Walking through the doors of the Stockton Civic Au-ditorium on March 6, one could find the building decorated with

Chinese characters to celebrate the Chinese New Year. As the Year of the Rabbit continues, many gathered to show appreciation for the Chinese culture.

“Our celebration is important because it helps the general community understand what the Chinese culture is and gives them the chance to be exposed to a culture they may not be able to experience elsewhere,” said Col-leen Lee, Vice President of Chinese Cultural Society of Stockton.

As people walked in the halls, the vendors surrounding the walls of the building sold jewelry made of jade, sugarcane drinks, delicious dim-sum, pot-stickers and more.

In the center of the room, more vendors were selling t-shirts and jewelry, and making monkey balloons while the centerpiece hung over their heads. As people walked past the vendors, they came to the stage where the “Lion Dance,” martial arts, singing, and orchestra performances occurred to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit.

The hare, or the rabbit, is the fourth animal in the twelve year cycle of the zodiac. The Chinese Zodiac re-lates each year with an animal to influence personal events and peoples’ personalities.

“Each year that passes is similar to the 12 Zodiac

signs that most people recognize for each month of the year. Each animal represented for the year has certain characteristics for those born in that year. So anyone born this year, the Year of the Rabbit, will be said to have char-acteristics such as being wise, fragile, keen, tranquil, se-rene, considerate, intelligent and quick,” continued Lee.

During the festival, the Lion Dance grabbed the crowd’s attention as everyone gathered around the stage.

This dance, performed by the Stock-ton Vietnamese Buddhist Youth As-sociation and Yau Kung Moon from San Francisco, gave the audience a chance to see the never-ending move-ments shaking the stage. It is said the Lion Dance brings good fortune and luck to businesses as they receive the “red envelope” containing money. The celebration itself brings families together.

“For Chinese New Year, [my family] celebrates by doing fireworks, make lots of food, and invite people over. We always have parties,” said Christine Tran, freshman.

Freshman Alex Yee even attended the festival and even performed on stage as part of the Stockton Chinese Baptist Church Youth Extreme Choir.

“Performing and [eating] food were my favorite parts of the celebration,” Yee said.

Overall, the Chinese New Year festival allowed the public a chance to not only enjoy entertainment, shop, and eat Chinese food, but it also allowed them a chance to ex-perience Chinese culture.

Wolves’ ChronicleVolume 2, Issue 3 stockton early college academy march 11, 2011the

InSIDE: The epic saga of your pencil // Resurrect the English language // New Zodiac sign

Lion Dances, martial arts, and orchestras, oh my!

Photo Credit: Desiree Alcocer1 and 4: Around the auditorium were vendors selling items such as jewelry, food, plants, small toys, and more.

2: The crowd gathered around the stage to watch the Lion Dance, as the performers made the lion become drunk, roll over and even stand up on its hind legs.

3: Hanging from the center of the ceiling was a lantern to pro-vide the room with a focal point.

5: The Capital Chinese Orchestra performed songs with tradi-tional Chinese instruments along with some Western instru-ments, such as the bass.

6: As people walked around the auditorium, they could find small figurines for sale.

Desiree AlcocerDesign Editor

Stockton celebrates the Chinese New Year at the Civic Auditorium

“Our celebration is important because it helps the general community un-derstand what the Chinese

culture is.”

1 2

3 4

5

6

SECA Foundation’s first ever crab feedLive entertainment, seafood, and more

3.11.112 news

Friday, Feb. 18 the Stock-ton Early College Academy Foundation hosted the first ever Crab Feed which benefited the school in many ways. Its main

purpose was to help SECA raise funds and programs for the school and to put up a career center. The event was held at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium from 6 to 10:30 p.m. It started off by serving crab to the guests, along with a Ballet Folklorio performance by SECA stu-dents and Los Danzantes Del Puerto [LDDP]. The guests included in this event went from children to families and secretaries to principals.

It helped the school raise funds for the future trips to universities and colleges during the spring. Primarily, it’s for the AVID program.

“It benefits SECA because the funds are collective from the Crab Feed and will go into programs for our school and also receive money,” said Susana Espinoza, PTO President who helped organize the event.

The Crab Feed was entirely catered. The event in-cluded a raffle, a DJ, dancing, the Latin Magic Band and a silent auction. To represent the school, SECA’s Ballet Folkorio performed. Along with these events, the student volunteers from the school helped serve the deserts and other dishes.

The school gave the volunteers a free SECA T-shirt with the new design on it. The school would also like to thank the students who aren’t part of Key Club who vol-unteered.

“First of all, we want to thank our Board of Direc-

tors, the foundation for making it possible, the teachers because they donated gift baskets, and the parents because they volunteered as staff,” said Espinoza.

The school would also like to thank the SUSD Board of Trustees, Steve Smith, David Varela, and Sara Cazares.

“We would also want to thank the students that vol-unteered at the Crab Feed because without them the Crab Feed wouldn’t have been such a success as it was,” said Espinoza.

Student volunteers really enjoyed the event. Not only did the volunteers serve dishes, but they danced and socialized as well.

“I had a blast. I spent my whole night dancing with all the other SECA kids”, said sophomore, Daisy Men-doza.

With that in mind, some of the volunteers stuffed themselves with food. It was like an all-you-can-eat buf-fet.

“I ate so much crab that night and since crab is $35 a pound anyway, I think it was well worth my money,” said sophomore, Nico Brondial.

Other students, however, didn’t consider it worth $40, but $35 would’ve worked better because the crab was cold.

“I think you guys [the school] got a lot of money since there was a lot of people and how many donations there were,” said freshman, Brett Grounds.

SECA hopes to plan many more events like these which will benefit the school in many ways. Overall, the Crab Feed was a great success and raised a lot of money for the school.

“The food was good, performance was nice, and I didn’t think it would be a great success, but it was,” said sophomore, Salina Phovixay.

Aman PaneserStaff member

Run for your lives, “megastorm” approaching According to thedailybeast.com, a team of more than 100 scientists used flood mapping to simulate a catastrophe. This catastrophe (also known as the “megastorm”) will be one of the most devastating

storms since 100-200 years ago. This storm is predicted to occur later this year. However, it has no exact date. Com-parable to a hurricane, this “megastorm” will form in the ocean and move its way in-land. It may hit from the coastal areas and flood most of California. As a result, it may kill many people and destroy many homes. Although this is a major killer storm coming to our part of the world, it is just one of many storms occurring in other parts such as Australia, Brazil, and the Indonesian Islands. Although the “megastorm” news is old, not many civilians actually heard or seen the news about it. “[I haven’t heard anything about the storm be-cause] it’s rare that I watch the news. It’s going to af-fect California’s population, agriculture, and government spending to rebuild,” said sophomore Aldo Guzman. There have been many places spreading the lo-cal news about the storm. These include social networking sites, online news websites, local television news broad-casting companies such as KCRA, CBS and News 10, and where many people find their news most of the time, the people surrounding their social life. “I heard about the flood [happening] in Australia through the internet and even saw a video about it,” said sophomore Tommy Xiong.

Many people have their opinions on the storm whether it will happen or not. Some don’t want the storm to happen but others just fear it. However, there are those

whom are simply amazed by majorstorms. “I can’t until [the storm] happens because I love hor-rible weather,” said freshman Jose Meza. Between the ending of autumn and middle of winter, there have been many natural disasters occurring world-wide. There was a major winter storm on the East Coast of the United States, and several floods in Brazil and Aus-tralia. According to CNN, Australia’s storm flooded most of the continent alone. According to News 10, the United States had a rare occasion where 49 states out of 50 had snowfall. “I will feel bad for all of the places that get really damaged and I wish it wouldn’t happen,” said sophomore Rita Valdez. The group of scientists says that the mega storms occur every 100 – 200 years. Geologists also examined floods and found that megastorms like these occur every 300 years, but it will become more frequent due to global warming. “I think [the natural disasters in the world] are crazy like how houses are destroyed, [and] they are awful how people are dying,” said sophomore Tarnjit Kaur.

If the group of scientists’ theory is right, the “megastorm” will be destroying many of the areas it strikes. The storm may be so fierce it will drop 10 feet of rain and bring in hurricane-like winds. Not to mention the relocation of approximately 1.5 million people and the damages can cost $30 billion to repair.

Chanchharath RosStaff member

Photo Credit: Ansel EayrsSECA students and parents give out raffle tickets to the guests for a chance to win gift baskets filled with wine bottles, tool kits, movie passes and more.

Photo Credit: Jacques DescloitresAs this storm moves in-land, it is only a small por-tion of what the group of scientists predicted. The “megastorm” will be much more catastrophic.

Like a Scoop of Neopolitan Ice cream Different types of people all in one area

3.11.113 edItorIal From the music people hear, to the food they eat, and the clothes

they wear, everything has evolved into one culture: the urban culture. Although there are many different types of cultures in the world, our society has come to combine them all to make a large one. People of our society have come from not getting along, to having such great diversity, that this generation has been considered the most diverse in history.

“[Being so diverse] has a huge affect on the urban culture because I think now a days, we are more social and we introduce traditions,” said Adriel Escalera, sophomore.

Music has evolved in different cultures to entertain the ears of the new generation such as the evolution from banging on drums to hip-hop and R&B. Music has also changed in Latin and Asian music such as Reg-gae ton, a combination of old-style Latin music and hip-hop. Music has had such a powerful affect on our culture that people try to imitate the lifestyle of the music artists This lifestyle has caused this urban culture to emerge.

“Everybody listens to the same thing, so different races mix it and this combines the cultures,” said sophomore Alma Sanchez.

This idea that everybody is equal is becoming more of a reality because the new generation has become more accepting to the diversity. They are tending to accept the idea that everybody is equal, because they are growing up in a society where there are many different ethnicities. An example would be the Chinese New Year celebration at the Stockton Civic Auditorium on March 6th, and how people who weren’t Chinese, went to go and celebrate this event. Growing up with many ehnicities and cultures, people have become more open-minded, because this is what is normal to them. If future generations continue to grow up like this, then our society will have the thought that all ethnicities are equal.

“[The new generation] probably see each other as equal people that do things in different ways,” said Escalara.

Although, some people do not get along with one another because of their ethnicity and what happened in the past, they need to get past the attitude and move forward. This will cause for peace throughout the world and then people can focus on more important situations such as famine, drug abuse, and even domestic violence. Not getting along with one person or a group of people because of their race can be a distraction to try to stop these situations. As society is already becoming more ac-cepting, we have our first African-American president which continues to show how our society is becoming more accepting.

Editorial Policies: About Us:Wolves’ Chronicle Staff:

Editor in chief: Sucharita YellapragadaManaging editor: Josephine EspinozaDesign Editor: Desiree AlcocerWebmasters: Holly DeHonestis & Emily Wilburn

Layout & Design: Angelynn Jose, Jonathan Kwan Photo Editor: Karen Alvarado-Contreras

Staff members: Jorelyn Calam, Jhovany Gomez, Melissa Cruz, Jonathan Kwan, Faviola Paz, Rich-ard Huynh, Jasmine Fredericksen, Mikey Aguilera, Chanchharath Ros, Aman Paneser, Delecia Velas-quez-Stump, Andrew Palacio

Adviser: Rachel West

The Wolves’ Chronicle newspaper is published quar-terly and distributed free of charge. Our newspaper is an open forum for free student expression. Stu-dent editors and reporters make content and style decisions with the adviser offering guidance. Edito-rials reflect the view of the entire editorial board and therefore are unsigned. Opinion columns reflect the view of the writer. Readers are welcomed to write letters to the editor. We will make every effort to print any letters as long as it is not libelous. Letters longer than 250 words will be edited. Unsigned let-ters will be printed only in unusual circumstances, and only when we know who the writer is. Letters may be brought to the newspaper room, room 6, or emailed to wolveschronicles@gmail.com

Stockton Early College Academy (SECA) is in its second year as a dependent charter school in the Stockton Unified School Dis-trict in Stockton, CA. We currently have freshman and sophomore classes, with a population of 250 students. We are located at 640 N. San Joaquin St., Stockton, CA 95202.

Our newspaper is published by Herburger Publications in Galt, CA and distributed for free to all students.

Go Timberwolves!

Editorial POlicies: About us:

Often when people hear the acronym “SECA,” most would generalize the school as home to non-athletic students

who are only book smart. It might be hard to believe, but this school is also home to students participating in outside activities.

“I swim competitively and practice six days a week for two and a half hours at the UOP [University of the Pa-cific] pool,” AnaMiguel Rodriguez, sophomore, said.

Rodriguez has been part of the Tiger Aquatics swim team for six years now. She enjoys swimming and “loves” it. Although Rodriguez knows the hardships she has to face by being a student at this school as well as a member of the Tiger Aquatics, she works her way out of the hard-ships. She developed a method of her own to keep school and swimming balanced.

“I have a routine and when I follow the routine I can get everything done,” Rodriguez said. “Swimming is the one place where I get away from school; I don’t worry about homework until I get home.”

Rodriguez is at school from 7:55 a.m. to 3 p.m. and her practice begins an hour later. Despite being tired from practice, Rodriguez prepares for the long night ahead of her.

“I push through the tiredness and do my work [be-cause] I like having my work done,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez would “pick school over swimming.”

“School can get me my dream job, swimming can’t,” she stated.

There are also other students, like Karen Alvara-do-Contreras, Sirenio Gonzalez, and Delecia Velasquez-Stump, who have outside activities taking up a significant amount of their time. For example, Alvarado-Contreras and Gonzalez are both part of Los Danzantes Del Puerto (LDDP), which is a ballet folklorico group. They spend two hours of their Tuesdays and Thursdays and an hour on Fridays, learning new Hispanic dances.

Velasquez-Stump trains for mixed martial arts from Monday to Saturday and when necessary, Sundays. She works out four to five times a day and usually does not get home until 9:30 p.m.

“When you do something you love, you have to give up something and in this case, sleep, but I make up for it during the weekends,” says Velasquez-Stump, sophomore.

Unlike Rodriguez, Velasquez-Stump does not have a well-established method to balance training and school, but she does try to finish her school work. “It feels pretty horrible [to not have homework done], but I’ll do what I have to do to get it done even if I have to do it in another class,” Velasquez-Stump said. This school is not a walk in a park. It is not the type one can take lightly, but because of their love for their outside activities, these students con-tinue to do what they love and still try to main-tain the balance of school and outside activities.

“As long as you make a routine that leaves enough time for homework and studying, you should be able to do sports,” said Rodriguez proudly. “If you plan right, you can do well in school and sports.”

Balancing school and outside activities: Less time, but less stress

Day 2Feb. 5: Once again you had to wake up early in the morning on the weekend. This time you found your-self in a UOP classroom with a dozen

or more other students, all in soft, spinning office chairs, prepared to take seven tests. The tests were 35-50 questions and each one came printed on a different color paper. The first three tests you take were for Math, Economics, and the written portion of the Super Quiz, which in this case was Geology. After a ten minute break to scarf down some sugar and stand in the cold, you returned to your spinning chair for the Social Science and Music tests before lunch.

Lunch was something to behold at AcaDec if you were on the Stockton Early College Academy team. When the pizzas ar-rived, and I’m not exaggerating when I say this, four pizzas were devoured in 30 sec-

onds or less. By 1 p.m., the feeding frenzy had ended and we were back in our testing rooms for the Language and Literature and Art test.

What had been described to me as a “moose herd” of Acadecians by Emily Wilburn then proceeded to walk down the street together to the Scottish Rite Temple for the Super Quiz competition and the award ceremony.

All together, SECA won 42 medals, the awards for most improved small school, and best small school overall. Our alternates received 12 medals, Division I received 12 medals, and Division II received 14 medals. The sections of the audience SECA was in became a wall of pure noise every time anyone from our school called, scream-ing names, making our school be heard. Chants of “S-E-C-A, SECA ALL THE WAY” were being screamed so loudly that by the end of the day many had headaches, sore throats, or no voice at all. Competition had left everyone giddy, exhausted, and ready to collapse at any second, but mostly happy. We came, we conquered, and we made everyone take notice of the amazing students..

3.11.115 student lIfePoint-of-View of an Acadecian Our second year at the Academic Decathlon

Holly DeHonestisStaff member

Jorelyn CalamStaff member

Held on two consecutive Saturdays, Jan. 29 and Feb. 5, students attended the Academic Decathlon competition at the University of the Pacific (UOP) at the Wendell Phillips Center/Education Building. Freshmen and sophomores competed against many high schools such as Tracy, Lodi, and Middle College for medals. Overall, freshmen and sopho-mores won 47 medals which included 22 gold medals.

Photo Credit: Holly DeHonestisAll the events at the competition lead up to the oral Super Quiz Relay event and award ceremony at the Scottish Rite Temple. Tension and anxiety filled the room.

Photo Credit: Jorelyn CalamFreshman Jose Meza and sophomores Sirenio Gonza-lez and Daryl Palafox practiced with machetes for the Stockton Early College Academy Foundation Los Da-zantes Del SECA (LDDS) performance.

To find out about Day 1 go to www.wolveschronicle.com

3.11.114 featuresJust how much pain is beauty worth?

S o m e t i m e s people put them-selves through pain for their own per-

sonal image for something like gauging.“Gauging,” better referred to as “stretch-

ing,” is very common. Most people think there is a stereotypical group made just for this, such as the “emo” kids, or those trying to have the skater appearance. However, anybody can have gauges, just as long as they know what they’re doing, how to do it, and their parents are okay with it.

Gauging is the practice of taking a regu-lar body piercing, which at the smallest is a size 20g or 18g, and stretching it to a bigger size. Gauge sizes work their way down by twos. The first piercing a person gets is usually either a 20g or an 18g, and from there, the next gauge size is a 16g, followed by a 14g, then a 12g, and so on. Once the size reaches 0g, the next size is a 00g (pronounced double-zero gauge), and from there, fractions begin with 7/16g being the first.

Gauging may take a while to get to the size one wants, however, the process is quite simple. There are two ways to get gauges. Do-

ing it by oneself, or having a professional at a tattoo shop do it. If one chooses to do it by themself, one must first get a regular piercing and let it heal. Once healed, one can do what’s called “tapering.” Tapering is the most common professional technique for stretching piercings. Tapering involves the use of a taper, a conical rod made specifically for this purpose, which is gently pushed through the healed fistula (hole in the skin). This hole starts out small and gets bigger as one progress to the end of it, stretching it. Tapers come in different sizes, depending on how much each person wants to stretch it. The process is lengthy, but if one does it accurately and properly like one should, the wait will be rewarding.

While some get chills just looking through the holes, others just question the process. How was it done? Did it hurt? Did you cry? These are just some of the common questions people with gauges are asked. Every once in a while, some are even asked for permission to stick things through their gauges, or even for them to remove them so they could see what their ear looks like, just to experience it.

A person who gets annoyed when asked

to take his gauge out or to stick things in them is sophomore Derrik Held.

“I get annoyed because it takes time and it’s nothing to see,” said Held.

There are a huge assortment of types of gauges to choose from. You could have tun-nels, plugs, organics, tapers, flares, pinchers, barbells, etc. What they are made of can range from silicon to plastic, to even metal, marble, and organic wood.

“I like the cute girly gauges, and the more unique ones that you don’t see a lot of. For example, a pair that I want is with water and sparkles in them,” said sophomore Sabina Peso-shina, the only girl to have gauges on campus.

Some people get gauges just for fun, oth-ers because they look cool, and some to stand out from the others. No matter what the reason may be, however, gauging is a way of express-ing oneself, and once someone starts, they’re hooked, wanting to go bigger.

“I plan on going bigger because I would like to get to a size 4g or 2g,” said Pesoshina.

Some, however, have no limits to how big they want to go.

“It’s either go big or go home,” said Held..

Six month old Cheetohs, lost remotes, and thir-ty-eight cents are the norm when it

comes to what inhabits couch cushions. So what about a traveler from South America, Africa, or Southeast Asia? Couchsurfing, an international, non-profit orga-

nization, can bring travelers from about 230 countries to local homes. Their mission is: “to create inspiring experiences” in which “cross-cultural encounters…are fun, en-

gaging, and illuminating.” “If I was the dude living on the other guy’s

couch, I would be stoked that I can live on the other dude’s couch for free,” said freshman, Andres Solis.

Entirely funded by member donations, Couchsurfing was first launched on Jan. 1, 2003 by

Casey Fenton, Executive Director of the organiza-tion, with co-founders Dan Hoffer, Sebastian LeTu-

an, and Leonardo Bassani de Silverira. Since then, over 2.4 million people have joined Couchsurf-ing.

The Couchsurfing process is simple: a to-be guest (the one traveling) joins the website, which is free to use for all members. The guest then chooses a place to which he/she wishes to travel to. He/she surfs the website (no pun intended), looking for a host who is willing to offer his/her couch in the desired travel area. The guest then requests to visit. The host then has the right to either approve or deny the request. The host is not obligated to accept any requests he/she is not comfortable with, and the host has, at any moment of the guest’s visit, the right to ask the guest to leave. Methods like these ensure the safety of all Couchsurfing members. They are available to diminish the dangers of housing a stranger.

“I’d be really concerned with who those people are because they’re from the other side of the planet and they want to live on my couch,” said Solis. “It’s good that people take the precautions to ensure the other person is safe.”

With safety methods in place, Couchsurfing.net reported over 1.7 million success-ful home stays and approximately 4.3 million positive experiences, which is 99.7% of all Couchsurfing experiences.

“It’s a great experience because not a lot of people have the opportunity to go to the other side of the world for free,” said Solis.

A large aspect of Couchsurfing is the cultural exchange between host and guest. According to Couchsurfing.net, Couchsurfing “enables us to respond to diversity with curiosity, appreciation, and respect.”

Many people over the world have already tried Couchsurfing and connected their cultures at almost no cost. The website is still functioning, each day coming closer to their motto: “Participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time.”

Josephine EspinozaManaging Editor

How would you like to sleep on my couch?A new way to exchange cultures among countries

Mikey Aguilera Staff member

Photo Credit: Mikey Aguilera

Derrik Held, sophomore, wears his gauges to stand out from the rest, sport-ing a size 3/4 g. Derrik currently has the biggest gauges on campus.

03.11.1103.11.116 7tImberwolVes all around the world

Name: Yeng HerBorn: July 1, 1995Where: ThailandCame to the U.S.: 2005“[In Thailand,] we don’t have cars to drive. We walk to school 3.4 miles away and you have to pay for school.”

Name: Zheela Mae VillaluzBorn: May 22, 1995Where: PhilippinesCame to the U.S.: 2008“Everyone’s different. I like the school [activities like] the school competition.

Name: Val Ivan TubanBorn: April 22, 1996Where: Philippines“[What I liked about being in the Philippines] was being able to do almost whatever I want.”

African American 9.4%Asian/Pacific Islander 24.6%Hispanic Latino 53.6%Filipino 5.8%Native American/Alaskan 1.4%Caucasian 5%

Ethnic breakdown

After noticing the diversity in our school, we wondered how many students in our popula-tion were from a different country. With this, we realized how we’re all still Timberwolves although we come from different ethnic back-grounds.

Name: Aldo GuzmanBorn: June 1, 1995Where: MexicoCame to the U.S.: 1996“[The U.S.] is really mixed. It has a lot of different kind of people. They get along with each other though.”

Name: Kari JonesBorn: April 19Where: Vancouver, CanadaCame to the U.S.: 1988“Diversity eventually eradi-cates prejudice. There are so many peopple of differ-ent ethnicities interrelat-ing. It helps break down boundaries and negative carriers”

Houston, we have a problem. There is noth-ing good to watch on TV at this time of night! A prob-lem some people have while watching TV late at night is there isn’t anything to watch, but have you heard of a late night show or even a late late night show? Actually, there are quite a few of these shows such as, “Lopez Tonight,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “The Monique Show.” Out of all the late night shows, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” is the most popular. According to Shareranks.com, people enjoy “The Late Late Show with Craig Fer-guson,” because it has a unique style in familiar format and it is bawdy and silly. Every late night show is trying to be as popular as the “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” but some are not doing as well as others like, “Late Night with Da-vid Letterman,” but according to CBS.com, David Let-terman remains one of the most guiding personalities in the history of television. The “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” is often imitated by other shows, but they can never match it. “When done with homework, to relax I watch the show to entertain myself and get a laugh,” said Shear-az Khan, sophomore. Most of the late night shows invite guest ce-

lebrities and ask them questions, in which to provide fans with up-to-date information. Unlike other late night shows, “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) takes their show to a whole different level. They use actors to act as other celebrities, at locations, and put their comical twist into it. The show has won 21 Emmy Awards and has been nomi-nated for many more. It was honored twice, in 1990 and 2009, with George Foster Peabody Award and has been cited as “truly a national institution.” “Saturday Night Live” was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame by the National Association of Broadcasters, and the show continues to gain the highest ratings of any late-night television program, with millions watching each week. “ [“SNL”] Is very funny, because they make fun of people by dressing like them, and talking like them, and saying funny things,” said Fernando Hernandez, sophomore. Even though some shows are better than oth-ers, they are all great to watch, either to have a good laugh, or to get information on what your favorite ce-lebrity is planning on doing. So instead of sitting there, watching reruns of “Jersey Shore,” try something new, and change the channel to either NBC, CBS, TBS, ABC, Comedy Central, E!, BET, PBS, or FOX.

And the winner is… Awards are given out every year for many

different occasions. The Oscars are to celebrate the best movies and actresses/actors, while the Razzies are celebrating the worst of 2010. Even though there is a gathering for “bad” pro-ductions, this award ceremony is ac-tually very beneficial to the people who are nominated, including the winner as a way of giving them feedback.

Here at SECA, we are sur-rounded with positive reinforce-ment to keep our grades high and to be the best person we can possibly be; same with the Razzie awards. The Razzie awards are not only to spot out a not so incredible movie, but also to help the actors, produc-ers, and directors get better at what they love to do, which is making movies.

Think back on a time, dur-ing the school year, where you unfortunately didn’t get a high score on a test or quiz. Getting a bad grade on a task is not fun at all, but instead

of thinking about the negativity of the past, use it to succeed in the future. Our school is preparing us for the future, and the only way to get to the future is to

conquer the past. In truth, Razzie Awards and bad grades are

both reality checks for us to improve ourselves in every way possible. For example, Sandra Bullock

won the Best Actress at the Oscars but worst actress at the Razzies, all for 2009. Daymian Villapadua and Alicia Sorensen both loved the

movie “The Blindside.” Some people might be confused by the fact that she won both awards. In “The Blindside,” she did a wonderful job connecting with the role she was playing, and really brought skill to the table.

The most current Razzie Award nominees were announced on February 24. The regular tradi-tion for the past 30 years was to have the official awards the night before the Oscars, on February 26

at 7:30 p.m.In the end, failure should

really be called “reality checks” because everyone fails at some-

thing at some point, but how that person reacts to it makes him/her what they are to become in the future.

3.11.118 entertaInment

Delecia Velasquez- StumpStaff member

Jay Leno

David Letterman

Conan O’Brien

Jimmy Kimmel

Carson Daly

Jhovany GomezStaff member

Worst Picture: “The Last Airbender”

Worst Director: M. Night Shyamalan in “The Last Air-bender”

Worst Actor: Ashton Kutcher in “Killers” and “Valentine’s Day”

Worst Actress: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon in “Sex and the City 2”

Worst Supporting Actor: Jackson Rathbone in “The Last Airbender,” and “Eclipse”

Worst Supporting Actress: Jessica Alba in “The Killer In-side Me,” Little Fockers,” “Machete,” and “Valentine’s Day”

Worst Screen Couple: The Entire Cast of “Sex and the City 2”

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel: ”Sex and the City 2”

Worst Eye Gouging Mis-Use of 3-D: “The Last Airbend-er”

The Razzi Awards

Best and worst of 2010If you thought your day was bad,wait until you see the actors

When the world is asleep, I’m thinking of youWhat late night show is the best to watch?

Ratings of other Late Night Shows (Out of 5)

There’s bad news around the corner for procrastinat-ing teens. In some states, students are required to maintain a certain grade point average or above in order to receive a driver’s license.

Many states already have requirements for a certain amount of practice hours, as well as a variety of different minimum ages. Now several are also introducing a minimum GPA in an effort to ensure all drivers are responsible.

“I think that’s ridiculous,” said Monica Guzman, a sophomore. “Do you want kids to go out and find their way to a car and do unsafe things?”

Sophomore Ruben Salas, on the other hand, said he would agree with the law. “Some people are just irresponsible when it comes to driving and their education,”

said Salas.SECA students have a wide range of opinions on this topic and not all of them think

limiting a teen’s GPA is a reasonable restriction. “If they’re responsible enough to drive, they don’t have to be smart,” said Jennifer

Smith, sophomore.Guzman is on the same side as Smith, and defended the hapless teenagers strug-

gling with their report cards. “You don’t have to be smart to drive! School does not relate to driving for me. Are

you trying to tell me if I can’t pass my chemistry test I don’t know how to turn a corner?” she questioned.

The purpose of the GPA restriction was not intended to measure “smartness” but rather the dedication and responsibility of each student. However, perhaps the grades

received in school are not the final word on whether or not teenagers can handle having a license.

As Guzman points out, if students think they aren’t able to get a license, they may decide to break the law by driving without one.

“People are gonna drive whenever they wanna drive,” she said.

A few min-utes before lunch, teenagers might be thinking about

reaching into their pockets, just itching to text message. Most teens feel empty walking outside if they aren’t wearing a jacket and don’t have their cell phones with them. Students who don’t have cell phones are peer-pressured to have their parents buy them the “useful toy.”

“Everyone has one and most people [are] able to get a hold of me through an easier way, especially when I could take it [cell phone] any-where,” said Aubrey McKinney, sophomore.

Teenagers’ best friends are their cell phones; they can’t live without them. Some teens feel lost without a cell phone because they are so addicted to using them. Cell phones were made for people in the high business areas and it was cheaper to go to a payphone if they ever needed something. Also in the past, people may need to be contacted 24 hours a day is useless and only costs people more money was seen by many peo-ple. Although, children in present-day need their phones to contact their parents, as for parents are becoming aware of where their children might be before and after school.

“When I didn’t have my own personal phone, I used the house phone or go to their [my friend’s] house,” said McKinney.

Children rely on cell phones for communication with classmates and even their parents. Some students use them as a clock, camera, planner, encyclopedia, and news source. The cell phone can also be a high-tech hand-sized computer.

“I would definitely use my cell phone as a clock and sometimes to research some information of a specific topic,” said McKinney.

Most students agree with the responsibility of using the cell phone, but it reveals that students are determined to use them as a tool. Sometimes they’re used as a toy for playing games, taking pictures and even listening to music.

“They [cell phones] look cool and useful especially the smart-phones, it [cell phones] made for better communica-tion,” said McKinney.

In today’s society of com-munication, students rely on talking or text messaging to friends, classmates, or to fam-ily members. Most of the time, students are asking for help with homework, contacting class-mates who know the homework assignment, or planning to do a group project.

Students might use their cell phones as a communication

tool, but they don’t value their cell phones as much as adults. Many adults use their phones mainly to contact customers and co-workers in their career is different than how students use their phones. Students use most of the communication for both school and personal reasons, also to keep in contact with their parents. Communication is neces-sary in present-day for children to contact their parents as soon as possible if they need anything.

3.11.119 PrIVIleges

Photo Credit: Emily WiburnIn order to get a driver’s license in California, you have to pass a test proving you can be a responsible driver. Some states just take this one step further by asking you to present evidence of this in a different aspect of your life.

Emily WilburnStaff member

Jonathan KwanStaff member

What if your grades cost you your driver’s license?In some states a certain GPA is required to be able to drive

Cell phones are not a toy, they’re a tool The most useful and fastest way to communicate

Photo Credit: Jonathan KwanThough it can be a distraction while doing homework, cell phones can be used as a fast way to communicate with friends and family to ask for homework or to contact people.

3.11.1111 changes

According to NBC, astrono-mer Parke Kunkle said the dates of

many zodiac signs have changed due to the Earth’s alignment. In addition, there is also a new Thirteenth Zodiac sign: Ophiuchus. However, this only concerns people born after 2009.

“The new sign is pretty pointless be-cause we’ve been following the 12 signs for all these years and it’s useless to sud-denly alter everything,” said sophomore June Yang.

This change didn’t happen over-night. When astrology began, almost 3,000 years ago, the 12 signs were designated to different periods of the year. Since then the

Earth’s position in relation to the sun has changed. This change called for a change as well in the signs.

“I don’t think there’s a difference [in the signs],” said freshman Roxana Moreno.

The change in signs has probably affected people’s lives in some way or another since a lot of people are attached to them. However, some people chosen to stick to their own sign.

“I really dislike [that they added a new sign] because I have my zodiac sign tattooed on my arm so that makes me ir-ritated that I have to get it covered,” said sophomore Arthur Quinones.

The sign change should not influ-ence horoscope readings or how they act.

The mystery behind the 13th zodiac sign Have you been reading the wrong zodiac sign?

Faviola PazStaff member

The new symbol for the 13th zodiac sign depicting a man with a snake.

The New Zodiac Calendar: (Starting from 2009 & on)

Capricorn: Jan. 20 - Feb. 16Aquarius: Feb. 16 - March 11Pisces: March 11 - April 18Aries: April 18 - May 13Taurus: May 13 - June 21Gemini: June 21 - July 20Cancer: July 20 - Aug. 10Leo: Aug. 10 - Sept.16Virgo: Sept. 16 - Oct. 30Libra: Oct. 30 - Nov. 23Scorpio: Nov. 23 - 29Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 - Dec.17Sagittarius: Dec. 17 - Jan. 20

A f t e r the first pre-view, audi-ences labeled

MTV2’s “16 and Pregnant” as a “teenage drama” since it didn’t fit into other cat-egories. Hate it or love it, to most people the show sets a realistic example of teen-pregnancy.

MTV2’s “16 and Pregnant” made its debut June 16, 2009 as a “documentary-style series about real-life Junos,” said the New York Times. It focuses on the hard-ships, struggles, and emotions of pregnant teenage girls.

The show follows the girls from the beginning for a period of five to seven months, including months after the baby’s birth. Like other MTV2 shows, “16 and Pregnant” received negative comments from channel-surfing teens.

“It doesn’t sound good and it doesn’t appeal to me. The whole idea of teen preg-nancy isn’t something I think about much, but it isn’t something I want to see publi-cized,” said freshman, Mitchell Woodbury.

“16 and Pregnant” films throughout a girl’s pregnancy, revealing arguments, teary phone calls, domestic-disturbances, and the birth. As personal as the issues may seem, few audience members go past the drama to seek a deeper meaning.

Sophomore, Cerina Gaoat put herself in the same scenario; “[I would go on the show under those circumstances] but to make teenagers think of what the consequences are.”

Though MTV2 crazes the teen-pregnancy, Califor-nia pregnancy rates dropped by 51.3 percent from a rank

of 75 out of 1,000, according to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Of course, teen pregnancy has not disappeared and should still be a con-cern.

“Even though it’s lower, it’s still a percentage of people being pregnant,” said Gaoat.

The show tends to reveal happy or optimistic endings, where the gaming, drop-out boyfriend finally gets a job, the mom applies to college, or the baby stays with a better family through adoption. However, the show never features a con-stant attitude. It is not definite whether the show conveys a message of “yes, you can get pregnant and still make it in life,” or “children will ruin your life.”

Of all the 25 girls who have been on the show so far, all have done it on their own accord. Though dropping out, broken families, sick babies, birth deformities, and abortion are not “happy” topics, the girls led themselves into those situations.

“At times [I feel bad], but sometimes it’s just like I don’t feel sympathy. It’s stu-pid of them and they knew what was com-ing,” said freshman, Jakeline Salinas.

Parents, of course, love to set stan-dards for their children, especially with visual proof.

“Both my parents [watch it]. They do like it. They want us to watch it to see what would happen to us,” said Salinas.

Regardless of drama, the show is truthful behind its cameras. To summarize MTV 2’s explanation of the show, the pro-ducers state “each episode follows a period in the life of a teenager as she navigates the bumpy terrain of adolescence, growing

pains, rebellion and coming of age; all while dealing with being pregnant.”

Melissa Cruz Staff member

Photo Credit: MTVJames Worsham, teen dad, is accompanied by his child, Za’Karia, at the library while her mother, Markai Durham is at school. (Season Two Episode 14.)

“16 and Pregnant?” That’s a terrible way to goGoing behind commercials to see the true viewer reaction

Wait, what does this mean? Six percent of Americans can’t read this

3.11.1110 feature

•One pencil can write about 45,000 words.

•Over 2 billion pencils are used in the United States every year.

•A typical pencil can draw a line 35 miles long.

•If all the world’s pencils were lined up end to end, they could circle the globe 62 times.

•The world’s largest pencil is 76 feet high and weighs over 22,000 pounds.

•Pencils are hexagonal to keep them from rolling off desks.

•The eraser was not put on the pencil until 1858 by Hyman Lip-man.

•John Steinbeck used a lot of pencils, some-times as many as 60 each day!

•There are 1,045 words on this page.

What if English, our primary lan-guage, could be used to draw a picture? Wait, it can. However, people today choose not to use our language as an art form or let alone

learn it. According to The Learn Company, 21 million Americans can’t read at all, 45 million are marginally illiterate and one-fifth of high school graduates can’t read their diplomas. Even those who can read or are literate have a very mediocre vocabu-lary. This vocabulary is composed mostly of dead and overused words, and even these words are im-properly used.

George Orwell stated in his article “Politics and the English Language” that the English language would decline rapidly due to the misuse of high level vocab-ulary words in an attempt to sound smarter, when in truth, people sound igno-rant with their improper us-age of words and complex sentences. Today we can presently see the effects of the use of slang and text speak.

“[The decline of lan-guage and the creation of a language like ‘Newspeak’] is possible as a result of everyone using text speak,” says sophomore Rebecca Palmer.

The key to painting a picture with words is understanding both denotation and connotation. A word’s denotations are the textbook defi-nitions of the word and the contextual definitions of it. Understanding both components of words is vital to properly communicating in the business world. After all, by the year 2020 people will need powerful

literary capabilities which is only achieved by a min-ute portion of the popula-tion.

“Perhaps Shake-speare would be a great example because the word usage is unique rather than vague and inaccurate like much of language today,” said sophomore Josephine Espinoza.

Outside of the busi-ness world we have our everyday language or our vernacular which today is largely composed of slang. Every society has its own slang words how-ever even then these words become overused to the point of them having to be “banned.” Every year the Lake Superior State Uni-versity releases a list of these “banned” words due to their overuse or misuse. What if these words one

day never existed? This is starting to sound a whole like 1984.

I have been through a lot in my life. I was a tree, cut down for human use. I was reshaped and modified. Recently, I have been mistreated and broken. I am always fixed, only to be harmed and broken again.

Objects like me are often taken advantage of, but us pencils should be shown more respect by the students that use us.

We do, after all, help in a number of ways.Pencils allow all humans, children and adults alike, to write and

communicate. Math equations, stories, letters to family or friends; you name it, we help you write it! If it weren’t for us, all students would fail their classes. Yet, we are generous enough to allow you to use us.

We are your only companions when you stay up late at night, finish-ing your homework. We truly know how stressed you are, thanks to the frustration you express while doing a school assignment at the last minute. We continue to listen to your complaints about confusing homework.

Seeing as you are human and make mistakes, you are able to use the erasers conveniently located at the top of our heads. However, even though we make it easy to fix humans problems, many people still choose to use other writing implements.

The pen is often favored instead of pencils. They make it more diffi-cult to use both the front and back of a piece of paper because the ink eas-ily leaks through the paper, not to mention almost all of them are impos-

sible to erase. The use of our enemy just shows how much humans want to ignore the fact that they make mistakes. They are not perfect and try to act as if they are by using pens that are impractical to their needs. Even ink in printers is becoming more commonly used. Humans are expanding on technology and are paying less attention to hand-written work.

Whenever we are privileged enough to be used, we are often mistreated in the process. While writing, we are pressed against the paper with unnecessary force. It feels as if the human is trying to use us to rip the paper, eventually breaking our lead. When they are thinking, they tap us against whatever is close at the time. Some people even chew on us! Oh, we go through so much just to help you humans and are repaid by being hit and broken.

Humans are also rather forgetful. This naturally re-sults in many of us being lost. The worst part is, it is not a big deal if we are lost. The human simply uses another one of us.

“[If I lose a pencil,] I look for it, but if I can’t find it, I just use another,” Freshman Becky Huang confirmed.

Pencils help humans in many different ways but are never acknowledged. It is now time pencils are recognized for what they truly are: heroes.

Jasmine FredericksenStaff member

The tale of a pencil near youLife through the eyes of an unappreciated hero

Graphic credit: Richard HuynhIf you are using the above words, your writing is considered dead. These words are all too commonly used and when another word could convery an equal, or more powerul meaning.

Richard HuynhStaff memberDid you

know...

Tailthe end

Epic Myspace Fail and Facebook Win“Man, there’s nobody on MySpace, let’s check

Facebook.” Many of these statuses appeared on MySpace almost simultaneously when Facebook totally took over social networking.

Throughout time, people found ways to communicate, whether it was ver-bal, written, or through the internet. The internet offers many social websites on which people can communicate with other people they know, meet new people, and share photos or even update the “status” for their emotions. Among this group of social networking sites emerged a brand new website called MySpace. MySpace was invented around August of 2003 by a team of eUniverse employ-ees who saw potential in this sort of business after Friendster, a fel-low social networking site, became very popular all over the world. But like all good things, it had to come to an end. On Apr. 19, 2008, Facebook overtook MySpace in the Alexa ratings, a Califor-nia based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and website. MySpace, as of January 2011, was ranked 47 as opposed to the number 2 position held by Facebook.

MySpace used to have many users all over the world, includ-ing here at Stockton Early Col-lege Academy. Some still use MySpace, in fact.

“I do [have a MySpace]; I don’t know how to delete it. [I used to use MySpace] maybe twice a week,” said sophomore, Carlos Shelton.

MySpace took the lead in social networking with 20 million users in the first couple months of its birth. By late 2007 into 2008, MySpace was considered the leading social networking site, and consistently beat out main competitor Facebook in traffic. Martin Carranza used MySpace to “connect with people and chat with friends.” Then how, if it was so popular, did MySpace lose so many

users to Facebook? “[I prefer] Facebook because there’s more of my friends on it.” Carranza

says. “Facebook is a lot easier to start up and it’s really simple compared to MySpace. Facebook is also more mature, unlike MySpace.”

Sophomore AnaMiguel Rodriguez also agrees with Carranza, saying “I switched to Facebook because it is easier for me to use. MySpace got confusing and annoying. On MySpace, people felt that they needed to update their status every 5 seconds. On Facebook, people don’t do that as much.”

“It’s pretty cool [the newMySpace], but I see MySpace as more of a website advertising bands, groups, and stuff like that rather than chatting with people like

it used to be,” said Carranza.Rodriguez feels a bit differ-

ent, saying, “It’s a Facebook wan-nabe and it’s too confusing.”

“[If I could change MySpace, I would] delete it,” said Shelton.

Carranza thinks that Myspace could maybe be converted into “a blog or music website and could be combined with Facebook.”

People don’t realize that MySpace was once above Face-book. So will people ever go back to using MySpace like they used to? Shelton and Rodriguez agree they will not go back to using MySpace.

“I will definitely not go back to MySpace. MySpace is overrat-ed,” said Shelton.

In 2010, when Facebook launched new features in an effort to attract a variety of users, MySpace found itself in a continuous decline of membership. Altrhough, there may still be a tiny ounce of hope.

“I will go back to MySpace if more of my friends go back,” said Carranza.Although this may never happen with the huge success of Facebook, it’s

always good to hope. Facebook might even “pull a MySpace” and be overrun by a newer, better social networking site. Who knows?

Andrew PalacioStaff member

Chart source: alleyinsinder.comFacebook has many users online everyday. MySpace on the other hand does not. Even though

MySpace won the battle, Facebook won the war.

How well do you know your social networks?

Across

4. When you like a tweet you do this

5. The popular site for bands to adver-tise their name

7. Overtaking of MySpace by Facebook

10. Founder of MySpace

Down

1. Founder of Facebook

2. Tweeting someone else’s tweet again

3. The birth of MySpace

6.140 character limit

8. Updated every 30 seconds

9. To annoy someone on Facebook you ____ them.