Stimulus Track

Update on
page 8 page 24

The Blue and Gold http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/

Malden High School Our 95th Year

Volume 95 Edition 5 January 2010

The Devastation
Malden is Pretty
of Haiti in Pink
Kalya Bramante
Reporter

O ne in eight women is diagnosed

with breast cancer in the United
States. In 2009, 40,170 women were
expected to die from Breast Cancer
and more than one in four cancer
cases are in fact breast cancer.
Here at Malden High School,
Pink Out Basketball games help to
raise money. MHS also has a breast
cancer awareness club and does
fundraisers like the Pink Out Games
to help the people in need. The club
Go To Pages 10 and itself helps to plan out the games
11 For Complete and club members help out with the
Haiti tables you find in the gym, such as
Coverage the raffle table.
Upon entering the gym, fans
& Page 5 For Updates are greeted by a group of people
Bottom photo is Bernard Clemps laying Louis Valdery on a cot in an out- On Americans waiting to give a pink ticket to
door tent at the Clinique Lambert in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Janu- Arrested For hold students pay three dollars
ary 25, 2010. Photo by Charles Trainor Jr. To the left, Rescue team mem- and adults pay five dollars. Then
Trafficking
bers from Greece (red) and France (dark blue) carrying Wismond Exantus peoplhurry to the bleachers to grab
from a building on Saturday, January 23, 2010. Photo by Pedro Portal. To a seat with your friends and fam-
the right, A store burns in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Friday, Janu- ily. After fans look back to where
ary 22, 2010. Photo by Al Diaz. Photo Collage by Lynn Tran people first came in to see if the rest
In This Issue: of your group is approaching and to
the right and there are breast cancer
Progressive shirts on sale that also help to raise
Malden Gymnastics Scholars money for the club. At the other end
Dismounts to Victory page 12 + 13
of the gym there are raffle baskets,
Pisa Pizza and refreshments. The
game starts intensely and next to
Nobel Laurete the concession stand there are the
Page 14 pink and white basketballs that the
players on the team use, how coin-
cidental considering the main color
Poetry Out Loud
to represent breast cancer is pink.
Page 17 Some teams also get pink laces for
their shoes.
Valentine’s Day The games are an excellent way
page 18 to raise money and awareness about
Breast Cancer at both MHS and in
the Malden Community. We origi-
Oscar nally set a goal of raising $1500 by
Predicitions the end of the year, now our goal has
page 19 risen to $2000," stated president of
the Breast Cancer Awareness Club
Nick Jonas’ Solo Continued on page 22
Sophmore Mary Stathos on the beam against Lowell Catholic and Medford. Project
Photo by Joel Stevenson. Page 20
Joshua Kummins
Swimming Opinion p.3
Reporter Page 21 World p. 8
Local p. 11
T he Malden High gymnastics
team is hitting the tail end of
a strong 2010 season, which saw
ing into the Greater Boston League
Meet.
The team’s four victories came
Wrestling
Page 22
Entertainment p. 19
Sports p. 21
them compile a 4-3 record, head- against two teams, Cambridge and
Indoor Track
Continued on page 22 Page 24
2 Editorials
Malden High School
The Blue and Gold
77 Salem St.
Malden, MA 02148
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
David Riemer
Ayoub Kourikchi
MANAGING AND DESIGN EDITOR
Lynn Tran
COPY EDITING DIRECTOR
An Holmqvist
ONLINE EDITOR
Alexandra Mathieu
HEAD LOCAL NEWS WRITER
Nidale Zouhir
HEAD WORLD NEWS WRITER
João Nascimento
HEAD ENTERTAINMENT/ OPINION
Brittany Foley
HEAD SPORTS WRITER
Alfonse Femino
HEAD OF BUSINESS
Haley DeFilippis
COPY EDITORS
Dan Holmqvist
Omar Khoshafa
Xavier Leo
Brittany McFeeley
REPORTERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS
Amanda Adams
Lauren Benoit
Kayla Bramante
Christopher Brown
Freddie DiPhillipo
Natalie Fallano
Alexander Gennigiorgis
Megan Kelly
Joshua Kummins
Johanna Lai
Sharon Lee
Cristina Peters
Catherine Poirier
Brendan Provitola
Reginah Sanyu
Joel Stevenson
Alicia Young
Paige Yurek
ADVISOR
Ryan Gallagher
Established in 1915
Check out our online edition:
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
Palin being palin
Taking the valiant initiative to bridge the
gap between high school biology exams and
nationally aired political broadcasts, Palin
was caught reading handwritten notes from
her palm during the Tea Party convention.
Whether or not she wrote the notes herself
remains unclear.
No stranger to controversy or humor,
Palin has found herself in yet another awk-
ward jam, sparing herself no irony after call-
ing Obama a “charismatic guy with a tele-
prompter.” Foregoing all conventional forms
of visual aid in her attempt to emphasize her
remark, Palin made the questionable decision
of writing down vague and elementary politi-
cal goals on her hand as she spoke at the Tea
Party convention on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. On
her laundry list of agendas: “Energy,” “Tax,”
and most unmemorable of all “lift American
spirits.” “Budget cuts” must have been nixed
after a hasty review, however, since the words
appeared with a rudimentary strikethrough.
Living up to her sterling honest reputation,
it would seem as though Palin never learned
a valuable lesson: if you are going to cheat,
at least take steps to hide it. This would in-
clude limiting expressive hand gestures while
speaking and writing legibly enough to see
the epidermis-assisted cheat sheet without
needing it bring it to your face.
Perhaps the situation would be less hu-
morous were it less avoidable. During discus-
sions such as this one, notes, outlines, and
index cards are all commonplace additions to
one’s extemporaneous speaking prowess. No
one would have chuckled half as heartily had
she been squinting to read a note card rather
than her hand, and perhaps the public would
have been more endeared to her efforts had
the information so crudely stored been more
complex and intricate than “Tax.” At the very
least, a fashion statement could have been
made by tying colored ribbons to her fingers
to aid in jogging her memory. As this takes
Editorial Policy
The Blue and Gold is an open forum for
student expression. It is produced by students
for the school and the community. The views
presented in this paper are not necessarily those
of the advisor or the school administration. The
views presented in the editorials are those of the
editors-in-chief or guests. The goal of The Blue
and Gold is to inform and entertain students as
well as the community regarding issues that we
feel are important.
We strongly encourage readers to respond
to material printed in the form of signed letters to
the editors. No libelous, malicious, defamatory,
obscene, or unsigned material will be printed.
The Blue and Gold reserves the right to edit the let-
ters. Names may be withheld upon request. Not
all letters will be printed.
Although The Blue and Gold appreciates the
support of advertisers, we may refuse any ad-
vertisement that violates the above policy or that
promotes products questionable to student use.
Any correspondence concerning this publi-
cation should be directed to Mr. Ryan Gallagher’s
room in A103 or to his mailbox in the main office.
The Blue and Gold
c/o Malden High School
77 Salem Street
Malden, MA 02148
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
considerably more mnemonic ability, how-
ever, it is only logical to revert to sophomoric
chicken scratch.
Of course this embarrassment is but
another manifestation of a chronic issue with
Palin—her inability to prepare adequately for
major speaking events. Needless to say that in
some regards the audience, paying upwards of
$300 to hear her speak, got their money’s worth
of deep political insight (abbreviated colloqui-
ally, albeit messily, on her hand). Thanks to
Palin’s unique affinity for media attention, it is
well known that she has repeatedly struggled
to cite relevant and credible sources of infor-
mation for her arguments and opinions, often
opting to quote an intangible holy mission and
an equally intangible deity as evidence. Where
religion falls short of her desperate need for
justification, she draws stinging quips from
her reservoir of not-quite-legitimate phrases
like “hopey-changey thing.” Supreme Court
case precedents? Who needs them when one
possesses such acute powers of circumlocu-
tion? On second thought, maybe the use of
some tired political jargon could begin to
build a base of actual credibility for Palin, but
maverick-hood on her level simply does not
call for any hint of orthodoxy—or sense.
What can be said of Palin, in spite of all
her blaringly unprofessional blunders accu-
mulated since she was thrust into the limelight
as John McCain’s pick for Vice President, is
that she undoubtedly breathes new life into
an ever more depressing and bleak political
scene. Indeed Palin’s shenanigans demonstrate
that in the world of politics, not every debate
or discussion holds the fate of the country in
the balance, but rather that a comical faux pas
such as this does not necessarily spell doom
for the world.
As if it were not clear enough already,
typical ethics do not endorse Palin’s meth-
ods—text messages are much more effective,
provided you keep the phone on silent.
David Riemer
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Corrections:
The heading on page 5 should have been Opin-
ion, not World.
Copy Editor Omar Khoshafa is a sophomore, not
a junior on page 8.
Arlene Ceppetelli’s name was misspelled in a cap-
tion on page 12.
The Badminton Club is not yet recognized as a
team on page 12.
The band actually played “Oh Holy Night,” not
“Sleigh Ride” in the article on page 13.
Bridget Furlong’s name was not spelled correctly
in the caption on page 16.
Photo credits to Brittney McFeeley should have
gone to Catherine Poirier and vice versa on page
16.
Gymnastics photos on the top of page 17 were
taken by Sharon Lee.
Jessica Katherine Fox’s full name was missing at
the bottom of page 17.
Corrections to the editor can be submitted to
theblueandgold@gmail.com
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
Do Corporations
have the
same Rights
As ordinary
Citizens?
An Holmqvist
Copy Editing Director
What would you think if Gen-
eral Motors or Wal-Mart had the op-
portunity to buy as large a share of
our government as companies and
shareholders do in stocks? What
would you think if Microsoft or
McDonalds could buy an American
president? Of course, I am skipping
a few steps here; but wouldn’t you
draw that conclusion too if a corpo-
ration all of a sudden could spend
as much money as they wanted on
any given political candidate? That
means corporations have been given
the same liberties as ordinary Amer-
ican citizens. That also means that
Corporate America has suddenly
been given Democratic America’s
head on a plate.
This is the decision that was
made roughly one month ago by
the Supreme Court on Jan. 21, 2010,
known in formal terms as Citizens
United V. FEC. The ruling struck
down a provision of the Biparti-
san Campaign Reform Act (also
known as the McCain-Feingold) of
2002, which had banned corporate
spending on political campaigns
in the advertising sector 6 months
before election month. Moreover,
this landmark 5-4 Supreme Court
decision finalized the option to al-
low unlimited corporate spending
in political campaign finances. The
justices argued on two different
angles, one side taking the view that
unlimited spending would corrupt
our government structure, the other
defending the decision by claiming
that capped spending (or putting a
limit on how much money an indi-
vidual or organization can donate to
a political candidate) is a violation
of First Amendment rights, namely,
the freedom of expression. By free-
dom of expression here, we mean
that individuals should have a
right to donate money to political
constituents as their own personal
expression of their political views.
Behind the scenes of this messy
situation is a non-profit conservative
organization by the name of Citi-
zens United. Citizens United was
founded in 1988, and has since par-
ticipated actively in the American
political arena. Most notably, they
were barred from advertising their
documentary, Hillary: The Movie,
prior to the 2008 Democratic prima-
ries. This decision, done under the
McCain-Feingold Act (which explic-
itly bans so-called “electioneering”
advertising campaigns) caused a
huge uproar on the part of conser-
vative supporters. They argued at
the time that the law severely lim-
ited their right to freedom of speech.
In this decision that was made over
the course of many months, Citizens
continued on page 4
Opinion 3
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
Letters to the Editors
By Falonne Henry
L eaving my native country, Haiti, was one of
the hardest things I have had to do in my life.
People always say that “Home is where your heart
is” All immigrants come to the United States in
order to have a better life. America is the land of
the free, we all could achieve great things in our
life if we absolutely put our hearts into it. I was
also aware that I would be facing many challenges
throughout my journey in the United States, but at
the same time I knew that many doors would be
wide open to me. When I received the acceptance
letter from the American Embassy, I was so happy
that my heart was beating so fast because I knew
then that my journey was about to start where I
wanted it to be.
The day before I left, I went to say goodbye
to my friends in school, they were all crying. I told them “Un jour je viendrai vous voir mes amis”
/ “yon jou mwen gen pou mwen vini we nou” which means “One day I will come back to see you
guys.” One of them said to me: “Falonne, I know you are a good student, you can do it, and you can
handle it. Just believe in yourself and you will achieve your goals.” I was comforted by those words,
I wiped my tears away and I squeezed my friends tightly as we hugged each other to say goodbye.
On January 12, 2010 Haiti has faced a tragic event that nobody believed could affect the entire
world. When I learned about this catastrophe, I felt down and depressed. The earthquake left a lot of
damages such as many schools collapsed, the Palace, churches, banks, houses, hospitals, apartments
and other places. Many people died during this tragedy and the worst thing they couldn’t find their
corpses for funeral. A lot of students my age or younger than me are no longer alive. They didn’t
have any chance to return home.
Haiti is in sorrow now. There are so many people who don’t have anymore members of their
families alive, they are all gone away. I can feel their pain; it won’t be easy for them to get back where
they used to be, to have a happy life.
Losing a member of your family is very hard. I know this because I am one of the victims. I
lost my sister.
I will never forget about her. She will always stay in my heart because she was an important
person to me. I will keep her in my prayers.
I would like to thank all of the people who donated to take care of all the survivers and every
nation all over the world who volunteered to come in Haiti to offer their support, supplies, food,
water, medicines etc…
After all of their contributions that they are offering, may they come back safe and alive. What
they are doing now is not easy to accomplish. RIP for all of the victims. May their souls go straight
where they belong.
mhs on midterms
“Some-
times
midterms
can’t be a
fair mea-
surement of your progress be-
cause they’re written not by the
“They’re helpful in the sense “It doesn’t help us at all, it just teacher, but by the department.”
that they show me if I’ve un- stresses us out.” - Daniel Rendon
- Thais Segundo
derstood the first half of year
and where I need to improve,
but I don’t like how they impact “They stress me out but I “It was the worst thing to give
the final grade rather than the know they’re necessary. They us especially In the middle of
quarter.” help keep the year organized in the year”
- Jeraldine Scibelli terms of remembering informa- - Catherine Phamduy
tion.”
“Having midterms wasn’t that - Jenna Delaney
“They were easy and I enjoyed
suprising really. We had them
coming in late. I barely had any
in 8th grade, but I don’t really
“[Test-taking] is a skill that is tests to take.”
think they’re that necessary in
better developed as soon as - Diana Gonzalez
middle school, although [mid-
possible.”
terms] in high school don’t
- Chemistry Teacher Nancy
exactly seem that bad.”
Green
- Hung Truong
4 Opinion The Blue and Gold
January 2010
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/

Community Bulletin continued from page 3

United petitioned the Federal Elec-

tion Commission (FEC) to overturn
the provisions of McCain-Feingold.
However, the question had also
come up: how much money is
any given organization allowed to
6 5 B r o adway contribute to a political campaign?
e: 6
Townlin , MA 02148 Should American corporations
Malden 2010 @ 4:00
y1 8 t h om (even harmless non-profit political
Februar event in B27 fr
Sign u p fo r
/10 groups) be allowed the same rights
2/3 to 2 rson for 1.5 as that of the ordinary American
/pe
g is $6.00
Bo w li n
hours citizen?
4.00
d o n ation is $ s Over the course of the months
m t
Minimu e sponsor shee
There a r between March of last year and last
January, the Supreme Court dis-
cussed the different implications of
the case set before them. The case set
before them originally started with
a complaint that the constraints of
the Bipartisan Campaign Reform
Act severely attacked the universal
right to freedom of speech. How-
ever, when the question was raised
regarding financing, the justices
were split evenly down the middle.
This was also the first case that was
seen by a still relatively new Associ-
ate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a more
intensely liberal voice in the group.
But Sotomayor’s judgment was
clearly clouded over by the more
experienced conservative-leaning justices.
Now that the controversial decision has already been made,
there is little possibility that the decision can be overturned by any
other means, although a few attempts have been made. From Florida
Representative Alan Grayson’s (D) has been outlining an online peti-
tion with a fiery statement: “Unlimited corporate spending on cam-
paigns means the government is up for sale and that the law itself
will be bought and sold. It would be political bribery on the largest
scale imaginable. This issue transcends partisan political arguments.
We cannot have a government that is bought and paid for by huge
multinational corporations. You must stop this.” Then again, you
could not cap spending entirely. Any time money is controlled by the
government, conservatives tend to cry out in terror. Let’s not forget
that the case originally started with the question of whether Citizens
United would be allowed to show a simple film. As stated by Citizens
United’s own president, David M. Bossie, “Today’s U.S. Supreme
Court decision allowing Citizens United to air its documentary films
and advertisements is a tremendous victory, not only for Citizens
United but for every American who desires to participate in the politi-
cal process.”
The decision was a complicated one, to say the least. It involved
an unforeseen dispute on the most basic right given to an American
citizen: the 1st Amendment implying both the freedom of speech
and freedom of expression. Understandably, it could be argued that
McCain-Feingold was a direct violation of the freedom of speech.
However, capped spending on campaigns would not have a direct
connection to the freedom of expression. Going back to our basic
principles as individuals living in a larger society, we each need to
realize that giving away our rights to large corporations with mounds
of money will not do us a favor; in fact, it would hurt our society all
the more. The opposition argues that by limiting corporate spending,
the government is violating the 1st amendment. Granted, all of this
should not bar an individual from donating some money to a poli-
tician’s campaign/cause. However, we need to draw the line where
spending can become outrageous, especially in a world where large-
scale corporations hold money at a scale that could easily turn the
tables of any political campaign. One of humanity’s worst flaws comes
in the form of greed. We do not need a large-scale manifestation of
this otherwise minor defect in the form of excessive and dangerous
corporate spending. It may hold true that lobbyists have already
successfully influenced our government to get legislation done their
way, but if there is any way we can limit this, it would have to start
with this court case now. The public may not realize it now, but this
Supreme Court decision will follow us, and could likely haunt us for
many years, if not decades to come.
By Alison Nguyen
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
10 Americans charged Child/Trafficking
Paige Yurek
Reporter
J an. 12th was a devastating day for
Haitians all over the world, when
an enormous earthquake with a
magnitude of seven hit the country
of Haiti, wiping out thousands of
lives, destroying homes and even
demolishing the Haitian presiden-
tial palace. Fortunately and un-
surprisingly, Americans arrived on
the spot to lend a hand as much as
possible. Everyone wants to help
the cause. Involvements such as
The American Red Cross, a variety
of phone companies and television
shows, and various schools across
the nation are reaching out to do-
nate money, food and clothing to the
victims of the disaster.
Only to add to the gloom of
the tragedy, ten Americans from a
Baptist congregation in Idaho were
arrested for the abduction of 30 Hai-
tian children during the week of Jan.
30th. Pleading innocent, the group
stated they were going to take the
children to an orphanage they would
have built for them in the Dominican
Republic, but they violated the law
when they tried to take the children
without proper certification. Ironi-
cally, not all of the children were
Illinois Senate Seat Up For Grabs
Amanda Adams If Democrats do not stay on watch, Barack Obama could lose
Reporter yet another supporter for liberal reform.
There was a concern
raised in the Illinois senate about
losing a democratic position in the
state. Because the Democrats hold a
majority caucus in the senate losing
yet another seat can mean a lot for
the Democrats on Capitol Hill and
the Obama administration. Alexi
Giannoulias was one of the demo-
cratic politicians running for the
seat, which Obama held in the past.
It is important to note that President
Obama originally came from Illi-
nois. How did this happen; how did
the Republicans get their hands on
the President’s home state?
Scott Lee Cohen, the nominee
for Illinois lieutenant governor
had decided to pull himself out of
the race due to a leak of informa-
tion about his past. He allegedly
abused his wife and threatened his
former girlfriend. With his reputa-
tion tarnished, Cohen dropped out
of the race leaving the Democrats
struggling to find another candi-
date. Luckily, the Democrats found
new hope in the Illinois treasurer
Alexi Giannoulias 39 percent of the
democrats supported Giannoulias.
Republicans had lost 61 percent of
the vote. About 7.5 million people
who can vote are registered Demo-
crats in Illinois. Giannoulias, of the
Democratic Party ultimately won
this seat in the senate – but only
because Illinois is stubbornly Demo-
Opinion 5
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
orphans, some still had parents alive
and presented. Laura Silsby, leader
of the Baptist organization, did try
to make her message clear to child
protection officials, human rights
experts and Dominican authorities
that her purpose was only to help
the children find shelter and homes
in a “loving Christian homelike en-
vironment.” However, there was no
official documentation that stated
the group had rights to take the chil-
dren away; therefore they are now
being charged with kidnapping, and
possible child trafficking.
It is a disgrace that when di-
saster strikes, there are people there
to take advantage of the weak, but
hopefully this is not the case, and the
Americans’ intentions were in fact Young boys eat breakfast, February 3, 2010, at the Good Shepherd orphanage
harmless. Looking at both sides of in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Peter Andrew Bosch/
the story, it seems as though they re- Miami Herald/MCT)
ally wanted to assist the unfortunate
children, but alternatively, they did them any favors? When the Baptist a note, stating, “Please you must
not take the time to fill out proper congregation came in taking the listen. We have No Way to Call.
documentation, which appears sus- poverty stricken children away to Court will not let us have a say with
picious. Due to their failure to keep an orphanage, their only intent was anything about trust for US. We only
official documents, they now sit in a to assist them, not to hurt them. By came as volunteers. We had nothing
Port-Au-Prince jail, and await their putting these people under arrest, it to do with any documents and have
sentence. Each member could face is like shunning the help that they been lied to.” It is ironic that these
up to 15 years in jail. actually need to survive. American citizens who entered Haiti
The Haitian government is In the Port-Au-Prince jail, the as volunteers to the needy have been
corrupted and dysfunctional by Baptist group sits, awaiting their arrested for those who they came to
itself. Why don’t they realize that fate. On Feb. 6th, the group secretly help out.
arresting Americans is not doing handed an NBC news journalist
cratic. What if the same thing hap-
pened in Illinois as what happened
in Massachusetts last month? In the
beginning of the race, the Republi-
cans came off strong and confident
to win the seat in the senate. Appar-
ently, they were proven wrong, but
that does not give the Democrats
reason to stop staying on guard.
The Democrats need to be
more vigilant about keeping their
congregation together. If they lose
just one seat, healthcare reform will
go down the drain, as shown by
recently elected MA Senator Scott
Brown who has said that he is not
in favor of healthcare reform: “Why
would we want to… dumb down
the medical services and medical in-
surance in Massachusetts to provide
for [the public option]? … I’m not in
favor of it.”
If there are more Republicans
in the senate, all of Obama’s plans
will become shattered and everyone
would have to live with the conse-
quences. Most of us do not want to
see what happened during the Bush
era happen again. Obama has many
plans to change American govern- Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias addresses supporters after
ment. Millions of Americans will be winning the Democratic primary for Illinois’s U.S. Senate seat on
left without health care. In addition, Tuesday, February 2, 2010, in Chicago, Illinois. This fall, Giannoulias
gays and lesbians will not be able to is looking to claim the seat once held by President Barack Obama.
live their lives peacefully without a (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune/MCT)
liberal leaning Senate.
6 Opinion
Uganda Exterminates Civil Rights
Reginah Sanyu
Reporter
U ganda is commonly known as
the pearl of Africa because of
its green nature and peacefulness
despite its dictatorship lead by for-
mer president Idi Amin Dada dur-
ing the 1970, but on Oct. 13, 2009
something worse than the Ugandan
space program became an issue.
Member of the Ugandan Parliament
David Bahati proposed the idea of
legislatiing a bill that would impose
the death penalty on gay Ugandans,
and land their families and friends
in jail for up to seven years if they
refused to report any gays to the
authorities. Even making physical
contact with a gay person could
potentially lead to incarceration.
What ever hapened to "love your
neighbor as yourself?"
When senior Henry Jovel of
Malden High School was asked
about his reaction to this bill, he
said: “Sexuality is based on your
early surroundings as a kid, and no
political government or organiza-
tion has the right to limit you from
being who you really are.” As for
the seven year punishment, Jovel
could express his sentiments with
another question. “What if one of
your kids, nephews or any family
member of yours was gay? Would
you be capable of ruining their lives
just like you do with the others?”
In the tumult of all the epidem-
ics that Uganda faces, including
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syn-
drome (AIDS) and Human Immu-
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
People of Uganda protesting against the new harsh laws
against homosexuals now in vigour in the country.
nodeficiency Virus (HIV), violence
in the North, and impoverished,
homeless childrening on the streets,
one's sexuality should not be a po-
litical issue. Although South Africa
is the only African country to recog-
nize gay marriage, other countries
like Nigeria, Rwanda and Burundi
are anti-homosexual. Uganda has
over- stepped its boundaries with
this new bill. The following is a part
of the bill:
“Anyone who ‘‘aids, counsels
or procures another to engage of
acts of homosexuality’’ faces seven
years in prison if convicted. Land-
lords who rent rooms or homes to
homosexuals could also get seven
years and everyone with ‘religious,
political, economic or social author-
ity’’ who fails to report anyone vio-
lating the act faces three years.
This is an indirect act of dicta-
torship. Why do the lower class peo-
ple get more years of imprisonment
than politicians or clergy, who only
get three years? Anti-gay supporters
of the bill claim that homosexuality
is condemned by God, but what this
bill suggests is hypocritical. since
killing is also wrong in the eyes of
God. Nick Dileo, a junior at MHS
does not believe that the bill is fair,
stating ”this is really messed up; I
would fight if they really had to take
any of my friends away.”
The debate over the Ugan-
dan bill reportedly started when a
conference in Kampala, Uganda's
capital city earlier of 2009 was at-
tended by American activists Scott
Lively, Rick Warren and Caleb Lee
Brundidge. They consider same-
sex relationships sinful and believe
that homosexuality can be "cured"
through prayer and counseling.
Jason Asciola, the GSA advisor at
MHS commented ‘if sexuality was a
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
choice, why would anybody choose
to be gay especially in a country
where you could lose your life for
being gay? It is a hard life and ob-
viously not a choice." Jovel agreed,
adding “I think that those people
who say that gay is a disease then
to look around and figure out the
reason they are not infected.”
The bill's madates also include
Ugandans who are homosexuals
outside the country, proposing that
they be extradited back to Uganda
for punishment. "It’s completely
inhuman to take those actions; it
is not right, and something needs
to be done," Jovel stated. The big
surprise came from Uganda’s presi-
dent, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who
openly expressed his support for the
bill, stating “we used to say Mr. and
Mrs, but now it is Mr. and Mr. What
is it now?”
Western nations have vowed to
cut their financial aid to Uganda if
the bill is passed. Uganda's Minister
of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba
Buturo, in an act of compromise,
said during a press conference that
Uganda would revise the bill to
drop the death penalty in favor of
life imprisonment for homosexuals.
Better? Homosexuality is not a dis-
ease that can be relieved with a pill.
It is not a choice, and world govern-
ments should be working to solve
more pertinent, threatening issues
like terrorism, economic crises, and
wars. The Ugandan anti-homosexu-
al bill should be looked at with pity,
because it publicizes an increasingly
antiquated ignorance. The Ugandan
parliament will enter discussions
about passing the bill in late Feb. or
March of 2010.
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
Life without
the Internet?
Brittany McFeeley
Copy Editor
T he world’s most popular search en-
gine, Google, has been withdrawn
from China due to people hacking into
the website. What if the United States
was to do the same as the Chinese gov-
ernment? What would we do without
Google? Not only has the Chinese
government taken Google away, but
they have censored social networking
sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and
MySpace. Could America’s people live
without these silly cravings we have to
Tweet or to Facebook creep? This major
dilemma has brought to the people’s
attention that there could be a chance
of living without an Internet.
These social networking sites are
a major form of communication for
nearly all who use it. Without them,
these people would actually have to
talk on the phone or even talk in per-
son! Oh the horror!
People are relying on these sites to
do the talking for them, so when they
actually step out in public, they do not
have the basic social skills they need to
survive in the modern world. But if the
Internet is gone, then how will anyone
survive?
We are too dependent on the In-
ternet for everything, like homework,
socialization, and work in general.
How could we all do chemistry teacher
Martin Berryman’s Web assigns? Or
how could we check our SnapGrades?
Could the Malden High School alumni
and students cope without the Inter-
net?
Junior Brandon Knight stated,
“Completely honesltly, no. I don’t
think I could.” Sophomore Tamisha
Claude agreed and said, “Absolutely
not.” Sophomore Olivia Giang on
the other hand explained how “[she]
could always do something else.”
While some may be able to handle the
transition back into the 1800s, it seems
others may not be able to cope with the
major change in our everyday lives.
The Blue & Gold would not even
be able to print a newspaper in the
amount of time we do if we did not
have Google. We use Google to the full-
est extent; we use it for editing articles,
planning layout, uploading pictures,
communicating, and more. We do a
large amount of our interviews via e-
mail and Facebook.
Can anyone really picture a life
without internet? People may be less
distracted from the urge to go on Face-
book to check Farmville to see if their
grapes are ready to be harvested, or if
someone has jumped higher than you
in Icy Tower. There are pros and cons
to the situation but most people think
it would be a tragedy.
So maybe this Google hack was
a reality check. We are MUCH too de-
pendent on our Internet to do the work
for us. This could be a sign for when
this day happens in America, that by
that time, we can use alternatives.
Opinion 7
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
Apple’s iPad
Omar Khoshafa
Copy Editor
O
n Jan. 28, Steve Jobs unveiled a new gadget
that that seemed to catch almost every-
one’s attention; an oversized iPod touch with an
enormous 9.7 inch display that was supposed
to “revolutionize the technological world.”
Named the iPad, Apple’s new “magical” device
is basically a tablet PC without the PC. The
iPad’s most basic model was placed at the start-
ing price of $500, and with that comes 16 GB
of space and internal Wi-fi. Unfortunately, all
of these technological specifications are also
available in the far more portable iPod Touch.
So why buy the iPad?
The iPad’s LED-Backlit IPS Display, a much
more complicated term for its front display, is
definitely “crispier” and more vivid than previ-
ous models of Apple products, and this can be
mainly attributed to the high quality A4 chip
running inside. Its efficiency and performance
gives the iPad a 10 hour battery life on a single
charge, which is impressive for such a power
consuming device. The iPad’s $500 price tag
relatively inexpensive when put into propor-
tion with this gadget’s appealing features, and
from there the customers will have the choice
of whether or not to upgrade to the 3G model
via a contract with AT&T, which grants the user
Internet access anytime and anyplace (maybe).
Despite all of these “magical” features,
we cannot remain oblivious to the iPad’s short-
comings and limitations. The iPad is unable to
multitask, the main attribute of a laptop com-
puter. If you want to listen to music while using
facebook, we’re sorry. You want to surf the web
then immediately check the map app, then we’re
sorry. The iPad also does not have a camera and
lacks the Flash capability, meaning that it is also
unable to access Flash content online, which
makes up large portion of the modern-day web.
This will then in turn hinder the web experience
that Apple has promised to revolutionize and
recreate.
The iPad, as mentioned, is nothing close
to a computer, but at the same time more com-
petent as average phone. It is more of an inter-
mediary stage between the two, for those who
cannot purchase a laptop and yet want a device
slightly more than capable than the iPod touch.
Whether is will find a viable market in today’s
complex economic climate is only a question of
time (and advertising.)
8 world news
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/

Hazard: keep Away from children

Cristina Peters
the jewelry. Concerns accessible,” His research towards bad things in baby formula who’s to
Reporter about the safety of the US concern over the harmful effects of say that they wouldn’t do the same
selling goods from China cadmium showed that not only can for toys and jewelry. If we’re going

S ince 2007, tainted jewelry with
the carcinogen cadmium has
been on the rise, increasing signifi-
cantly during the new year. Cadmi-
um is inexpensive, shiny, and easy
to shape, making it an ideal resource
for Chinese jewelry makers. Reports
of high levels of cadmium used in
children’s jewelry this year, led to a
US Consumer Product Safety Com-
mission to investigate this issue
more in depth. The organization
protects against any risks of injuries
associated with consumer products
and has been attempting to stop
the spread of cadmium in jewelry.
Although states such as California
and Massachusetts have laws which
regulate levels of lead in jewelry,
there is no set law protecting the
amount of cadmium in any of it.
China’s low-cost jewelry mak-
ers have continued using cadmium
for years, oblivious to its health
hazards as the cheap cost surpassed
the thought of investigating what
exactly was being used to protect
Image Collage by Cristina Peters. Photos by Cristina Peters.
“moving you forward”
whether you like it or not
sky-rocketed even more the
week of January 13,2010,
after an investigation by
reporters Alexa Olesen
and Eugene Hoshiko,
who found that 12 of
103 pieces of mainly
Chinese-made jew-
elry bought in the US
contained at least 10 percent
cadmium, some in the 80-90
percent range.
The huge fear about cad-
mium being a health hazard to
children is its danger towards their
bodies, which rely on absorbing
substances to become fully devel-
oped; cadmium accumulates in the
kidneys for decades, not allowing
the body to properly filter waste,
and develop. As reported in a health
article by Justin Pritchard of Health
News, Harvard University Professor
Robert O. Wright stated, “Just small
amounts of chemicals may radically
alter [children’s] development. I can’t
even fathom why anyone would al-
low for even a small amount to be
it cause cancer, but high exposure
to it can cause children to develop
learning disabilities.
The items that have
been detected for excessive
levels of cadmium most
recently are the pendants
for several The Princess
and the Frog necklaces
bought at Wal-Mart, which
ranged from 25 to 35 per-
cent cadmium, the charms
on The Best Friends bracelets
bought at Claire’s stores,
which contained 89
and 91 percent
cadmi-
um and the
charms from
two Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer
bracelets sold at Dol-
lar N’ More store in
Rochester, N.Y., which
contained 82 and 91 percent cad-
mium.
Malden local, Kelly Marcella
elaborated,“If they’re going to put
to have trade with China, they need
to follow the same regulations that
we follow. You have to wonder,
is what they’re making really safe
anymore?”
Hillary Small Rowley local
People have been using "cheap"
jewelry for years and I haven't
seen how it can harm a little kid. I
sometimes buy myself jewelry from
Wal-Mart and dollar stores and I
haven't noticed any kind of defects
from it. The most that has happened
is my finger or neck or wrist will
turn green from the jewelry. I mean
there is always the possibility of
lead poisoning from the jewelry but
I haven't heard any stories of that
happening.
Stimulus Plan
to Relieve
Middle Class
Xavier Leo
Copy Editor

Brittany McFeeley
Copy Editor
when the car
drove accel-
erated by it-
P resident Barack Obama has pro-
posed a new round of stimulus
spending in 2010, focused on mid-

T oyota Motor Sales have re- self, however dle class families struggling to pay
cently been affected by two they were bills and care for their families. The
major defects in their most recent able to make initiatives in the new stimulus pack-
models. The first issue is “floor it back safely. age are a product of a middle class
mat entrapment,” and the second These are just task force headed by Vice President
is the pedal. The floor mat two of the Joe Biden, and will also be included
entrapment is when the driver’s thousands in Obama’s budget request due
floor mat interferes with the caus- of incidents to be submitted to Congress next
ing it to get stuck in the wide open that have oc- week. Biden defined middle class
position, which is when the gas curred due as a family of four with an annual
Toyota technician Edgar Mandujano uses a computer to to the defects income of about $85,000. Some of
pedal is pushed all the way to the
check his work on a gas pedal repair at Central Toyota in with the gas the initiatives proposed include the
floor. About 3.8 million cars from
Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, February 4, 2010. pedals. doubling of the child care tax credit
Toyota are being recalled just to
Gas pedal problems have sparked a spate of recalls for T h i s for families earning under $85,000.
switch out the floor mat. The cars
Toyota. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/MCT) dilemma is a This is equivalent to increasing the
that are affected by this recall is
the 2007 to 2010 Camry, 2005 to current deduction limit from twenty
affected by the second recall are the, dangerous issue because Toyota percent to thirty five percent. Fami-
2010 Avalon, 2004 to 2009 Prius,
2009 to 2010 RAV4, the 2009 to 2010 is not only putting the driver of lies making under $115,000 would
2005 to 2010 Tacoma, 2007 to 2010
Corolla, the 2009 to 2010 Matrix, the the car in danger, but it is putting also see at least some increase in
Tundra, 2007 to 2010 Lexus ES 350,
2005 to 2010 Avalon, the 2007 to 2010 other drivers in danger of being their tax credit as well. Secondly, A
2006 to 2010 Lexus IS 250, and the
Camry, the 2010 Highlander, the seriously injured or even getting $1.6 billion increase in federal fund-
2006 to 2010 Lexus IS 350. Toyota
2007 to 2010 Tundra, and the 2008 to killed. Also Toyota is letting their ing for child care programs to help
plans to reshape the gas pedal to
2010 Sequoia. completion companies such as working parents pay for child care
avoid this happening again. This
In addition to these recalls, Honda and Ford prosper while in fiscal 2011, which begins Oct.
recall will not affect the company’s
Toyota has recalled 110,000 Tundra they fix millions of recalled cars. 1, to benefit an additional 235,000
business because they have put to-
Pickup because the spare tires could Even though they have a recall children. Thirdly, the plan will cap
gether a recall fund of 5.6 million
possibly fall off the cars while they fund and they say that this will not student’s federal loan payments at
dollars from which they will take.
are driving, which could cause ma- have any effect on their company, ten percent of income above a basic
They are hoping to come out with
jor traffic problems. it will. There is a big chance that living allowance, to make payments
a new design by April.
Toyota has halted all produc- these costumers will not go back to more affordable. The president also
The second issue is the pedal.
tion of these cars in North America their old cars because of the dan- proposed forgiving all remaining
This is when the gas pedal gets
to avoid any more of these incidents. ger that Toyota had just put them debt after 10 years of payment for
stuck in the depressed motion and
For example in Boca Raton, Florida, in. So Toyota needs to fix these cars those in public service work - and
does not release, or returns very
a driver of one of the recalled models fast before they lose their custom- 20 years for all others. Finally, the
slowly to the right position. This
slammed into a palm tree when the ers. proposal will expand tax credits
recall affected 2.6 million Toyota
car accelerated on its own. Another
cars, some of which are also af-
incident was when a costumer was
fected by the other issue. The cars continued to page 9
in a Toyota RAV4 with a salesman,
The Blue and Gold
January 2010 world news 9
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/

continued from page 8 Obama looking to create more jobs

i.e. you must be working and pay-
ing taxes. You must also make sure
that your income does not exceeded
the amount of $95,000 per year, or,
if you are married and wish to sub-
mit a joint stimulus consideration
request, then the joint income of
the two applicants mustn’t exceed
$190,000 per year. You must also
keep in mind that certain restrictions
to the federal tax cut the stimulus
will grant you apply if your annual
intake exceeds $75,000 or if you and
your spouse’s joint annual income
exceeds $150,000.
The federal tax deduction
comprised in the stimulus will put
in (or rather, not take out of) your
pocket the sum of $400 (or for a joint
application a total of $800). This is
money the government normally
would have taken out of your sal-
ary that you are now allowed to
keep. It’s the same amount you re-
ceived in 2009, only divided along
12 months instead of 9. This, in case
you meet all the requirements and
benefit from the full tax deduction.
The amount of the deduction will
President Barack Obama gives his first State of the Union ad- be smaller depending on where you
dress to Congress on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, January 27, 2010 stand on the annual income chart.
in Washington, D.C. (Robert Giroux/MCT) You will not be receiving a check
to match retirement savings. This But how do you know you in the mail or a check from your
proposal would also require many qualify for this generalized federal employer to mark the stimulus tax
employers to provide the option of a tax deduction that is part of the gov- cut, but rather, you will be receiving
workplace-based 401(k) retirement ernment’s stimulus package and an extra few dollars every month on
savings plan. Employers who don’t how should you go about receiving top of what you’ve been earning so
offer 401(k) retirement plans to offer what the government is offering far. Those with maximum benefits
direct-deposit IRAs for their em- you, like a 2010 stimulus check ? from the stimulus will cash an extra
ployees (unless they opt out), with According to The Huffington Post, in $33 every month for the duration of
exemptions for the smallest firms. order to qualify you must be paying the 2010 stimulus check thanks to
The cost to employers would be off- social security; this means you have the stimulus plan. That means that if
set by new tax credits. to be employed (or self-employed), you are filing for the federal tax de-
duction with someone else, together
you will receive $66 every month.
If you are working two jobs
and qualify for the federal tax cut,
you will probably need to be extra
careful. As it turns out, you stand
to get a tax deduction on both pay-
checks, which means that you that
you have double benefits, which
unfortunately isn’t possible. Even if
you are working two jobs, you only
qualify for one share of the stimu-
lus plan, which means that if you
receive the something extra on your
paychecks from both jobs, you will
either have to notify one of your em-
ployers instructing them to desist,
or you will be required to return the
extra money after the end of the fis-
cal year.
The President recently said in
The New York Times that creating new
jobs and reducing unemployment is
the “single-most important thing we
can do to rebuild the middle class.
We also need to reverse the overall
erosion in middle-class security, so
that when this economy does come
back, working Americans are free to
pursue their dreams again.”
The White House says the new
proposals are aimed at just that - the
“sandwich generation” that is now
struggling to care for both children
and parents. The theme fits into
the planned economic message of
Obama’s prime-time address to the
nation on Wednesday, which prom-
ises to provide a sharper focus on
jobs and is likely to cover financial
regulations, energy, education, im-
migration and a push to change the
political tone in Washington.

Brown Wins Over Massachusetts

Omar Khoshafa
Copy Editor for campaigning, still managed to
appear in a TV advertisement first,

M assachusetts, the legendary

Democratic stronghold in
terms of politics, fell to Republican
forces as Republican candidate Scott
Brown won the special election over
Martha Coakley for the Massachu-
setts senate seat recently vacated
by the deceased Edward Kennedy.
This special election was held on
Jan. 19, 2010 throughout all of
Massachusetts, and naturally, most
people again expected an obvious
Democratic victory. Unfortunately
for those Democrats, a Republican
victory was carried out and created
a nationwide wave which shook all
the members of both parties alike in
unexpected ways.
Martha Coakley was the
Democratic candidate for the vacant
Massachusetts senate seat. Prior to
running for the senate seat, Coakley
served as the Middlesex District At-
torney for 9 years. During her cam-
paign, Coakley took on major issues
such as supporting health care
reform and removing US soldiers
from Afghanistan. Unfortunately,
Coakley in the last week of the
campaign seemed to “lose touch”
with the people. Several PR blun-
ders made her seem as if she was
an “outsider” to the people of the
Massachusetts. Benjamin Max, a US
history teacher at MHS also believes
that both Coakley and Obama were
to blame. Obama, having launched
one of the most successful cam-
paigns in American history in 2008,
should have aided Coakley earlier
in her campaign, seeing that this
election would have a tremendous
effect on the Senate balance. These
factors combined with, what MHS
senior Jack Tat stated, “Her inabil-
ity to connect with the voters” was
probably what turned the election
results in favor of Brown.
Scott Brown was little known
by the general public before these
special elections, but during his
campaign, his charisma appeared
to overshadow that of Coakley’s.
Brown campaign, in short, consisted
of the rejection of the current senate
Heath Bill, anti-abortion and anti-
immigration laws. Brown, with a
significantly less amount of capital
in which he drove around in a pick-
up truck, appealing to the “average
Joe.” Numerous factors helped turn
Brown’s campaign to victory, and
the most prominent was his state-
ment during a Massachusetts Senate
debate, in which he said, ““With all
due respect, it’s not the Kennedy’s
seat, it’s not the Democrats’ seat,
it’s the people’s seat.” These words
really caught the public attention,
especially the Independent faction,
which holds a majority of the elec-
torate in Massachusetts.
The election of a Republican
senator in the liberal Massachusetts
set a warning for Democrats across
the nation. The center stage is now
focused on the current senate health
care bill, which according to Max,
“…is now going to undoubtedly
change from where it was before.”
Now with 41 Republicans in the Sen-
ate chamber, the Republican faction
is now able to prevent legislature
from being passed. Max now thinks
that with Scott Brown in the Senate,
“there is a chance that no reform to
health care will be passed.”
10 world news
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
The Devastation of Haiti
Haitians sleep in the street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, January 24,
2010. The majority of Haitians are sleeping outside nearly two weeks
after the earthquake. They are either too afraid to go back in their
homes or their homes have been destroyed. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles
Times/MCT)
Haitians fight with each other in a warehouse district in downtown
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, January 24, 2010. The downtown area
of the city has become a target for people to scavenge goods from the
abandon stores. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/MCT)
Malden High School Students’ Comments
On the Earthquake in Haiti
• “I felt disbelief when I heard it happened. I felt that [the earth-
quake] happened in the worst place it could have happened.”
- Junior Karl Denis
• “I was scared and I cried when I heard the news, because I
immediately thought of my dad.”
-Anonymous
For more pictures on Haiti and to get contact
information to aid Haiti, go to the online
edition:
www.maldenblueandgold.com
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
Natalie Fallano Megan Kelly
Reporter Reporter
A s the afternoon sun began to sink on Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti’s capital of Port-
au-Prince and the surrounding areas were hit by a 7.0 magnitude earth-
quake. The aftermath of the disaster has left Port-au-Prince in ruin with an
ever-increasing death toll. On Jan. 24, 2010, the United Nations confirmed an
estimated 150,000 dead. The number was given to the Haitian government by
the Center for Naval Engineering (CNE), a company from the United States
aiding Haiti. Victims’ corpses were buried en masse in huge graves dug out-
side of Port-au-Prince and the nearby wasteland of Titanyen.
The quake was caused by the North American and Caribbean tectonic
plates – which had been fused together since the last earthquake in 1751 –
finally ripping apart and releasing energy that had been building up for over
300 years. The major damage of the earthquake was due to the fact that the
focal point of the earthquake was only 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince,
allowing the released energy to travel faster to Port-au-Prince. Though the
depth of the quake was another major factor of how the earthquake would af-
fect the surrounding area. The earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, was only 6.2 miles
beneath the surface which, compared to earthquakes in areas like the South
Pacific, is relatively shallow; earthquakes felt in this area usually take place
hundreds of miles below the surface, and the plates are not moving from side
to side; rather one of the plates is going deeper into the earth while the other
is moving higher up.
The effects of the earthquake on the Haitian people and their country
were disastrous. When it struck, almost every building in Port-au-Prince col-
lapsed, including schools, houses, the Presidential Palace, the Port-au-Prince
Cathedral, hospitals, and the main jail. People were all inside these buildings
when the earthquake struck, and tens of thousands of people were crushed
and killed. With 3 million people affected by the earthquake, the death toll in
the capital alone was 150,000, an estimated 250,000 people sustained injuries,
and as many as one million Haitians were left homeless. Among the dead
were many public government figures, famous musicians, and athletes. Many
Haitians are in need of serious medical attention, food, and water. Rescue
teams were sent out to look for survivors under the collapsed building a day
after the disaster occurred.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and will need
help from several countries throughout the world to begin recovery. The first
to help was their neighboring country, the Dominican Republic, who opened
their borders to all the refugees in need of help from Haiti. Next, the US and
Canada sent medical supplies, rescue workers, water, and food. The UN also
sent supplies and rescue workers. Soon doctors and rescue teams from organi-
zations and countries from all over the world arrived ready to help. Countries
all over the world also began raising money through donations; the US held
a telethon called, “Hope for Haiti” broadcasting stories of Haitians affected
by the catastrophe and performances of many well known singers. In total
$57 million was raised by donors over phones. Countries including the US,
Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, and Brazil promised hundreds of
millions of dollars all together. Among these, the US announced a large relief
fund effort for Haiti. President Obama said the US would give $100 million to
the aid effort, pledging that the people of Haiti “will not be forgotten.” Haiti’s
already corrupt government, economy, and country will take years to recover,
but the people affected will surely get the help they need and will not be left
to fend for themselves.
Lawson Joseph, 11, stands near the shoreline in the city of Petit Goave, Haiti,
Monday, January 25, 2010. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/MCT)
The Blue and Gold
January 2010 local news 11
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/

Malden unites in the wake Alex

of an earthquake Mathieu’s
Alexandra Mathieu
Online Editor
Personal
T he US Census Bureau, in its three year estimate, approxi-
mates that out of the 1,844,415 residents in the Middlesex
county, 14, 466 of them are of Haitian descent, making Haitians
Account
the largest population in the Middlesex county from the West
Indies.
The earthquake that devastated Haiti and its equally de-
structive aftershock were not just felt in the Caribbean country.
W hen I got home from track
practice, I expected a lot to
happen. I expected that my mom
They were felt in the hearts and minds of millions Americans, would be home, either cooking food
including many Malden residents. or doing the laundry. I expected nei-
Malden High School principal Dana Brown understood ther of my brothers to be home, since
that there is a large Haitian population at MHS, and addressed they both work late. I expected to
the situation formally to students, Haitian Club members, and hop on the computer, waste a good
faculty alike one week after the tragedy. He indicated that Mayor two hours on Facebook before start-
Richard Howard spoke to Governor Deval Patrick, both coming ing any of my homework.
to a consensus that Massachusetts will look for funds to donate I didn’t expect my mom to be
to the American Red Cross (ARC) in order to supply earthquake gripping our house phone, with her
victims in Haiti with food, water, first aid, and other necessities. eyes permanently glued onto the
Brown suggested that donations are best given to the ARC television as pictures of Haiti were
and Salvation Army since 90 percent of the donation will be sent continuously shown. Images of help-
to the cause; the other percentage is used to pay for employees, less Haitians in pain, crying for their
fuel, supplies, etc. He also emphasized that MHS should fund- loved ones, trying to save those stuck
raise for Haiti as a school and not separately so one large check under the rubble, were etched in my
could be given to the ARC rather than sending multiple smaller retinas.
Pastor Samuel Jerome and Reverand Martha checks. A member of the Haitian Club, senior Sandy Joseph ex-
Dominy hosted the vigil in which many Malden There was a part of me that was
pressed how she hopes “we can all work together to bring in the totally removed from the situation. I
residents joined together to acknowledge the dev- money.”
astating earthquake in Haiti. Photo by Alexandra didn’t feel, didn’t speak, and didn’t
This sense of unity did not end with MHS, though. On Jan. really comprehend the gravity of the
Mathieu 21, 2010, the city of Malden held a vigil to support the Haitian situation. For a few minutes I didn’t
community at the Malden Senior Center, sponsored by the state, know what to make of the CNN
the Cambridge Health Alliance, and surrounding schools. Many were in attendance such as Brown, Superintendent anchors talking solemnly about the
Sidney Smith, City Councillor Gary Christensen, and representatives from both ARC and the Haitian Consulate. tragedy in Haiti. Looking back at it
Despite not being in attendance, Governor Patrick sent Richard Chacón, his Director of Policy and Cabinet Affairs. now, I suppose I was in a mild state
MCs for the vigil were Pastor Samuel Jerome of the Philadelphie Seventh Day Adventist Church of Malden and of shock, not wanting to believe that
Reverend Martha Dominy of the First Baptist Church of Malden. such a thing could happen to Haiti, to
After a quick introduction and an opening prayer, the vigil began with updates on the situation in Haiti. my people, to my family.
One of the biggest issues in sending supplies to Haiti was that the only way of getting the goods to Haiti was by “I can’t get through,” my mom
ship, and even then the port of Port-au-Prince was closed. However, it was confirmed that the port was stabilized said to me. I looked at her and felt her
enough for a reopen, making it that much easier to get medical attention, food, clothes, and other supplies to Haiti. horror, her agony. “I can’t get through
The city of Malden is known for its diversity, however the quick response both from the city and the state to Haiti.”
will make Malden also known for its compassion, its care for its residents, and its unanimity. This earthquake has Throughout the night, calls
greatly wounded the Malden community, however like most wounds, this will heal, leaving Malden stronger and from worried relatives, concerned
more united than it ever was. friends, and sympathetic advisors
congested my phone lines. The whole
world was now watching Haiti dur-
The following numbers and links are provided to show ways to aid Haiti, ing its time of need.
locate a loved one in Haiti, additional information and assistance. After an especially long
phone call, my mother reported to me
To locate family members in Haiti: that one of our close family friends
The State Department Operations Center had a son in Haiti. He was there to
- 1-888-407-4747 (Press 0 to speak to a customer service representative) practice medicine and to help the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Family Links country he came from. Over the next
- www.icrc.org/familylinks couple of days, we learned that he
Ways to Help: became a casualty.
Mass 2-1-1 Office My pain was accompanied by
- Dial 211 or 1-8777-211-MASS (available 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week) an overwhelming sense of helpless-
To obtain a list of credible organizations to donate money ness. It wasn’t as if I could go to Haiti
- www.interaction.org at that very moment and become a
Additional Information: hero, pulling people out of buildings
Congressman Ed Markey’s Medford Office and distributing supplies to families.
- 781-396-2900 I wanted to help, but I didn’t know
Haitian Consulate how to.
- 617-266-3660 (Open on weekends as well) Although it has been almost
Massachusetts Haitian Support and Information page a month since the earthquake oc-
-http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Massachusetts-Haitian-Earthquake-Support- curred, it still lingers in the minds of
Information/279550361479?ref=mf many. I was proud to see that during
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Super Bowl XLIV there was an ad-
- www.mass.gov/mema vertisement to donate money to Haiti
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/MassEMA and aid those who need it. I know
- Facebook: Search Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency that this earthquake will go down
- FOR LOCAL OR STATE ELECTED OFFICIALS: call either 1-508-820-2006 or 1-508-820-2075 in the history books, but I also know
Additional Assistance: that it will remain with me for the
A newly opened Referral and Support Center at the SEIU Local 1199 Bayside Office Center rest of my life, forever changing my
- 150 Mt. Vernon St., Dorchester, MA. Open from 9 AM to 9 PM on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays values and my appreciation of what I
If you are affiliated with a community or faith based organization and wish to connect people with have.
mental health services
- Contact the Department of Mental Health (617-626-9272 if you are in the Boston area or 508-977-3160 if
you are in the Southeast region)
12
The Colby Sawyer Progressive Scholars are students that are connected to their school community,
academically talented, and unique. The ideal symbiotic relationship between college and pupil is
epitomized in this scholarship program that offers a student a full ride to their institution and in
return, receives a diverse and active student.
Progressive Scholars
Joao Nascimento
Head of World News
Ray Roland
M alden High School senior Ray
Roland has gone through
many challenges throughout his
high school career, and now the
work has paid off, as he is one of this
year’s Colby-Sawyer Scholarship
winners. When Roland received the
phone call telling him that he won
the scholarship he felt “simply as-
tonished and happy.” Roland admits
winning the scholarship was not all
luck, he had to work for it and it got
the point where he claimed that he
was “in a critical moment where I
was pretty overwhelmed for the fact
that I had to work on my college
stuff and school at the same time.”
Roland is originally from
Haiti and speaks English, Creole,
French, and a proficient amount
of Spanish. He felt he had to move
to the United States because his
“father lives here and also because
I wanted to go to a good college
where I could be better off studying
what I have always wanted to which
is medical science.” Roland believes
his biggest challenges coming to the
United States were getting used to
English, the American people and
learning how the government, laws
and culture is similar and different
from Haiti.
Roland’s plans to study
medical science and bring more di-
versity to the college. After college,
Roland wishes to “live a peaceful
life with enough money to afford to
get what I need, get married [to the]
woman I love and have some kids.”
Winning the scholarship
was not something Roland did, or
Local News
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
Haley DeFillipis
Head of Business
could have done all by himself. He
needed great encouragement, guid-
ance and assistance along the way.
Roland stated that he could not
have won the scholarship without
his US History teacher Ben Max, his
English Language Learner (ELL)
teacher Charlotte Dumont, C-House
guidance councilor Ann O’Connor,
who “believed in me and referred
me to the program even though I
didn’t know about,” A-House guid-
ance councilor Victoria Lipinski, the
Colby-Sawyer Progressive Scholar-
ship members, all of his teacher at
MHS and his friends. Roland seems
to be ready for a great college career
at Colby-Sawyer with the outstand-
ing amount of support that he has
achieved from everyone at MHS.
Tenzin Tsephel
T
enzin Tsephel’s family originat-
ed from Tibet, however, when
the Chinese government annexed
the region, her grandparents and
parents had to move to a new loca-
tion, which at first was India, then
Nepal. In Nepal, Tsephel relied on
other people, such as her parents,
often, which was one of the main
reasons she left her 18-year life in
Nepal to begin anew in the United
States of America. “I just wanted to
be more independent and the United
States is the perfect country to be in-
dependent and to live on my own,”
Tsephel stated. She was particularly
thrilled when she found out that
she won the scholarship because it
paid full tuition so she could live
on her own on the New Hampshire
campus. “I was really excited when I
Chris Brown
Reporter
found out that I won because I could
finally live on my own. I still have to
buy books and food but the schol-
arship is really helpful financially,”
Tsephel explained.
Adjusting to life in the US
was a challenge for Tsephel and
her family because her father went
from being a principal in Nepal to
being a part time worker in America
and her mother found work as a
housekeeper. However, English was
not an obstacle for Tsephel because
she had been previously studying
the language in Nepal, adding a
fourth language to her repertoire,
the other three including Nepali,
Tibetan and Hindi. The overload
of new culture and religion was a
shock to Tsephel, who remembers
having been exposed to only the
Nepali and Tibetan cultures and
the Buddhist religion back home,
and being forced to pray twice a
day. “The Untied States culture was
really difficult to get used to, Ameri-
cans seem very frank to me, where
the Nepali are more reserved,”
Tsephel explained. On Aug. 5, 2008, Patricia Exilus
Tsephel is looking forward to life
in Colby-Sawyer mostly because of
living independently and studying
nursing, something she has wanted
to do since she was a child. Tsephel
is not at all nervous about living on
campus, away from her family. She
has an advantage over other high
school seniors because she has al-
ready lived at school back in Nepal.
“In my old country, we stayed at
school away from our parents and
had to live under strict rules, if we
tried to escape, we were punished,”
Tsephel recalls. However, it was not
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
completely a bad thing for Tsephel.
“It was kind of fun to live with my
friends instead of parents, we would
always be able to talk to our friends
and play games,” Tsephel stated.
Some of Tsephel’s favorite
things at Malden High School are
her Biology class and club and all
of her teachers especially Eun Han
and Beth Kershner, two English Sec-
ond Language (ESL) teachers who
recommended Tsephel for the schol-
arship. “All of the teachers at MHS
are really friendly, helpful and even
funny,” Tsephel said of her instruc-
tors. Tsephel’s favorite class would
have to be Biology as she is a mem-
ber of the club, which, according to
Tsephel, is “very interesting because
we learn about different living crea-
tures.” It is no doubt that Tsephel,
who wants to be a nurse, would find
Biology interesting!. Tsephel seems
well on her way to a formative four
years at college.
Patricia Exilus
received a monumental birthday
present: she was moving to the
United States. Since living in Haiti,
Exilus has always been a passionate,
hardworking student, and is now
proud to call herself a Progressive
Scholar.
Exilus moved from Haiti to the
US due to economic reasons, and
states that “in Haiti, no matter what,
you have to pay for college.” Since
arriving in the country, Exilus has
been working towards a scholar-
ship that would relieve the financial
burdens of college from her family.
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
“Here, if you try, the schools can
help you.”
Exilus came across the Colby
Sawyer scholarship in a very un-
conventional way. When the rep-
resentatives of the colleges visited
the Malden High School campus,
Exilus was attending a University
of New Hampshire talk, but guid-
ance counselor Victoria Lipinski
suggested that she should go listen
to the Colby Sawyer representa-
tives, saying that “that’s where [she]
should be.”
Although Exilus credits Lipin-
ski as the primary helper during
the scholarship process, the 18 year
old student has an extensive list of
activities and accomplishments. A
member of the Biology Club, her
schedule is packed with Honors
courses in which she earns exempla-
ry grades. Exilus sees high school as
a preparation for college, and hopes
to go into pre-medicine, citing “her
wish to help people in need” as her
main incentive in pursuing the ca-
reer.
When asked about the effects
the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in
Haiti had on the family, Exilus
states that although she did not
lose anyone from her family, the de-
struction in her homeland severely
impacted her emotionally, and
she states that “she will be happy
to help Haiti soon in the future.”
Ashley Lazarre
A shley Lazarre never expected to
win the Colby Sawyer scholar-
ship, but after taking a look at her
resume*ACCENT, her win is hardly
a surprise. Deeply involved in school
activities (GSA, Key Club, and Hai-
local news
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
tian Club to name a few)
Lazarre is also academically
talented and driven. She believes
that “[she] worked really hard for
the past three years” but the schol-
arship was an unexpected blessing.
On early September, Lazarre
visited Colby Sawyer with a close
friend and admired the campus
size and location, but “didn’t know
much about it.” Her interest for the
school grew due to Victoria Lipin-
ski’s persistence in having her apply
for the scholarship.
Upon further research, Lazarre
fell in love with Colby Sawyer’s
study abroad program and the op-
portunity to travel outside of the
country is just one of the many fac-
tors that pushed Lazarre to accept
the scholarship. “I wanted to leave
home, have a new experience, I
wanted to move away from home
and Colby Sawyer has the perfect
location!”
Lazarre describes the scholar-
ship as a “new year’s gift.” After she
was not one of the four students se-
lected for the Posse scholarship, she
started to worry about the financial
obstacles of college. Even though
she works three jobs, Lazarre ad-
mits that without financial aid or
a scholarship she would never be
able to afford the average five-figure
college price tag. “I have seen a lot
of friends who did not go to college
because they couldn’t afford it,”
says Lazarre “and I was very afraid
I would never get financial aid.”
With her eyes set on a busi-
ness degree, Lazarre is excited to
begin her college experience at
Colby Sawyer and “pursue a bet-
ter future through education.”
Anne DeOliveira
A
nne DeOliveira’s strive to suc-
ceed throughout her four years
at Malden High School has paid off
as she won a scholarship to Colby-
Sawyer College.
DeOliveira realized her urge to
win the scholarship when she found
out they offered a nursing program
and require doing an internship as
well as study aboard programs that
are offered. She adds, “Everything
that I was informed from Colby-
Sawyer from the clubs to the classes
offered made me want to go to this
school even more.”
Colby-Sawyer’s woodsy New
Hampshire campus itself led DeO-
liveira to fall in love, “the location is
completely different from what I am
used to.”
DeOliveira started her col-
lege process over the summer in
which she attended a campus tour
and received more information
about the college. She even started
her college essay last summer and
she “literally did 15 drafts of it and
was always asking Mrs. Lipinski
questions of ways that [she] could
complete the process.” While many
seniors do not come to realize what
they want to pursue in their college
education, DeOliveira is certain she
wants to become a pediatric nurse.
She was raised and brought
up from a Christian Brazilian fam-
ily. Coming from a family that came
to the U.S. in search of a better life
has always pushed DeOliveira to try
harder for the things she wishes to
accomplish. Gratefully, DeOliveira
says “My family has always been
very supportive and without the
13
from left to right: Andy Luc-
ien, Jillian Dervishian, Patricia
Exilus, Tenzin tsephel, Ray
roland, kervin Louis.
support and love from my
family I would not be where
I am.” DeOliveira also be-
lieves she could not
have received the
Colby-Sawyer schol-
arship without her
family at her side.
A s
for her future, it
has changed her
entire life. The
scholarship has
helped her
strive harder
to accomplish
her dream
of becoming
a nurse and “making a
difference in someone’s life.”
Without hesitation, DeO-
liveira states, “I am absolutely posi-
tive Colby-Sawyer College is right
for me.”
Jillian Dervishian
J illian Dervishian’s hard work and
leadership qualities over the past
four years have led her to win one
of the Colby-Sawyer scholarships.
Having been interested in Colby-
Sawyer since she first saw the school
in her junior year, she saw it as a
great opportunity to pursue further
education.
Dervishian expresses to win
a scholarship, “It’s about leader-
ship. You need to show leadership
throughout high school. When you
accept the scholarship and get to the
school, you need to attend meetings
and do things around the campus
that show your leadership.”
Dervishian has certainly
proved her leadership throughout
her four years at Malden High
School. She was captain of MHS’s
field hockey team, as well as presi-
dent of the Captain’s Council.
Dervishian comes from
a hard working successful back-
ground. She also believes the schol-
arship has taken a financial burden
off her and her family’s back because
she can now attend “a good school
at a low cost.”
As for her future, she is still
undecided about the many choices
she could make. Dervishian is also
looking at other schools, hoping in
the end that it will all come down to
a school that is exactly right for her.
“I plan on excelling in col-
lege and moving on from there.”
14 local news The Blue and Gold
January 2010
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/

Nobel Laureate Dudley Herschbach Visits Malden High

Johanna Lai
Reporter

T he opportunity to listen to an
esteemed Nobel Prize Winner
is not an everyday occurrence, but
some Malden High School chemis-
try students were lucky enough to
spend some time with Nobel Lau-
reate Dudley Hershbach on Jan. 27,
2010. Herschbach spent two hours
with both Honors and AP Chemis-
try students discussing molecular
kinetics – the field in which he won
a Nobel Prize twenty-four years
ago.
The Nobel Prize, an exclusive
award given annually to accom-
plished individuals who have made
extraordinary breakthroughs in
their respective fields, carries with
it a great deal of reputation. Indeed,
it is an honor for MHS students
to receive someone as famous as
Herschbach. In 1986, Herschbach
received the Nobel Prize in Chem-
istry, together with Yuan T. Lee and
John C. Polanyi, while working at
Harvard University to develop the
study of reaction dynamics.
Before Herschbach became a
laureate, he was the associate editor
of the Journal of Physical Chemis-
try. He graduated first in his class
from Standford University with the
intention of studying mathematics;
however, by the time he came to
Harvard in 1958, where he received
his Ph.D. in Chemi-
cal Physics, Hersch-
bach realized that
he had an interest in
studying molecular
beams in chemical
reactions at the ele-
mentary level. After
he graduated from
Harvard, he went
to the University of
California, Berkeley;
he was hired as an
assistant professor
of chemistry in 1959
and later as an as-
sociate professor in
1961.
Before he be-
came a successful Nobel Laureate Dudley Herschbach gives a lecture to MHS Chemistry students in the li-
academic scholar, brary . Photo by Johanna Lai
however, Hersch-
bach had to overcome and defy the in National Geographic. This basis, he still chooses to find the
odds. He grew up in a poor family marked a turning point for young time to reach out to the next gen-
of six children and neither of his par- Herschbach, who, from that point eration, and instill within them the
ents had college degrees. As a child, on, studied science with poignant same passion for the sciences as he
he grew up on a farm in San Jose, interest. himself feels. For MHS students, the
CA; in his autobiography on the One might wonder why such visit was invaluable. As Dr. Diane
Nobel Prize homepage, he explains a distinguished man with so many Perito said, “This is an incredible
that he “milked cows, fed pigs and accomplishments would choose to opportunity for students to realize
chickens, and picked prunes, apri- come to an ordinary high school that anything is possible.” And as
cots, and walnuts.” Despite coming such as MHS; for Herschbach, how- Herschbach’s upbringing and rise to
from such a background, he sud- ever, visiting high school students is prominence shows, it really is true:
denly became interested in science a rewarding experience. Even as he science can make almost anything
through an article about astronomy continues his research on a regular possible.

Student Feedback
What is Chemical Kinetics?
An Holmqvist
Copy Editing Director
Chemical Kinetics is the observation of how fast a chemical
reaction occurs and is also the basis of most of Herschbach’s “He was a very down-to-earth type of guy who
studies. He received his Ph.D from Harvard University didn’t mind telling us about his personal experi-
in Chemical Physics and continued to make striking ences. I think we’re all very lucky to have met
breakthroughs through a method known as Molecular Beam him.” - Anthony Phamduy
Scattering.

“Herschbach was very funny; he really made us

more interested in science.” - Hung Banh

Chemical Physics takes

the study of particles
and their speed down to “He might have been an impressive person, but he
the molecular level. didn’t make us feel uncomfortable. he was friend-
ly.” - Trang Tran
The basis of studying chemical reaction rates is often visualized in the form
of this diagram. This graph shows the relationship between activation energy
(Ea) and enthalpy (ΔH), with and without a catalyst.

“Herschbach didn’t just come to lecture us

about ordinary chemistry. He also came to share
with us his real work.” - Adil Elkarmach

In this area of study, the two general areas of Chemistry and Physics merge
and allow scientists to observe how fast particles move - as studied in phys-
ics - in order to determine the rate of reaction - as studied in chemistry. One
“He was a very Laid-Back kind of guy; he con-
such example is shown above in the behavior of enzymes (biological catalysts
nected well with us.” - Sabrina Desriviere
that cells use to speed up metabolism).
The Blue and Gold
January 2010 local news 15
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/

Mock Trial Team Makes a Case

Joel Stevenson
Reporter

O nce upon a time, the Mock Trial

Team was nothing but a sole
idea of one teacher. Ann Pember, So-
cial Studies teacher here at Malden
High school was upset to see that
when she first came to MHS, it did
not have this club. After spreading
the word and talking with Justice
and Government teacher Rick
Tivnan, they were able bring this
program to Malden. Although the
team finished their season 0-3, they
treated it as a learning experience.
After their three competitions
against Saugus, Lynn Classical,
and Winthrop the team adjusted
to courtroom ettiquette as well as Olivia Pagliccia, Sheila Rachels, Angie Genois, Samuel Warton, Jillian Dervisian, and Brittany
sucessfully defending their asser- Joseph at the Saugus competition.
tions.
Several of their competitions
were extremely close and only came winner of this trial will go on to the sional excellence and respect for the members, which consist of mostly
down to a few points. The team so nationals in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- law. The MBA represents a diverse juniors and some seniors. The team
far has already had a competition vania in May. group of attorneys, judges and legal is planning to go all the way this
during January 27th at 1:30 at the Several of the members, professionals across the common- year to nationals. Throughout their
Saugus Town Hall. including Jackie Tynes, learned wealth.” season they have practiced since
With all this hard work, the several valuable lessons during This club is run state-wide, and November, two days a week. As
mock team has high expectations as their competition. Tynes explained starts each November, each school Pember explains, “We have created
stated by In this trial they competed that the team “must be prepared to that is participating is given a case. a google group for the club, where
against Everett High, and sadly lost defend the other side, because they The students mock a trial case that students can post their opening
by four points. Although this defeat have to be able to think on your feet they have months to study and go and closing statements, direct and
did start the team off on a shaky because you are representing your- over and over to get ready. After a set cross exam questions, [their final]
foot, they are still confident for the self and your team.” amount to time they face off against thoughts of their witness roles, and
upcoming meets. As Tivnan teacher The Mock Trial Team is a another school in a courthouse, with general questions and concerns with
advisor states, “[This case] is a hard program that was founded in 1910 a real judge judging them on their the case.” Next year, the group aims
one, but the kids have worked hard by the Massachusetts Bar Asso- performance. Their case centered to prepare earlier and focus more on
to understand it, and Pember and I ciation (MBA). This organization around an investor who lost 44 preparing for the defense.
are hoping that it pays off.” The fi- as stated by their website, “serves percent of his investments and sub-
nal tournament will be on March 26. the legal profession and the public sequently sued them for fraud and
For this competition, all of the mock by promoting the administration misrepresentation.
teams are going to be invited. The of justice, legal education, profes- This year there are sixteen

Stop and Stop Supplements School Salaries

Amanda Adams
Reporter

S top & Shop cards have been around for years and
they broaden the customers’ opportunities. These
cards make it possible to receive savings on many
products. Free antibiotics and an A+ program are a
couple of things that are given to customers when
they own a Stop & Shop card. The A+ program bene-
fits schools by giving each dollar spent by a customer,
money to put in a school account.
“In reality, most of our customers are oblivious
to the new card program and what it entails, it’s just
a shiny new Stop & Shop card, getting the regular
discounts,”Malden High Schools junior Andrew
Terenzi stated, an employee of one of the Stop &
Shops in Malden. There are many different aspects
of the card, but most people take such opportunities
for granted. “I think the cards are useful, but it would
be much easier for us cashiers if the sales just went
through the computers for everyone without the use
of a card,” Terenzi affirmed. Therefore, the Stop &
Shop cards offer a give-take situation. By giving peo-
ple these benefits, it makes things more complicated
for the cashiers. The Stop & Shop cards are a brilliant
way to receive more customers and provide savings Stop & Shop cashier checks out groceries from a costumer. Photo by Joshua Kummins
which should be taken advantage of.
16 local news The Blue and Gold
January 2010
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
For the spanish
Monthly Profile: Mar Marjomaa version visit the
online edition
public higher educa- like to continue to develop a strong spoke similarly of the learning ex-
tion institution, calls program for Spanish, both at MHS perience that Marjomaa’s class was
physics her first love; and, eventually, “to enrich the [Mal- for her: “After having Marjomaa
in fact, at one point, she den] community” in the Spanish for a teacher last year, I’ve realized
hoped to teach physics, language and Spanish culture. Mar- that Spanish class isn’t just about
but “was convinced not jomaa called MHS “very diverse,” learning grammar and vocabulary
to follow through...at but described it as a tightly wound from a textbook; it’s about learning
that time in Mexico, it group of people rather than one sep- Spanish, the language, the culture,
was just for men,” she arated by its differences. Marjomaa in its whole integrity...I’ve begun
explained. herself takes part in this diversity; to appreciate the Spanish language
Instead, Marjo- she is the advisor of the Deafness for what it is, not for what a book
maa decided to teach Awareness Club, which focuses on dictates it is.”
Spanish. Occasionally spreading awareness of the hearing “She gets up in front of us ev-
using her classroom as impaired. ery day and teaches us in a language
a forum for teaching Of Marjomaa, Deafness Aware- that’s foreign to her, and she does
other subjects, such as ness Club co-founder Rachael Sola- it well,” sophomore Mary Stathos
chemistry and English no (who herself is hearing impaired) stated. Junior Andrew Chen echoed
grammar, Marjomaa stated, “What initially made me this sentiment, stating, “Although
feels it essential to push think Marjomaa was a great teacher she was born and raised in Mexico,
Mar Marjomaa in her classroom. Photo by Sharon
her students to a higher were her great stories. She makes her knowledge and speaking of the
Lee.
level of understanding unrealistic situations in the class- English language is incredible.”
Nidale Zouhir Spanish than they may have reached room seem useful.” These feelings are clearly recip-
otherwise; at this point, her Spanish Marjomaa was drawn to teach- rocated; of her students, Marjomaa
Head of Local News III honors classes have already be- ing by examples set for her during stated, “I feel lucky. I really feel hon-
gun learning some of the next level her adolescence; “I think I’ve had ored to have the privilege to work

A lover of physics and a native of of Spanish’s subject matter. “I believe

Mexico, Malden High School that, besides the language, I have a
Spanish III teacher Mar Marjomaa culture to offer,” she stated, adding
the privilege to have had fantastic
teachers in my life,” she stated,
with them. It is like sunshine…they
are intelligent, incredible. I think
adding that “every day is a big chal- they are the best students in the
has managed to develop friendly that she feels her Spanish class leads lenge, and I like challenges.” whole world.”
relationships with her students and to “a window of opportunities to Marjomaa’s students hold Though Marjomaa has only
fellow teachers in only three years, become a citizen of the world.” her in similarly high esteem; “She been teaching at MHS for three
a fact clearly representative of her Her students wholeheartedly is one of the greatest teachers at years, she feels that she is “growing
inviting personality and personal agree; “We get educated in many MHS,” former Spanish III honors into [the Malden community] and
attachment to teaching. worldly aspects besides Spanish,” student Daniel Rendon expressed. finding [her] way in,” stating, “I
Marjomaa, who grew up in stated junior and Spanish III honors “She doesn’t only teach her students don’t feel like a foreigner here...es-
Mexico City and attended La Es- student Hong Chung. Spanish...she teaches them valuable pecially in Malden, I feel at home.”
cuela Normal Superior, Mexico’s In the future, Marjomaa would life lessons.” Junior Alison Nguyen

LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS

Taste of Malden Hits Shoe Drive equals New
the Spot Basketball courts
Alicia Young
Reporter
David Riemer
Co-Editor-In-Chief I f you thought your old worn-out,
too small sneakers were total
trash, you were wrong. The Mal-
den high School Environmental
Club and Athletic Department have

O n Monday night, Fed. 1, 2010, joined forces to enact a shoe drive,

the Jackson Suite Function
Hall in downtown Malden was
abuzz with good conversation and
even better food at the Chamber of
Commerce’s first annual “Taste of
Malden.” Local restaurants from
all over Malden and the surround-
ing area were invited to take part in
this promotional even in which in-
dividuals could buy tickets for $20
and test out the local cuisine. “We
are a just a few weeks removed
from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
birthday and the question he asked
persistently throughout his life was
‘What are you doing for others?’”
Malden City Councilor Gary Chris-
tenson stated. “The Malden Cham-
ber of Commerce in conjunction
with DanversBank helped answer
that question with ‘A Taste of Mal-
den.’ Not only did this event bring
the community together for an
evening but it also raised funds for
the Bread of Life, a Malden-based
organization that serves the hungry,
homeless, needy, and isolated.” In-
deed, the crowd numbered around
300, and ended up raising around
$1000 for the organization--a suc-
cessful event to be sure. “I had no
idea Malden was home to such great
food,” Malden High School junior
Sheila Rachels commented. “I really
hope they do it again next year.”
Massimo’s Ristorante represented
at the first annual Taste of Malden
fundraiser for hte bread of life on
Feb. 1st.
sponsored by Nike and their Reuse-
a-Shoe program. All the shoes col-
lected are turned into “Nike Grind,”
the squishy material sports surfaces
like playgrounds and turf football
fields are made of. The thought
that “one day our football players
and basketball players could be
playing on their own shoes is pretty
amazing,” stated Barbara Scibelli,
a key figure in heading the drive.
Thanks to Nike, the Environmental
Club, MHS’s Athletic Department,
and countless donators, old, use-
less shoes can be transformed into
something better, something that
will promote health and exercise.
The drive has been a great way to
bring about awareness to recycling
and philanthropy. President of the
Environmental Club, Lynn Tran,
calls recycling shoes “important,”
because they’d be turned into some-
thing extremely useful instead of
“thrown away” so they can “fill up
in landfills.”
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
Paige Yurek
Reporter
C ompetition was fierce through-
out Nov. and Dec. 2009, when
all of Malden High School English
classes were assigned to memorize
and perform a poem for “Poetry
Out Loud” and compete against
other classmates. Poetry Out Loud
is a contest in which young adults
from all over the country compete to
recite and express poems in the best
way they can to both entertain and
educated audiences.
After winning the class com-
petition, the winner of each class
competed against other students
in the same English class periods
who also won. Then, one winner
from each period competition went
on to compete against each other
reciting two poems. In addition to
the actual competition, Poetry Out
Loud acts as a way to help students
understand the meaning of poems
and their significance.
Each English class helped their
students prepare for Poetry Out
Loud by deconstructing poems,
understanding tone, and being able
to emote. In fact, Poetry Out Loud
has actually been going on in MHS
classes for five years. Due to the
efforts of English teacher Jennifer
Clapp, it has become a school-wide
competition. “We have never been
able to, but the woman who runs
[Poetry Out Loud] helped organize
it the way Burlington High does
it,” Clapp stated. “It might even
become an annual event.”
On Thursday, Jan. 14th, 2010,
MHS held the final Poetry Out Loud
competition for the school, with the
winners from the class and period
challenges. Winners participating
were: Seniors Bridget Mutebi, Jen-
nifer Joseph, and Tishauna Thomas,
Junior Alison Nguyen, sophomore
and copy editor of The Blue and
Gold, Dan Holmqvist, and Fresh-
men Blondel Binyame and Edgar
Palacios.
Round one consisted of pre-
20th century poetry. Reciting first
was Bridget Mutebi, with a moving
performance of Langston Hughes’
famous poem “The Negro Speaks
of Rivers.” Following, was Tishauna
Thomas’ lively recital of “For My
People,” by Margaret Walker. Next,
Blondel Binyame performed an
animated recitation of Siegfried
Sassoon’s “Dreamers.” Afterwards,
Jennifer Joseph gave her all for her
recital of Katherine Phillips’ “Epi-
taph.” Then, Edgar Palacios emoted
“Life in a Love” by Robert Brown-
ing. At that point, Dan Holmqvist
delivered an exceptional perfor-
mance of “Richard Cory” by Edwin
Arlington Robinson. Finallu, Alison
Nguyen presented her rendition of
John Donne’s “The Sun Rising.”
Local News
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
at Malden High SchooL
Freshman Blondel Binyame recieving a hug from principal Dana Brown after winning Poetry Out Loud with his
recitation of Siegfried Sassoon’s “Dreamers” and Francis Ellen Watkin’s “Slave Auction.” Photo by Paige Yurek.
In round two, contestants re-
cited the poems that made them win
in their class and period competi-
tions. This time, students recited
in the reverse order as round one.
Setting the bar high with Maurice
Kilwein Guevara’s bilingual poem,
“Doña Josefina Counsels Doña
Concepción before Entering Sears,”
was Nguyen, reciting first. Next up
was Holmqvist giving his take on
“Analysis of Baseball” by May Sw-
enson. Changing the tone with “In
a Dark Time” by Theodore Roethke
was Palacios, with quite an emotive
presentation. The fourth recita-
tion of round two was Joseph with
her portrayal of Maya Angelou’s
“Phenomenal Woman.” Following
Joseph was Binyame once again for
an outstanding depiction of “Slave
Auction” by Francis Ellen Watkins.
For her second time around, Thom-
as recited John Clare’s “I Am” with
specific focus on inflection. Finally,
Mutebi wrapped up the contest with
a unique take on “Richard Cory”
Round two being over, it was time
to tally up the results.
In their own ways, each con-
testant worked hard to fully under-
stand and memorize their poems
and work their way to the top, but
there could only be one student to
represent MHS for the Poetry Out
Loud state competition. At last,
the results were in and the outcome
was this; taking third place was
Palacios. Coming in second place
for her challenging, yet excellent
performances was Nguyen, but tak-
ing first place that day was Binyame,
for his stupendous interpretations
of his poems. Every one of the
To hear some of the amaz-
ing poetry recitations, vis-
it the online edition!
participants could be considered
winners for their tremendous ef-
fort and remarkable performances.
Although they did not take first
place that Thursday, Nguyen and
Palacios were very grateful for mak-
ing it as far as they did. Like a good
sport, Palacios says, “It was great, I
felt like I accomplished something
big.” Nguyen agrees proudly, “I feel
pretty accomplished being second
because it’s not just second out of
the seven finalists, but second out of
the entire school.”
Every student in the school had
to prepare for their poetry presenta-
tions in some way, but everyone
seemed to have different techniques
in and out of school than each other.
Third place taker Palacios, explains
how he put himself into his poems
to get a better understanding. Prac-
ticing “Life in a Love,” Palacios says,
“What I did to memorize it was to
picture that one person that I had
very strong feelings for because of
the name of the poem. I just took it
line by every line like if it was com-
ing from my heart.” The second
poem had a very different tone, Pa-
lacios continues, “It was ‘In a Dark
Time,’ so I pictured myself in a dark
place like if I was the poet and like
if I was depressed and alone, so that
helped me.”
Second place champion, Nguy-
en, practiced just as long and hard
to comprehend her poems as many
students and get her performances
right, but used different techniques,
“I remember staying up at 1 a.m.
practicing the gestures and delivery.
In school, I would run lines through
my head and then sometimes re-
17
cite them out loud to my friends.”
Nguyen laughs, “They were good
sports about my random outbursts.”
When asked on how he prac-
ticed, first place winner Benyame
replied, “It took me about 30-45
minutes to memorize my poem and
I just kept saying it over and over
again in front of the mirror until it
was stuck in my head. When it was
time for me to recite the poem, I was
really nervous but I discovered that
I could use the nervousness to sort
of emphasize the true meaning of
my poem, and it worked,” contin-
ued Binyame. “I did not prepare all
by myself. If it wasn’t for my teacher
English teacher, Mr. [David] Lon-
dino I don’t think I would be where I
am at right now. He was a real men-
tor. He was the one who really told
me where my strengths at reciting
were.”
Later, Londino reacted on how
it feels to have such an impact on his
students, like he did with Binyame.
“It feels good,” Londino says, “but
it’s really when the students make
an effort, they are the ones giving
themselves a chance to improve
themselves.” Binyame is just one
example, who truly made an effort.
“Even at the beginning, he trans-
ferred from CP to Honors. Plus, he
came for about an hour after school
each day to prepare.”
18
Valentine’s Day
Lauren Benoit
Reporter
V alentine’s Day is right around
the corner and Malden high
School clubs and classes are not
hesitating to start fund raising.
The freshman class will be sell-
ing one and a half inch lip shaped
lollipops in eight different flavors.
Class President Lisa Delacy remem-
bered how selling these types of lol-
lipops at her old school raised lots
of money, “they were a big hit, and
it helped us raise money for future
school events.” Selling for only one
dollar Delacy exclaims “it’s like
heaven on earth! … Buy one for a
friend, or for yourself.”
What is more romantic than
receiving a message in a heart-
shaped bottle? This Valentine’s Day
the sophomore class is selling “mes-
sages in a bottle” where anyone can
go and write a secret message to a
special someone for three dollars.
Also the class of 2012 is holding a
Valentine’s day Shoutouts
happy valentines
day haley
- Iris Feng
Happy Valentines day
kiaria! Love you!
-Roxy Chaves
Happy valentines day
Xavier
-Haley DeFilippis
Happy Valentines Day
Sarah Palin, and Nicole,
Sam , and Jeff.
-Monika Bashllari
Nick Gravell is a beast.
-Daniel Glynn
Happy valentines day!
-Anonymous
I love you All!
-Kaela Bryan
lOcal News
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
Valentine’s Day social. For five dol-
lars you can eat some snacks and
take a picture in front of their “Val-
entine Card” with your friends. You
wouldn’t want to miss out on this
Kodak moment.
This year the Key Club is sell-
ing red, white, or pink carnations
along with a different selection val-
entine cards for one dollar.
The Breast Cancer Awareness
Club is selling chocolate lollipops
shaped like ribbons, roses, and
hearts for one dollar. All proceeds
go towards the Susan G. Komen
foundation at the end of the year.
Buying a lollipop is one step closer
to the cure.
The annual Valentine’s Day
Bear is now on sale from the Interact
Club. In previous years the seven
and a half inch three dollar bears
were filled with gummie bears. But
this year “to meet the substantial
Thanks for the donation
Mr.BRown.
-Haley DeFilippis and
Brittany McFeely
Happy Valentines Day Brittany
-Hakima Missbah
Hi Alana
-Eddie FIsher
Happy Valentines
day to all my
friends! =)
-Stacey Sousa
Happy Valentines Day
Monika, Sam , Amanda,
and Jeff.
-Nicole Johnson
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
profits the gummie bears have been
cut out” states member Long Lu.
Accompanied by the bear will be a
will cost three. The four in a half inch
teddy bear will cost two dollars.
On a recent poll on Valentine’s
valentine card. Within the past years Day fifty people claimed that they
this has been a huge hit, the club is expected nothing from this holiday.
confident that they will sell out very An anonymous quote written on the
quickly. poll was “this is a stupid holiday,
Red velvet cupcakes and cook- and it shouldn’t even be considered
ies is what the Gay Straight Alliance a holiday.” Seventy nine people were
Club is selling for Valentine’s Day expecting chocolates on this special
at a cost of one dollar. Covering the day, some saying that its cute and
cookie will be rainbow M&M’s to romantic. Twenty eight students
symbolize the club, and the cupcake claimed that they love Valentines
will be covered with cream cheese Day. Twenty seven students voted
frosting. All profits will be donated that balloons were a perfect present
to the children in Uganda. to receive. Another twenty seven
The biggest hit of all, the Fine students thought that other options
Arts Club will be selling balloons were better to give for Valentine’s
and teddie bears this Valentine’s Day.
Day. Ms. Seager states that it’s the Valentine’s Day might just be
club’s “signature fundraiser” is very a “stupid pointless holiday” or a
popular to the Malden High Com- “wonderful treat” but it is much
munity. A large balloon will cost more than that at MHS.
ten dollars, and a small balloon
Happy V-Day Cathy Pham
-Tina Phan and Julia Vu
Dear Marbie, you’re so beautiful
and perfect. i love you.
-love your secret admirer
LAUREN BENOIT IS MY
AMERICAN IDOL !
LOVE NAT FAL.
-Natalie Fallano
Happy Valentines Day to
Blargh all the good looking
Sam la boys in school, and girls
too.
-Ashley Ngo
The Blue and Gold
January 2010 Entertainment
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
Oscar Predictions
Joao and Nidale’s take on who will walk away with a
statuette on Sunday, March 7, 2010.
Nidale Zouhir Joao Nascimento
Head of Local News Head of World News
Best Actor
Joao: This would have been Colin Firth’s year if the now
5-time, 60 year-old Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges hadn’t been nomi-
nated. Firth is perfect in A Single Man, his performance simultane-
ously heartbreaking and funny throughout the film. George Clooney’s
buzz for Up In the Air died earlier in the year, and after walking away
with the Golden Globe, Bridges pretty much has this one in the bank.
Nidale: Although Jeremy Renner’s performance in the The
Hurt Locker was one of the best parts of the otherwise un-
original film, Firth, Clooney, and Bridges clearly outdo him
when it comes to acting. However, Clooney’s performance in
Up in the Air is no different from his performance in Fantastic
Mr. Fox or Michael Clayton; as usual, he simply plays himself.
Firth’s performance as a heartbroken college professor in a
spectacular film, however, was painfully tragic; Bridges’ role in
Crazy Hearts, which is no different than country-singer-mock-
biopics before it, deserves little of the acclaim it has been given
thus far.
Best Supporting Actress
Nidale: Although Mo'Nique seems to be the frontrunner in this
category for her surprisingly spectacular performance in Precious: Based
on the Novel Push by Sapphire, fellow nominee Anna Kendrick might
just steal the statue. After all, who expected the annoying girl from Twi-
light to stand up to George Clooney and, in fact, demonstrate at least as
much acting skill as he did, if not more, in Up in the Air? Naturally, Cra-
zy Hearts' Maggie Gyllenhaal is also a contender, as Crazy Hearts is un-
doubtedly one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year thus far.
Joao: I admit I was the first to discard Precious as a Lifetime
after-school special, but after seeing it, it is almost certain Mo'Nique
will win the Oscar for her terrifying performance. Who would have
thought someone who acted in a movie like Phat Girlz would ever
be nominated for an Academy Award? Mo'Nique should embrace
this moment, and so should the Academy, since she will probably not be
in this position many times in the future. All of the other performances in
this category pale in comparison to Mo'Nique's, but the only other one who
could potentially take this is Julianne Moore for A Single Man, but somehow
she wasn't even nominated! Biggest snub of the year!
Best Orignal Screenplay
Joao: Hello creativity! What this year's nominees lack in execution,
they more than make up for it in writing. The front-runner in this competi-
tion is the tale of American soldiers going undercover as Nazis in World
War II France. Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is a gruesomely
funny freakshow, and hopefully his unconventional sense of humor will be
rewarded by the Academy this year. I would not be shocked if Pixar added
one more statue to their collection with the lovable tale told in Up, or even
The Hurt Locker's dramatic portrayal of soldiers in the Iraq War, but it's time
to recognize Tarantino's unique skill.
Nidale: Quentin Tarantino, who has writ- ten such
iconic films as Pulp Fiction and Resevoir Dogs, has
somehow not yet won an Oscar; however, Inglou-
rious Basterds is so darkly comedic that it might
finally score him a statue. However, Up's script
remains memorable – "I hid under your porch
because I love you!" – and Pixar might take home
another award. The unoriginal A Serious Man
and the forgettable The Messenger barely stand a
chance in this category against the Best Picture
Best Director
Nidale: It is common knowledge that Jason
Reitman was robbed in 2007, when he should have
won Best Director for Juno. It appears as if the same
will happen this year; not even Quentin Tarantino can
compete against the almighty Avatar, let alone Reitman.
James Cameron will undoubtedly win, taking home yet
another statue – though I would not be surprised if The
Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow came from behind to take
the award for her realistic portrayal of the war in Iraq.
Joao: Reitman was not robbed, Julian Schana-
bel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) was! And how can the obvious choice in this category, but The Hurt Locker’s is intense filmmaking at its best, and kept viewers at the edge of
a man who worked in a movie for 10 years not receive the their seats for its two hour run. Although The Hurt Locker deserves the award this year, it would’t hurt to see cutting-edge
Oscar? Cameron's Avatar grossed more than $2 billion, we cinema like Inglourious Basterds being awarded the statuette.
have to give the guy some credit. But when it comes down
Nidale: Although Avatar is clearly the frontrunner in this category (let’s hope James Cameron doesn’t declare
to it, Bigelow's skill with the camera and visual techniques
that he is “king of the world” again this year), The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Up and even Up in the Air deserve
is so obvious in The Hurt Locker, and she achieved so much
the award much more; they all have more innovative and interesting stories, more clever screenplays, and better acting.
with so little money... This is Cameron's year, but Bigelow
However, Avatar’s mainstream appeal and even more mainstream “Go Green!” theme, along with its spectacular special
deserved it.
effects, will no doubt gain it the victory James Cameron has been working toward since 1998’s Titanic.
19
All photos from www.oscar.go.com
Best Actress
Joao: My world stopped when I saw Sandra Bullock holding a
Golden Globe, and the fact that she can now call herself an Oscar nomi-
nee is earth-shattering. It's crazy that her forced performance in The Blind
Side is getting so much praise, and although she is probably writing her
acceptance speech as I type this, I still have faith that the Academy will give
this one to Meryl Streep, who perfectly portrayed the American chef Julia
Child in Julie & Julia. In a year of many first time nominees, Carey Mul-
ligan and Gabourey Sidibe were newcomers recognized for their touching,
relatable performances, too bad they have no other award to show for it.
Nidale: Unsurprisingly, Meryl Streep will continue to sweep at
this year’s Academy Awards; her performances are consistently lovable
and amusing. I’d have to agree that newcomers such as Carey Mulligan
and Gabourey Sidibe will be lost against the all-powerful and unforgettable
acting of Streep, who somehow manages to create distinct roles in all of
her films. Helen Mirren, unfortunately, simply does not stand a chance; her
performance was forgettable in The Last Station. As for Sandra Bullock’s
terrible southern accent and stiff portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in The
Blind Side? Let’s pretend she never won that Golden
Globe.
Best Supporting Actor
Nidale: Stanley Tucci's creepy performance as murderer George
Harvey in The Lovely Bones rightfully deserves all the praise it has been re-
ceiving thus far; however, Christoph Waltz's performance as an SS officer in
Inglourious Basterds far outdoes the understated acting of Tucci. Of course,
Christopher Plummer's role as novelist Leo Tolstoy may emerge as victori-
ous; his heartbreaking performance may well beat out Waltz and Tucci. Matt
Damon's underwhelming performance in Invictus, as well as Woody Harrel-
son's interesting but forgettable role in The Messenger, quite frankly does not
stand much of a chance against the more intense roles of the frontrunners.
Joao: I don't see an upset happening in this category. Christoph
Waltz played a Nazi "jew-hunter," terrorized audiences, and spoke four
different languages in the process. None of the other movies had as much
buzz or appeal, and although I agree Tucci was super creepy, he was noth-
ing compared to Waltz.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Nidale: Although An Education and Precious have been gaining
hype since their releases, they simply cannot compare to last summer's Dis-
trict 9, which pushed the boundaries of mockumentaries while also demon-
strating a clear political message without becoming too
preachy. Up in the Air is a contender in this category as
well; its story of a lonely airplane-addict, as well as its
dark humor, may well gain writer/director Jason Reit-
man the golden statue he missed out on for Thank You
For Smoking.
Joao: Despite the overwhelming buzz, District
9 turned out to be somewhat unsatisfying. I see Jason
Reitman as one of today's sharpest and funniest young
filmmakers, and the writing in Up In the Air is brilliant. It
was a hilarious yet belieavable comedy, and we don't see
much of that today. Hopefully it will sweep the prize, but
it wouldn't hurt to see An Education's Nick Hornby being
awarded after High Fidelity went by under the radar.
Best Picture
Joao: The Academy has imposed a new rule that states that
every year, ten movies will be in the race for the most coveted award
of the evening. Adding five movies to the category is ineffective and
pointless, especially when they fill the space with hopeless nomina-
tions, and in the process, snub a few good contenders. The masses
went crazy when last year, The Dark Knight didn’t gain a Best Picture
nomination, despite being critically and comercially acclaimed;
now the Academy is under scrutinizing pressure to produce a mainstream winner. Avatar is
20
Brittany Foley
Head of Entertainment/Opinion
S
eventeen year-old Nick Jonas,
most commonly known as one-
third of the Jonas Brothers, might
actually start to get some respect as
a musician, now that he is growing
up—and branching out. Last year,
Jonas took on a side project dur-
ing a two-week tour break. During
those two weeks, Nick Jonas and the
Administration was formed, Jonas’
own solo act, including bassist/mu-
sic producer John Fields. The band
also features Michael Bland (drums),
Tommy Barbarella (keyboards), and
Sonny Thompson (guitar), all of
whom played with musical legend
Prince during the 90s. The reactions
of Jonas fans to the news of the
project varied, but for the most part
were supportive. Many were excited
by the news, eager to see Jonas’ full
potential. Lauren Miller of West-
minster, Maryland, aware of the
solo musical career Jonas pursued in
his younger years, viewed the new
project as a way “to see possibly
what his original solo project may
have grown into.”
The project, which is claimed
to only last fifteen months, included
a month-long nationwide tour that
took off on Jan. 2. On Jan. 12 and 13,
the band stopped in Boston for two
shows at the Orpheum Theater.
Despite the fact that his
brothers were not present, Jonas still
On his second night at the Orpheum Theater, Jonas was especially en-
thusiastic, jumping onto the piano during the very first song.
Entertainment
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
Nick Jonas Disappoints
carried the heartthrob card, fanat-
ics waiting patiently for a glimpse
at him all over the city. Attempts at
getting his attention ranged
from camping outside his
hotel to dawning Tel-
etubby costumes for the
show. Unfortunately,
this extreme fandom
does not seem to be
the attention Jonas
hopes to receive from
the new project.
Although it is apparent he
wants to get away from the tween-
sensation status that has thrust itself
upon him and his brothers over the
past few years, the direction Jonas is
actually aiming for remains unclear.
At either show, Jonas performed
several of his new songs, the sound
of which differ significantly from
that of the Jonas Brothers. One
song, “State of Emergency,” is a
prime example of Jonas’ new sound,
with music resembling the styles of
one of his admitted influences, the
iconic Stevie Wonder, and lyrics that
actually sound as though they might
belong to a seventeen-year-old; one
can only imagine a Disney publi-
cist’s reaction to the first few lines
of that song alone, “she’s seductive,
she does it well; she’ll charge you by
the hour for a trip straight down to
Hell.” Still, whether Jonas is hoping
to come across as an actual rocker or
the next Stevie Wonder—if not by
channeling his sound then by imi-
tating him, as he performed Won-
der’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m
yours” is likely something even the
most devoted of Jonas-stalker-fans
do not know.
Despite Jonas’ identity crisis,
diehard Jonas Brothers fans were re-
assured every time he began to play
one of he and his brothers’ songs.
Among them were the ever-popular
“Inseparable” from the boys’ self-
titled album and a mash-up of piano
tunes “Black Keys” and “A Little Bit
Longer.”Additionally, Jonas per-
formed a slower, softer version of
the originally upbeat powerchord
number “Tonight,” from the third
Jonas Brothers album “A Little Bit
With colorful lights as the only effects during the shows in addition to
the smaller venues, every concert had an intimate feel.
Longer.” Jonas’ new take on the
song is featured on the new Nick Jo-
nas and the Administration album,
Who I Am, in stores as of Feb. 2.
Jonas covered several songs
in addition to the tunes regularly
performed by the Jonas Brothers,
including Owl City’s “Fireflies,”
Taylor Swift’s “You Belong with
Me,” and Kings of Leon’s “Use
Somebody” on both nights and Mi-
ley Cyrus’s “The Climb” on Jan. 13.
The countless covers, although they
differed drastically in musical taste,
all worked simultaneously to help
Jonas provide an unusually intimate
show as the audience sang along in
unison, knowing every word. Jonas’
hopes for a more personal perfor-
mance became evident as either
night progressed. If it were not for
the abnormally small venue—Bos-
ton’s Orpheum theater holds less
than 2000—or the variety of covers
and moves of sing-along encourage-
ment, Jonas’ direct interaction with
the audience made either night seem
less like a concert and more like a
simple performance. As opposed to
the traditional Jonas Brothers show
facets—sold-out 20,000 seat arenas,
astonishing pyrotechnic displays,
and the coordination of high-fash-
ion outfits—these shows felt almost
impromptu, with the star wearing
jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt and
not so much as a TV screen floating
above the stage. Even without such
special effects, the audience was in
awe for the entirety of the show. The
favorite performance was inargu-
ably that of Jonas’ new song, “Stay,”
described by Samantha Stalker of
Billerica, MA, attendant of the show
on the 13, as “pure emotion pouring
from his soul into the microphone.”
The lack of structure in either
show also contributed to their im-
promptu feel, which was consistent
throughout the entire tour. Elizabeth
Huffman, a fan from Pikeville, KY
who attended the Nashville show
admitted that one of the highlights
of the show was how Jonas “really
connected with the audience.”
Although Jonas was able to
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
connect with his audience on a new
level, though, the irregular lack of
structure became evident as Jonas
faced a few minor struggles in
performing on his own. The set list
changed just as did Jonas’ attempts
at being the front man. Without
brother Joe’s well-rehearsed stunts
and performances dripping with
his evident charisma, the youngest
Jonas Brother seemed somewhat
awkward on stage when trying to
share jokes with the audience, but
made up for it on the second night
when he, a major Yankees fan, held
up a Red Sox shirt and stuck a Sox
foam finger on the end of his guitar.
Even the opening act was
unpredictable, but enjoyable none-
theless. The Regina-Spektor-esque
piano queen Diane Birch took the
stage before Jonas throughout the
tour, thrilling the majority of the
crowd with her Indie-soul-type feel.
On the second night, Birch was ac-
companied by We the Kings’ Travis
Clark, who represented yet another
sound that resembled Jonas’ just
as much as Celine Dion resembles
Lady GaGa. It seemed the crowd
paid no notice to the genre-confu-
sion, however, as Clark and Birch
received an overwhelming reaction
after their performance. Those reac-
tions were rather tame, however, in
comparison to the series of screams
and applause that followed every
one of Jonas’ songs. Such response
held the same throughout Jonas’
entire tour. Los Angeles, CA fan,
Cindy Linares, who attended the
show at the Wiltern in LA on Jan.
29, revealed how “once Nick Jonas
came out, the crowd never stayed
quiet.”
The majority of those in the
Boston audiences would likely agree
with Becca Freeman of Taunton,
MA, who shared that “the energy
in the Oprheum on January 13th
was like nothing else.” As suggested
by such overwhelming satisfaction
in the reactions to Jonas’ solo tour,
most fans cannot help but hope that
the project will last longer than the
intended fifteen months.
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
MHS Swimming Strokes into the GBLs
Junior Luis Detoledo does the backstroke. Photo by Sharon Lee
Alex Gennigiorgis
Reporter
T he electric atmosphere at the meet
against Somerville High School
symbolized the exciting Malden High
School swim team season, even though
the results were in the Somerville High
School team’s favor as “The Torna-
does” could not come from behind to
win.
At times, it looked as if Malden
was bound to be victorious but Somer-
ville stood their ground and won the
meet by a small margin, Somerville
87--Malden 83. The crowd was boom-
ing at the meet in support of the team.
The crowd was a greatly motivating
the swimmers from start to finish with
non-stop cheering. There were many
close finishes and the crowd was kept
in suspense during the whole meet. In
the end, the fans stated how it was a
great meet overall and that the team
should be proud of the efforts put in by
every swimmer. Sophomore swimmer
Eddie Lee stated that the meet was not
what was expected, “but we learned a
lot from it to improve on next year.”
In conclusion to the normal season the
record is 6-4.
When asked about the Greater
Boston League Championship (GBL’s),
Lee stated, “Yes, we are going as a team,
but we are individuals, representing
the team. So I think individually, we
need to step it up and work harder,”
showing leadership and responsibility
for such a young member of the team.
Although the season did not end
the way the team expected, there is still
the GBL’s coming up and the team can
work on the faults shown in the Somer-
ville meet and be prepared to take on
anything that comes at the team. The
team has been practicing sprint swim-
ming with “loads of rest”, stated Lee,
“we can get better” for the Greater
Boston League (GBL) Championship
and perform at 100 percent.
This season the team was put in
an interesting position, with having
lost two key swimmers due to lack
of commitment and 4 seniors from
the team having graduated. The team
has had a swimmer qualify for State
Championships for the past 10 years
and this year the streak was ended.
The fact that the streak has ended is be-
ing used as “motivation” for the team
to do better in the GBL’s and next year.
This year, the team was in a “rebuild-
ing phase”, stated Head Coach Paul
Sports
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
Malden dives against Somerville. Photo by Alex Genni-
giorgis.
Senior Captian Cristina Valente doing the butterfly.
Photo by Sharon Lee
Junior Jackie Tran doing the freestly against Somerville.
Photo by Sharon Lee.
DeVincentis. “What we lack, we rebuild in work ethic
and hard work,” stated DeVincentis. Coach DeVincen-
tis was not surprised at the result because it was “as
good as it could be”. He also spoke about how the team
did a lot with little to work with, while other teams
did little with a lot to work with. For the GBL’s, coach
DeVincentis stated how the team has been “Above and
beyond the Call of Duty” and that the team will go to
the GBL’s with 100% intensity because the team had
“prepared all season”. DeVincentis praised the team by
saying that he is very “proud of them” and that they
may have been the least talented, but “they were the
hardest working” team he had.
21
ATHLETES FACE
SUDDEN DEATH
Alfonse Femino
Head Of Sports
O ver the past month, three athletes, rang-
ing from the high school level to even the
professional levels have died from reasons
involving heart and lung problems.
The first of the three unfortunate ath-
letes was Matthew McCarthy. On Dec. 29,
2009, McCarthy, who was a senior captain on
the Pentucket Regional High School hockey
team, suddenly collapsed during a practice in
Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was then rushed
to Merrimack Regional Hospital, where he
was pronounced dead. The death came as a
complete shock to coaches and teammates.
“He seemed fine. We were laughing and jok-
ing a little bit then he fell over and was unre-
sponsive,” stated teammate Andrew Mueskes.
Also, school superintendent Dr. Bill Hart said
“To the best of our knowledge he was in per-
fect health. A real fine athlete. So that makes
the shock even deeper,” with an interview
with The Boston Globe further showing the
surprise of McCarthy’s sudden death. Further
research has shown that McCarthy had been
complaining about his lungs burning prior to
his death.
Next in the string of tragic deaths was a
21 year old basketball player at the University
of Southern Indiana named Jeron Lewis. On
the fifteenth of January, Lewis was playing in
a game when he fell hard to the ground, slam-
ming his head of the court floor. After the fall,
the 6’8 Lewis began convulsing violently, and
was taken to a nearby hospital where he was
later pronounced dead. Although the hit to the
head was very fierce, doctors believe that the
cause of the death was related to a heart defect.
On Jan. 17, 2010, just a mere two days af-
ter the death of Lewis, Gaines Adams, a defen-
sive end for the Cincinnati Bengals, died from
an enlarged heart. An autopsy a few days later
showed that Adams went through cardiac ar-
rest before being taken to a hospital where he
was pronounced dead. The death of Adams,
just as the death of McCarthy, came as a great
shock to people that knew him. “Nobody was
aware of his medical condition,” stated Depu-
ty Marcia Kelly-Clark in an interview with the
press that morning.
The three deaths can represent the grow-
ing strain that sports are putting on athletes
as sports at every level, from youth to profes-
sional is becoming more intense and demand-
ing. Also, along with the growing intensity
of sports taking a physical toll on athletes,
different leagues actions towards making sure
players are healthy can come into question.
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Ath-
letic Association (MIAA) states that a student
athlete must have an annual physical to be eli-
gible to play, however these physicals do noth-
ing to see if a players lungs are stable, which
if changed could prevent sudden deaths in the
future. In the National Football League and
Collegiate levels, players lift weights every-
day, which can have a profound effect on the
heart, and if tighter limits were placed lifting,
maybe heart related deaths among athletes
would decrease. These are just some steps that
could be taken to make sure that no team or
family should have to go through the pain of
the deaths of these three unfortunate athletes.
22 SPORTS The Blue and Gold
January 2010
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/

Malden Wrestling Pins the GBL Title

Brendan Provitola
Reporter Left: Junior Christian Rizzo
beginning his match against

T he Malden High Wrestling team has an overall Tewksbury

team record of 5-8-1, but is still fighting to finish
the season off strong. Malden’s next meet is January Below: Senior Jimmy Vo pre-
6, in a dual meet tournament in Brookline. Following pares for a take down at the
this last team meet, Malden’s wrestlers will compete Tewksbury meet
in Sectionals looking to qualify for the State tourna-
ment. Bottom: Senior captain Richie
Despite the losing record, Malden has a few Basile trying to pin down his
notable wrestlers who will fight to qualify for states. opponent.
Senior captain Richard Basile has an impressive record
at 9-5. Also, senior captain Alan Kwan has a winning
record at 10-4. Malden has been fighting injuries the
entire season, causing the team to have an incomplete
line up. The Tornadoes have strived to overcome this
dilemma. Senior Chris Sullivan (6-3) has been suffering
from a pulled oblique during a match against Everett earlier on in the
season, forcing him to miss out in a couple of meets. Sullivan quoted,
“Junior Mandy Liao got her weight down to 103, and now we have a
chance to finish off the season with a full line up”.
The next few weeks of practice will be vital in Malden’s hopes for
a 50-50 season and for state qualifiers. Sullivan said, “The past couple
weeks of practice have been really productive with solid drilling, and
it really helps having a full line-up since the next couple of meets
are really important for the team and individuals”.
With only a couple weeks before Sectionals, Malden
will prepare with hard working pratices, but still need
to be careful because of the inconsistency of the full
varsity line up.
All wrestling photos
by Catherine Poirier

Visit our website

for more sports
photos continued from page 1

Heba Khurram. The club has al-

ready reached its goal, and it is

Malden Gymnastics only half way through the year;

at this rate they will be making
tons of money for the ones who

Dismounts to Victory need it most.

Gymnastics rocks the floor
Joshua Kummins
Reporter
Lowell Catholic, all by relatively
close scores.
Head coach Katie Bowdridge
said that she “[has] been very
pleased with the team's progress
this year. Everyone has improved
as the season went on.”
Bowdridge also added that
the team has received contributions
from “some new gymnasts this year
that have made a difference and will
help to pick up where our outgoing
seniors will leave off.”
All three captains agree that
this season has gone very well and
senior captain Kristen Cruikshank
said that this has been “the team’s
best season in her four years” at
Malden High, since she joined the
team as a freshman.
They also added that the team’s
new male additions have played a
with the addition of
a JV Team
key role in their success this season.
Sophomore Andres Torres said that
the boys’ main contribution is on the
bars, which is a very difficult event,
according to coach Bowdridge.
He said that a majority of the
boys participate in bars, compared
to a smaller amount of girls. Torres
added that the boys help maintain a
good effort and that their presence
“makes the girls work more.”
Captain Stephanie Dervishian
said that the boys “are like [her]
brothers” and that “they do every-
thing” to help the team win.
Dervishian is a junior, but
her story is atypical, as opposed to
other MHS athletes. She competes
as a gymnast for Malden High, but
attends the Northeast Voke in Wake-
field.
Coach Bowdridge said that it is
not a distraction to the other mem-
bers of the team, who “voted her as
captain.” She added that Dervishian
is at every practice and the only dif-
ference is that they go to different
schools.
The team has become stronger
with the recent addition of a junior
varsity team. Senior captain Jessica
Fox said that with the JV team “a lot
of people still have opportunities”
to compete. She added that they
compete before their varsity coun-
terparts on the same floor, against
specific teams.
Malden looks to end the sea-
son on a high note at the GBL Meet
on Saturday, February 6 at the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge.
"The idea of supporting
breast cancer from basketball
is mind boggling. Who knew
that the two would be related?
The idea is great and i hope to
see them continuing to do so,"
stated Pink Out game spectator
John Paul Brant. The men and
women watching the games
seem to like the idea of the Pink
Out games just as much as the
people running them. Fresh-
man team member Rodney
Morton of MHS exclaimed, "I
think this is good because they
do it in many other major sports
and now its good that the high
schools are doing it too!" The
Pink Out games are a great ad-
dition to MHS and it helps the
breast cancer awareness club
help raise money and awareness
which is the whole purpose for
the club. Breast cancer and any
other cancer is life threatening,
and at MHS everyone seems to
want to help out with the cause.
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
Girls Basketball Rebounds After somerville
Dan Holmqvist
Copy Editor
T he girls basketball team is look-
ing to rebound from a less-than-
convincing start to their season.
The team, which has gone 3-12, has
seen signs of improvement over
the course of the year but are still
looking to have success in the final
stretch.
On Tuesday Jan. 26th, the girls
basketball game against Somer-
ville was hotly contested until the
4th quarter, with the scores being
relatively close at 38-34 in favor
of Somerville at the end of the 3rd
quarter. Malden fell behind early,
but fought back, at times coming
within one point of the opposition.
With senior Jennifer Tamindzija hit-
ting important shots going into the
last quarter of the game, Malden
looked ready to storm back and
cause an upset. Despite this, Somer-
ville increased their 4 point lead to
14 points by the end the game to win
49-35.
However, the game was not
without controversy; the referees,
from the start of the game, acci-
dentally chose to play with a men’s
regulation size basketball rather
than using the women’s basketball,
Xavier Leo
Copy Editor
W ith a current record of 9-8, the boy’s
basketball team’s hopes of making
the state tournament are indeed well
and alive. After losing the senior tandem
of Steven Suida, Marcus Armstrong,
and Travis Nally due to graduation and
sophomore Egi Gjikondi to a transfer
to Cushing Academy, the team is more
focused than ever, keeping their eyes on
the prize. They would need to go 2-2 in
their last four games to achieve the 11-10
record required of all tourney qualifiers;
“We definitely have the ability to get
into the tourney, it’s all just a matter of
staying focused and keeping our heads
in the game,” said senior co-captain Na-
than Freni. The Tornados are most defi-
nitely well on their way to realizing their
hopes, taking the momentum from their
Jan. 29th victory against Everett High
School in stride and looking to play hard
in the final stretch of the season.
The team also has three solid un-
derclassmen players in Billy Bonnet,
Bradley Applin, and Marcus Pierre;
SPORTS 23
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
which is smaller in volume, mean-
ing that for three quarters, both
teams were forced to play with a
ball that they were unfamiliar with.
When the referees eventually de-
cided to switch back to the women’s
size basketball, Malden coach Joe
Levine protested and a short argu-
ment ensued between him and an
animated Somerville coach. Select-
ing the wrong basketball was only
the “first sign of incompetence” of
the referees claimed Paul Garrity,
the former Somerville boys basket-
ball coach. “The refereeing was a
disgrace. There were fouls not being
called, and ultimately that’s bad for
the kids.” Sophmore Bridget Furlong dribbles down the court against Everett.
After the game, Coach Levine Photo by Lauren Benoit.
still had positive things to say about
the team, despite the difficult loss. “struggling with getting past press- tainly encouraging. Cotto is excited
He mentioned that, “The effort that es and struggling with communica- about the team in the future, adding,
the girls showed today was encour- tion on the court” and sophomore “Two years from now we’ll be un-
aging. I’ve told them that I expect Jessica Cotto added that the team stoppable; the team will have a lot
them to get better as the season needed to “protect the ball and im- more chemistry and hopefully a lot
wears on and they have. Last time prove on offense.” She insists that more wins.” Senior captain Casey
we played this team, we lost by 30 “their shots aren’t falling yet, but Willcox agrees that the team is in
points.” they should come.” a rebuilding stage and harbors the
At this point in the season, The departure of eleven senior same aspirations for the next couple
many players agree that one of the girls last year has certainly had an of years: “I’m sad that I will be leav-
only things they can do is work effect on the team, but with a large ing next year, but at the same time, I
harder in practice. Sophomore Re- portion of the team being under- am happy for the team.”
becca Krigman said that the team is classmen this year, the signs are cer-
Full Court Press for
State Tourney
Malden huddles to
dicuss strategy.
“They definitely have the capability to
lead this team for the next two years,”
stated Freni, “They’re going to be great
players.” With all three players being
sophomores, the team is looking for-
ward to their development as leaders
and watching the progression of their
chemistry on the hardwood.
As for Freni, he is determined to
take the reigns and steer the team along
with fellow captain Ramon Viches into
the tourney before graduation. He has
not thought too much about his future
with college athletics, admittedly being
more concerned with the team in the
present; “I would love to play basketball,
or even baseball, in college. I just don’t
know where yet. Right now I am more
focused on this season and maybe going
deep in the tourney.”
With their final six games loom-
ing over the horizon, Malden is looking
forward to taking on all their remaining
opponents. With two senior leaders and
a talented team of athletes, the Tornados Senior Captain Ramon Viches goes for a layup.
are not only looking to roll over their Photo by Lauren Benoit.
competition, but into the state tourna-
ment as well.
24
Indoor Boys and Girls Track
One Step Closer to The
Sharon Lee GBL Championship
Reporter
Weeks of training plus dedica-
tion have truly gotten the Boys’ In-
door Track team really far. Heading
to GBL’s with a record of one tie and
five wins is a great accomplishment.
As of right now they share the first
place title with Somerville. Howev-
er, the team is only a few days away
from the GBL championships.
Ever since 1977 the Somerville
Boys’ Indoor Track team has been
unbeatable but for the first time in
over 30 years the Boys’ Track team
ended Somerville’s winning streak
and started off their season with
a tie. Coincidentally Coach David
Londino happens to be from Somer-
ville and was part of the track team
for Somerville High. He remembers
running the 600 meter race and said
“when I ran for Somerville they al-
ways thought Malden was an easy
Girls Sweat for the Title
Sharon Lee
Reporter
Counting down the days until
GBLs Championships, the Girls’
Indoor Track team is working their
hardest and is well on their way to
a great finish. Although their last
two meets against Cambridge and
Medford may not have been the
highlight of their season they have
shown major improvement.
As Londino had said “personal
bests [were] everywhere” and this
was true because their meets against
Cambridge and Medford were not
just ordinary meets but for some it
Sports
http://www.maldenblueandgold.com/
win but once I started working in
Malden I changed my mind.”
Following their tie to Somer-
ville were four more victories over
Everett, Arlington, Cambridge and
Medford. One of which took place
on Wednesday February 3rd when
Malden took a victory over Medford
with a score of 68-18. That day many
players finished in 1st place like
Kelvin Tsang and Abdu El Adlouni.
Captain Ariel Hurts ran a personal
best of 5.72 seconds in the 50 meter
dash and by the end of the meet
he showed how pleased he was by
saying “I can’t explain the feeling; I
can’t believe it happened and I am
so proud of [the] team.”
As Coach Stephen Rubin
watches all the well trained athletes
warming up around the gym he is
sure that “everyone has gotten bet-
was where they had done exception-
ally well and performed their own
personal best. Knocking off 6 sec-
onds to reach her all time personal
best at 3 minutes and 46 seconds
was Senior Ngoc Doan as she ran
the 1000 meter run. Many others
also had amazing performances
like Junior Cynthia Antenor who
finished in 1st place for both the
high jump and hurdles, Sophomore
Jessica Vo finishing 1st with a time
of 13minutes and 55 seconds in the
2 mile run. Similarly Senior Lynn
The Blue and Gold
January 2010
ter [and that was] our main
g o a l . ”
This has
definitely
reflected
u p o n
people like
Brendan Provi-
tola, a high jumper
who is now qualified
for States, because he reached a
height of 6’ in his high jump when
the qualifying height is only 5’10’’.
Another high jumper is Herbens
Antenor who will also be joining
Provitola at States with a height of
5’11.’’ However, all of the coaches
are sure that many more players
will be attending States this year
since some are only seconds away
from qualifying.
Brendan Provitola, a memver of The
Blue and Gold (top) jumps 6 feet for the
high jump qualifying him for States.
Cynthia Antenor (left) finishes first
for the 50 meter hurdles. Photos by
Sharon Lee.
Upcoming Meets
GBL Meet
2-13 at the reggie
lewis center
State Meet
2-26 at the reggie
lewis center
State Qualifiers
Tran performed amazingly as she
came in 2nd place in the 2 mile run
while also beating her best record by Thanh Nguyen for
a whole minute down to 14 minutes Shotput
and 36 seconds. To end the night
Jessica Vo, Carolyn Lam, Chardeza
Coleman, and Cynthia Antenor ran Brendan Provitola
a season best for the 4X4 relay. for High Jump
By the end of the meet Coach
Mitch Abbatessa said he was “pleas-
Herbens Antenor for
antly surprised [by] surprising
performances and personalities; [it’s High Jump
just] absolutely incredible.”