Category: general news

Stuff having to do with the news in general.

Why Do We Relay?

sennymcflyLeave a comment

It’s 10:01 pm. Kai, Lucy, and myself are walking on the desert red track at Buena High School. While the senior Lacrosse players have only just arrived, Lucy and I have been walking, dancing, and celebrating for 13 hours. But, we still have 11 more to go.

It started with the survivor lap and when our beloved John Valenzuela circled to the first strait-a-way an eruption of applause broke out from our booth. And as he smiled and put his hand to his heart in appreciation tears began to fall. Mr. V is our survivor.

Then there was wedding. A 5 year survivor was given the chance to marry the love of his life. Tons of ladies in dresses joined in and led the bride’s path to the alter. As they exchanged vows hearts were lifted in the celebration of their chance to live a long life of happiness. He is her survivor.

After numerous laps honoring cowboys, the 80’s, and siamese twins there came the luminaria ceremony. Hundreds of lights shined representing the battles fought by millions. As the names of the lost and the loved showed on the big screen yet more tears came. We sat in silence.

For some the walk is for their mothers and sisters. For others it is for their sons and daughters. For me the walk is for my great aunt, my great grandmother, and my mom’s sister who is a childhood cancer survivor. If you were there you knew who the relay was for. For Dad, for a 13 month old baby girl, for Krista.

Relay for Life is not just a fund raiser for cancer research. It’s a celebration. It’s not a time to grieve but a time to give respect and celebrate life.

OVS relayed for Mr. V and celebrated and continue to celebrate his life. A life that he was given a second chance to live, alongside so many other lives because of the support of their family and community. We relayed. We walked. We celebrated. We fought.

Boy’s Romantic Prom Gesture Gets Him Banned From The Dance

Paloma SpencerLeave a comment

Although the talk of prom may not be popular amongst Ojai Valley School students anymore, numerous schools are just getting ready to celebrate theirs.

This means that the excitement over which prom date, which dress to wear, and which place to dine is rampant amongst teenagers everywhere.

And for many guys, there is always one question that needs to be answered: “How should I ask her to prom?”

I’ve seen the classic bouquet of roses and chocolates, the tennis balls perfectly ligned up to spell out prom, and a hand written song accompanied by a guitar.

For James Tate, a student of Shelton High School in Shelton, Connecticut, his plan was already in place.

Tate and two other friends visited their campus and posted a sign saying “Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to prom with me? HMU Tate” on the top of their school building.

However, that coming Monday, after Sonali had joyfully said “yes” to Tate, James and his two accomplices were requested to the principal’s office.

Rather than asking them to simply take the poster down, the school officials gave all three of the boys a suspension of one day.

In addition, the school felt that the three boys had clearly violated school rules by trespassing after school hours and “vandalizing” school property. Thus, this punishment was expanded in order to ban the boys from attending their school’s prom.

Tate and his friends are not fighting back against their punishment, but simply wish their school officials could recognize that it was a kind way of asking Tate’s date and they never meant to break any rules in the process.

School and Freedom

vabenissimoLeave a comment

Just now, a freshman girl from China interviewed me about freedom at OVS. It was fascinating for me to have a citizen of a communist country pay attention to my insights about such “forbidden” topic, freedom.

The questions were pretty straightforward. Here are some: What can you do to improve freedom at OVS? Do you think OVS has a lot of freedom? What do you do during your freedom at OVS? What is your first impression of OVS?

Our school try to provide the students with many opportunities even if some might disagree.

But, are we given with the right amount of freedom?

Yes, we are given with a lot of free time. So, does that necessarily mean we possess the rights to our freedom?

Pondering for a brief moment, I found myself caught in the conflict between individuality and society.

Balancing out these two is crucial. And, here I relate these thoughts to OVS.

Integrity. Individuality. Utilitarian society. Liberty. Morals. Coercion. Censorship.

If I were to list these words to describe OVS in a certain order of relevancy, I would have to weigh out a lot of OVS student handbook regulations, American societal standard, and realistic circumstances where all these regulations would be implicated. To that end, I am not going to organize them here anyway.

What if, a girl or a boy student decides to wear a plain shirt with a single word, “gay” or “lesbian”, printed?

Would this behavior be interpreted as an act of rebellion, a violation to the profession as a student, or nothing?

Just wondering.

Sick Humor

vabenissimo2 Comments

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

Glorify, celebrate, and embrace this moment of relief says the media. True. He had been the most wanted man in the world. He had put people in an absolute horror and unrecoverable remorse. He had brilliant ideas to cause further worldly destruction. He had killed the lives of millions and planned for even greater number. He had committed, multiple times, the most horrendous sin among mankind, murder. He had maddened the world. Now, he is gone, for good.

Extensive comments and articles about the details and expressions of relief and joy are, thus, understandable. However, people are having a hard time containing themselves as they make sick black humor out of this man’s demise. He, despite of his nearly unforgivable deeds, is a mankind.

A man. A father of six children. A husband of two wife.

His death was performed in front of his 12-year-old daughter. And, his death was confirmed by his children while his wife resulted in death during her “operation” by U.S. force because she would remain faithful to her husband.

Here, I question. “Do you think those children chose to share the disgraceful blood with this sick-minded man hated by the billions alive?”

But, sympathy is not the suitable wording of this case–apparently, those fancy and domineering religions have failed to deliver their grand message, forgiveness.

I am not an American citizen, but have friends, and relatives who suffer from the 9/11 catastrophe and the days since then. Maybe, my nauseating reactions to these comments are abnormal.

However, I know. I know, that some comments displayed online have exceeded the borderline of appropriateness.

An eye for an eye.

Is that it?

Young Girl Longs To Meet Heartthrob Justin Bieber, Settles with Barack Obama Instead

Paloma SpencerLeave a comment

Just a few months ago, fourteen-year-old Payton Wall wrote a letter to President Obama.

Rather than writing a letter as a homework assignment in her history class, Payton wrote to share a very personal story.

In this letter, Payton talked about her father’s death in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centers, and did not forget to state her love for teen pop-star Justin Bieber.

“Justin Bieber inspired me to share my story,” said Payton, “I wrote a letter to the president a few months ago. I talked about how I lost my dad on 9/11 and how I like Justin Bieber.”

This past Monday, May 2nd, was the first time Obama saw this letter, as he read through the stacks of envelopes that piled higher and higher throughout the weeks.

Obama was immediately moved by Payton’s letter and invited her and her family to attend the May 5th ceremony at Ground Zero.

I read this story with a smile knowing that the victims and families of 9/11 were still being honored for their bravery, strength, and support.

And although Obama may not be able to schedule Justin Bieber’s tour, he did the best he could in giving her an amazing experience, and acknowledging her hardships and her strength.

News of the Week

theycallmedameLeave a comment

I hate being sick.

I really, truly hate it.

This week, I went to school a total of two days. I forgot to submit three assignments, and the majority of my time was spent accidentally spacing out.

I went to a doctor who prescribed me anti-biotics because I have some virus that’s intent on having me fail school; so that’s fun. But before they could prescribe me anything, they wanted to make sure I didn’t have strep throat. By doing this, they shoved an abnormally long Q-tip into my mouth and scraped it against the back of my throat. It. Sucked.

So that’s the news of the week: my sickness that has been enveloping me since Sunday night. I just hope it goes away by Monday.

Strugglin’

sennymcfly1 Comment

Bro! So AP exams have been happening for a little under a week now. My first one is over, thank Jesus. But, I still have another one on Friday. Stress is killer of course but you know what’s really annoying? The fact that my Senioritis has kicked in times one trillion and 72. Last year I always thought Senioritis wouldn’t be so bad. I was wrong. Seriously, I just do not want to do anything but sit in my bed and watch Bones. It’s really upsetting too because it’s the end of the year and I have a lot to catch up on. *Cough* Blogs *Cough*.

I’m just strugglin’ man. Here’s what will happen, I’ll sit down at my computer, I’ll think of an idea and get really inspired. Then when I start to write I get super creative and come up with these crazy thoughts. But, when I run out of time to finish what I start, it never ends getting done. The worst part is, on the weekends I get more done than I do during the actual school week. I’ll spend hours studying on the weekend, but by the time Monday comes I’m too burned out to do any other work. It’s ridonkulous. Gosh dern it’s frustrating!

So, what do I do? I want to graduate man, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m scared!

London’s Bubble Tea

weirdjennyLeave a comment

nullBubble tea is a kind of tea that we use fruit teas or milk teas and mix in chewy tapioca balls that you can suck up through a big straw. Bubble tea is originally found in Taiwan in early 1989’s.

This drink has spread throughout the world rapidly since then. You can find it in Japan, China, Korea…and even Chinatown in America. Bubble tea is also called boba tea, which we can order it from Goldenmoon. Today this delicious drink has spread to Europe.

A London banker, Assad Khan, has traveled to New York several years ago, and he has fallen in love with this fabulous drink while he first drank it in Chinatown. This discovery made him come up the idea to bring this kind of tea to London. In order to open a bubble tea shop in London, Assad came to Taiwan first to learn the process of making the tea. Finally, he went back to London and open the London’s first bubble tea shop, Bubbleology, in April, 2011.

Assad insists that the tea, the tapioca balls, all materials, and even the machine have to come directly from Taiwan. Now, he can sell over 500 cups of tea a day. Due to the high popularity of the tea, Assad has planned to open three other branches in the next few months.

An End to the Endless Game of Hide and Go Seek

yourgingerkid1 Comment

It’s finally happened. Osama Bin Laden has been killed.

After years and years of hiding out from U.S. troops, he was killed Sunday after a firefight at a house.

I think that it’s kind of sad that we’re celebrating a death, in all honesty. Of course the man has done an unfathomable amount wrong, but a death is a death.

This man instigated the Twin Towers Attack, was a tyrant, and killed his own people, but he was also a good man in other ways.

It’s wrong to celebrate a death regardless of the wrong that he had done. Some people could look at former president George Bush and say the same thing. I’m sure that the whole Arab community would be thrilled to see that Bush had been killed. But as Americans, we shouldn’t be so thrilled.

For example, outside of the White House, Georgetown students are gathering and chanting “USA” and singing the national anthem. Do they not realize that within the next few days, weeks even, Osama’s followers and supporters aren’t going to be too happy with the U.S.?

It’s silly to think that there are no repercussions for killing a man who so severely influenced a whole nation and caused so much havoc to others. There are still members of the Al Qaeda out there, so why are people celebrating something that is not only sad, but terrifying! If someone killed Barack Obama, half of the U.S. would be outraged and want to seek revenge upon the killers country, right? Don’t you think that the Al Qaeda will do the same?

This whole thing perplexes me.

Good Riddance

shredicusmaximus1 Comment

“Word is Obama killed him with a pitching wedge from 30 yards out”

Those were the words from a US Naval Officer on an internet chat board regarding the new found confirmation from President Obama and the White House that Osama Bin Laden, the man who had been on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list, the man had founded Al Qaeda in the early 1980’s, and the man who masterminded the world’s most deadly recent attacks, including the bombing of several American embassies, the 7/7 bombings, the bombings in Spain, and the September 11th attacks, is dead.

Read that again. The man who for a generation embodied evil and the word “terrorism” has been pronounced dead. According to TMZ, Osama was killed by American military forces. Killed in Afghanistan, “we got him” has now become the phrase of the day. Sources from all over the world are streaming in. CNN, Huffington Post, Fox News and several other reliable news sites have confirmed that the villian was killed by an American missile strike last week in Afghanistan. This is truly a day for celebration throughout the world.

It may feel that a great piece of the mission is complete. The Taliban was removed, Saddam was executed, and finally last week, we finally had enough intelligence thanks to the CIA, we launched an attack on a compound in Pakistan where this mass murderer was hiding. A small group of Americans with great courage survived a fire fight and killed the symbol of evil while taking measures to protect innocent civilians.

As my roommate and I are sitting in my room staring at my poster of the Brooklyn bridge in the early 1990’s taken with the World Trade Center in the background,
“I’m legit stoked right now” – John Olivo
“Are you screwing with me or is this for real?” – Cole McIntosh
“He’s dead! Hell Yes! That piece of trash is finally DEAD!” – All of us.

President Obama’s press conference was streamed into my computer and we are currently holding our bottles high to the American launcher who just so happened to point his launcher in the right direction. “Obama looks exhausted,” my roommate said. Who wouldn’t be after the months upon years of effort to bring forth this outcome. The satisfaction of the work is felt, and the pursuit of justice has been rewarded. The biggest part of a legacy of terrorism which has been shadowing over the world for the past 20 years, is dead. I give thanks to the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives to stand up for our values abroad, to try to make the world a safer place, and to bring justice to all those who lost their lives. The victims did not die in vain. The unity of our nation has been greatly electrified. As we listened to Obama speak, we all, in unison, ended with Obama in his last address, “we are one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”  Salud boys, we got him.

This picture may be disturbing to some viewers, viewer discretion is advised. Here’s proof.