First up, discussions from Oakland High about three movies that have been highly anticipated this year.

“THE HUNGER GAMES”

A sci-fi drama that pits teenagers against each other in a post-apocalyptic world and televised for the sole purpose of entertainment? Unthinkable, right?

Wrong.

Based on the book by Suzanne Collins and directed by Gary Ross, the highly anticipated “Hunger Games” hit the big screen in March.

One male and one female teen from each of 12 districts in a futuristic city are chosen to compete with each other to the death. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to be a participant in the games after her younger sister was chosen. Katniss has chosen a noble thing to do, but she has put herself in a situation in which only one person will emerge alive.

“The story was pretty good,” said Oakland High sophomore Jason Ly. “The actors put on a good performance.”

Jason Muhammed, Oakland High

“THE DARK KNIGHT RISES”

Next on the Oakland High list is our Caped Crusader returning again for the finale of “The Dark Knight Rises.” The film, directed by Christopher Nolan, is scheduled for a July 20 release.

Batman (Christian Bale) has to cope with the outcomes of the previous film. He poses as the killer of Gotham’s White Knight, Harvey Dent, in order to protect Dent’s reputation as Gotham’s savior, one who couldn’t be turned evil for any reason

Dent does indeed turn evil, and Batman has to take the rap. With the whole city against him, Batman faces his new villain, Bane, whose titanic stature will prove a challenge for the more agile but cunning Batman.

Jason Muhammed, Oakland High

 

 

“THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY”

The final movie of Oakland High’s rundown of anticipated movies of 2012 is “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”

For fans of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, this movie follows the adventures of a younger hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins, long-time mentor of Frodo, the main protagonist in the “Lord of the Rings.” Bilbo Baggins, along with his 13 dwarf companions, sets out on a journey to defeat a menacing dragon that terrorizes the Dwarven Kingdom.

For fans of the “Rings” series, the film will not be lacking in our beloved characters from the previous series, including iconic Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), and Frodo (Elijah Wood).

“The trilogy of the ‘The Lord of The Rings’ was awesome,” said junior Jason Lay. “I’m interested actually to know the back story of Frodo’s long-time mentor and to see what special effects they use for the dragons. Should be cool.”

The film, directed by Peter Jackson, is scheduled for a Dec. 14 release.

Jason Muhammed, Oakland High

“JACK AND JILL” 

It’s another steaming pile of Sandler. This time Adam Sandler has two roles in one movie (oh joy). “Jack and Jill” is about a man who hates his annoying twin sister (and I don’t blame him; I hate her too and her irritating voice).

When his sister visits for the holidays, Jack has to try to get along with her. Jack runs his own advertising company and is trying to get Al Pacino (What he’s doing in an Adam Sandler movie, I have no idea.) to be in a commercial for a new Dunkin’ Donuts drink. After taking Jill along to try to persuade Pacino to be in the ad, somehow Pacino falls in love with Jill. The only way for Jack to get Pacino to do his commercial is to convince Jill to manipulate him.

There are a few laughs in this movie seeing Sandler dressed as a woman, but the rest is just sad. You might like this movie if you’re a fan of Sandler’s previous films, but from me, “Jack and Jill” gets a D+

Guadalupe Buenrostrom, EOSA

Summit Entertainment

“BREAKING DAWN” 

“Breaking Dawn,” the third installment in the “Twilight” series is here.

Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattison) finally tie the knot, and, on their honeymoon, the unexpected happens. Bella gets pregnant and consequently faces an uncertain future.

“Breaking Dawn,” a movie based on the best-selling vampire series by Stephenie Meyer, is an overall entertaining movie.

Although some scenes were boring and borderline stupid, the majority of the movie grabbed my attention and the ending made me really want to see the second part. “Breaking Dawn” gets a C+.

Guadalupe Buenrostrom, EOSA

“PARIAH”

Her mother did her wrong.

That’s what members of the Fremont Gay Straight Alliance were saying about the character Alike (pronounced Ah-lee-kay) after seeing the movie “Pariah” at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.

Seventeen-year-old Alike (Adepero Oduye) is great in poetry and a good student, but she is trying to find herself as a lesbian. She is a quiet girl, but with her friend Laura (Pernell Walker) being so open with her own lesbian life, Alike wants to find a girlfriend right away and wants her friend to help her.

Although Alike knows she is a lesbian, her parents don’t know. Her mom (Kim Wayans) is a little suspicious but doesn’t really know. It’s hard for Alike to tell her parents about her sexuality because her mom has been forcing her to be more girly and her dad (Charles Parnell) barely is home.

Plus, Alike’s mom takes the Bible in her purse everywhere she goes, including to church every Sunday. Alike’s mom has an issue with her daughter’s sexuality because it goes against her religious beliefs, and that means trouble for Alike.

“Pariah” is not in theaters anymore, but you can catch the 86-minute movie on Netflix. It became available on DVD on April 24. This movie, directed by Dee Rees, is rated R.

Shantel Berry, Media Academy

Much of it originated from Detroit in the 1980s.

The Detroit-based group Octave One just released its latest album, “Revisited (Here, There, and Beyond),” which celebrates the band’s journey, success and music spanning a 20-year history.

This time the producers, known as the Burden Brothers, got the chance to work alongside some of their favorite producers – Aril Brikha, Cari Lekebusch and Alter Ego, who all get to lay down some fine and well-produced remixes.

The album opens up with yours truly Octave One and its tracks “Meridian” and “Dema.” Right away, when you start listening to the album, you can feel the originality that bumps hard bass in each track.

My personal favorite would have to be “I Believe,” which was remixed by Sandwell District. Each song carries such vibe behind it that if you were to close your eyes for a moment you would lose yourself in the vast imagination that the music gives.

In this digital age, most DJs use a laptop to make things easier, but Octave One sticks to hardware that includes synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers.

Who doesn’t love the authentic thing? These veterans never fell off the scene they helped create. Living proof of that is this album.

While Octave One may still have that old-school style, it doesn’t mean the album’s not worth listening to. In fact, every song is a reason to listen to it.

Starting this semester, teachers are now required to take attendance within the first 20 minutes of each period on a computer, maintain a paper tardy log for late students to fill out and sign off on attendance logs each Friday afternoon.

According to Johnston, auditors from California’s Department of Education found the way attendance was recorded at Skyline “appalling.”

Johnston has said at several meetings that fines could reach as high as $1 million but would be much lower if the school can fix the problems before auditors return for another visit.

Why is taking roll so important? Simply put, the number of warm bodies in each classroom equals the amount of money that the school receives to keep functioning.

“If [students] are coming 80 percent of the time, [the school] gets 80 percent of the money,” Assistant Principal Vinh Trinh explained. “It’s a large amount of money, and attendance at our school is way below what it should be.”

A school gets $4,000 a year for every child who attends class on time every day, according to the California Department of Education. Part of the money a school receives goes toward teacher salaries.

“If [students] don’t come to school, teachers and the administration don’t get paid,” Trinh said.

Since attendance is tied directly to funding, the state regularly examines how schools and districts compile their records. However, when investigating auditors will show up is a surprise – and for Skyline, it has not been a pleasant one.

“The auditors came in and found us lacking,” said Johnston, who is in his second year as principal at Skyline after the school saw five principals come and go in as many years.

“The first thing they said was, ‘Where is your written policy?’ Well, we had none,” said Johnston. “What we have currently is a ‘word of mouth system.’ People are well-meaning, but the systems are all different, and we have to have one coherent system.”

In recent years, teachers did not have to record the attendance of the students until midnight of that day, and some continued to use paper records while others switched over to the web-based software called Aeries.

Now, say administrators, everybody has to follow the same procedures.
For example, after the first 20 minutes of class, students who enter the classroom must be marked absent regardless of their presence.

“Expectations are very clear,” said Trinh. “First 20 [minutes], every period, every day. They have to. They have no choice.”

Trinh said that all the teachers are aware of the change since it has been brought up at several staff meetings. Students also now have to sign a tardy sheet that will be turned into the office after school every day.

“It doesn’t matter if your tardy is excused, you have to sign in to the tardy sheet,” said chemistry teacher Tracy Ostrom.

With this new change, teachers who teach “bell-to-bell” have slightly less time to teach because now they have to interrupt their instruction with attendance record-keeping.

Because Skyline shifted to shorter classes under a seven-period day this year, students cannot afford to lose any more class time, some teachers said.

“I can’t stand it. When the bell rings, I’m teaching. To delay my teaching creates opportunity for students to become unfocused,” said a teacher who wished to remain anonymous.

Nevertheless, teachers are starting to take the attendance procedures seriously after hearing repeatedly about the repercussions of noncompliance – even if they don’t like it.

“I completely understand why it is important,” said biology teacher Dale Fiess. “I don’t like it, but I do it. [It is] a necessary evil, but I think it would be a good idea if it works.”

Many students said, “That could have been me.”

In the weeks following Trayvon Martin’s death, McClymonds students and graduates were upset. Reactions ranged from sadness and anger to disgust at how police had not arrested George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed unarmed Martin during a confrontation in a gated community. Suspicious of Martin, Zimmerman had followed him.

“I feel that this case is sad,” said Kevin Jennings, Class of 2006. “An innocent kid was gunned down.”

Then, on April 11, while Oakland Unified School District was on spring break, the news hit.

Zimmerman had been arrested and charged with second-degree murder with bail set at $150,000, almost six weeks after Martin’s death – a case that has sparked national debate on racial profiling, Florida’s self-defense law and the criminal justice system. Zimmerman was released on April 23 after posting bond.

The charges were announced April 11 by Angela Corey, the state attorney who was appointed as the special prosecutor to investigate the shooting after the former prosecutor to investigate the shooting after the former prosecutor in the case stepped down.

“It’s good he was arrested. He deserves more than jail,” said McClymonds sophomore Dajaror Bryson.

Students commented on Facebook that the shooting was racially motivated, that Zimmerman is guilty of a crime and that he would have been arrested sooner if he were black.

According to a USA Today poll, blacks nationwide are paying closer attention than nonblacks to the Martin shooting – 80 percent of blacks compared to 59 percent of nonblacks.

The case took another turn. According to the New York Times, the judge overseeing Zimmerman’s case stepped aside due to a potential conflict of interest linked to a CNN political analyst. The judge’s husband is a legal partner with the CNN analyst. A new judge was assigned on April 18.

In West Oakland, teenagers showed their support for Florida’s youth by going to the streets wearing hoodies and buying Skittles and Arizona iced teas, the same items Martin had when he was shot dead.

“Racism is still here. It hasn’t gone away,” said Makeba Bryant, sophomore. “We are all Trayvon Martin.”

Before the arrest, students were even more mobilized to demand justice for the Florida teenager.

McClymonds students were allowed to leave school at 10 a.m. on April 4 to join a march at City Hall protesting the killing of Martin and lack of justice in the case. Students from other schools, such as Fremont Federation, walked out of school to participate.

“It’s wrong, so wrong,” said Kevin Davis, a sophomore at McClymonds, on April 4. “The man who killed Trayvon should be in jail.”

Although the issue was not discussed formally in class at McClymonds, it was in the hallways and in the parking lot. Art teacher Rosemary Marr allowed several students to address the issue in their art projects.

“The killing was wrong,” added Dante Bush, a mentor at McClymonds. “If we don’t start punishing people who take the law into their own hands, then everyone will start killing people when they think it’s right.”

The case has triggered a debate about Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows people use deadly force when they feel a threat of death or serious injury.

“It was disturbing. The boy looked like me when I was younger,” said Stephen Vance, a senior, “It [the lack of an arrest] wouldn’t happen in Oakland, not after Oscar Grant.”

Vance was referring to the unarmed 22-year-old fatally shot by a BART police officer early on New Year’s Day in 2009. That killing led to violent protests.

The McClymonds High School biology teacher was a test subject in an experiment — in meditation.

Teachers meditated at a special meeting on March 14. They were led by Jane Lazzareschi, who teaches “Quiet Time” in San Francisco. The teachers experienced guided meditation and then let themselves inhale and exhale and their minds wander.
Meditation classes were among the recommendations by the student leadership group to make the school a more peaceful place. Under the proposal, students would be required to participate and meditate during the last 15 minutes of 3rd and 5th periods every day.

The program would be free with teachers leading the meditations.

“We plan to start a schoolwide program as a way to help people deal with trauma in their school and community,” said Vice Principal and Athletic Director Jeremy Namkung.

A similar program was introduced at Oakland High School, he said.

At Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco, once meditation was taught to students, there was a 45 percent reduction in multiday suspensions and an increased average GPA from 2.5 to 2.9, according to school officials quoted in a San Francisco Examiner story.

Those type of results sound good to many at McClymonds.

“There is less violence, and there are higher test scores, grades and attendance in schools that provide meditation,” said Spanish teacher and Vice Principal Rachael Hereford.

But at least one student is a skeptic.

“I think it’s baloney,” said Indyka Reed, a junior. “Kids will pay about as much attention to meditation as they do to their studies.”

The class is taught by Jason Seals, who also teaches at Merritt College and who ran a pull-out class called “Males in Motion” for African American boys at Fremont last year.

The new class is part of the African American Male Achievement (AAMA) program, which was started by Superintendent Tony Smith to try to help reverse the trend of African American males dropping out of school.

“We believe all African American male students are extraordinary and deserve a school system that meets their unique and dynamic needs,” said AAMA Director Christopher Chatmon.

Chatmon also said the program aims to improve attendance, decrease the number of disciplinary incidents and improve the “life outcomes” of participating students. He said he thinks the class will help students improve their self-esteem.

The five-credit class is held in Mandela Academy during second period and has 17 freshman boys enrolled.

Students “will be learning about what it means to be a man,” said Seals. ”I hope they build a community even after I’m gone for peer support.”

Sirtoine Walker is a freshman from Media Academy who agreed to drop his computer graphics class to take the new course.

“I can learn about my heritage, more about myself as an African American student, and it helps us to be more respectful to each other and to stay together as a brotherhood,” said Walker.

Another student in the program, Brandon Etter, said he is happy to be in the program “because I don’t have any African American teachers, so I have a chance to bond with other African Americans.”

Seals said students will be learning about values and African American history.

“They are learning about legacy [what they want to leave behind] and skills on how to be successful,” he explained.
One of Seals’ students in the Males in Motion program agrees that the class is important.

“It influences people to come to school and [do] what they really like and not what the government expects,” said Anthony Coleman. “I hope [the program] comes back for years to come.”

Chatmon said that the class is funded by several private foundations.

In response to some criticism that the class helps only boys who are part of one racial group, Media Academy Vice Principal Sarah Mazzotta said, “A lot of different races are in need, but there’s a larger achievement gap in African Americans.”

Determined to make a difference, 16 students from throughout the Bay Area, including Skyline High School juniors Khahn Nguyen and Jorge Gomez traveled to Haiti for two weeks to build a school last summer. Their trip was through buildOn, a nonprofit organization that aims to engage students from urban areas to participate in community service and build schools in third-world countries.

Two students from participating high schools are selected for buildOn’s Trek for Knowledge program, which helps build schools in developing countries such as  Nepal, Malawi, Haiti, Mali and Nicaragua. The students are chosen through an essay and interview process. The program is paid for through student fundraisers and other private donations. However, the students chosen for the program travel for free.

Other Oakland students who helped with buildOn’s Haitian project included Regina Napolitano and Ronah Baha from Oakland Tech and Betty Hu and Lim Heng Sung from Oakland High.

According to Nguyen, the group met only three times before venturing together 3,000 miles away from home. Nevertheless, participants agreed they had one thing in common: They were all committing their time to bettering the educations of those less fortunate than themselves.

After leaving the airport, the buildOn participants saw the remains of the 2010 earthquake as they drove through the Haitian capital, Port Au Prince.

Following their arrival at Port Au Prince, the students drove to a small village known as Cherettes, where they were greeted by about 200 villagers. Subsequently, they entered a church for a welcoming ceremony and speech highlighting the importance of their project.

The buildOn participants reported that most of villagers were illiterate, so while the American volunteers signed a contract to commit to the upcoming project, villagers used their thumbprints.

The students’ experience was far from a vacation. They spent time digging deep trenches, lifting heavy rocks to a campsite and carrying large buckets of sand from the river to mix into cement.

Nguyen noticed that even though participants were provided nice accommodations with host families, other villagers had a lot less. Gomez compared the poverty to that of Mexico and said that many kids stayed at home to help their parents since schools were often too far away to attend.

“This was an amazing opportunity,” said Nguyen. “It’s one thing to preach about a cause, but a whole other thing to actually work towards what it stands for.”

According to Nguyen, the goal of buildOn is to empower students to make changes in their community and learn about issues that are going on around the world. Throughout the year, students from buildOn schools organize a variety of sponsorship events such as bake sales and walk-a-thons to raise money for building materials.

While buildOn students said they ventured to Haiti mainly for humanitarian reasons, they returned with a more open perspective.

Besides spending two weeks immersed in helping the village community, students also participated in cultural workshops that enabled them to acquire a unique taste of Haitian culture. They talked to village midwives, learned to cook dough necessary for particular dishes, met a voodoo priest and learned about the Haitian Women’s Organization.

Students said they also forged close relationships with Haitian children and their host families.

Gomez said his most memorable experience was a conversation he had with a 10-year-old Haitian boy.

“We were carrying sand and rocks from a nearby river to the school when Pierre, a Haitian kid, started to hang around us and held my hand. It was a bit awkward, but after a while we started to ask each other questions. I would point something out and he would tell me what it was in Creole and I would tell him what it was in English,” Gomez said.

For Nguyen, two weeks was an unsatisfactory amount of time to grasp the extent of a culture.

Nonetheless, she said it was a memorable experience that taught her a lot.

The trip forced students to reflect extensively on the contrasts between the Haitian and U.S. lifestyles.

“Trek is an amazing experience,” said buildOn and Trek for Knowledge coordinator Jamie Pelusi. “It lets high school students experience a new culture, place and community … It allows them to make a difference and grow.”

Gomez concurs.

“It made me want to keep going,” he said, “to keep on giving back.”

Other schools can allow their students to become a part of the buildOn movement with its community services, global education and the Trek for Knowledge program by visiting www.buildon.org and clicking on “Get Involved.”

I could tell by their eyes how different an Oakland car ride felt to them compared to the one they took daily back home.

My little cousin stared intently at the women who stood in the corner of the street with tired eyes and bruised legs. He stayed silent though, because their family is polite and they were not here to judge what once was their home.

I remember hearing my uncle innocently saying, “Here, go to this channel. They’re going to show an interesting program about Oakland.”

The program was the documentary “Gang Wars: Oakland,” which aired on the Discovery Channel as a two-parter.

I had never watched a documentary on Oakland before, but I was aware of the views people had to the city.

After watching the documentary I laughed. The way the documentary made Oakland sound and feel reminded me of the local news and the reports about the murders, the thefts, the violence, but not about the good things that are happening in our community.

My neighbor who lives in Oakland, but goes to school 45 minutes away in Redwood City, always struggles with people who only see the one-sided view and misconceptions of Oakland. Her friends always say they can’t come over because it’s too dangerous, it’s too risky, or they will get shot.

I keep thinking what untrue exaggerations these comments are. But with documentaries like “Gang Wars: Oakland,” it is no wonder that outsiders always come here with a certain expectation and impression.

Raised in this city, living in the “Deep East,” I feel honored to say that this is my home. The streets I walk at night are familiar and homey, even while they are frightening and unknown to others. It’s hard to hear outsiders talk about Oakland like they know it, when in reality they only know the propaganda the media sell to them.

When Oscar Grant, an unarmed 22-year-old, was killed by a BART police officer in Oakland in 2009, there were many protests.

I walked through downtown Oakland, watching peaceful protesters who were angry at the injustice that had just occurred and refused to be silent. Everything went well until nighttime, when angry people who weren’t a part of the earlier movement decided to trash, riot and destroy parts of the city.

When the news came on that night, that was what was aired – the bad parts – as opposed to the inspiring work that happened earlier in the day.

Why does the media do this? Instead of showing outsiders our lovely libraries, our peaceful protests and our farmers’ markets, they prefer to show footage that adds to the stigma of Oakland.

Back in the day when Oakland consisted mainly of white folks, there were so many more resources available.

After World War II, poor people from the South migrated to Oakland, in search of farm and sharecropping work. This brought both an increase of ethnic diversity and an increase in poverty. When the war industries left, Oakland residents lost jobs, and gentrification and white flight began.

People who could afford to move away did, and those who couldn’t stayed. This further increased the number of people of color in Oakland.

In the 1940s, less than five percent of Oakland’s population was African American. They totaled just 4,000.

A decade later, Oakland was home to some 43,000 African Americans. The promise of jobs that came with the war brought on massive amounts of migration, which led to overpopulation and a housing shortage. It led to a loss of resources, which continues today.

Now, teachers in the Oakland Unified School District are the lowest paid in the Bay Area. The district has one of the highest school dropout rates in California.

Oakland’s diversity came with a price: a city that lacked the needed resources to keep its population healthy. And so it grew into the Oakland we know today.

Although Oakland had its falling out, we didn’t lose everything. Now programs are created to combat the issues of violence and poverty. Youth Uprising and the East Oakland Youth Development Center help nurture Oakland and the students who feel oppressed and stuck in the “system.”

But positive programs that are working to rehabilitate Oakland are rarely on the news or in a documentary. Oakland has a rich history of struggle; it is the forefront of great innovation, and it has a great understanding of how to address all these issues. The Black Panthers group was born in this city, and the cultural expression is grand with beautiful murals, but what is seen instead is the war on drugs, the war on gangs and the violence.

What we see instead is a promotion of the terrible reputation that, for some reason, reporters want to make sure we never forget.