Wrapping Up the Torch

Olympic. The word has come to mean the epitome of greatness. An Olympic feat is a task one step short of superhuman. After all, people are only human.

But the 2008 Olympics came about as close as is humanly possible to the superhuman. From the moment the fiery footsteps started on their path across Beijing, events that would never even have been possible 20 years ago (and still stretch our conception of what is possible today) became reality.

43 World Records and 132 Olympic records were broken at this Olympics. A single person garnered eight gold medals; more than any other in history. (By the way, this same person gave swimming lessons to 30 lucky youngsters last week at the New York YMCA as part of his Visa sponsorship.) And whether or not the pool depth or various other tweaked factors made any impact on the athletes' performance, the fact remains that it was a human who broke each and every record, who swam each stroke, who ran each step, and who launched themselves airborne for every flip.

And speaking of humans, approximately 3 billion humans worldwide watched the 2008 Olympics.

One of those people was Lindsay Y, a senior at Paly. And she was actually there.

So, how bad was the weather? "It was hot for a few days, but I could definitely breathe. It was so much better than Shanghai," said Lindsay.

Tickets were sold by event, but at $30 per ticket for evening track finals, the cost was definitely not the limiting factor. "A lot of the tickets were reserved for Chinese companies to hand out to their employees," Lindsay said.

An international rumor was going around back when the Beijing venue was announced that there'd been an American who offered several thousand dollars to any hotel who could guarantee him a room for the Olympics. As the story goes, the hotels told him they could not guarantee him a room. Of course, many international guests were able to secure accommodation for those so very important 3 weeks in August. "There were definitely more foreigners in Beijing than normal," Lindsay said.

And of course, these Olympics did not go down without some contention. Liu Xiang, the famed Chinese hurdler, pulled out of the 110 meter hurdles with a severe injury to his foot after one false start. Clearly in a lot of pain as he took his mark for the start of the race, China's track champion started off the block only to be called back because of a false start. And that's when he made the decision to sit out. "I personally was really surprised because I didn't hear about his injury being that serious," said Lindsay. "I think about 60% of Chinese felt that it was not a legitimate injury. He was under a lot of pressure, though. He's really big in China - he was in so many ads."

The international stage was anything but calm as the fireworks exploded over the Birds' Nest, though. George W. Bush was seen chatting amiably in his seat next to Vladimir Putin as Russian tanks rolled into the former Soviet country of Georgia, and China endured criticism about their violations of Tibetans' human rights all throughout the Games.

However, this Olympics, China, the most populous nation in the world, showed how much can be accomplished with people power. This is a lesson Barack Obama and John McCain must understand as they ready themselves for the homestretch of a campaign that went on longer than any other in history. This is a lesson the Chinese government must also take in if they are to continue to grow economically and socially in world society. And this is a lesson we all must internalize and remember every time we think, "What I do doesn't matter. Someone else will do it."

But in truth, every chorus member, every background dancer, every person who moved a box up and down and made cherry blossoms bloom on the Great Wall of China, and every drummer counts towards the whole production and every person who participated makes the performance that much more spectacular.

Biden His Time

Complement or supplement?

That was the fundamental decision our two aspiring presidents had to make when selecting the top contender for Dick Cheney's soon-to-be-vacant position.

Is it better to fill in gaps in your resume or reinforce what you've already got? Obama, at least, has made his choice - at least according to the newspapers. Even though news of Obama's running mate is splashed all over online news sources, apparently he hasn't even made the formal announcement yet. CNN was the first to spill the news, and their source was a press leak, not a rousing speech by Barack himself. (By the way, today the Wall Street Journal released a headline news story naming Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as the running mate for the Obama; and retracted it hours later. They'd published information straight from the computer of some enterprising hoaxer.)

In naming Senator Joe Biden from Delaware as his right-hand man, it's clear Obama is looking to even out his credentials.

Here's the quick version:

Pros for Joe Biden: Well known in Washington. (Helps with experience issue.) Expert on foreign policy. (Helps there too.) Not too risky. (He's not going to make or break the election by himself.)

Cons for Joe Biden: Well known in Washington. (Undercuts Obama's message of change; Biden is a 6-term senator, which translates into 36 years as a Washington insider.) Expert on foreign policy. (Might be seen as better suited to the top job than Obama, given his knowledge of international affairs.) Not too risky. (He's not going to do much either way for polls.)

Conclusion: OK, Obama's going the safe route. Now who's his red elephant counterpart going to pick?

And speaking of John McCain, I half expected him to announce his running mate literally two minutes after Obama in order to dull the buzz surrounding the selected Democratic would-be VP.

And there are some radical choices out there for McCain VP's, including a woman (!!) from Alaska (!!).

But of course, we all know how McCain has been eyeing those 8 million votes Ms. Hillary Clinton could swing his way.

So hey! You never know.

Spotlight: International Soccer Camp in Holland!

An international athletic camp in Holland with kids from all over the world that will look good on a college transcript and be a lot of fun along the way? Sign me up.

People to People's Youth Friendship Games through their Sports Ambassadors program sounds like a total blast. Incoming Paly sophomore Julia E gives us the inside scoop on her international athletic experience.

Founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, People to People was established in 1956 to promote peace and understanding through international conferences - not between government officials, but between individual citizens. Eisenhower famously said, "The people want peace; indeed, I believe they want peace so badly that they governments will just have to step aside and let them have it."

The Sports Ambassadors program (www.sportsambassadors.org) is fairly new; it has only been in existence since 2000. According to Julia, it shows. Athletes for the summer program are nominated by their coaches from AYSO (the recreational league of soccer); not, as the website boasts, "through a selective interview and recommendation process." Applicants did go to one interview, but "I think everyone who applied was accepted," said Julia. And when scheduled plans for the 2,000+ student athletes fell through, more often than not they went souvenir shopping. The venerated "Friendship Village," the hub of everyday activities, consisted of seven tents and several soccer fields.

One of the tents boasted Domino's and Ben and Jerry's franchises, but otherwise, "the food was really bad," said Julia, recounting their first lunch of two pieces of bread and a slice of ham. "And the drink sizes were really small. They gave us a small tumbler of soda and expected that to last the whole meal."

By the end of the week, one girl was making a list of everything she was going to eat when she got home. Top of the list? "Fudge," said Julia.

According to Julia, there were almost enough redeeming qualities to make up for substandard food and underscheduled days. A bike tour of the Dutch countryside provided beautiful scenery, while other morning cultural trips included a boat ride on Amsterdam's canals and visits to cheese and clog factories. However, some days' agendas fell short of expectations. "What are the two places Amsterdam is famous for? The Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum," said Julia. "We didn't go to either of them."

But the camp's main fault? "There was very little meaningful interaction with kids from other countries," stated Julia. "Mostly, it was American girls going up to non-American guys and going, "Hey, you're kinda cute." There was no, "Wow, what's it like to live in Brazil?"

Teams were mononational and assembled upon arrival at camp; there were US teams, Canadian teams, Saudi Arabian teams, etc. "We played a total of two international soccer matches," said Julia, "and we played four against American club teams."

The Sports Ambassadors Program participated in the Regional Haarlem Cup, which was open to club teams as well. "The club teams have been playing together for months, whereas we jest met days ago, so they had a huge advantage," said Julia.

That is not to say that no friendships were made. "We all bonded the most on the last day," said Julia, smiling ruefully. "Last summer, when I went to summer camp, I went in with one of my friends, so I didn't make very many new ones. But in Holland, all of us exchanged emails and Facebooks. One girl emailed me yesterday."

Last words? "I wish there had been more team-building with kids from difference countries." In other words, People to People is missing the "people" factor.

Spotlight: MODEL UN

Palo Alto's weather has recently improved, now resembling something reasonable for a state known for its beaches, and I'm starting to feel like it's really summer. Unfortunately, if it's really summer, that means that school is really going to start again in August. And if you, like me, have a lot of free time on your hands, you're probably looking ahead to the next school year (or trying not to) and thinking about (or trying not to) what classes and extracurriculars are going to both be fun for you and look decently challenging when you apply to college in two summers.

Soccer, football, basketball, swimming, water polo, music, art, and debate all feature prominently in "Mr. or Ms. Average American High School Student." Fencing, wrestling, curling, underwater basket weaving, and Model United Nations do not.

Hmmmm...Model UN...I think that's the thing I heard about once on the Simpsons, right? Where people have to dress up and talk about a bunch of boring things?

Is is boring to talk to a kid from Cancun, Mexico (who happens to have the same birthday as you) about what happened in their hotel last night? Is it boring to (almost) trip and go flying across a sidewalk on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley because you tried to run in high heels and you have to eat dinner at some place that serves edible food in half an hour? Is it boring to spend an hour arguing with people about why the US should bomb Iran? (Don't answer that last one.)

Model UN can be a blast, according to last year's Paly participants. One freshman MUNer from last year recalls that in the Security Council, "China led an effort to burn all the marijuana in the world with funding from the International Monetary Fund and then drop food by hot air balloon to satisfy 'the munchies.' And it was allowed."

While debate, Mock Trial and Model UN are often grouped in the same "nerd" category, the goal of Model UN is to work with other students to come up with realistic solutions to actual world problems. "[Model UN] teaches you to stand up for what you believe in," said the Paly MUN participant.

Debate, from what I hear, involves pulling a red Radio Flyer wagon overflowing with large sized storage boxes containing all of the possible research, arguments, and speeches that could be helpful in a one-on-one argument. Apparently, debaters don't know whether they will have to argue for or against something until they arrive at the competition. Judges have been known to fall asleep.

Mock Trial, on the other hand, requires new members to argue both sides of why Goldilocks was committing a felony when she broke into the Three Bears' house and stole their porridge, inflicted cruel and unusual punishment on an undersized chair, and then ran from the scene of the crime.

While all of these intellectual extracurriculars provide an opportunity for social networking and a reasonable amount of actual brain use, Model UN is the best choice for those who value the essential 21st century skills "cooperation and collaboration" and want to improve their speaking skills. Unlike Mock Trial and debate, Model UN allows for flexibility in the amount of involvement. Technically, one could sit through an entire Model UN conference without speaking a word. Or, one could give several of their own speeches, raise their placard to comment on every speech made by another delegate, write their own solution to the problem and talk it up to other delegates. This flexibility makes Model UN a good choice for beginners who may want to do Mock Trial or debate later in their high school career.

Of course, as with anything, Model UN is definitely not for everyone, and if you are shy, only doing it because your parents told you to, or have issues with sitting for long periods of time, Model UN is probably not for you.

I will close with a story I first heard from a Berkeley Model UN student. Disclaimer: this is not intended to be discriminatory in any way against any of the groups involved.

A worldwide one-question survey was recently conducted by the UN. The one question was: Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world? The survey was a failure.

In Africa, they didn't know what "food" meant.

In Eastern Europe, they didn't know what "honest" meant.

In China, they didn't know what "opinion" meant.

In the Middle East, they didn't know what "solution" meant.

In Western Europe, they didn't know what "shortage" meant.

In South America, they didn't know what "please" meant.

And in the United States, they didn't know what "the rest of the world" meant.

A gloomy summer day

62°F

Current:Cloudy
Wind: NE at 0 mph
Humidity: 79%

Mon

79°F | 54°F

Tue

77°F | 52°F

Wed

79°F | 54°F

Thu

79°F | 54°F

Summer is a time of sun. As Californians, we take this for granted. Everyone else wants our sun. Sunny beaches, sunny pools, sunny houses - wherever you are, a few rays of heavenly light have always seemed to find you.

Until now.

This year, Northern California's weather seems to be operating several seasons ahead. In fall, we had rain. In winter, we had sun. In spring, we had sun and rain, and now we're stuck in dreary midwinter gloom.

The 1,000+ wildfires eating up Northern California's dry grasses aren't helping. Smoke clouds our precious sunlight, making the process of venturing outside the house downright depressing. In the past few days, several Palo Altans have been known to wear coats outside at 2 in the afternoon.

And conditions will not improve throughout the week; out highest high will be 77 degrees, and our lowest low is a shocking 54.

But why sit around and complain? Just because NorCal's weather is stuck in a time-warp doesn't mean you don't have to stay. If you like it hot, check into Bullhead City, Arizona. At 10AM, it was 107.6, and tomorrow's high is 115. (And according to the latest edition of Via magazine, hotels drop their prices during the hot summer months.)

Of course, with fuel prices at nearly $5 a gallon, a "Great American Road Trip" with air conditioning and a blasting iPod remains a dream for most of us.

So stay home and blame it on global warming, but hey! Now you can do all those fun winter activities you didn't have time to do last year because you were studying for finals. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going ice skating.

*Thanks to www.wunderground.com for weather forecasts.

Racism '08...but against whom?

We all know that "race is a crucial factor in the 2008 Presidential election."

Barack Obama, as the first major party black presidential nominee in American history, has been said to "transcend" race and is hailed as "post-racial."

But not all prejudices are centered on African Americans.

On Monday, June 16th, Al Gore, in a speech endorsing Obama, said, "If you bought poisoned, lead-filled toys from China or adulterated medicine made in China, if you bought tainted pet food made in China, you know elections matter."

The blame was clearly intended to fall on the Bush administration for not pressuring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce food safety regulations, but the phrase came off somewhat like a dig at China.

Obama, in an April 14th speech on manufacturing and trade, recalled that "a few months ago, when I called for a ban on any toys that have more than a trace amount of lead, an official at China's foreign ministry said I was being 'unobjective, unreasonable, and unfair.' "

Obama criticized the Chinese government's conduct on multiple fronts, including violating intellectual property rights, unjustly valuing their currency at less than it's worth to boost their exchange rate, and flooding US markets without opening up their own.

John McCain, on the other hand, has in the past emphasized maintaining a good trade relationship with China and opposed sanctions on the country if they were found to be producing weapons of mass destruction. He explicitly asserted in 2000, "I would tell the Taiwanese that they should observe the one China policy which calls for peaceful reunification." 

However, as he emerged as the leading Republican presidential candidate, his positions have changed radically. In October 2007, McCain said, "If I were in Taiwan today, and I just saw what happened to Martin Lee in Hong Kong*, I would be very nervous about a peaceful integration into China. Remember the promises they made about what would happen in Hong Kong once they reintegrated back into China? None of those have come true."

*Martin Lee is a Chinese pro-democracy activist. His 2007 article about the Chinese government in the Wall Street Journal received harsh criticism from the government in Beijing.

In the election so far, there has not yet been one of those widely publicized political gaffes that requires an apology from a presidential candidate. However, there has been an undercurrent of resentment - conscious or not - toward China throughout the entire presidential campaign.

These seemingly innocuous comments are beginning to have an negative effect on Chinese-Americans' perceptions of presidential candidates as well.

One Chinese-American high school student said, "It always offends me a little if someone says something negative about China. It did take a while to sort of accept being Chinese [in America], because it always seemed to me like people looked down at us. I guess that feeling never really completely goes away."

Of course, it is unlikely that any one of the aforementioned comments in context would sway voters one way or the other. And there has been a lot of critical press focused on China because of the upcoming Olympics and tainted goods, so it's not surprising that politicians would pick up on that.

While there has been a lot of coverage of important voting demographics such as women, Jews, and the white working class, Chinese-Americans have not made the list. All the same,  if candidates want to secure every possible vote - and this fall, it will be especially important for Obama and McCain - they'll need to closely examine their positions and watch their words when making comments relating to Americans of Chinese descent.

As Mao Zedong said, "Politics is war without bloodshed. War is politics with bloodshed."

TEAM Survey: Would You Do It Again?

A poolside party last night for all of Paly's freshman TEAM students provided a fitting end to a momentous first year of high school.

Right. Whatever. Not like we don't still have three more years to go before we take off. But anyway - the real question is whether TEAM is "so-cool-I'd-do-it-every-year-if-I-could!" or "lame."

TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) is a freshman-only program of 100 students that attempts to integrate the four core subjects and show how they are applicable in real life. In the past, the stereotype of TEAM has been that it is for kids who, socially or academically, would have trouble making the transition from middle school to high school.

However, this year, almost the majority of students who signed up were outstanding academically and could certainly have coped easily with mainstream high school. This has changed somewhat the overall image of TEAM - for the better.

This year, the majority of answers to the "hot-or-not" question showed that who else signed up for TEAM was the deciding factor in the choice of whether or not to participate.

"Basically, I signed up because my friends did," said one male TEAM student.

In the same vein, many incoming freshmen who chose not to participate in TEAM said it was because their friends were not planning on doing TEAM.

One other common concern - for parents at least - is that "my child's social circle will be limited." Most TEAM students clamor to refute this claim.

One TEAM student from Jordan said, "For me, TEAM is a place to make friends and hang out with them."

A student from the Peninsula school agreed that all the team-building activities featured throughout the year make it easier for those who don't know many people or are shy to get to know other students well.

And as one student said, "100 people is a lot of people to know."

Knowing approximately 1/4 of the freshman class well, some say, is better than knowing 3/4 a little or not at all. TEAM students have three out of seven classes daily (PE plus two electives) with students not from TEAM, so their social options are not as limited as parents may think.

Of course, as with all specialized programs, TEAM is certainly not for everyone. For those students who prefer to have each class with a different group of friends, TEAM may not be such a good match. And TEAM does ask parents to be active in their child's education by volunteering to help set up events, so parents whose professions require a large amount of travel may find it difficult to stay connected.

But then there are the field trips. TEAM students this year traveled to Foothills Park, Merced County, Monterey, Sunset Beach, and, of course, Yosemite. When asked whether or not she would do TEAM again, a students said immediately, "Yes! Because of the field trips."

This year has been a turning point for TEAM in terms of interest and demographics. The hope is that this "school within a school" will continue to change and grow. After all, TEAM is only as good as the teachers - and the students - make it.