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Despite hiccups, Interim Semester March 18, 2009 / Vol. 28 No. 5 Singapore American High School Story by Nicholas Lesiuk MICA (P) 211/10/2008 Exhilarating leap of faith: Junior Aisling Leow takes in a breath of fresh air after reaching the campsite for the night on the Hiking in Tibetan India trip. Photo by Melissa Huston [email protected]
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MICA (P) 211/10/2008
theMarch 18, 2009 / Vol. 28 No. 5Singapore American High School
Interim 2009 has come and gone but the memories, as students can attest, remain. Inside jokes and newfound friendships were just some of the souvenirs brought home, and while there are the few whose interim experiences were spoiled because of infractions they committed, most returned from a rewarding experience.
The recently added trips to Russia and Jordan were quickly filled and both proved popular among participants.
“I was really impressed with Jordan and I had a lot of fun there,” senior Alex Casella said. “I learned a lot about Middle Eastern culture, but I never want to eat pita bread again.”
The established interim trips didn’t fail to impress either.
“I liked Kruger National Park; it was relaxing,” senior Amit Parekh said. “We rode on a bus a lot, looked at wild animals and played cards.”
Sophomores this year found their choices expanded with the addition of three new trips to China. One such trip was trekking in China, which allowed students not only to traverse some of China’s most beautiful landscapes on foot, but also help out others.
“We went to a local school and taught sports,” sophomore Jeremy Lincoln said.
Despite the good experiences students get to choose from, it seems inevitable that every year someone will find a way to break the rules during interim. Tim Zitur says that the students are not only affecting themselves when they violate rules; they also make the interim program look bad.
“To a larger degree, it puts a bad mark on interim in general because of the actions of a few,” Zitur said.
For the administration, obvious safety reasons aside, their main concern is to the irreversible loss of trust between the students and teachers that occurs when infractions are committed.
“One of the important things about interim is the relationship building that takes place. Relationships can expand more outside of a classroom,” Deputy Principal Doug Neihart said. “That’s why I don’t like kids to break rules or expectations because it erodes trust, which negatively affects a relationship. If they do something during interim that they wouldn’t do during school then that’s what it ultimately affects.”
Principal Dave Norcott described the consequences for students who were caught breaking the rules this year.
“Several juniors were suspended for consumption of alcohol on interim,” Norcott said. “And the consequence was suspension from school for two days, and since they were juniors, loss of interim next year.”
Consequences for seniors, who have traveled on their last interim, are different. Usually seniors are not allowed to walk in commencement for infractions committed during or after
interim that merit out-of-school suspension, but this year administrators are trying something different.
“For two of the seniors it was also two days suspension out of school, and they had to sign a contract that includes service hours, written work and letters of apology,” Norcott said.
“Upon completion of the contract the administration will consider letting them walk.”
Like, Neihart, Norcott had a similar message about the damage the infractions can cause.
“The issue for us is that when we send students out on interim, we need to feel that there is a high level of trust because of the fact that we are overseas in foreign countries and environments,” Norcott said. “A person who consumes alcohol during the trip is breaking trust, therefore the consequences are significant.”
Aside from the few infractions there were a few injuries. “There were a few injuries this year; a broken collarbone
during a skiing trip in France Immersion, a separated shoulder plate during skiing in Switzerland, and someone fell and hit her head on the Milford trek,” Neihart said. “And of course Mr. Criens compound fracture.”
Despite the few infractions and injuries that took occurred, the overwhelming number of positive experiences indicates that interim was overall successful in fulfilling goals. Whether or not the actions of a few will truly injure the program remains to be seen.
Story by Nicholas Lesiuk
Despite hiccups, Interim Semestera success among students, faculty
Exhilarating leap of faith: Junior Aisling Leow takes in a breath of fresh air after reaching the campsite for the night on the Hiking in Tibetan India trip. Photo by Melissa Huston
eye
2 March 20, 2009 a the Eye news
by Ann LeeThe walk down to the high school
office seems longer when you have a pink slip in your hand. To some, an office summons is a 15-minute break from math or English, but for others it could mean suspension or expulsion. Every four to six weeks, high school administrators randomly select about 35 students to be drug tested.
Living in a country where the drug use penalties are severe—long sentences or, for dealers, death—students who test positive could face serious extreme consequences.
SAS students are subjected to a hair follicle test. Unlike urine analysis, in which labs check for drug residue in the bladder, hair follicles are tested for the substance in the fatty tissue of the human body. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, marijuana's primary active ingredient, is stored by the fatty lipid tissue of the body. From the fatty tissue it is slowly released into the bloodstream for up to several weeks depending on the amount and frequency of use. While urine tests can only trace marijuana use up to 10 days, hair follicle tests can trace up to 3 months.
Students are notified that they are selected for drug testing the day of the test. They bring the pink slip to the office after the period is over, and a clump of hair is cut out. Then the hair sample is sent to a lab in the U.S. Students are given a notification letter to bring to their parents after the test is complete. Students and parents receive no advanced warning.
When students enroll, parents sign a waiver that agrees to random drug testing, which clearly states parents are not notified.
“We do randomly test people, but if we are led to believe that a student may be involved with substances which are illegal, then we feel it’s reasonable to test the individual,” high school principal David Norcott said.
If a student tests positive, the student is then called into the office. His or her parents are contacted, and in the presence of parents, administrators confirm with the student that he or she had used drugs. Then the student is immediately suspended, and administrators review the whole case, investigate details, and write up a recommendation for expulsion to the superintendent.
“One thing that is most insidious in high school culture in America is substance abuse because it affects the user and other people,” Norcott said.
Regarding the question of what happens if a student used drugs in the U.S. during school breaks and came back to Singapore, Norcott answered that “ingestion of the substance may have not been in Singapore, but the school believes there should be no trace.”
“It’s always difficult to let a student go. Our fundamental belief is that all students are good people. We try to separate the person from the deed. Be hard on the action, be soft on the person,” Norcott said.
In some cases the school does give students who tested positive a second chance to re-enroll. Students have to take online courses during their leave from school, go to drug rehab, do a certain amount of service work, and, after the requirements, administrators review the student’s case. And if it is deemed acceptable, they allow the student to re-enroll in SAS.
“When you go over the line, there are consequences,” Norcott said. “We take the issue of substance issue very seriously, and we want the school to be clean. First of all, it is illegal in Singapore. We are consistent with laws. Secondly, substance abuse has been the downfall of so many young people. We do not want it to become a part of SAS culture, and if we have to we will take steps to eliminate it.”
by Melissa HustonRetired high
school secretary Bonira Rahman passed away on March 2. Rahman first began her work as a secretary when she was just 19 and worked for 36 years until she retired during the 2007 winter break. During her years as a secretary Rahman was one of the most familiar faces in the office.
“I’ve known Boni for 22 years,” English teacher Rick Silverman said. “She was one of the first people I met in the principal’s office when I first joined the school in 1987. There was no way you could not like her, she really was a neat lady.”
Others said that Rahman’s lighthearted personality helped eased their nerves when they first came to work at school.
“I first met Boni when I came to apply on November 25, 1995,” athletic director Mimi Molchan said. “ I went up and talked to her. She laughed and said, ‘Your voice sounds like Demi Moore’. After that she’d always tease me for it because she thought I had a scratchy voice like Moore’s.”
Former Principal Paul Chmelik left SAS in 2005 to take the headmaster’s job at the International School of Kuala Lumpur. Chmelik worked closely with Rahman for six years.
“She always seemed to have her friends, family and the rest of the faculty first on her mind,” former principal Chmelik said. “She was such an upbeat, wonderful person, and she could always make you feel better.”
“She was ahead of everything,”
Silverman said. “She was like a radar; when you walked into the office she knew what you needed, and if it wasn’t already done, it would be.”
Rahman, who dealt with students every day during school, left a lasting impression on many students.
“I remember doing the 50th anniversary. A lot of alumni came back to the office to see Azizah and Bonnie,” Principal Dave Norcott said. “They had been students when they had both worked here and, when they visited, they all had families and wives.”
The high school office can be an intimidating place for some students, but according to Norcott, Rahman was always able to relax them.
“I think it’s safe to say that Boni’s kindness and warmth always helped the students feel at ease in the office.” Norcott said, “Because of her positive impact on those students who came back to visit her and Azizah, they never forgot her.”
Rahman’s legacy is one that will never be forgotten by her friends, her colleges, and the students at SAS.
“She was really a good human being,” said Norcott, “I think thats the greatest credit you can give anybody.”
by Hee Soo ChungPhillip Green frantically waved
his baton as melody from cellos, bass, violins and violas produced a harmony of sounds. “No, no, follow my pace, everyone. Again.”
Rehearsals like this were seen during the Music Festival Week, which took place from March 9 to 13. During the festival, music students from the intermediate school, middle school and high school students get together to perform under the leadership of internationally recognized conductors. Dr. Nola Jones directed the bands, Janeal Crabb Krehbiel the choir and Phillip Green the strings.
“It’s the only festival that involves students from all divisions,” strings teacher Stephen Bonnette said. “The purpose of the week is to inspire students by bringing in master musicians. It also draws attention to the program.”
The Music Festival is a tradition started about 12 years ago. Initially started in the chorale program, the week now involves all three music disciplines of choir, strings and band.
The planning of the festival, which involves booking the clinicians, facilities, flights and
hotels, starts about a year in advance. Bonnette said that the timing of the week this year was not ideal because it took place after interim semester week and Cultural Convention.
“Music festival is usually during a very busy time,” senior Ahiliya Kaul. “So although we love having new conductors with different teaching styles, stories and experiences, we don’t have much time to sink into the music.”
The festival, which involved
participation from about 1,000 students, kept the conductors busy with almost no time to spare.
“The difficulty with the rehearsals was that we didn’t spend much time with the conductor and it ended up being hectic and stressful,” senior Alyssa Reinoso said.
Green, who conducts both chorale and strings, replaced choir teacher and new mother Nanette Devens four weeks ago. He stood in
as strings conductor for the festival when guest condcutor Graham Abbott cancelled for medical reasons.
“It’s been a juggling act and I’ve been very busy,” Green said. “I have to keep up with what I normally do and add on rehearsals for this week.”
Dr. Nola Jones, director of bands, also pointed out that the numerous rehearsals during the week have been challenging.
“There are seven bands playing in the concert and there has been a different group every period,” director of bands Dr. Nola Jones said. “It’s hard to keep track of what they play and having a minimum amount of rehearsal time is also challenging.”
Jones, who travels around to schools around the world to direct bands, said that the music festival at SAS is unique.
“The music festivals at other schools usually involve a group of schools and not just one school like
the one here,” Jones said. “Students here are very privileged because they all get to be part of the festival.”
The conductors all agreed that that the music festival is a valuable event that brings together everyone to learn from each other.
“All teachers learn from each other and it’s been great getting to know everyone,” Jones said.
Opinions regarding the festival varied among students.
“I think the festival would seem more special if it happened every other year,” Reinoso said. “It happens every year so I feel that many people take it for granted.”
Kaul, who has been participating in the festival since she was in 5th grade, said the festival is one worth having.
“It’s interesting to see how conductors’ different styles and music shapes our sound,” Kaul said. “They always have inspiring stories and a lot of experience so we learn quite a lot.”
Dealing with drug abuse cases at SAS
Annual festival brings visiting conductors, grand finale
SAS remembers Bonira Rahman
A welcome warning sign: As buses, cars and taxis enter SAS, the electronic welcome sign displays brief information about the school and its security. Anyone coming in the school can see the alcohol and tabacco statement above the entrance. Photo by Melissa Huston
Advice from the pros: Janeal Crabb Krehbiel (left) and Dr. Nola Jones (right), professional choir and band conductors, visited SAS to conduct all choir and band divisions during the music festival. The choir, strings and band concerts were performed on different nights during the music festival week.
[email protected]@gmail.com
3the Eye a March 20, 2009news
by Caroline Hui, Jon Cheng, Hee Soo Chung & Akhilesh Pant
In the closing moments of Cultural Convention, dance, drama and forensics participants from all six IASAS schools gathered in the bottom floor of the SAS cafeteria, clapping, singing and dancing.
“SAS started that,” Oral Interpretation participant and junior Danielle Courtenay said. “We started singing [Sean Kingston’s] Beautiful Girls, and then one of the other schools started singing, and then somehow, the craziness escalated. Especially after we sang Happy Birthday to two people and stood on tables. And then it migrated over to the side of the cafeteria, where we had a big dance party.”
The participants’ celebration was indicative of Cultural Convention’s success this year. SAS Athletics Director Mimi Molchan and technical director Paula Silverman began planning the event fourteen months in advance, paying close attention to everything from getting volunteers to judge the forensics events to training the timers.
“One of the coaches from ISB came in to the student volunteers’ resting room specially to compliment our performance,” senior Tulsi Desai said.
The dance, drama and forensics events all went smoothly this year. SAS kicked off Cultural Convention with their dance performance, “On the Other Side.” The dance, using doors as their main props, had parts showing breaking through, making decisions, waiting, frustration, isolation, dating game and division.
“We tried to make the mood fluctuate from light to dark,” senior Ahilya Kaul said. “All the parts were put together from what we associated with a door.”
Dramas were another popular event at Cultural Convention. The last drama, performed by SAS, attracted a large audience, despite its late performance time. The play attempted to answer the question, “In love, which sex is more likely to be unfaithful?”
To determine the answer, the Prince, played by junior Alvi Hasan, initiates an experiment by releasing four teenagers into the real world after confining them in their houses by themselves for many years. The two male and two female teenagers fall in love with each other, but soon fall into complicated relationships. The play ends up not really answering the question -- it is neither male or female nature to be unfaithful, it is of human nature.
“The audience really helped us because we could feed off their energy,” sophomore Kelly Schuster said. “It’s really important that they appreciate the play as much as we do.”
Schuster said she tried to portray Egle’s character as more than just a narcistic and obnoxious character.
“I really tried to portray that Egle had more depth than being just narcistic and was someone who was really naive and untouched by the world,” Schuster said. “I had to create experiences for her in my mind to really play the character.”
Actors agreed that one of the most challenging part of the process is keeping the energy and emotions fresh.
“The impact of the memories that I used [to get into the character’s emotion] got weaker the more I used it,” ISKL senior Marcus Friend said. “I had to find new memories often.”
Senior Elliot Miranda, who played Hermiane in “The Dispute” said that the audience is crucial in
keeping the energy alive.“The reactions from the audience
is so important because after practicing so much, it’s hard to keep the energy level going,” Miranda said. “The audience for our play was amazing.”
SAS performed exceptionally well in the Original Oratory finals. Junior Aisling Leow and senior Helen Knight tied for the silver medal, and sophomore Zach Nelson clinched the gold medal.
In his six-minute speech, Nelson described how America places little emphasis on its educational system compared to other demands, such as military spending. He provided supporting evidence from media, pop-culture, and personal observations, such as how teachers from budget-impoverished public schools needed to include advertisements in their tests to cover the school expenses.
Included in the speech was a humorous analogy to the Chinese educational system: that an A grade would stand stand for “awesome” in America and just “average” in China; that a C would stand for “average” and “call a tutor” respectively; and that a “D” for the Chinese would mean “death.”
When Nelson concluded his speech, the room erupted in a thunderous applause.
“It really helps with the audience, and that helps with the scoring,” Nelson said, on how the strong audience applause during the first round gave him more confidence for his subsequent speeches.
Three out of the six finalists in the Oral Interpretation finals were from SAS. Junior Olivia Auerbach received a certificate of excellence, while Courtenay and senior Esha Sondhi tied for second.
Auerbach chose a colorful piece
titled “A Hard Night’s Drinking,” performing the parts of both a Southern lady and a gruff old drunkard.
Despite being a second year veteran, Auerbach said she was not used to the increased level of competition compared to the year before.
“Let’s just say that my hands were uncontrollably shaking,” she said.
For her speech, Courtenay chose a piece by Woody Allen, titled “The Kugelmass Episode.” Allen was a New Yorker, which made sense for her, as her family was from the city.
“As most of my friends would attest, I really like the accents,” she said. “I used accents [like Russian] that I could already do and I find characters who do them.”
Fellow silver medalist Sondhi did a rendition of Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner.” Sondhi was Original Interpretation’s gold medallist last year, similarly choosing another one of Hosseini’s novels, “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” She went back to her Indian roots to bring out the troubled life of Hassan and the chaotic city of Afghanistan and India.
In an earlier round the school bell rang twice during her performance, but the three-year veteran did not flinch.
“It was a little disturbing, but I know that school has to run normally, even during an event. It did not stop me from performing,” she said.
In impromptu speaking, the speaker is given the option between a word and a phrase, and is given exactly one minute to jot down notes before making a 3-5 minute speech, incorporating evidence from personal experience, literature, current events, history, culture and virtually anywhere else. Leow
was the only Impromptu speaking participant from SAS to make it to the finals and received a certificate of excellence for that.
Before coming to Cultural Convention, students participating in Extemporaneous Speaking must print out articles from popular sources, such as The New York Times, Newsweek, and CNN, that they predict will be relevant. They are then given a question and half an hour to prepare a five to seven minute speech, pulling information from the articles they brought.
Even after months of preparation, junior Ishan Gupta said he was quite nervous before giving his speech.
“It’s more nerve-wracking when you’re waiting to go up because you’re looking down at your card to remember all the things you’re supposed to say,” said Gupta.
Gupta, a two-time Cultural Convention delegate, received a certificate of excellence for reaching the finals.
Reception to Cultural at SAS this year was favorable.
“It is so much fun because it is not competitive,” first-year Cultural Convention delegate Schuster said. “It is amazing to be able to relate to people with the same passion as me and form great friendships. We can just sit and analyze pieces together. I wish there were more workshops though because they’re so fun.”
“Just look around the room,” Friend said. “There’s this cool vibe being here with a bunch of people who love what they’re doing. Everyone loves being here and there is no competition -- we’re just here to show what we have and to get better. I feel like, ‘yeah, I could really do this [for the rest of my life].”
Cultural Convention marks SAS’ 2nd oratory gold
Surprising stunts. In the International School of Bangkok’s dance, the silver railing props were flipped onto their sides and two dancers displayed circus-like-trapeze abilities.
In the spotlight. In SAS’s dance, “On the Other Side,” dancers Stephanie Kendall and Karina Lo use a door as a prop.
O.I. gold stays home. For the second year in a row, SAS clinches the gold for Original Oratory, with sophomore Zach Nelson’ s biting criticsm of the U.S. education. Last year, then senior Ravi Shanmugam swept the finals with his speech on politics and honesty.
by Jennie ParkSpeeding down a winding luge
track on a clear New Zealand day seemed like an innocent enough activity for New Zealand Meeting of the Nation’s trip-goers and sponsors. But a luge accident brought the fun and games to an abrupt halt when P.E. teacher Kim Criens ended up with a compound.
“I remember him yelling, ‘Be careful, be careful,’” said sophomore Kelly Schuster, a participant on the New Zealand trip. “We had been doing luge races all day, and me, Melissa (Huston) and Julia (MacMeekin) stopped to take a picture, and by the time we got to where Criens was, he had stopped and his legs were sticking out.”
Criens’ injury was an unexpected one, and even direct witnesses like Schuster didn’t realize the severity of the injury until much later.
“He was so extremely calm,” Schuster said.
This was not the only injury of the week.
Dylan Goulding, a freshman on the France Immersion trip took a fall while skiing and up with a broken collarbone. Another skiing accident occurred on
the Switzerland trip, when senior Billy Fulton sprained his arm, but compared to Goulding’s, the injury was minor.
Sophomore Serena Grace added to the list of interim injuries, and like Fulton, ended up with a fractured
Interim thrills include a few [email protected]
arm during the New Zealand: Muddy Wheels trip.
Injuries are not unusual on interim semester when a thousand kids take off trips that often include physical adventure.
No matter how careful sponsors are, cuts, bruises, allergies, and even a broken bone are inevitable.
“After all, sticking his legs out was just a luge tactic. Nobody knew that Criens was going to break his leg,” Schuster said.
On his delayed return from New Zealand, P.E. Kim Criens gets a courtesy push through the airport to Porter, Driver and Principal Dave Norcott’s car.
4 March 20, 2009 a the Eye opinion & editorial
by Phillip AndersonTo get ready for school, senior
Becca Borgard goes through her daily rituals. She wakes up, showers, gets dressed, blow-dries her and curls the bottom of her hair, puts on her makeup, and eats breakfast. This takes her about an hour.
According to an Eye survey, 45 percent of senior girls take 10-30 minutes to get ready in the morning. Thirteen percent of senior girls take more than 30 minutes.
Borgard said she considers herself a little vain, but added that she just wants to look nice. She admitted she goes to a hair salon every month while about fifty percent of survey girls say they only spend less than ten dollars in hair and nails every month.
Senior Ali Schuster said she spends about 50 dollars per month for beauty products and other items like accessories and makeup.
“I love to go shopping for clothes and makeup to enhance my appearance. I think its really
fun,” Schuster said. Schuster said there are days when she feels more self-conscious, but
she usually only takes twenty minutes in the morning to get ready before school. But sophomore Vindhya Rao thinks that there a lot of vain people at SAS.
“Every morning, in the bathrooms you see people doing their makeup and checking how they look,” she said.
Junior Austin Cox believes that first impressions do count, and that you have to look good.
“All the girls have their pocket mirrors and almost all girls wear makeup. Jelling your hair is also a sign that you’re vain because it means you care what people think about you,” Cox said.
Fifty-seven percent of boys
swabs, I wondered why anyone would willingly undergo such treatment. When it comes to skin, people will do almost anything to get rid of imperfections.
This isn’t just true for the middle-aged Chinese women who frequent New York Skin solutions, at SAS there’s pressure to have flawless skin at any cost. Although attitudes toward skincare at SAS are varied, there’s no question that’s its considered an essential part of beauty.
Whiter skin is considered more beautiful for most Asians living in Singapore, but senior Rachel Tam said she believed that Asians at SAS were more interested in being tan.
“I go tanning. I think that most people at SAS do want to be more tan because we’re Americanized. We want the ‘healthy glow,’” senior Rachel Tam said.
Alika Savira agreed that students at SAS preferred to be tan, but she said that attitudes toward complexion were mostly based on the country where people live.
“In Indonesia, there was pressure for people of our generation to look fairer. The upperclass tends to have fair skin because most of them are Chinese Indos. Actors and actresses also have fairer skin,” said Savira.
Savira said she had wanted to be fairer when she lived in Indonesia because her relatives and celebrities
had fairer skin and she wanted that kind
of beauty. Since coming to SAS, she no longer cares whether her skin becomes lighter or darker.
“I don’t think the time and money used on whiteners is worth it,” Savira said.
Senior Camille Orrin Tureikis said that she would like to go tanning, but doesn’t feel much pressure to be tan since she moved here from Milan.
“When I lived in Milan my friend’s mom had a tanning salon and every week I went because in Milan everyone is like, ‘appearance, appearance, appearance.’ At this school its pretty different. People don’t care,” Orrin Tureikis said.
Acne is another issue at tSAS, having flawlessly smooth skin is a must. Senior Mary Russel said that she had taken one course and was now using creams because she wasn’t happy with her face when she had an acne breakout. Senior Consultant Dermatologist Roy Chan from the National Skin Center said that one of the most common problems among his teenage patients was acne. Probably the most popular skin treatment for teens are topical agents like lotions and gels containing benzoyl peroxide, tretinoin or antibiotics for mild cases and oral medications taken over a two to six month period for more severe cases.
Instead of skin
treatments, some girls opt to cover imperfections with makeup. Senior Rachel Tam said that makeup use is sometimes ridiculously excessive at SAS.
“All the girls are lined up in front of the mirror after P.E. applying makeup. Sometimes the makeup is so obvious you can see it on their skin. I think it’s good to have a self-image, but only to a certain extent. At school lots of makeup is not really needed,” Tam said.
For many girls, makeup has created a second more beautiful face, and they don’t feel secure revealing the one underneath. Junior Nisha Duara said that she feels pressure to wear makeup to school every day.
“At first you wear it just to feel grown up at 13, then to look pretty. Later you don’t want to stop wearing it because you feel like a hag when don’t wear it,” Duara said.
Many girls think that makeup will make them more attractive to their boyfriends and other guys, but according to junior Hayden Marushi, boys at SAS don’t usually notice when girls use makeup.
“No, we don’t usually pay attention to when girls wear makeup. Guys don’t necessarily notice when girls have makeup on.
If they want to wear that anyway they can go ahead, but we don’t really notice,” Marushi said.
Make-up seems to be more about giving self-confidence to its wearer. Thinking that other people will notice, even if they don’t.
“I don’t think anyone really cares if you look good. The only person that really matters is you. You think, ‘I look really good’ even if no one else notices. It helps with self-confidence,” Duara said.
Guys at SAS are less concerned with their skin and more worried about their build. Marushi said that he uses antibiotic oral medication to reduce his acne, and thinks that guys worry about their acne.
“I think a lot of guys are worried about the look of their skin. It goes back to how they’re seen at SAS. Guys with bad skin have a harder time fitting in,” said Marushi.
Although having clear skin is important to guys, Marushi doesn’t think that many use skin products other than topical creams and pills for acne.
Junior Jamie Lin said he didn’t think skin complexion was very important to guys’ self-image.
“I don’t think guys are that worried about their skin. They’re more interested in building muscle. Guys at the gym are usually doing workouts based on hypertrophy, muscle growth instead of overall endurance,” he
by Maria LloydWalking into the New York
Skin Solutions waiting room for the first time for a free consultation, I was impressed. The receptionist quickly checked my appointment and brought me to wait in front of a display case of pristine, sleek-looking bottles and boxes filled with masks, creams and lotions for various skin problems. However, I realized as I went through my “consultation,.” this professionalism was only a façade. A woman who was to be my skin care consultant greeted me with a heavy Chinese accent and proceeded to take close up pictures of my skin and tell me everything that was wrong with it. She offered me a thousand dollar deal for ten session of skin treatment. Noticing my stunned look, she quickly offered a “special student discount” redeemable only if I agreed to the treatments that day of only 500 dollars for ten sessions. When my consultant realized I was a freeloader, I was quickly rushed over to the free treatment. As I lay in the dark, trying not to
hyperventilate underneath the cloth and stinging cream
covering my face with my eyes held shut
by cotton
SKiN DEEP
TOOLS OF THE TRADE:
Bobbi Brown is never unreliable as a handy skin rejuvination tool.
Be sure to bring it on dates - nobody would want that perfect
skin of yours to dry up and look like a prune, although with such
humid weather, that’s hardly a problem. Bobbi Brown
extra moisturizing balm sells for $85 US on Amazon, but if you
want to go more conservative they also offer rinse cleansers at an
attractive price of $15.95 for two jars. Get it while stocks last.
Eating only two apples a day keeps those
unsightly flabs at bay. Don’t worry, Paris Hilton eats
an apple and some hazelnuts for most of her meals.
Do not confuse this with eating a slice of apple
pie, because that is an entirely different matter
altogether.
o
o
SASstudentsdescribe theirdaily rituals. habits
surveyed say that they
spend five minutes or less doing their hair in the mornings and about 12 percent of male students said they wear make-up during school.
Of the girls surveyed, 52 percent spend ten to 25 dollars in beauty products, including makeup, teeth whiteners and lotions for their skin.
Borgard admits to going to the bathroom during class occasionally, just to check herself in a mirror.
“I think everyone is a little vain,” Senior Cate Graddy said. “Even if they say they don’t care, they do and they sometimes feel the need to get the latest accessories.”
“I think it’s really fun”Senior Ali Schuster, on putting on makeup
SAS students embrace the growing trend of grafting their self-image
DESIGNERS HANDBAGS A NECESSITY FOR STUDENTS?by D.J. Hartman
During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Democrats used populist outrage to their advantage when the Republican party was billed $150000 USD ($230000) for clothes bought for Sarah Palin and her family. In such tough economic times, is it not a wonder that anyone buys designer clothing? Purses from the Gucci Fall-Winter line can cost anything from $1000 to up to $4000.
Sunglasses from Louis Vuitton can cost as much as $1030.
“I just don’t understand how someone can wear a bag that costs more than my rent,” senior Jonathan Lewis.
For some students, the price is worth it. Junior Marjhan Kausar was apprehensive about answering questions about designer clothing. The mention of brands like Louis Vutton and Channel causes some students to
“
5the Eye a March 20, 2009features
said. Senior Consultant Dermatologist Roy Chan from the National Skin Center said in spite of obsession over self-image, teens are less sensitive about their skin health than older people.
“They usually think that skin problems will not affect them as they are young, they therefore do not take good care of their skin. Very often they are not careful about excessive sun exposure,” Chan said.
Chan said that long-term tanning will lead to premature aging of skin, loss of elasticity, irregular pigmentation, wrinkling, and increased risk of malignant skin cancers. This is especially important to those with fair skin and fair hair: those who often spend the most time tanning.
To keep skin healthy, Chan advised washing the face twice a day, using moisturizer after showering for dry skin, avoiding excessive skin exposure, using light, non-greasy, non-comedogenic make-up.
According to Chan, those with acne should not look to beauticians like New York Skin Solutions for help.
“Beauticians are usually ineffective for anything more than mild acne. You need to see a medical specialist if you have more than the mildest acne,” he said.
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by Melissa HustonIn one of its September issues Us Weekly magazine
published an exclusive on the hit TV show series, “90210.” The front cover read, “Too Thin for TV” and the article criticizes the actresses’ strikingly thin bodies and their continuing weight losses. Readers exposed to more than 150 weight-related ads a day, weren’t expecting there would ever be an advertisement that told you were too thin.
The constant media bombardment of the ideal body image has become the new standard for pushing teenagers to change so they can look like TV stars, supermodels and actors. MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO
It’s the first alternate dress day of the year and you walk into the cafeteria looking at what everyone else is wearing. For some this day determines what to wear for the rest of the alternate dress Wednesdays in the school year. Robert Cialdini, a social psychologist who wrote Influence: Science and Practice, classifies this behavior as influence in the form of social proof.
Cialdini said, “We view a behavior as correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it.” Just like looking to classmates to determine “the norm” with fashion, teenagers have begun to follow the actors and models in magazines and TV shows, especially the ones who are portrayed to be our age.
Stroup and Grimes, who are 21 and 18-years old, play sophomores in high school in “90210”. Stroup is 5-foot-8 and weighs 100 pounds while Grimes is 5-foot-3 and weighs just 90. As 16 year-olds in the show, teenage girls see them as equals and feel that they should look they way they do.
“Yeah, Silver really needs to eat a huge hamburger,” junior Morgan Deary said, “but I know a lot of girls at our school try to be just like that though.”
The fact that young stars in TV series are the skinny ones adds more peer pressure onto teenagers their age.
“A lot of girls think they have to look like people like Annie and Silver because they’re suppose to be like 16 and 17,” junior Tika Marshall said.
Media’s grasp reaches out much farther than just TV shows. With literally hundreds of fashion magazines and dozens of channels that are dedicated to following the lives of Hollywood stars, the ideal body type - tall and skinny - is plastered literally everywhere.
THE MEDIA HAS MADE US AD BLINDThe typical person is exposed to an estimated 3,000
advertisements a day in blogs, magazines, the radio and, of course, the ever-expanding Internet. These types of media are just the few that are consciously registered. In fact, with the proliferation of ads we have become “Ad Blind.” People are so used to seeing thousands of ads a day that our brains have learned to subconsciously look past them. With repetitive exposure to fashion magazines and TV series that cast skinny stars, we now simply assume everyone looks like a supermodel - skinny, petite and pretty.And if they don’t, they should.
Critics slammed “90210” at the very start of the series because lead starlets Jessica Stroup and Shenae Grimes, who play Silver and Annie in the show, were “alarmingly thin.” But because of the ad blindness phenomenon students at SAS claimed they hadn’t noticed at first.
“When I first started watching the show it didn’t catch on to me that Silver (Stroup) and Annie (Grimes) were too skinny,” junior Jessica Nguyen Phuong said, “but then I read an article about it one day and when I watched another episode I saw how anorexic they both look.”
Even avid fans who watch “90210” are still in the dark about the starlets’ weights.
“I watch that show whenever a new episode comes out and I never thought that they were skinny,” junior Erika Farias said, “but now that you brought it up, yeah I guess they kind of really are.”
In a case like this the problem isn’t the abundance of media influences we are exposed to but that we now think the ideal body portrayed through the media is or should be the norm. TRENDS EVOLVE, IDEAL BODY IMAGE DOES TOO
Not only do people look to follow media’s idealism when it comes to looks, but the rapidly evolving media consensus for what the ideal body image is has a stranglehold on teenage trends. Teenagers, especially girls, find themselves following each new body image sterotype that the media advertises.
The original “90210”, then called Beverly Hills 90210, aired in 1990 and had a cast list with much different body figures than the one today. Jennie Garth and Gabrielle Carteris, who played similar roles to Annie and Silver, were once considered skinny in the 1990’s. Garth was 5-foot-5 and wore a size 5 and Carteris was 5-foot-1 and wore a size 6, relatively much bigger than Grimes and Stroup who wear size 00 and size 2.
The media now has a huge influence over girl teens when it comes to what’s in and what’s out. As society advances in technology looks will become more fragile, skinnier, radical and totally accepted as the norm for the teenagers today.
Uncovering the ugly truth about media minds
scoff at items of clothing in the triple and quadruple digits.
“Designers make things well and they last a lot longer,” Kausar said “It’s not important that my belt has a huge “G” so that everyone knows I’m wearing Gucci. It just matters how the clothes are made.”
Senior Chloe Dunderdale agreed that the quality of designer clothing is important.
“When I was little I’d go in to designer stores with my mom and ask her if I could get something. She said she couldn’t afford designer clothes
until she was 23 and I wouldn’t be allowed any until I could appreciate it,” Dunderdale said. “Now I don’t ever save up for something designer unless its something I really want and know I will use.”
Many girls at SAS feel that by wearing designer clothing they are judged as someone who flaunts their wealth and looks down on others.
“I never ever talk about the type of clothing I wear, but if designer stuff is what you like to wear you automatically get some label that doesn’t necessarily define your character but what people perceive you to be,” junior Patrina Chan said.
Chan believes that the stereotype of girls buying something and wearing it once is not accurate. If she finds that she does only have one use for something, she loans it to her sisters of friends.
“If no one wants it, I’ll sell it on eBay,” Chan said.
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All the girls are lined up in front of
- Senior Rachel Tamthe mirror applying makeup”“
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SIZE: 00I know a lot of girls at our school try to be like that- junior Erika Farias
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SIZE: 0-2Silver really needs to eat a huge hamburger- junior Morgan Deary
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by Jo
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BANKROLLING YOUR IMAGE:Always bring some dollar notes ready. You may never know when those sweet-sounding ladies from Sephora, Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Burberry pop up and sweep you away with their new products. These products don’t come in cheap, so be sure to bring at least $100 in yourwallet. But you probably know that already.
6 March 20, 2009 a the Eye features
Academically, as an Asian, teachers expect me to be more studious, particularly in math and sicence- Claire Chen
by Haani MazariWhen a user logs onto Facebook
they expect the usual array of recently updated photos and posts. However, glancing down the familiar homepage, a female freshman’s eyes stumbled across the words “is single.” Her six-month-long relationship was ended on the public realm of Facebook.
“He didn’t even tell me,” she said, “I had no idea until I saw [on Facebook] that he was single and I was no longer in a relationship with him.”
“His wall was filled with people saying ‘OMG r u ok?!?!?!’ and he replied basically telling them that being with me was a waste of time. I started wondering if he cared at all, I mean, he didn’t have the courtesy to tell me to my face,” the freshman girl said.
The separation between casual dating and being a relationship is defined with Facebook relationships. Making your relationship “Facebook official” means that one day your friends, family, and Facebook acquaintances will be notified of it’s eventual end.
The changes in Facebook relationship statuses was the cause of death for 34 year-old Londoner, Emma Forrester. After her ex-husband moved out, Forrester
changed her relationship status to “single.” Being under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, he attacked the mother of his two children with a kitchen knife.
Although that was an extreme case, changing Facebook relationship statuses often causes drama between friends and ex-lovers.
Junior Dymock Dibb recalled a fight between two of his friends who were dating over Facebook.
“She wanted to stay quiet about them seeing each other, but he set himself as ‘in a relationship’ and that was the last time she spoke to him,” said Dibb.
While some see the relationship statuses to be a nuisance, others use it to their advantage. A sophomore girl claimed that changing her relationship status to “in a relationship” brought her satisfaction.
“It was a mark to show my ex that I was finally over him,” she said, “what’s a better way than airing it out on Facebook?”
The ex-boyfriend proceeded in sending her an angry message, deleting her off his Facebook, and deleting her from MSN. He claimed to feel humiliated by her actions in doing so. Humiliation was also felt by a male junior who saw series of sympathetic comments towards his ex-girlfriend.
“It made me feel like I was the cause for the problems,” he said as he sighed. “It’s not exactly nice to hear that.”
After seeing it on their mini-feed, people often comment queries on what happened.
“Facebook relationship status changes only stir trouble if they give off the wrong impression of what
happened,” said sophomore Kathryn Fischer, “but really, if you comment and give details on what happened, you are a moron.”
Sophomore Tom McBrien agreed with Fischer on her view. People making a big deal about somebody’s relationship status seemed unnecessary to him.
“Everyone who knew the person
well would already know that they are in a relationship so it’s kind of unnecessary,” McBrien said, “but at the same time, there’s nothing wrong with changing it if you are going out with somebody.”
Some claim that changing their Facebook relationship status was one of the hardest part of breaking up.
“Seeing that I was no longer in a relationship made it real. We were no longer ‘Facebook official’ and if it’s not ‘Facebook official’ its not official at all,” a female freshman said.
Instead of relying on marrying a friend to avoid Facebook inflicted drama, there is an option to hide relationship statuses completely. This does appear on the mini-feed as so and so ‘is no longer single,’ and in some incidents has stirred drama itself.
“I log onto Facebook and see lots and lots of wall-posts asking who the lucky guy is,” said a sophomore female, laughing. “Thats how rumors start.”
Announcing the beginning of a relationship on Facebook is like yelling it through a megaphone; everybody will find out. No longer is ‘who is going out with who’ spread through whispers, but through Facebook.
Facebook offical is the new fad: Nowadays, when you consider yourself to be in a serious relationship, you must be close to going “Facebook offical”. The Facebook relationship status feature constantly supplies the student body with hot new gossip.
by Hee Soo ChungWhen senior Evan Shawler
opened his inbox one day, he found an email from a U.S congressman congratulating him on his acceptance to the U.S Air Force Academy. After gazing at the screen for a few minutes, Shawler ran to his parents and delivered the good news.
Shawler was accepted to the U.S Air Force Academy, which is one of the most competitive schools to get in to. Students of the academy do not pay tuition and get a monthly allowance. He said that the application process to the Air Force Academy took six months. Not only did he have to go through the usual requirements of writing essays and completing forms, but he also had to get a nomination from a senator or congressman.
“That was the hardest part of the process because each congressman or senator gets hundreds of applications and they have to select which ones to nominate,” Shawler said. “I had to complete a whole other application for the nomination.”
To apply for a nomination, Shawler submitted biographies and essays to a local congressman, two senators from North Carolina and the U.S vice-president. He got interviewed by the senators during winter break, which was “nerve-wrecking.”
Shawler completed a physical test at school as part of the requirement, which included doing push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, a shuttle run and a mile run. All of this was done under 30 minutes with only small breaks in between the tests.
“I almost died during the mile run because it was the last test and
I started out too fast,” Shawler said. “There were little kids on the track so I had to push them away.”
Shawler said that applying to the Air Force Academy had been on the back of his mind for three years but he became more certain after college visits his junior year. The academy has a regular undergraduate program and requires five years of active service in the Air Force after graduation.
His grandfather, who has been in the Air Force for 26 years, also influenced his decision to apply to the academy.
“My grandfather told us stories [of his Air Force years] since we were little,” Shawler said. “There were lots of pictures on the wall from those years and there was a giant airplane model that I always played with.”
He said he is looking forward to the academy’s undergraduate program combined with its “structured aspect.” Although he wants to eventually fly something, his bad eyesight prevents him from flying a jet; he can still fly single engine planes. He also said that he will have a steady job after completing his service at the Air Force.
Shawler has tried to be in shape his whole life and he said his parents, who are runners, always “strive to keep them fit.” His sister, senior Avery Shawler, is also an active runner. During the off-season period, he tries to run at least five times a week and do push-ups and pull-ups every other day.
“I like running and working out because I feel better about myself afterwards and I feel accomplished,” Shawler said.
Although he loves staying active, Shawler does have times when he doesn’t want to run or workout. In those moments, he overcomes his reluctance and runs because it’s part of his everyday routine.
Like many other students at SAS, Shawler has moved around his whole life. He was born in Taiwan but was adopted when he was about three weeks old. Since then, he has lived in China, Korea, Singapore, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
“When I first lived in America, I felt different because I’ve lived overseas for so long,” Shawler said. “I eventually got used to it. I’ll have to get used to the differences again when I go back this time.”
Shawler said that he is uncertain what he wants to do after serving in the Air Force for five years.
“Everyone’s worried that I’ll become a really uptight person after going to the academy, but I won’t because you can still be fun while living in a military life,” Shawler said.
Facebook relationship status becomes new fad among students
Track athlete pursues soaring ambitions
“I started in Bangkok, and experimented with different methods and developed my style,” Cucchi said.
“My grandfather wasn’t an artist, but he loved art. He and my dad influenced me a lot to start art and take photos.”
Cucchi admitted that the encouragement she received from Blacklaws helped her start and publish the book.
“Mr. Blacklaws liked my photos and pushed me to do more. He really inspired me and gave me an opportunity to start this.”
Blacklaws wrote the opening word for Cucchi’s book.
Cucchi is originally from Parma, Italy, where she goes back during summer break to spend time with her grandparents.
“When the Bamboo Sings” is both in Italian and English. Cucchi translated the English phrases into Italian herself.
“We’re selling copies in Italy and Singapore. The sales in Italy go to a non-profit organization that helps people in Burma, and the Singapore sales go to Blue Dragon,” Cucchi said.
by Ann LeeJunior Virginia Cucchi seems
like your normal art student. However, she is also the author of the book “When the Bamboo Sings.” The book is a collection of photos Cucchi took in Malaysia, China, Burma, and India.
“The title is from a quote. The idea was to find a metaphor about listening to your heart. It’s about when your heart sings, when you find something just right,” Cucchi said.
The photos in the book mostly show children—smiling, crying, and playing.
“Most of my pictures are of children. This is the subject I feel most passionate about,” she said.
The profits from book sales all go to the high school club Blue Dragon, sponsored by Troy Blacklaws. Blue Dragon is a club that supports children who live on the street in Hanoi and Cape Town.
“The idea of making a book was a project that began in Blue Dragon. I wanted to bring awareness of all the children on the streets,” Cucchi said.
Cucchi says she started photography as a hobby.
Virginia Cucchi
Glimpsesof an ARTIST
[email protected]@gmail.com
Run baby run: Senior Evan Shawler leads the pack during a cross country practice.Photo by Melissa Huston
features 7the Eye a March 20, 2009opinion & editorial
Interim Semester has been an integral part of the school curriculum for years. But with the recent financial crisis and the rising cost of trips, it seems change is imminent.
Should interim stay as it is, with trips to countries in four continents around the world? Should interim be reformed and restricted only to Asia, or should it be scrapped altogether?
The answers to these questions lie in the very essence of interim. The purpose of the program is to provide students with opportunities in which to grow and learn about foreign cultures and traditions. Some students sign up for trips with their friends, form cliques and seem to go with the ulterior motive of partying and drinking rather than learning. Why take students to an expensive drinking spree in Europe when they can do that every weekend here in Singapore?
A number of teachers believe interim has failed at its original goals and has become an expensive party opportunity for students. But while this may be the case for a few students, most report learning and experiencing extensive personal growth. On trips to Africa students learn about local culture and observe poverty and township life. Europe trips allow students to explore historical architecture and learn about the rich history of those countries, while adventure trips like skiing, biking and hiking teach students to push themselves beyond their comfort zone.
While it may be true that information goes in one ear and out the other, some things always linger and interim semester offers invaluable opportunities for students to see and experience different cultures around the world. Reading about a place is not the same as being there. Hearing about the poverty in Soweto is not the same as walking down its streets surrounded by barefoot children. Many students are reluctant to learn, but does this mean they should no longer be taught?
There is still the question of money. Rising trip costs have caused teachers to consider an in-Asia alternative for future years. And while it may be true that a percentage of families cannot afford the up to S$3600 to send their children abroad, a significant number of families still can. If interim remains open and allows those who can afford it the opportunity to travel and those who cannot to choose less expensive in-Asia options, it will remain consumer-based, meet the demands of students and their families and continue to offer the novelty, culture and immersion that is interim semester.
Fine tune interim, but keep student favorite on the books
Nora Hanagan
Every year rumors fly about interim being cancelled, and every year students go into a panicked frenzy defending their most cherished week of the year. It’s educational, international, beneficial - and the perfect setting for a night of boozing with your friends.
The contradiction should be clear, but for many student suspects this year, interim semester went hand in hand with inebriation. In 50 weeks of the school year, these students, most of them of the legal drinking age in Singapore, chose interim semester to drink.
This is not caused by lack of opportunity; on any given weekend you could probably find a few dozen SAS students at various clubs late into the night - no laws, parents, or the school prohibiting or restricting them in any way. Granted, some suspected abuse their drinking privileges on a regular basis, but most are responsible with their drinking and with their actions. So what is it
Academics over alcohol: Upholding the values of Interim SemesterStudents should take the opportunity of traveling on interim to learn, not to drink
about interim semester that provides these students with an invincible shield, one that allows them to push the limits of the institution and its long established rules of behavior.
By no means am I denying the subconscious tendency to connect a week with friends in a foreign country to partying. But for most, this is the point where common sense kicks in. Just like you have to refrain from cursing in front of your parents (no matter how natural it seems), you should be able to refrain from drinking on interim. Just think: if you wouldn’t smuggle alcohol into class to swig inconspicuously in the back of the room, then what would compel you to do so in a classroom without walls?
What’s even more puzzling, the lengths some go to for a beloved tequila shot or two. I’m sure you’d have a great time sneaking some Smirnoff into a water bottle, cramming into a tiny hotel room and keeping your voices at a hushed
whisper, while intently listening for signs of your sponsors all through the night. Sounds like a real party. When you find yourself say, passed out in a bathtub, this should be the point when you re-evaluate your physical, emotional, and moral condition - and maybe consider stopping by a few AA meetings.
I’m not saying that every kid who takes a sip of alcohol on interim is innately bad. I understand that sometimes the opportunity can prove to be too great, the influence of others can persuade even the best characters, and that many are just following the tradition of preceding years, but I will say that there are times for learning and times for drinking, and in most cases, the two shouldn’t mix.
Don’t ruin it for everyone else. Respect the only condition of being able to explore the world while getting school credit for it. If we continue to abuse our contract, those rumors about the end of interim semester may just become reality. But, if by next year you’re still jetting off to Prague, Rajasthan, or Queenstown, just consider this: Is the frenzied panic of a rumor gone amiss, an incriminating picture, or a whisper spoken too loudly, really worth the buzz of a drink or two?
Academically, as an Asian, teachers expect me to be more studious, particularly in math and sicence- Claire Chen
Akhilesh Pant
In order to be adequately prepared for a day at school, at a movie, at a friend’s house or at a party, or anywhere else for that matter, our appearance is of utmost importance. And when I say utmost importance, I mean we should spend more time fixing our hair than selecting our friend’s birthday present, more time applying make-up than studying for the next test and it goes without saying that leaving the house isn’t even an option until every blemish or pimple (all natural, mind you) is covered. Yes, looks are everything.
I judge everyone by how well they’ve adhered to these standards. In fact, I think I might start a GPA
scale that measures attention given to looks. I don’t quite understand why that isn’t measured at this school. I mean who doesn’t wake up in the morning and gape in disgust at their own scruffy appearance? Who would talk to you when you look like that? Just thinking about it disgusts me. Clean yourselves up, people.
For those of you that wear pounds and pounds of foundation, concealer, eye shadow, blush, bronzer and mascara, brush your teeth with Colgate Advanced Whitening toothpaste and mask your true, ugly appearances with the marvel cosmetics of the world, I bow to you. You have realized the
Vanity’s fare: Weighing the costs of looking good
KULTURE - “CRASH” by Jon Cheng
limitations of the natural human physique. It sucks.
I suppose I can talk most accurately about fellow seniors, senior boys even more so. Almost forty-four percent of you said that you are unsatisfied with your body. Good on you. For the fifty six percent remaining, you’re lying. We’re all naturally ugly. Get over it and get powdering.
I sincerely hope that next year, dress code and grooming regulations are expanded to more aspects of appearance. Girls should always wear makeup: eyeliner, lipstick, everything. Guys: no scruff, no stains on your teeth, no messy hair, no dirty nails and last of all, none of that wretched acne. I don’t care if it kills your guise. Vanity is key, remember?
Before I see you again, make yourself worth seeing. I only open my mouth to aspiring supermodels. So if you aren’t up to standards, don’t be surprised if I don’t answer.
Going out with a BANG: dance-offs, cheers mark finaleby Akhilesh Pant
Gather over 180 competing participants from six different schools in one room and you might expect some tension or even contempt. But at the closing ceremony of the 2009 IASAS Cultural Convention Mexican waves, cheer-offs, large-scale karaoke and breakdancing battles said otherwise.
As all the participants and audience members flowed in, the “black box” seemed transformed into a full-fledged concert stadium with the deafening, yet euphoric sound of six schools united for the last time at the convention.
“DANCERS, DANCERS!,” the
dancers cheered, standing up and giving a little jig, followed by cheers for thespians and each class.
And just as a collective voice began to sing “Swagga’ Like Us,” MCs Adrian Bautista, Ryan Goulding, Spenser Silverman and Nihal Varkey “swagga’d” out to begin the ceremony, albeit 20 minutes late – all the more time for the group of newfound friends to interact before medals were handed out.
“It was an awesome experience MC-ing the convention,” Bautista said. “There was just as much, if not more, energy than at an IASAS sporting event.”
Prior to the ceremony, in a spurt of
energy during the dinner, participants formed a circle and called for a breakdance battle on the cafeteria floor. Others broke out with Hamlet soliloquies and improvisational rap.
“It was really surprising that everyone clicked so well,” junior Ashley Wood said. “Even though the forensics and debate people were about to get their medals for the competition, everyone was just so happy being with each other.”
With innumerable new friends, medals for each school and dozens of new Facebook photo albums in the making, the closing ceremony of the 2009 IASAS Cultural Convention was indeed a spectacle.
In today’s world, especially, one would be hard-pressed to find any “un-marked” women
Editors-in-chief: Jon Cheng, Hee Soo Chung, Melissa Huston News editor: See Young Lee, Nick Lesiuk Op/Ed editor: Akhilesh Pant Features editor: Ann Lee, Mila Rusafova Eye In Focus editor: Maria Lloyd A&E editor: DJ Hartman, Jennie Park Sports editor: Nora Hanagan, Caroline Hui Photographers: Kenny Evans, Maria Lloyd, Melissa Huston Reporters: Philip Anderson, Lil Cadieux-Shaw, Jon Cheng, Aashna Chopra, Hee Soo Chung, Kenny Evans, Nora Hanagan, DJ Hartman, Caroline Hui, Melissa Huston, Ann Lee, Steffi Lee, See Young Lee, Nick Lesiuk, Alex Lim, Maria Lloyd, Haani Mazari, Akhilesh Pant, Jennie Park, Mila Rusafova, JD Ward Adviser: Mark Clemens Assistant adviser: Judy Agusti
Singapore American High School40 Woodlands Street 41Republic of Singapore 738547Phone: (65) 6363-3404Fax: (65) [email protected]
The Eye is the student newspaper of the Singapore American School. All opinions stated within these pages are those of their respective writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Singapore American School, its board of governors, PTA, faculty or administra-tion.Comments and suggestions can be sent to the Eye via the Internet at [email protected]. At the author’s request, names can be withheld from publication. Letters will be printed as completely as possible. The Eye reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of taste and space.
8 March 20, 2009 a the Eye arts & entertainment
by Aashna ChopraThe Hollywood blockbuster The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button is based on a Fitzgerald novel revolving around a man who ages in reverse.
Fitzgerald was inspired to write the book after Mark Twain mused that it was a shame that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst at the end.
After reading the book of the same name and watching the movie, as a book lover it hurts to confess that the movie wins hands down. This is not intended to mock the novel . Reading it is akin to hearing someone tell a story without a moral ending but which brings along a modest power to discomfort.
On the cover of the movie-tie in edition, the novel is described as the inspiration for the movie, which highlights the loose connection between the two. A large number of the cherished film characters are not in the novel: there is no Captain Mike, the inebriated tugboat operator and no Queenie, the colored woman who brought the abandoned baby Button home.
The novel is set in bland Baltimore, not lively New Orleans. Button is born in 1860, not 1918, and he fights in the Spanish- American War, not World War Two. Daisy, Button’s love interest is named Hildegard in the book and is not a
dancer. What may come as an even bigger surprise is that Button and Hildegard are not made for each other. When Button grows younger and friskier, their marriage fails and she scoots off to Italy. She is not mentioned again in the novel
Here is the main difference: Benjamin Button the movie is a romantic love story. Benjamin Button the Fitzgerald story is not. It is a comedy. Of a dark sort.
As for the movie, the sky is the limit for director David Fincher. Button is transformed into a tragic hero, dark and enigmatic. In the novel, Button follows a linear trail with only a few key turning points. In the movie, everything is toned down to the more plausible version of Button’s magical birth and physical appearance.
Movie Button’s spiritual growth is brought to light in a Hollywood-esque manner. Photoshop and other computer graphics come into play in order for the movie to work.
In the novel, the main theme is Button’s progress in relation to the rules that society imposes on him. The theme of reinventing himself is present but not carried out in the same scale or fashion as the Hollywood movie.
Fitzgerald would be proud.
The CURIOUSCASE ofBENJAMIN BUTTONVerdict: ****DIRECTOR: David FincherCAST: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett
BookVerdict: ****
Film adaptation foregoes dark elements
by Lillianne Cadieux-ShawThe surprise box office hit
“Slumdog Millionaire” was released at a fast pace and continues to electrify audiences. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and won eight, including Best Picture, the most Oscars for anty movie of 2008. It also won the British Academy Film and Television award for Best Film and the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture. Despite these accolades, recent protests over this film have said that Slumdog is a sham of a movie, portraying a completely fictionalized, westernized view of India.
In an interview with Indo-Asian News Service, Indian director and filmmaker Priyadarshan said that when watching the film at the Toronto Film Festival, it appeared that the Westerners loved the film and all the Indians hated it. His view is that “the West loves to see us as a wasteland, filled with horror stories of exploitation and degradation. But is that all there is to our beautiful city of Mumbai?”
Danny Boyle, the director of “Slumdog Millionaire” and the British cult classic “Trainspotting” gets creative with Slumdog. There are exhilarating action scenes and a tender love story between Jamal and Latika, the male and female leads. For those who enjoy colourful cultural drama, there is a scene where the two brothers pretend to be Taj Mahal tour guides, or a gritty scene of determination in which Jamal goes to great lengths to obtain the autograph of his childhood hero. There is some excellent acting, especially by the young actors hired out of the Mumbai slum area.
Technically, the use of subtitles is praiseworthy. Instead of lining the bottom of the screen, they are placed in the center, close to the mouths of the speakers in luminescent blue font. The pulsing soundtrack by A.R. Rahman has become famous in its own right, winning multiple awards for his work in the movie. There is no doubt that this movie is cinematically pleasing. The soundtrack, the bright scenes and the creative structure allow for a refreshing movie experience by a multitude of different moviegoers.
The question then is, if this is a Bollywood movie that has been ‘Hollywoodized’ in order to be commercially successful, why the outrage? To delve into this criticism, looking to the recent bestseller and Man Booker prizewinner, The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, can provide some answers. This is a story written by an Indian author portraying the difficulties of village life and the even worse life of the urban poor. A young Indian man rises in rank from rural farmer to driver and, in a vile and corrupt India, finally achieves riches through an act of violence.
This book, though well written and critically well received, is judged ‘un-Indian’ by certain Indian critics and too dependent on Indian stereotypes. “It is an ‘India for Dummies’ that proves quite adept at finding the vilest impulse in nearly every human being it represents,” writes Amitava Kumar of the Indian newspaper The Hindu. “I don’t only mean every member of a corrupt and venal ruling class, but also of the victim class itself, portrayed in the novel’s pages as desperate and brazenly cannibalistic. Is it a novel
from one more outsider [Adiga holds dual Indian and Australian citizenship] presenting cynical anthropologies to an audience that is not Indian?” he asked.
Both the movie and the book are about those brought up in poverty gaining knowledge of the world around them through their own experiences. Perhaps the director of Slumdog Millionaire and the author of White Tiger do fall into the trap of trying to make India ‘exotic’ to Westerners, especially when this exoticism includes the underbelly of India, much like “Trainspotting” showed the underbelly of Scotland. But even if “Slumdog Millionaire” does not reflect India as a whole, the slums of Mumbai and acts of corruption are parts of India, as drugs are a part of Scotland. It may be the responsibility of a documentary to show both sides of a story, but it is clearly neither the responsibility nor intent of a dramatic piece of fiction such as “Slumdog Millionaire”.
I do have one criticism of Slumdog Millionaire that has nothing to do with the fact that is focuses on the underbelly of India. The soap opera qualities of the story, revealed not in its portrayal of the slums of India but in the love story, were overdone. His love for Latika is why Jamal is on the quiz show and continues to answer questions when he can cash out for more money than he can imagine. He is not playing for the money, but so Latika will find him by seeing him on TV. The love story is the most Bollywood part of the film, with overwrought train scenes, acts of treachery and little interaction between the ‘lovers’. While it may work in a traditional
Bollywood film, in “Slumdog Millionaire” it feels overblown and unbelievable, a westernized Bollywood film diminished by its lack of cultural context.
When watching “Slumdog Millionaire,” I could not help thinking of the great film “City of God”. Here the depiction of the poverty and violence is harsh, beautiful, magical and wild but never overblown or overwrought. The love scenes are heart-rending and believable in the context of the story. City of God also used real slum dwellers from Rio de Janeiro to act in the film, which added a spirited realism to the story. The young actors picked off the street of Rio were essentially playing themselves. Slumdog provides us with real slum-dwellers as actors, but I find myself questioning their motives, and asking myself, “Would that really happen?”
Slumdog’s ending best sums up my ambivalence about the film. As the lights in the cinema started to fade up, I am left wondering on the random outburst of Bollywood dancing, after a typical Hollywood romance kiss between the two leads, who before then had been, in true Bollywood style, modestly discreet with their affections. I am bemused by the fact that I had originally thought this movie to be a social commentary. Though enjoyable to watch on one level, on a deeper level “Slumdog Millionaire” fails,as it careens between Bollywood and Hollywood, serious and soap opera, to deliver a message that still remains unclear.
Oscar film makes the money but misses the markSLUMDOGMILLIONAIRE
Verdict: ***
DIRECTOR: Danny BoyleCAST: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Saurbh Shukla, Rajendranath Zutshi, Jeneva Talwar, Freidah Pinto, Irrfan KhanOSCAR WINS: Best Motion Picture, Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Sound, Adapted Screenplay, Music (Original Score, Song)
Return of the “FRANZ”After years without a new album, indie rock band Franz Ferdinand finally releases “Take me out tonight.”
by Jennie ParkThe long anticipated fourth
Franz Ferdinand album has finally arrived after four long years of fans craving their bouncy bass grooves and hypnotic and repetitive guitar riffs-- the very ones that left us tantalized after the debut of their 2004 album, Franz Ferdinand, and their equally successful follow-up album in 2005, We Could Have It So Much Better. The same steady staccato rock beats can be found on the new album, Tonight, but this time, with an incorporation of disco-synth, which only helps to enhance Franz Ferdinand’s unique sound. The album version of Lucid Dreams includes afro-beats very unlike Franz Ferdinand’s typical redundant bass lines. It also shows an unfamiliar electronica side of Franz Ferdinand, featuring noisy synths and sometimes-overwhelming countermelodies. The sheer length of the album version seems to drag on, and the song looses its initial blitheness when at about the 4 minute mark, the song fades off into a dull synth tangent. However, some critics’ reviews of Tonight are mixed. In the British entertainment
magazine, Uncut, Sam Richards said, “Only on “Lucid Dreams”, as Tonight enters its fourth quarter, are their new toys employed as anything more than a novelty turn, the song eventually surrendering to a shuddering acid house freakout.” Whether an “acid house freakout” is a good or bad thing is up for the listener to decide, but one thing that remains solid is frontman Alex Kapranos’ transformation. In Tonight, Kopranos puts on his dancing shoes in album-opener, “Ulysses,” which is more reminiscent of a discotheque than of a Scottish rock band. “Well, I’ll find a new way,” Kopranos croons in Ulysses; a new way is something the boys of Franz Ferdinand have found.
Album Review
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