Volume 7 Issue 6

One Term Later...Do You Know Who Represents You?

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Friday, January 18, 2008 Volume 7 Issue 6 Visit us at www.stuystandard.org

The leaders of the student body, clockwise from top left, Oren Burspan and Jessie Lawrence (freshman caucus), Valeriya Tsitron and Casey Griffin (sophomore caucus), Philip Kim and Jenny Han (junior caucus), Michelle Lee and Lauren Gonzales (senior caucus) and Jamila Ma and James Kim (center, SU President and Vice President). The percentages are those of the number of each's respective constituents able to correctly match them correctly with their position.

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EDITORIAL 2 NEWS THE STUYVESANT STANDARD January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

JENNIFER SCHLESINGER EDITOR IN CHIEF ERIC MAYO MANAGING EDITOR

DIANE CHEN DIRECTOR OF FINANCE ANGEL WONG DIRECTOR OF FINANCE SANGHEE CHUNG LAYOUT EDITOR DANNY ZHU COPY CHIEF

TIM CHANG NEWS EDITOR HESHAM SALEH NEWS EDITOR JIMMY ZHANG NEWS EDITOR AMNA AHMAD OPINIONS EDITOR

EMMA RABINOVICH ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR ROBERT COLBOURN ASST. ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

RICHARD MAI SPORTS EDITOR OMAR AHMAD SCIENCE EDITOR HANFORD CHIU BUSINESS EDITOR ROBERT STEVENSON LITERARY EDITOR

JESSE ZHANG WEBMASTER KIRIL GOURUV ASSISTANT WEBMASTER

ELISSA TAM DIRECTOR OF PHOTOJOURNALISM MEGAN BRESLIN FACULTY ADVISOR DANIEL EGERS (‘03) FOUNDER ERNEST BASKIN (‘04) EDITOR EMERITUS

The idea for a critical analy-sis of the student government came to The Standard a long time ago. While its set purpose is to “improve student life,” many view The Student Union of Stuyvesant High School as a weak institution with the sole purpose of propelling a select few into top universities. Is the Student Union (SU), truly dedicated to “improving student life with respect to education, ex-tra- and co-curricular activities?” The Standard decided to investi-gate exactly what kind of impact our student leaders had on the stu-dent body.

The statistics in the follow-ing pieces should not be viewed as a brazen attack on the SU or its members. The Standard recog-nizes the hard work all students in the SU put into balancing their academics with their responsibili-ties as leaders. We also recog-nize that political awareness, ac-tivity, and leadership come with personal maturity, and that the high school years is the time and place for such. The following

The Student Un-ion-Is It

Fulfilling Its Role?

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pieces should be taken as a mes-sage to both the SU and its con-stituents. Eloquently telling the students to hold their government accountable and telling the gov-ernment to engage the student body. The SU should support the students and strive to improve Stuy. While the SU does not al-ways fulfill its goal, students should not be apathetic and should continue to vote and be aware of events.

“No student’s query to the Student Union shall go unheard or rejected out of hand” says the preamble to the SU Constitution. We feel that it is our duty, as stu-dents and as a newspaper in a free society, to hold our government accountable for its actions or lack thereof. We urge each grade’s respective leaders to not only remember their duty to the stu-dent body, but to act on it as well. Finally, it is our hope stu-dents will keep in mind the re-sponsibilities of their class lead-ers and hold them accountable. ◙

THE STANDARD NEWS 3 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD NEWS January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

Gas Prices Encourage MTA Fares to Increase

by Nada Elmansy staff writer

As the price of gas continues to soar, the cost of everything else increases as well. Unsurprisingly, just as your neighborhood grocery store is probably raising its prices, s o i s t h e M e t r o p o l i t a n T r a n s p o r t a t i o n A u t h o r i t y Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA has decided to raise its prices in order to compensate for the increasing gas prices.

In fact, just last month, Westchester County raised its B-line bus fares for the first time in four years. To add to this conspiracy, the MTA has decided to raise all Metrocard prices by February or March. An expected increase of $0.25 would make the fare $2.25. The MTA is also proposing the increase of the multiple ride Metrocard, possibly raising the price of the 30-day card from $76 to $81 and offering a new 14-day Metrocard for $48.

These increased fares are expected to affect 46 percent of the riders who can only afford the one-ride Metrocard. However, the effect of this on Stuyvesant students appears to be minimal, if at al l . Freshman Thomas Flagiello believes that this will not have an effect on high school students as a result of the student Metrocards provided by the city. Is it possible that the increased fare could affect the free student fare policy? Of course, for the average everyday rider, spending the extra money is going to be the only option.

Flagiello also believes that if your only option is taking the train or bus to work everyday, then you will pay the extra fare anyway. “All it will do will give them [the commuters] more reason to complain about the way things are being done. Anyway, most riders aren’t going to be happy about paying extra to get to and from work everyday.” As Westchester County puts its plans into action, the MTA is taking its

proposal seriously in plans on putting it into effect by February.

As Thomas said, there is not much that can be done. In fact, most people will probably give into this reality in order to be able to get to work. It has to be clear

that the MTA can’t be entirely blamed for this. As gas prices increase, it’s only normal that transportation prices go up as well. ◙

Officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) have tried to frame their proposal for higher subway, bus and commuter rail fares as part of a long-term financial plan,.

Source: mtafaresincrease.haltthehike.com

.jpg

Trouble In Pakistan by Abhimanyu Ghosh

staff writer and Hesham Saleh

news editor

Just four days before the new year, Pakistani prime minister

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while on a political campaign in the Rawalpindi region of Pakistan. While the exact sequence of events is still the subject of much debate, reliable sources say that Bhutto was greeting the crowds through

the moonroof of her cruiser when her assassin fired multiple gun-shots at her. After she fell back in, the assassin detonated bombs at-tached to himself, killing 21 people in the vicinity, and sending a shock wave around the area. Bhutto was then taken to Rawalpindi General Hospital, where doctors attempted to resuscitate her. Their attempts were futile, and Bhutto was de-clared dead at 6:16 p.m. local time.

Benazir Bhutto was an im-portant political figure in Paki-stan. She was the first woman to serve in a position of leadership in a country with Muslim major-ity. During her two terms as prime minister, she pushed for various reforms, mainly aimed at increasing the rights of women in Pakistani society, and moderniz-ing Pakistan. Bhutto stood out as a symbol of hope and democracy, despite the turmoil of Pakistani politics. To many, she repre-sented change, and move toward more liberal reforms to keep in

step with modern times. Often, such beliefs led to fierce opposi-tion, and multiple attempts on her life, the last of which tragically ended in her death. There is un-certainty about how Bhutto’s as-sassination will affect the world. When asked if Bhutto’s assassi-nation will have any effect on the world, junior John Hossain said, “Not at all. Nations have serious problems, and despite the many governments which expressed that they were sorry over this, they won’t do anything to help a Pakistan which desperately needs help.” Junior Katrina Tarmidi had a different perspective on the is-sue. “It poses more of a threat for several countries,” Tarmidi said. “The [United States] strongly supported Bhutto in hopes of working with her to get rid of Al-Qaeda who are supposedly in Pakistan. But now their only op-tion is to work with [Pervez] Musharraf, who isn’t as coopera-tive.” ◙ Protestors rally after the death of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Source: bhutto2.news.bbc.co.uk

4 NEWS THE STUYVESANT STANDARD January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

How effective is the Student Union of Stuyvesant High school at communicating with its constituents? How good are they at in-volving the student body in policy-making decisions? The Stuyvesant Standard decided to survey a random assortment of stu-

dents of all grades on a class-by-class basis on exactly how well of a job the Student Union has done in terms of reaching out to the students it represents. We present here the results for each grade, as well as the combined answers across all grades, to the

questions below:

Please identify the fol-lowing people:

A. The Student Union President and Vice

President

B. Our school’s principal

C. Your class President and Vice President

What is the Stuyvesant Student Union’s web-

site URL?

Freshmen

Sophomores

Juniors

Seniors

5 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD NEWS January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

INTERVIEW continues on page 4

Did you vote in the last election?

Have you applied for a position in the SU?

On a scale of 1—100, how effective do you be-lieve you class President and Vice President have been in fulfilling their duties outlined in the SU Constitution?

Final Score: 41.39

Final Score: 37.54

Final Score: 39.45

Final Score: 56.75

Yes/Correct No/ Incorrect Interview with James and Jamila

by Rammiya Nallainathan staff writer

1) What new things has the SU tried to accomplish this year? We started the year off with SU Handbooks which were a great success. In an effort to spread awareness, we dis-tributed to every student, a 36 page handbook outlining things such as information regarding how to receive funding, start a club, contact us and other groups such as ARISTA, Big Sibs, SUVH, and the Alumni Association. Though it wasn't perfect- we still have a number of stu-dents wondering how to start a club, receive funding, etc., we think that we reached out to much of the Stuyve-sant population with our efforts. Additionally, we have created a student lounge space on the first floor, an ini-tiative started by the Sophomore Caucus. We're looking forward to purchasing new couches for this space, seeing as it has been a success, and expanding student space around the school.

2) What old programs does the SU still have? For example, Supplyline does not seem to be running anymore. I haven't seen anyone being able to trade in any review books. Supplyline does not run year-round. It is active at the start of the year, when students find out what classes they need review books for, and again later in the year, before testing season begins (AP, Regents, SATs, etc). However, if someone feels a need to trade in another book, we'd be happy to accommodate them with what we have in stock. We have continued our club pub fair as always, and we're looking forward to our annual Ice-Skating Trip on January 29.

3) How do you feel about how everything has been going on this year? Last year, there were a lot of seniors in the Student Union, and we've definitely felt the impact of their graduating, but the number of new students in the SU this year means a stronger SU in years to come. And with a new set of appointed officials in February, we are, again, looking to a fresh start. 4) Are there any other goals you hope to accomplish by the end of this year? Again, we're currently working on the Student Space Proposal, which we hope to be taken in full effect by the end of this year. We're working on editing the Stu-dent Union website to be more attractive and user-friendly. We're also working on renovating the SU office itself to make it more welcome for students to come hang out in after school. 5) Finally, it seems as if STUYWATCH has died down. Either that, or it just doesn't get publicized any more. How do you feel about this? Did you think STUYWATCH was a good idea from the be-ginning? We felt that Stuywatch started with a good motive- to spread student awareness. While there was much con-troversy, judging by its popularity, it did quite well in doing so. It seems as if Stuywatch is currently inactive, but if the need arises for it to, perhaps it will re-activate.

SU Presidential Elections: Then and Now

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

2004 2007Year

# of

Stu

dent

s

Total Students

Ballots Cast

Interest in Student Union Activities: Freshmen

0%

55%

39%6%

Interest in Student Union Activities: Sophomores

0%

0%

49%

51%

Interest in Student Union Activities: Juniors

3% 4%

52%

41%

Interest in Student Union Activities: Seniors

3% 5%

48%

44%

Interest in Student Union Activities: All Students

2%

4%

51%

43%

ExtremelyInterested

Very Interested

Somew hatInterested

Not Interested

6 NEWS THE STUYVESANT STANDARD January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

6) What has the SU has been doing to involve underclassmen in the student government and keep them informed? How ef-fective do you think the SU website is? Again, we made an effort in the beginning of the year with our SU handbooks to inform the entire student population about a num-ber of things. While freshman

INTERVIEW continued from page 5

The Senior Caucus: Michelle Lee and Lauren Gonzales by Tim Chang news editor

Communicating with and or-ganizing events for the senior class while balancing college applica-tions and schoolwork is extremely challenging. That is why going into their senior year, class presi-dent and vice president Michelle Lee and Lauren Gonzalez knew that they needed to get started on senior pride early on.

With much experience to share between the two of them, this year’s senior caucus was well prepared to instill senior pride and carry out on their promises. Gonzalez was the vice president of the Class of 2008 in both her freshman and sophomore years, while Lee was the class president during her junior year. Together, the duo has been undertaken many initiatives to bring “more

excitement and memories for the Class of 2008” as promised.

One of the first items on the senior caucus’s agenda was sen-ior apparel. The blue and white senior rugby scarves are ubiqui-tous around the school. The idea for scarves came up early, and Lee thought it was a great idea. Going into the winter, the seniors could have something to wear during the school year that said “We’re proud!” according to Lee. Originally, Lee was unsure of how well the scarves would sell, and purchased only 80 scarves as a trial. There turned out to be a very high demand for the scarves -- they sold out within the first 30 minutes.

The senior caucus has also been working to put together many events for the senior classes, in-cluding the senior theme days. Along with the quintessential Sen-

ior Pajama Day, which Lee re-garded as a success, the senior caucus also held a Senior 80s Day, which had less participation. Lee attributes this to the timing of the event, which was right before the holiday break, and she says the event just “slipped by.”

In bolstering senior pride, the senior caucus appears to have met great success. But how have they done in regards to communication with the Class of 2008? As class president last year, Lee started stuy08.com, a website specifically for the Class of 2008. Along with posting announcements and infor-mation on upcoming events, stuy08.com has been designed to send out automatic notification letters to its subscribers when an event is coming up.

However, lack of participa-tion in stuy08.com may hinder it from being a truly effective

means of communicating with the student body. According to Gon-zalez, there are currently 265 us-ers registered on stuy08.com. Out of a class of approximately 700 students, stuy08.com reaches approximately 38% of seniors.

Another means of communi-cation is through the Senior Advi-sory Council, which is comprised of homeroom representatives which relay messages from the senior caucus to the homeroom members. Lee admits that she does not depend on the home-room representatives as much as the website for communication with the senior class. The repre-sentatives also relay important messages in duplicate, according to Lee, so there is still some in-formation being distributed to the homeroom.. ◙

could not participate as first term officials in the SU, we encourage underclassmen to apply, once again, for the second term. We have 6 underclassmen in the Stu-dent Union currently, which is more than there have ever been. As far as the website is con-cerned, although there are many kinks in the website, we're work-ing on updating it to be more effi-cient and better at relaying infor-mation to the student body. ◙

by Nada Elmansy staff writer

Just like the presidential elec-tions, we’ve had our own elections at Stuyvesant High School. On Novem-ber 20, Oren Burspan and Jessie Lawrence were elected class presi-dent and vice president by their fel-low freshman classmates.

Burspan and Lawrence decided to run on short notice after reelec-tions were scheduled. Fortunately, they were successful and even before being elected; they have made repre-senting the freshman class their pri-mary goal.

In the month and a half they have been in office, Burspan and Lawrence have familiarized them-selves with the other SU members and their positions. Although they have not been able to organize any freshmen events, Burspan and Law-rence have been participating in ex-isting SU events, and say they are “constantly brainstorming for fresh ideas [they] can introduce this year.”

So far, the main focus of the freshmen caucus has been to im-prove and increase communications between the SU and the student body, and to raise money for future school events.

Two steps have been taken to-wards these goals. The school wide

7 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD NEWS January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

Freshmen Caucus Committed to Improving Communications

candy cane sale was an attempt to raise money and also attracted the participation of many freshmen.

To improve communications, the Freshman Advisory Council (FAC) will appoint members to rep-resent each homeroom. The repre-sentatives will be able to communi-cate homeroom ideas and concerns to the Freshman Caucus and relay necessary messages.

Another way the freshman cau-cus plans on increasing communica-tions is through the newly created c l a s s o f 2 0 1 1 w e b s i t e (http://stuyclassof2011.googlepages.com), which will include updates on school events and will allow students to ask questions and give sugges-tions. This site will be a great tool in communication and will give stu-dents space to share their ideas.

According to a Standard poll, less than one in five freshmen class can identify their representatives, Burspan and Lawrence. The website and the advisory council are steps towards increasing that number,

As Burspan and Lawrence work hard to improve the school lives of the freshman class, they’d like to make it clear that their primary con-cern is for the freshman class to have all the necessary tools to succeed in what they want and have fun in the process.” ◙

Tsitron and Griffin: The Sophomore Caucus by Muhammad Tambra

staff writer

In the fall of 2007 Valeriya Tsitron and Casey Griffin became the sophomore president and vice president in a landslide victory. Since then the scene has been quiet. So what have the charis-matic duo been up to for the past few months? Differing opinions exist concerning their success.

As they began their term, Tsitron and Griffin helped organ-ize the candy cane sale, SophFrosh Comedy Night and the student lounge. The revenue from SU-organized events, Tsitron said, goes to helping lower the cost of events such as school dances. The student lounge, lo-cated behind the first floor, was an initiative started by Tsitron and Griffin. This has become a popular hangout place with couches and a ping-pong table anyone can use.

The Sophomore Advisory Council was made to help in-crease communication between the student body and the SU. Tsitron has created classroom representatives, who are supposed to be elected by their respective

homeroom to the Sophomore Ad-visory Council. These represen-tatives are to relay any grievances from their homerooms to the sophomore caucus and other members of the Student Union.

However some students have said that their representa-tives were not elected into their positions and some students even say that their representatives have not been doing their job. When Valeriya was told of these facts she was shocked and said she would address these problems.

Many sophomores feel alienated from the student gov-ernment. Half of the sophomores polled by the Stuyvesant Standard indicated that they did not care at all about the Student Union’s dealings. Many others inter-viewed expressed concern over its apparent weakness. A student who wished to remain anonymous claimed, “The SU always com-promises with [Principal] Teitel and never gets what the students want.” Tsitron responded by say-

ing that they have “no choice,” “either he [Teitel] does what they want or he does not and we have to compromise.” Because of this, the student union has lost on many important issues, including the locker policy.

Another student said that he has not noticed any changes ef-fected by Tsitron and Griffin. Sophomore Omar Akhand said “I don’t know anything about Va-leriya and Casey, I just know that they are part of the student gov-ernment.” and “They have to ful-fill their responsibilities by reach-ing out more and actually repre-senting [sophomores].” It would appear that this clear lack of com-munication distances students from their class representatives.

However Tsitron and Griffin have started to tackle the issue of communication. The sophomore caucus has set up a website for the class of 2010, StuyX.com. Yet no one has seen any flyers that advertise the website. Tsitron responded by saying she has a

communication director who is in charge of advertising the website, and claims that she was going to try and increase sophomores’ knowledge of the site. This ini-tiative seemed to fail, however, as www. s tu yx . com has been “pending renewal or deletion” as of last Friday, January 11, 2008, indicating a lack of activity. For now, the sophomore caucus’s primary means of communication with the student body will be through the homeroom represen-tatives and through the social ne tworking we bs i te face -book.com, another means of com-munication Tsitron alluded to.

Tsitron finished the inter-view by reiterating the fact that students have to take the initiative to get involved and in things such as the Sophomore Advisory Council, SING!, SophFrosh Com-edy Night, and fundraising. Tsi-tron believes that “people should be more involved,” yet the routes of communication on how to get involved have not been strong. ◙

www.stuyx.com has been “pending renewal or deletion” as of last Friday, January 11, 2008, indicating a lack of activity

SU Presidential Elections, Spring 2004

39%

61%

Voted

Didn't Vote

SU Presidential Elections, Spring 2006

24%

76%

Voted

Didn't Vote

8 NEWS THE STUYVESANT STANDARD January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

Stuyvesant High School Examination Schedule: January 2008

Tuesday, January 22 Regents Examinations

8:30—12:00 Global History

12:30—4:00 English: Part I

School Examinations

8:30—10:40 AB Calculus, BC Calculus

Multivariate Calculus, Calculus Applications

9:30—10:40 Art

11:00—12:25 Math 5, Math 5 Honors, AP Statistics

12:30—1:40 Drafting

Wednesday, January 23 Regents Examinations

12:30—4:00 English: Part II

School Examinations

8:30—9:40 Intro to Computer Science, Health

8:30—9:40 Math 3, Math 3 Enriched

10:00—11:40 AP Chem, AP Physics B, AP Physics C

Thursday, January 24 Regents Examinations

8:30—12:00 US History

12:30—4:00 Math A, Chemistry, Physics

School Examinations

8:30—9:55 Pre-Calculus, Honors Pre-Calculus

10:00—11:10 Chemistry, Chemistry Research

11:30—1:10 AP Computer Science—Java

Friday, January 25 Regents Examinations

8:30—12:00 Living Environment, Math B

School Examinations

8:30—9:40 Physics, Living Environment

Living Env. Research, Living Env. Molecular

10:20—11:30 AP World History, AP European History

US History I

12:10—1:20 Global History I, Economics

THE STANDARD OPINIONS 9 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD OPINIONS January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

Never before have I been so tempted to say “I told you so.” To bring up a point from an earlier issue, it is surely possible to conclude that our nation has some definite issues with hanging out with the right crowd, because while a few months back naïve college students protested against the right of speech that the democratically elected Mahmoud Ahmadinejad deserved as any other foreign guest or American citizen, Bush acted as a mediator between Pakistan’s Musharraf and Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai, shak-ing hands in front of cameras. It does not make sense to me that our president would try to “make peace” between Pakistan and its neighbors through Musharraf, while at the same time deny open discourse with other nations of interest, like Iran.

Not only do I feel that it is inappropriate for Bush to try to “make peace” when at war, but it further complicates the rationale behind the situation to consider that Musharraf was wholly re-spected as an ally to the United States although he was not democ-ratically elected, but instead rose to power in Pakistan in a coup. How-ever, despite Musharraf’s sketchy rise to power, the United States embraced Musharraf until the cer-tain madness that arose in Pakistan could no longer be ignored, at which point Bush simply de-nounced Musharraf’s actions, leav-ing a great deal of detail to be de-

sired. Amidst all of the madness,

Bhutto comes back hoping the world will forget about the accusations of corruption set on her before she subjected herself to years of exile. Bhutto came back hoping to redeem herself because amid Musharraf’s multiple blunders, she was looking better than ever to the Pakistani people; however, just how Bhutto wished to redeem her name is debatable. I theorize that Bhutto’s return to Pakistan was sure suicide and that her intent to die as a martyr for her cause was what drove her back to Pakistan.

It seems to me that Bhutto used her own death as a ploy to advance the situation on the side of the opposition movement. This I can only imagine because of

letters by Bhutto released to the press warning officials about the propensity of her own death at the hands of Musharraf as a result of his providing too little security to protect her. Moreover, if Bhutto could speak right now from the underbelly of the earth where she lies buried, I’m sure she would be asking Musharraf something to the extent of “Where were you when you shot me?” (but in a brilliantly eloquent Pakistani accent), because Musharraf was the cause for the threats that Bhutto routinely dealt with as a result of her return, and Musharraf should indubitably have offered better security to protect her.

The death of Bhutto appears to represent something more than simply the death of a corrupt

government official, because as a result of her death she seems to act as a symbol of the martyrdom of the Pakistani bourgeoisie being persecuted on Musharraf’s behalf. If I may say so myself, I believe that Bhutto’s death was one of the most significant events in favor of the Pakistani people that happened all of last year. Not to mention that the assassination of Bhutto meant killing two birds with one stone because it caused the death of a politician who brought nothing but more violence to the country, but was also the cause of death of a suicide bomber who attempted to kill her, and would have probably continued in his efforts against Bhutto’s cause had he remained alive. Bhutto is leaving behind an inimitable legacy. In fact, she even has a successor, her nineteen-year-old son, who is currently a student at Oxford. I never thought I’d see the day when a former Pakistani prime minister would have a successor. Had I not known better I would have thought the Bhuttos to have been royalty as in the news Bhutto is often portrayed as almost a “Pakistani princess” who died defending the people she governed.

Perhaps all that can be done now on the side of the ignorant American who probably thinks Bhutto is from Bangladesh (like a few of my friends) is to continue to watch the situation unfold, as the Pakistani people are left to bid Bhutto goodbye. ◙

by Amna Ahmad opinions editor

Bye Bye Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto, a Pakistani politican, was assassinated on December 27, 2007, after depart-ing a PPP rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.

Source: Bhutto.bbc.co.uk.jpg

Simply Something in Her Eyes by Nabiha Nuruzzaman

staff writer

Rumor has it that Hillary was crying. Well, okay, she wasn’t crying, but there were definitely hints of moisture in her eyes. That and the fact that she paused a few times and spoke in a softer, more feeling tone than usual was enough to make headlines all over the media. A B C n e w s h a d s e v e r a l correspondents psychoanalyzing the case, while reporters at Fox had principally dismissed her tears as “uncool” in their “Cool or Uncool” act, and YouTube’s clips soon

reported over two hundred thousand viewers, some of whom left disparaging comments deriding Hil lary‘s fraudulent nature. Throughout the entire day, pundits decisively reported Barack Obama’s double-digit lead in polls; Hillary wasn’t going to win the primary. But t h e a l l - k n o w i n g p u n d i t s underestimated the power of a few infinitesimal tears, a little wetness in the eye. Once again, Hillary made headlines as she pulled off a surpr is ing vic tory in New Hampshire.

But why did Hillary have to resort to tears to pull off this

victory? Throughout her campaign Hillary Clinton has come under sc ru t iny fo r anyth in g and everything. “She’s a machine.” “Her hair sucks.” “Where’s the emotion?” “Her new face lift isn’t working too well.” “What’s with the dress?” But why does Hillary’s bad fashion sense deserve more attention than McCain’s cheap suits? Why should her wrinkles be more important than Giuliani’s?

In a country that boasts of its freedom and equality, Hillary is facing the nasty double standards that tend to follow women who reach high places. Now I’m not

saying that she has it worse than any other candidate, but her physical traits are definitely subject to an equal amount of, if not more, consideration than are her policies and plans. This begs the question of whether we are ready for a woman president.

Or whether we are ready for any president who isn’t a rich white man, for that matter. Barack Obama may just have lost because of something known as the Bradley effect. The Bradley effect refers to

CLINTON continues on page 6

10 SCIENCE THE STUYVESANT STANDARD January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

A New Hope for Both Stem Cell and Cancer Research?

Fruit Juice: A Leading Cause for Child Obesity?

As a part of the NYC Council’s Sports and Physical Education Re-port in 2003, vending machines promoting the sale of “junk food” products, such as soft drinks, have been removed and replaced by the water and “100% juice” products of Snapple Beverages. The DOE had received complaints involving the soft drinks being sold to students, stating that they were unhealthy for them because their sugar levels were too high. However, the story does not end because it is here where the irony lies — the sugar content in Snapple is greater than or equal to that of soft drinks.

Not only is Snapple an unhealthy substitute, but many other fruit juices in general may

by Rammiya Nallainathan staff writer

With additional reporting by Omar Ahmad

science editor

by Qi Fan Zhang staff wrtier

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Primary school children who regularly consume juice and other fruit drinks are about twice as likely to be overweight or obese.

present harmful consequences. The main effect that is shown throughout several children between the ages of four and twelve i s the l ong te rm development of obesity. Studies carried out by Andrea Sanigorski, Colin Bell, and Boyd Swinburn from the University's Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences show that children who ingested more than 500 mL of fruit juice per day had a higher chance of being overweight or obese than children who did not drink fruit juices at all. In fact, Dr. Sanigorski said that a child who drank more than 750 mL of fruit juice daily would be twice as likely to become obese as a child who didn’t drink these juices. One reason this occurs is that parents are unaware of the amount of fruit juice that their children drink and the diet that their chi ldren follow. Dr.

Sanigorski stated, “These drinks contribute high amounts of energy to kids’ diets, yet they don't make them feel full.”

Along with obesity, these drinks a lso ass is t in the development of diabetes and high blood pressure. This occurs due to the fact that they are laden with fructose, a type of naturally occurring sugar that can trigger obesity in humans, and in turn lead to diabetes and high blood pressure. Fructose does not alert the body to produce insulin, the hormone that “tells” the body that it is well fed. When this occurs, the body does not know when to stop eating and weight gain results.

There a re man y o ther alternatives to drinking fruit juice avai lable to a dehydrated individual. ◙

Stem cells have the ability to de ve lop in to an y o f th e approximately two hundred types of cells in the human body. They

differentiate later on in their cell lives, so scientists hope to use stem cells to repair cells that have been damaged. Many hope that stem cells can be used to cure complex ailments such as cancer, hepatitis, and hemophilia.

However, a new theory has

arisen among oncologists which threatens this ambition. The stem-cell hypothesis suggests that the main culprits that cause cancers are carcinogenic stem cells. That is, these chemotherapy-defiant stem cells can renew and generate cells that contribute to the formation of tumors. In order to fully destroy the cancer cells in one’s body, proponents of this theory believe that the cancerous stem cells should also be destroyed. While chemotherapy and radiation only target the tumor itself, and not the stem cells, researchers hope that certain drugs would be able to fully eliminate the cancerous stem cells.

This approach to combat cancer is laughed upon by many.

“To say you just have to kill the cancer stem cell is oversimpli-fied. It’s giving false hope,” Dr. Kornelia Polyak said.

Y e t , t h e r e a r e m a n y researchers who believe that the stem-cell hypothesis is a major improvement. Dr. Max S. Wicha of the University of Michigan

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Researchers such as Michael Clarke and Irving Weissman are among leading thinkers re-garding the role of stem cells in maintaining malignant cancer tissues. They believe that stem cells may be the key to cancer.

believes that it is “a major thrust to [the] cancer center.”

Dr. John E. Dick, the director of the University of Toronto’s stem cell biology department, is also an advocate of the stem-cell hypothesis. In the early 1990s, he discovered that stem cells make up less than one percent of the leukemia cells. He also noted that only these cells can cause tumors in mice. However, due to the complexity of the transplant in mice and to the lack of sufficient data, Dr. Dick’s research was ignored. Yet, when cancerous stem cells were found in breast cancer patients, Dr. Dick’s work gained importance. Soon after this, cancerous stem cells were also found in other types of cancers as well, including cancers of the colon , lung, pros ta te , and pancreas.

Wh e t h e r t h e s t e m - c e l l hypothesis is a step forward in the battle against cancer or only a theory designed to convey false hope to cancer patients, only time can tell. ◙

THE STANDARD SCIENCE

CLINTON continued from page 5

Rumor has it that Hillary was crying. Well, okay, she wasn’t crying, but there were definitely hints of moisture in her eyes. That

and the fact that she paused a few times and spoke in a softer, more feeling tone than usual was enough to make headlines all over the media. A B C n e w s h a d s e v e r a l correspondents psychoanalyzing the case, while reporters at Fox had

principally dismissed her tears as “uncool” in their “Cool or Uncool” act, and YouTube’s clips soon reported over two hundred thousand viewers, some of whom left disparaging comments deriding Hil lary‘s fraudulent nature.

Throughout the entire day, pundits decisively reported Barack Obama’s double-digit lead in polls; Hillary wasn’t going to win the primary. But t h e a l l - k n o w i n g p u n d i t s underestimated the power of a few infinitesimal tears, a little wetness in

THE STANDARD BUSINESS

11 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD BUSINESS January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

Oil prices hit $100 on Wednesday, January 2nd and again the next day as national crude oil inventories dropped by four million barrels to 289.6 million barrels in the final week of trading in 2007, marking the lowest level of crude stocks since early 2005. Many traders believe that if crude closes above $100 a barrel for several days, it could pose enough significance for it to even rise up to $110, but if it remains below $100 a barrel, prices will start to decrease.

Although prices dropped slightly to $99.18 at the close of Thursday trading, most analysts believe that oil prices will defi-nitely rise. “The only reason we came off was the refined products built – other than that, there isn’t a lot to indicate we shouldn’t keep going higher,” said Tony Rosado of IAG Energy Brokers in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The president of trading advisory firm Cameron Hanover, Peter Beutel, also be-lieves that prices will rise above $100 dollars: “Now that $100 has been broken through, we’ll see crude go over that level regularly in January. We’re seeing the Fed-eral Reserve showing signs of con-tinuing to cut interest rates, oil supply isn’t keeping up with de-mand and OPEC is showing no

sign of trying to bring down prices.”

Others, such as Laurie Falter, an economist with the E n e r g y I n f o r m a t i o n Administration, say that oil prices will fall later in the year because “crude-oil stocks traditionally fall in the last two months of the year, rebounding later in January and in February, refiners and major holders of crude stocks, often draw down their crude-oil inventories to reduce end-of-year taxes.” However , analyst s interviewed by The Wall Street Journal stick to their predictions that U.S. crude will average in the $80-90 range this year, above the $72 range of last year.

Despite skyrocketing prices, many of the OPEC countries aren’t moving to boost supplies, mainly because of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest single supplier of oil, which has continually resisted the boosting of oil supply since last November’s output rise of 500,000 barrels a day. According to The Wall Street Journal, OPEC could be all the more r e luc t an t t o boo s t production after its February gathering because any additions to world supplies wouldn’t arrive at refineries in the United States or Asia until mid-March, after the peak winter supply crunch. Oil prices, which have already inflicted damage on the finances

of consumers and companies alike, will likely only rise even higher. The average gasoline prices are 72 cents a gallon higher than the $2.33 a gallon seen last year at this time.

Some companies benefited from the rising oil prices, such as Exxon Mobil , which has remained Fortune 500’s most profitable company thanks to record oil prices in 2006. Chevron, an oil giant, has also benefited from oil prices with $17.1 billion in earnings. Despite some gains, most companies and consumers will be harmed in the

long run if oil prices continue their upward push. The rise of crude has contributed to the decline of the Dow Jones Industrial as well as the NASDAQ Composite Index and the Standard & Poor 500. Unfortunately, The Wall Street Journal states that oil prices could go well above the inflation-adjusted high of $102.81, set in April 1980 during a period of political turmoil in the Middle East. ◙

by Si Hong Huang staff wrtier

Light, Sweet Crude Hits $100

Source: peakoil.transitionculture.org.jpg

Peak oil refers to the notion that at some point in the future we will reach a peak in the rate at which we can pump oil out of the ground.

Science Behind the Epiphany

Many have claimed to have had an experience, in which there was a lm o st un do ub t ab l e d i v in e intervention, normally in the form of an epiphany. Whether it is a sudden feeling of revelation, sudden transition from reality to an “outer dimension,” or even divine interaction, neuroscientists have longed to understand the neural basis of these extraordinary phenomena, and, according to Scientific American Mind magazine, they may have an answer.

Through many experiments and analyses, neuroscientists have been able to pinpoint an area of the brain that might be responsible for generating religious experiences: the temporal lobe. Neuroscientists have studied many cases of patients with epilepsy, a condition of excessive neural activity in certain

parts of the brain (often the temporal lobe), who claimed to have divine interaction with spiritual entities. The famous neuroscient ist Vi layanur S . Ramachandran conducted a series of experiments in which he asked several of his patients with temporal lobe epilepsy to listen to a mixture of religious, emotional, and neutral words while recording their emotional responses. He discovered that religious words, especially “God,” stimulated the greatest emotional response from the patient, indicating that people with temporal lobe epilepsy are prone to intense religious feelings.

To fur ther suppor t the hypothesis, Michael Persinger from Laurentian University in Ontario attempted to induce religious exp er i ence s a r t i f i c i a l l y b y stimulating the temporal lobe According to the result, most test subjects, when being stimulated,

described feeling an unknown presence in the room, while in real i ty there was no one. Interestingly, the test subjects would always translate the false perceptions into subjects of their own beliefs, such as Buddha, an angel, or God.

However, to the scientists, the best way to elucidate the location of certain region of the brain responsible for mystical experience was to probe the brain during the experience. Using techniques such a s s i n g l e - p h o t o n - e m i s s i o n computed tomography, where the test subject is injected with a radioactive isotope to measure the relative amount of activity in different areas of the brain, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neuroscientists found and elucidated certain parts of the brain that were unusually active (such as frontal lobe, prefrontal cortex, and insula) and

inactive (the parietal lobe). Would this suggest that God

does not exist and is just a mere illusion conjured up by abnormal neural emanation? The scientists’ answer, surprisingly, is no. Though t h e y h a v e e v i d e n c e , t h e neurological recordings and fMRI images were not collected during the mystical experience, but rather during the time in which the s u b j e c t s r e m e m b e r e d t h e experience. Rather, the scientists concluded that the mystical e x p e r i e n c e v a r i e s a m o n g individuals, where an atheist would interpret it as the magnificence of the universe while a Christian might translate it in to divine interaction. The idea is still relatively up for grabs as far as research is concerned, presenting multiple possibilities for future inquiry. ◙

by David Huang staff writer

THE STANDARD ENTERTAINMENT

by Omar Ahmad science editor

12 ENTERTAINMENT THE STUYVESANT STANDARD January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

The Closest Shave You’ll Ever Know

by Robert Colbourn assistant entertainment editor

The very start of this film, throughout the opening credits, displays blood surging through the streets of London, foreshadowing the fervent acts of revenge to come. Benjamin Barker, the gifted barber of Fleet Street who wants revenge for being wrongly imprisoned and separated from his family, returns to London under an alias, Sweeney Todd. The role of Sweeney Todd, pursued by the talented Johnny Depp, was perfectly cast and could not have resonated a purer visage of Sweeney. As a matter of fact, every person in this film was flawlessly cast, from Sweeney himself to the third extra on the right in the street scene. Johnny Depp was born to play Sweeney, Helena Bonham Carter was destined to play Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman was ideal for Judge Turpin, and Tim Burton was most likely the unanimous candidate of director for this production. This tale lends itself to Burton’s masterful style of shade and darkness , l ea ving an a i r r e m i n i s c e n t o f “ E d w a r d Scissorhands” and “The Corpse Bride,” two other Depp-Burton collaborations.

The film is dim, sinister, and very pale, with a powerful musical foundation that does not take away from the plot, but assists the viewer in easing into the story. What caught many viewers by surprise was the ingenuity of the

actors’ voices during the musical scenes. Even so, there was obvious tone enhancement and the work was attributed to many singing lessons for the lead actors. As a spectator of many films, musicals are normally the occupants of the bottom of my list of movies, yet the subtle and unexaggerated tunes of this film leave you humming for weeks on end. Another pleasant surprise is the presence of Sacha Baron Cohen playing the role of Signor Adolfo Pirelli, a rival barber. Though his performance was phenomenal, the main film that Cohen is identified with is the comedy “Borat.” He is a talented actor who has only skimmed his

potential, as is evident in his performance in this film. It is a small role but very well done by Cohen. As soon as he appeared, many viewers started cracking up because he was employing an accent and people immediately associated him with Borat.

On occasion, watching a mo v ie wi th a r e l a t i ve l y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d p l o t i s advantageous in allowing you to focus on the performing, the cinematography, and in this case, the music. This story is an uncomplicated one of revenge for an immeasurable amount of injustice done to an innocent man and his family. The simplicity is

interpreted in a complex manner, due to the fact that the story is laid out in music and visuals, especially the costumes and the general illustration of London. Brilliantly portrayed by Burton, the intense and passionate scenes of gore, spread widely throughout the film, serve as both the comic relief and the suspenseful scenes of this film. However, the quality of this production is evident in every facet. Sweeney Todd was definitely worth its weight in Oscar nominations and it will, in the words of Sweeney himself, “guarantee the closest shave you'll ever know.” ◙

Based on the hit Broadway musical Sweeney Todd, the movie tells the infamous story of Benjamin Barker, also known as Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop in downtown London.

Source: seenytodd.latimes.com

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A New Legend is on the Rise

THE LAST MAN continues on page 10

Comic books and graphic novels have been the basis of certain movies for decades now. Unfortunately, the mainstream comics (Spiderman and X-men, for example) have been developed into mediocre-at-best movies. Recently we were introduced to a couple of graphic novels that have been turned into truly stellar movies (“300” and “Sin City,” for example). These novels were relatively unknown to the public before being remade. Now, we are introduced to another unknown

graphic novel: I Am Legend. The movie that was spawned from this graphic novel followed the trend: it was an engaging and thrilling experience packed with heartfelt emotion that could very well make you leave the theater in tears.

In the year 2009, the world’s scientists finally find a cure for cancer using a mutation of mea-sles, but it turns for the worse after it starts killing its recipients. The virus becomes airborne and infects massive numbers of people, killing millions within the first year. The

I Am Legend is a post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith as virologist Robert Neville.

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13 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD ENTERTAINMENT January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

Rhinoceros Takes The Stage

Photo Credit: Dennis Ng and Guergana Borissova

by Amy Qui staff writer

As perhaps one of the most profound Stuyvesant theatre pro-ductions in some time, Rhinoc-eros was a winter drama filled with undertones about World War II France. Performed on January 10 and 11, the play was set in a small French town, where the people are shocked to see that rhinoceroses have been appearing in increasing numbers. When it becomes apparent that people are turning into rhinoceroses, the characters are faced with the de-cision of whether they want to become one of “them.” The im-plications of Nazism were cer-tainly present in their decisions, and parallels were drawn between the two as the play progressed.

The struggle for survival was brought out by Berenger, played by Isaac Miller, whose portrayal of the lost and troubled man was impressive. There was an almost contagious tension that exuded from his perform-ance, as the audience felt his anxious determination to not give in to the rhinoceroses.

That same tension was felt among the other characters of the play, especially Botard (Sammy Sussman). The man's cynicism and initial refusal to believe that the rhinos existed

\

was especially reminiscent of the denial at that time. Botard's pessimistic and defensive atti-tude was enhanced by Sussman's demonstrative acting and exag-gerated gestures. He truly cap-

RHINOCEROS continues on page 10

tured the eccentric spirit of Bo-tard.

THE STANDARD LITERARY

14 LITERARY THE STUYVESANT STANDARD January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

Sudoku by Robert Stevenson literary editor

4 6 1 3

9 2 7 6

9 2 7 8 5

1 4 6

1 5 8 3 4

3 2 5

8 6 4 9 1

2 1 7 9

5 4 7 8

people who aren’t killed are mu-tated, losing their skin pigmenta-tion and their humanity as they develop an overwhelming hunger. Three years later, Robert Neville (Will Smith) lives in a completely deserted Manhattan with his dog, Sam, trying to find a cure for the virus that devastated the rest of the world.

This turned out to be a post-apocalyptic film following a sole survivor. Will Smith’s perform-ance was Oscar worthy. He truly portrayed all of the sorrow and dedication that his role required, and some of the scenes that in-volved his struggle left people in tears. Throughout the movie, there were numerous scenes that had

THE LAST MAN continued from page 8

all remarkably done. Scenes in-volving a dilapidated New York City looked perfectly authentic, and leave everyone wondering how in hell they were done.

One of the first pieces of advice that I received in movie-reviewing was to always include something that was bad in the movie to allow the reader to get a complete look at it. I’ve honestly tried to think of something bad about this movie, and I can’t. Some claimed that its plot was a bit hard to follow, but if you pay attention to the movie (which you will, from beginning to end) then you’ll see that it has a simple, yet intriguing plot. This is possibly the best movie of 2007, and is one that everyone has to see. ◙

I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, was released December 14, 2007 in the United States.

everybody on the edges of their seats. A scene where Robert Neville enters an abandoned build-

ing that is pitch dark is a prime example where the audience was truly frightened. The imaging was

Source:iamlegend.freem

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When it comes to memora-ble scenes, though, the top mer-its would have to go to Scene II of Act II. As Berenger's friend Jean (Joseph Kopyt) was gradu-ally turning into a rhino, the moment was so gripping that it was impossible to look away. The crazed and frantic mood of that scene was brought out very well by an energetic perform-ance from Kopyt, whose man-nerisms only added to the sense

RHINOCEROS continued from page 8

of anticipation. The initial denial and gradual acceptance of his change was transitioned into quite smoothly.

The overall moving pace of the show was only slowed down during the beginning of Act III, where Berenger's conversation with Dudard (Alon Sicherman) seemed to drag on at times. Per-haps the lost of momentum was due to the length of that part of the script, which made the con-versation feel longer than neces-sary.

In any case, the nuances of

the show definitely shone through the cast, who all seemed well molded into their roles. Another scene worth mentioning would be the one where Ber-enger and Daisy (Rebecca Tempkin) find themselves as the last two humans left. With the idea of having children to regen-erate the human race, he ex-claims “Let's go save the world!” This part would have to be a personal favorite, as it was the only moment that succeeded in being funny, dramatic, ro-mantic, and inspiring all at once

(not to mention it even incorpo-rated a Biblical reference). The later parts of the play were a bit more serious.

Despite some minor mis-haps, Rhinoceros was a play whose undertones were as stimulating to watch as the great acting that accompanied it. ◙

Please note: Neither Robert Stevenson nor any other play member was involved in the production of the article.

The Stuyvesant Standard wishes

Valerie Piro and Lucia Hsiao a speedy recovery.

Desktop Doodles by Robert Stevenson literary editor

THE SPORTS BEAT continued from page 12

15 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD SPORTS January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

NBA REPORT continued from page 12

they started coming back. I re-member when there were around 3 minutes left in the fourth quar-ter did my nerves start to take over. When Stuyvesant took a timeout with around 30 seconds left, I was a wreck. I took a walk, trying to shake out my currently limp thumb and clean up my in-credibly sweaty hands, but it was no use. I was forced to operate the clock with two hands. You want pressure? That was pressure.

It’s not just me who has pres-sure working at the scorer’s table. Working the book is a job of equal importance. They’re in charge of scoring, fouls, timeouts, and making sure whatever I’m doing electronically is on paper. What they do can have an even bigger effect on the game. The NBA announced on January 11 that the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks must replay the last 51.9 seconds of the Hawks 119-111 overtime over the Heat on De-cember 19. The scorers table in-correctly ruled that Heat center Shaquille O’Neal fouled out. He was given a foul with 3:24 left in the fourth quarter that should have gone to power forward Udonis Haslem. The power of the scorer’s table over the game ri-vals only that of the ref.

It wasn’t until twenty min-utes after that Beacon game did I finally regain full circulation in my extremities. When I do an-swer that million dollar question on some future game show, I’ll have my scoreboard operating to thank for nerve control. ◙

Houston Rockets 8. Los Angeles Lakers.

The Western Conference is much more competitive and stacked with talented teams. Again to win in the playoffs you have to be the better team, so take the Spurs over the Lakers, the Maver-icks over the Hornets, and the Nuggets over the Jazz, although this series will be very close and exciting. As an upset take the Rockets over the Suns because this is the year that T-Mac leads the Rockets to a playoff series win. The pressure is on him this year to do well in the playoffs..

In the next round the Rockets will defeat the defending champion Spurs and the Nuggets over the Mavericks. The reason that the Spurs consistently win is because they combine good defense with a very balanced offense but the Rockets have what it takes to beat them. T-Mac and Yao Ming will pick apart the Spurs’ defense piece by precious piece. The Rockets have a good defense themselves and will be able to keep Tony Parker and Tim Duncan in check, hopefully. The reason the Nuggets will beat the Mavericks is because they will get better defensively as the year progresses. Even though the Mavericks are a very good team, the combination of Allen

Iverson and Carmelo Anthony will be too much for them to handle. But it all depends on the Nuggets getting better defensively.

In the conference finals go with the Rockets. The Rockets have the better team, more talented players, and more thirst for a championship. But the Nuggets are flashier, can score, are younger, and have great leadership. I would pick the overall winner, but there is again no point. These two teams fail in comparison to the Celtics. At first nobody wanted to admit it, worrying it wouldn’t come true. But come April, there’ll be no more speculation on who comes out on top. ◙

Two Juniors Seriously Hurt in Auto Accident

by Eric Mayo managing editor

Six members of the Stuyve-sant Girls Track Team and a coach were injured Saturday when their van rolled over in Hartford, Ver-mont.

According to the Times-Argus, the van, taking eight race walkers, two from the High School of Health Professionals and Human Services, was travel-ing northbound on I-91 when the van veered into a median and rolled over. According to reports, several witnesses had to hold the van in place in order to prevent the van from rolling over again. Six people in the van, including

the two from Health, were re-leased from the hospital with mi-nor injuries. Coach Erin Taylor suffered a fractured neck. Juniors Valerie Piro and Lucia Hsiao had more serious injuries. Members of the track team were concerned with misrepresentations by vari-ous media outlets concerning the accident. Contrary to original reports, the girls were not on a school sponsored trip. Rather, the Dartmouth Relays, which is where they were going before the accident, was independent of the school itself.

The Associated Press picked

up the story Tuesday night. On Wednesday, several students were stopped by various New York media outlets asking them if they knew the injured girls. Me-dia coverage of the accident has annoyed some members of the track team. Members of the team have said that reporters asked them for pictures of the injured girls and to call the injured girls up and ask for permission. Said senior racewalker Nina Yang, “how ridiculous”. ◙

compensate for Gilbert Arenas’ injury, which will take him out of action for three months. The Knicks need no explanation. Nothing will be solved in that mess until Issiah Thomas gets fired.

In the NBA playoffs you really have to be better than the other team in order to win the se-ries. You can get lucky one game but lightning doesn’t strike four times. In addition to that, eve-ryone knows that the best team in this conference is the Boston Celtics. They are simply too tal-ented-- no team can beat them four times out of seven.

At the beginning of the year everyone had doubts because they thought the Celtics were too old. The truth of the matter is that what makes them old makes it more important for them to win a championship this year. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce are three great players who have one thing in common: none of them have won an NBA championship. They know that they have to win it this year, because if they don’t, they know that younger teams like the Magic and the Cavaliers are just going to get better and bet-ter.

As for the Western Conference, here are the top eight teams in order: 1. San Antonio Spurs 2. Phoenix Suns 3. Dallas Mavericks 4. Denver Nuggets 5. Utah Jazz 6. New Orleans Hornets 7.

NBA Mid-Season Report

Confessions of a

Scoreboard Operator

THE SPORTS BEAT continues on page 11

It is truly amazing how much can change over the course of a month, especially when it comes to sports. Two months ago everybody thought that Kobe Bryant was on the move, now everyone knows that he will stay in LA. A month ago the Knicks were pretty bad—some things just can’t change. The fact that it is impossible to guarantee anything in sports makes predictions a whole lot harder. One can make calculated predictions of what will happen in the NBA playoffs as the mid-season approaches, but there is no guarantee on anything in this league.

Now lets get back to business: the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference in order may finish like this: 1. Boston Celtics 2. Detroit Pis-tons 3. Orlando Magic 4. Cleveland Cavaliers 5. Toronto Raptors 6. Indiana Pacers 7. New Jersey Nets 8. Miami Heat.

Everything would get back to normal as soon as guard Dwayne Wade got back for the Miami Heat, but the Orlando Magic have proven them-selves to be a force in the East and it doesn’t look like that the Heat will be able to overcome their early season losses. They are still struggling to win games but they will start pulling it together as the season progresses. The losers in this confer-ence are the Washington Wizards and the New York Knicks. The Wizards will not be able to

The right side of my face is tingling. The left side is drenched in sweat. I lost all feeling in my left hand several minutes ago, and now I’ve lost feeling in my right hand. I pick up my thumb, and it falls right back down. This isn’t good.

No, this isn’t the scene of opening up my early admissions decision letter. I wasn’t an-swering the million dollar question on a game show. It’s all in a day’s work of operating the scoreboard for the Runnin’ Rebels.

My job description is fairly simple: Don’t screw up. If the game isn’t close in either direction, there’s no sweat. Working the scoreboard is just like working a computer screen. If the game’s close, that’s a different story.

Everything you do is magnified. The clock, for example, is run through a clicker. Touch the clicker accidentally, and even if immediately clicked back, you lose .2 sec-onds. Not a big deal you say? David Lee needed only one tenth of a second to tip the ball into the basket to beat the Bobcats in double overtime in easily the greatest Knick moment in the Isaiah Thomas era. If on the previous play, the scorer’s table was a frac-tion late, that game goes to triple overtime. 1.2 seconds is all AP Randolph needed to shoot a full court three to end their win over Stuyvesant. Every precious second counts.

The game from the above situation was against Beacon High School in early Decem-ber. Stuyvesant was down 12 at the half, until

16 SPORTS THE STUYVESANT STANDARD January 18, 2008—VOL. 7, No. 6

by Ankit Singh staff writer

NBA REPORT continues on page 11

Kevin Garnett (center) and Ray Allen (right) have been the key to the Celtics early season success.

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