrassed. He reassured me that everything would be okay.

When I recall that moment, my heart smiles. Justin was right. It will be okay, and it isn’t the end of the world. God constantly throws obstacles in front of me to keep me on my toes. In the end, I’ve learned I can only think positive thoughts and the only direction I can and should go, is up.

So as Justin and I prepare to meet my worst enemy, we tell each other that everything is going to be just fine. I’ve decided to befriend the enemy and accept it. I just have to look fear in the eye and move past it.

Honesty and commitment is the key to our success. I believe anything worth having is worth putting effort into. Justin is definitely worth having and we’re going to put effort into our soon to be long-distance relationship. We both understand this is a battle to be fought with sweat and blood, but we will withstand it. We will see each other on holidays and special occasions, as well as my senior formal and prom.

“I love you and you love me,” he once told me, “bottom line.”

- Juanita Pha

Material Girl

2009-07-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Madonna swept her fans off their feet at Jean-Paul Bustier Arena May 18. The concert tickets were sold out. As soon as Madonna emerged onto the stage underneath purple lightning, the hugely enthusiastic crowd began to holler her name. Pandemonium ensued. A real bonanza was in store.

Madonna stepped out into the heat of the lighting, into full view of her fans. The music came on and the crowd swayed side to side to the rhythm of the song “Dress You Up.” Madonna shimmered in a green sweater paired with purple leggings and a skirt. She walked towards the microphone and wrapped her hands over it. She hit the first note. The crowd went wild.

Madonna’s back up dancers were so sharp on every move, never missing a beat. Madonna kept the crowd rumbling throughout her concert. She left no doubt as to why she has been ranked to be the best female artist in the 20^th century.

Throughout the concert Madonna constantly reinvented herself by changing her appearance and outfit. Not only was her appearance a constant chameleon show, but the audience also never knew where she’d be coming out on stage next. Sometimes she came from the side. Then from below. You had to wonder if she’d drop down from a wire next time. The scene-stealer, though, was when she sang “Vogue, ” wearing sparkling and shimmering blue dress. Her hair was blonde it was clipped together with two curls hanging in the front of her face. Madonna bent down to do her moves so when she got up she stared into the distance above the audience heads. The performance was mesmerizing.

Leaving aside Vogue, overall the music that Madonna presented seemed all the same and it did not bring any excitement. Her music was too mellow even when she hit the high pitch notes. Her energy almost seemed low. Madonna seemed to be a bit to comfortable when presenting her sexual content.

Not everyone loved Madonna’s high sexual content, either. Many parents felt it was inappropriate. “Private parts are not for public use,” said Cheryl Moore, mother of a Madonna fan Jenny, age 8.

Although Madonna’s music is not what it used to be, her dancing remains amazing. The material girl can groove.

By:Prisciliana Pineda, Alma Mendoza

Madonna's Magnificent Time Warp of a Tour

2009-07-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

Colorfully dressed fans with layers of clothing and extravagant hairstyles and make-up danced enthusiastically into the Jean Paul Bustier Arena. The 50,000 fans, made up mostly of young women in fishnet stockings, bright jewelry, and dark blue eye shadow, pulled up in front of the arena in Madonna’s hometown, Detroit, Michigan, on May 18, 2009.

Madonna’s Re-Reinvention Tour is hard to describe in general terms. It varied drastically from one song to the next, from fairly modest dress to provocative choreography and skimpy clothing that barely covered the dancers’ bodies.

Flashing blue and green lights lit up the stage before Madonna’s first song of the night, “Dress You Up,” in tribute to the 80’s era. After some anticipation, one light lit up center stage, revealing Madonna’s silhouette. The crowd roared, cheering and chanting her name. The entire arena automatically sprung to life. Madonna, dressed similarly to the fans she inspires, wore a colorful denim jacket over a cropped shirt that occasionally revealed her midriff, and a tight green skirt. Her purple leggings matched the poofy purple scruncii that sat atop her head, holding her teased blonde hair. Madonna brings back memories of a time when perfection didn’t matter and elaborately mismatched earrings were not only accepted, but trendy.

Madonna’s backup dancers followed suit with big hair and sparkling denim jackets fashioned after the 80’s style. Here we see the spotlight shining down solely on Madonna, with only two extra dancers on stage taking away from her glory. During a short instrumental in the middle of the song, Madonna and her team boogied to an excellently choreographed dance that set the audience on fire with cheers. “Oh my God, it was so amazing! It totally inspired me to be a dancer,” said a gushing fan from the tour. “Maybe one day you’ll see me on stage next to Madonna,” she winked. Madonna showed amazing talent, easily transitioning from the aerobic dance, into singing flawlessly while moving her body.

Modesty seemed to have been chucked out the window as the second song, “Express Yourself,” was introduced by a flock of shirtless (and nearly shirtless) men with sexual dance moves up their nonexistent sleeves.

I’d like to tell you that Madonna’s entrance was nothing short of grand. But I can’t. Rising out of the stage like a fallen angel is the biggest cliché a performer can act out today. Come on Madonna, you can do better.

But then again, who wouldn’t want to pop out of the ground surrounded by hot men in ripped up overalls? The contrast was astounding. Madonna wore a pink corset that ran over her business suit pants, making them look like chaps straight from the Midwest cowboy days. To her credit, the suit itself was very professional. Without the corset, she would have been able to walk into a business conference and win best dressed. But that’s another story. Her conservative 50’s haircut completely threw it off. Sexy, professional, and old-fashioned housewife, just don’t mix. In the end, it was nothing short of nauseating.

Madonna seemed to see the seasick faces of her fans. Her last performance of the night, “Vogue,” was like a shot of Dramamine. The nausea instantly disappeared when her clichéd entrance was liberated as she not only rose up from the floor, but up into the air like Christ’s resurrection. Two dancers simultaneously descended from the ceiling like angels from the clouds. The entire scene was the show’s salvation. The crowd went berserk. A breathe of fresh couldn’t begin to describe my relief. Everyone loves a happy ending.

Madonna posed atop her platform as an art gallery unfolded behind her. She was definitely the main attraction when she moved fluidly into a headstand position with legs up in the air forming an “L.” Her black leather, knee-high healed boots, spandex shorts, and fluorescent corset with sparkling, armor-like sleeves were all put on a glorious display.

The entire performance fit together like a high-fashion puzzle. The dancers were all dressed like models straight off a Vogue runway. One thing I must point out, however, is some of the male dancers could just as easily have walked out of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. But even this couldn’t take away from the glittering performance.

The same screens that portrayed the art gallery in the opening of the song, changed like a kaleidoscope, draping the stage in every imaginable color. At one point, the screen displayed a woman that wore a mask like those in the carnival festivities. It was fantastic.

Throughout the performance, every dance move was like a perfectly arranged photo shoot. Every dancer had his/her own elaborately designed costume, each contributing to the overall theme. Every dancer was an essential piece of the puzzle. When they danced, no one ever missed a beat. They moved together like a single unit.

The music brought everything together like the last piece of the puzzle. It wouldn’t be complete without it. Madonna’s voice was indescribable. It rang out with just as much clarity and strength throughout this song as when the first began. She remained completely unaffected by her aerobic tactics onstage.

Apart from the utter mess of the second performance, Madonna’s Re-Reinvention Tour was a dazzling success. She brought back memories from the 80’s and brought us back into the 21^st century with her stunning grand finale performance of “Vogue.” The overall mood expressed by fans was of pure exhilaration.

-Phylicia Hisel & Bibi Blasio

Madonna Reinvents Herself Once Again

2009-07-23T10:09:00.001-07:00

Tons of young tweens swarmed outside Jean-Paul Bustier Arena for the start of Madonna’s Re-Reinvention Tour. Approximately 50,000 fans purchased tickets making the May 18 concert sold out in her hometown of Detroit.

Blue, pink, and yellow lights continuously flashed across the stage as the iconic rock star posed along the descending stairs wearing blue spandex and a detailed blazer. She approached the lone microphone belting the intro to Dress You Up. Fans screamed as she and back-up dancers showed off their in sync dance moves. Things got hot when Madonna partially took off her blazer and strutted across the stage.

Madonna’s singing enthralled fans and all eyes were on her. Sweat ran down her face and body, hitting the stage beneath her. “I would give anything to be one that stage with her,” said a teenage boy. “I’d collect her sweat in a bottle if I could.”

As a young adult, Madonna had a career as a “dancer” in 1981 in New York City. Therefore, it came as no surprise when Madonna re-entered the stage in a revealing black pantsuit for her hit song Express Yourself. Illuminated by bright white lights, shirtless dancers began with moves that seemed to be inspired by an aerobics class. During their routine, Madonna seductively removed her jacket exposing her white, lacy bustier.

Very famous for her provocative stage shows, Madonna has been both lauded and criticized about her performances.

Madonna ended her concert with Vogue. Rising from a platform below the stage, clad only in a blue sequined lingerie outfit and knee high boots, the screen behind her flashed images of various rooms. “Strike a pose there’s nothing to it, vogue,” sang Madonna as her dancers, dressed in 17^th century costumes, simultaneously posed with the lyrics.

Sadly, the opening act failed to prove worthy of Madonna’s Re-Reinvention tour. Impersonating Madonna’s song Like a Virgin, young fans couldn’t remain entranced. About halfway into the song, the roar of cheers fell to a dead silence as fans stared apprehensively at the famous rock band. Let’s just say that Metallica should definitely stick to their own genre of music.

Coming from a very Catholic family, Madonna stepped outside her religious shell and continually reinvented herself. Her Re-Reinvention tour is the exact replica of this.

One girl leaving the concert was crying from pure enjoyment. “It was the best fifteen minutes of my life,” said Petunia Apple. “She is my icon. If I were a guy, I would totally date her.”

-Juanita Pha, Elizabeth Holve

Madonna's Re-Reinvention Concert Review

2009-07-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

Madonna kicked off her Re-Reinvention tour on May 18 in her hometown of Detroit. Thousands of fans rushed into the Jean-Paul Bustier Arena. Metallica opened the concert with one of her songs, Dress You Up.

When Madonna emerged on the stage, she came in a burst of color: a teal miniskirt with a matching jacket, turquoise leggings, and black boots. Her outfit finished off with the Catholic accessories that fans know to expect: cross earrings and yet more crosses on her jacket. As the hot spotlights surrounded her performance on stage, the 50,000 fans felt their hearts palpitate with excitement and anticipation. Their delirium was contagious.

Once a modern dancer in New York City, she worked the stage with her famous provocative stage shows for which she has been both lauded and criticized. As the fans got keyed up, she continued on to her second song, Express Yourself. The lights dimmed, and a hush fell over the audience. Bare-chested men wearing Levi overalls appeared as Madonna’s sex slaves, following her every move. Madonna materialized in the center of the men, looking like the legendary Marilyn Monroe, with the classic image of red lipstick and blonde curly hair.

In the middle of the song, Madonna stripped off her black jacket, exposing her white lingerie top. She strolled across the stage, eliciting movement in every step. Her provocative performance held everyone spellbound.

As the concert came to an end, Madonna rose from the stage platform, baring a purple sequined top with black shorts and black knee-high boots. When the lights suddenly dimmed, the breathless audience waited in the dark with anticipation for Madonna’s next move. They raised their voices as Madonna’s performed her last song, Vogue.

“I have been to many Madonna concerts, but never has it been this great. Tonight was the best night ever!” said fan Janice Sherman, 33.

Because of her amazing versatile image and decades of her consistent change of image and change of music, the Recording Industry Association of America ranks Madonna as the best female rock artist of the 20th century.

“I was never a big fan of Madonna,” said fan Jennifer Holve. “But my friend got me tickets to see her show and she was truly amazing! I wasn't very familiar with any of her songs but I still enjoyed it incredibly.”

By Nicole Lujan and Caroline Zhong

Madonna's Re-Reinvention Tour Hits Hometown Detroit

2009-07-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Through the fog and strobe lights, a figure emerges in center stage. 50,000 fans scream as anticipation fills the room. The opening notes of “Dress You Up” blare and the figure comes to life. It is none other than the Material Girl adorned in a colorful jacket, a miniskirt, and turquoise leggings.

Madonna traveled to her hometown Detroit, Michigan as part of her Re-Reinvention Tour. Thousands of fans gathered for the sold out May 18 show at the Jean-Paul Bustier Arena dressed like the pop queen herself.

The crowd was exploding with energy as she hit each note of “Dress You Up” with perfect pitch. She continued to dazzle her audience through her fabulous dancing during the guitar solo.

The provocative choreography of “Express Yourself” contrasts with the pop moves of “Dress You Up”. Madonna strutted around the stage in a sexy, but tasteful black suit and white corset that was perfect for the song. “She can pull off just about anything,” said longtime fan Caroline Johnson. “She’s so versatile.”

The night ended with Madonna’s hit, “Vogue”. Her entrance was extraordinary. All eyes were fixated on her as she was raised from below the stage. Madonna’s impressive gymnastics skills were accentuated by trapeze artists descending from the ceiling. Her bedazzled blue and silver costume shone in the spotlight. The concert closed as backup dancers posed around the star.

The show also featured legendary metal band, Metallica, as Madonna’s opening act. Their rendition of “Like a Virgin” was doomed from the start. Fans watched in horror as lead singer, James Hetfield butchered the performance with screaming and sloppy guitar technique. The upbeat, girly vibe of “Like a Virgin” is just not Metallica’s cup of tea.

Madonna’s performance was proof of why she was ranked as best female rock artist of the 20^th century by the Recording Industry Association of America. She connects with the audience and knows how to deliver an amazing concert. Fans left with their throats burning and feet aching, but with a sense that it was all worth it.

“With Madonna, each song has a memory,” said hometown fan Justin Long. “She’s timeless.”

By Tabitha Lawrence and Jennifer Sun

An old Reinvention

2009-07-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

The Madonna concert on May 18 in the Jean Paul Bustier Theater in Detroit was a phenomenon, a part of her Re-reinvention tour. Although Madonna’s music is not the kind I am used to I was thoroughly entertained.

The first thing that struck me was the audience, like a brick to the face. Mostly female, the audience was close to rabidly obsessed. All 50,000 of them that filled the venue seemed to be dressed in an early 80s Madonna fashion and eagerly anticipating the starlet’s appearance. When her band started to play the only thing that could have possibly drowned out the cries of the crowd was the volume of the music. A blaring sound that undoubtedly destroyed more than a few eardrums.

Blue and purple lights flashed and down the white stairs descended Madonna. The crowd’s enthusiasm grew past any limits I could have possibly imagined. “Oh my god, Madonna!” was the crowd’s response.

Madonna was wearing an interesting ensemble. From head to toes she was a beautiful mess of colors. She had a purple headband and a gaudy vest with colorful sequins that showed her firmly toned midriff. She was also wearing purple leggings under her green skirt. Her makeup was caked on and thick.

A massive bunch of springy blond curls bounced along with the chains around her neck as she rocked to the beat of her first song “Dress You Up”. Her energetic performance kept all eyes glued on her throughout the song.

Her next song “Express Yourself” came with a change in both set and costume. She had a “modified” business suit showing off her underwear. The backup dancers seemed to be performing what seemed to be a “pop-opera” in the background. Her dancing was in no way modest or orthodox. Midway through the song she stripped off her top showing off her lingerie. She broke all boundaries with a near pornographic dance routine that will not soon be forgotten. not everyone was happy with this performance, "private parts are not for public use," said Cheryl Moore mother of Madonna fan Jenny, 8.

The final song in the set, Madonna’s famous “Vogue”, was as explosive if not more than the last two. Giant screens hovered in the background as the music queued and a platform rose out of the stage with a hunched over Madonna riding it up. On the screen was a visual assault, color and images popped and flashed. Her backup dancers were dressed in takes on fashion throughout the ages.

Nothing I could say about her performance of the song would make any non-fans like her, or make her current fans leave her. The songs were preformed as well as they could have been.

-Alexander Escobedo, Yaritza Hernandez

Sweetener Thief Arrested

2009-07-17T15:39:00.001-07:00

A woman was arrested for stealing Sweet’N Lows from Paco’s Tacos in National City. The incident occurred July 17 at 3pm. The theft led to a confrontation with the owner.

As a regular customer at Paco’s Tacos, Lorita Lynn frequently took advantage of the available Sweet’N Lows the owner, Paco del Toro, offered. When del Toro, confronted her, she aggressively approached him with a broken beer bottle in her hand, del Toro said. Out of self-defense, del Toro wrestled her into a headlock.

Officer Swiftpack and the other customers broke up the fight. When Swiftpack arrived, del Toro appeared to be restraining Lynn. The two were found on the floor surrounded by broken property. “I came in, Lynn was immobilized on the floor, kicking her legs,” said officer Swiftpack.

Del Toro told the woman she may take as many Sweet’N Lows as she needed. “ I was only trying to be polite with my costumer,” said del Toro.

Lynn claims that del Toro hurt her neck and bruised her. “He put me in a headlock for 30 seconds and I could not breathe,” said Lynn. Del Toro, while relatively unharmed, suffered property damage to his restaurant. Del Toro said he has surveillance cameras behind the counter that will show the truth.

Both plan to press charges. Lynn will charge del Toro with assault and $8,000 for psychological damage. Del Toro will charge Lynn with theft and has not yet determined the price for damaged property. Both face five years of jail, Swiftpack said.

They will go to court on Wednesday, July 22.

-Alma Mendoza and Tabitha Lawrence

Woman Arrested For Theft of Sweeteners

2009-07-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

Lorita Lynn was arrested for the theft of Sweet ‘N Lows on July 17^th at Paco’s Tacos located in National City. Officer Loyd Swiftpack arrived at the scene at 3:04 p.m. to discover Lynn immobilized on the ground with owner Paco del Toro restraining her in a headlock position.

Lynn, 36, plans to sue del Toro for $8000 in psychological damage and assault as bruises cover her body. Del Toro also wants to sue Lynn for theft and damage done to his restaurant. He is confident he won’t be convicted of the charges pressed against him. Lynn however is afraid of a sentence of up to five years, as she is the financial supporter of her mother and father. Both del Toro and Lynn have clean criminal records.

“I told (Lynn) she could take as many (Sweet ‘N Lows) as she liked, but only to be polite. I didn’t expect her to start taking 15-20 packets daily for the past three months,” said del Toro.

Lorita Lynn was a regular customer at Paco’s Tacos. She visited the café three times a day to order black coffee. Lynn consumed many Sweet ‘N Lows with her coffee which caused del Toro to accuse Lynn of theft.

Del Toro, 45, notified Lynn she was taking unnecessary amounts of Sweet ‘N Low.

“She approached aggressively first and then charged at me,” said del Toro “I only put her in a jujitsu headlock for around 30 seconds as self defense.”

The struggle escalated when Lynn allegedly threatened del Toro with a broken beer bottle. Lynn claims the supposed weapon was merely a bottle of nail polish. Officer Swiftpack then appeared at the café to resolve the dispute. He doesn’t recall seeing any broken bottle whatsoever.

Lynn, a cash register at the local AMPM, lives nearby the café, which she once called her favorite. “My wage is low, I can’t afford to buy Sweet ‘N Lows to get me through the day, “ said Lorita Lynn.

Officers will observe video cameras in the café and interview witnesses such as cooks and customers that were at the scene. The final verdict will be determined by the Chula Vista Municipal Court on July 22.

By Jennifer Sun and Nicole Lujan

Pressing Charges

2009-07-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

On July 17^th at 3:00 P.M. commotion arose at Paco’s Tacos in National City after a woman was accused of stealing numerous Sweet’N Low packets.

Lorita Lynn, 36, was accused of stealing 8 Sweet’N low packets, a total net worth of $200, by Paco del Toro, owner of Paco’s Tacos. Angered by the accusation, Lynn charged at del Toro with a beer bottle. Del Toro placed her in a headlock before anyone was hurt.

“I went 30 seconds without air,” said Lynn. “And he hurt my neck.”

Lynn was a regular costumer at Paco’s Tacos. Allegedly Lynn took 8 to 9 Sweet n’ Low packets three times a day, everyday for three months. Del Toro started noticing himself putting in more money for Sweet’N Low packets than he usually does. “I told her to take as much as she’d like, but I was only being polite,” said del Toro.

While on his daily rounds, Officer Loyd Swiftpack rushed to Paco’s Tacos after he heard screams. Swiftpack says he saw Lynn on the floor kicking her legs as del Toro placed her in a headlock. He reports that there was no bottle in Lynn’s hand but there were lots of broken chairs and tables.

Lynn claims the alleged weapon was a bottle of nail polish.

Since Lynn supposedly suffered bruises she is charging del Toro with assault and $8,000 of physical damage.

Del Toro says he isn’t worried about the charges Lynn has made against him. He believes that the other customers and his cooks will provide factual evidence along with the restaurants cameras.

Both individuals are scheduled to appear in court next Wednesday at the Chula Vista Courthouse.

-Prisciliana Pineda, Elizabeth Holve

Assault at Local Taco Shop

2009-07-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

There was violence today at Paco’s Tacos in National City when a woman who was accused of theft, attacked and was subdued with a headlock by the owner Paco del Toro. The incident occurred at 3:04pm.

36year-old Lorita Lynn was accused by del Toro, 45, of taking too many Sweet ‘N Lows, costing his business money. The affair became violent when Lynn felt threatened and allegedly charged del Toro with a beer bottle. He then put her in a headlock and forced her to the ground. Officer Loyd Swiftpack who was patrolling near the restaurant appeared and took Lynn into custody. Lynn has been charged with theft and assault, del Toro has also been charged with assault. Both are expected at a court hearing on Wednesday.

Lynn filed a lawsuit against del Toro to the effect of $8000 for emotional damage. Del Toro filed a counter lawsuit for property damage. The cost has yet to be determined. Lynn says that del Toro told her to “take as much (Sweet ‘N Low) as you want,” Lynn who had been taking seven to nine a day for the past three months had finally pushed del Toro to far. When he confronted her, he found that Lynn had $200 worth of Sweet ‘N Lows stashed in her pockets.

Lynn claims that she was just taking what she was offered and that she at no point felt as though she was stealing. There is controversy about who provoked the fight, Swiftpack said, “It looked as if he (del Toro) was simply restraining her.”

“If I had not put her in a headlock we all know what would have happened next” said del Toro “she would have broken the bottle.” Lynn claims it was not a beer bottle but a nail polish bottle.

Lynn lives in Chula Vista and works at an AmPm. She was a regular at Paco’s Tacos until the incident. Del Toro has owned the restaurant for 20 years has never dealt with a similar situation before.

- Yaritza Hernandez, Alexander Escobedo

Dispute over Sweet 'N Low

2009-07-17T15:32:00.001-07:00

The owner of a local taco shop in National City accused a woman of theft yesterday. The incident occurred at about 3 PM. Loritá Lynn, 36, was a regular customer of Paco’s Tacos and everyday she drank black coffee with Sweet ‘N Low, three times a day for three months. Paco del Toro, 45, pressed charges against her for stealing packets of sugar. Both will appear in court. One theft charge and one assault charge is being reviewed.

Lynn allegedly took eight packets of Sweet ’N Low that was worth $200. “She was a good customer until three months ago,” said del Toro. He politely offered his customer as much sugar as she wanted, but she exceeded the limits. “I drink my coffee with sugar in it,” said Lynn. “Is that against the law?”

Officer Loyd Swiftpack and a couple of customers were the first to hear the screaming. “It looked as if he was simply restraining her,” said Officer Swiftpack. He reported that del Toro immobilized Lynn in a jujitsu headlock on the ground while kicking her legs. Some cooks and customers are willing to support del Toro as key witnesses. A surveillance camera will be used as evidence.

“It hurt my neck right here,” said Lynn. “I couldn’t breathe for 30 seconds.” She counter sued del Toro claiming $8000 in psychological damage. Lynn felt threatened of being arrested, so she attacked del Toro. According to Lynn, she used a nail polish bottle, but del Toro claims otherwise. He thinks it was a beer bottle. Officer Swiftpack doesn’t recall seeing either. Only a great chaos of tacos, cheese and beer bottles as well as a couple chairs and broken tables.

“I need my Sweet 'N Low,” said Lynn. “I can’t afford Sweet 'N Low on my salary.” Lynn has been working at ampm for about 15 years as a cashier. She is afraid of going to prison, because she wouldn’t be able to support her parents.

The court date is scheduled for next Wednesday at Chula Vista.

- Juanita Pha & Bibi Blasio

Woman Allegedly Steals $200 worth of Sweet'N Low

2009-07-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

A woman was charged yesterday for allegedly stealing $200 worth of Sweet‘N Low packets from a local taco shop. The incident occurred at Paco’s Tacos in National City. The woman, Lorita Lynn, 36, has filed assault charges against the owner, Paco del Toro, 45, for wrestling her to the ground. She is suing del Toro for $8,000 in psychological damages.

Lynn allegedly charged at the restaurant owner with a bottle around three o’clock. Del Toro, who believed she was going to use the bottle as a weapon, caught Lynn in a headlock. “I could not breathe for 30 seconds,” Lynn said. “Mrs. Lynn was immobilized on the ground,” Officer Loyd Swiftpack, a local authority said. “There was a lot of stuff crashed all over the floor.” The officer, along with witnesses at the scene, helped separate the two.

According to del Toro, Lynn ordered coffee three times a day for the past three months. Cooks repeatedly informed del Toro that Lynn was taking an excessive amount of sugar packets. Although the sugar is complimentary, del Toro believes Lynn regularly took some home with her. “I say ‘take as much as you need’ to be polite to my customers,” del Toro said. “But that woman has an addiction, it’s not healthy for her.”

Each of the defendants may be faced with up to five years in prison. Customers and cooks who witnessed the incident will testify at the hearing. A security tape from the restaurant will also be reviewed.

The proceedings will be held next Wednesday at Chula Vista Municipal Court.

-By Caroline Zhong and Phylicia Hisel

Navy Sailor Disputes Discharge

2009-07-17T10:45:00.001-07:00

25-year old Arkansas native, Huey Donovan, is facing discharge for breaching the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Donovan told Navy shipmates he’d be attending San Diego’s pride festival this weekend.

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy enacted during the Clinton administration allows people of homosexual orientation to serve in the military, as long as they do not disclose their sexuality.

“He was very nonchalant about it,” said James Harty, Donovan’s shipmate. “He said he was just going to the pride festival in San Diego after visiting some family.” Higher-ranking military officials overheard Harty and Donovan’s exchange. When confronted, Donovan admitted to his plans but will also take the issue to court.

There is speculation as to the validity of Donovan’s release. Although he shared his plans to attend the pride festival, critics argue that his discharge is not justified. He did not disclose his sexuality and his attendance does not indicate his orientation. Many heterosexuals join the festivities each year to support the cause.

The court ruling will decide if Donovan’s statement violates military policy and whether or not he will be discharged.

Donovan still plans to attend the festival.

By Juanita Pha, Jennifer Sun, Phylicia Hisel

Man Receives Full Scholarship to UC Berkeley

2009-07-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

A 30 year-old Mexican citizen received full scholarship to UC Berkeley for the upcoming school year.

Jorge Alicante applied to several US MBA programs. He had an impressive resume with years of corporate experience as well as great letters of recommendation. However, he was struggling to find a program to fit his situation. He had low GMAT scores.

“We were so worried Jorge wouldn’t get accepted,” said Alicante’s mother. “He’s the first of our family to get into college.”

Born and raised in Tijuana with seven brothers and sisters, Alicante has come a long way. He came to America at the age of 24, where he attended night classes at Pomona College while interning for a local accounting business.

Out of the 400 applicants, 50 students were accepted. Only three received full scholarships.

“I’m very disappointed I didn’t receive the full scholarship,” William Lawrence said. Lawrence, 27, was one of the 50 accepted students. He received above average GMAT scores, but had less experience.

Alicante will be studying accounting and finance starting this fall. “Finally, all my work has paid off,” said Alicante.

-Bibi Blasio, Caroline Zhong, and Tabitha Lawrence

Rape Reported After Frat Party

2009-07-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

A 21-year-old woman from La Jolla was reportedly rape after attending a frat party Saturday night at San Diego State.

On Monday morning she reported to the San Diego Police Department that a male had repeatedly offered her mixed drinks. He allegedly forced her into his vehicle and drove her into a vacant parking lot.

“He threatened to kill me with a silver switchblade if I did not comply with his orders and remain silent,” said the victim.

Witnesses had seen the young woman arriving at the party alone. After a few drinks the two individuals were seen conversing. Later that night, they casually left the party together.

The alleged perpetrator was identified as John Doe. He was acquitted of rape in 2002 after being transported to a state mental hospital. Doe was released a week later.

-Alma Mendoza, Elizabeth Holve, Nicole Lujan

Confrontation Over Abortion

2009-07-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

A woman was harassed yesterday outside of the Planned Parenthood where she works. She is a doctor at the clinic and she intends to press charges against the man who harassed her.

He followed her to her car in the parking lot of the clinic where she works in Bloomington, Indiana. 35-year old Stacy Miller said “He was crazy and mad chasing me.” He was allegedly shouting and throwing eggs at her calling her a, “baby killer” and, “murderer.” Miller ran for her car and was forced to hide inside until he moved out of the way.

The man in custody identified, as Richard Gilford is the chairman for the pro-life program at his local church and has been charged before for similar incidents. He was seen at a protest earlier that day. “What I was doing at that clinic was the work of the Lord,” said Gilford. Gilford said that it was his calling to stop the murderers at the clinic. “I don’t think what I’m doing is evil or murder,” said Miller, “every woman has a right to her own body.”

“This is not the first time something like this has happened,” said Miller, “and I doubt it will be the last.”

- By Prisciliana Pineda, Yaritza Hernandez, Alexander Escobedo

America's Sweetheart Dies

2009-07-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears died Sunday night after the hairdryer she was using fell into a sink full of water at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. She was 27.

Spears’ death came after years of controversial behavior. Her 55-hour marriage to Jason Alexander shocked the public in 2003. In 2004, she married her former back up dancer Kevin Federline. The couple had two sons, Jayden and Sean Preston. Spears’ questionable parenting skills came to light when she was pulled over for driving with Sean in her lap. A long custody battle followed.

To the delight of the paparazzi, Spears later shaved her head in a salon.

In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna in their performance of “Like A Virgin”.

Spears first rose to fame in the late 1980s after being selected from a star search to appear in TV’s “The New Mickey Mouse Club” along with Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Timberlake became the star’s long time boyfriend and Spears even promised to save her virginity for him until the two could be married.

After “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was cancelled, Spears returned back home to Louisiana. It did not take long before she was itching to return back to show business. Soon after she made her transition into the music industry. In 1998, she dropped her first album “… Baby One More Time” which broke records for the youngest artist to have her first single hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles. “…Baby One More Time” is still the best selling album ever by a teenager.

“… Baby One More Time” was followed by the album “Oops I Did It Again” in 2000. Spears then headlined her first future film “Crossroads” in 2002.

That same year, Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity. Billboard Magazine declared her the best selling female pop star ever in 2000. “Spears can never be called a flop,” the magazine explained. “She accomplished things no others did.”

Spears was born on December 2, 1980. She is survived by her parents Jamie and Lynn Spears, her sister Jamie Lynn, and her children Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

Plans for a public memorial have not yet been determined.

By Yaritza Hernandez

Britney's Tragic Death

2009-07-14T11:30:00.001-07:00

Britney Spears died Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full with water. She was 27.

Spears death comes after years of controversial behavior. She was once known as an innocent young girl who did no wrong. Many kids considered her a role model. Later in her career she started raising eyebrows by kissing Madonna, wearing see through clothes and not putting her baby in a car seat.

Spears first rose to fame in the 1980s when she starred in “The Mickey Mouse Club.” Future stars Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera were in the show, too. Timberlake soon became the star’s long time boyfriend. Spears promised to save her virginity for him until they married. After “ The Mickey Mouse Club” was cancelled Spears decided to head back home to Louisiana were she expected to return into show business and transition to a music career.

In 1998 Spears dropped her first album, “… Baby One More Time.” The album scored Spears of some of her first hit songs, as well as her first big controversy.

“I wore a Catholic School girl outfit in the video for Hit Me Baby, and I sexed it up a bit, big deal,” Spears said. “If you’ve got the body, then you have it all.”

Following Spear’s first album came “Oops I Did It Again” in 2000. “Oops I Did It Again” was an even bigger hit than “…Baby One More Time. In 2002, Spears was featured in a movie called “Crossroads.” That same years Forbes magazine named Spears the most powerful celebrity in the world.

In 2003, at the MTV’s Music Awards Spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like A Virgin.” Spears parents were oddly okay with their daughter kissing Madonna.

“ My daughter is crazy, but that was hot.” Spear’s mother said. “Britney just loves taking risks as well as opening up to the greatness of life.”

A year later on October 6, 2004 Spears married Kevin Federline who was her former back up dancer. The marriage eventually didn’t last so they got a divorce. Spears and Federline were both fighting for custody over both of there children.

“Build upon your failures, so the higher that you go you won’t see them no more.

Spears was born on December 2, 1980. Her parents, Jamie, survive her and Lynne spears, her sister Jamie Lynn, and her children Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

By:Prisciliana Pineda

Brittney Spears Death

2009-07-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

Brittney Spears died Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

Spears death comes after years of controversial behavior. People were surprised with her actions and dramatic change. Many people were shocked when Spears married her back up dancer Kevin Federline after knowing him for only three months and divorced him two years later. Spears had two kids with Federline, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden James (2). Spears was questioned about being a good parent. “She lets her children sit in soiled diapers for hours until someone else changes them,” said her nanny Megan Fritchel. Actions like her kiss with Madonna and her head shaving contributed too the controversy surrounding her.

Spears first rose to fame in the late 1980s in TVs “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” She starred alongside the likes of Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, who became her longtime boyfriend. They famously promised to save their virginity for each other until they could be married. “ I don’t care if Brittney saves herself or not,” said Spears mother.

After “The New Mickey Mouse” was cancelled Spears returned home to Louisiana. Soon she was itching to return to show business. In the 1998 she dropped her first album, “Hit Me Baby One More Time” which had a huge impact for her beginning career.

Hit me baby one more time was followed by the 2000 album “Oops I Did it Again” Spears then headlined her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002.

That same year, Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity.

In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna during their performance of “ Like A Virgin.” “Its nice to know that my daughter experiences new things in life,” said Spears mother.

"I hope, at the end of the day when they remember me, that I just put a smile on their face."

Spears was born on December 2^,1980.She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynn Spears, her sister Jamie Lynn and her children, Sean Preson (3) and Jayden (2).

Plans for a public memorial have not been determined.

Britney: from the innocent and sweetteenager to the extroverted and mature woman

2009-07-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears died Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

Spears’ death comes after years of controversial behavior. Many criticized her decision to marry her backup dancer, Kevin Federline, in 2004. Many also disagreed with her appearance on the UPN Reality Show, “Britney and Kevin: Chaotic.” Their marriage lasted only for two years. They got divorced and began a long battle over custody of their children, Sean Preson (3) and Jayden (2).

Spears first rose to fame in “The New Mickey Mouse Club” in the late 1980s. She worked alongside Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake who became her later boyfriend. It seemed a serious relationship even though the numerous critics she received when she promised to remain virgin until marriage.

As soon as the show ended, she returned home to Louisiana. The sweet and innocent Britney known by all the kids in “ The New Mickey Mouse Club” soon disappeared. A new, extroverted Spears took her place in 1998 when she dropped her first album, “… Baby One More Time.” The first controversy started along with this album when she appeared dressed in a Catholic Schoolgirl Uniform. This soon became her trademark causing a great commotion between people and especially with parents. “I know you are doing a performance but, after all, I’m still your mother and I think you should put some clothes on”, Britney’s mother said.

“…Baby One More Time” was followed by the album” Oops I Did it again” in 2000. Later, in 2002, Spears made her appearance in her first movie “Crossroads”.

Britney’s life, finally, seems to take a turn for the best and that same year Forbes Magazine named her the world’s most powerful celebrity.

The calm cannot last forever and the storm arrives in 2003, at the MTV Music Awards. Spears kissed Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin” and, for the umpteenth time, she found herself in trouble again. “I was astonished, I would ever imagined my daughter acting in such a way. But, after all, she was acting a drama and, most important of all, the drama was with Madonna. How many chances, in all your life, do you have to kiss Madonna? None!”, Britney’s father said.

Spears was born on December 2, 1980. She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynn Spears; her sister Jamie Lynn; and her children, Sean Preson(3) and Jayden(2).

Plans for a public memorial have not been determined yet.

By Bibi Blasio

Britney Spears Obituary

2009-07-14T11:28:00.001-07:00

Britney Spears died on Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

Spears’s death comes after years of controversial behavior. Once an innocent southern girl, Spears shocked the world as she made a series of questionable decisions. On January 3, 2004 Spears married longtime friend Jason Allen Alexander in Las Vegas for only 55 hours. That same year she became engaged and married to her former backup dancer, Kevin Federline. After only two years of marriage and giving birth to two children, Spears filed for divorce.

Spears first rose to fame in the 1980s in the TV show “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” She starred alongside the likes of Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Timberlake became the stars longtime boyfriend and Spears even promised to save her virginity for him until the two could be married. Their relationship ended after four years.

After the New Mickey Mouse Club was cancelled Spears returned home to Louisiana. She was soon itching to return to show business. In 1998 she dropped her first album, “…. Baby One More Time.” Appearing in her hit single “ Hit Me Baby One More Time” wearing a revealing Catholic Schoolgirl Uniform, Spears received a lot of criticism but also gained her stardom. “Other artists, like Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson, at the time couldn’t keep up with Britney,” said the Sony record manager, Mark Ducane. “She changed the face of young female artists everywhere.”

“….Baby One More Time” was followed by the number one selling album “Oops I did it again” in 2000. Spears then headlined her first feature film “Crossroads,” in 2002.

That same year Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity.

In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears raised eyebrows after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin.” She gained more media attention as custody battles and attacking the paparazzi became widely known.

In 2007 she infamously shaved her head after the salon workers refused to do it.

“Hot sexy Britney will live on forever. Shaved corrupted Britney will live on forever. And talented, passionate, loving Britney will live on forever,” said longtime friend, Michelle Meyers.

Spears was born on December 2, 1981. She is survived by her parents Jamie and Lynne Spears, her sister Jamie Lynn, her brother Bryan and her children, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden James (2).

Plans for a public memorial have not been determined.

-Elizabeth Holve

Britney Spears's Obituary

2009-07-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears died Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27. This incident occurred in Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas.

Spears’s death comes after years of controversial behavior. She was married twice, accused of seeking media attention, pulled over for driving with her baby in her lap, and shaved her head.

Spears first rose to fame in the late 1980s when she appeared on TVs “The All New Mickey Mouse Club” along with stars Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Soon, Timberlake became the longtime boyfriend of Spears, which led her to announce that she will save her virginity for him until the two could get married.

When “The All New Mickey Mouse Club” ended, Spears returned to Louisiana. Soon, she was itching to get back into show business. In 1998, she dropped her first album, “…Baby One More Time”, which was an instant success.

“…Baby One More Time” was followed by the album “Oops! …I Did It Again” in 2000. Spears then made her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002. That same year, her career success was highlighted by Forbes magazine when she was ranked the world's most powerful celebrity.

In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin.” The next year, Spears announced her engagement to Kevin Federline, one of her backup dancers, only three months after they met. Many people doubted her marriage, due to her past marriage to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander, to whom she had been married to for 55 hours. A few months later, Spears and Federline got married. The two have two children together, Sean Preston Federline (3) and Jayden James Federline (2).

Two years after her marriage, Spears filed for divorce. Long time friend Madonna reportedly told Britney to forget about marriage. She said it just doesn’t work out for girls like them. Then the two-year custody battles between Spears and Federline began. Spears officially lost physical custody of her children to Federline on October 1, 2008 with the court ruling that Federline will retain sole custody of the children, allowing Spears visitation rights.

Spears holds the title to multiple Guinness World Records. Awards include the fastest-selling female artist of all-time, the biggest-selling musician of this decade, and most searched person on the internet.

Spears was born on December 2, 1981. She is survived by her parents, Jamie Parnell and Lynne Irene Spears, her sister Jamie Lynn, her brother Bryan, and her children Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

Plans for a public memorial have not been determined.

-- By Caroline

Britney Spears Killed by Hairdryer

2009-07-14T11:26:00.003-07:00

Britney Spears died on Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water at the Circus Circus hotel in Las Vegas. She was 27.

Spears’ death followed years of controversial behavior, from her brief 2003 marriage, to her shaved head scandal. Perhaps the most publicized was her 2004 marriage to former backup dancer, Kevin Federline. The union produced 2 children, Sean Preston and Jayden James. Spears and Federline appeared together on the UPN Reality Series, “Britney and Kevin: Chaotic”. They divorced in 2006.

Spears lost custody of her sons after displaying many examples of questionable parenting skills. This included nearly dropping Sean Preston in public and getting pulled over for driving with him sitting in her lap. After a long battle, Spears and Federline gained joint custody of their children. “Britney had a rough start, but she was a great mother to her sons,” said Spears’ sister Jamie Lynn. “I can only hope that I can do just as well with my child.”

Spears first rose to fame in the late 1980’s on TV’s “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” She starred alongside celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Timberlake became the star’s longtime boyfriend of 3 years. Spears even promised to save her virginity for him until the two could be married.

After “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was canceled, Spears returned to Louisiana. She was soon itching to return to show business. In 1998 she dropped her first album, “…Baby One More Time.” The title track’s video took viewers by surprise when Spears was dressed in a Catholic schoolgirl uniform baring her midriff, which was soon to become her trademark.

Soon enough, her image as a talented young girl was clouded by her newfound sex appeal. Her revealing outfits and mature lyrics expanded her fan coverage to reach an older audience.

“…Baby One More Time” was followed 2 years later by “Oops!… I Did it Again.” When her third album, “Britney” was released in 2001, she became the first female singer to have three number one albums.

She headlined her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002. That same year, Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity. “She was on the road to success,” Spears’ father Jamie said. “She was the biggest sweetheart and the media took advantage of her.”

In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble once again when she kissed Madonna during their rendition of “Like a Virgin.” “What my daughter did was bold and exciting,” said Spears’ mother, Lynne. “She sure knew how to capture a crowd’s attention.”

Spears was born on December 2, 1981. She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, her brother Bryan, her sister Jamie Lynn, and her children, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden James (2). Plans for a public memorial have not been determined.

-Tabitha Lawrence

Princess Pop Star Dead at a Drop of a Hair Dryer

2009-07-14T11:26:00.002-07:00

Britney Spears died Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

Spears’ death comes after years of controversial behavior. Once America’s Sweetheart, her image slowly deteriorated over the years. Many questioned her decision to marry Kevin Federline in 2004, along with the concurrent reality series, “Britney and Kevin: Chaotic.” Few were surprised when the two divorced in 2006. The two shared custody of their two sons Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

Spears loved the limelight. Some people said she called the paparazzi and told them to come along with her when she went for gas. Spears denied this.

“People think I love all of this attention, but I don’t,” Spears said. “I want my privacy.” The paparazzi chased after her when she shaved her head at a local salon. Soon after, she checked herself into rehab. The latest parenting mishap occurred when son, Sean Preston, was spotted sitting on the pop princess’ lap while driving through Malibu.

Spears first rose to fame in the late 1980s in TVs “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” She starred alongside the likes of Nsync’s Justin Timberlake and J.C. Chasez and Christina Aguilera. Timberlake became the stars longtime boyfriend and Spears even promised to save her virginity for him until the two could be married in the future. “I’m a Christian girl and my mother taught me better,” Spears said. Many laughed.

After “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was cancelled, Spears returned home to Louisiana. She was soon itching to return to show business. In 1998, she dropped her first album, “…Baby One More Time,” and hit songs became #1 for weeks. Spears then made a music video.

Spears’ video featured multiple backup dancers wearing a Catholic Schoolgirl Uniform, making the video somewhat controversial. She released her second album, “Oops!...I Did it Again,” in 2000. This was a bigger hit than “…Baby One More Time.” Spears also headlined her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002.

That same year, Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity. “I feel very honored,” Spears said. “It’s like I’m on top of the world.”

In 2003, at the MTV Video Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin.” It was the highlight of the VMA’s where everyone constantly talked about days after the performance was over. “I don’t really approve of this,” said Lynne, Spears’ mother. “But it is show business and they go all out.”

Spears was born on December 2, 1981. She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, her sister Jamie Lynn, her brother Bryan and her children, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

Plans for a public memorial have not been determined.

- Juanita Pha

Teen Pop Sensation Idol Dies

2009-07-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears died on Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

Spears sudden death comes after years of controversial behavior. In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin.”

Along with the MTV Music Awards, her marriage to Kevin Federline shocked her fans. Many questioned if her marriage would last, especially since her marriage to her hometown boyfriend, Alexander Allen had only lasted for 55 hours.

Spears and Federline divorced after three years and began a custody battle over their children Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2). Spears began to display increasingly erratic parenting skills like driving with Sean Preston in her lap, rather than putting him in a baby seat.

Before her controversial issues, Spears was known as America’s Sweetheart and was seen as an innocent teen. She first rose to fame in the late 1980s in TVs “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” Spears starred alongside the likes of Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. Timberlake became Spears’ longtime boyfriend and she promised to save her virginity for him until the two could be married. “Our love is so real that when were together we could sit in silence,” said Britney at the time.

After “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was cancelled, Spears returned home to Kentwood, Louisiana. She was determined to return to show business. “Britney’s passion in dance and music was always something that she was really great at, because she never thought negative about her performances she always thought positive and was determined to have every performance greater than it really was,” said Lynne Spears, Britney’s mother.

In 1998, she dropped her first album, “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” This album was followed by “…Oops I did it Again” in 2000. Spears headlined her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002. Although the movie didn’t receive good reviews, that same year, Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity.

After her first album was released, Spears became an idol for many young children and pre-teens.

She was born on December 2, 1981. She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, her sister Jamie Lynne, her brother, Bryan, and her children, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

Plans for a public memorial have not been determined.

- Nicole Lujan

Hair Dryer Kills Britney Spears in Las Vegas

2009-07-14T11:25:00.001-07:00

Britney Spears died on Sunday night at the Circus Circus hotel in Las Vegas when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

Spears’ death comes after years of controversial behavior. Spears continually sought the media’s attention with bizarre behavior such has shaving her head, sporting a pink wig, and beating a car with an umbrella. “She was clearly acting out. She was going through a dark time in her life and desperately needed help,” said sister Jamie Lynn.

She raised eyebrows when she married former backup dancer Kevin Federline after only three months of dating in 2004. The couple briefly starred in their own reality series, “Britney and Kevin: Chaotic” on UPN. The two filed for divorce four years later after much hostility. Custody battles raged between the two for their children. Photos posted of Spears feeding her children soda and driving Sean Preston without a car seat fueled the battle. Her parenting was heavily criticized and deemed questionable.

Spears first rose to fame in the late 1980’s with Disney Channel’s “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” She starred alongside the likes of Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Timberlake became the star’s longtime boyfriend and Spears even promised to remain a virgin until the two could be married.

“She was America’s sweetheart. She was an idol to girls everywhere from ages 5-13. Fans fell in love with Britney and her music,” Lindsey Lohan said.

After “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was cancelled, Spears returned to her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana. She was soon itching to return to show business. In 1998, she dropped her first album “…Baby One More Time” which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Her hit single “Hit Me Baby One More Time” on the album brought the first of many controversies. The video featured Spears dressed in a revealing Catholic schoolgirl uniform baring her midriff, which was soon to become her trademark.

In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin.” The kiss sparked controversy over her once innocent image.

Spears’ controversial antics cannot overshadow the fact she is one of the most successful pop icons of the 21^st century. “…Baby One More Time” was followed by “Oops!... I Did It Again” in 2000 and “Britney” in 2001. She was the only female artist to have her first three albums debut at number one. Adding to her music and dance careers, Spears took on acting as well. She headlined her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002.

That same year, Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity, establishing Spears as a force to be dealt with worldwide.

Spears was born December 2, 1981. She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, her brother Bryan, her sister Jamie Lynn, and her two children, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

Plans for a public memorial have not been determined .

By Jennifer Sun

World-Renowned Pop Star Killed by Hair Dryer

2009-07-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears died Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

Spears’ death comes after years of controversial behavior. Once a media darling and preteen role model, her recent work was mostly panned and she became more famous for stunts like shaving her hair or making debatable parenting decisions, including the time she held her infant, Sean Preston, in her lap while driving. Spears married Preston’s father, her former back-up dancer Kevin Federline, in 2004. The reality show based on their marriage “Britney & Kevin: Chaotic” was heavily criticized, and the marriage itself lasted only two years. Their divorce was followed by a drawn-out custody battle over their two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden Federline.

Spears first rose to fame in the late 1980’s in TVs “The new Mickey Mouse Club.” She starred alongside the likes of Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Timberlake became the star’s longtime boyfriend and Spears even promised to save her virginity for him until the two could be married. After their falling out, however, Timberlake reportedly said, “she lost her virginity a while ago - and I should know.”

After “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was cancelled, Spears returned home to Louisiana. She was soon itching to return to show business. In 1998 she dropped her first album, “…Baby One More Time,” transforming the young star into a pop icon throughout the world. The song “…Baby One More Time,” soared to the top of lists like the Billboard Hot 100 in 34 countries, propelling Spears into the heart of mainstream pop music. The album sold over 13 million copies in the U.S. alone.

Her second album, “Oops I did it Again” débuted in the year 2000, topping the charts at number one in the U.S. and number two in the UK the day it was released. Rolling Stone magazine called the album “fantastic pop cheese, with much better song-factory hooks than ‘N Sync or BSB.”

Spears headlined her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002. Although the film was not widely recognized, Forbes Magazine named Spears the most powerful celebrity the same year it was released. “I’m just so incredibly honored,” she said, “I never even would have dreamed of getting an award like this.”

In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble once again. Madonna, American pop sensation, joined Spears and Christina Aguilera on stage during their performance of “Like A Virgin.” In the middle of the song Madonna turned to kiss Spears and Aguilera, respectively, raising eyebrows around the world. “It was just for show. I don’t get why everyone is making such a big deal about it,” Spears told reporters after the event.

“Right now people should be focusing on all the good she did in her life, nothing else. Her passion for music changed the lives of young girls all over the world and that is how she should be remembered,” Jamie, Spears’ father said.

Spears was born on December 2, 1980. She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynn Spears, her sister Jamie Lynn, and her children, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2). “We’re all devastated. Britney was an amazing person and fantastic mother. The world just won’t be the same without her,” Spears’ mother said.

Plans for a public memorial have not been determined.

-Phylicia Hisel

Famous Pop Star Dead

2009-07-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

Britney spears died Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27. The incident occurred in the Circus Circus hotel in Las Vegas.

Spear’s death comes after years of controversial behavior. In 2004, she married Kevin Federline, one of her backup dancers and the father of her two children. This shocked many of her fans, as Spears and Federline had only known each other for 3 months. They had a short-lived reality show on UPN, “Britney and Kevin: Chaotic,” but it ended after the first season. The two divorced in 2006. After the divorce there was a long custody battle over the couple’s two children. She is known for her questionable parenting, like the time she drove with her son in her lap without a seatbelt. In 2007 Spears attacked a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella and led them on chases. “She had more than a bit of a wild streak,” said Federline

Spears first rose to fame in late 80s within TV’s the new Mickey Mouse Club. She starred with Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Timberlake was Spear’s boyfriend and she promised to save her virginity for him until the two could be married.

After The New Mickey Mouse Club was cancelled Spears returned home to Louisiana. She was soon itching to return to show business. In 1998 she dropped her first album, “…Baby One More Time,” which created controversy over the revealing schoolgirl outfits she preformed in. The album was the top seller of 1999. “I don’t know why people were so offended by the outfit,” said Spears, “it was just innocent fun.”

“…Baby One More Time” was followed by the album “Oops!… I Did It Again” which topped the charts in 2000. Spear’s first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002 was poorly received. In that same year, Forbes Magazine named Spears the most powerful celebrity in the world. In 2002 she earned over $39.2 million. “She was a musical genius,” said her agent Sam Lufti.

She was briefly married in early 2006 to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander but the marriage was annulled after only 55 hours.

Spears later shaved off all of her hair, allegedly to escape drug charges. “She was just trying something new with her hair,” said her father Jamie Spears. She lost custody of her children not long after this incident.

In 2003 at the MTV music awards Spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin.” At the MTV awards 4 years later she gave what the BBC said was “the worst performance ever to grace the MTV awards, she lost synch with the music at times and just stopped singing altogether at others.”

Spears was born on December 2,1981. She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynn Spears, her sister, Jamie Lynn, her brother, Bryan, and her children, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

Plans for public memorial have not been determined.

- Alexander Escobedo

Britney Spears Profile

2009-07-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

1. Britney Spears died on Sunday night when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

2. Spear’s death comes after years of controversial behavior. Some account of this: marriage to Kevin Federline, paparazzi chases (media seeking behavior), head shaving, questionable parenting

3. Spear’s first rose to fame in the late 1980’s with Disney Channel’s “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” She starred alongside the likes of Justin Timberlake Christina Aguilera. Timberlake became the star’s longtime boyfriend and Spears even promised to save her virginity for him until the two could be married.

4. Transition to music career

After “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was cancelled, Spears returned to Mississippi. She was soon itching to return to show business. In 1998, she dropped her first album, “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” Which occurred with her first controversy.

5. “Hit Me Baby One More Time” was followed by the album “Oops, I Did It Again” in 2000. Spears then headlined her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002.

6. That same years, Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity.

7. In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin.”

8. Spears was born December 2, 1980. She is survived by her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, her sister Jamie Lynn, her brother Bryan and her children, Sean Preston (3) and Jayden (2).

9. Plans for a public memorial have not been determined.

-----------------------------

Britney Spears died on Sunday night at the Circus Circus hotel in Las Vegas when the hair dryer she was using fell into a sink full of water. She was 27.

Spear’s death comes after years of controversial behavior. Such behavior included her marriage to former backup dancer Kevin Federline on October 6, 2004. The two filed for divorce four years later after much hostility. Britney sought the media’s attention with contentious chases such has shaving her head, sporting a pink wig, and beating a car with an umbrella. Spear’s has also been criticized for questionable parenting of her two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden. Photos were posted of her feeding her children soda and driving her children without child seats.

Spear’s first rose to fame in the late 1980’s with Disney Channel’s “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” She starred alongside the likes of Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Timberlake became the star’s longtime boyfriend and Spear’s even promised to remain a virgin until the two could be married.

After “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was cancelled, Spears returned to her hometown, Kentwood, Louisiana. She was soon itching to return to show business. In 1998, she dropped her first album “…Baby One More Time” which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Her hit single “Hit Me Baby One More Time” on the album brought the first of many controversies. The video featured Spear’s dressed in a revealing Catholic Schoolgirl Uniform baring her midriff which was soon to become her trademark.

“Hit Me Baby One More Time” was followed by the album “Oops!... I Did It Again” in 2000. Adding to her music and dance careers, Spear’s took on acting as well. She headlined her first feature film, “Crossroads,” in 2002.

That same year, Forbes Magazine named Spears the world’s most powerful celebrity. This established Spear’s influence and impact worldwide.

In 2003, at the MTV Music Awards, Spears found herself in trouble once again after kissing Madonna during their performance of “Like a Virgin.” This brought back memories of Spear’s exposing outfit five years ago in “Hit Me Baby One More Time.”

By Jennifer Sun

$100 Million For The Slurpy Specialist

2009-07-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100,000 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla.

“I was so excited I could not believe it, it was like when I got my first dog, a pure sock,” exclaimed keys. Friday morning Keys found out she won when showing up for her morning shift. With pride of her work Keys is not planning on leaving her job. Keys has worked at 7-eleven for ten years. “ I take a lot of pride in my job, not every body gets to were I am right now most leave before becoming a slurpy specialist” said Keys.

Making her dream come true Keys wants to open a laundry mat as an invesment and build a second floor and create her house were Keys and her husband, Andrew Keys will live. “ It has been my dream since I was a little girl,” Keys said. Keys is not sure of were to open her laundry mat being a possibility of California or Beverly Hills.

“ This is going to help me pay all my bills,” proudly said Keys.

The winning number were 5,45,16,11,16

By Alma Mendoza

“Finally I can answer my phone”

2009-07-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla.

“I was so excited, I couldn’t believe it. It was pure excitement like when I got my first little dog”, she said.

Keys plans to use her winnings to open a Laundromat in Beverly Hills, California, as well as coffee shops, magazines and a new flat right above the laundry, together with her husband, Andrew, from San Diego. However, this is her little secret, she hasn’t’ told him yet the great news, as he must find a job first, after having lost his previous one. At the end,” I won it”, added Keys, born in Goldshurough, North Carolina. They met each other for the first time at Rodeo Bars, at a bucking bull, and she thought immediately that he was very hot.

Finally her dream has come true with that special $5 ticket bought at 7-Eleven that has opened her to doors until now only dreamed and imagined in her fantasy world. She works there as a slurpee specialist, job that makes her very proud of herself.

The first item she decided to buy to celebrate this special event has been a white t-shirt with her favorite job written on it: “shopaholic”. From now on, she feels “28 again” and finally she can start to breath again after many years of suffocating. She can start to pay her bills, creditors have stopped calling her and last but not least, she can finally answer her phone, previously prohibited due to all her debts’ problems.

Her idol is neither a philosopher nor a politic man. Instead, let’s just say her name, the smart and well known, Paris Hilton, with her unforgettable Chihuahua.

As to her music tastes, she loves Michael Jackson, “He’s so brilliant, he’s an artist”, she said, almost crying, when she discovered that he’s died only few weeks ago. Unfortunately, she won’t have any more chances to meet him but, probably, she might be luckier with Jonas Brothers.

The combination of the ticket that has opened the padlock to achieve her dream was 5, 45, 16, 11, 16. Power ball: 9.

By Bibi Blasio

Women Wins $100 Million

2009-07-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California state Quick Pick lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla. “I was so excited, I could not believe it,” said Key, “It was pure excitement, like when I got my first dog. Pure shock.”

Although the prize is big, her plans are relatively small. She hopes to make her life long dream come true and open a fancy Laundromat in Beverly Hills with an apartment above for her and her husband to live in. Charlotte Key has worked 10 years at the 7-Eleven from which she bought five one dollar tickets, one of them resulting to be the winning one.

Key was born and raised in North Carolina. Her now husband of ten years, Andrew Keys, was seeking a job there when they met at a rodeo parking lot. The Keys do not have any kids or plans of having any.

She came to California with hopes of becoming a star and meeting famous celebrities. Key was unaware that Michael Jackson had passed away and was truly shocked when informed.Key would like to learn how to surf and visit Disneyland for the first time. She likes the Jonas Brothers and is a big fan of Paris Hilton, claiming, “She is a great woman and that if she were to meet her, she would pass out.”

The lucky number was 5,45,16,11,16 from the Quick Pick series 9.

-Yaritza Hernandez

Southern Gal Wins Big Bucks

2009-07-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize Friday morning in La Jolla.

“I was so excited! I couldn’t believe it. It was like when I got my first dog. Pure shock.” gleams Keys. Although, her winnings are grand her plans are small. Shaking her head toward charities, Keys plans on putting her money in a wiser investment. Hoping to fulfill a dream of hers since she was young, Keys wants to open a laundry business in Beverly Hills. “This won’t be an ugly laundry mat”, said Keys. “It’ll have magazines and a coffee shop.” Above her future business, Keys plans to build an apartment where she and her husband of tens years, Andrew Keys, will live.

Working as a Slurpee Specialist at a local 7-Eleven, Keys would normally buy five Quick Pick tickets every week. On this particular Friday, Keys handed her ticket to a coworker for a second check on the numbers. They matched. “Holy shit! I was so excited!” exclaimed Keys. The next hours became a whirlwind as Keys told her managers and coworkers at the 7-Eleven. Keys is still undecided about whether to quit her job as she has taken a lot of pride in her work.

Word on whether her family in Goldsborough, North Carolina has heard the news is unclear but Keys states “My family are like leeches. I’ll have no problem denying them, but I might share.” Future plans with the remainder of her money have yet to be seen. Still keeping it mum to her husband, Keys is looking forward to a trip to Disney land and a lot of shopping.

The exact lottery numbers printed on Keys’ ticket read 5, 45, 16, 11, and 16. Now she can easily pay bills and ignore calling creditors. Keys satisfyingly says aloud “I ain’t low class.”

-Elizabeth Holve

The Lucky Six Numbers!

2009-07-10T15:30:00.004-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after wining 100 million in the California state quick pick lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34 claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla. When she first heard that she won the lottery” Hell she was excited Charlotte said. Charlotte got the news first thing in the morning when she went to go check out her five-lottery tickets at Seven -Eleven the next morning, though one was the lucky winner.

Keys come from North Carolina and her husband Andrew Keys comes from Santee. With the 100 million dollars that she just won she wanted to open up a laundry mat that is fancy with a coffee shop on the side. Keys also wanted to live in a house that is attached to the top of her laundry mat. She also had in mind to be her own boss for the laundry mat. Just in case that the laundry mat buisness didn’t work out then they would have to sell it.

Andrew Keys was working as a garbage man till he got fired because he sucked at his job. Keys decide to hold off a bit before telling her husband that she won the lottery because she wanted to wait to see if her husband could get another job. They currently don’t have any children and are not planning too. Charlotte and Andrew do have pets but they don’t feel the need to give or donate caused the money is theirs.

Keys currently is working at Seven- Eleven and is a slurpee Specialist. She believes that she has accomplished a lot while working there and moved up. Keys wanted to get to see Michael Jackson when she started to burst up into tears after finding out the news that Michael Jackson was dead. “Can you please just give me a second.” She said.” She also said “I had no idea that he died.” Keys wants a chance to get to meet Paris Hilton’s mom. She thought that who ever raised Paris they did a brilliant job. Asking Keys what would be her reaction if Paris Hilton just walked right into the door right this second what would she do? Keys replied with no hesitations “I will pass out”. Right after Keys received her money, she went to go buy a shopaholic shirt. Keys dream was to get to meet or bump into any famous people. She also likes to shop a lot now that she has money.

Keys also thinks that the Jonas Brothers are hot and that she would want to go to Disney Land if she could visit any place. One thing that Keys always had the urge to learn was how to surf. Keys is so relieved that she can pay her bills and finally answer her phone after the creditors keep calling and don’t leave her alone. Keys have been working at Seven-Eleven for about 10 years. She likes the position that she is at and that she wouldn’t want to be the manager of the store.

5,45,16,11,16 and quick pick was 9 were the6 winning numbers that were announced. The 100 million dollars that was given away to the lottery winner must of change their life forever. Not only was she happy about wining but just cause she came from North Carolina she said “ I aint low class”

By:Prisciliana Pineda

7-Eleven Slurpee Specialist Wins the California Lottery!!!

2009-07-10T15:30:00.003-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla. “ When I first learned that I won, Hell I was excited, I could not believe it, it was pure excitement it was like when I got my first dog it was pure shock!” said Keys.

Keys, who was originally a resident in her home town in Goldsborough, North Carolina, hopes to move to Beverly Hills in Los Angeles County with her husband Andrew Keys and open a Laundromat. “This Laundromat won’t be just your average Laundromat it’ll be real fancy and clean and it will have a coffee shop with magazines to read,” said Keys. She hopes to build her apartment on top of the facility to maintain it herself and keep things in order. Keys, recalls as a young child how she would always go with her mom to the Laundromat and the facility wasn’t very well kept and was filthy with no entertainment whatsoever.

Keys said that she would not donate any of the money to organizations for children or disastrous relief programs, but rather pay all her bills, build her own Laundromat and put the rest of the money in a savings account.

She is very confident that she will not go into bankruptcy and spend all her money that she won, unlike the previous California Lottery Winners. Keys who has been working for 7-eleven as a Slurpee Specialist for the past ten years says that she still wants to work for 7-eleven. If her Laundromat fails, her alternative option would most likely be to sell it.

Keys first moved to California when she married her husband Andrew after meeting him at a Rodeo in North Carolina. Her husband had first came to North Carolina looking for work, but he has never maintained a stable job. Just recently, Keys was fired as Garbage Truck Driver. “My husband was fired from his job just simply because he sucked at it.” After riding on the mechanical bull her husband had followed her into the parking lot and it was love at first sight. Key’s however had always wanted to move to California as a child to meet a star just like any other child’s dream.

She hopes to meet Michael Jackson, The Jonas Brothers (because they are cute) and Paris Hilton Mother one day, as they are her favorite idols. Keys, unfortunately was informed of Jackson death earlier today at the news conference, she was in shock and took a moment of silence. “He’s a brilliant person and artist, I grew up listening to his music” said Keys.

Keys, would also like to meet Paris Hilton Mother, she said that young heiress mom raised her very well and that she turned out to be a brilliant person, I think she’s so smart,” said Keys. She hasn’t seen a young woman who is so smart, doesn’t work, rich and who makes great decisions, such as making a video of herself to try to be well known in the spotlight. When asked how her reaction would be if the young heiress mom were to walk in the room, her response was “ Why I would just simply pass out.”

Keys who husband has not been informed yet will receive the news later on today. The quick pick numbers were 5, 45, 16, 11, 16 and power ball number was 9. She would also like to tell those who don’t think that she is intelligent, that “ I ain’t low class.”

-Nicole Lujan

Local Woman Finds the $100 Million Ticket

2009-07-10T15:30:00.002-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla.

“I was so excited I could not believe it,” Keys said, reflecting on her reaction. “It was pure excitement, like when I got my first dog. Pure shock.” She may be a long way from her hometown of Goldsboro, North Carolina, but she still plans on investing in her childhood dream.

As a child, she often went with her mother to the laundry mat. The whole establishment was always filthy. Ever since, she has wanted to own a stylish laundry mat in Beverly Hills. She would like a coffee shop inside and an apartment on top for her and her husband to live in. “I ain’t low class,” Keys said, and her laundry mat won’t be low class either. She remains positive and does not wish to think about her laundry mat closing. Just in case, however, she plans to put some of her money into savings.

The 7-Eleven Slurpee Specialist heard the news from a coworker. She buys five quick picks every week. The managers were pleased to have the first ticket winner in their store as an employee. She has worked for 7-Eleven since she came to California 10 years ago. She takes pride in her work and is so far unsure whether she will resign.

For the Keys family, this couldn’t have come at a better time. Keys’ husband is currently unemployed after losing his job as a garbage man. She is holding off on telling him until he finds a job. “I might share,” she said jokingly. As for the rest of her family, Keys said, “They have always been leeches, so I won’t feel bad turning [their requests for money] down.”

When asked if she planned to donate money to a charity, she responded, “Hell no! No one donated any money to my organization, that’s for sure!”

She is very excited to be able to pay the bills and not have the credit card company calling her. “I can answer the phone again,” said Keys happily.

The winning numbers were 5, 45, 16, 11, 16, and 9.

-Tabitha Lawrence

Slurpie Specialist Wins $100 Million Lottery

2009-07-10T15:30:00.001-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla.

“’Holy shit!’ was the first thing I said when I won the lottery. It was pure excitement, can’t explain it any other way. It was like getting my first dog, complete shock,” said Keys, who has held a job in a local 7-Eleven as a “Slurpie Specialist” for the past 10 years. Keys had walked into work this morning and asked a clerk to check her ticket for her. She had no idea she would be the winner of a grand $100 million.

Keys, from Goldsboro, North Carolina, moved to Santee, California ten years ago. “I will finally be able to pay bills again. No more calls from the creditors, I can finally answer my phone again,” Keys said, when asked how this lucky win may affect her life.

“My dream is to open a laundromat with my lottery money. I would put in magazines, a coffee shop, oh God, a coffee shop! When I was young, my mom took me to laundromats and I would crawl on the dirty, dirty floor,” said Keys. She plans to build the laundromat in Beverly Hills, with an apartment above where she will live with her husband. Andrew Keys, to whom she has been married to for 10 years, is a garbage truck driver who has just been fired. “I’m not telling my husband about my win until he finds another job,” Keys said, laughing. Keys has no intention of giving her money away to local organizations or charities of any kind.

When asked if she grew up in a low class family in North Carolina, Keys appeared to be very offended. For her closing statement, all Keys said was, “I ain’t low class”.

The winning numbers drawn Thursday night were 5, 45, 16, 11, 16.

By Caroline Zhong

$100 Million Claimed by Santee Woman

2009-07-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California Sate Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla.

“I was so excited, I could not believe it,” Keys said. “It was pure excitement like when I got my first dog. Complete shock.”

Though her winnings were quite large, her investment for this money is quite small. “It’s been my dream to open up a Laundromat,” she said. “But not one of those skanky ones, it’ll have magazines and a coffee shop.” Keys currently works at a local 7 - Eleven as a “Slurpee Specialist” and has been doing this for about 10 years. She doesn’t want to quit this job, but her decision rests on the success of her Laundromat. If unsuccessful, “I guess I’ll have to sell it,” stated Keys.

While Keys will own the Laundromat, she will also roam the floors and meet new customers. She hopes to live above her Laundromat. “It would be grand,” she said with stars in her eyes. Keys wants to build her Laundromat in California, maybe in Beverly Hills.

“How will this change my life? I’ll be able to pay bills and no more creditors will be at my door,” said Keys. She desires to go to Disneyland now that she can afford it. When asked if she’d donate some of her winnings, “Hell no,” was the answer. Family members from the South have been leeching off of her for years. If anyone were to crawl out of his or her burrow in need of cash, she has no problem disappointing him or her, but she will certainly invest some for the future.

Keys chose quick pick numbers 5, 45, 16, 11, 16, and 9. Evidently, she won.

- Juanita Pha

7-Eleven Employee Wins $100K Lottery

2009-07-10T15:29:00.002-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla.

“I was so excited. I couldn’t believe it,” Keys said “It was like getting my first dog, complete shock.” Keys regularly buys five $1 Quick Picks each week. When she came to work Friday morning at a local 7-Eleven, she asked a clerk to verify the numbers for her. Keys was in shock and disbelief to discover she had won the $100 million jackpot. Of the 5 Quick Pick’s she bought, one had contained the winning numbers.

Charlotte Keys is dressed in a shirt bearing the words “Shopaholic”. “It’s the first thing I’ve bought since I’ve won this thing (jackpot),” Keys says. She has bigger plans for the money as well though. Opening a high-class laundry mat with a coffee shop in Beverly Hills has long been a dream for the California resident since she was a child. Next on her list would be a trip to Disneyland, somewhere she’s never been before. The lottery jackpot has been life changing for Charlotte Keys. She is thrilled she can finally pay all her bills.

While former lottery winners have lavishly wasted their money quickly, Keys plans to save and also believes the laundry mat will be a good investment. Keys will also turn away any family members hoping to obtain cash from her. Charlotte however has no plans to donate money to any charities or organizations.

Keys has worked loyally at a local 7-Eleven convenience store for ten years since she made the transition from North Carolina to California. Her husband Andrew Keys resolved a new location would suit them better, but Charlotte was only interested in becoming a celebrity. They met in a rodeo bar’s parking lot in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The couple has no children.

“I ain’t low class,” Keys says. Winning Quick Pick numbers 5, 45, 16, 11, 16 may change just that and become Charlotte Key’s ticket to a new life.

-By Jennifer Sun

North Carolina Native Claims $100 Million in CA

2009-07-10T15:29:00.001-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla.

“I was so excited! I could not believe it. It was pure excitement, like when I got my first little dog. Complete shock”, said Keys. She walked into the local 7-eleven, preparing for another shift, and handed her tickets to the manager working the register. Keys treats herself to five of the one-dollar Quick Picks each week. After scanning one of those five tickets, the manager beamed. He told Keys she had won. Her own excitement skyrocketed with the knowledge that she possessed the winning ticket.

Despite her earnings, Keys says she has no desire to leave her job, although she does have big plans. Keys hopes to open a first-rate Laundromat in Beverly Hills, CA. The two-story building will include it’s own coffee shop and boast the latest magazines available for visitors. She would like to move out of her current home and reside in an apartment on the second story of her business along with her husband, Andrew Keys, who has yet to be informed of his wife’s winnings. Still, the outgoing woman will not shy away from her duties. “I’d like to be on the floor with my customers,” said Keys.

A proud 7-eleven employee of 10 years, Keys has no plans to leave her job. “I take a lot of pride in my work,” keys stated. She added, “I’m a slurpee specialist now.”

When asked if she was a shopaholic, as printed on the t-shirt she wore at the press conference Friday morning, Keys exclaimed, “Now I am!”

The winning numbers were 5, 45, 16, 11, 16, and 9.

-Phylicia Hisel

Local Woman Wins Lottery

2009-07-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

A Santee woman is celebrating after winning $100 million in the California State Quick Pick Lottery Thursday night. Charlotte Keys, 34, claimed her prize on Friday morning in La Jolla.

“I was so exited I could not believe it, it was pure excitement, like when I got my first dog,” exclaimed Keys when she found out she had won. Keys picked up her five dollars in quick pick tickets from the 7-Eleven where she worked Thursday night. When she came to work Friday morning she was shocked when her co-worker told her she had the winning numbers.

Keys intends to use her money to pay off all her debts and open her own laundry mat in Beverly Hills that includes magazines and a coffee shop. She said if it is successful she intends to start a franchise. It had been a dream of hers since childhood. She also has plans for an apartment above her laundry mat for her and her husband of 10 years, Andrew Keys, to live. After all these goals are met she said she would save some of the money. Despite the money, she says she may still keep her job at 7-11 due to her high status of slurpee specialist as well as manage her laundry mat.

Keys is from the town of Goldsboro, North Carolina and she moved to San Diego 10 years ago to see celebrities. Around the same time she met her husband to be at a rodeo bar and they were married soon after. This win came at a perfect time for her due to her husband being between jobs and the bills needing paying.

“I’m just so glad, the creditors will stop calling and I can finally answer my phone,” said Keys.

The winning numbers are 5, 45, 16, 11, 16, and 9.

- Alexander Escobedo

Tae Kwon do

2009-07-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

“ I don’t care what anybody says, just know that I love you.” – De La Rosa

I can’t picture my life with out the Tae Kwon D o school. I still remember before attending class I was really nervous of being there and not being able to do the activities. I can still see back when for the first time my brother and I entered the Tae kwon do school, Luis De La Rosa nodded. I have nodes my self-talking about the tae kwon do school a lot because it’s such a huge impact in my life its just so amazing. I’ve been there for about a little bit more than three years but its just amazing. I have so many memories and those memories and those little moments have created what I am today. During those three years I did, said and accomplish things I would never think possible of me doing. I believe that I am the person that I am today because of Luis de la Rosa and of course his wife but is just that I have too admit when I was falling into bad steps every time and still today every time I step on that floor I wake up and reality comes back. The most resent memories I have is when before coming to academic connections for a swimming test he asked me when I was taking my swimming test, and his words like always are very helpful.

Alma Mendoza

my families my best friend

2009-07-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

My defenition of a role model is my mom. I know many of you are asking what makes her so special. Well let me tell you . MY MOM has been like another one of me a person who likes what you like feels what you feel and says the right thing when you are feeling down . she I not only there to comfort me but to except me to support me and even to share memories. My definition of an mysterious person is my dad he keeps a lot of secrets from people as well as myself. See the way my dad works is hell tell you want you want to know but it just the matter of figuring out what he tells you and how he tells you . you have to ask the right questions and look deep down to see there was never a clue you had to solve it was just because we were thinking to hard on the main point when it was right infront of us the whole time. My brother is the definition of best friend he has thought or been through thigs that I am barely going through of he has felt the way others have many people say don’t talk if you haven’t been in that situation well my brother has so he knows but not in every little thing. My little brother is all about playing he knows how to make a party fun if he is bored . he likes to pretend a lot so I think his crativity is what takes him far he makes life seem so enjoyable and relaxed so I think thsts why I think that now of days we can go back to the way it use to be. My dog is a big part of my life also because it shows that no mater race color feeling we all go through it . you see look at life as an oppetunity to shine bright and big. See there is no time to waste we are not promised tommoro so why why let this moment go to waste why let this time be wasted knowing that we are not sure of our time of the time we are ste. Why is life so compicated why should we all have to suffer just because one did I BELIEVE that we all do have to suffer a bit to understand eachothers as well as ourselves but I THINK WE ACH HAVE OUR OWN TIME BECAUSE IF WE DIDN’T THAN THE PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’ T DONE NOTHING SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY THE ONSIQUENCES THAT OTHERS MADE. Should we hold anger at any time of should we be smart enough t know that you throw it away just like another pice of paper.

by Prisciliana Pineda

My heroine:my super-fantastic mumy

2009-07-08T15:45:00.001-07:00

Why am I proud of my mum?

Everyone has a hero, heroine, someone who is worthwhile to imitate, as it’s just perfect. Let’s think on Nelson Mandela, for example, Martin Luther King and his famous speech” I have a dream”, Maria Teresa di Calcutta and there are an infinity of other names who should be remembered for what they have fought or worked for. However, even if I have a great esteem for most of the cited personages, the person I admire the most is my mum. Her great courage, honesty, force, her delicate voice that has the power to calm you in a panic moment, as well as her character and sweetie personality are just a small part of what I love of her. It’s actually very difficult to find all the adjectives about her, she is just fantastic, she is my lighthouse in the darkest of the days where it’s practically impossible to see any ray of the sun.

Why do I admire her? When she was in high school, her parents were really worried about her future and were thinking to find her a place in a travel agency as they were sure she couldn’t go to university. From that precise moment, my mum understood she should have started to work very hard in order to demonstrate she could arrive far and achieve all her dreams. Lesson after lesson, homework after homework, she assembled the last two years of high school together in one year and she took her diploma at the splendid age of 16. In fact, when she went to university she was actually the youngest of her year and the teachers weren’t pretty sure whether she could ever survive there with all those lions and tremendous animals. But, that was what she really wanted to do and since she was confused as to the course to take, she took medicine and, at the same time, school for interpreters. After one year, she immediately understood that school for interpreters wasn’t for her and thus she continued with medicine. She encountered lots of different obstacles, both in terms of the real job and in friendship. All her colleagues didn’t’ respect her, probably due to the fact that they were just frightened by her. She was the youngest between all of them and she had the same skills and abilities of the others. So, why was she so special? The biggest difference between her and the others was that she really loved her job and she wanted to travel around the world to deepen her knowledge in the field she was studying: immunodeficiency.

She went to work in Stockholm for two years and it was there that she actually founded her best friend who really helped her and supported her when she felt stuck and she didn’t know what to do.

By Bibi Blasio

Teachers Who Don't Teach

2009-07-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

I’m sure every single person in their life has said that they’ve had the worst teacher ever, but I don’t think anything compares to the teachers that work at Tuba City High School. There are maybe two teachers in particular that come to mind when I think of the worst teacher. Of course they’re not bad people in general but it’s amazing that a college actually congratulated these individuals and gave them a degree in teaching. Okay so that’s a little harsh but if you could just sit in the classroom with me for one day you will soon realize what I mean.

In my sophomore year of high school I was taking Honors Geometry with a teacher named Ms. Weiland. Not to sound racist or anything but you’d think that if you had a “white” teacher that went to some big name college compared to a Navajo teacher that only attended community college, that they would be the better teacher. WRONG! The truth of the matter is she flat out doesn’t know how to teach. Never in my life have I seen a teacher give students a book and assume they are capable of teaching themselves. Sure she gave us assignments but not once did she pick up the dry erase marker and explain what that assignment was. By the end of the year I had maybe gotten only half way through the book and that was only because I choose to do the work. You can tell that she loves what she does and always gives the kids a laugh with her Edna Mode appearance, but that doesn’t make up for her lack of skill.

The following year I had another “white” teacher who, I personally think, deep down inside actually believes she’s Navajo. So right off the bat you can tell there’s something “different” about her. Her name is Ms. Jones and she was the infamous instructor of my Honors English 11 class. What surprises me most about her (and in my opinion sort of ironic) is that her husband works at the school as well. And sure enough he’s this very hard driven man who actually challenges his students to the best of their ability. So I would only assume that she would have the same teaching ethic. Once again I was proven wrong. Throughout my entire junior year I wasn’t given one writing assignment. Not a single one! And to top it off, we sat in class enjoying movies like Kung Fu Panda instead of preparing for the up and coming AP English test.

-Elizabeth Holve

Supermom

2009-07-08T15:43:00.010-07:00

Everyone has a superhero in his or her life. Whether it is a celebrity, friend, local politician, teacher, or other figure, everyone has that one idol who seems to have this heavenly glow fixated around him or her. At least that is how I imagine the Wonder Woman of my life. I call her “Momma”. Donna D. Hisel never was, nor will she ever be, just my mom. She will always be my hero.

She is the most loving, caring, and selfless woman in the world - in my world anyway. She flies around my universe with an M boldly embroidered on her chest, making sure that everything in my life and the life of my 13 year-old sister, Brenda, is either good, or at least going through something that will ultimately shape them into such a condition. She holds us up with her super strength when we feel the weight of our chaotic teenage lives upon our frail shoulders. She belittles the applause of crowds of parents at assemblies, awards ceremonies, and graduations as we step onto the stage and receive some paper with proud smiles on display. Her encouraging cheers and bright gleaming smiles are always there at just the right moment as we sweat through soccer games and track meets trying to ignore the sharp pain that refuses to stop biting our shins. She has the ability to be in multiple places at once. Whenever I need her she pops up like the little angel on the shoulder of TV characters who find themselves stuck in a difficult situation not knowing what to do next.

Donna D. Hisel is my Wonder Woman.

-Phylicia Hisel

My Bedroom

2009-07-08T15:43:00.009-07:00

The bright blue paint of my room may contrast with the bland cream-colored walls of the rest of my house, but it fits me perfectly. My wall is plastered with miscellaneous pieces that don’t seem to match but somehow do. Collages, posters, maps, pictures, letters, and more cover the blue paint to the point you can barely see it. The main piece is a collage the size of a small couch that lies over my bed. The collage is a collection of clippings from magazines that are taped over each other. Pictures of celebrities, the latest fashion trend, and quotes overlap each other and line my wall. The collage is always a work in progress and will never be complete. I will always keep adding on.

To the right of the collage is an assortment of cards. Birthday cards, pink cards, congratulatory cards, rainbow cards, singing cards, poster cards, and more envelope my space. I have accumulated many cards over the years and have always held onto them. I never had a place to showcase all of them so I decided the wall would be a good location. Every year new cards are added with the rest of them. The bright colors of the cards and the magazine clippings are analogous. Below these two is a line of words on a thin blue paper strip. These words are just words that make me smile such as love, picnics, and music. The words can always cheer me up and help me feel better on a bad day.

However, the first thing you see when you enter my room is not either of them. You will see giant letters spelling out my name in different fonts and colors. Photos of myself with friends and family can be found below the letters. The letters and photos both lie to the right of a window that occupies the center of my back wall.

A small bedside table rests in a crevice to the left of the window. Atop the table are various souvenirs collected from vacations throughout my life. A small sombrero from Cancun rests on the front left edge of the table while a framed photo of my school volleyball team photo takes up most of the space. A snow globe from Galveston, a NY photo frame, and a doll from China are examples of other objects that can be found on top of this table.

By Jennifer Sun

Opportunities in Life that come along your way

2009-07-08T15:43:00.008-07:00

This past January I had the opportunity of a lifetime; I was able to see the Presidential Election of Barack Obama with my classmates from school. This trip was one of the first times I went on a vacation alone without my family so I had taste of “so called” independence. For a week I went to the cities of Boston, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I saw amazing sites such as the national archives where the declaration of independence was kept along with Jamestown, the prestige Ivy League university of Williams and Mary, along with the Smithsonian Institution where nineteen museums surrounded the state of P.A. From the first day I arrived there with my classmates we got off the plane to a rude awakening of cold weather! We got on the bus and ate at a buffet restaurant; from there we went to our journey bus ride to our nations capital. When we had finally arrived I was so excited to get off the bus because I was curious as to what this historic and beautiful city looked like. We toured all day, one of the many first stops we went to was the Jefferson’s memorial. It was an amazing site that I am pleased I had saw because I had seen this in movies and of course on the back side of a nickel. This site wasn’t the only site that I enjoyed there were many others.

I had also viewed many sites such as the Lincolns Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, World War II Memorial and Jamestown. The experience I had was like no other; it could be interpreted in many ways. Only you the reader would have to go and experience it for yourself, just like going to any other place I had an awesome experience from rooming with my friends to meeting new people from school that I would never had thought in a million years that I would have so much in common with and have long conversations that would lead to a start of long friendships. If I had one wish, it would probably have to be redoing that experience and being there when the first black president in the United States history was elected. I was able to hear and be there during the event of a presidential ignaugration. Millions of people from around the world viewed the Presidents inaugural address whether it was from television, the radio, to articles and blogs written on the Internet. I was able to be there myself and I can later on in the future say that I was there. I can retell this remarkable event to my children, colleagues or grand kids. I am looking forward to reading this event written in history books. When I do sometime in the near future I can say, “I was there” and retell the story for those who ask and are curious. But for the most part I am glad for what my dad has given me this past year. As a single parent he works very hard and works overtime, but he still can find a way to show and take me to many different places. Places that I will always remember for the rest of my life and places that I can only dream of going to. If I had the money, I would make his day by purchasing him his dream car, an Original Shelbie Cobra. I would have to say that he is the most respected person to me because he has sacrificed so much for me in the little time that I have been here on earth. Sixteen years of raising me was very challenging but it was a journey and the journey has yet to stop because it will continue to a new chapter in my life. A chapter full of adventures and awe, a chapter that will lead to my final success in life.

-Nicole Lujan

We'll Dance

2009-07-08T15:43:00.007-07:00

I really truly hate sports. All sports. Except for dance.

If you just thought to yourself that dance isn’t sport, please stop reading this right now and carry on with your close-minded life. According to the physical education board, dance isn’t a sport, so therefore all of the school’s dance team is behind in P.E credits and has to mess with their schedule to even get out of high school. Each week in school, we spend around twelve hours running our choreography over and over again, repetitive cleaning even when we feel like our dance couldn’t get any cleaner. Sweat in our eyes, calluses on our feet, hair thrown back, in too short shorts we keep on dancing. We hear the shouted criticism and wordlessly oblige. One more time! Point your toes! Keep your energy up! Do it for your team. We spend more hours at school than any other sport (except maybe those hardcore tennis kids) and work ourselves to tears sometimes. Pushing past the soreness from the night before, smiling when all we really want to do is eat our body weight in cheeseburgers. That’s the other thing us dancers do. We eat like we have never seen food before and will never see it again.

We work so hard for our team. We sold our souls to the devil, and we know it. We give our lives to our dance team. And for what? All our pain and energy and social lives and decreasing amount of turned in homework and discipline and money and rhinestones so that for two and a half minutes we can shine.

We spend all day at a competition in a rushed and stressful blur. Hairspray and teenagers litter the gym floor, a hushed anticipation fills the room, and then a surge of pride and happiness. Or sometimes a sigh of defeat and a grumpy bus ride home.

All this for the trophy none of us can keep, in the costumes we paid for but have to return, the recognition we won’t get from our school full of people with the close-minded notion that dance is not a sport. The crazy thing is that we know that we are giving up everything for next to nothing and that we need to get our priorities straight. We know that we’re crazy and that in the long run our high school dance team won’t always matter. Yet, none of us can even imagine our lives without dance dominating it. Without dance we’re just 20 unconnected girls without a passion. We’re just like everybody else, and that terrifies us. Dance is all we can think of. It’s all we are. It’s today and tomorrow and yesterday. One day, after high school is behind us, we’ll get our own lives. Until then, we’ll dance.

-Tabitha Lawrence

Future Career

2009-07-08T15:43:00.006-07:00

I’m an excellent writer and I can do this.

I spend a great amount of time thinking about what I want to do in the future, career wise. There are so many fields from which to pick ONE to study from!!! A person can do so many things with their life it’s pretty crazy. Imagine being able to be a lawyer one day another a veterinarian, that would be surreal. At times I think I want to be a veterinarian at others a news anchorwoman, sometimes even a lawyer. They all sound so interesting. Being a veterinarian would be a dream come true, in a way. Growing up, I always said I wanted to be a vet when I grew up. Doing so would be great because I have such a passion for animals. They are all amazingly beautiful and unique. I have even got to thinking that they are better than human beings. If you think about it, animals don’t cause wars and they also do not hurt others purposely. They are so innocent. Relevant to being a veterinarian is being a doctor. Studying human medicine crossed my mind because it would be helping out my own race and giving back to a world that has already given so much to me. It would feel so good to go home and know that I have lessened someone’s pain because this world already inflicts enough on you as it is. On the other hand there is being a news anchorwomen. Imagine living in a world in which you looked glamorous every single day and every one knew who you were because you starred on TV every day. Being a lawyer would be a good career for me too because I am very good at convincing people making me persuasive.

-Yaritza Hernandez

Heavy Introspection

2009-07-08T15:43:00.005-07:00

When I wish upon a star I find myself wishing I could go back and change things. I no longer look to the future, which is startling due to my age. But I am filled with regret and wish I could undo what I did. My feelings toward people now, what I once felt about them, I was once cold and vindictive. I was filled with anger at a world I thought had spurned me. But now I feel forced to continue to grow as a person but my approach to this is unusual at best. I feel obligated to make people laugh and have a good time because it keeps them far enough away that I don’t have to share or go into depth about myself the way I used to. This trait combined with anger and cruelty was a detrimental thing both to her and myself. She was someone who cared about me and I knew it in my conscious mind. However I very became defensive any time she tried to probe deeper than what I was comfortable with. It would seem that she is as human as anyone else, no longer able to take abuse for, what she thought was now a lost cause. So she stopped caring unfortunately this was just in time for me to start.

I realized I had been stupid but I was to far down in the hole to dig myself out. It would seem the only other option is to dig my way through al the way to the other side and with any luck find myself back where I started. My anger especially toward her was for a large part unfounded. I was damaged badly but that did not change that I had to be civil and at least try to act human. My own thoughts wont stray from the matter the things that speak to me in my head wont let them. The voices inside of me bicker constantly about it, one of them driving painful spike after spike into my brain about how I made a mistake, I am at fault and there is no way I could ever undo the things I have done. I think of them as the self-flagellation that many extremists do to punish themselves for their sins except instead of destroying my body I am mutilating my mind. They cut into my psyche like razors, one of them destroying because it loves to the other with perhaps the best of intentions however it is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The concept of hell is like a lost ruin away from humanity for years. I no longer feel any relation to the religious upbringing I had, which makes me feel like the things I did weren’t my fault. I assumed if I could fall so far from what I once was what was to stop me from sinking even deeper? Why should I be blamed for the circumstances under which I suffered? But those two voices just came back again and again preaching the faults and problems with me and what I did and all things I do now like a hecklers with a megaphone amplifying their speech to a cacophony that rackets around my head. I have a lot of trouble focusing at times due to them, they give me doubt when I should be confident, and they give me sadness when I should be happy they are ever present. I can at times quiet them but they speak up at all the crucial moments so that any facade I place on the outside goes from being made from the hardest stone to the most brittle of glasses. A pin dropped against it will shatter it into millions of pieces.

There are the things that I know I can do. Things I am a natural at or have learned well enough so that I have the ability to teach them. However these voices can give me the shakes when its something I have done millions of times, only because they know that this is the one that counts its not stage fright because it doesn’t necessarily happen when there’s a lot of people. Only when they know it will strike a blow to my core. That is the place they live, the insecurities we all have. They inhabit it like a virus inhabits a host destroying and wreaking havoc until immunities kick it out of the system only this time my immunities don’t know how to fight back, they can only lay down and take an unfortunate beating while the voices have their way. The whole procession can be heard, and they mar my own thoughts and I will still use this as an excuse. However if I can fight them at some times why not others, why do they seem to ebb and flow like the tide. As introspection into what they are (how they came to be is as sure to me as my name) we are like three players in an endless battle. Except the longer the battle rages as with any war the thing you want to conquer gets more and more ravaged what was once a powerful land of bounteous fields and happy people is slowly converted into a wastland where thought is lost easily in never ending wastes of my mind weaving through the labrinthes of thought the stories I have both true and false the things I want and the things I lost the bigger problem is it is like fighting specters ghosts great intangible things that lack a form to fight. There was always one thing that saved me from them the thing that pushed them back to the places of their origions and that was her.

- Alexander Escobedo

Make a Wish

2009-07-08T15:43:00.003-07:00

A star glistens in the dark sky. It is the first star I see of the night. We all know the song “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” This song talks about a star being high up in the sky and wondering how it is. It also uses similes saying it is like a diamond, diamond – shaped, that is. So when I see that first single star in the sky, I make a wish. I wish with all my heart and put a lot of thought into it. I take my time to ensure that the wish that I am wishing at this moment is a good and genuine wish. It is such a beautiful sight.

A phrase that also relates to stars and making wishes would be “I wish I may, I wish I might, the first star I see tonight.” Some like to start with this, others do not. It’s all about what you prefer not about what anyone else prefers. The first thing I do when I see that first star appear is to make a wish! It doesn’t matter if it is playful or if it is serious. It doesn’t matter if the wish relates to you or a friend. All that matters is that you like it.

Stars appear one by one eventually lighting up the whole sky. The sky is no longer dark and gloomy. It looks bright and hopeful. I am hopeful when I make a wish on that first star I see. I am hopeful that one day in the near future my wish will come true. I make a different wish for every first star I see. I usually change it and roam amongst ideas in my head. Variety and diversity is always good. Good for me, good for you, good for everybody. Don’t stick to just one wish. Making only one same wish may seem you’re very devoted and determined, but in my opinion, I believe it is better to make multiple wishes and have some of those come true than to make the same one wish each and every time and have that never ever come true.

Sometimes I wish about the future. Sometimes about the present or even the past. I like to wish that I get into the college of my choice and that I will hopefully soon figure out what career I would like to follow. I wish that my boyfriend and I of nine months will keep strong. He is a freshman in college whereas I am a senior in high school. Therefore, we will have a long distance relationship. I wish that we won’t come across too many arguments or fights.

I wish that my family will have a good time with whatever they pursue. That we will all get along and help each other with whatever needs attention. I hope for the best for my mom and for my sister and younger siblings. I hope that they do well in school and at work.

When I see that star in the sky I make wishes that will help for a lifetime. Wishes give insights of hope and things that you never think may be possible. I sit in my room with the lights turned off, look out the open window and make a wish on that very first star. A big ball of fire, or a micro ball of fire, it doesn’t matter at all. Make wishes and it’ll make life better. It’s kind of like making a wish when you blow out your birthday candles or when it is 11:11. But don’t ever expect a wish to come true. These things take time. You may believe in it, you may not. Some think it is childish, but others strongly disagree. It all depends on who you are and what kind of person you may be.

- Juanita Pha

Caroline's Bedroom

2009-07-08T15:43:00.001-07:00

Have you ever realized that bedrooms usually reflect the personality of the person living in it?

When someone first walks into my bedroom, it feels so bland and boring. All you see are blank white walls. Then you start seeing colors. The color of the bedspread, the color of the many pillows, color of the many pens scattered across the desk, the color of the light shining in through the huge window, the colors from the photo frames placed next to the bed. My bed is in the middle of the room, against one wall. It is King sized and I usually have some shade of blue for the sheets. Next to my bed is a bed table with two drawers. On my bed table I have photographs of my family and myself. I also have fake flowers in a pot on it. I also keep random papers and such on the desk. Inside the drawers I have some Harry Potter books. I also have a bunch of gifts given to me inside there, and birthday cards.

I have a closet made of wood along another side of the wall and it has four doors. There are two doors in the middle and one on each side. When you fling open the closet doors, you see my clothes, arranged neatly in colored order. Opposite that wall with the closets, I have a huge window that overlooks an Olympic-sized soccer field. Every night, when I look out my window, I can see the stadium lights that brighten the field for the many soccer players that have matches. In front of the window is a white desk from IKEA that I had put there “temporarily” 2 years ago but never bothered to move. On my desk is a pile of papers strewn across the surface of the smooth white desk. I have many pens of every color that are tumbling out of the pen holder resting on the corner of the desk. Next to that desk is a sofa chair. Sometimes, I pile random papers from my schoolbag onto it. I also have shopping bags underneath that chair, just piling up. Not exactly junk, but something I can’t bear to throw away. I have a black rolling chair in front of my desk and it’s really comfortable. Another wall is blank except for a whiteboard where I write down what I plan to do (schedule), the date, homework assignments, etc. A lot of the times, my whiteboard is filled with a drawing of something encouraging, such as a yellow happy face.

If someone were to describe me from what my room looks like, they would think I was unorganized and messy. That is what describes me. I am messy, but inside, I know where each and every little thing lays. Just because my room looks bland and boring, it isn’t. I have many colors splashed throughout my room in random places. That’s me, always coming up with unexpected things, at random times.

Elizabeth Holve's Profile

2009-07-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

People are who they are because of how and where they were raised. “ No matter how much I say that it sucks to live in Tuba City, Arizona because it seems like the middle of no were I know that truly in my heart that I love my town, I’m going to miss it when I go to college”, said Elizabeth Holve. Holve, the second and the youngest child of her family was born and raised in Tuba City, Arizona.

Tuba City has created Holve a kind person with patience that takes time listening to people it may be the fact that she has learned the importance that people need. Knowing somebody and caring for that person makes you respect that person that’s why people in urban cities loose respect to other people because they are careless. Even though Holve may not be exposed to different people but she has a value that other people don’t and that is being able to create yearlong special bonds. Holve’s kindness is humble, because of the people that she has lived around. “ They are Navajo and are very accepting. For example in second grade they gave me a clan which in a way signifies that I’m being accepted into their family,” explained Holve.

Holve like everybody else does not like to think of herself a shy person. When it comes to meeting new people Holve is soft-spoken, and finds it hard for her to express herself. She grew up in a community all her life, which has made it a challenge when she is not around people she is not accustomed to knowing.

In her small town Holve is less exposed to what people in larger cities are exposed too, Holve’s character is created because of where she was raised, Tuba City, Arizona.

- Alma Mendoza

Tabitha Lawrence

2009-07-08T13:45:00.004-07:00

Tabatha Lawrence has moved several times throughout her life, nine to be exact. She has moved throughout California between cities such as Wrightwood, Temple City, Laguna Hills, Rancho Cucamonga and Huntington Beach. Lawrence now resides in Upland, California in the Los Angeles County Area and lives with her Dad and Step Mom along with her five other siblings. She is fifteen years old and attends Alta Loma High School as she enters her junior year she hopes to she looks forward to sitting in the front of the Auditorium for her school pep rally’s and she is more than excited to be on her Varsity Dance Team.

Her dream job is to be a journalist and perhaps working for Vogue Magazine in the near future. One of Lawrence’s inspirations was watching one of her favorite Chick Flicks Movies “The Devil Wears Prada directed by David Frankel. “ She said, “Towards the end of the movie when Andy (played by Anne Hathaway) sees that her boss Miranda, (played by Meryl Streep) was divorcing her husband and the company was being passed on to someone else’s hands, Andy then asks “Why is this business so harsh?” her boss responded with a wise answer-“That’s Part of life”-with that response I knew from then on that I wanted to be in a business where I can travel the world and experience my own mistakes and finally step out of my bubble.”

Because of her parents divorce at such a young age, Lawrence has become distant with her Mom, who lives in Pahrump, Nevada. She talks to her over the phone and sees her once a month, but because of her consistent moving of houses she never really was close to someone besides her sister Brittney Lawrence-who is eighteen years of age. Lawrence has two blood related sisters and three half sisters.

Lawrence and her sister Brittney are close to age and they often share the same ideas and thoughts which is one of the reason why they are close besides the fact that her oldest sister Nichole, has moved out of the house after receiving two tattoos, which are not in her household. For Lawrence her sister Brittney is the most admired and closest person to her besides her best friend Katie Tomzynski whom she met three years ago at school. When she gets upset after an argument with her dad for taking her step mom side for example she feels as if her fathers decision are often unfair and therefore feels the comfort of her sisters presence and comfortable advice.

She changed her perspective of life, when it came to hanging out with friends when she met her best friend Katie Tomzynski. Up until then she never really had a close friend besides her sister, that she can be silly and have random conversations and not be embarrassed about it. Since she is not close to many of her relatives she is happy that she has found a friend that she can truly relate too. “ I’m glad I have met such a great person like Katie because I can come up to her and ask for her opinion or advice on something, and I know that she will not judge me. Katie will listen and give great advice,” said Lawrence. She often considers both her Best friend Katie and her sister as her two favorite people in the world.

As the year 2009 comes to an end she looks forward to spending more time with both her sister Brittney and her best friend Katie she only hope for the best in the future.

-Nicole Lujan

Prisciliana Pineda

2009-07-08T13:45:00.003-07:00

I have been watching her. Her name is Prisciliana Pineda. She is a short girl standing at about five feet with a caramel colored complexion and dark curly hair neatly pulled back into a tight ponytail.

At lunch she walks down the cafeteria isle looking for a table, her pace is slow, but not because she is scared to spill the drink that rests in the corner of her tray, but because she is hesitant as to where and with whom to sit. One day she sits with one group of girls and next day with another.

In fairy tales there is always that girl who likes pink fuzzy things and has had the same tight circle of friends. The only difference is that we live in reality: this is not a fairy tale.

Is it possible that there being such a multitude of people on the face of this planet there are still people like Pineda that have yet to find that tight group of friends in which she feels identified???

Instead of dressing in a pink frilly dress Pineda wears dark colored jeans, a pair of sneakers, and a Tomlinson Chargers jersey. Proof that we are NOT living in a fairy tale.

It is ironic that you see this girl and the last thing you can do is picture her in a dress, yet you hear her voice and you stand amazed by the girly tone that comes out of her mouth. She took her very first breath of air on August 7, 1994. Born into a family of five, in which she is the middle child and the only girl among her siblings makes it very easy for her to feel out of place and with a tremendous need of having someone close to confide in.

Of course every thing in this world has its ups and downs. In this case the good part is that her relationship with her brother is pretty good. “It’s always good to be able to ask him things and get his point of view from a guys perspective,” said Pineda “It is so hard to find a good friend that sticks around and will be there for you. There are a lot of girls who one minute are there and the next are some where else talking smack about you behind your back. I’m going to be honest, I’m a pretty chill girl.”

It’s difficult. It’s life, and as hard as it is, it’s harder when you have the wrong group of so called “friends”. Why struggle when it is unnecessary?

Perhaps people should not worry about having that tight group of friends. Perhaps it is not all about that. Perhaps Pineda has already discovered that some times it is not about fitting in but of being unique and being able to project your individuality in different ways and not just one synchronized way. Maybe we will not come to see the day that Pineda wears that pink frilly dress

-Yaritza Hernandez

Caroline Zhong

2009-07-08T13:45:00.002-07:00

Under the shy sun of the first hours of the morning, she is there, with her legs crossed, the long hair along her neck and her perfect American accent. From this description, you couldn’t ever imagine her real nationality. In fact, if it hadn’t been for her surname, Zhong, she could practily seem American. Don’t you think that Caroline is a typical American name, especially due to the name of the state, North Carolina?

A Chinese family in an international environment. Two parallel world, even though they resemble a lot to each other.

This is Caroline world: her family means everything for her; her parents represent her role models! They have always been the number ones in school, the firsts to go to college in their family.

So, why she shouldn’t imitate them and follow their footprints?

She wants to find her own way to meet her goals. She wants to write her own personal story and not just follow another one, already started and preannounced. That’s why she would love to be a fifth grade teacher, as she would like to leave an impact and a sign on them, close to their heart, exactly a s the arrow beats in the centre of the target!

Growing up in the US, Caroline moved two years ago to China, due to her parents’ business work, removing her from the open and international world she was accustomed to. However, she didn’t give up and continued to follow the route to meet her plans: she took the AP, Advanced Placement, to focus on American universities where she would love to study. In fact, as she said, “ China is their world, America’s is mine.” As nothing can last forever, she will catch up any opportunity will appear to her straightaway, without losing it. That’s her motto, Carpe Diem, and that’s why she decided to come to Academic Connections, to get credits for her application in college.

As her parents, very hard-working and looking to achieve their own goals, she wants to be someone in her future and leave her clear footprint in order to change or improve other people’ lives. She’s very curious and always looking to find the answer to a “Why?” question! For instance, she would even be interested in studying Business or Economics to really deepen her knowledge along the immense ocean of stocks, shares and companies. Even though, it’s pretty sure she will encounter different types of tsunami along her way, or using the economic terminology, a recession, she will never give up and will continue to fight, as she must win against that enemy!

Life is ups and downs, special moments and bad ones, black and white, it’s like love without sufferance, but that’s why it’s so fascinating and amazing. Each specific moment, sad or marvelous that it is, represent a little piece of that puzzle that complete the complex mosaic that makes our life as it is: special, unbelievable, incredible! Life could be described as a business cycle: there are tough times during the period of a recession where we struggle to survive and we see everything black, or, probably, to be more precise, red, exactly as our bank account. But, after it, there will be the light again showing a recovery and, hopefully, a sign, even if shy, of better times!

The sun warms us up and we realize that our journey along the coast of the business world has arrived to its end, the ocean seems calm and quiet, no more signs of the tempest and we hugs.

Her smile represents different feelings and sensations but one thing is sure: here, she feels at home and that’s the big difference, with her parents, which makes her how she is now!

by Bibi Blasio

Juanita Pha

2009-07-08T13:45:00.001-07:00

A girl sits before me with wrinkled brows in wonder of how different her life might be. Her life and that of her family was changed by a simple move from one side of Bakersfield to the other.

Bellete Gashaw is the only man Pha’s memories hold as ever being with her mother, Phan Phin. Although he did not live with Phin, Gashaw cared for his long-time “girlfriend” and her children by supporting them financially, and then in greater ways when Phin became pregnant.

Pha’s mother told her young daughters that they were going to have a younger brother, and he would be named Michael. Shortly after his birth came news of a sister, Annelyse. “After nine years I get a little sister”, Pha marveled. She, along with her mother, aunt, older sister and two new siblings all cramped into a small, two-bedroom apartment in the east part of muggy Bakersfield, California. She and her sister often ran around their petite apartment playing restaurant in the tiny kitchen or playing PlayStation games in the modest living room. Despite their fun, Gashaw deemed the air in their overcrowded apartment not quite good enough for the precious lungs of his infants.

Pha’s face lit up once again as her mother explained to the children that they would be moving into Gashaw’s house temporarily, while he had a new house built for her and her expanded family in southwest Bakersfield. Their fun, she knew, could continue elsewhere. Time in the transitory house flew by, as a brand new home appeared fifteen minutes away, reserved just for Pha’s family. Pha bubbled with excitement just imagining a home in the nicer, richer part of town where she and her siblings would all attend better schools and have, essentially, a better life. All of this, she knew, was being handed to her and her family.

At last the day arrived when the freshly built house of opportunities would be unveiled to the exhilarated 10 year-old, Pha. She grinned and fidgeted looking out the window of the back seat of the navy-blue Toyota her mother drove, while her older sister and half-brother Daniel patiently awaited the end of the drive.

When the house became visible Pha’s only thought was “it’s amazing”. She proceeded to skip alongside the few members of her family toward their new home as the smile broadened on her face and her stomach filled with butterflies. Her mood was only slightly dampened when Daniel, in his excitement, put a dent in the wall after opening the door a little too enthusiastically, causing her mother to yell for a minute. The happy atmosphere quickly restored as they continued in through the house, to Pha’s great relief. She and her sister pranced throughout the house carefully examining each room. When she found one to her satisfaction she quickly called out that it was hers. She could hear her sister doing the same in the next room. With this accomplished the three kids went on to play hide-and-go-seek castle-sized house.

That same look of wonder still imbues her face as Pha looks up at the immense gift of opportunities that is embodied by her home. She muses on how much better of an education she is able to receive at Stockdale High, the high school that neighbors her current home, than she might have dreamed of if she’d never made that simple move across the town of Bakersfield.

-Phylicia Hisel

Alma Mendoza's profile

2009-07-08T13:44:00.006-07:00

As cheers echoed throughout the large gymnasium and camera flashes poured from various spots in the audience, Alma Mendoza took her place on the first place platform of her third tae-kwon-do tournament. As a sense of achievement overcame her, she couldn’t help but look at Louis Delarosa, her coach and the man that made this all possible.

Born in Guanyuato, Mexico and raised in San Diego, California Mendoza found it relatively easy to adapt. She had a traditional, yet loving Mexican family and her lack of involvement in sports gave her the time to acquire loads of friends. However, no matter the number of friends that surrounded her, Mendoza was standing in the back of the pack. She was particularly hard on herself, causing a mixture of self-doubt and un-satisfaction to grow inside her.

It wasn’t until seventh grade that she finally found her calling in athleticism and broke out of her thin shell. “When I first walked into the class I felt nervous because I didn’t know anything, but now I want to be there [all the time]” said Mendoza.

It was through her coach Louis Delarosa, who in a sense forced Mendoza to stand on her own two feet. When she struggled with a move or routine, he wouldn’t merely tell her to keep trying and walk away, but stand there and shout encouraging words. As her talent grew, Delarosa tackled and molded her leadership skills. By selecting her as a teacher of a beginner’s class, Mendoza couldn’t run or hide. She took a deep breath and without thinking about her nerves or fears she began constructing the class. Now as her day to teach rolls around, she is laughing and smiling as if the word “nervous” wasn’t even in her vocabulary.

Delarosa sent Mendoza to her first tournament when she was only eleven and had just acquired her yellow belt. With amazing effort and encouragement from her coach, of course, Mendoza was able to land herself in fourth place. Even though she herself was not pleased with the outcome, Delarosa remained with her. “Always supportive” are the two simple words she can say to describe her coach that day. She would only improve with her following tournaments, landing in second and eventually first. Still belts away from gaining her black belt Mendoza was able to gain what many only dream of through the confidence of her coach.

To this day Delarosa is still encouraging her, even outside the gym. From getting her red belt to fear of passing a swimming test, Delarosa is the first to build Mendoza’s self esteem. Mendoza says herself that she probably wouldn’t be the person she is today without knowing her coach.

While away at camp Mendoza will miss the chance to attend an up and coming tae-kwon-do tournament. However, it is not her absence at the tournament that makes her sad, but the fact that she won’t be able to see her instructor. She just wishes that for one day she could be in the gym just talking to her coach.

By: Elizabeth Holve

Jennifer Sun

2009-07-08T13:44:00.005-07:00

We all get places in different ways. Jennifer Sun uses a bicycle.

Her bike took her into the outside world in a way unique to her. It gave her an appreciation of nature she had not previously experienced through things like camping or road trips. And it took her to where she wanted to go.

In the fifth grade Sun would ride her bike to her local park to pick up trash, a sight she hated to see. That feeling towards destruction of nature continues today. “ I hate to see garbage in a park or on the grass it just really bugs me,” said Sun, pointing to a piece of trash on the grass near the bench. She still frequents her local park near her home in Dallas, Texas. Still stopping to pick up trash she sees.

After the 5^th grade, she stopped biking for the most part until summer of last year. “I was just feeling really fat,” she said. So one day she simply got on her bike and rode, it was the beginning of a steady habit. Now when she is bored she climbs on her bike to find something to do. Even her friends now also ride their bikes places with her instead of driving. Even when it is out hot she just puts on a hat and goes for it.

Sun’s bike is her bridge to all sorts of other things friends, things to do places she goes to. For her it’s an escape from boredom “it does for me what walking can’t” she said. If she does walk she does it to get somewhere, whereas when she rides her bike it takes her places. “I try not to think of it as a cliché. I don’t do it for a release or to make myself feel better I just do it to do something.”

Sun is more in touch with nature in her park than any other place she goes, “you might be on a road trip and your dad will point to a mountain and say isn’t that beautiful and you try to appreciate it but it just feels forced,” she said. Her park on the other hand is something that no matter how many times she takes her bike through the park, it makes nature more relevant and important.

The things she enjoys, from her friends to reading are all made accessible by her bike. The library for quiet reading, the mall for hanging out with her friends and just taking a ride around to see what’s going on her bike takes her to al the places she wants to go. So even though biking is just one facet of Sun’s life, it is a road to many others.

- Alexander Escobedo

Nicole Lujan

2009-07-08T13:44:00.004-07:00

Teenagers are notorious for their desperate need to be independent. For high school senior Nicole Lujan, the opposite is true. She has been living with her father since she was two, when her parents divorced, and they have a very close relationship. “He’s kind of my inspiration for what I want to be,” said Lujan.

As a child, the divorce was an awkward situation. She needed someone to talk to about things she didn’t feel comfortable telling her father, but as an only child she felt she didn’t have anyone to confide in. It was also tough to see the other children with parents that were still together and often wondered why she never had a complete family. She felt like an outsider that couldn’t relate to the other children.

Reflecting now, she feels as if her childhood were stolen from her. Through her loneliness she began to feel more independent. “I became my own individual, but I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to learn from my own mistakes,” Lujan said.

Like every little girl, she always wanted to be a superstar. Se took dance lessons until the age of ten, trying everything from ballet to folkorico. When she stopped dancing she became more social, playing with friends and trying a lot of new things. She first stumbled upon cross-country running in her freshman year of high school. When she came to the first meeting, she automatically felt right at home. “It was just like kindergarten,” said Lujan. “They made me feel so welcome and told me to introduce myself to my new teammates.” The adjustment from dancing to running was not an easy task, but it was a worthy task. Not only did she make many new friends, but she also used it as a vent for her feelings. When she ran she was in control. She could stop thinking for a while and just find peace within.

Sometimes she worries that when the time comes for marriage, she won’t know whom to trust. She wants someone on her level so they can become closer through their imperfections. Someone she can grow with, moving towards a luxurious, happy life. But most of all, she wants to be a mother that has a close bond with her family.

Despite all the hardships that she experienced in her parents’ divorce, she still feels that if a couple isn’t happy, divorce is the best option. “You don’t want to be dragged down by someone that you don’t like,” Lujan said.

Marriage is a long way off for her, and for now she just wants to enjoy being sixteen. However, it is always difficult to be young when you’re living in an adult world.

Lujan said, “Sometimes I feel as if I’d be more of a teenager if I went all crazy and made my mistakes now, I guess.” One thing is for sure. She will figure it out in her own way, just like she always has.

-Tabitha Lawrence

Bibi Blasio's Profile

2009-07-08T13:44:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, we all need to let go of old traditions and try something new. Now and then, the new “thing” you try might end up changing your life forever.

Perching on a park bench on a sunny day, Beatrice Blasio, a.k.a. Bibi, recalls the story of how she made the biggest and proudest choice of her life.

Blasio grew up with her parents and younger brother in Rome, Italy. She attended a public school named Farnesina for most of her life. Much to her parents’ dismay, Blasio suddenly decided to take a new route in her life, to have change. She wanted to attend an international school, where she will leave everything behind and start anew. Her parents worried about her. However, they wanted the best for Blasio.

Leaving behind the dear friends that she had known for years, Blasio timidly walked into the doorway of St. George’s British International School on the first day. “What was my first feeling? I gasped. The atmosphere and environment was something I couldn’t have expected,” she said.

“The teachers at the international school were so much more caring. It wasn’t just a student-teacher relationship anymore. It was like family,” Blasio said. “They ask if you’re okay and if you needed to talk. The teachers could tell if you were sad. Students could always go to their teachers after school”.

Not only were the people at the school different, the whole system of her new school was unlike any other. At her old school, Farnesina, she took twelve subjects. Although her new school only required six subjects, it was much more complicated. Everyday, when she came back to school, she was so overwhelmed, yet excited for the next day. Everything was new to her. At her new school, she had to speak English all the time, instead of the usual Italian she always spoke. Always hardworking, believing education is very important in life, she kept pushing herself.

“I used to be a shy girl. It was difficult for me to approach new people and just introduce myself,” she said. “Now, I am able to communicate freely with people in English without being self-conscious. I am more cautious about people and their culture and traditions. I like to listen to other people’s point of view, not just mine. I have learned to accept people and to be open-minded.”

Two weeks ago, she had a ceremony celebrating her two years of hard work. In that room, knowing it was her and her friend’s last moments together, she was very sad. Yet, she was also happy, from all her loved ones being there to support her, to cheer her on. “It was absolutely amazing.” she gushed.

“The quote that I live by is Flangar Non Flectar, meaning never give up, you should always try to overcome any obstacles life throws at you,” Blasio says, smiling. “Also, I take life as it comes, Carpe Diem.”

-- Caroline Zhong

Phylicia G. Hisel

2009-07-08T13:41:00.001-07:00

A plane lifts off of a runway from Mongmong, Guam to San Diego, California. The trip is very anxious as a man seeks help from American doctors while a baby boy has been living with a terminal disease since birth. A little girl is present for the trip.

Phylicia G. Hisel was only four years - old at the time. “I didn’t fully understand the situation, but I knew what was happening. I was too young,” she stated. Hisel’s father, Troy, was sick and Guamanian medical doctors could not figure out what was wrong. They told him to go to the United States.

In the year 1996, Troy went to the United States and his family followed. Opening their wallets, they noticed they had no money for this trip. Being in despair, the co-workers of Hisel’s parent’s paid for the trip so that Hisel, her mother, Donna, her baby brother, Gary, and her baby sister, Brenda could be with their father.

Taking their first steps off of the plane gave the Hisel family a sign of hope. The family went to the hospital and Troy was seen. After many tests, the family awaited the results. A period of time passed by and a bundle of feelings flew in the air. As Troy was in his hospital bed, Hisel, Donna, Gary and Brenda beside him, the test results finally came back.

American doctors caught a growing tumor either next to Troy’s kidney or liver, Hisel does not remember. Doctors diagnosed Troy with testicular cancer. They say if he had waited just two weeks longer to come to America, he would potentially be dead. The cancer was caught before it hit metastasis.

Hisel’s father was in the hospital for almost a year. During this time, her mother Donna had a large amount of stress on her shoulders. Her family came over from Guam and had nothing. It was time she provided the necessities for them. Donna applied for welfare and financial aid from the government - she got turned down. The hope that had stepped off the plane with the Hisel family was slowly diminishing. Donna and her kids then moved in with their father’s sister.

During a hospital visit one day, Hisel, Donna, Gary and Brenda sat with their father. He lied in his hospital bed with IV pumps, various tubes and needles sticking out from his body. Hisel’s mother had taken her daughters to the cafeteria. Gary stayed with his father. Troy held his two year-old toddler in his arms. Gary was born with mucolipidosis type two, a bone disease, and his family knew he wasn’t going to live much longer. At this time, Gary took his last breath. Troy screamed for nurses but they couldn’t do anything.

Hisel, Donna and Brenda came back and were distraught. They didn’t know what to do, but they did know this day was coming. Troy was finally discharged from the hospital. He strived for survival.

Although Hisel was only four years - old at the time, she still remembers bits and pieces. “It’s sad on the anniversary day of my brother’s passing, but we get through it.”

From the plane that left Guam to the plane that Hisel’s brother flew on into Heaven, Hisel will always be strong.

- Juanita Pha

Alex Escobedo's Profile

2009-07-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

Alex Escobedo dodges his opponent’s left fist and musters his last ounce of strength to swing at his opponent. Escobedo nails him right in the stomach and watches his competitor crumple to the floor of the boxing ring. “1, 2, 3!” cries the referee while simultaneously hitting the ground, “Alex Escobedo wins!” The crowd erupts in applause and Escobedo’s parents and friends cheer wildly from the sidelines. A cameraman snaps a candid shot of Alex’s triumphant win from his latest tournament. Despite his victory, Alex feels no satisfaction from this win.

Born and raised in San Diego, Alex Escobedo began martial arts at the young age of 5. He continued the sport until age 8 when he started training seriously for MMA (Mixed martial arts). MMA differs from martial arts as it incorporates all forms of martial arts such as wrestling, kickboxing, karate, etc. A former professional MMA fighter discovered his talent in November of 2005. He trained Escobedo to compete in tournaments and Escobedo won frequently. There was no doubt that he was an excellent MMA fighter.

It may seem like Alex Escobedo dedicates all his time to just MMA fighting, but that’s not so. His musical interests include classic rock and he plays piano and guitar. He spends time with his pet dog and enjoys cooking in the kitchen. Alex has a profound interest in literature such as Peixoto’s The Implacable Order of Things and creative writing.

The phrase “No pain, no gain” is something clearly seen in Escobedo’s experiences in MMA fighting. He sustained various injuries such as a broken rib and foot, a sprained knee, dislocated his shoulder and jaw, and even chipped a cheekbone from the raucous sport. However, none of these injuries compared to when his father’s girlfriend of the time stabbed him. He felt as though he had lost touch with the world and his entire life. He stopped going to practices, which led to absences from tournaments and competitions. Finally in 2008, he stopped MMA fighting almost altogether.

What made Alex Escobedo stop pursuing a sport that he was so successful at? Escobedo eventually realized that his heart simply wasn’t into MMA fighting. He may have been talented at it, but fighting wasn’t what he wanted to pursue for the rest of his life. Alex thinks back to all the wounds he obtained by fighting and knows that MMA wasn’t worth it. There felt no physical or emotional gain from fighting, competing, or even winning. Escobedo merely smiled for the camera, but never cared on the inside.

Escobedo maintains fighting in his life in a small way. He teaches a class of young children how to fight MMA style and a women’s self-defense course. Escobedo now finds a greater interest in creative writing and writing in general. Alex plans on majoring in journalism at the University of Columbia, but also some freelance writing on the side. Writing comes to Escobedo naturally and it’s a hobby he definitely enjoys. He recalls filling notebook after notebook with his stories.

Alex Escobedo may no longer spend hours upon hours fighting in the boxing ring, but he’s got something much better than empty victories; writing something he’s truly proud of.

-by Jennifer Sun

Welcome to the Triton Tribune!

2009-07-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Triton Tribune, a collection of writing by Academic Connections students!

This will be the venue we use for a series of articles on everything from classmate profiles to music reviews.

Enjoy!