How We Learn Israel: the School Takes a Fresh Look

Juniors listen to their tour guide’s (center, striped shirt) personal story at Har Herzel, the Israeli national cemetery in Jerusalem, during their Journey. The school is reexamining the way they teach Israel.

By ARNO ROSENFELD

June 2011

copyright the observer 2011. volume 2, issue 6.

“Audemus jura nostra defendere”

Elijah Jatovsky/The Observer

THE OBSERVERJewish Community High School of the Bay

Bacteria, Fungus Cover Commons FurnitureTests reveal unsanitary conditions on upholstered furniture in the Commons, leading to health concerns

By EVAN FENNER

The Observer is online @

ObserverJCHS.com

In the summer of 2009, several JCHS faculty members travelled to Is-rael to attended a forum on Israel education with seventy-five other educa-tors. The trip was orga-nized by Basis, or Bay Area Schools Israel Synergy.

Three years ago JCHS joined Basis (pronounced Bah-sees), a group of 11 Bay Area Jewish day schools, in-cluding Kehillah, Brandeis and Oakland Hebrew Day School. Basis, also an ac-ronym in Hebrew (BAtei Sefer Israel San Francis-co), is described as an “Is-rael engagement project.”

The Basis project is fund-ed by the Jim Joseph foun-dation which contributes financially toward member schools’ Israel education programs. In JCHS’ case, this included thousands in funding for the Journeys to Israel, as well as free access to powerful cur-riculum planning software. Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs Mal-lory Rome says that Basis serves only to encourage and provide support for developing Israel educa-tion and the monetary sup-port does not impede the school’s freedom to teach the subject as they see fit.

Crafting a Curriculum

By working inde-

pendently and collectively with the other schools in-volved, JCHS has been working on how Israel is taught at the school, and more recently, on de-veloping an Israel cur-riculum to better teach it.

The wheels got turn-ing in fall of 2008, when a committee of the school’s board of directors drafted an “Israel Mission State-ment.” That statement now appears at the front of the JCHS Handbook, and ac-cording to Ms. Rome, guides

“I don’t really use them, but they’re pretty clean… On a scale of 1-10, probably an 8,” said freshman Ava Burton of the upholstered furniture in the commons.

That’s not a surpris-ing assumption at a school like JCHS. Leaf-blow-ers are a common sight around campus, the win-dows and bathrooms are regularly cleaned. Bath-rooms are even stocked with hand-sanitizer for those without the time to wash. And at lunch, peo-ple can sanitize again be-fore they get their food.

But according to a re-cent test conducted by The Observer, once stu-dents sit on the cushioned couches and chairs in the commons to eat, social-ize or do homework, sani-tary conditions disappear.

Some students, especial-ly those who frequent the furniture, have long been wary of the purple and

green couches and chairs. When sophomore Sha-ron Agai was asked to rate their cleanliness on a scale of 1-10, she replied: seven. Then, reconsidering, she said “Just kidding, like two.”

Even before the tests were conducted, the idea of unsanitary Commons furniture was a common re-frain. “I don’t think they’re clean. I think they’re very dirty,” said India Lis-sak (’14). How clean are the couches in the com-mons? “They aren’t,” says Jenna Zimmerman (’13).

The Observer took sci-entific samples from the couch for testing based on the methodology taught in biology class. The couches and one chair were wiped with cotton swabs wet-ted in distilled water. The cotton swabs were then rubbed onto separate pe-tri dishes. The dishes were left in an incubator for about one week, allow-

Please Turn to Page 3

Please Turn to Page 3

insideSportsStyle& Arts

online

In 2009, Rabbi Andy Katz , who was Assistant Head of School for Student Life at the time, listens with other Jewish educators from the Bay Area during the Basis Summer Forum in Israel.

Students (from left) Jonathan Okun (’13), Yael Cohn (’13), Jenna Zimmerman (’13), Isaiah Tharan (’14), Anna Shaposhnikova (’13) and Adi Alouf (’13) hangout on the furniture in the Commons.

During elections held on the week of May 16, students voted for their Knesset Student Executive Board.

JCHS Elects Student ExecutivesPresident CommunicationsCommunity

OutreachJewish Life & Diversity

Student Life

ViewsWorld- A show featuring dress-es comes to the de Young museum (B1)

- Will and Kate need to watch their backs says Ariel Applbaum (B1)

- A restaurant with JCHS ties is reviewed (B2)

- Spring Fashion: a sum-mary of Spring fashion trends for 2011. (B3)+ More!

- Reflections on a season of girls varsity soccer (A4)- Proof God plays for the Jewish team (A4)

- Runaway lawmakers and thousands of pro-testers in the streets: unions vs. the Republi-cans in Wisconsin (A3)

+ More

- America needs to treat its veterans better (C1)

- Jake Rosenberg takes on the New York Times paywall (C2)

Daniella Kesel/The Observer

basis-summerforum.blogspot.com

Elijah Jatovsky (’12) Neena Carr (’13)Yael Platt (’12)Adi Alouf (’13)

Micah Fenner (’12)

indexSports....................................5 World News..........................4Style/Arts..............................6

Life, the Universe & Everything............................................10

Opinion..................................9

Page Two

Corrections Policy FeedbackSend Us Your News

For story suggestions, news tips and general information that may be of interest to us, please send you information to:

Observer.JCHS@gmail.com

The Observer strives to maintain accuracy and fairness. If you see an error, please let us know.

Observer.JCHS@gmail.com

If you have ideas for what could make The Observer more informa-tive, entertaining, relevant, or en-gaging, we want to hear from you:

Observer.JCHS@gmail.com

Editor’s Note The Observer is a student run newspaper, covering topics from

the perspective of, and that are of interest to, students. Ideas ex-pressed in The Observer are not necessarily those of Jewish Commu-nity High School of the Bay.

The final published product has undergone prior review by mem-bers of the professional community of JCHS and the administration. While The Observer puts a very high value on the integrity of what they publish, stories you read may have been altered or censored to meet the standards required by the JCHS administration in order to allow publication of the paper.

The Obsever is an open forum for reader opinions and gladly pub-lishes letters and in some cases essays from readers.

‘Senioritis’ Strikes Hard, but Remedies Exist

Cows in Marin

Opening Remarks.TIFFANY KATS

Inside Jokes, as they are, often fail to make sense to anyone not directly involved. But in the case of “Cows in Marin,” The Observer decided to dig deeper, sending Marin resident Danny Robinow, and Amir Amado-Feely into the field to investigate.

Laziness, lack of mo-tivation, increased mental health days—

‘senioritis’ is in full effect at JCHS. As hard as we seniors try

to fight it, we all succumb at some point. After three years of seemingly never ending home-work, tests, essays, and proj-ects, seniors just want a break.

Tempted by the freedom of college right around the cor-ner, seniors cannot wait to es-cape the confining walls of high school. Although many may re-gard senioritis as merely an ex-cuse to be lazy, they don’t fully understand why it happens, and that there are ways to help.

Adults tend to emphasize ju-nior year, leading students to be-lieve that senior year is merely a pit-stop on the way out of high school. But the culmination of challenging classes, standard-ized tests, and out-of-school ac-tivities cause overly-stressed stu-dents to become overwhelmed.

By senior year, students are not interested in sitting in classrooms and putting effort into subjects that no longer captivate them.

Not to mention, college ac-ceptances completely elimi-nate all the motivation students may have once had. With noth-ing to work toward, it seems pointless to bother trying.

High school creates a barrier between academics and the out-side world. This creates a con-fusing environment for the stu-dents who are preparing to enter the outside world. Combining academics and the outside world would allow seniors to become more engaged and motivated in their last year of high school.

Although the complete elimi-nation of senioritis is unrealistic, there are many ways to help reme-dy senior-slump. Research shows that experiential learning leads to better academic success. Nearly 70 public and private high schools in California, Florida, New York and nine other states adopted Wise Individualized Senior Ex-perience (WISE). This program allows seniors to earn class credit by participating in unpaid in-ternships of their choice, curb-ing senioritis at the same time.

Senioritis is not so much lazi-ness as it is focusing only on things seniors are passionate about. Contracting senioritis is often in-evitable and while we can’t pre-vent it, we could help make senior year more interesting and engag-ing for those students counting down the days until graduation.

June 2011

Cows. Marin. To the simpleton JCHS-ite, those words go hand in hand and are heard in the halls and in the classrooms every week. But what if one were to stop and think, “what do I really know about the bovine culture of Marin County, California?” For most, the answer is slim to none. As for Amir Amado-Feeley (’12) and myself, the truth was about to become abundantly clear.

We set out on a brisk Saturday afternoon from Amir’s resi-dence in Berkeley, and took 580 westbound until we hit the glorious, suburban land of Marin County. Our search began in south and central Marin, as we plowed through the streets of Fairfax and San Rafael. Our eyes pondered opposing sides of the highway, and for what seemed like an eternity we not only saw no cows, but no wild life of any sort.

Then we headed north into northern San Rafael, and struck gold. We drove our way into a strange gated com- mu-nity near a local skate park without any sort of hope or expec- ta-tion. Admittedly, I was getting bored with the search and was feeling excep-tionally confident that I had proved this entire stereo-type wrong and discredited all of the people it had sucked in. I sat in the car, listening to the radio while Amir hopped out, still eager to discover the secrets my county had to offer. I watched as he made his way through bushes and shrubs, and then, after he had peeked his head over a wood fence, I saw his face light up with the imminent gleam of success. I watched in disbelief as Amir jumped around exclaim-ing such phrases as “YEA!” and “UUGH(40)!” , and it was not until I peeked over that fence for myself that I truly believed my fellow junior’s excitement.

I peered over the barricade and saw my first glimpse of a Marin cow in almost three full hours of searching. At first, it was

just a few. Our sight was lim-ited, but this is exactly what we had been searching for, and we could not call our-selves true detec-tives if we had

giv-en up

right there.

Using my Marin

expertise I deduced that

the cows were most likely located

in Smith Ranch, a lo-cal ranch that owned a

plot of land nearby. We drove around the

perimeter of the large open field until we reached the ranch’s headquarters. The entire area was fenced off with barbed wire, guarding their fields from intruders. We parked in a church parking lot about a two minute walk away from the entrance to this field, and using superior ninja ability we maneuvered through trees and under the barbed wire fence and suddenly found ourselves on the inside.

Amir ran ahead, trudging through shrubs and mud and beckoned to me that he saw our cow brethren. Ignoring all angst and preconceived notions of right and wrong, we ran for it, not caring what high class secu-rity force of the ranch might be chasing us. The cows got closer

and closer, and seemed to multi-

ply with every step we took. As we took

our final strides towards this cattle haven, I could see Amir’s spirits rising, as my hope for disproving the stereotype of the Marin cows quickly diminished.

We stood there in the chilly Marin County wind and simply gazed across what seemed to be an eternity of land filled to its capacity with majestic, as the old westerners would say, doggies. I could only stand there as pic-tures were taken and videos were made, and the fate of this stereo-type was sealed. On this day, on this field, I had been beaten.

We began our trek back to-wards the car, Amir ecstatic with the joy of victory, me disheart-ened by the endless mocking and face-rubbing that was sure to come over the next few days, weeks, or possibly even the rest of my time at JCHS. The day had started with the hope of ending this stereotype, bringing an in-ternal sense of peace to all those residing in the wonderful Marin County, however had ended in the agonizing celebration of a Berkeley hippie.

While some claims may be far from truth, there ARE cows in Marin County, and I can only hope that by acknowledging this fact and owning up to the adversity that has plagued us Marin-ites for so long, we can all come together as a community and begin to judge not by the wildlife in our hometowns, but by the content of the character in that wildlife.

toothelesstoops.com

Dan

ny R

obin

ow/T

he O

bser

ver

This article was written in conjunction with Kats’ Keystone presentation on Senioritis

3THE OBSERVERJune 2011

Watch WhereYou Sit

The top sample was taken from the crease where cushion meets armrest on one of the purple couches. Notice the large fungus colony.

The bottom sample is taken from the arm of a purple chair. There circle on the left edge of the sample is fungus and the larger white dot near the cen-ter is one of the more promi-nent bacteria colonies.

The middle sample was taken from the center couch cushion of a purple couch. It was most sanitary of the three samples, though not the many bacteria and fungus colonies.

Israel CurriculumChanges

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

ing the potential bacteria and fungus to grow to a visible size.

Samples were taken from the center cushion of a couch, a crease between a cushion and the arm of a couch and the arm of a chair. The test also included a control dish.

The results confirm what had been a common worry among many couch-sitters, and brought to light unsanitary con-ditions far beyond what oth-ers thought: the couches are far from sanitary and home to myriad bacteria and fungus.

While Facilities Manager Jer-emy Cole did not know the exact date of purchase, the couches have been at the school for at least four years and possibly since the school moved to the San Francisco campus in 2002; many students don’t believe that they get cleaned on a regular basis. “The rest of the school is relatively sanitary, but it is crazy to think that the place where students sit most are cleaned least,” said Jessica Berman (’14).

Mr. Cole said the upholstered furniture at the school is steam-cleaned twice a year, though this year it was only cleaned once. Mr. Cole hopes that in the fu-ture the school will find money to replace some of the furni-ture. Still, Mr. Cole said, “No sooner has the Commons fur-niture been cleaned then lunch items are spilled on them.”

A similar test conducted on the upholstered seats of BART by the Bay Citizen news organiza-

tion found that while they were home to a plethora of bacteria, after cleaning the seat cushions with an alcohol wipe and retest-ing, nearly all the bacteria were gone. This suggests that the couches had not been cleaned at the time they were tested, and that cleaning them with alco-hol wipes could solve most of the problem on a regular basis.

Mr. Cole said he would be open to using the “less caustic,” “green” cleaning materials the school has to help eliminate the bacteria.

the school’s Israel education.It wasn’t until this year though,

that Basis actually asked the school to develop an Israel cur-riculum. That process began last August when a committee made up of the Ms. Rome, the four heads of academic departments, Iggy Gurin-Molous, and Evan Wolkenstein drew up “Endur-ing Understandings” for Israel education at the school. The list included seven points, three or four of which came directly from the mission statement, and three or four more of which draw on the statement but do not come from it directly, said Ms. Rome.

The Enduring Understand-ings, which will be released once they’ve been approved by the board of directors and faculty later this spring, may be the inspiration for the new curriculum, but they’re far from the only component.

“Scope and Sequence”

The school is developing a “scope and sequence” for the Israel curriculum. A scope and sequence is a way of look-ing at a curriculum “vertical-ly and horizontally,” said Ms. Rome, and is used for all the academic departments at JCHS.

The scope and sequence will analyze the goals for Israel edu-cation, analyze the ways that it is being taught now, and deter-mine what should be changed. Ms. Rome said concrete changes seen could range from learn-ing about ecological issues ef-fecting Israel in Environmental Science to reading literature by Israeli authors in Hebrew class.

Jew in the Modern World

Rabbi Dean Kertesz, teacher of the Jew in the Modern World class, currently the only one with modern Israel as a key part of the curriculum, said he thought we did “a good job integrat-ing Israel into general life at the school.” But he also seemed to sympathize with some student concerns saying it would be great “if we could find more ways to integrate Israeli culture and po-litical issues into [the school].”

Kertesz says he tries to teach the history of Israel and Zion-ism in his class in the context of

the history of the Jewish people. He says he only teaches about Israel during the second-semes-ter to make sure students have the background to understand the issues surrounding Israel.

When it comes to politics he says he teaches in “as a balanced a way as possible, as I have an obvious bias… I think that the class, being part of the Jewish Studies department, should fol-low Jewish values. That means understanding both sides of an issue, even if you don’t agree.”

Student Views

There’s no shortage of strong views among students when it comes to how the school should teach Israel.

“In the classes I’ve taken, I have never looked at Israel through anything but a historical per-spective,” said junior Tzvi Miller. Freshman Sophia Gluck said she got less than that. “No one really teaches about it,” she said, “ex-cept maybe a little bit in Hebrew.”

The celebration of Israeli holi-days, also under review during the curriculum creation, also drew some ire from students. “I feel like our school celebrates Israeli holidays only because we are a Jewish school, and they feel required to do so… The feel-ing of it is that it is up to the stu-dents to run, and if it’s ‘eh’ then that’s what it is,” said Miller, “People don’t seem that con-nected to the programs we do.”

Gluck agreed saying “[The ac-tivities] aren’t very engaging and they should make [them] more interesting and educational.”

There were also ideas on what a revamped Israel education pro-gram at the school should look like. “I think they should [have] more courses that educate about the past and current situation,” said Zohar Tor (’13), “Our prob-lem is that most of the students don’t even know what is hap-pening in Israel and as a Jewish school we need to work on that.”

Rabbi Dean Kertesz teaching his Jew in the Modern World, cur-rently his class is the only one with Israel as a serious compo-nent of its curriculum.

Daniella Kesel/The Observer

Photographs by Arno Rosenfeld/The Observer

from the cover

The rain-bow Basis logo is featured on the cover of Basis brochures available in the JCHS lobby.

4THE OBSERVERJune 2011

Wisconsin’s Assault on WorkersBy DAVID CONNERAN

A history of unions

Thousands take to the streets of Madison, Wisconsin’s capitol, to protest the anti-union bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker.

Wisconsin recently elected a Republican governor, assembly, and senate. The new governor, Scott Walker, had been a known enemy of unions, organizations that allow workers to negotiate with their employers. Prior to his election, Walker had promised to cut some public union health ben-efits. After his election, the actions he proposed far exceeded that.

In February, Walker proposed the near-elimination of public-sector unions. Such unions would no longer have the right to bargain for anything other than wages. If the state wanted to reduce work-ers’ pensions, for example, there would be no ability for the work-ers to negotiate. The proposed bill would also have cut salaries, pensions, and health benefits.

Unions were willing to agree to the cuts—but not to giv-ing up their rights as unions.

In response to the seemingly inevitable success of the move to get rid of unions, the Democrats in the state Senate fled the state to deny the legislature quorum. Without quorum, the Senate can-not act on any bill with finan-cial measures in it. As Walker had proposed the bill to deal with a financial crisis, it seemed unlikely that the bill would be passed without any provisions pertaining to finance. For the time being, the bill was stalled.

Tens of thou-sands of people took to the streets of the capitol, Madison, to pro-test against the bill. Peaceful pro-tests lasted for several weeks, flooding the capi-tal building and dominating head-lines. Eventually, the capital build-ing was closed to rid it of protestors.

Meanwhile, the Senate Democrats remained out of state, hiding from the state police, who had been sent, under ques-tionable legality, to forcibly bring them back to the capital.

On March 9, the legislature gathered in a mid-night joint ses-sion and passed a bill that had no financial provi-sions (and thus did not need quo-rum), without any debate.

This was immediately decried by Democrats as an illegal move, and they sued to prevent the bill from being implemented. Ac-cording to the Constitution of

the state of Wisconsin, bills must be publicly known for a day be-fore being passed. This bill was introduced as a new bill, but was publicized for about an hour.

Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi quickly ruled that the bill could not be published by the Secretary of State until she ruled on the legal-ity of its passage, issuing a tempo-rary restraining order. Walker ig-nored her tempo-rary restraining order, attempting to publish the law through another avenue. She issued another restrain-ing order, insisting that the law could not go into effect until she had ruled.

Soon after this occurred, the state supreme court judicial election took a surpris-ingly political turn. The incum-bent, Judge David Prosser, who had been on the court for over a decade, was suddenly chal-

lenged because it was believed he would uphold the anti-union bill. His challenger was a wom-an with no judicial experience named JoAnne Kloppenburg,

who had acted as assistant state attorney general since 1989. She gained support from Democrats as the bill seemed destined to end up in the state supreme court.

Prosser was attacked dur-ing the theoretically nonparti-san campaign for his association with Walker, while Kloppenburg was attacked for her inexperi-ence in the judiciary. After the final vote tallies were in, Prosser still edged out a win—by 7,000 votes, barely a percentage point.

The situation seems likely to become even more divisive. If Judge Sumi overturns the law, the Prosser’s supreme court is likely to overturn her ruling as there is a 5-4 conservative-liberal balance on the court. Even if a higher court agrees with Sumi on the basis of the Wisconsin constitution’s pub-lic meetings provision, the legisla-ture can simply pass the bill again without any financial provisions.

However, public opinion has al-ready shifted in favor of the Dem-ocrats, so the results for Repub-licans may become even worse if they pass the bill again. One of the sixteen Senatorial recall drives has already been successful in get-ting a Republican on the ballot for recall. Whatever ends up happen-ing, Wisconsin’s anti union action will surely be remembered as the most significant since the 1930s, when unions came to prominence in America (see infograph below).

On April 8, the American gov-ernment came within two hours of shutting down, due to an impasse over the country’s budget for 2011.

The most contentious is-sues that divided Republicans and Democrats were spend-ing cuts and policy changes called “riders.” Republicans de-manded cuts ranging from $40-60 billion, while Democrats wanted ten billion less in cuts.

Republicans argue that large cuts are essential to repair the economy, while Demo-crats believe such cuts are po-litically motivated and that the long-term solution is federal spending to help the economy.

On April 8, Congress passed a stopgap measure to finance the government until Thurs-day, April 14, when the actual

budget was passed and signed. The budget will cut $38.5 bil-

lion in government spending, including $13 billion to the de-partments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services.

This is “the biggest annual spending cut in history,” said President Obama. The ma-jor rider included in the bud-get is a ban on locally gener-ated taxes funding abortions in the District of Colombia.

Had the budget not passed, an estimated 800,000 federal em-ployees would have been out of work, national parks, monuments and museums would have been closed, soldiers would not have received pay, and government websites would have gone black.

Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann deplored the budget agreement, saying Ameri-cans “wanted to make sure their

tax dollars stopped flowing to the nation’s largest abortion pro-vider, and… wanted us to defund ObamaCare. Instead, we’ve been asked to settle for $39 billion in cuts, even as we continue to fund Planned Parenthood and the implementation of ObamaCare.”

Liberal columnist for The New York Times and economist, Paul Krugman wrote, “Mr. Obama is clearly still clinging to his vision of himself as a figure who can tran-scend America’s partisan differ-ences… The nation needs… a pres-ident who believes in something, and is willing to take a stand. And that’s not what we’re seeing.”

The New York Times wrote, “…in the end [this budget fight] was just a preview of even fierc-er fights to come as the White House and Congressional Re-publicans turn to battling over the full-year budget for 2012.”

Federal Government Almost Shuts Down

An editorial cartoon criticizing the Republican’s stance on education funding.

By ELIJAH JATOVSKY

“World News” is online @

bit.ly.com/ObserverWorld

Tom Lynn/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via MCT

In June of last year, Apple re-leased the latest version of their iPhone operating system, iOS4. In early April, two computer pro-grammers were looking through system files on an iPhone and discovered a hidden file con-taining every location of the phone for a full year. The phone synced this information with a computer, whenever it was con-nected. This quickly blew up into a huge scandal, which got Apple far more negative press than it should have. After some research into the Android operating sys-tem, a similar file was discovered.

What are these files used for?

The data that Apple and AT&T or Verizon receives from the phones is used to determine how many cell phone towers are in the area and if service can be im-proved. The only part that’s bor-derline dangerous about this file (and this is only a problem on the iPhone) is that once on a computer, this file is completely unsecured

By MICAH FENNER

and can be acquired fairly easily. However, the only real way for

any hacker to get a hold of the file would be if they had physical access to the computer, because the file is automatically encrypt-ed with the full backup of the iPhone. If security is your worry, there are several much less secure points in the iPhone’s software that you should be worried about.

The iPhone’s location is constantly being transmitted to the companies that make the apps running on it, and most apps store your pass-words in unencrypted files.

A more serious danger that the file creates, is the ability for the file to be subpoenaed in a lawsuit. For example, the file could be seized as evidence of a cheating spouse.

Though there are many major flaws in Apple’s mobile operating system, the phone recording your location should not be seen as a flaw. In fact, Pete Warden, one of the people who discovered the location file and a former Apple programmer said in an interview, “Our best guess is this was an en-gineering mistake.” His co-pro-grammer Alasdair Allan said that, “If this was a conspiracy, this file would have been hidden better and we wouldn’t have found it.”

Apple has since released state-ments saying that the file was intended to help apps that use location services, but that the year-long retention of the data was a glitch that will be repaired.

iPhone Location Tracking Not Real Threat

Pride, Support, Success

By JENNA ZIMMERMANSenior and four-year veteran Zoe Frankel recalls being awestruck

by the image of JCHS’s girls soccer team taking the field in their crisp new white jerseys at the first game of this season.

It’s a phrase used by most ath-letes after the accomplishment of a great feat. Whether it be scor-ing the game winning goal, shot, or run, we’ve all heard athletes at one time or another say these words: “I’d just like to thank the Good Lord…”

As fans we take this phrase as the jubilant, overly excited words of the victorious. They don’t mean anything because it’s very unlikely that God really cares about sports. But for the JCHS baseball team, it may very well be time they kneel down and start giving thanks to the Big Man upstairs.

In the last nine games, five have been come from behind victories. The first comeback was the most shocking. The Wolves rallied from a 9-0 deficit in the third inning, scoring 14 runs in an inning that broke all kinds of school records.

The second saw JCHS come back from a 7-1 deficit with seven runs in 4 innings leaving the score at 8-8 as the game carried into extra innings. After incred-ible bullpen work from Alex Jekowsky (’13), who held the Bulldogs scoreless in the final two innings, the Wolves found themselves with two outs in the bottom of the eighth and the bases loaded with Mark “Feldy” Feldman (’11) in a 3-2 count. Mark smacked a ball along the

JCHS Baseball: Proof God Roots for the Kosher Team

By JONATHAN GERGENthird base line for a clean base hit to bring Tzvi “Wonderboy” Miller (’12) home as the team completed a seemingly improb-able come-from-behind victory.

The most recent school in the CCSPSAL (Central Coast Section Private School Athletic League) to fall victim to the Wolves was Alma Heights Christian Acad-emy, to whom the Wolves dealt a 7-5 come from behind defeat.

The abundance of come-from-behind victories against Christian schools (Alma Heights Christian Academy, North Valley Baptist) leads this writer to be-lieve that God truly is rooting for the Jewish Community.

How else can you explain Mark Feldman’s walk-off hit? The si-lence of the opposing teams bats when Alex Jekowsky steps onto the pitching mound? The utter-dominance Benny Sosnick (’11) has been dealing from the bat-ter’s box? The speedy recovery of clean-up hitter Ariel Applbaum (’12)? To quote Pulp Fiction, “This was divine intervention.”

Let’s just look at the names of some of JCHS’s stars this year: Jatovsky, Feldman, Robinow, Jekowsky and Applbaum: all definitely Jewish, therefore all backed by God. If this writer is correct, and God really is sport-ing the Wolves, then the remain-ing teams in the schedule best look out.

Sophomore Jordan Dong passes the ball to Shai Tabb (’13) as Yael Cohn (‘13) looks on in against Leadership High School.

Tony Gruen/JCHS

Illu

stra

tion

by

Isaa

c So

sebe

e

Senior Keystones

Over the course of the school year, JCHS seniors work end-lessly on their Keystone, a project consisting of a written thesis, a related community service requirement, and a culminating presentation. All members of the community are welcome, and encouraged to attend these presentations. We hope to see you there!- Rose Gluck

Full Schedule online @

bit.ly/jchskeystone

Tony Gruen/JCHS

Ariel Applbaum (’12) poised to catch the pitch.

5THE OBSERVERJune 2011

There’s a pride the whole team feels on game days when they walk the halls in those jerseys, and Frankel, who knows better then most, says she has seen the team come a long way, both from seasons past and since the start of this one.

The inaugural varsity season for girls soccer began with a win over Chinese Christian on a windy afternoon in March, and the team continued with high-spirits and solid play since then.

Frankel and junior Sophie Navarro led the team through practice and games with strong spirit on the field, and even

off, with enthusiastic Facebook messages. As a whole, the team spearheaded each game with skill, determination and pride.

Unlike many of the veteran players on the team, I was a new a player this season and I saw my growth line up with that of the team’s. The team is one the most supportive I’ve been a part of and there is a constant stream of en-couragement to and from all the players, whether it’s pats on the back, applause during an in-game substitution, a victory dance after a goal or a supportive word back at school the next day.

Upperclassmen, underclass-

men, captains and first time players all have a common resolve that began with the first pre-season conditioning practice and has shown through pass after pass, goal after goal and game after game.

A perfect illustration of our team’s resolve comes at the end of each practice when sopho-more goalie Neena Carr brings the team together for a resound-ing “Wolves!”, a ritual that brings the afternoon, no matter how tough, to a close, with intent to work our hardest for this team we all love.

Playlist.ARI GOLDBERG-SAFIR

The ObserverJune 2011 Page SixStyle&Arts

By RISA DUNBARObserver Staff Writer

The de Young Museum, one of my favorites in San Francisco for its wonderful touring exhibits, is currently showcasing revolution-

ary designer Cristobal Balenciaga’s fash-ion. “Balenciaga and Spain” focuses on the profound impact Spanish culture, history, and tradition had on Balenciaga’s couture. With an impressive collection and striking presenta-tion, the exhibit, designed by Hamish Bowles, editor of European Vogue, is organized into sections ranging from Spanish art to religious life and ceremony to bullfighting.

Balenciaga, who died in 1972 at the age of 77, was born in Basque region of Spain. As the son of a seam-stress, he was immersed in fashion from a young age. Inspired by the clothing he saw his mother work with, Balenciaga got formal training as a tailor, providing him with a foundation upon which he would build his life’s work: couture.

For what was seen as his great comprehension of, and appreciation for, traditional fashion, even as he experimented with radical new designs, the famed fash-ion photographer Cecil Beaton would dub Balenciaga “Fashion’s Picasso.”

Balenciaga’s creations are known for their incredible

The late Spanish designer Balenciaga is celebrated in the de Young Museum’s “Balenciaga and Spain.”

fit, classic look, and unmatched quality. I was very pleased with the way that each of these aspects were seamlessly integrated into the exhibit, and how these components fit into the themed sections.

The exhibit features an astonishing number of pieces, well over 100 dresses from both mu-seums and private collections. Each piece is so well placed that the exhibit allows the visitor to be awed, not overwhelmed, by the couture. Color is complimented, styles are contrasted,

Please Turn to Page 7

‘Picasso of Fashion’ on Display

What You Should Be Listening To

The Column.ARIEL APPLBAUM

A Royal Mistake of Epic Proportions

Please Turn to Page 8

BlackB

ookMag.com

Europe doesn’t like America. It starts with the revolutionary war when we broke free from

British rule. Then in 1812 the Brits burn down the White House. We’ve been pitted against Europeans, albeit not the British, in both of the world wars. The most recent though, and certainly most egregious of all the insults, came in the form of not coming: the Obamas did not receive an invitation to the wed-ding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

The wedding was a massive spec-tacle, watched by billions and covered to a tee by an eager press, and yet they somehow neglected an invite for one of their strongest allies and friends, little ol’ America.

How careless of them. One can only hope they’ll fire the bloody fool who

forgot to send the invite to the Leader of the Free World and his beautiful wife, but remembered one for Kanye West.

What could be behind this terrible insult? I have come up with four pos-sible conclusions as to why the Obamas weren’t invited.

Conclusion One: Michelle Obama once hugged the Queen. Quite the anti-hug woman, the Queen didn’t want to risk it happening again.

Conclusion Two: The wedding was not an official state occasion, so the royal couple was under no diplomatic obligation to invite world leaders and opted to invite guests with whom they had some personal connection.

Conclusion Three: Racism. “The

Please Turn to Page 8

He plays Troy in the NBC com-edy Community. He won an Emmy as a writer for another

NBC program, 30 Rock and his Comedy Central stand-up special aired last year. Donald Glover is, without a doubt, quite the talent, but often overlooked is his work as an exquisite rapper.

Glover’s first foray into music came in the summer of 2008 when he released Sick Boi, a mixtape, under the name Childish Gambino. The mixtape got little publicity, but Glover kept at it releas-ing Poindexter in 2009, and another two ironically titled mixtapes in 2010. Highlighting his wide array of talents as a writer, actor, comedian and producer, Glover called his 2010 duo I Am Just a Rapper and I Am Just a Rapper 2.

On the “Rapper” mixtapes, Glover smartly chooses popular indie songs to rap over, giving the listener something

unique. This is exemplified in the track “Look At Me Now,” Childish Gambino lyrical themes range from his childhood as a schoolyard outcast to his current suc-

Been There.ZOE FRANKEL

Restaurant With JCHS Ties Features Delicious Carnival Fare

Are you in the mood for a traditional car-nival funnel cake, or maybe a deli-

cious hamburger placed between two Krispy-Kreme-like dough-nuts? Head over to Straw, the only restaurant in Hayes Valley to of-fer a game of bean-bag toss over a candle-lit dinner.

Months before the restau-rant had even opened, a sign was placed on the door for lo-cals and stroller-bys to guess the opening date; this fit per-fectly with the carnival theme.

On January 24, Marketing Manager at JCHS, Maura Fein-gold and her husband, Ari Fein-gold, opened the revolutionary restaurant that has now become the most searched place on Yelp, the website allowing us-ers to comment on local busi-nesses, in the San Francisco area.

When asked about how the idea for a carnival theme res-taurant came about, Mr. Fein-gold said he “was working at a San Francisco street festival and realized how excited ev-eryone was getting about eat-ing festival food. I figured it would be nice to open a place so that folks could enjoy their fes-tival favorites 365 days a year.”

Just a few months old, Straw

has already received a great deal of local, and even some na-tional, media hype. From vari-ous “foodie” blogs and nearly one hundred positive reviews on Yelp, to an entire segment on ABC 7Live local news, Straw seems to have opened at the per-fect time for the neighborhood.

Feingold says the most ex-citing piece of press has been a write up in the Wall Street Jour-nal. “It brought a few tears to my eyes when they called and frankly it’s doing the same right

now just thinking about it.” What makes this new phe-

nomenon of carnival food so popular? Maybe it’s the vintage Tilt-a-Whirl booth that sits right in the window of the restaurant, or the classic Fried Chicken n’ Waffle Monte Cristo (fried chick-en, Belgian waffle, raspberry jam and melted Swiss cheese), which Feingold says is the most popular item on the menu.

Senior Sophia Wilkof says she loves the homey atmosphere that Straw provides. “The wait-

ers and waitresses are so friendly and welcoming, but the food is by far the best part. The sweet potato tater tots with black-berry BBQ sauce are the best way to start off a fantastic meal.”

To many, these gourmet com-binations may seem odd, but I can tell you first hand that they are absolutely delicious, and if you think the main courses sound good, you have to try desserts. A classic carnival treat is the root beer float. To go with the wacky theme of the restaurant, Straw calls their own rendition “The Inverted Root Beer Float,” which is served with root beer ice cream and cream soda: a mouthwater-ing way to end the meal. From the decadent colors on the hand-painted mural that reads “Straw,” to the stacks of fun house mirrors in the bathroom, Straw has every-thing carnival related, and more.

Even though Straw has re-ceived such terrific press and feed-back from various Bay-Area eat-ers, Ms. Feingold claims the most rewarding aspect of her restau-rant has been “the extraordinary support of the JCHS community. Students and members of the pro-fessional community have come to the restaurant in groups, have brought their families, and have even come back multiple times.”Bottom Three: John Storey via the San

Francisco Chronicle

John Storey/San Francisco Chronicle

Photographs and sketch from the Balenciaga Archives. From left: a studio sketch of a gown from winter 1957, a wedding dress from sum-mer 1968 influenced by nun outfits, house photo of dress from summer 1960 and, top, evening cape from winter 1962. Photos courtesy of the de Young Museum.

and each piece stands alone as well as it does in concert with the rest of the collection.

I also quite enjoyed the monumental displays of famous Spanish paintings and Spanish bullfights that serve as backdrops to the garments. Not only do they provide for an engaging aesthetic feature, but they reinforce the influence that Spanish culture had on Balenciaga.

The last room of the exhibit, my personal favorite, showcases the influence of the Spanish Court and religion of Balenciaga. The room creates a powerful aesthetic through both presenta-tion and the use of the monu-mental art. It does this without overpowering the couture; on the contrary, the dresses shine in the last room more than anywhere else. The pieces, with elaborate beading, colors and structure, are powerful alone, but when placed in front of the art, they become contextually relevant: the goal of the exhibit.

However, I was left longing for the context of the fashion world of which Balenciaga’s pieces were a part. I found myself fol-lowing Balenciaga’s personal

evolution, and the way Spain influenced that, but I saw little of his progression and revolution-ary styles as they related to other designers of the time.

I went on an afternoon docent tour of the exhibit, which was helpful in providing informa-tion and context otherwise left unmentioned by the limited text provided in the exhibit.

The docent emphasized Balen-ciaga’s deep belief that women should look their very best in clothing, and that this should be achieved though the cut of the fabric and design of the garment rather than wires or corsets, very common when Balenciaga began his career in the late 1930s.

The idea that clothes should be made to fit and flatter the women was revolutionary at a time when fashion was intended to control

women, not empower them. Balenciaga firmly believed no woman should be a slave to her garments and that every woman possessed her own beauty.

Unfortunately, despite the do-cent’s strong emphasis on Balen-ciaga’s belief in the beauty of ev-ery woman’s figure, there seemed to be little evidence of this in the exhibit. Perhaps it was a case of the exhibit being held hostage by same-sized mannequins, but each garment appeared to be nearly the same size—petite. I wanted to see Balenciaga’s defi-ance of the trends of the time.

The docent went into great detail explaining how Balen-ciaga flattered his larger clients’ figures, and had there been more

representation of larger and dif-ferently sized clothing, I would have been even more impressed.

Overall, the collection and organization of “Balenciaga and Spain” was stellar, and right on point in creating a powerful showing of Spain on his clothing. Regrettably, the exhibit failed to display Balenciaga’s radical beliefs on women’s beauty and could have done more to put his clothes in a context that com-pared them with other dresses of the time. Still, regardless of its minor flaws, the exhibit is a thing of true beauty. Spectacu-lar presentation and powerful

Continued from Page Six

FOODDailycandy.com

FASHIONBalenciaga Was Influenced by Land and Culture of Spain

fashion combine to create a clear message: Balenciaga is truly a master. The de Young has done him justice.

7THE OBSERVERJune 2011

Straw is located at 203 Octavia Blvd. in S.F. Hours: M-F, 5pm-10pm; Sat. 10am-3pm; Sun. 10am-3pm, 5pm-9pm. (415) 431-3663.

Balenciaga and Spain:

Until July 4 @ the de Young Museum, San Francisco

Tickets: $15 youth 6-17 $21 students with current ID, $25 adults. Free for members. [$5 discount for ordering in advance]

The Look.SHAI TABB

OBSERVER STYLE & ARTS EDITOR

It’s spring, almost sum-mer! That means it’s time to break out those flip flops, right? Well,

maybe it’s not always quite that warm in this crazy city-without-seasons that we call San Francisco, but spring does mean new trends, and in this city, that counts for a lot.

Walking down Haight Street. and seeing those fashionable twenty-somethings, don’t you always wish you could pull off that super cute skirt, or those strappy sandals? I’ll be the first to admit trying something new is scary, but that’s what spring is all about. Remember that dress you saw in the little bou-tique last weekend? Now’s the time to buy it!

To give you some ideas on what to add to your wardrobe, here are a few of examples Spring 2011’s trendiest trends!

Continued from Page Six

A JEANS JACKET

is light for spring, and

goes with just about

everything, except for jeans

of course.

Fun and easy, a

FLORAL DRESS

is perfect

for spring.

You don’t

need lots of lay-

ers, which would

mean too much

clothing for sunny weather,

to pull it off.

NEUTRAL COLORS are the current trend with articles of clothing, so make sure to pick up a cute tan dress or some white jeans.

Wedge sandals are making a comeback, but if you’re uncomfortable wearing

a heeled shoe to school, these

ESPADRILLES are the next best thing.

Paired with a cute dress or jeans,

they make any outfit ready

for spring.Clockwise from Left: Colorful Character Dress ($74.99) by Modcloth, V-Neck Jersey Top ($10.50) by Forever 21, Ownah Stripe Espadrilles ($14.99) by Women’s Mossimo Supply Com-pany, 70’s Trucker Jacket ($79.50) by Levi Strauss & Co.

“Style & Arts” is online @

bit.ly.com/ObserverStyle

FASHION

MUSICDonald Glover as Childish Gambino

Jonathan Koifm

an

SOCIETYKate and Will’s Royal Mistake

British royal family is racist?” you ask, “I had no idea!” Yes! You didn’t know? They’re the KKK of England! There is, in truth, zero evidence to suggest any such thing. I’m just celebrating my first amendment rights as an American im-mune from the strict British libel laws.

Conclusion Four: Europeans flat out don’t like America.

Conclusion two is probably the answer, but personally I favor conclu-sion four. In my travels, every occasion I’ve been in Europe I’ve encountered incredibly rude people.

I cannot say all Europeans are rude, but the Spanish, British, Italians, Poles, Austrians, Czechs, and worst of all, the French are, without a doubt, incredibly rude. Below I’ve included a list of my terrible European experiences.

In Spain I was in desperate need of bottled water. I went to exchange my dollars for Euros. I arrived at a bank that seemed quite promising. There was an elderly woman in line ahead of me shuffling her papers on the counter. I politely asked if the bank exchanged money. The employee wouldn’t answer me. Finally the woman left. I walked up to the clerk and got a one word answer as he shooed me out of the bank.

Feeling patriotic as I walked the streets of London, I sported a “God Bless America” shirt. A man, apparently disappointed with his country’s lack

of military might, freedom and good, honest capitalism, spat on the ground in front of me, offering his profane take on “God Bless America.”

My family wanted reservations for a restaurant, so we had our tour guide make it since he spoke French. We ar-rived at the restaurant exactly on time and the man at the front desk started talking to us in French, ushering us toward one of the many open tables. We explained we didn’t understand him, that we were from America. He responded in broken English that there were no available tables, a look of dis-gust on his face.

So perhaps it’s no great surprise that the royal family had the nerve to disrespect America’s First Family. But they should take under advisement that while they have their royal weddings, we have 5,113 warheads in our nuclear arsenal, a number Obama is looking to reduce. It might be in their best inter-est to have an American president front and center when Prince Harry takes the alter.

Continued from Page Sixcess--“I was never worried bout my wallet being empty / Cause when it was empty, I was still happy / Walkin’ with my Walk-man, freestyle rappin / High school bullies like what the hell happened”--to boasting about women--“I can’t do one thing, I’m just too good / I can’t do one thing, I am Tiger Woods”--to classic, unrestricted boasting--“Run the track like my tongue’s an Olympian / I’ve always been this good, you just weren’t listening.”

His songs bulge with clever one liner pop culture references: “I’ll always be childish, call me Maggie Simpson...”; “I’m the boss, Michael Scott, y’all haters are just Phyllis.”

In March, Glover released the fittingly named EP, EP. “Freaks And Geeks,” ap-pearing on EP is arguably his best song

to date. The lyrics are clever, vulgar and “childish” as ever, his flow unstoppable, as he delivers lines at a breakneck pace; the double entendres sprinkled throughout the track--“I am runnin’ this bitch, you are just a dog walker...”--are devilishly satisfy-ing and unforgettable.

Graduating from NYU with a degree in Dramatic Writing, Glover is quite the intellectual, and it shows in his music. While like most rappers, he writes about material possessions and women, his lyrics are far more clever, personal, and thought-provoking. His self-awareness--“Here I go again talkin’ money, women, and clothes, and cars, right?”--is a breath of fresh air. In an industry so fraught with self-absorbed characters, Glover as Child-ish Gambino addresses the typical themes with unusual earnesty, self-reflection and irony.

Buckingham Palace would not survive an American nuclear strike.

Wikipedia

8THE OBSERVERJune 2011

The ObserverJune 2011 Page Nine

How We Are Failing Our VeteransThe government’s responsibility for soldiers doesn’t end when they come home from battle. Funding for veterans’ services should reflect that.

Views

No one likes being in a hospital. Even as a visitor, hospitals just give off bad vibes. Now imagine this the typical hospital filled to capacity by

people not just going in for a quick appointment, or to fill a prescription, but by those who need old wound tended to. People who are tired of waking covered in a cold sweat, people wanting noth-ing more than an end to their vivid nightmares.

Such is the reality of Veterans Affairs medical centers. As dreadful as this image may sound on the surface, we need VA hospitals because there are so many veterans that need treatment.

The VA is a department of the federal government, the second-largest after the De-partment of Defense and it’s strictly concerned with the wellbeing of American military veterans.

Congress has consistently under funded the Department of Veterans Affairs for decades. We see the evidence in the thou-sands of struggling veterans who still roam the streets in their Vietnam War uniforms.

The irony behind all of this is that Con-

gress dedicates so many of our tax dollars to the military. In 2008, 4.3% of our gross domestic product was spent on the military, which comes out to $684 billion and is more than the military spending of every other country on earth, combined. In 2009, $130 billion was allocated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while just $95.4 billion was allocated for the entirety of veteran services.

Congress needs to realize that a war does not end when the troops come home, and that veterans need the proper resources to heal their physical and emo-tional wounds so they can fully reintegrate into society.

Achieving a new life of normalcy after war is a brutally difficult task. Much of this is due to psychiatric ailments such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The reason PTSD is so brutal is because it causes reoc-curring flashbacks of traumatic incidences, and thus it spawns anger, lack of sleep, and/or hyper-vigilance, an in-tense state of sensitivity in order to detect threats. These symptoms can lead to many bad habits to cope, includ-ing violence, drug abuse, and depression. Many of these habits can lead to lethal ends, marital or social problems, and illegal activity. Since the Vietnam War, 30% of sol-diers have been diagnosed with PTSD. Between 2003 and 2008, more than 40,000 soldiers were diagnosed with PTSD, including 17,000 in 2007 alone. This number re-sembles 20% of soldiers returning home, but is flawed because many soldiers don’t even admit their illness.

The reality that so many veterans still suffer like this is particularly disappointing due to heightened awareness of PTSD since it be-came recognized as an illness in the last 30 years, and the current technology and thera-pies available to treat it. With the current Obama Administration having issued a large VA spending bill in 2009, the hope is that VA hospitals will receive greater funding, and that our research will improve the way we can treat and prevent psychiatric illnesses.

The relevance of the veteran issue to the JCHS community is greater than one may re-alize. In our school alone there are military veterans from several countries, and perhaps some of us have relatives who served. Some are lucky enough to avoid any traumatic expe-riences, while others are still haunted by the memory. There are many ways to get involved to help local veterans, such as going to a VA hospital (there is one on Clement and they are always looking and need volunteers) or as simple as spreading awareness of these issues.

Jake Rosenberg takes on the New York Time’s new

internet pay wall Page Ten

By MARTIN STILLMAN& BENNY SOSNICK

This article was written in conjunction with Stillman and Sosnick’s Keystone presentations.

Illu

stra

tion

by

Arn

o R

osen

feld

THE OBSERVERest. April 2010

Jewish Community High School of the Bay

Arno Rosenfeld (’12) - Co-Editor in chief

Ellijah Jatovsky (’12) - Co-Editor in chief

Micah Fenner (’12) - Opinion Editor

Sophie Navarro (’12) - Sports Editor

Shai Tabb (’13) - Style Editor

Jake Rosenberg (’14) - Deputy Editor, World News

Daniela Kessel (’13) - Photography Editor

Maddy Zacks/Sofi Hecht (’11/’13) - Co-Copy Editors

David Edelman (’12) - Business

Karie Rubin - Faculty Adviser

Maura Feingold - Printing

Life, the Universe, and Everything/Talia Beck

What does any self respecting business institution do to its

loyal, respected customer base? It bleeds them for every penny they’ve got. This is exactly what the New York Times, that hal-lowed consortium that Ameri-cans have relied on for so long, has done with the introduction of their pay-wall, an ingenious strategy to alienate themselves from prevalent societal and eco-nomic norms. If a reader wants to read more than 20 articles a month, they have to purchase a subscription to the paper and its online archives. These readers who so foolishly want more than

New York Time’s Internet Pay Wall an Unwise Decision

the allotted number of free ar-ticles are dubbed “frequent read-ers” and they make up 15 percent of all NYT readers.

The NYT has made a grave mistake considering their largely volatile audience, holding on to old-fashioned notions of “sub-scriptions” and “brand loyalty.” By making full access to their site available only through subscrip-tion, they’ve placed themselves in direct contradiction with what society wants, which happens to be instant and free informa-tion. The NYT may have over a century worth of reliability and excellence in reporting behind it, but the quality of the informa-tion no longer matters to today’s audiences. They will be satisfied with whatever information they

can get, no matter how well writ-ten or how reliable. Other sites and newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal offer their stories for free, not to mention the mil-lions of blogs and apps delivering free news by the second.

The NYT’s move is nostalgic for an age when people were loyal to their newspaper and cared where their news came from. For better or worse, news junkies today don’t want what’s the trust-worthiest, but whatever is the fastest and most up-to-date. For them, the New York Times pay-wall is an unnecessary speed bump, which makes them want to opt for the short cut and find another place to get their news fix.

By JAKE ROSENBERG

Illustration by Arno Rosenfeld

To our readers

In light of Elijah Jatovsky’s election as Knesset President, he will be resigning his role as Co-Editor in Chief for The Observer, effective after publication of this issue. The Observer thanks Elijah for his work on the paper and wishes him luck in his future endeavors. He will remain a committed staff writer. Arno Rosenfeld will take over as sole Editor in Chief until further notice.

The new Observer website, ObserverJCHS.com officially launches today. Please visit to see a full archive of articles dating back to April 2010, plus color pictures, videos, and more.

online preview

With its 600 million members, Facebook ,and social net-

working in general, is becoming ingrained in our society and culture. Just five years after its creation, Facebook is one of the most popular websites in the world. But just how much is Facebook really a part of our lives? What are we losing and what are we gaining? For my key-stone project, I researched those questions. As part of my presen-tation, I decided to research how JCHS Facebook users compare to the average Facebook user. I polled around 50 students and got the following results.

The average Facebook user spends 23 minutes on each visit to Facebook. If you figure about 3 to 4 visits per day, that’s about an hour to an hour and a half in total. But, how about the average JCHS user? My results showed that 29% of students polled said they spend 2-3 hours on Face-book per day, and 27% said they spend 1-2 hours. 22% said they spend less than an hour, 14% said 3-4 hours, and 8% said 5 or more hours. Judging by the results we can infer that most of the stu-dents are around average, maybe just a little more in some cases.

How about the number of friends a JCHS user has com-pared to the average user? I found that the average Facebook user has around 130 friends. When I polled JCHS students, 59% said they had around 500 friends. In addition, 14% said around 400 friends, 13% said around 300, and only 2% of people said they had fewer than 100 friends. The results here are completely above average. Do most of us really know 500 people? I don’t think so, but it’s still an impressive number.

Now that we’ve seen just how much Facebook is a part of our lives and our world, we need to tackle the big issue: is it ultimate-ly helpful, or hurtful? Let’s list a few negatives that social net-works can bring us. First, Social networking sites have no way to verify that people are who they claim to be. This can leave people vulnerable to solicitations from online predators who can hide their true identities. We’ve all been given the lectures about the sexual predators and staying safe online, and some of us may have just blown it off. But, did you know in February 2009, MySpace identified 90,000 registered sex offenders with profiles on the site? Facebook even declined to give a list of the ones they found. That’s pretty scary if you ask me.

Next, users are vulnerable to security attacks such as hacking...

This article was written in conjuc-tion with Feldman’s Keystone pre-sentation. To read the full article and learn how Facebook changes the way we interaction and com-ment and participate in an online poll go to Observer.JCHS.com

Facebook’s EffectNow we have to ask

this important ques-tion: How does this af-fect the way we inter-act with each other?

10THE OBSERVERJune 2011

media