TO THE COMMUNITIES OF STUYVESANT HIGH SCHOOL, TRIBECA, AND BATTERY PARK CITY
The Stuyvesant Standard
Volume VI, Issue 1
The New McDonald’s Makeover
BY TIM CHANG
STAFF WRITER
After months of construction
and noise, the metal and concrete
caterpillar known as the local
McDonald’s at the corner of
Chambers and Greenwich has
finally shed its plywood chrysalis
and brought old and new custom-
ers alike to its spacious, modern
interior. As one enters the
McDonald’s through the new slid-
ing glass doors, it seems as if a
metamorphosis really has taken
place. Changes include a new
décor of metal and earth tones
similar to that of the Starbucks,
up the street, free wireless Inter-
net access and a new location for
the counter. The unique wall de-
signs, trendy ceiling lights and
modern seating plan are all part of
what manager Rupi Singh called a
“rebuilding” of his McDonald’s, a
project that cost over $1.9 mil-
lion.
Top High Schools College Board Adopts
Facing Racial Imbalance New Role in Classrooms
BY SANGHEE CHUNG
STAFF WRITER
Corbis
Black and Hispanic students at the
Specialized High Schools are on the
decline.
The New York City public
school system is largely com-
posed of Hispanic and black stu-
dents, who make up 36.7 percent
and 34.7 percent of the student
body, respectively. With these
numbers, the dwindling percent-
age of Hispanic and black stu-
dents in the city’s top three spe-
September 5, 2006
Inside the newly renovated McDonalds.
The old McDonald’s to which
students flocked during finals
week was flawed, according to
Singh. The kitchen was in the
basement, which caused slower
cialized high schools has come as
a shock to many.
“The statistics clearly show
that black New Yorkers are being
shut out,” said Robert Jackson,
chairman of the City Council edu-
cation committee. “If we’re look-
ing to be inclusive in the greatest
city in the world, I would think
that the chancellor and every edu-
cator has to ask themselves why
is this, and what do we need to do
to reverse that. Is it institutional
racism or is it something else?”
From 2005 to 2006, black
students made up 4.8 percent of
students at Bronx High School of
Science, compared to 11.8 percent
in 1994. At Brooklyn Technical
High School, the percentage has
dropped from 37.3 to 14.9 percent
and at Stuyvesant High School,
from 4.4 to 2.2 percent. The
Asian population, on the other
hand, has soared from 40.8 per-
cent 11 years ago to 60.6 percent
now at Bronx Science.
City officials were at a loss
when explaining the reason for
such changes. Andres Alonso,
deputy chancellor of teaching and
Continued on Page 3
“Your School, Your World—Your News” 
TSS/Tim Chang
communication and service. Ac-
cording to Singh, the McDonald’s
Corporation is focusing on im-
proving existing McDonald’s lo-
cations, instead of building new
BY SANGHEE CHUNG
STAFF WRITER
For decades, the College
Board has always been associated
with the SAT examination, but
recently, it has been pushing its
goals deeper into high school and
middle school classrooms across
the nation.
“The organization has been
heavily dependent for a long time
on a single product, the SAT, a
product that has lost favor, or lost
market share, if you will,” said
Thomas Toch, one of the founders
of Education Sector. He also
stated that “the A.P. program has
saved the College Board.”
Despite some doubts raised
by scoring errors, the board says
it is eager to bring new rigor into
classes. It is marketing products
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
-----——————————-
News.................................2-6
Opinions...........................6-7
Science……………………11
Sports.........................11-12
Free
ones, in order to optimize the
profitability of existing stores.
“We want to reflect the neighbor-
hood,” said Singh. The doorman
stationed at the old McDonald’s
reflected the attitude of the area.
People don’t want to get their
hands dirty, and it made the
McDonald’s seem more inviting,
explained Singh. The new auto-
matic glass doors are the next
generation in this philosophy, he
said, “They invite people to come
in.”
The new seating arrangement
also seems inviting. Unlike the
old McDonald’s, the new restau-
rant has several types of seating
areas. According to Singh, this
reflects the variety of his custom-
ers. The rebuilding, which took
over a vacant corner store, added
extra space to the restaurant.
Now, there is room for more
seats, and in turn, more custom-
ers. Looking around the store,
Continued on Page 4
and curriculums for grades 6
through 12 and is working with
New York City to open five Col-
lege Board schools. It will also
try to improve current schools and
will open an institute for princi-
pals in November.
Critics and educators felt that
the board was becoming too con-
cerned with business and that its
introduction in schools would
overly standardize the curriculum
and lead to a “culture of testing.”
“If the College Board did
nothing and kept on doing what it
was doing, it would have been
eaten up,” said Arthur E. Levine,
former president of Teachers Col-
lege. He depicted the new educa-
tion programs as a part of a mis-
sion “to connect students to ac-
Continued on Page 4
Literary.........................10-11
Business............................8-9
Arts & Entertainment.....9-10
Page 2 September 5, 2006 NEWS THE STUYVESANT STANDARD

Dear Stuyvesant Community,

THE STUYVESANT STANDARD  On behalf of The Stuyvesant Standard, I would like to extend a
Founded 2001 warm welcome to the students of Stuyvesant High School, especially
  the incoming students. Stuy is a wonderful place where you will be
challenged and have limitless opportunities to grow. As school re-
  sumes, The Standard is dedicated to serving the school and the sur-
  rounding communities. We desire to cover your news and be a me-
dium for communication. Please feel free to contact us with comments
“Your School, Your World—Your News”  or concerns. Our e-mail address is readers@stuystandard.org. We also
accept submissions. If you are interested in becoming a member of
Executive Leadership Team our staff, please contact recruitment@stuystandard.org. As a member
of our staff, there are many opportunities open which extend far be-
DR. JOHN NIKOL FACULTY ADVISER yond writing. Currently, we are also accepting advertisements. Adver-
JENNIFER SCHLESINGER EDITOR IN CHIEF tisements in The Standard reach not only all of Stuyvesant High
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JIMMY ZHANG NEWS EDITOR
PRISCILLA MELO OPINIONS EDITOR
never miss an issue!
EMMA RABINOVICH ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
ERIC MAYO SPORTS EDITOR Here’s to an amazing year!
JOSEPH KRUTOV SCIENCE EDITOR
HANFORD CHIU BUSINESS EDITOR Sincerely,
LADA KUKUY LITERARY EDITOR Jennifer Schlesinger
DANNY ZHU WEBMASTER Editor in Chief of The Stuyvesant Standard
BENNETT HONG DIRECTOR OF PHOTOJOURNALISM eic@stuystandard.org
DANIEL EGERS (‘03) FOUNDER
ERNEST BASKIN (‘04) EDITOR EMERITUS

Publication Presidential Classroom:

THE STUYVESANT STANDARD is a nonprofit and nonpartisan publication pro-
duced by the students of Stuyvesant High School.
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD distributes 2,000 free copies on a bi-weekly
An Eye Opening
basis to the students and faculty of Stuyvesant High School and through-
out the adjoining neighborhoods of TriBeCa and Battery Park City.
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD welcomes letters from its readers.
Summer Program
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD reserves the right to edit any published mate- BY JENNIFER SCHLESINGER from the program instructors, we
rial. The viewpoints of contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of EDITOR-IN-CHIEF were sent up to our rooms to rest.
the Standard staff. My roommates were from Texas
Sometimes one goes through
an experience that shakes up and Alabama, and that night we
Copyright ©2006 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD one’s mind-set. This is what hap- began to bond as we planned how
pened to me this summer when I we were going to survive in our
Contact Us attended the Presidential Class- cramped hotel room. Altogether,
room Scholars Program. there were students from 43 states
Please direct all correspondence to:
I heard of the program and five foreign nations.
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
through a brochure I received in The next day, my group
345 Chambers Street
the mail. Intrigued, I decided to toured Washington, and we
New York, NY 10282-1000
apply. A few weeks later, I hap- started to work on our caucus
readers@stuystandard.org
pily received my acceptance let- project. Each caucus had about 40
Find us on the web at www.stuystandard.org
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Advertising Soon, the time came for my
parents to drop me off in Wash- and lobbyists to draft a bill. My
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advertising@stuystandard.org to request an advertisement form. We offer name tag and said my goodbyes, I the No Child Left Behind Act.
a broad range of options including full color capability for your advertis- had only a limited idea of what to The same day, we received
ing needs. expect. Later that evening, I our keynote address from Ralph
learned what we were going to be Nader. He talked about how the
Subscription doing during the weeklong pro- youth of today have the ability to
gram and began to meet people. make a difference and how we
After the introduction speech Continued on Page 5
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Schlesinger shakes Ralph Nader’s hand.
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
Inside the chapel of Villanova University.
National Youth
Leadership Forum: My
10 Days on Medicine
BY JIMMY ZHANG
STAFF WRITER
Since it is not part of the Ivy
League schools, I had never even
heard of Villanova University
until this summer, yet I will
probably never forget my time
there. That was where I spent 10
days at the National Youth Lead-
ership Forum on Medicine
(NYLF). The NYLF is held at
nine cities across the country, and
is open to scholars from all over
the country. I attended the one
held near Philadelphia.
The forum I attended was the
last one being held in Philadel-
phia. It started on July 23 and
lasted for 10 days until August 1.
At registration, the attendees were
My Foreign Exchange Adventure in Australia
BY ANNA GINZBURG
STAFF WRITER
On the last day of school,
most kids were only starting to
think about summer plans but for
me, it had been four days since I
left home. First there was an ori-
entation in Los Angeles on June
24 where I met the 30 other ex-
change students going to Austra-
lia. On June 25, we flew to Syd-
ney. In Sydney we our group
separated. I was the only one
staying near Sydney; the others
were living with host families in
Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide
and Perth.
My host family lived in a
suburb about an hour from Syd-
ney by bus and train. The
neighborhood itself was very sub-
urban, and a two-minute walk
from a national park.
My first week there I visited
Sydney Olympic Park, went on a
September 5, 2006 NEWS
Corbis
divided into 18 groups. Each
group was named after a famous
contributor to medicine. I was in
the Spock group, named after
Doctor Benjamin Spock.
Even on the first day, I met
people from all over the country. I
was surprised to find out that
there was even a person from Ha-
waii. Over the next 10 days, I was
able to get to know people from
all over the United States, as well
as their ideas.
Throughout these ten days,
we often had MED sessions,
which were basically class discus-
sions on topics relating to medi-
cine. In one of our first sessions,
we had a Problem Based Learning
activity. We had to diagnose Ms.
Continued on Page
A view of Sydney Harbor and the Harbor Bridge at dusk.
tour of the Opera House, went up
CenterPoint Tower and visited
other tourist attractions. I became
good friends with Claudia, an
Austrian exchange student, and
we visited tons of sites together.
Claudia and I took a tour bus
ride to Canberra, which is Austra-
lia’s capital. That week I also
visited Tarango Zoo, Manly
Aquarium, and had fun at the lo-
Top High Schools Facing
Racial Imbalance
Continued from Page 1
learning, found the statistics
“extraordinarily surprising.”
Many felt that the cause of
such a decline was a result of us-
ing an examination as a means of
admittance rather than an inter-
view or grades. Supporters of the
exam believed that the test would
base students on merit alone,
while others argued that elite col-
leges would not judge applicants
solely on test scores.
“I don’t think someone would
want to hire somebody just on the
basis of a test score, and we don’t
admit them to a great college on
Many felt that the cause of such a decline was
a result of using an examination as a means of
admittance rather than an interview or grades.
the basis of a test score, and we
shouldn’t admit them to a great
high school on that basis,” said
Gary Orfield, director of the Civil
Rights Project at Harvard Univer-
sity.
Parents and educators traced
the source of ethnic decline to
factors such as competition from
immigrants and the hiring of pri-
vate tutors.
“Let’s face it — the playing
field isn’t level,” said Stuyvesant
graduate Angela M. Howard.
“People are paying tons of money
to get their kids tutored to go to
Stuyvesant.”
Corbis
cal mall.
After that it was straight to
work. I volunteered for 40 hours
at Kapow Pictures, an animation
studio that was creating the sequel
to Casper the Friendly Ghost. At
Kapow I helped with a new series
called CJ the DJ; I had to browse
through magazines to find urban
settings, scan them into Photo-
shop and edit them.
Page 3
For the future of school test-
ing, Chancellor Joel I. Klein has
not disputed the exam, but plans
to increase opportunities for stu-
dents to attend the preparatory
program, Specialized High School
Institute. Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg has also agreed to
create more elite high schools.
Stuyvesant High School’s
Benjamin W. Dreyfus stated,
“Any analysis of the declining
minority populations at New
York’s specialized public high
schools must consider one factor:
it is impossible to get a passing
score on the admissions test with-
out taking the test, and the city’s
middle schools vary widely in the
percentage of their students who
take this test. I offer a proposal:
Administer the specialized high
school exam during the school
day, and make it standard for all
New York City eighth graders,
rather than only for those who
come in on a weekend to take it.
This would not solve all the ine-
qualities in the school system, but
it would move the specialized
high schools a step closer to re-
flecting New York City’s diver-
sity.” ◙
Besides Kapow Pictures, I
volunteered at Killarney Heights
Public School for 80 hours. At
Killarney, I taught the kids chess
and helped them with their jour-
nals and math exercises. I also
organized a chess tournament and
a simultaneous exhibition, where
I played against 20 opponents at
once.
During the weekend I was
able to attend all of the nine ma-
jor museums, go to Luna Park, the
amusement park of the city and
walk over the infamous Harbor
Bridge twice. I saw the 350-
million-year-old Jenolan caves
and visited the Blue Mountains
twice. I also got to see Sydney
Aquarium and the Chinese Gar-
dens. By chance I also happened
to walk by a protest against Israel
and the United States.
After spending six weeks
Continued on Page 4
Page 4
Continued from Page 1
Singh points to areas such as
stools and countertops for busi-
ness people in a hurry, booths for
families, tables and chairs for
small parties, and larger seating
areas such as booths and long
rows of stools for students. Cush-
ioned areas are provided for peo-
ple who want to sit down and
have a meal.
According to Singh, another
philosophy of McDonald’s is to
“Give [the consumer] the choice.”
This McDonald’s has a soda
fountain in front of the counter,
meaning free refills. This, ac-
cording to Singh, gives customers
a choice and allows them to get
the drinks they want. Also, the
new layout allows for better com-
munication, so orders can be cus-
tomized “without mayonnaise,
without cheese, with extra cheese,
any way you want it,” says Singh.
Along with a physical make-
over of the premises, there has
been another change in the
McDonald’s – a change in the
menu items. Market research led
by the McDonald’s Corporation
has resulted in new menu items
such as premium coffee and a
whole line of “healthy” options,
including Apple Dippers for kids,
three new types of salads, and a
“snack wrap.”
However, are customers
really embracing the new healthy
choices? Consumers we talked to
College Board Adopts New
Role in Classrooms
For decades, the College Board has
been associated with the SAT.
Continued from Page 1
cess and opportunity, to prepare
more and more students to be
ready to go to college and suc-
ceed.”
The new changes by the
board are led by Gaston Caperton,
who doubled the College Board’s
revenue to $530 million. These
new products are expected to
bring millions more. Caperton
said his goal was “to make the
College Board play a bigger role
in American education, to be a
force to make American educa-
tion better.”
Despite complaints from
guidance officers and college ad-
missions officers, the College
Board has a number of strong
supporters, including the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, to
help school investment projects
September 5, 2006 NEWS
The New McDonald’s Makeover
didn’t seem to. Cindy, an 18-
year-old customer, says she eats
at McDonald’s around once a
month. When asked about
healthy option on the menu, she
said she had never tried them.
She says that she eats at Subway
more often than McDonald’s be-
Tim Chang, shown here, at the entrance of the newly renovated McDoonald’s.
cause it is healthier there, but
McDonald’s “is always there, and
it’s a lot cheaper [than other
places].”
Others are making some tran-
sitions to a healthier meal at
McDonald’s, but view McDon-
ald’s as being far from healthy.
Beth Purpora, a mother of two
and conduct research and develop
new products.
“There is a big need for peo-
ple who can develop high-quality
schools for low-income kids,”
stated Thomas Vander Ark of the
foundation’s education program.
“We were happy to convince the
College Board to get into the
business.”
President Bush also lauded
the Advanced Placement pro-
grams, which he believed would
help increase competition in
America. Some schools have, in
fact, adopted an AP program
which was overseen by the Col-
lege Board. In one Washington
school county, head chief John E.
Deasy proposed for each school
to have at least eight AP classes
in every school. The College
Board will help to train 200 AP
teachers next year.
“It’s a monumental culture
shift,” Deasy said. “AP will be on
the tongue of every kid around
here before too long.” ◙
elementary school children, was
treating her two sons, Freddy and
James, to Happy Meals. She said
she never eats there herself, but
“it’s a special treat to bring them
[her sons] here.” Her concern for
her kids’ health has prompted her
to choose chocolate milk for her
TSS/Tim Chang
kids instead of soda.
Other customers who have
actually tried the healthy options
didn’t really take the foods as
seriously healthy. Carolina, 21,
and Carina, 22, were eating the
McDonald’s salads. Carina com-
mented that the dressing was
probably unhealthy. When asked
The Blue Mountains in Sydney, Austrailia.
My Foreign Exchange
Adventure in Australia
Continued from Page 3
with my amazing host family I
had to say goodbye. I met all the
other exchange students in Syd-
ney and we traveled to Canberra
where we attended an Outward
Bound Course for eight days.
Outward Bound was the most
amazing and the most difficult
week of my life. The course con-
sisted of waking up very early,
sleeping in a sleeping bag, learn-
ing to bush cook, rock climb and
abseil. In addition, there was a
three-day hike, in which we
walked 30 miles through moun-
tains with 30-pound bag on our
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
about the nutrition facts of the
salad, neither of them knew, nor
seemed to care that much. “When
you feel fat, you get a salad,”
laughed Carolina.
According to Singh, students
from the four schools in this area
make up about 60 percent of all
traffic that comes into the
McDonald’s. When asked about
the surge of students that would
come during the school year,
Singh replied that the establish-
ment would “take care of them,”
allowing students to come there
and study, even encouraging them
to come, with free wireless Inter-
net access. He did say, however,
that he will increase an effort to
kick students who are cutting
school out of his restaurant.
When asked about McDonald’s
reluctance to join the Stuy Advan-
tage Card, even with the number
of students who visit the restau-
rant, Singh replied that the items
on the menu were relatively
cheap, and that he couldn’t possi-
bly give further discounts. For the
time being, Singh said that, since
the restaurant is new, participa-
tion in the Stuy Advantage Card
is out of the question. However,
he is considering the option for
several months later. “I could
raise my prices and then give you
guys a discount,” he joked. In the
meantime, however, students will
just have to pay $7 for the Double
Quarter Pounder meal. ◙
Corbis
backs. It was really intense and
surreal because the kangaroos
actually tried to steal our food
when we set up camp.
Fifty-four days later, I was
back home in New York. The
exchange program was amazing.
It was actually my second time
being an exchange student. Previ-
ously I did a 6-week exchange to
Finland and I recommend ex-
change to anybody who is looking
for excitement and a great learn-
ing experience. ◙
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
The Arlington National Cemetery at Washington D.C.
Presidential Classroom: An
Eye Opening Summer Program
Continued from Page 2
should work not for ourselves, but
to better this world. He said, “It’s
up to your generation to develop a
more level playing field,” and
“That’s what I want you to leave
Washington with, a higher esti-
mate of your self-worth.”
In the next days, we worked
on our bill. It required much com-
promise and in the end, everyone
in our committee had a little
doubt in the final result. No one
could have the bill exactly how he
or she wanted it. On the last day
of the program, we did a model
House of Representatives to vote
on each caucus’s bill.
Besides working on our bill, I
had many other memorable ex-
periences. We visited Mount
Vernon, home of George Wash-
ington, when the temperature was
over 100 degrees. For the Fourth
of July, we experienced the fes-
tivities on the Smithsonian Mall,
and later saw the fireworks over
the Potomac River. We also vis-
ited Capitol Hill and were ad-
dressed in the House of Represen-
tatives by Representative Tim
Roemer. Appointments were set
up for the students to visit with
staff from the offices of their
senators and representatives. We
were also addressed in the State
Department by Claudia A.
McMurray, assistant secretary of
the Bureau of Oceans & Interna-
tional Environmental & Scientific
Affairs.
The last day, we were spoken
Summer Story
BY YINLERTHAI CHAN
STAFF WRITER
My summer vacation started
before school had even ended. I
applied for a scholarship though a
foreign exchange program called
Youth For Understanding (YFU) ,
for which I would stay in Japan
for six weeks. I would attend a
Japanese high school and live
with a Japanese host family, all
the while learning the culture and
the language.
September 5, 2006 NEWS
to by Susan Page of “USA To-
day.” We visited Arlington Na-
tional Cemetery and saw the
Changing of the Guard. That
night, we had a closing banquet
and received graduation certifi-
cates. Finally, we had an ending
dance. The next morning we said
tearful goodbyes to our new
friends, as many boarded the bus
to the airport and others were
picked up by family. All in all, I
saw the highlights of Washington
and heard from many thought-
provoking speakers.
However, the most eye-
opening and inspiring part of
Presidential Classroom was meet-
ing my fellow students. Before
attending, I believed I had knowl-
edge of different American mind-
sets. However, after many conver-
sations, I realized that America is
a widely varied country. At first, I
was shocked that many of my
peers had never heard of Ikea or
an Entenmann’s cake. When it
came to the political ideas we
believed in many different
schools of thought. There were
the extreme, for example that The
New York Times is anarchist
trash and is only published to sat-
isfy the wealthy owners’ egos.
For the most part, the different
ideas reflected the cultures of the
areas people were from. I learned
that Americans have different
ideas, but are ultimately united by
some common beliefs, and by our
common political system. ◙
I was granted a scholarship,
to my surprise. By the beginning
of June, I was already packing my
bags and saying my farewells. I
left New York on June 10 with
several other YFU students, many
of whom were friends from Stuy-
vesant. At first, the idea of travel-
ing away from home without my
dad was a bit intimidating, but I
didn’t really feel much excite-
ment otherwise. To say the least,
it was more like some kind of
Continued on Page 6
National Youth Leadership
Forum: My 10 Days on Medicine
Continued from Page 3
Anderson, a role played by our
Faculty Adviser. The entire class
had to question Ms. Anderson for
a total of 8 disclosures to find
clues as to what disease she had.
In one of the final MED ses-
sions, everyone in the class was
given half of a banana, with a cut.
We were given the necessary
equipment and we had to simulate
stitching a wound. In the same
session, we also practiced taking
a patient’s history and learned to
take blood pressure.
Aside from MED sessions,
we had field trips to nearby hospi-
tals, clinics, medical schools, and
other institutions. I was able to go
to Thomas Jefferson University,
the American Red Cross, and
South Jersey Healthcare Regional
Medical Center.
An aerial view of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia's premier medical and
health sciences university.
At Thomas Jefferson Univer-
sity, we had pathology and neuro-
anatomy presentations. After the
neuroanatomy presentation, Hec-
tor Lopez, M.D. brought us all to
one of the labs where students
dissect cadavers. He gave us each
a full human brain and a halved
human brain, and we were to
identify the lobes, fissures and
various other parts of the brain.
Afterwards, we went to a tour of
the radiology department of the
university hospital. There, we saw
people taking MRI’s and CT
scans and technicians identifying
the problems inside a person.
There were also Medical Eth-
ics Caucuses, in which we de-
bated controversial issues in
medicine. Some students judged
the debate while others fiercely
defended their cause. In my de-
bate, I had to fight for a patient’s
right to privacy.
Page 5
There was a Public Health
Symposium. Each group had to
come up with two proposals for
improving public health. Profes-
sionals on public health were in-
vited to judge the proposals of
each group. My group had a pro-
posal on child care, and we made
it to the semifinal round, but we
lost to a group that had a proposal
on STD’s.
Every day, after classes, we
had a social. During each social,
some kind of fun activity was
planned. There was everything
from a Karaoke Night Social to a
Talent Night. There was even a
NYLF Feud. My group won the
Feud and we were given a pizza
party.
There were two days devoted
entirely to having fun. On one of
those days, we were given the
Jefferson.edu
opportunity to freely tour Phila-
delphia. Most of our group ended
up hanging out at a nearby mall.
On the other day, we went to Dor-
ney Park and Wildwater King-
dom. It was probably the high-
light of the trip, in terms of hav-
ing fun. On the day before depar-
tures, we went to a nearby Hilton
and had a closing gala. All the
attendees agreed that they had a
blast at NYLF.
Those 10 days were probably
some of the best that I have ever
had. The freedom of college life
and the atmosphere to both learn
and have fun made a great combi-
nation for a summer vacation.
William W. Fox, M.D., one
of the plenary speakers. said,
“This is the most professionally
run seminar of this type in the
country. And I absolutely mean
that.” ◙
Page 6
Summer Story
Continued from Page 5
fuzzy dream.
I didn’t actually meet my host
family until June 15 because YFU
had prepared long orientations for
us. So, I ended up spending three
days in California, then another
couple of days in Tokyo. I spent
those days attending the orienta-
tions and making new friends
with the other YFU students from
all over the United States.
When I arrived at the Toyama
prefecture in Japan, wherenI
stayed for six weeks, I met my
host family, and was introduced
to my new home and school. My
host family, the Koarashi family,
consisted of a mother, a father, a
grandmother, two sisters, and a
little brother. The older host sister
was away in Australia, so I didn’t
meet her. The younger sister,
Ayumi, was about my age and
went to the same school I was to
go to. The family was very nice to
me, so much that I was quite un-
sure how to react. Perhaps it was
because I wasn’t used to having
so many family members under
the same roof. Surprisingly
enough, I was actually able to
communicate with the family
pretty well, despite the fact that
nobody spoke fluent English, and
I only spoke broken first-year
The Bomb Shelter
BY MOR ROSENBERG
STAFF WRITER
It was hot, it was muggy and
it was humid. The bomb shelter
that my aunt, grandparents, sisters
and my parents sat in was not a
fun place to be in. Yet, because
of the sirens we had heard earlier,
we were forced to sit in the shel-
ter.
I looked around the room.
My sister was crying hysterically.
She was frightened and she didn’t
know what to do. My aunt was
listening on the phone to the
news, and my grandfather was
Friends and relatives gather to bury the body of one of Sayeed Adel Akkash's 10
children in the village of Dweir near Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon.
September 5, 2006 NEWS/OPINIONS
Japanese.
Things at home in Japan were
a bit different from my home in
New York, but I was able to adapt
pretty well. The school was small
compared to Stuyvesant. The stu-
dents in Fukuoka High School
seemed to be overly nice. At first
I didn’t trust them and thought
they were faking it or making fun
of me. Eventually I warmed up a
bit, and learned a lot from my
new friends. I was especially
grateful to the English teacher,
who was also my homeroom
teacher, Junko Tokumae. She
helped me understand what was
happening in school, and arrange
for me to attend school trips and
such. She also gave me the
school’s uniform, free of charge,
though she said it was the
school’s gift to me.
During my stay in Japan, I
learned about the culture there,
and the customs of the people. I
learned eating habits, table man-
ners, and many things that are
different from New York, like the
way classes are run, the way the
students live, and the family cus-
toms. I also got to eat lots of
Japanese food, mostly fish, rice,
and red beans.
Overall, my experience in
Japan was enlightening and abso-
trying to find the news on the
radio. The rest of us were quiet.
wondering. We were wondering
why we were in the bomb shelter.
The reason, of course, was
the recent war in Israel against the
terrorist group Hezbollah, situated
in Lebanon. Hezbollah kid-
napped two Israeli soldiers and
fired rockets at the Israeli army to
confuse them while retreating
back into Lebanon. This incident
happened a few years ago, and the
Israeli government did not give
pursuit then. This time they did,
and the war began.
Continued on Page 7
Corbis
lutely unforgettable. Although
there were a few things that made
me pause in uncertainty or pain,
like sleeping on a mattressless
bed, which was more like a big
wooden crib, eating natto
(fermented soybeans) for the first
time, and having garden frogs
jumping around in the house, the
entire exchange experience was
Corbis
An aerial view of Bangkok, Thailand.
wonderful. I’ll never forget the
experience I had, or the people I
met.
My summer didn’t end there,
however, for right after I hopped
off the plane from Japan to New
York, I hopped onto another one
from New York to Malaysia. My
dad and I were taking our annual
trip to Malaysia to visit family
and friends. I go to Malaysia
every summer, and often Thailand
as well, since there’s a train that
goes from the town in Malaysia
where we live, Bukit Mertajam, to
Hatyai in Thailand. This summer,
I went to Bangkok to do some
extra shopping and traveling. I
Canadians of different backgrounds congregate to enjoy the different attractions of
Montreal.
The Canadian Oblivion
BY AMNA AHMAD
STAFF WRITER
Although Canada borders the
United States, it is one sizable
nation that I don’t often hear
much about. On a recent trip to
Montreal, a well-visited city in
the French province of Quebec, I
came to the realization that Cana-
dians are a generally well-
mannered people without much
concern for constant war or inter-
national affairs that don’t concern
them.
I’m sure Americans could
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
went to the wet market, prayed to
the Four-Faced Buddha in Bang-
kok, and shopped in several
shopping malls all over the place.
I enjoyed my trip to Malay-
sia not only because of the food,
but also because of the people,
the history and the language. Per-
haps this is more of a description
of my father than the country
itself. Since my dad was born and
raised in that same town in Ma-
laysia, he knows every nook and
cranny of the neighborhood. The
many stories I hear from my dad
about Malaysia make me feel
more as if I were born and raised
in Malaysia myself. Every time I
come back to the same neighbor-
hood in Bukit Mertajam, I feel
that everything feels more famil-
iar. In fact, I feel more at home in
Malaysia sometimes than in New
York.
Although the actual living
conditions could be improved, I
don’t mind it too much. I suppose
the food and cheap merchandise
make up for it all.
My summer this year was
twice as eventful as usual for me.
I think that in the end, no matter
how wonderful my experiences
were, there’s still no place like
home, and I would much rather
spend some more time at home in
New York than flying all over the
place. But, I think perhaps this
year might be an exception. ◙
TSS/Amna Ahmad
benefit very much from following
the example set by Canadians
regarding issues like internal dis-
crimination and segregation.
While these issues were present at
the birth of America, we have yet
to eliminate them completely.
It is true that we live in ex-
traordinary times, but in no other
country are basic principles of
life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness as compromised as in
America. It seems our nation is
having difficulty practicing what
Continued on Page 7
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
An Israeli police officer desperses civilians, at the site were a Hezbollah rocket
landed, in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, 13 August 2006.
The Bomb Shelter
Continued from Page 6
My uncle had been reinstated
in the army for a period of 21
days during the war. He went up
north, and was on the border be-
tween Lebanon and Israel. Why
was he there putting his life at
risk? What was the war really
about? Was it to completely de-
stroy Hezbollah? If so, then Hez-
bollah really did win. They man-
aged to get into a cease-fire with-
out disarming. Their leader sur-
vived; he is safe. He proved to
the Western world that you can
fight against Israel and survive.
Could the war have been
about the kidnapped soldiers — to
try and get them back? In that
case, Israel once again failed.
The soldiers that Hezbollah kid-
napped were assumed dead a few
How Free-Willed Are You?
BY GUERGANA BORISSOVA
STAFF WRITER
MySpace.com
Personal quizzes, like the one shown
on this MySpace page, are not uncom-
mon among teenage blogs.
As I browsed through the
rack of glossy magazines, each
promising the “Perfect Summer
Hair Styles” or the “Best Fashion
Tips,” I noticed a trend, though
not necessarily a new one. Each
publication boasted a quiz that
would reveal something new
about our personalities, or tell us
what celebrity we would be most
likely to get along with. Do you
really think that these articles,
written by a stranger, could possi-
bly help you determine anything
about yourself?
September 5, 2006 OPINIONS
Corbis
days after their kidnapping.
There would be no reason to wage
an entire war, having great num-
bers of Israeli and Lebanese civil-
ians die, for two soldiers whom
everyone believed to be dead.
The reason for the war feels
more like retaliation then any-
thing else. The Israeli Prime
Minister, Ehud Olmert, seems to
like to retaliate against those who
attack Israel. A few weeks ear-
lier, when a Palestinian terrorist
kidnapped a soldier near Gaza,
Israel went back into Gaza for
retaliation.
While we sat there in the
bomb shelter, listening to my sis-
ters’ sobs, and the radio my
grandfather was holding, I won-
dered, “Is this war worth it?” ◙
This phenomenon has cer-
tainly grown in the last couple of
months with Sconex adding a
quiz section to its popular high
school student website, allowing
users to create their own personal-
ity quizzes as well as take ones
made by other people.
I will not deny that many of
these catchy titles are more irre-
sistible than a cone of vanilla ice
cream on a hot summer day. But
what makes these quizzes so
tempting? Is it the promise of
fitting into some established so-
cial category? Or is it the idea of
knowing that there is a famous
movie star who shares similar
interests?
Teens are viewed as one of
the most insecure age groups, and
that seems to be true as so many
of us frantically flip through the
pages looking for that one quiz.
Such quizzes have become more
of a problem than anyone could
have predicted, though their
popularity has not come as a sud-
den outbreak. These quizzes have
been around for a while but they
The Canadian Oblivion
Continued from Page 6
it preaches, while other nations,
such as Canada, demonstrate the
meaning of cultural appreciation
oblivious to foreign conflicts and
terrorism.
This deep-seated internal
struggle for the American people
to treat each other with equality
may be a result of our fear to do
so. Our news is constantly brain-
washing us to fear the people of a
particular race or religion just to
cover up unjustified warfare and
the government’s hidden agenda.
For instance, the show “HDnet
World Report” used headlines
such as “Loyal Citizens or the
Enemy Within?” to suggest that
certain Americans are not trust-
worthy. Canadians, however have
no reason to label their citizens in
any such way.
It seems apparent that the
Canadian media may be some-
what responsible for such a posi-
tive congregation of cultures, vir-
tually free of prejudices. While
flipping through the news stations
on the television in my hotel
room, I learned little of Canada
politically because the primary
focus of their news is what I, as
an American, would consider in-
formative, yet not entirely signifi-
cant. (Don’t get me wrong; I like
newly paved roads and building
projects as much as the next per-
son, but I’m not sure I want to
hear of them on the news.) Hence,
have certainly reached an all-time
high the last few months. I’m sure
many have visited a friend’s
MySpace page, only to find that
half of it is filled with the results
of personality quizzes that are so
repetitive that they just scroll
down looking for the end. Is this
what our society has come to,
relying on quizzes to show our
“friends” who we really are?
Many future employers and
even college admissions officers
are likely to Google your name.
Page 7
the news of Canada does not en-
courage citizens to feel anguish
toward a specific people, as
American news often does. And
despite the acts of the nation po-
litically, the people of Canada
will always have their own seem-
ingly untainted opinions.
All of this makes me think
that maybe I’ve been slightly too
critical of Americans, but if the
K.K.K. is still powerful, and
we’ve yet to see a president who
isn’t Caucasian, we clearly have
something to work on. But we
aren’t alone; many other nations
around the world could learn from
Canada’s example and put a halt
to obsessing over the mistakes
made by other nations, so that we
could get some constructive re-
form done. That is not to say that
Canadians are extremely different
from Americans. After all, when
walking through the old city, my
siblings and I took the time to
stand beside some Canadian teen-
agers and laugh hysterically at a
comical T-shirt. I guess the one
thing that all the people of earth
have in common is a desire to
have fun. ◙
What will they think when they
see your MySpace page with
something as ridiculous as the
results of a “What Sandwich Are
You?” quiz? Besides, nobody will
care about that when there are
plenty of more important issues
up for discussion that you can
make a much bigger statement by
voicing your opinion on.
Next time you have the urge
to take a quiz, think if you would
be that eager to take a pop quiz. ◙
Page 8
US Body Armor Firm Executives Arrested for
Insider Trading and Securities Fraud
BY KENNETH YU
STAFF WRITER
On August 17, two former
top executives of a body armor
supplier to the United States were
arrested and charged with crimi-
nal securities fraud and insider
trading.
Chief Financial Officer Dawn
Schlegel and Chief Operating
Officer Sandra Hatfield allegedly
manipulated DHB Industries’s
records to reap millions of dollars
through insider trading.
The lawsuit was another
blow to DHB’s low reputation.
Last year, the United States mili-
tary recalled thousands of protec-
tive vests sold by DHB based on
quality concerns. The company
was also recently delisted from
the American Stock Exchange.
Prosecutors accused Schlegel
and Hatfield of inflating DHB’s
earnings between 2003 and 2005
in order to meet Wall Street ex-
pectations. The pair netted over
$8 million in profits using inside
information. The former execu-
tives were charged by the Securi-
ties and Exchange Commission
with civil securities fraud.
In November 2005, CEO
Democrats Eradicate
Wal-Mart But Misses
the Big Picture
BY HANFORD CHIU
BUSINESS EDITOR
Wal-Mart has long been a
prime target for economic liberals
as the symbol for everything
wrong with a laissez-faire econ-
omy. It purchases its products
cheaply from overseas, undercuts
any local competition with whole-
sale prices, and it offers a barely
sufficient salary and benefit pack-
age to the lower-middle class that
works for it. Therefore, every
Democratic presidential hopeful
who wants even the slightest sup-
port from the working class will
ensure that Wal-Mart is tarred,
feathered, and then let free to
continue its monopoly over local
businesses.
Every Democrat on the cam-
paign trail will attack Wal-Mart in
order to woo the working class,
from Senator Joe Biden (D-DE),
who visited an anti-Wal-Mart
rally in Des Moines, Iowa, where
the first presidential caucuses will
September 5, 2006 BUSINESS
David H. Brooks made national
headlines when he threw a $10
million bat mitzvah for his daugh-
ter. While Brooks was out party-
NYPD officers wearing body armor at Penn Station, August 25, 2004. The SEC filed
security frauds against two former executives of a major supplier of body armor to
the military and law enforcement agencies.
ing, his company was in a slump.
The SEC was investigating for
fraud and its stocks plummeted to
all-time lows.
On July 10, 2006, Brooks
was put on indefinite administra-
AFP-Sun
Hillary Clinton had served on the
board of corporate directors of Wal-
Mart for six years.
be held (not so coincidentally), to
last election’s running mates
Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and
Senator John Edwards (D-NC)
and even New York’s own Sena-
tor Hillary Clinton (D), who
Continued on Page 9
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
tive leave due to pending investi- ing off their stocks in 2004.
gations. The Justice and Defense In the early 1990’s, David H.
Departments are jointly investi- Brooks bought a small body ar-
gating him for criminal fraud and mor company on the verge of
bankruptcy. In 2004, he success-
fully lobbied for an exclusive
contract to make vests for every
American soldier in Iraq. This
caused his pay to skyrocket from
$525,000 to $70 million. By buy-
ing only from DHB, rather than
spreading the work around to the
20 or so qualified companies, the
military created a bottleneck that
kept troops in Iraq from having
state-of-the-art body armor until
nine months after the war began.
The Pentagon eventually
broke DHB’s monopoly to speed
up production, but problems with
the vests were not over. In 2005,
23,000 DHB vests were recalled
because they failed ballistics
tests.
The story of DHB is not an
unfamiliar one. Being the sole
supplier of vests to the United
insider trading. States military, the company had
To add to the trouble, DHB no competition to create quality
executives are currently facing armor for soldiers. The costs were
lawsuits from stockholders for a lives and money, but led to the
“pump and dump” scheme to arti- success of war profiteers. ◙
ficially inflate profits before sell-
The Unofficial Pizza Place of Stuyvesant
After School Staff Needed
Downtown Elementary Schools
We are looking for high School students to work
in after school programs at two to five days a
week, from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm daily. Must be
reliable, and enjoy working with children.
Learn, get experience and make $8 per hour.
Contact for application: Theseus Roche, After
School Director, Manhattan Youth.
Theseus@manhattanyouth.org
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
Democrats Eradicate Wal-Mart
But Misses the Big Picture
Continued from Page 8
served on the board of corporate
directors of Wal-Mart for six
years. However, this crusade
against Wal-Mart goes beyond
political quotes and cries of pro-
test. State and city governments,
including those of Maryland and
New York City, have been push-
ing for “Big Box” laws that de-
mand that large chain stores (such
as Wal-Mart) provide higher
wages and health benefits to their
workers.
However, the brunt of these
attacks on Wal-Mart tends to be
merely political, as politicians of
either side have yet to address the
underlying issues of the dissolu-
tion of the middle-class by com-
panies such as Wal-Mart.
Before the 1970’s, American
incomes were meant to rise di-
rectly with worker productivity.
About half of the American work-
ers were covered by federally
guaranteed pensions, instead of
private pension plans that could
disappear in an instant. The stock
market and corporate leaders were
also regulated, and companies did
not profit excessively while work-
ers’ wages stayed low. Taxation
was progressive, and ordinary
workers paid much lower rates.
America also did not trade with
countries that used cheap labor
that was akin to slavery, such as
China. However, since the
1970’s, during the reign of Re-
publican and limousine Democ-
ratic presidents, this social system
was out of sync. Those in the top
one percent of society suddenly
had their incomes nearly doubled,
Five Reasons This Summer Rocked
BY EMMA RABINOVICH
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
This summer was full of great
music, a variety of films, and ter-
rific DVD releases. Here are some
of the highlights.
comingsoon.net
Pirates of the Caribbean:
The Dead Man’s Chest
This summer’s hottest block-
buster outgrossed its predecessor,
earning close to a billion dollars
September 5, 2006 BUSINESS/A&E
while working class wages stag-
nated. Members of the middle
class had to start sending their
wives to work for a second in-
come source in order to maintain
the same standard of living they
had enjoyed with a single bread-
winner and a homemaker. Mean-
while, whenever workers’ wages
seemed to rise with worker pro-
ductivity, the Federal Reserve
raised interest rates amid con-
cerns of rising labor costs. The
exceedingly high profits of com-
panies were overlooked. Health
care companies started to increase
their prices for medical coverage,
resulting in companies passing
that burden onto their employees
by asking them to pitch in a
higher share of the premium.
Wal-Mart is but a tree in the
forest of an unregulated economic
system. Imposing special laws
that specifically target it is not
going to fix the underlying prob-
lems. Companies continue seek-
ing to lower their costs, whether
by buying cheap overseas goods,
lowering workers’ wages and
benefits or simply outsourcing
altogether. Berating Wal-Mart
will simply ruin its business and
put about 2,000 employees out of
work, while the rest of corporate
America continues to widen the
gap between the working class
and the company owners. The
Democrats should stop taking the
side road in order to gain the
popular vote; instead, they should
come up with a plan for economic
regulation in order to make the
middle class dream once again a
reality. ◙
worldwide (“Curse of the Black
Pearl” earned about $653 mil-
lion). More fun and exciting than
the original, it started the summer
off with a high note.
Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp),
Will Turner (Orlando Bloom),
and Elizabeth Swann (Keira
Knightly) return for round two in
this pirate adventure, where it’s
Sparrow versus Davy Jones (Bill
Nighy) in a battle for Jack’s soul.
The Devil Wears Prada
Meryl Streep and Anne
Hathaway team up to deliver this
irresistible comedy, fun for teens
as well as adults. This movie lets
you into a world most of us only
see walking down Fifth Avenue,
peeking into designer stores, and
director David Frankel does it at a
pace that keeps you interested,
Page 9
Fall Movie Preview
BY EMMA RABINOVICH
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Marie Antoinette, an Austrian
princess who weds the future king
The upcoming fall season is of France (Jason Schwartzman) at
full of great movies and there’s the tender age of 14. Giving her a
something for everyone. Here’s new killer hairdo in almost every
what to look forward to: scene, Coppola strives to bring
the princess to life with style
Hollywoodland
Saw III
Release Date: September 8
Release Date: October 27
Full of big names, including
movieweb.com
The third in-
Ben Affleck, Diane Lane and stallment in this
Adrien Brody, this “based on a horror series
true story” film explores the mys- examines the
tery surrounding the death of relationship
George Reeves (Affleck), the ac- between Jigsaw
tor who played Superman on the (Tobin Bell)
original 1950s television show. and his appren-
Brody gives a much-hyped per- tice Amanda
formance playing the detective ( S h a wn e e
who tries to sort out the mysteries Smith) as they demonstrate the
surrounding the apparent suicide. value of life with horrifying death
Allen Coulter, who directs the traps. The past three films have
film, is best known for working definitely not disappointed in
on episodes of “Sex and the City” terms of terrifying thrills, so this
and “The Sopranos.” sequel is a must-see.
Corbis
Grudge 2
Release Date: October 13
Another
horror sequel,
comingsoon.net
the “Grudge”
returns without
its star Sarah
Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette.
Michelle Gellar,
who is replaced
Marie Antoinette by Amber Tam-
Release Date: October 20
b l y n
(“Sisterhood of
Director Sofia Coppola
the Traveling
(“Virgin Suicides,” “Lost in
Pants”). Tamblyn plays Gellar’s
Translation”) puts a new spin on
younger sister, who is sent to find
period pieces, introducing blue
her sibling. This one promises to
Converse sneakers and music by
go deeper in terms of subtext con-
the Banshees into 18th century
cerning the ghost.
France. Kirsten Dunst plays
Continued on Page 10
something sorely lacking in Lau- it’s just a fun way to spend a
ren Weisberger’s bestseller book, night.
on which the film is based.
ER Season 5 on DVD
John Tucker Must Die
There’s
nothing better
A funny and entertaining
comedy despite some major set- than being able
backs, “John Tucker” looks in- to watch your
spired next to the dozen or so favorite shows
other comedies out this summer. with the ability
Although some of the casting to pick and
seems absurd because the actors choose your
playing the teenagers look old own bathroom
enough to be heading for a mid- breaks. “ER”
life crisis (Jesse Metcalfe is 26), it really hits its peak in season 5,
stays fun, delivering easy laughs with the shocking, dramatic de-
from beginning to end. The best partures of pediatric doctor Doug
thing about “John Tucker” is that Ross (George Clooney) and the
it is completely unpretentious in unexpected romance between
its delivery and doesn’t strive to Mark Greene (Anthony Daniels)
be anything more than it is: a teen and Elizabeth Corday (Alex King-
ston).
chick flick. It doesn’t push for
feminism or scorn philandering;
Continued on Page 10
Page 10
Five Reasons This Summer
Rocked
Continued from Page 9
Corbis
Christina Aguilera performs at the
2006 MTV Movie Awards taping at
Sony Pictures Studio in California.
A Man Like Huck
BY ANDREW CHAN
GUEST WRITER
He was a man like Huckle-
berry Finn. He was a man by
himself. He stood by himself, on
the streets of New York, for a
year, or more. For two weeks,
this was literal, for 11 months, it
was reality, and for a year, it was
chaotic. He stood alone, like
Huckleberry Finn. His 'lone
stance did not keep others away,
however, for it brought him
closer to his friends – showed
him who he truly could trust and
who he truly could rely on. It
showed him the base of those
around him. It opened his eyes, it
showed him reality. It left him
independent, bettered by
pain. He was stronger after, he
was sturdier after. He weathered
the storm.
Those 2 years – he was him-
self. He had no bounds attached;
he was a free man. He controlled
his destiny. He did what he had
to, he slept on his own. He
worked for his lunch, he worked
for his life. It was not easy, I
No Title
BY MATTHEW STRAX-HABER
GUEST WRITER
I was crying,
alone in a sea
Nothing to do,
nowhere to turn.
Then she,
a true friend,
lent a gentle hand.
She braced me,
she held me.
She saved me,
and she heard me.
She brought me in,
and,
in doing so,
she came in.
September 5, 2006 A&E/LITERARY
MUSIC!
Christina Aguilera, Beyonce,
Jessica Simpson and Justin Tim-
berlake all released new singles
this summer, proving once again
that the music industry is just not
the same without them. Aguil-
era’s new single “Ain’t No Other
Man” as well as her whole album
“Back to the Basics” is more jazz
than pop and a far cry from the
Christina of 2002. ◙
must admit. It was quite
hard. He fell into the arms, of the
ladies he loved. He hid in his
refuge. He even once slept in his
refuge. He lived in his ref-
uge. He survived in his ref-
uge. He believed in his ref-
uge. He loved his refuge.
She came back. She fought
back. She took back. She held
back. She was there, but not for
me.
In that time, he learned all
too much. He learned of life. He
learned of love. He learned of
fear. He learned of hate. He
learned of sin. He learned of
truth. He learned of himself. He
learned of her. He learned of
another her. He learned of
this. And He learned of life. But
all the learning in the world, all
the sin in the world. 'Tis truth
that twine they may.
He was a man like Huckle-
berry Finn. He was a man by
himself. ◙
She saw my soul,
my naked self.
Me for what me is,
a fear of escape.
She held me close,
I held her back,
entwined at heart,
in once lonely dark.
A friend of the heart,
a love to the mind,
she
held me,
saved me.
By hearing me,
she filled the sea.
Fall Movie Preview
Continued from Page 9
Fast Food Nation
Release Date: November 17
Just when you thought it was
safe to start eating McDonald’s
again, director Richard Linklater
tries to recreate the success of
“Super Size Me” with a fictional
interpretation starring Ethan
Hawke.
Employee of the Month
Release Date: October 6
The film stars Dane Cook, a
popular standup comic, Dax
Shepard (“Punk’d”) and Jessica
The Case of the
Murdered Multi-billionare
BY LADA KUKUY
LITERARY EDITOR
Dr. Andér stood in the office
of Sebastian D’Olivio, taking
notes on the multibillionaire’s
death. Mr. D’Olivio’s body was
lying on the floor, with tree
bloody bullets that wounded him
mortally scattered around, after
passing through his chest.
“What happened here?” won-
dered Dr. Andér aloud.
A young, good-looking
woman named Clarnette Leflanté
came up to him. “I worked for
Mr. D’Olivio as a housekeeper.
After breakfast, he headed for his
study, but then while cleaning up
the table I realized that he left his
pocket planner on a nearby chair.
After cleaning up, I decided to
bring the planner to his office.
When I knocked, there was no
answer, so I tried the door. It was
unlocked, and so I came in. As I
did, a horrible scene came to my
eyes. Mr. D’Olivio was lying on
the floor, with three holes in his
chest, and a revolver nearby. I
was terrified, and started scream-
ing. Then, Mr. Morlené came
running to help me.”
“I was in my bedroom chang-
ing into a horseback riding outfit
when I heard Ms. Leflanté’s
screams, ” Began Mr. Morlené, a
Love sports? Love to write?
Join the team.
recruitment@stuystandard.org
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
comingsoong.net
Simpson
in her
sophomore
film. Cook
a n d
Shepard
fight over
the Em-
ployee of
the Month
title in
order to
win the affections of Simpson’s
character. Although it’s obvious
the good guy will probably win
the girl, it won’t stop this Greg
Coolidge film from being exceed-
ingly funny. ◙
young man who looked de-
pressed. “I followed the sound
and soon found my best friend’s
body in his office. I then told
Clarnette to go find Herman
D’Olivio, my best friend’s
younger brother, and myself went
to call the police.”
“I felt really sick this morn-
ing, and did not attend breakfast.”
Stated an ill-looking young man,
Mr. D’Olivio. “ When I finally
woke up with a splitting headache
and went to the kitchen to take a
pill, I saw Clarnette running up to
me. She told me of my brother’s
death and led me to his office. As
I saw the body, I felt even sicker
and went to the bathroom, where
I threw up. I felt depressed about
Sebastian’s death and asked Clar-
nette to get my bed ready. I
wanted to lie down and sleep.
When you gentlemen came, she
awakened me and here I am.”
The police examined the
scene and the body. After they
did, the chief policeman asked
Dr. Andér, “who do you think did
it, sir?”
“It’s quite simple,” came the
detective’s response, “ the mur-
derer is ______________.” ◙
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
Sundown Memories
BY JUDITH A. LINDBERG
GUEST WRITER
The languid, lazy summer sun
Brings a reverie of relaxation.
The beach days of yellow glint
and ocean spray,
Tickling our toes and our imaginations.
To understand like the rabbit of velveteen,
I think of small daughters and
days gone by:
Ice cream cones and wet bathing suits,
Blazing campfires and
golden marshmallows,
Squirt gun laughter and library lounging.
To know that love never really goes away,
I remember sharing daylight and fun
With two small giggling girls.
They are much older now,
Loyal A-Rod fans hold up a "We still love you A-Rod" sign
THE SPORTS BEAT
A Handy Guide to Booing A-Rod
Continued from Page 12
could, they’d be superhuman.
You have to take everything into
consideration, the good with the
bad. Would you rather have A-
Rod not hit at all?
Through all of this, if you are
a Yankee fan and embarrassed to
boo him at home, take a road trip.
There are plenty of cities that hate
A-Rod more than New York does.
While You Were Gone
Continued from Page 12
After winning the Tour de France, American cyclist Floyd Landis tested positive for
extremely high levels of testosterone after his incredible Stage 17 comeback. He
blames his positive test on everything from too much whiskey to faulty lab work.
September 5, 2006 LITERARY/SCIENCE/SPORTS
But my sundown memories keep them
forever tiny.
Becoming
To remember like a warm
thought that lingers,
To share with a child,
whispering night secrets,
To suffer from a tear that is real,
To believe in the magic of a flower,
To hope that God does have a plan -
And at last...to become the best of what-
ever we are.
Corbis
The Seattle Mariners fans are still
mad that A-Rod left after the
2000 season to join the Rangers.
The Texas Rangers fans think that
A-Rod left them when he got
traded to the Yankees. And of
course, Boston hates A-Rod twice
as much because he was nearly
traded there before going to the
Yankees, and he’s a Yankee. ◙
Reuters
Page 11
On the Rocks
BY KENNETH LAM said to be on a course that will
STAFF WRITER cause an impact with Earth. One
asteroid, 99942 Apophis, is par-
A giant asteroid hurtles ticularly dangerous, as it has a
through space on its crash course
one in 30,000 chance of colliding
with the planet Earth. At its size, with Earth in 2036. However,
it could easily wipe out the entire this threat was lowered from a
human population, just as the one in 5,500 chance. This aster-
dinosaurs’ were said to have been
oid has the power to destroy the
killed. Scientists frantically entire New York City area. An-
scramble to figure out a method other asteroid, 1950DA, has a one
to ease or end the threat alto-
in 300 chance for collision. It too
gether. A plan is put into action,
has the power to wipe out a city.
and crews gather to begin the However, its charted path takes
diversion of the asteroid. Shut- its possible collision to be in 877
tles are launched and nuclear
years.
bombs are prepared to blast the
Thankfully, scientists are
rock off its course. Will it be working to stop these asteroids
enough?
from actually crash landing onto
This sort of scenario sounds
Earth’s surface. These plans all
like something out of Hollywood.
revolve around diverting the as-
The threat of a killer asteroid on a teroid rather than destroying it.
course that brings it into contact The first step in the plan to divert
with the Earth is real. In the
an asteroid is to study it. This
event that a large asteroid does will give the scientists an idea of
hit the planet, the immediate area what the asteroid is like. Then,
would be blasted into dust. The the scientists will begin to em-
aftereffects are the factor that
ploy plans that will move the as-
leads to the extinction of a spe- teroid off course. One such plan
Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006
An asteroid collision with Earth.
cies. The blast will launch dust
is a solar sail, which will be at-
into the air that will spread across
tached to the asteroid, and by
the planet, blocking out the sun
using the Sun’s rays, nudge it off
and effectively preventing light
course. This plan is very risky, as
from entering the Earth’s atmos-
the sail has a high chance of not
phere, thus cooling the air. This
attaching, and even if it did,
will kill off plants, and without
would be a very long term plan.
plants, organisms will begin to
Another plan uses a spaceship to
die off due to lack of food. As
physically push the asteroid out
more organisms die off, more
of the way. However, the ship
possible food sources are lost,
will only move it slightly, and
and eventually, entire populations
once again, requires time. The
will disappear from the earth. It
final plan, in the case that all else
is this disaster that possibly killed
fails, is to send in an enormous
off the dinosaurs. However, the
debris may also have an opposite
nuclear weapon into space and up
to reasonable range with the as-
effect. It may have fallen back to
teroid. Then, the weapon would
Earth and turned it into an oven.
detonate, sending a large blast of
Thus, organisms would have
energy in all directions. Hope-
burned to death.
fully, the asteroid would be
The question remains: Could
caught up in the blast and sent
the same thing happen to us?
hurtling off in another direction.
Scientists are currently working
However, if the weapon gets too
to find large extraterrestrial bod-
close, the asteroid may split up
ies that could have such a catas-
and become even more danger-
trophic effect on our planet.
ous. In such a case, smaller rocks
Technology, such as extremely
would rain down onto the earth
powerful telescopes, is being
and ultimately destroy all in its
used to determine whether an
path. ◙
asteroid in space is safe. Over
100 extraterrestrial bodies are
Page 12
A Handy Guide to Booing A-Rod
BY ERIC MAYO
SPORTS EDITOR
One of the interesting sub-
plots of the Yankees season thus
far is the constant booing of Alex
Rodriguez. While hitting a re-
spectable .287 with 26 home runs
and 93 RBI’s, his inability to hit
in the clutch has disappointed
Yankee fans. It has also come to
my attention that people don’t
know when to boo A-Rod. There-
fore, I have developed these sim-
ple tips on what to do and what
not to do when booing A-Rod.
You should not boo A-Rod
when he comes to bat. Give the
guy a chance. Last year, he was
the MVP of the American
League, which was his second
time winning the award in three
years. He is still the best hitting
third baseman in the American
League, and he’s still one of the
best all-around players in base-
ball. You have to give him the
benefit of the doubt that he will
do something.
You do have a reason to boo
when A-Rod commits an error. In
the past two years of his playing
third base, he has committed 25
errors. This year alone he has
While You Were Gone
COMPILED BY ERIC MAYO
SPORTS EDITOR
us.news2.yimg.com
September 5, 2006 SPORTS THE STUYVESANT STANDARD
THE SPORTS BEAT
committed 22 errors. Most of his poor performance. In early Au- injury and show some stats you
errors have been poor throws on gust after a game, Rodriguez told wouldn’t normally put up. It’s
routine plays. It shows a lack of reporters that he was feeling a another thing to say you have an
mental concentration. For some- hundred percent because he had a injury and refuse to tell anyone
what it is, fueling suspicion that
you just lied for sympathy.
Corbis
The biggest critique that most
fans have of A-Rod is his inabil-
ity to hit in the clutch. Ever since
he hit into a double play to essen-
tially end Game 5 of the Divi-
sional Series last year against the
Angels, people have become more
and more frustrated with him.
Rodriguez is second worst in the
league in getting runners in from
third with less than two outs. In
situations deemed “close/late,” he
is hitting an abysmal .193. Com-
pare that to Red Sox superstar
David Ortiz (.324) and consider
that Ortiz is making half the
money A-Rod is, and you can
understand the anger.
It brings me to next point on
when not to boo A-Rod. If he hits
a home run when the Yankees are
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez makes a bare handed catch dur- up 10-2 or down 8-1, he can’t
ing a game against the Red Sox.
help it. Just because it has no out-
come on the game does not take
one who could have won a Gold nagging injury earlier in the sea-
away from the fact he hit it. Base-
Glove last year, it’s disturbing to son. When he was asked the next
see him field so poorly. day about the mysterious ailment, ball players can not turn on and
off their hitting power. If they
You can also boo A-Rod Rodriguez refused to comment.
when he makes up excuses for his It’s one thing to play through an
Continued on Page 11
AP Photo / Jasper Juinen
(top) Nothing makes soccer more excit-
ing than a good head butt. Zinedine
Zidane, star French midfielder, took
out Italian defensemen Marco
Materazzi in extra time. The French,
without Zidane and their two other best
players, Thierry Henry and Patrick
Viera, lost to Italy in penalty kicks.
(left) It was a crazy summer for Tiger
Woods. Just weeks after missing the cut
at the US Open, Tiger roared back to
take the British Open. He is currently
on a four tournament winning streak as
he continues his dominance over the
PGA Tour.
Continued on Page 11