You may remember the plea issued in our last edition of The Bear Flag Republic (Something along the lines

of “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send us things”). While the majority of the student body has since responded with

the usual resounding silence, we are proud to announce that a precious few have given us their own work to present

to you in this latest edition. So to these few, many thanks from the Bear Flag Republic editorial staff. The rest of you

will hopefully enjoy these students’ submissions and (should a miracle occur) be inspired to share your own opinion

with the rest of the M-A world. The opportunity to express yourself is a rare one in a high school curriculum- why

not let it all out to the people who are desperately asking for your input? We know as well as any other idealistic

publication that the apathy barrier is a tough one to break, but it is our belief that you students have a stronger voice

than many are willing to admit. Our plea has not changed, but perhaps this time, your response will.

All the best,

The Bear Flag Republic Editorial Staff

Contact us: -Bearflagrepublic@luckymail.com -Facebook Profile under John Charles Fremont

It was just like any other

Friday– students looked

bedraggled, sleep-deprived, and

the only thing on anyone’s mind

was the pending weekend. There

are so many things to remember

in a week –homework,

responsibilities, extracurriculars,

jobs– its seems that no one had

the capacity to remember that this

Friday, in particular, was different.

In fact, exactly eight years

ago that Friday, our nation was

threatened and American lives

were lost. Yet eight years later, and

that dark day seems all but

forgotten. That Friday, everyone

headed their papers with the date

–September 11, 2009– but few

acknowledged the terror and grief

which it will forever be associated

with.

Edition 3 May 15, 2009

When a high-school student

is heard reminiscing about the bliss

of childhood, one can surmise that

their youth, according to them, is

over. But when did sixteen become

the new experienced and wise eighty-

five?

Many adults would lump the

teenage years right in with childhood

in terms of relative happiness and

unconcern. Of course it’s not all

carefree, but there should be a

certain level of joy that interrupts the

stress.

Right?

Tired eyes, unfocused gazes

and slumped shoulders tell a different

story. Braggart’s tales of staying up

all night for homework, cramming in

sports and extracurriculars, acing a

test at the expense of sleep: all a part

of countless (continued on pg 2)

"We Bear News"

9/11-Citizen Kane

Dear Reader,

16: The New 85?-Pancho Villa

In years past, 9/11 was a day

marked by assemblies, class

discussions, journal responses –at the

very least a moment of silence over the

daily announcements. At night, candles

used to line the streets, each a small,

flickering spark of hope. Each previous

9/11, we have reunited as a nation and

remembered the unity and camaraderie

and pride that the attacks instigated, if

only for a moment. (continued on pg 7)

The Bear Flag Republic

Volume 2, Edition 2 November 6, 2009

"We Bear The News"

Pancho Villa

1

(though not all) students’ lives.

Not to say that these things

are all bad- indeed, too much

unstructured time can be as

detrimental to mental health as an

overly packed schedule. But when

every teacher considers their class

to be of top priority, and every

coach is pressuring students to

excel, and every activity is

clamoring for a top spot on the

schedule, things can get tricky to

balance.

Those of us at the Bear Flag

Republic like to think that we

understand the dilemma faced by

most students. Friends, boyfriends

and girlfriends, underground

newspapers, parents, and teachers

are all pulling us in different

directions, like a sadistic version of

tug-of-war played with a human

rather than the traditional rope. The

trick is to never lose sight of what

is most important to you, no matter

how strained your limbs become

from excessive tugging. So take a

break one of these days, and do

something you like. Chances are,

you will be refreshed enough to

reenter the game with minimal joint

pain.

16: The New 85? (cont)We do not, unfortunately,

have the power to remove the

inordinate amounts of pressure

that so often reduce us to misty-

eyed daydreams of “back in the

day”. We do, however, have the

power to shift our own schedules

a little bit to accommodate the

guilty pleasures and quirky

activities that make such pressure

a little easier to bear. Please do so,

Bears. Give responsibility the finger

and take time for yourself once in

awhile. It might just be the mental

health boost you have needed all

along. 0

Fashion-Anonymous Student

I feel like a coke bottle. Or

worse, a freeway billboard; a

shameless product placement

plug for coca-cola in a blockbuster

film. And rightfully so, I’m wearing

a Freshman Transition Leader

shirt. It is a good thing that of all

those founders of this, and

presidents of that that live over in

Atherton none of them invented

coke or I feel justified in saying that

they would have sued the shirts off

our backs for copy right

infringement. They would have

methodically possessed every last

light bulb and rigging out of our new

performing arts center or painted

a giant polar bear popping the top

of a fizzy refreshment on the 65

foot stage house for all of

Middlefield to see.

At the same time, coke

advertisements don’t just work

because they are recognizable,

they work because they look good;

They look clean, simple, and well

designed. And so do our shirts. The

color scheme, font and font size all

look like a team of marketers

worked them out for optimal

viewing conditions. They of course

were worked out by such a highly

paid team, but barring a Pepsi

preference, the front of the shirt

looks good.

The back has the one

critical flaw in that it touts the 8,760

hours I am supposed to spend

“paving paths for our freshman.” I

wrote that number out of memory

because I have had it mockingly

recited to me countless times.

Aside from the obvious fact that I

don’t spend every minute of my

school day laying bricks before the

feet of needy underclassmen, the

number was accurate for only one out

of the one hundred and eighty seven

days of school. I wore it first two days

before school at Freshman Orientation

when I had more than a full school

year to go, and I’m wearing it now, with

less. I appreciate being called a leader

of 2010 but given that the freshman

transition program consists of lessons

only in the first semester, it would like

being a leader in 2009 as well, when

the lessons actually take place.

Sadly, this stylish T is out of

stock, if you want to get an early

reserve on next year’s (I’m thinking,

“Silly Leader, Transition is for

Freshman!”) You’d better start

warming up to Stuart now and sign up

for Freshman Transition early. You

wouldn’t want to miss being a leader

2011. Don’t worry, by that time I will

have paved all the roads, you can work

on some buildings. 0

xkcd.com

2

Everyone

Everyone

Longs for the moment

In the sun

Beneath the tree

Off of work

With their love

Everyone

Gets it

Eventually-Private Joker

Wished

I can never remember

The things I can’t forget

The things that haven't

Happened yet

They will make me who I am

And tell me who to be

I sometimes wish

They had happened to me

But then

I sometimes wish for the moon

I sometimes wish for the stars

I sometimes wish for the world

And I sometime wish for this

But not yet

-Georges Danton

Peace

I leave

The leaf

Uncrunched-Private Joker

The Jump

The man stares out

The man stares in

The man can’t help but

succumb to his whim

The cliff stares up

The cliff stares down

The cliff already sees him

under his mound

The sea stands by

The sea stands still

The sea just watches and

waits for his will

The shame pushes foreword

The shame pushes back

The shame pressures this man

to say alack

His mind says yes

His mind says no

His mind keeps him

stuck in this low

The man falls slow

The man falls fast

The man takes a breath

that is his last

Death moves in

Death moves out

Death never tells him

what life is about

-Private Joker

Music In My Bones

I was born with music in my

bones

I was born without the voice

I was born without the hands

I was born without the ears

But I was born with music in

my bones

-Private Joker

Anonymous

… I admit, I’m not a poet,

but I am a teenager just like you…

You may think life’s hard,

No benefits after your next turn,

Opportunities like road signs,

Flashing by then gone by the time

You want to take hold…

I'm scared of heights,

Bright lights hope shines in the

dark,

It’s not a walk in the park,

It’s more like salsa dancing in New

York…

Abolitionists and politicians,

Skinny jeans or“I’m here to Please”

Nerdy or flirty,

Teachers pet or future vet,

First to last or skipping class?

Which disguise do you wear?-Loony Toon

Pretty Things

There’s nothing left to leave behind

Nothing left for me to hang on to

All my pretty things are only in my mind

And all I have to show for it is you

And buying’s not the answer

All that leads to is more pain

It’ll just make us remember

None of our pretty things remain

I could look for it tomorrow

Just like I looked for it today

It was all gone so long ago

We had to give it all away

We have nothing left to borrow

And nothing left to gain

We have none of what we started with

We had so much when we came

-Georges Danton

Poems Poems Poems Poems Poems"Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason.""Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason.""Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason.""Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason.""Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by Reason."

-Novalis -Novalis -Novalis -Novalis -Novalis

3

Leadership has begun an

ambitious program to raise

awareness over environmental

issues, and cut down on paper

usage. At the same time the continue

their same quality advertisements, as

represented by plastering the school

with bland posters which more often

then not are fraught with blank white

space.

What the F***.

First, I have to point out the

obvious. For all the high talk and trash

piles leadership makes, it isn’t quite

apparent what they are doing. We

have to give them some credit, the

new recycling bins are amazing, and

I’ve heard some rumors about

education pieces (though I haven’t

seen anything except for that failure

of a global warming assembly). But

let’s step back for a second, how

much is leadership actually doing?

They still make the same low quality

high quantity posters which are less

advertisement and more chunks of

wall. They still mass produce flyers

which permeate the school so readily,

that you can find stacks of school

events from last year stacked in

some classrooms. Leadership

simply is talking the talk, but we sure

aren’t seeing any walk.

Lets take club training, a

perfectly good leadership activity

which I had the distinct honor of

enduring. Lots of papers were

passed out. Several sheets all asking

for mission statements and goals,

with more blank unused spaces and

inspirational pep talks than Gandhi

the Movie (hint: they both were really,

really long). Instead of students

walking out of the training with

handfuls of useless papers,

leadership had actually followed its

own paper saving plan. They should

have entered the mission

statements and stuff they wanted

into a computer, and then printed out

as needed, and they should have

consolidated all those rules into one

board, in one place, which clubs can

easily reference. Hell, they could

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN JERK?

The Center for Sex and Culture, or CSC, will once again celebrate Masturbation Month (known more

commonly, perhaps, as “May”) with its annual Masturbate-a-thon. And while Masturbation Month is

still far away, ambitious wankers may want to get practicing- the record to beat is nine hours and fifty-

eight minutes for guys and seven hours and six minutes for girls. Not an endurance athlete? Not to

worry, there are prizes awarded for number of orgasms and longest squirt.

even put it online. But the point is

that they could have saved

hundreds of sheets of paper by not

following the same shotgun

approach to Leadership that they

have over every year in student

memory.

But I have to say, there was

one very interesting part of club

training, when each person was

given a sheet showing

advertisement ideas. What followed

was a long list of often zany, often

ridiculous, and often brill iant

advertising ideas. I was amazed that

leadership had a sheet which

suggested they do advertisements

other than monotone

announcements (though props to

Sam Hausman for spicing up the

announcements) and confusing

posters. Leadership has in its hands

the greatest tool for advertisement,

a holy grail if you will, and they pass

over it, doing the same stuff, not

progressing past the achievement

of a class one third the size, god

knows how man years ago at the

start of leadership.

Real, true Leadership is

about inspiration. And I’ll be honest;

our school’s leadership has not

inspired me in the least bit, not for a

moment. When I think of our

schools environmental “movement”

which got so much press attention

last year, I don’t think of any real

change, I think of a bunch of kids

looking cool and spouting buzz

words. When I think of our

advertising, I think only of the chunk

of paper I stepped on while going to

third period. Nice try leadership,

better luck next generation. 0

Mark R. Brown

folders which were packed with

random information, including a few

sheets with legitimate information,

diluted over seemingly dozens of

bullet points. All this amidst “training”

4

MA's Top Real Estate: The Green-Citizen Kane Our green can be a difficult place to navigate. With the help of the Bear Flag Republic’s

very own real estate experts, however, all areas of this wondrous place can be yours to

explore! Follow these guidelines for a self-guided tour around the green.

Sector 1: D-Wing side, against the

lockers

This sheltered region provides excellent

cover from the pouring rain, blazing sun,

and other manifestations of

atmospheric wrath. Freshmen crowd

the section of hallway closest to the E-

wing bathrooms, while clusters of

juniors converge under this weather-

proof haven in the area near Pride Hall’s

entrance. The comfortable concrete

allows students to sit, stand, or sleep

as they see fit- but beware of overly

affectionate couples that frequent this

shaded territory.

Sector 2: Benches close to

the library (and surrounding

vegetation)

The perfect place to sit in a

tightly-knit circle and enjoy

lunch ONLY with those you

feel are worthy of your

presence. The limited number

of trees makes their

accompanying shade an ideal

boundary- fill up the shaded

area with friends and make

sure no one new joins your

circle for meals. Males are

discouraged from visiting this

area (although exceptions are

made when it comes to

benches), as it is a

predominantly female

presence in the lunch circles

on the grass.

Sector 3: The grass/benches

adjacent to the B-wing and

closest to the library

This peculiar province is perfect for

those who desire a social lunch

hour. Conveniently close to the

junior-ridden benches outside of B-

21, this corner of the grass

provides enterprising young

sophomores the chance to make

a mad, giggly dash towards the

nearest upperclassman and throw

themselves into a wildly feminine

series of hugs. No dignity? No

problem! Sector 3 is all about fun

activities like this, no matter how

degrading.

Sector 4: Outside of

B-21

U p p e r c l a s s m e n

frequent this region of

the green, but that’s no

reason to be afraid.

Well, as long as you’ve

got an excellent

reason to be there.

Visitors rarely enter

this area, but if you

know someone who’s

already there, then go

ahead…

Sector 5: The outside of

the C-Wing Pride Hall

entrance

Want an experience with

upperclassmen, but unable

to muster the fortitude to

enter Sector 4? Sector 5 is a

favorite for travelers who like

a good conversation (and

can’t help but feel they need

a VIP pass for Sector 4)

No Man’s Land: Grass area

at the center of all sectors

This zone is largely empty

and serves as a connector

between all of the sectors.

Travel here is perilous,

however; somehow,

everyone seems to be staring at any person who ventures into

No Man’s Land. The fainthearted should bring a friend- the nagging

feeling of being watched simultaneously by every luncher out

there can be disconcerting. 5

The road to this year ’s

homecoming started with a dream, a

dream of a dance at the finest

institution which our school had ever

held a dance at, a dream of a magical

night filled with sober revelries and

dancing, a dream of a truly special

time to be savored for our lives. This

dream was promptly broken with the

bankruptcy of the Fox Theater. In the

mad scramble to find a new venue,

Leadership turned towards the Hiller

Aviation Museum to hold the dance.

All I can say is: bad call.

But let’s move to the basics

of the dance. When approaching the

entrance, there were adequate

decorations around. The dance also

had the nice effect of separating the

entrance and dance floor with a solid

curtain, which allowed the

imagination to explore the

possibilities of what the dance

actually looked like. When I finally

walked past the curtain I was severely

disappointed. Dimmed lights, small

dance floor, decent DJ, what’s new?

There were no real decorations to be

easily viewed, and for some reason

the temperature was jacked up

beyond belief. This is where the main

flaws of the dance come in- a high

temperature dance, limited dance

space, and cramped dancing, all of

which led to an oven of hell. Every

person I knew had to take break after

break, heading for either the fresh air

of the fenced-in patio or the cool

drinks of the excellently run drink

stand.

To be perfectly honest, the

dance was a dance, with the

small difference being the inferno

of a dance floor. People

segregated during dancing; there

was your normal array of freaking

(despite the so called “contracts”

we signed). People left early,

many leaving as soon as they

were able, and other than the

novelty of being able to check out

a few cool planes, there was

nothing special or magical about

the evening. It was remarkably

average.

Grade: C-

Homecoming-Private Joker

Meet the Staff of the

Bear FlagBear FlagBear FlagBear FlagBear Flag

Republic Republic Republic Republic Republic

6

Every morning when I bike to school, I

cross Willow where it intersects Coleman. I

see two kids- one on my side of the street and

the other facing me. When the light turns green

and we cross, one of the kids crosses with

me and the other walks towards us. They

know each other.

They stop to high five, but they have to

get to school. I don’t usually talk to either kid in

the morning; its cold, I’m in a hurry, and I don’t

know them, but I know the kid on the other

side of the street goes to Willow Oaks and the

kid on my side of the street goes to M-A. I guess

it’s just weird. They move in opposite

directions, but they probably don’t live more

than a mile apart. This kid on my side of the

street lives so close to Willow that he walks

through their parking lot on his way to M-A.

Every day, when I watch those kids, I

think, “At least one of them has a chance.” I’m

not overly familiar with Willow, but I don’t need

to be to know it’s not a great school. I’m not

failing anything, but I don’t need to be to know

that M-A has built itself to help those who are.

And why not, we can afford it. Menlo Atherton

High School is one of the best funded public

schools in the country. Property values in

Menlo Park aren’t so high just for kicks, they

plummet when you go outside the school

district limit. It’s worth something to go to M-A.

Your parents are probably paying thousands

more a year for you to go to school here. I

know mine are. And yet, according to Google

maps, my rout between the two schools is 1.1

miles and should take four minutes by car.

It isn’t about being on the wrong side

of town; a lot of East Palo Alto goes to M-A. Its

about being on the wrong side of the wrong

side of town. It’s about getting an apartment

on the wrong block when your kids are still in

daycare, and not being able to afford to move

when they grow up, or not even knowing that

you should.

What are the chances of someone

doing well there versus here? I don’t have a

statistic to show you, I don’t know exactly, but

ask around. What kind of chance does the kid

walking towards me have? I don’t know, but

we are giving you a lot of chances. Take them.

Like I said, at least one of them has a chance,

it would be a shame if nobody took it. 0

Challenge-Georges DantonBut 9/11/09 came and went

as if it were any other day. Not only

was it not even mentioned over the

announcements, but not a single

one of my teachers came even

remotely close to the subject.

Although I’ll concede that it

is an event from the past, M-A’s

overall lack of acknowledgement

begs the question of priorities in

education. While standard

education, such as math and

grammar, is undeniably important,

it is equally important if not vital to

also be aware of and understand

current news and events which

directly apply to real life. It is not

solely the tragedy that makes it

worthy of acknowledgment, but also

the sheer relevancy that 9/11 has

to many of the US’s current

situations.

I went through the whole day

as if in a daze, incapable of

understanding why sentence

diagramming and Renaissance

history were more pressing issues

than terrorism and war in the Middle

East.

9/11 (cont)Several times in the past,

similar situations have been

presented. Last year, for example,

while all other schools in the

country were holding school-wide

assemblies, I was forced to cut

class to go watch President

Obama’s inauguration. Naturally it

was ridiculous for me to express

any desire to see one of the most

significant events in recent history

–not when there were essays to

write and posters to be made. And

again while other schools in the

area all gathered in their gyms to

witness Obama’s address to the

students of America, I again found

myself unenlightened, excluded,

and facing a massive amount of

Spanish worksheets.

Just as we cannot allow

ourselves to overlook 9/11, we

cannot continue to refuse

participation in monumental

events. There is education beyond

school –matters of greater

precedence than grammar– and it

would be irresponsible for us to

remain in the dark. 0

The Dangers of Driving

Better rethink that road trip, Spot. In

Alaska, it is illegal to tether a dog to the roof

of a car. Damn.

Apparently this was a problem in Eureka,

California… It’s illegal to use the road as a

bed. And I wouldn’t go to Chico, they’ve

outlawed growing rutabagas in roadways.

If driving on sidewalks is your thing, Oregon

is the perfect place for you. But watch out,

for it is illegal to not yield to pedestrians

while cruising the sidewalk.

Attention Meat Lovers: Scavenging road kill

is quite legal in West Virginia. I’m moving.7

Pickup Line Corner

We challenge you to check these off as you use them.

o I’d like to get my basilisk into your chamber

of secrets.

o Do you have any raisins? No? How about a

date?

o You can fall off a building, you can fall out a

tree, but baby, the best way to fall is in love with

me.

o I hope your day is as radiant as your smile.

o Wow! Are you really as beautiful as you

seem or do you remind me of myself?

o Hi, the voices in my head told me to come

over and talk to you.

o I bet you $20 you’re gonna turn me down.

Cult Corner: Spotlight Dr. Fredrick LenzDr. Fredrick Lenz, better known as Rama, made

his money as a motivational speaker at about $5000 a

pop. He preached the idea that, among others, “The

more money you make, the better you meditate.”

Rama had his followers stare at him for hours at a

time until they started to see him glow, and then told them

they were psychic. They thanked him and signed up for

his next cult-hike into the desert. (“I never knew

brainwashing could be so much fun...” -Rama follower

after desert trip. Seriously.)

He did raise an interesting discourse on how

women were being turned into sexual slaves in one of his

bestselling books- “A woman is cajoled into believing

that her opinions are valued, her integrity is admired and

that she is special beyond all others, when in fact she is

actually viewed as a useful commodity for sexual

pleasure.” What Rama forgot to mention is that he told

women that he only slept with people who showed a

special kind of karma. Any woman he wanted to sleep

with showed a special karma, and if that wasn’t enough,

apparently having sex with him raised a woman to a higher

level of spirituality. Go figure.

Health Bulletin Corner: Rats.

We know MA has rats.

We’ve seen them.

Drama kids claim they’ve seen them.

They might be mice, but we think they're rats.

We don’t know where they are during the day

so we decided to do some research on other

edifices with rats.

We found out they are everywhere: every

house, every building, every boat.

This is not an article! It is a public service

announcement: Beware of the rats. They are

EVERYWHERE.

Even. At. Your. School.

Youtube Corner - “Jackchop”

Arguably, “Jackchop” is the worst

infomercial of all time, though it should be noted

that the video was purposely humorous. As the

infomercial man went off in wild yet enthusiastic

rants that reminded me of a foul mouthed Billy

Mays with some perverted strange accent from

hell, I learned all about the Jackchop product, and

how its innovative way of cutting and setting up

pumpkins would save lots of time. But in truth, I

just learned how the man could mutilate himself

in more dumb ways than Anakin Skywalker when

he fell in that lava pit. “Jackchop” isn’t comedy,

its just pure shock, as the man tears out eyes,

cuts his tongue, gouges his chest, and still

manages to chop off his thumb, all in a two

minuet infomercial delivered with enough fake

blood to fill a bathtub. I wish I could recommend

this video, but I’ll be honest, unless you want to

see a man mutilate himself in four to many ways

and then offer you a glow stick, it’s not worth the

watch. Stay away from Jackchop.

8