East High School1600 City Park EsplanadeDenver, CO 80206

april2013 nihilsacrumest?

Spotl ghtvolumeXCIX

Just Beneath the Surface: Students struggle to

navigate the rise in hard drug use at East. pg. 8

[news]page 2 april 19, 2013

They Said What?by chrisharder

A young student feebly walks into her nurse’s office, her muscles weak and

her body fatigued. She’s been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscu-lar disease characterized by fluctuating exhaustion levels, and for months she’s been receiving discounted medication through her personal physician and her Medicaid program. Yet, her illness per-sists.

Now her Medicaid program has lapsed and she can’t afford the full-priced care that she needs. Luckily, her School-Based Health Center--a free of-fering in many Denver Public Schools--steps in to provide free medication until her Medicaid is reinstated.

This young woman highlights the common holes in the medical system. Due to these holes, students like her are depending more heavily on Denver Health’s School-Based Health Centers for free medication and health care.

Thia Gonzales is the physician running the health center at Manual High School, and every day, she waits. Through winding, bleached white hall-ways, in her office that’s tucked away in the back of the school, she waits for students to file through and seek out the free medical services of her clinic: med-ication for chronic diseases, bandaging of minor abrasions, and routine check-ups.

And some do: Gonzales sees about ten East High and Manual students ev-ery day--but there are many others that she does not. Occasionally, Gonzales re-ceives patients who haven’t had medical care in more than five years, and even more rarely, students who have never had any sort of medical care in their entire life. She works every day to break down the barriers that prevent students from seeking medical help. Especially for uninsured and impoverished fami-lies, Gonzales works to provide health-care as cheap and convenient as pos-sible.

School-Based Health Centers were founded through Denver Health about 25 years ago, offering free health care to

students both with and without health insurance or another doctor. The clinic at Manual opened when the school re-opened in 2006 and offers a wide spec-trum of services including physicals, general check-ups, immunizations, pre-scriptions, birth control information, and mental health counseling.

The program was created with the intent to help everybody, says East nurse Janika Mahon, “because some families are in situations where they’re changing jobs, being laid off, and they don’t have insurance or their insurance only covers emergencies...students can also come in because it’s more convenient than their regular doctor.” In 2010-2011, 8,621 students visited these centers around Denver.

Thia Gonzales pioneers the clinic at Manual largely on her own, collab-oratively working with East’s nursing department. “Let’s say a student has asthma,” explains

Gonzales, “and they don’t have insur-ance and haven’t been to the doctor yet. Ms. Mahon would refer them here and I could get them squared away.”

Students will turn to East’s nursing program and Ms. Gonzales because, she says, the wildly confusing health care system in the U.S. often prevents fami-lies from seeking the care that they need. “I feel it’s got to do with poverty and parents who come from other countries and were poor in those other countries. Priorities seem to rely on food, clothing, and shelter more than health care,” she says.

In 2009, about 19% of Coloradans were uninsured, a statistic Gonzales be-lieves could easily be lowered: “If it were free and easily accessible, health care could be a priority, but as long as there are barriers... it can’t be.”

Her suggestion is universal health-care, which would be “huge as a nation,” she says. For the moment, Denver is Gonzales’ universe, and her free clinic at Manual is a small step towards that making that universal health care a real-ity for East and Manual students.

“The good outnumber you, and we always will.”

Writer Patton Oswalt, in a resilient response to the April 15 bombing of the Boston Marathon, which left three killed and hundreds injured.

“Let this be her epitaph: she made Britain great again.”

“When people say pregnancy is fun and they love it, I would disagree.”

“Don’t worry about me; I’ll be fine. Go win the game.”

Kim Kardashian, pregnant with Kanye West’s baby, who they plan on naming North, making his name North West.

Kevin Ware inspiring his Louisville basket-ball teammates after horrifically breaking his tibia in their dramatic Elite 8 game vs. Duke. Louisville then won the game 85-63.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, on former U.K. Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who passed away April 8 of a stroke.

She works every day to break down the barriers that prevent students from seek-

ing medical help.

Manual Health Clinic Filling Health Care Gaps for Uninsured

by joieakerson

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a

EDITORS-IN-CHIEFAndrew Wise & Joie Akerson

MEDIA DIRECTORSGabe O’Connell &Alessa Barton

SENIOR EDITORKeaghan Dunn-Rhodes

BUSINESS MANAGERChris Harder & Andrew Palmquist

NEWS EDITORAbbey Lew

FEATURES EDITORGrace McCabe

STAFF WRITERSAubin Fefley, Harry Forbes, Gracie Freels, Eli Goldin, Chad Hanna, Marin Johnson, Flanders Lorton, Owen Mathews, Ezra Pratt, Sean Price, Brody Rastall, Noah Reynolds, Dylan Salzman, Abigail Sawyer, Spencer Soicher, Carson Stoltz, Natalie Torres

CENTER EDITORAdelaide Sandvold

OPINIONS EDITORAli Oksner

SPORTS EDITORDaniel Hartman-Strawn

REAR END EDITORJoe Harrison

In-Depth EditorDenise Meeker

PHOTO EDITORWillow Turano

SPONSORMr. Mark Ajluni

PRINCIPALMr. Andy Mendelsberg

eastspotlight.com

[news]april 19, 2013 page 3

As sunlight floods his office in the DPS Headquarters, former princi-

pal John Youngquist smiles as he says, “East is everywhere.” He glows as he re-calls recent encounters with past students and teachers at malls, football games, and parking lots, adding, “It’s fun to still be a part of that.”

Though it lacks the everyday breakneck pace of East High School, Youngquist’s new job as Director of Prin-cipal Talent Management still “holds suc-cesses, challenges, and new ideas.” His team, which includes three other former principals, is currently working on find-ing and preparing individuals to become principals. He describes this work as “creating particular kinds of programs that will have a future impact on what’s happening in schools.”

He elaborates, “We started a new program last year and it’s a full time resi-dency to get people geared up for their principalship. It’s exciting to watch people over the course of a year chal-lenge them-selves to become better people and better lead-ers, and then achieve the jobs that they reach for.”

Youngquist puts a great emphasis on the importance of listening for past, pres-ent and future principals. This emphasis serves as a significant factor in determin-ing who is the right fit to become a DPS principal. “We want to make sure we’re finding the right kind of people: listeners, thinkers, those who work well with other people, and those who can improve those skills over time.”

Student input is also highly consid-ered in the selection process, as one of the district’s strongest values is “students first.” “We want to make sure we don’t lose touch with the schools or with stu-dents too much,” Youngquist says, and they try to keep the connection strong. For instance, East senior Franny Sally works as an intern in the DPS offices a few days a week. “[Her internship] is great because we are reminded on a daily basis just what our work is about,” Youngquist proudly states.

Youngquist is enjoying his new job and hopes to support even more students than he did as principal, but admits, “I really miss what’s happening at East.”

Despite this, he has been putting in a great effort to keep up with Angel events. He says that he and Principal Andy Men-delsberg talk all the time. Youngquist is impressed by his successor. “It seems like he’s doing a great job of continuing what really works at East and then connect-ing with new ideas. When a new person comes in, it takes a little bit of its own direction, as is supposed to happen with any organization. East is no different.

His new outside perspective allows him to enjoy East events in a different way. “It’s just so much fun for me to see East continue to get better and better. It certainly wasn’t about me being at East that made it so strong; it was all of us be-ing there together. What I love is seeing things continue to evolve. I think there’s a real magic going on.”

In reference to the recent tragedies East High has endured, he says, “Dur-ing those weeks, I was really touched by

the fact that I knew people were thinking, ‘What are the best things we can do for each other?’ I always tend to think about how East

students and staff come together and are so strong when things are good and can be even stronger when things are chal-lenging.”

Youngquist finds himself thinking about East a lot and is filled with striking memories of the student body. He says that one of his most vivid memories was the day the school protested against the Westboro Baptist Church. “As the prin-cipal, I wondered, in the few days lead-ing up to it, ‘What are the students go-ing to do?’ And it was a little frustrating because all that you could do was trust that the students would figure it out on their own.

“I remember being so proud of our school because hundreds of students de-cided together that our response would not be one to give them more attention, but one that sends a message about who we are and how we’re proud of who we are and then just walk away.”

He expresses the value of that day in his mind by saying, “That’s just as good as it gets. I miss those kinds of things.” He continues with a story that took place at the recent state championship basketball game: “I know the game was frustrating;

you came all this way, but to watch it all the way through and see everything un-fold was incredible.

“The student section stayed positive and supportive and ended up with the cheer, ‘We still love you!’” Youngquist re-calls with a beaming grin. “That was awe-some! I was listening to that thinking, ‘This is what the East Angels are about!’ It’s just about being there for each other more than anything else and that was just wonderful to see.”

Experiences like these remind Youngquist of what he loves most. “I know I’ll be a principal again someday,” he says without a shadow of a doubt. “I love being a principal!” He also continues to keep East as a part of his life. He says

he looks forward to celebrating gradua-tion this year with the seniors and doing so for many years to come.

Although more disconnected from the school than before, Mr. Youngquist is extremely grateful for East’s ubiquity throughout Colorado. Each encounter, smile, hug, and handshake allows his brain to be flooded with the fondest rec-ollections of his time as an Angel.

John Youngquist swivels around in his chair, admires his view of the city overlapping the mountains, and says proudly with a smile, “East really is ev-erywhere. If you wanted to, you couldn’t get away from it, but there’s no reason you’d ever want to.”

Catching Up with the Silver Fox

“It certainly wasn’t about me being at East that made it so strong, it was all of us being

there together.”

The Spotlight checks in with former East High principal John Youngquistby adelaidesandvold

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[news]page 4 april 19, 2013

Two figures in East hoodies silently approach each other in the third

floor hallway between first and second period.

“Hey, I heard you’re selling staff override codes.”

“Yeah.” Money swiftly exchanges hands,

some numbers and letters are scribbled on a slip of paper, and yet another stu-dent walks away with access to blocked sites on Denver Public Schools’ suppos-edly secure server.

Many East students look for ways to make money. East junior Lenny McCor-mick* found his own way: He decided to sell staff override codes for five dollars a pop.

It was an effective op-eration, too.

M c C o r -mick made over 250 dol-lars dealing secret access numbers. He still has the money that he made--“the money’s not going to be confiscated.”

McCormick received a staff override code from a teacher during his freshman year. When asked if he was caught for distributing it, he replied with a sheepish grin, “Yeah, two years later.”

McCormick didn’t mince words on district efforts to crack down on these codes, saying “they’re useless.” He doesn’t believe that the current blocking system is effective. He explains how “one teach-er’s override will get out, and it’ll spread

by dylansalzmanaround the school. And that’ll just con-tinue.” He says there are ways to circum-vent the blocking system by changing the security certificate on a website like Face-book, or opening a proxy internet page.

The district takes this issue very se-riously. They eventually caught up with McCormick. “It was sort of linked... they talked to my friends, and it all got traced back to me.”

McCormick seemed remarkably un-perturbed by being caught for this. He said, “The only punishment is that you can’t use a school computer using your account. And what I find really weird about that is that you can still have access to the computers, and you can still use

the guest ac-count. It’s not even a punish-ment.” Every friend of Mc-Cormick’s that was caught by

the district also had their account termi-nated.

The punishment may not seem so severe for students, but for teachers it’s a much bigger deal. DPS describes how “Inappropriate use (by teachers) may result in a cancellation of this privilege, and further may include corrective ac-tion, up to and including dismissal from employment.” To date, no teachers have been fired from East for giving out these codes.

School Technology Specialist Doug Bushnell says that the only security mea-

sures that DPS is taking right now is monitoring use of the codes. “If there’s excess use, the teachers get an email, and the pass-word gets changed.” How-ever, McCormick com-ments, “during the two years that I had a code, it got changed multiple times, and then changed back.”

DPS states that “these sites host materials and information not appro-priate for minors.” Thus, a breach in internet secu-rity is deemed a breach of school security. Bushnell discloses, “[In the past few years] the problem has gotten worse than ever.”

Bushnell explains that it’s not the school that has the authority to manage overrides; it’s a privilege that resides ex-clusively with DPS. He elaborates that the district’s policies are insecure, and that the only way to prevent students from gaining access to Facebook and YouTube is by the teachers not giving out their override codes. “Even then,” he says, agreeing with McCormick, “the system can get hacked.”

There are extreme measures that can be taken to ensure that students aren’t able to get onto distracting sites. Bushnell says, “we could totally block some web-sites, but that could inhibit learning. It’s

a double-edged sword. Teachers can use sites like Youtube for educational pur-poses, but they can also be misused [by students].”

Despite district efforts, students have still found ways to circumvent security, and that’s unlikely to change. As McCor-mick comments, even having staff over-ride codes will produce “a neverending circle” of distribution, as students pass the codes from one to another. But as the district begins to crack down on this is-sue, East kids might have to think twice about using the codes for personal enter-tainment.

*Name has been changed.

“McCormick* made over 250 dollars dealing secret

access numbers.”

East students have gained access to the district’s secured server by obtaining teacher override codes.

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Louise Uribe and Ross Flores recycle, so should you.

Last year Sean McCarthy, an East teacher in the Special Education

Center Program, was in the middle of a lesson on recycling and realized that he couldn’t explain without examples at school. So this year he helped organize a program with Denver Recycles that would involve East’s Special Education department. Each Tuesday his students, who proudly call themselves the “Green Team,” go around and collect the ten re-cycling carts and sixteen bins left outside classrooms. One student involved in re-cycling at East exclaims, “I like helping the school out!” Although the school re-cycles, it is up to the staff and students to be educated on what can and cannot be recycled. East Facility and Materials Coordinator, Lafayette Rockette, encour-ages the school, “Keep up the good work. [Recycling] takes a conscious effort from everybody--it’s your planet.”

Happy Earth Day! This Earth Day, be aware of what you can and

cannot recycle!Did you know that if a non-recyclable item is found in a recycling bin, it can contaminate the whole batch? Although East recycles,

students could do a better job sorting their trash and recyclables. Here are some of the basic Do’s and

Don’ts of Recycling:

Don’ts-Tissues and napkins-Food, liquids, and gum-Plastic grocery bags-Potato chip bags-Styrofoam-Plastic caps/lids and sand-wich bags-Plastic utensils-Food wrappers

by abbeylew

Security BreachDPS Cracks Down on Student Access to Blocked Websites

[spotlight on east musicians]april 19, 2013 page 5

Walking through the front doors of East

High School, students are often greeted by heavenly music from above. The choir room, bursting with voices, deviates from the quiet of the science-prominent fourth floor. With students laughing and singing and creat-ing, this is where one is likely to find Trey Pernell, doing what he loves.

Pernell, generally a quiet, reserved person, transforms on stage. “The music is a reflection of a part of me that you don’t get to socially express. It’s like the person I get to be onstage is different than the person I get to be at any other time. If I were to be that person onstage everywhere else in life, I don’t think people would like me very much,” he laughs.

As he approaches graduation, Per-nell waxes nostalgic about his experi-ence in the East music department. He went straight into being Yale-bound: with his work recently played on Na-tional Public Radio, Pernell has been recently recognized in a big way.

Trey has been involved in Honors Choir and the Angelaires for the past two years. He speaks about his choir experience with such positivity and pride. “People will often tell you Choir is a home away from home and I didn’t expect Choir to be as awesome as it was. It’s always better than you expect it to be and I bet when you look back, it’ll be better than you found it to be when you were there.”

However, it wasn’t always accep-tance for Trey. He was rejected from every music camp to which he applied last year.

“When you don’t get in anywhere, it kind of takes a toll on your self esteem. This year has been like the exact oppo-site.” Despite this influx of attention, he tries to maintain a distinct humility.

“As far as the recognition goes, I haven’t seen any noticeable change. I mean, people know who I am but it’s not like I feel myself being known as a musi-cian. I’m still Trey,” he shrugs.

“My grandma likes to brag, though. ‘I have a grandson who’s going to Yale.’

Trey Pernell

That’s all she talks about. I was at a hat shop, buying a hat with my grandma. She was like, ‘Would this be a good size for him? I’m buying it for his gradu-ation. He’s going to Yale.’” He smiles, almost embarrassed. “You didn’t need to tell him that.”

Along with his acceptance to Yale for musical studies, Pernell won a na-tional contest with NPR. He composed and conducted music for the East Hon-

ors Choir to sing Walt Whitman’s “Oh Captain, My Captain.”

“Actually, NPR is one of

the things I applied to junior year and didn’t get into… I applied this year and they took a long time to get back to me. [When I was] in Biology, they just gave me a call like, ‘Hey, we’re thinking about singing the piece you wrote for choir on the show.’ Then they called me back like a week later to tell me I got the scholar-ship too.”

Pernell earned $10,000 to spend on anything musical. He chose a keyboard, a new suit, musical notation software, and a musical composition camp in Paris this July. The intensity of the camp will leave little room for sightseeing but the location satisfies one of his many other interests: French.

Pernell is an anomaly in that he has found his passion at a young age, as well as acquired the tools to progress. He was accepted to the university of his dreams and he was featured on an NPR show called “From the Top,” which features young classical musicians. However, his true goal was something much simpler than all of his recent accolades.

“My goal in high school was just to be happy,” he says, “I’ve definitely achieved that. To be happy and to suc-ceed were the same. I hope I can take that attitude into college and then later in life because a lot of time people’s suc-cess doesn’t equate to happiness. There’s a lot of people with a lot of money and a little bit of happiness and I don’t want to end up like that.”

Sophomore Julian Carey’s friendly face is frozen in a slight smile, his dex-

terous fingers blurred as they work the strings of his upright bass. The polished wood gleams and Carey’s glasses sparkle, showing a person in his element. This single black and white picture can’t ex-press all of Carey’s passion, enthusiasm, and hard work, but it offers a pretty good snapshot of the passionate and joyful musician that Carey is.

Carey submitted this picture, along with a couple sentences about why he’s so passionate about music, to the Share Your Passion Contest, sponsored by Mu-sic and Arts, the largest band and or-chestra instrument retailer in the coun-try. However, when voting closed on April 15th, Carey missed the top eight by twelve votes, missing the chance to make it to the judging and pos-sibly win $10,000 for the East band program. However, this is not the end for Carey, whose musical career started long before and will last long after one contest.

Carey’s intense passion for mu-sic started when he was very young, prompted by his musical family. “It really runs in the family,” he says, “And they’ve always been so supportive of my music.” Carey’s family performed at the MLK Day Assembly at East, with three genera-tions onstage.

It didn’t take long for Carey to get into the “family business.” He says, “I’ve been singing as long as I’ve been talking,” and he’s been playing various instruments since he was 7 (he now plays piano and bass). However, it took until high school for Carey to fully develop his passions for music and performing. “East was really a kick starter for me,” he says, “with the

bass and many other instruments, and in becoming serious about music. For that I have Mr. Oxman to thank.”

Now, Carey says he “can’t even imag-ine” where he’d be without music. In his entry to the Share Your Passion contest, he said, “Music has the unique meta-physical ability to reach within the soul to places that we never previously knew existed. It is my medicine, and it is truly eternal.”

Being in mixed choir as well as or-chestra, Carey also loves the connection with the audience he gets when he per-forms. Describing his experience at the recent Pop Show, where he played piano and sang a duet with senior Trey Per-nell, he says, “When you step out and the

audience is screaming for you, it’s amaz-ing. It’s this i n t e r a c t i v e force between you and the audience.”

Carey credits Oxman, choir teacher Mr. Taylor, and all of his fellow musicians at East “for all the inspiration, the drive to get really serious about music, the friendship, and the good experiences.”

Even though Carey suffered a set-back by not making the top eight in the Share Your Passion Contest, through his entry in the contest and his campaign to get votes, he connected with the East community in an amazing way. He says, “Although I am a little hurt about not winning this for East and Mr. Oxman (who I was really trying to give back to by doing this), I am elated with how supportive and friendly East Angels are. Even those who don’t know me. I’ve nev-er been more proud of my school.” With Carey’s passion and dedication, it’s no doubt that East will have many reasons to be proud of him in the future.

Voice of an Angel

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From left to right: Pernell performing at the Pop Show, Cary and Pernell at the Pop Show following their duet, Cary playing his upright bass in the picture he submitted for the Share Your Passion Contest.

Small Step Back, Giant

by alioksner

by gracemccabe

“Although I am a little hurt...I’ve never been more

proud of my school.”

Step Forward: Julian Carey shares his passion for music

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serenades the masses

“As far as...recogntition goes, I haven’t seen any noticable

change...I’m still Trey.”

[features]page 6 april 19, 2013

Anybody who knows sophomore Spencer Soicher knows of his love

for McDonald’s, Adam Sandler movies, and driving his blue Izuzu Rodeo. But most of all, they know of his undying love of sports.

“I’ve always loved sports. I’m just not very good at them,” he muses. “I come from the Jewish Community Cen-ter where I’m one of the best basketball players, to [East] where I see Dom Col-lier and Ronnie and Tyre go up to dunk a ball, and I’m just like...wow. I’m not a very good athlete.”

Even though he couldn’t hoop, Soicher still wished to be a part of the wide world of sports that East possesses. He searched tirelessly for an opportunity to be involved with sports that at which

by harryforbes

“I had no experience...none of these guys did. We kind of just

did it.”

wasn’t able to excel. One day in October, Soicher got

his wish. “I went up to a journalism conference in Colorado Springs. One of the programs offered was ‘Introduc-ing Broadcasting in High Schools,’” he recalls. “It was the last program of the day, I was super tired, and I was one of the only people in this empty room. But it was pretty cool, the idea, how these guys marketed their games: people didn’t have to go to the games to actually see them. I’ve gone to a lot of sporting events that I would’ve rather watched at home.”

So Soicher got thinking. Enlisting the help of senior Keagan Dunn-Rhodes and newspaper spoonsor Mark Ajluni, they wrote a grant proposal to the Angel

Foundation and waited.“That was when we realized the

vision of EA Live. We had to be specific about how we were going to use the money,” remembers senior Keaghan Dunn-Rhodes. “That’s when we decided what we wanted [the site] to look like and how we wanted it to continue in the future.”

The two had an idea to create a website that would broadcast games to people. The site would be free for all to watch any East game they desired, so that any member of the East community, wherever they might be, could appreci-ate the athletic ability of the Angels.

Spencer recruited a crew of like-minded lovers of sports to be camera-men, producers, and commentators. Their first game was the second week of January: Thunderidge at East. And Soi-cher would be the first commentator.

The gift of gab runs in the Soicher bloodline. “My uncle and my dad were [broadcasters]. It’s always been a part of my life, everywhere I go. They did it my entire childhood,” he quips. “My dad always told me he was the voice of Southfield High School; I thought that was cool. I always wanted to do something like that.”

So on a cold night in January, Spen-cer got his wish. “It all happened at once. We got our equipment January 2nd, and had our first game January 8th,” Soicher recalls. “I had no experience broadcast-ing; none of these guys did. We kind of just did it. I thought we were gonna have

few viewers and a lot of problems, but our first broadcast was clean and crisp. It made me feel really good. It might have been our best one,” he says, laughing.

“It’s awesome. We’re revolutionizing the big world of sports at East,” brags sophomore commentator Ray Pryor.

“Part of the charm of this is that kids are doing it. It’s not being done by adults,” Soicher says. “You watch the professionals, and it’s much better. Of course it is; they’re more experienced. But it’s kind of cool to see kids commen-tating.”

The East community agrees with Spencer, evidence by viewership of the East vs. South basketball game in the hundreds. And when the crew were barred from broadcasting the playoffs, everyone involved got their fair share of complaints.

After the broadcasts caught on and started gaining more viewers, they were also flooded with requests to join the

crew. “I’m really ex-cited that a lot of kids are interested,” Soicher buzzes. “It’s fun to see other kids adopt your

idea and make it a reality.” As for the future of the program, the

crew has big things planned. In addition to the coverage of more sports teams, hopefully everything from baseball to field hockey, “We’ve talked about doing video announcements next year,” teases an executive producer, sophomore Sean Price. “It sounds pretty sweet.”

Daud Mohammed Rafiqie stands in a ten by five foot cart, folding hot

rice into a to-go box and topping it with freshly cooked shrimp. He has been doing this almost daily for four months with his son, Pashton, serving East stu-dents everything from authentic Middle Eastern food to burgers and fries from their portable food cart on the corner of York and Colfax.

Walking past this meager looking stand, most students don’t think much, just that its a couple of guys trying to make a few bucks. What the students don’t know is that Daud Mohammed is a very successful entrepreneur and once was a proud owner of eight restaurants in New York and other places on the East Coast.

“He has eight restaurants,” says Pashton of his Father. “He’s been doing it for 36 years.” Daud Mohammed Rafiqie began his culinary career in the Afghani Army, where he helped make dinner for

the troops. In 1988, Rafiqie immigrated to America with a lot of apprehension. “New York is so expensive,” he says, “And there’s a lot of competition and a lot of busy.” However, Rafiqie adapted to the busy life well, and began work-ing small jobs for big restaurants. “I was working for McDonald’s, after that I was working for the Pizza Hut,” he recalls. These odd jobs helped him gain the ex-perience he needed to open up his first restaurant; a Kennedy Fried Chicken.

After just a few years of owning a successful business, Rafiqie began to realize his dream as a restaurant entre-preneur, with restaurants specializing in american comfort food. His philosophy for a successful restaurant: “You taste it. You don’t like it? Throw it in the garbage, and I give your money back.” Rafiqie was able to afford a living with a wife, and eight kids. “There’s seven brothers, I’m the youngest,” says his son Pashton, “They all take care of the businesses.”

In July of 2012, Rafiqie and the rest of his family moved to Denver, with the goal of getting away from the craziness of New York. “I love Colorado, it’s quiet and I love that.” His goal now isn’t to ex-pand his businesses, but the exact oppo-site. He plans on selling his restaurants due to hefty competition. He is instead focused now on helping those in need rather than making money: “Thanks to God who gives you power, I don’t want a lot of money,” Rafiqie continues, “Every-thing that I bought was because I didn’t want it to get too expensive... I don’t want it to get too expensive for the poor people that they can’t buy it.”

With East students lining up outside the humble stand during lunchtime for

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an authentic meal, the Rafiqies happily serve their customers. “It’s been pretty fun,” says Pashton. “He likes to take care of the students and give them clean food.” Inside the cart, they aren’t afraid to offer recommendations, “Number four, lamb with chicken over rice,” rec-ommends Pashton.

It’s been a long journey for the Rafiqies, but with spring in full gear, Daud Mohammed and Pashton stand eager to serve the community.

More Than Meets the Fries

Lights, Camera, ACTION:EA Live pioneers broadcasting at East

Spencer Soicher concentrates while commentating on an East basketball game.

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New York Style Baba Wali brings Afghani street food to Colfax

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Rafiqie and his son serve food on the corner of York & Colfax daily.

[features]april 19, 2013 page 7

Between the hours of 2:00 PM and 10:30 PM in the halls of East High

School, it’s not unusual to hear the faint sound of some Motörhead playing in the background. If you follow that sound up the main stairs and around the corner to the back hallway of the fourth floor, you will find a man with a long gray ponytail and an earring on one side, pumping out his work while rock n’ roll blares. Beyond his rocker appearance, custo-dian Paul Frazier is much more than just another janitor. He is a passionate man, who loves music, cooking, creating, and life itself.

Frazier is in charge of cleaning thirteen bath-rooms, seven classrooms on the fourth floor, plus doing whatever head custodian La-fayette Rockette may need him for. Although at first glance Frazier just seems like a dude who loves jamming to his favorite music, his jamming is more than just a way to get him through work, it’s a burning love for music.

Frazier is unlike many other people. He’s always rockin’, always thinkin’, and always makin’ things. His interests include music ranging from Megadeath to Hank Williams, creating cigar box guitars, and barbeque.

“I love the arts, I just love the arts... I sculpt things, I like to make things with my hands, I just love to create.” explains Frazier as he kicks a rock over to the side of the road a few blocks behind East. “My garage is full of projects I’m build-ing,” he continues. “I love making stuff, man.”

Frazier’s passion for making things came at an early age for him. “As a child on Halloween, I had more fun making a costume than buying one.” He saw no imagination in the store bought cos-tumes and didn’t care for them at all. Frazier’s willingness to exert time and energy into a hobby of his, no matter

how miniscule it is, is one of the admirable traits that define him.

Frazier believes too many people in society are taking the easy

route. He says that the easy route is by no means a bad one, but it lacks many things. It lacks nostalgia, creativity, intel-ligence, and much more, but most of all, the easy route lacks passion.

One example Frazier sees of the deplorable “easy route” is fast food. “It’s astonishing to me that some people are so separated from the kitchen,” he ex-plains. “All my neighbors jump in their cars in the morning and come back with a breakfast, I’m just like...pshh what-

ever.”Frazier got into

cooking as a child when he would eat at restaurants and see other people cook. “I asked a lot of questions...I saw where that good stuff was coming from [food], and was like “I wanna know how to make that.”’ Because Frazier isn’t impressed by the lack of Ameri-cans’ time spent in the kitchen, he encourages preaching the values of passion. “If you can make something then you can teach some-body else how to make it. Show someone else your passion!”

Frazier under-stands that it’s not vital to find passion in cooking, music,

East Custodian rocks the halls Paul of All Trades:by chadhanna

or building, but it’s vital to find some passions and care about it. Frazier encourages that if you have a passion in something don’t be afraid to share it.As Frazier walks west on 16th Street, crossing Milwaukee, he talks about a phenomenon at East that is talked about and felt by any-one who enters the building. The phenome-non is the sense of pride that East has about itself. Anyone who has some sort of con-nection to the school feels proud to be an Angel. Frazier sees this all around the community.

He sees it in parents who will come in after work to help with an event, or people in the community who will donate a few pennies here and there. Where it comes from the most however, is the students. “It’s you cats. I’ll be in a really crappy mood, and I’ll get a ‘Hey

“If you can make something than you can teach somebody...Show someone your passion!”

Paul, what’s up?’ from one of you guys and it totally changes. Everybody does it to each other here. We are one tight fam-ily here at East, all the way from the top to the bottom.”

Frazier enjoys seeing East students develop and exercise their passions. He

says “When you have your plays and stuff you guys are so charged up, when you have your games

and stuff you’re so charged up...its beau-tiful to see.”

Frazier isn’t your average janitor and he would never want to be. His passions are a thing of beauty and the students at East keep his passion alive. Frazier describes himself as “always whooping it up big,” and cooking, creating, and grooving’ are just a few of the ways that this man dials in to his passions.

Go to eastspotlight.com for more Features stories!

Stay up to date on everything East High.Check out coverage of the East Art Walk, learn about the A+ Angels mentor pro-gram, read about the recent snow day controversy, and much, much more!

The tunes Frazier listens to while he cleans the halls of East is as eclectic and rockin’ as him. Here’s some of his favorite artists to jam along with.

Iron Maiden

Judas Priest

Megadeath

Hank Williams

“Paul Frazier is much more than just another janitor. He

is a passionate man, who loves music, cooking, creating, and

life itself.” Paul Frazier is a friendly face in the hallways, engaging with East students every day.

Paul’s Playlist

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Four East students were asked the following questions: A. Do you know anyone who has done harder drugs than marijuana? B. How often does that person do drugs? 1 (rarely) to 10 (all the time) C. How prominent do you think hard drugs are at East? 1 (rare) to 10 (very prominent)

Here are their replies:

Student 1- A. Yes. B. 8.9 C. 6. A solid 20% have done cocaine or harder drugs.Student 2- A. Oh yeah. B. 8. Once or twice a week. C. 6. I think a cocaine epidemic is breaking out at East.Student 3- A. Meth and heroin. B. 3 C. 7Student 4- A. Yes. Their skin looks different, sickly. B. I don’t know. C. I would guess a 5, but I don’t know much about it.

In the Midst of It All...

*Name has been changed

Marcus Dae* is quick to justify his marijuana use. He believes

that “part of the reason marijuana was looked down upon so much is because it was illegal, and not necessar-ily because of it’s effects. Now that it is legal here there is less of a problem, and because it is so abundant, more people have access to it. Marijuana being a gateway drug most likely will lead to more acceptance (at least by marijuana users) of harder drugs. Drugs do affect how people see you, [but] drugs don’t affect how I personally see people.”

Dae tries to center himself, try-ing to balance himself between both worlds. “I have a lot of friends that do drugs, and a lot of friends that don’t do drugs. I see people as who they pres-ent themselves to be. If I don’t like you when I am sober, I don’t like you when I’m under the influence, and if I do like you when I’m sober, I like you under the influence. At East, where drugs are a little more prominent, students are more accustomed to them, and so [they] don’t care as much.

“I know some kids who do drugs and therefore suffer academically, financially, athletically and other-wise. East is a huge drug school in my opinion, the drug community at East has an interesting way of connecting all of the users. East actually has a very accepting and friendly community so every time I smoke with an East friend, I meet a new student who I was not aware smoked.

“I also know many drug users who are varsity players and have straight A’s. A lot of the ‘popular’ kids don’t do drugs, even when their closest friends do hard drugs. If you’re cool you’re cool. It’s not really a standardized type of thing.

“[I do drugs because] drugs can of-fer an escape. Sometimes if I’m in a bad mood, I’ll smoke and I really feel bet-ter. But also, sometimes I just feel sad, and I want to cry. If I have the time, I’ll drink a little to help me let out those feelings. Drugs offer new and different perspectives for a while and, it’s nice sometimes to feel different.”

The User:

TheChangingFace ofDrug Use at EastAn East student stays firm in his habits

It’s not just weed anymore. Within the last year, there has been a clear increase in the prevalence of hard

drugs at East. For administrators, it’s a new disciplin-ary challenge. For students, it presents complicated choices and potentially devastating situations. In order to better understand how these changes are affecting our community, we decided to tell four stories: a drug user, a dealer who got caught, a kid in recovery, and two students who bet each other to stay clean.

by denisemeeker

man year with kids trying weed and starting to drink and it pretty much just escalated. [It was] basically the middle to end of junior year when kids started trying other stuff like Molly, E, coke, acid, and shrooms,”

Soon Cornell found himself sucked into this life as well. During his ju-nior year, Cornell became the central substance provider for his high school friends. “[I sold] partly for the money and partly because it was easy. It kind of started when a bunch of friends all asked me to get them Molly for a concert when I went to go get mine. I just thought that I knew

“I would take back everything if I could. No matter what

I had to do.”

so many people who were looking for different drugs and I had sources for just about all of them, so why not just buy in bulk, sell it off small, and make some money on the side while also supporting my own habits? It was just so profitable and all of my friends knew I was the guy to get stuff from so it made it easy. I was usually really careful. I never thought I’d

get caught.” But he did.No longer

an East student and having served his sen-tence, Cornell

has observed that the reason for drug use varies from person to person.

“Honestly, a lot of people just do stuff so they can feel cool and fit in or

A story of descent into the dangerous world of selling drugsThe Dealer:Sometimes, living in a place with

easy access to illicit substances draw a good kid into a situation they can’t escape, and one they will regret.

“Growing up in Colorado can be hard because of the vast abundance of very high quality drugs, and the concert scenes especially facilitate this. It’s easier for most kids to find drugs than it is to get alcohol,” says Tom Cornell*, his eyes darting to his phone every few minutes.

The course of Cornell’s life was fundementally altered when he got caught up in a dark world. “[Drug use] has honestly put me at the lowest point I’ve ever been at in my life,” he says. “It has closed a number of college doors for me,” speaking of a life he didn’t see coming.

“I’d say that it mostly started fresh-

In high schools nationwide, drugs can reach students of any social circle.

“There are always going to be certain cliques in high school: stoners, athletes, straight-A students, choir kids, that’s just the way life is. Within these cliques kids choose either to partake in drug and alcohol use or neglect it, and these types of cliques aren’t going anywhere soon so neither will drug use,” reports East student Adam Abeyta* matter-of-factly.

Abeyta recently spent some time in rehab for drug and alcohol abuse after a series of dangerous binges.

He admits that the experience changed him as a person and he doesn’t regret it.

“Before I went to rehab I judged ev-eryone without knowing them outside of the classroom or in school. I still judge people subconsciously, but it’s a work in progress. Now I try a lot harder to get to know a person before I make any bold statements, although it sounds strange, rehab helped me in the way that I view others, not only myself.” *Name has been changed

The Rehabilitated:feel better than other people, but a lot of people don’t. A lot of people do it as an escape, a way of forgetting their prob-lems or issues or whatever and feeling better for that time, a lot of people also do it just for the experience.

“Really I think most kids who aren’t doing them to feel cool are doing them for one of two reasons, or both: to totally escape from reality where they have problems and feelings and respon-sibilities and have either an out of body experience or to forget about reality for awhile.”

Despite the money he made, the thrill he felt, and the massive network of people he became connected to, Cornell feels a deep sense of regret. Given the chance, “I would take back everything if I could. No matter what I had to do.” *Name has been changed

The Bet:Contrary to the behavior of some of

their peers, two East seniors have made a commitment to keep clean. “As I have gone through high school, drugs have definitely become more acceptable. I don’t know if this is because I have gotten older and drugs are just around much more or if they just appear more acceptable because I was never around them when I was younger,” says Zach McCabe. “While many of my friends smoke, around me, without me, I have never done drugs,” McCabe shrugs.

In order to abstain from smoking weed and other illicit drugs McCabe relies on his friends to keep him straight. “The kids I hang out with really try to stay away from drugs. Lots of the kids I hang around with are big athletes and really want to be the best they can be so they stay away from them for the sake of the game and because they know that if they don’t do them they will be more successful in school. We do love to party though and many of the people we meet do drugs.”

The main incentive of his drug use—or lack thereof—lies in a bet he made with his close friend, Austin Neureiter. They agreed that two hundred dollars would be given to the one who could abstain from drugs the longest, and as their senior year comes to an end, the two hold strong. They made this bet official their junior year, but the long time friends made it clear that neither had an interest in using from an early age.

Neither boy is against those who smoke, but as McCabe says, “Drugs cost

a lot of money and don’t have many benefits. I have heard drugs make food taste much better but if you have to spend $25 to get high and buy your cheap food, wouldn’t you rather just eat a nice steak? Honestly drugs puzzle me and I have no idea why people do them.”

When McCabe and Neureiter first told their friends they don’t smoke, the reactions were similar. “Usually

when I first tell people that I don’t do drugs they are just stunned and cannot believe it. I don’t think they view me not doing drugs as bad thing, they are just surprised because drugs are around so much and so many people do them. Some people have even told me they are impressed I have gone this long without doing drugs,” says McCabe.

“At first I was a little embarrassed to tell my friends,” admits Neureiter, “but they respect me for who I am, and they actually found it pretty commendable. The thing is, the decision was my own, and its one everyone should make for themselves.”

The two make it a point not to judge those who do drugs, but both admit that drugs have been responsible for some of their lost friendships. “I personally have no problem with people who smoke but when the kids who smoke pot start doing other drugs that’s when I start to have an issue with it. Anything that kids do besides smoking pot I have a problem with and makes me question what type of person they really are. I have had lots of friends who do drugs now and I am not nearly as

good friends with them anymore. I feel like if I did do drugs my relationship with those people would be much closer. I am referring to drugs like coke, X, and just about anything else,” McCabe says.

“When taking a look at those who use drugs and those who don’t, much of it is based on who you associate with. If you consider your friend group and who you are around, you will probably notice similarities in the way you dress, talk, think, and much of the way you act. Those who hang out with people who smoke or do other drugs, are much more likely to do so themselves. This isn’t always the case, but there is a divide between those who do drugs occasion-ally or never, and those who are frequent users,” says Neureiter.

McCabe, who doesn’t believe in a hierarchy between those who do drugs and those who don’t, doesn’t “view the kids who smoke pot as cool but I don’t view them as lame either. The kids who do lots of drugs are making deci-sions that could harm their lives. If they do truly mess up their lives,

“Drugs puzzle me and I have no idea why people do them.”

well then I would view them as stupid. It doesn’t have to become a game of I’m better and you’re worse,” he believes. “I have just learned to accept that kids smoke pot. I feel like the people who do drugs are just trying to find new ways to meet people.”

Neureiter chimes in, “You don’t have to compromise yourself and your values just to ‘fit in’. You’ll find that people gravitate towards those who are genuine and true to themselves.”

The buddies agree that at the end of the day, “nobody should make the decision to ab-stain or do drugs but you.”

Drug Use at EastTwo friends discuss how they avoid high school drug culture

An East student learns from his past

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“I would take back everything if I could. No matter what

I had to do.”

so many people who were looking for different drugs and I had sources for just about all of them, so why not just buy in bulk, sell it off small, and make some money on the side while also supporting my own habits? It was just so profitable and all of my friends knew I was the guy to get stuff from so it made it easy. I was usually really careful. I never thought I’d

get caught.” But he did.No longer

an East student and having served his sen-tence, Cornell

has observed that the reason for drug use varies from person to person.

“Honestly, a lot of people just do stuff so they can feel cool and fit in or

A story of descent into the dangerous world of selling drugs

[opinions]page 10 april 19, 2013

A teacher is standing in the front of a bleak classroom

staring straight ahead at the tired eyes of students as they wait for the words that will be-gin the next miserable week in the end of March. In front of each student lies a test book-let with the students name inscribed under big letters that read, “Transitional Colorado Assessment Program.” The clock strikes nine in the morn-ing, and the teacher says, “You may now begin.”

President George W. Bush is sitting behind a large wooden desk at Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio. Standing behind him are Democratic and Repub-lican members of congress. This collection of senators and representatives are on hand to watch the newly elected Presi-dent sign what will become one of the most debated and controversial laws of current US history. In front of the desk etched on a chalkboard are the words “No Child Left Behind.”

The initial intention of this law was great in theory. Unfortunately, in practice, it has hurt children more than it has helped them. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) uses statewide standardized tests to determine the federal fund-ing each specific school will receive, i.e TCAP. The higher the test scores that a school produces, the more federal fund-ing it will get, along with a larger pay-check to teachers with high performing

students. When NCLB was implemented in 2002, the US stood at 18th in the world for math. Then we slipped to 31st in 2009, with similar drops in science. The current statistics show that NCLB has done more damage than good.

What people don’t realize is that the harm that comes with NCLB isn’t just standard-ized test-ing. In fact, standardized tests have

been a part of the U.S. education system for over 50 years. The original intent of these tests was to help students improve their skills in school. But now these tests come at a much higher cost. The tests aren’t the problem, the problem is how the tests are used. The federal govern-

ment now holds teachers and adminis-trators accountable for low performing students.

In March of 2011, Education Secre-tary Arne Duncan said that schools that are labeled “failing” under the No Child Left Behind Act standards will increase immensely. It is estimated that the yearly targets for proficiency in math and read-ing could jump from 37 percent to 82 percent.

Because No Child Left Behind implements almost impossible stan-dards, schools that aren’t even low per-forming end up being in danger of being closed. It is now much harder to reach these standards because they are so high. Schools are now expected to do twice the work for half the reward.

East High is currently in a good position. In 2012, Denver East scored

above proficient all subjects on the TCAP test: 76% in reading, 41% in math, 59% in writing and the trend contin-ues for the rest of the subjects. Most important, from 2011 to 2012, the district as a whole showed scores above the requirements for the entire state. East is a part of a lucky few schools that continue to receive a large amount of funding for its programs. If the school and the district keep up these awesome scores, the steady flow of funds will continue. Testing success cre-ates a cycle that is in favor of East: the students do well so they receive more funding and the funding allows them to continue to succeed.

Not everyone is so lucky. Many other schools, even in DPS, are in danger of not

meeting the high standards that NCLB requires. These students will go with fewer teachers, subpar materials and decreased extra programs. How can a student succeed in a school that is expected to fail?

It is apparent that are too many consequences that NCLB poses for the greater good of learning. This isn’t about the inconvenience of taking CSAP or TCAP, it is about making sure that every student gets the right education, and that they are not punished if they need help. The education system needs to be based on the specific learning ability of each student. Most importantly, grade not necessarily the total success of a stu-dent, but on the work ethic of a student. If they work hard everyday and still fail, they deserve the same recognition as a star student.

Make Your Mark Heavy and Darkby noahreynolds

When NCLB was implementd in 2002, the U.S. stood at 18th in the world for math. Then we slipped to 31st in 2009.

Web Page Deniedby flanderslorton

T hroughout the course of four years, every East student will become very

familiar with the following phrase: Web Page Denied. Written in big, blue, bold letters, it is the motto and modus ope-randi of the Denver Public School inter-net blocking system. When attempting to browse the internet, instead of arriv-ing at Facebook or their favorite online forum, students are greeted with this draconian message. Categories blocked include the following: social networking, obscene/tasteless, online communities, test cheating, and video sharing. Directly beside lies the DPS logo and the slogan “Discover a world of opportunity.”

But this is a good thing right? The classic argument for online security is that students should be concentrating on school, not entertainment. It sounds good in theory, but the reality of the

situation causes untold obstacles and an-noyances for even the most education-ally minded students.

This system is aimed towards math and science but leaves other classes in the dust. Art students cannot access materials for their projects because they are blocked, they can’t even access online portfolios they made from home. Video projects cannot be hosted or shared and entire classes are often wasted trying to find a way to access that needed picture for your piece. From per-sonal experience I can also say that the

newspaper class is constantly infuriated by the system. It becomes very difficult to make news updates on social net-working sites. Information for articles concerning drugs, weapons, alcohol,

gambling, and even terror-ism are blocked on prin-ciple, and we cannot access any video informa-tion.

Teachers are not exempt from these problems. They are given codes to over-ride the system, but this doesn’t stop it from taking away from class time on an almost daily basis. First of all these codes only last a few minutes at a time, and they can only get past some of blocked

websites, not all. Teachers become as an-noyed as students when they must type in the code for their history videos every ten minutes.

Even if the system worked right, it wouldn’t accomplish what was intended. Instead of playing games students spend their time trying to find a way to get to the game past the block, and they usually do. The fact is, not matter how hard you try to stop people from doing something they want, they will find a way. Just look at prohibition.

The DPS blocking system is nothing more than a well-intended experiment gone wrong. We should get rid of it im-mediately and instead tackle to problem form a different angle. Schools should assess why kids are playing games in the first place. Classes should be focused on making sure kids are spending their whole time learning, so there is no time wasted with inneffective censorship.

[opinions]april 19, 2013 page 11

Janet Baker knew in high school that she wanted to be a math teacher when

she grew up. “Math was my favorite subject,” she says, “since I had the same math teacher for three years.” She gradu-ated college after years of study and struggle through graduate math courses, and now has over twenty years of experi-ence as a math teacher.

In other words, Baker is a math nerd.

Believe it or not, there are some people who take math not because they need a good grade or their parents push them, but because they honestly like it. They know that it will help them later in life, especially in today’s high-tech world.

Baker points out that “there’s some kind of math involved in every-thing,” no matter if you take quan-tum physics or carpentry, or study M. C. Escher in art. “Even if you were a rock star,” she explains, “you’d still need to man-age your finances.”

How unfortu-nate, then, that most kids don’t like math, and fail to even try to enjoy it. It doesn’t help that math

is not most kids’ best subject, which doesn’t make them feel good about it from the start.

Math may not be as fun for you as playing an instrument (which, by the way, involves a ton of math) because it’s something you have to do. But think of those kids who never learned any math that wasn’t strictly required, missed out on important concepts, and are now miles behind. Math teachers have to spend a lot of time “filling in the pot-holes,” as Baker puts it, trying to bring

kids from vari-

ous

middle schools and backgrounds up to the same standard level.

That’s part of why math nerds are so good--we keep asking questions. Our inquiry-based textbooks are right on our level since they al-low us to learn by figuring things out on our own,

rather than having to memorize every-thing by rote.

It’s not like kids who don’t eat, sleep, and breathe math are

doomed. Lots of them put in extra effort after school and at

lunch to understand dif-ficult concepts. Math

might not be their favorite sub-

ject, but that doesn’t mean they ignore it. “Everyone is different and we all have different limits,” Baker says wisely, and the kids that put in the work to improve in math are “applaud[ed] for trying.”

Math nerds are an outcast group, looked down on and envied for liking what most people can’t stand. Why? If anything, they’ll be

IT’S OKAY TO BE A MATH DWEEB.by graciefreels

more successful in life and have a deeper understanding of how the world works than someone who doesn’t bother to learn it because it’s not their best class.

Kids who don’t do well in math have resources to help them out if they choose. They can get tutors or extra help after school, and

can take classes over again. Math nerds don’t have things to help them with their studies. The highest class they can take without commuting off-campus to concurrent enrollment is Calculus; if they happened to come to high school with enough education to take that in their junior year, they’re stuck. That’s not even counting the year of Pre-Calc, a lot of which is review.

We happen to have a different out-look on life; that’s not a bad thing. You don’t look down on kids who are great at and enjoy sports, or slam poetry, so don’t look down on us.

As to why we like it in the first place, math is all around us. Baker expresses a common sentiment when she says that “there’s a lot of math involved in under-standing the universe.” It’s not just in science; music is heavily mathematical, as is art. There are lots of things in the world that may never be proven, such as what happens when we die or why we’re all here, but we can all agree that 2 and 2 make 4. By learning about math, we can learn the certainties of life and of ourselves. 2 and 2 are 4 no matter what, and we love that no matter what.

Baker says, “don’t rule out math because it’s not your favorite,” and I’d say don’t hate math nerds for having a dif-ferent favorite. At a school that’s famous for its diversity, that’s the least we can do.

We happen to have a different outlook on life; that’s not

a bad thing.

Practice dweebing out by memorizing the digits of π:

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816

406286 208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481 11745028410270193852110555964462294895493038

1964428810975665933446128475648233 786783165271201909145648566923460

[opinions]page 12 april 19, 2013

I talk about current events,” Morgynne Tora says confidently. “I talk about

Palestine, I talk about my homeland. I talk about domestic violence, rape cul-ture.” The previous is, without a doubt, a mature, important, and controversial list of issues. And Tora, a junior, con-fronts them all through a medium that may come as a surprise to many who consider it a mere vessel of teen angst and/or descriptions of idyllic mountain landscapes: poetry.

“I see poetry as a way to evoke emotion out of other people as well as myself,” explains Tora, whose interest in poetry began in school at the end of her eighth grade year. “It’s a catalyst for change.” But unfortunately, many teen-

agers see poetry as daunting, confusing, boring, cheesy, or even scary.

According to Tora, the fundamental problem lies within the way poetry, and writing in general, is taught to students. “I think the thing with literature,” she opines, “is that we teach students not how powerful their words can be, but how to spell, and how to use commas. I think when we get back to a more organic way of teaching, especially in writing, that’s where progress will come.”

But until we reach that more organic level, our generation needs help accept-ing poetry as the creative and versatile art form that it is. For many people the word “poet” calls to mind a variety of stereotypes. The smartass argument in favor of stereotyping is that such broad

generaliza-tions must be based on some thread of truth. But the images commonly called to mind range from artsy fartsy hip-pies in touch with the cosmos, to hard-shelled emos with thunder-storms in their hearts, to the Euro-

pean men of olde whose antiquated verses grace the pages of history textbooks. In short, the stereotypes associated with poetry just go to show how universal the genre truly is.

Returning to the subject of education, much modern cur-riculum contains, for instance, Shakespeare’s sonnets and epics such as Beowulf. And those are important, no doubt. But can it not be argued that some students are simply unaware that poets can also talk about “a coffee-colored Aston Martin DB4 with cracked green leather seats” (I Ask You, by Billy Collins) and would be more interested and open-minded if they knew this?

And what of the creation itself? “Writing,” says Tora, “is intimidating, because it gets critiqued so much. You can’t be scared of revision. Revision is a beautiful thing. So when you write something, don’t be scared to write it again, and add on to it, and reshape it, and maybe if you have a different idea, go a different way. Take feedback, but only from people who matter. If some-

“

one is just slandering you or ridiculing you, that’s not positive.”

As for creation? The limericks we wrote as first graders may seem a far cry from Tora’s socially conscious words, and this can be intimidating, but she has good advice for all the woulda, coulda, shoulda poets out there. “Someone once told me,” she says, “That you never really write your first poem until you start tell-ing the truth.”

It was as the lights dimmed and the crowd hushed, anticipating the third

performance of this year’s musical, that I quite suddenly realized just how abso-lutely massive the East auditorium is. As the air stretched taught with anticipatory tension, I stared up at the ornate ceiling and gigantic light fixtures and felt oddly dizzy. My heart thumped as I imagined myself standing behind that curtain, about to sing in front of this massive crowd on that massive stage which has held the likes of Hattie McDaniel, Don

Cheedle, and The Fray. Truly, this stage is the aged, thumping heart of East High.

There are kids who can sing and act well in every high school in the state. The differ-ence with an East performance is in the bits that are unrehearsed, variations that aren’t automatically prescribed by the role being played

but rather slip from the human being who is playing that role. It’s the slightly rough edges, the personality that comes out from underneath the rehearsed lines that set East Angel performances apart. That goes for drama, choir, music, speech, and anything else that happens on that stage. At a speech tournament once, a coach told us that we just had “that... that... inner city confidence!” maybe that’s it, maybe the fact that we’re a little closer to the real world means

that our performances can become more realistic.

I promise you there is no school in this state that would put on such a bold, raunchy, and ultimately brilliant pro-duction of The Producers as ETC did in 2010. The strength of the show comes from the characters within the charac-ters. I went to that show as a freshman, and it shook me awake to the possi-bilities of high school. They made High School Musical and Glee look like cheap caricatures of what this moment in our lives might be like. They took that stage with a violence and purpose that all those surburban schools would be lucky to drag out of their football players.

But I was worried a few minutes into this year’s musical. It was Beauty and the Beast, and the giant back-grounds straight out of the Disney film together with the way too brightly col-ored costumes and the giant motorcycle helmet of a mask worn by the beast gave the show an uncharacteristically childish aesthetic. This wasn’t ETC’s fault, Disney has aggressive copyright laws that any company reproducing one of their stories has to follow, or face the wrath of attorneys in Mickey Mouse™ ears.

So basically, ETC was doing the ex-act same show as any other high school in the entire world who wanted to do Beauty and the Beast. The sole difference between this production and one in, say, suburban Tallahassee was the sort of people playing the role. No matter how substantial the costume change, it takes some serious range to play the beast well. Mason Weiss had it. He had the anger that made us fear domestic abuse and the goofy sensitive side to make us forget about those very fears. And everyone else was funny, not just in an obligatory way but in a manner that breathed life back into a story we’ve all heard a whole bunch of times.

This is unique to East. Every single person on stage, from the lead to the guy in the back row of a huge chorus of singing silverware, or the choir member on the outside edge during “Revela-tions” fights to be heard. That passion is ubiquitous. And if the auditorium is the massive beating heart of East high school, every single one of those voices is the blood filling its massive ventricles. It might follow, then, that the louder we cheer, the stronger that heart will beat.

Morgynne’s original poetry

the Power of PoetryA Catalyst for Change:by aubinfefley

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by andrewwise

Innner City Confidence

Why the East High stage is truly the heart of this building.

[sports]april 19, 2013 page 13

Red Mango nr Tattered Cover2504 E. Colfax | Denver, CO 80206(720)708-2903

/RedMangoEastColfax

Selection Perfectionby andrewpalmquist

The Rundown• 64 College Teams• 63 Games Played• 150 East Students• A $1440 Cash Pool• 1 Winner

The Madness Comes to East

A plague swept over the student body on a recent Thursday af-

ternoon at East High School. The most severe cases huddle in quarantine in the back of Room 129, too enveloped by the sickness to attend class. It is here that their in-class symptoms of jittery impatience and utter lack of concentra-tion are not ostracized, but accepted. They manage their madness by pasting their eyes to an array of computers and proceeding to cry out in sheer joy and agony at what unfolds on the screens in front of them. For several weeks each March this ailment run rampant not only through East High School but the United States as a whole, a phenom-enon accepted throughout the country as March Madness.

Senior Alex Langdon is one

of those most consumed by the NCAA Basketball tournament, im-mersing himself in every aspect out of sheer adora-tion for the event. “In my opinion, March Madness is not compa-rable [to any other sports tradition]. I follow the col-lege basketball season all the way through know-ing it leads up to a month of basketball heaven,” Langdon says emphatically. It is this passionate love for college basketball that he shares with many other East stu-

dents that forces him to hang on every buzzer-beater, every bracket bust, and every David slaying Goliath upset.

As Langdon puts it, “the tourna-ment is better than Christmas.” Lang-don’s seemingly excessive adoration of March Madness pushed him to create a bracket pool of epic proportions this year. With over 150 East students sending in their own bracket predictions at ten dollars an en-try Langdon built a pool totaling $1440, far exceeding the standard East bracket pool. “It’s that unique love I have for the tournament that I want to share with everyone. Something I want to include all of my peers in.”

However, it is not the passion for college basketball like the one Langdon shares that inspire many to join the masses intoxicated by March Madness. Instead it is the possibilities that any person’s bracket holds. Over 50 million people constructed tournament brackets for this year’s tournaments, predicting their champion based on anything from extensive college basketball knowledge to a team’s mascot. This same concept applied to Langdon’s bracket pool, with many bracket creators having not watched a college basketball game all season.

Gianni Hengartner, a Swiss ex-change student who attended East two years ago, finished second in the group despite an obvious lack of college basket-ball knowledge. While he didn’t pay the ten dollar buy-in, hindering him from winning the $450 silver prize, Hengart-ner views March Madness as a strong link between his life in Switzerland (where basketball is far from a national

pastime) and the bonds he made at East. “March Madness, for me, is as much about the competition to win the East pool as it is a way for me to stay in touch with old friends,” Gianni explains, and adds, “it’s entertaining knowing people study college basketball and go to great lengths to create a good bracket, and even as a Swiss I almost win.”

This inclusiveness, and the involve-ment of many Americans who don’t even consider themselves sports fans in March Madness does not come without a cost.

Americans engage themselves so whole-heartedly in the games that a loss in productivity from students and em-ployees is inevitable. As National Public Radio reported after the first-round finale, $134 million was estimated to be lost by American business alone during the first two days of the tournament.

The loss of productivity revealed in the workplace during March Madness is evident in the classrooms of East High

School as well. As environmental science teacher, Michael Hendler, witnessed, his classes were completely preoccupied by the event, secretly checking the scores and even streaming games live off the internet on their phones. Though many teachers make their own brackets and even watch games between classes, Hen-dler views the games as solely a distrac-tion as, “March Madness doesn’t pertain to my class, so I have no sympathy for it interfering with class time.”

Despite his and others’ efforts, plenty of time is still undoubtedly wasted and productivity lost by those stricken by March Madness, it is clear the popularity of the tournament is going nowhere but up thanks to one reason: the tournament exalts the value of inclusivity unlike any other event.

From die-hard college basketball groupies such as Langdon to seemingly hopeless bracket predictors such as Hengartner, every person can find suc-cess, disappointment, and most notably, entertainment in the event. The ability of any one person to out-predict the experts epitomizes the David v. Goliath upsets that the tournament is known for. With teams ranked 15th beating 2nd seeds, Gianni finishing second and Langdon finishing 58th, this month can only be described as sheer madness.

Langdon built a pool totaling $1440,

[sports]page 14 april 19, 2013

A red, white, and blue striped uniform streaks down the sideline, adding to the imbalance of

an already lopsided score. East students, faculty, and fans have come to accept the fact that most subur-ban schools will often defeat the East football team. Creek, Broomfield, and Lakewood have long domi-nated Angel squads with their big athletic budgets and prestigious coaches.

For years, DPS schools have fallen behind the pace. Wealthy suburban schools like Valor and Mullen invest major funds into their athletic depart-ments, providing state of the art athletic facilities, and bringing in experienced leadership. When these teams can provide these resources, talent is attracted and they reel in victories. This is how powerhouse

programs are built. Don’t believe it? Take a look at Valor and their recent success in win-ning the 5A state title and how they landed quarterback Luke Del Rio and running back Christian McCaffrey. Or, take a look at why legendary coach Dave Logan took the job at Cherry Creek.

But now East is ready to step in and become a force in 5A football.

The East athletic department made headlines earlier this year with the hiring of new Head Coach Spencer Colter to replace Ron McFarland. In his final season, McFarland led the Angels to a 4-6 mark, not good enough for a playoff berth or, apparently, for McFarland to keep his job. The choice of a new coach was ultimately made by Athletic Director Lisa Porter, Principal Andy Mendelsberg, a 12 person commit-tee of former and current East football players, and assistant coaches. Porter justified the committee’s decision, saying, “The direction of the program needed to find some more passion and really reflect East High School.”

Stepping in for McFarland is Colter, who isn’t new to East football. Colter was a volunteer coach for East this past year, working with safeties and corner-backs. After just one year, Colter has already formed relationships with many of the players. Porter says of Colter, “We loved his passion, his great balance for academic and athletics and his knowledge of the game.”

Colter is excited to work with East’s student-athletes.“It’s always a big goal of mine to establish a core and build trust with the kids I coach,” he says, “I hope I’ve done that with not only the kids that are coming back, but with the seniors that are leaving.”

Colter has big aspirations, and hopes to win a title down the road. However, for the time being his main focus is improving his players holistically. “My main goal is to build men for others,” says Colter, “I just

want to build character in these guys and help them be students, athletes, and men. Of course after that I want to win championships like [East basketball coach] Rudy Carey, the soccer program, and all the

other great programs here at East.”

Football isn’t the only East sport going through a transfor-mation. Despite the fact that

his team went 17-3 in regular season play last year, former Head Baseball Coach Howard Karsh re-signed. He was named Denver Prep League coach of the year for the 2004-2005 season, but failed to win a playoff game as Head Coach at East.

Replacing Karsh is Mike Benton, who has already been around the East baseball program for several years. As soon as Benton graduated Regis Univer-sity, where he played baseball, in 2009, he began coaching at East. Benton served on Karsh’s staff as a varsity assistant for 3 years. Karsh has only praise for his young successor, saying, “Mike is a young coach of integrity, work ethic, and he relates very well to young athletes of this age. He has a very good understanding of the game, and should do well for the program.”

East is optimistic that Benton and Colter will be able build a foundation in their respective programs that they can continue to grow. As Colter alluded to, East is hopeful that the new coaches they’ve hired will be able to bring their teams to the heights and successes of programs such as the soccer and basket-ball programs.

by spencersoicher

“I just want to build character in these guys and help them be students, athletes, and men . . . after that I want to win championships.”

Rising Expectations: Athletic Department hires new coaches looking to take bold steps forward

Spencer Colter, formerly of Boulder High, prepares to take control of the East Football program.

[sports]april 19, 2013 page 15

Remember when East’s fabled boy’s soccer team shattered expectations

last year to win a state title? When the city of Denver collectively shuttered at the prospect of inspired East students roaming the streets, jubilantly drunk on sheer victory (and nothing else mom, promise).

Or instead recall the shocking upset of the Boy’s basketball team in the cham-pionship game earlier this year. That was the team, that was the hour, and to the crushing disappointment of East students that had road-tripped out to Boulder to support their team, our boys just couldn’t pull through.

You probably don’t remember last year when East’s favorite group of jokesters, band-geeks, and stoners came together to win the Westerns Tourna-ment, clinching the title to become the best high school team in the western United States. And honestly why would you? Ultimate’s not a real sport. Ulti-mate players may have to run, jump, throw, bid, get physical, and strategize, but we all know that if Hollywood hasn’t turned it into a movie, or if EA hasn’t made a virtual edition for you to play on your PS3, then it doesn’t really count.

By the time this article is published, the non-athletes comprising East’s boy’s and girl’s Ultimate teams will have hosted the annual East Invitational, an event that will be accommodating 21 teams, 3 of which are from out of state. They’ll have made thousands in conces-sions run by dedicated parents, played in eight games over the course of two days (if they advance to the championship) and have made the most premium of

Gretchen Rosenberg

end-zone universe point bids, all while basking in their absolute lack of car-ing over your opinions regarding their incredible taste in sport.

One can speculate about the future of Ultimate in America, pointing out the recent founding of two major Ultimate leagues drawing crowds large enough for teams to support their players with annual salaries. One can refuse to

acknowledge the presence of the sport in America, continuing to make absurd claims that a sport is only “real” if it was around when you were born. The truth of the matter is that a family of young greats, with ballin’ full field hucks and traveling teams from Minnesota and Georgia, are crashing on their couches for the April East Invitational and don’t care about your opinions. They do it out

of love for the sport. They practice four times a week, three hours a practice and host legendary pasta parties in prepara-tion of weekend tournaments out of love for the sport.

“The Ultimate train’s a chuggin’, and you best hop on or get a faceful of disk,” proclaims Ultimate boy’s captain Mo Scott. A regulation Ultimate disk is 175 grams. This reporter will hop on.

The

“The Ultimate train’s a chuggin’, and you best hop on or get a faceful of disk.”

Ultimate by gabeo’connell

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Senior Michael Tooley reaches to snag a pass.

Underdogs

[rear end]page 16 april 19, 2013

Double Lives of TeachersPart IIby eligoldin and brodyrastall by ifreelsgood

Aries~ Your birthday will be a gay old time, not so much because of the awesome new car you’ll receive but the wrong turn you’ll take into the middle of a Pride parade.

Taurus~ That mysterious black spot circling miles above the school is not a bird, or a plane, or Superman, but a flock of flying monkeys bent on vengeance for what you did at the zoo last month.

Gemini~ The stars know how much you love musicals and singing in the rain, but unfortunately, the cops don’t care and will still arrest you for causing a public noise disturbance.

Cancer~ Your mother doesn’t care about your life-and-reality-altering epiphany, and no amount of insisting that “there is no spoon” will get you out of eating your boiled leek soup.

Leo~ You will get a cool new spoiler on your car--and you will find out that Rosebud was actually a sled...not that you were planning on watching that movie, right?

Virgo~ You will get a cool new spoiler on your car--and you will find out that Rosebud was actually a sled...not that you were planning on watching that movie, right?

Libra~ Your epic keyboard solo won’t wow everyone as you’d hoped. Instead, they’ll all be confused as to how writing an e-mail counts as music.

Scorpio~Your conspiracy theory that the world is actu-ally ruled by sentient potato peelers is far too absurd to be taken seriously by anyone...because that’s obviously what they want you to think.

Sagittarius~When they said you stole the show at your last school play, that wasn’t a compliment--you’ll soon be investigated for grand theft prop, set, costume, and actor.

Capricorn~ When they said you stole the show at your last school play, that wasn’t a compliment--you’ll soon be investigated for grand theft prop, set, costume, and actor.

Aquarius~ When they said you stole the show at your last school play, that wasn’t a compliment--you’ll soon be investigated for grand theft prop, set, costume, and actor.

Pisces~ If you take anything away from the events of next Friday’s class trip to the history museum, let it be that not everything Hollywood tells you is true...and no, Teddy Roosevelt will not come alive and want to hang out with you.

The nonsense included in the “Rear End” section does not represent the views of the Spotlight staff, the editorial board, the sponsors, cackling people who whisper “s’mores ham meats the fries,” the Jostens speech, baby Murphy, robot breath, or the kiln monster . The point is, the “Rear End” is intended for comedic effect and should not be taken seriously.

“Rear End” Disclaimer

Horoscopes

Emily Vilkus spent a whole summer as a professional alligator wrestler down south. Her diet, at the time, consisted of eating deep fried road kill with a side of mosquito salad.

Amy Hanson, a former DEA agent, worked un-dercover alongside the notorious Albequerque meth-anphetamine producer known only as Heisenberg. While undercover, She corrected all of Heizenberg’s chemistry calculations and had him poised to produce an even more high quality product. Then she brought him down.

Matt Murphy was the oldest Gerber baby in history. He recently was fired because he was eating so much baby food that Gerber annual profits were cut by 23%.

In the summertime, Jeff Lacy earns extra money as a buoy in South Florida.

Anna Noble has gone to rehab four times for a serious soap addiction. If you have her class, don’t leave your soap out.

Don Doyle comes from an ancient race of people who did not have real timepieces. Hence, they were forced to yelp out the time by reading the sun’s position.

Jeff Lacy’s gut is actu-ally a very fertile fish-ing pond that he will allow you to fish in for a small fee.

David Engelken was a latin pop star, with hit songs such as, “Todo Mi Amor,” “Te Quiero,” and “Me Vuelves Loco.”