The Spectator

The Pulse
of the
Student
Body
December 18, 2013 stuyspectator.com
The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper
Volume CIV No. 7
Alumnus Paolo Singer
Awarded Rhodes Scholarship
SING! Faces Scheduling Changes
By TINA JIANG
and DAVID MASCIO
By the time opening night
arrives, hundreds of students
will have lent a hand to cre-
ate SING!, whether as danc-
ers, set-builders, musicians, or
actors and actresses. While its
members may not appear on
the stage, the Student Union
(SU) plays an important role
in making SING! a possibility.
Each fall, the SU President, Vice
President, and cabinet mem-
bers work with SU faculty advi-
sor Lisa Weinwurm to develop
SING!, choosing SING! coor-
dinators for each production
and dates for the performances.
Most years, SING! is sched-
uled for the rst week of March.
Due to a particularly crowded
schedule, however, choosing
a date for SING! this year was
more difcult than usual. The
SU had proposed three possible
times for SING!: the rst, sec-
ond, and third weeks of March,
each of which had its own issues.
The rst week of March was
problematic in that there would
be too little time to rehearse.
According to Junior SING! Co-
ordinator Emily Ruby, having
more days to practice will be
essential this year, because the
administration has decided that
SING! practices after school can
no longer last past ve p.m. In
previous years, students were
often permitted to practice until
eight p.m. It would have been a
lot harder to put things together
like [we did] last year, when we
could stay at school longer, even
though SING! was scheduled
for the rst week, Ruby said.
The second week of March is
a weekend when many juniors
are planning to take their SATs.
The nal round of the Intel Sci-
ence Talent Search Competi-
tion will also be taking place.
On the third Saturday of
March, Stuyvesant will be host-
ing a Speech and Debate tour-
namentthe Catholic Forensics
League Debate and Congress
Grandand the administration
did not wish to schedule two
events on the same weekend.
Report cards will also come out
during this time, possibly re-
sulting in students being pulled
out in the midst of preparation.
In the end, Weinwurm and
Assistant Principal of Organiza-
tion (APO) Saida Rodriguez-Ta-
bone chose the second week of
March for SING!, believing this
would cause the fewest distur-
bances in everyones schedules.
Many juniors are now wor-
ried about SING! and the SAT
occurring at the same time.
The last few weeks leading up
to the exam will coincide with
rehearsals, and students may
also have to perform after a
four-hour test in the morning.
I respectfully dislike this in the
most disdainful manner pos-
sible, junior AnneGail More-
land said. We have too much to
worry about as it is, and to have
a school tradition like SING!
land on an unprecedented and
hectic date is unbelievable.
Some students, on the oth-
er hand, believe that the new
date for SING! will not be a
problem. We have around two
months until SING! starts, and
it wont have any effects on the
actual performance. Last year
I took my SATs around SING!
and it went ne, SU Presi-
dent Eddie Zilberbrand said.
Aside from concerns about
SING!s chosen date, students
were unhappy with the way in
which the scheduling conict
was handled. I am frustrated
at the lack of communication
between the administration
and the SU involving SING!
dates. The situation and the
administrations position
were never quite clear, and
the decision was not made in
a timely fashion, Ruby said.
Senior and SU Chief of Staff
Sweyn Venderbush concurred,
believing that the problems in
scheduling stemmed from the
administrations mismanage-
ment. Tabone knew what we
did last year, yet she didnt take
that into consideration. She
just doesnt really care to make
the effort, Venderbush said.
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By REBECCA CHANG
and LARISA JIAO
Alumnus Paolo Singer (09)
was among 32 Americans select-
ed from a pool of 800 applicants
as Rhodes Scholar-Elect for the
Rhodes Scholarship this year.
Named after English politician
and businessman Cecil Rhodes,
the Rhodes Scholarship is one of
the most selective international
fellowships. It aims to reward
college students who display
academic achievement, willing-
ness to help others, and the po-
tential to become future leaders.
Once you get to the in-
terview phase, everyone is so
qualied for the scholarship.
I could not even process what
was even happening [when
they announced the win-
ners], Singer said. I was very
surprised and very happy.
Rhodes Scholars receive two-
year scholarships to Oxford Uni-
versity, as well as a monthly sti-
pend for accommodations and
living expenses. Both are paid
for by the Rhodes Trust, a British
charity that was established to
honor Rhodess will. Despite re-
ceiving the scholarship, winners
are not guaranteed admission,
and are still required to apply for
a full-time postgraduate course
before the deadline in January.
In order to apply for one of the
32 slots available to Americans,
prospective applicants must be
citizens of the United States be-
tween the ages of 18 and 24 and
have attained at least one Bach-
elors Degree. In addition, they
must also submit ve to eight
letters of recommendation, a
personal essay of 1,000 words
briey describing their pro-
posed major at Oxford, and a r-
sum listing extracurricular ac-
tivities. After this, 12 applicants
are selected from each of the 16
districts for interviews conduct-
ed by a panel of eight judges
consisting of previous Rhode
Scholars or community leaders.
At Stuyvesant, Singer was
heavily inuenced by his peers
and teachers, who motivated
him to work toward his goals.
Youre able to value education
more when youre surrounded
by people who value educa-
tion, Singer said. Being in that
environment really prepares
you for college. As the budget
director for the Student Union,
a member of the Stuyvesant
Theater Community, and a part
of multiple crews of SING! all
four years, he was exposed to
many different aspects of the
school community and con-
nected with a variety of stu-
dents with a variety of interests.
By GABRIEL ROSEN
and JENNIFER LEE
The Specialized High School
Admissions Test (SHSAT) may
receive its rst challenge in
decades. Mayor-elect Bill de
Blasio, who will replace Mayor
Michael Bloomberg in January,
ran his campaign on reducing
inequality throughout the city,
specically racial inequality
within New Yorks specialized
high schools. Statistically, ap-
proximately 12 percent of stu-
dents attending specialized high
schools are African American or
Latino, even though those eth-
nicities make up half of the New
York City population. [The
specialized high schools] are
the academies for the next gen-
eration of leadership in all sec-
tors of the city, and they have to
continued on page 2
De Blasio Challenges SHSAT
continued on page 2
In an attempt to address racial inequalities, mayor-elect Bill de Blasio plans to reform the
specialized high school admissions process.
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(Pictured) Edward Li (12) as David Blaine
in Senior SING! 2012. Despite decisions to
ban the mosh-pit and post scores online
after the Saturday show in 2012, SING!
has still been a success. Facing major
scheduling issues this year, SING! faces
new uncertainties.
continued on page 3
Professor Robert Blecker
of New York Law School,
advocate of death pen-
alty use in extreme cases
and author of The Death
of Punishment, gave a lec-
ture at Stuyvesant on Mon-
day, December 16. Blecker
spoke about the history of
the death penalty and its
merits.
Principal Jie Zhang received
the WCBS Radio Womens
Achievement Award for her
work in education. She was
honored at a ceremony on
Wednesday, December 11.
One hundred percent of
students in Economics
teacher Catherine McRoy-
Mendells classes passed
the National Finance Lit-
eracy Test. Economics
teacher Catherine McRoy-
Mendell will be recognized
as a Gold Star Teacher.
Stuyvesant, however, failed
to rank in the top 25 of
schools for performance
the test.
The Stuyvesant Speech and
Debate team placed 4th at
the George Mason Univer-
sity tournament, which
attracted more than 3000
competitors.
Newsbeat
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News
Page 2 The Spectator December 18, 2013
I wouldve seen him more
as a theater and arts type of
guy and I never thought of him
becoming a Rhodes Scholar,
alumnus Alon Sicherman (09)
said. At the same time, its su-
per awesome that hes [in] a
big and super ofcial realm.
Singer was also inuenced by
his teachers. Ive had a few very
awesome mentors [and] cer-
tain teachers who just [opened]
up a whole new world of pos-
sibilities, Singer said. I never
thought I would be good at Eng-
lish until I had a teacher who
would believe in me and saw
that I could be good at English.
English teacher Rosa Maz-
zurco fondly recalls Singer in her
Existentialism class. He always
seemed to be the sort of person
who did what he loved because
he loved it, Mazzurco said.
As a senior at Harvard Uni-
versity, Singer is majoring in
economics and government.
Before actually deciding what I
wanted to concentrate in, I went
through a lot of different pos-
sibilities [such as] philosophy
and social theory and environ-
mental science, Singer said.
In his freshman year, he
was involved in a nonprot or-
ganization known as Cultural
Survival and worked with in-
digenous groups in Kenya and
Panama. In addition, while trav-
eling abroad to South Africa and
China during summer break
of his freshman, he was able to
study the effect of urban geogra-
phy on those countries econo-
mies. In his sophomore year,
Singer had the chance to travel
to India to improve slum condi-
tions and reduce poverty levels.
I felt like I was learning
something every daysome-
thing I had never seen before or
couldnt really understand really
well, Singer said. [My question
was], how can we use econom-
ics as a tool for really transform-
ing the way that we understand
growth? After his experiences,
Singer decided to focus his stud-
ies at Harvard on how to use eco-
nomics to improve conditions
in underdeveloped countries.
This was supplemented by
an internship Singer completed
at the White House in his junior
year and a mentorship and edu-
cational civics program he start-
ed for under-resourced and un-
derprivileged students in Boston.
At Oxford, Singer plans to
advance his studies in econom-
ics, politics, government, and
geography. He is excited to be
attending school in another
country, and especially cannot
wait to experience a new culture
there. Its a different perspec-
tive on how people are thinking
about economics and develop-
ment, he said. It will be re-
ally amazing to see how people
are thinking about these top-
ics, [and] Ill be surrounded by
such a different group of people
who have had such different
life experiences than I have.
Singer has come a long way
since graduating from Stuyve-
sant. With the knowledge he has
gained from high school, col-
lege, and traveling around the
world, he encourages current
Stuyvesant students to leave
their comfort zones. You have
to nd what makes you tick,
and what makes you get up ev-
ery morning, and what makes
you excited, Singer said. Put-
ting yourself out there is really
the best advice I could give.
continued from page 1
Alumnus Paolo Singer
Awarded Rhodes Scholarship
reect the city better, de Blasio
said in an October interview
with the New York Daily News.
De Blasio vows to change
the admissions process for ac-
ceptance into specialized high
schools. As he proposes supple-
menting the SHSAT with other
factors for admission, such as
middle school transcripts, in-
terviews, and extracurricular
activities. He believes that this
will increase racial diversity
among specialized high school
students and provide bet-
ter educational opportunities
for lower-income families. De
Blasio further argues that the
SHSAT creates a phenomenon
in which wealthy families can
afford test prep courses while
less wealthy ones cannot, thus
perpetuating poverty cycles and
maintaining racial inequality.
I agree with de Blasio that
theres some kind of inequality
here, but he should be push-
ing for better study programs
in schools to level the play-
ing eld, junior and African
American Sayid El-Saieh said.
My middle school, I.S. 318,
gave me free SHSAT prep, and
[because of it] I was one of
three kids [from I.S. 318] to
get accepted to Stuyvesant.
In order to counter this in-
equality, Department of Edu-
cation Chancellor Dennis Wal-
cott announced the formation
of a free test-prep service for
eligible youths to help them
gain entrance into special-
ized high schools in April 2012.
The DREAM - The Special-
ized High Schools Institute
program is a 22-month prep
course for students who dem-
onstrate academic excellence
and are economically disad-
vantaged. This program was
created with the intention of
increasing diversity within the
specialized high schools. It will
complete its rst cycle of stu-
dents one month after de Bla-
sio is inaugurated as mayor.
Many argue that programs
like this are not necessary, be-
cause the specialized high school
student bodies reect signi-
cant economic diversity already.
In fact, 46 percent of Stuyvesant
students qualify for free or re-
duced lunch, and 33.69 percent
are eligible for free lunch, run-
ning to contrary to de Blasios
claim that the SHSAT creates a
rich-get-richer phenomenon.
De Blasios calls for future
reform are already encoun-
tering resistance. New York
States Hecht-Calandra Act of
1972 reserves the SHSAT as the
sole factor for admissions into
Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and
Brooklyn Tech. This means that
de Blasio must consult the gov-
ernor and the State Legislature
if he wishes to uniformly alter
the criteria for specialized high
school admissions. The law as
it stands was designed to pro-
tect the unique character of
the original three specialized
high schools. One reason cited
by critics to overturn the law is
that it inadvertently facilitates
racial inequality. The NAACP, for
example, lodged a legal com-
plaint this year with the United
States Education Department,
alleging that the city violates
the Civil Rights Act of 1964
through its use of the SHSAT
as the sole criteria for special-
ized high school admissions.
Support exists for de Blasios
proposed reforms within the
Legislature. I believe we can
and should use other criteria in
addition to testing to allow for
a more diverse student popu-
lation and give everyone an
opportunity to reach their full
potential, Democrat and State
Legislature Speaker Sheldon Sil-
ver said in an October interview
with the New York Daily News.
Many Stuyvesant students
and faculty members, however,
oppose this new plan for admis-
sions. If more racial diversity in
the specialized high schools is
our goal, then we need to start
helping every student from a
much earlier age, senior Zane
Alpizar said. Investing more in
our schools is the best thing we
can do, not trying to make these
quick xes to issues that have a
much deeper root in our society.
Basing the admissions on
a single testthe SHSATis
enough, and it should stay ex-
actly as it is. Its not perfect, but
it is the best possible method,
and the students who get the
best scores deserve to get in,
Sophomore Caucus President
Krzysztof Hochlewicz said.
Others argue that changes to
the current admissions process
could put extra burdens on the
specialized high schools that
will negate any equalizing ben-
ets from the changes. High
schools just do not have the
availability of trained staff to go
through each and every student
that applies. The SHSAT allows
high schools to quickly and ef-
ciently set a mark that students
need to get into the respective
school, junior Kevin Yoo said.
Another point of contention
has been the de Blasios plans
to incorporate middle school
grades as a criterion. If you live
in a neighborhood that does
not have a lot of middle schools
with funding, then theyre not
going to have the same oppor-
tunities as other neighborhoods
that do get better funding.
Youre going to end up with the
same student makeup or close
to it, guidance counselor John
Mui said. Mui, however, be-
lieves that it is too early to judge
de Blasios plans. The ques-
tion is: what additional mea-
sures [will he] use? Mui said.
Some of de Blasios support-
ers claim that incorporating
additional factors into the ad-
missions process while keeping
the SHSAT could be a fair com-
promise between the two sides
of the issue. Its unfair for one
test to dene your high school
career, and possibly, your whole
life, junior Soa Hargil said.
There are many [additional]
factors outside of the SHSAT
that need to be considered.
De Blasio still has time be-
fore his inauguration to nalize
his stance on the issue; howev-
er, until he decides on a course
of action, the current system is
to remain in place. Im not in a
position to say what de Blasios
choice should be, but I hope
that whatever he decides upon
will help students across the
city, Principal Jie Zhang said.
De Blasio Challenges SHSAT
continued from page 1
By ALEXANDRINA DANILOV
with additional reporting by
REBECCA CHANG
Stuyvesants Speech and
Debate Team came out on top
in the team sweepstakes at the
34th annual Villiger Invitational
Tournament. English teacher
and Speech and Debate Team
coach Julie Sheinman received
the Championship Coach
Award for the teams victory. The
tournament took place on Sat-
urday, November 23 and Sun-
day, November 24 at St. Josephs
University in Philadelphia.
Students from 26 states
competed in this national invi-
tational, some from states as far
as Florida, according to senior
and Speech and Debate Team
President Jack Cahn. Stuyve-
sant competed in ten catego-
ries: Original Oratory, Dramatic
Performance, Declamation, Ex-
temporaneous Speaking, Oral
Interpretation, Duo Interpreta-
tion, Student Congress, Policy
Debate, Public Forum Debate,
and Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
This tournament is one of
the biggest events of the year
for the Speech and Debate
Team. This is one of the few
tournaments where Speech
and Debate go at the same
time as a unied team, senior
and Speech Captain Juliette
Hainline said. Its one of the
best bonding experiences.
Competing at invitation-
al tournaments like Villiger
takes a considerable amount
of dedication from members
of the team. The philosophy
of Speech and Debate is that
you get out of it what you put
in to it. At least a week before
Villiger, competitors practice
until ve. On a regular basis,
these members practice at
least two to three times a week
after school, Hainline said.
Many Stuyvesant students
had outstanding individual re-
sults. Senior Tahia Islam won
rst place in Dramatic Per-
formance, the team of sopho-
mores Danielle Hahami and
Rishika Jikaria won in Duo
Interpretation, and junior
Benedict Bolton won third
place in Student Congress.
Team members are proud
of their showing at the tourna-
ment. Stuyvesants win speaks
to the dedication of our stu-
dents and coaches, who pour
their hearts out preparing for
their respective speech and
debate events, Cahn said.
Sheinman was awarded the
Championship Coach Award,
which is given each year to the
coach whose team has won the
overall tournament. Stuyve-
sant has won the award over
twenty times. The rst win was
in 1986, two years after Shein-
man rst started coaching at
Stuyvesant. It isnt just like
we have a few good kids once
in a while. The team sustains
excellence, Sheinman said.
Sheinman stressed that
young members of the team
are consistently talented and
excited from year to year. Nov-
ice members of the team did
very well at Villiger. Fresh-
men Kate Johnston and Liam
Elkind placed fth and sixth,
respectively, in Oral Inter-
pretation, which Sheinman
called an amazing feat con-
sidering that they are compet-
ing against seniors who have
been competing for four years.
Sheinman stressed that the
victory was a product of the
talented team and all the other
coaches, not just her. I only win
the tournament because they
win the tournament, she said.
Members of the team be-
lieve that Sheinmans win is
well-deserved. She always
puts in a lot of ofce hours and
does a lot of organizational
work to help the team mem-
bers gain the experience they
need to be skilled and suc-
ceed nationally, Bolton said.
Ms. Sheinman is an or-
ganized individual who man-
ages to run the Speech and
Debate Team smoothly while
facilitating the growth of its
members, junior and de-
bater Daniel Poleshchuk, said.
Speech and Debate Team
Wins Villiger
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At this years Villiger Speech & Debate Tournament, coach Julie Sheinman was awarded
the Championship Coach Award.
Sheinman was
awarded the
Championship
Coach Award,
which is given
each year to the
coach whose
team has won
the overall
tournament.
News
Page 3 The Spectator December 18, 2013
She never reached out with
questions and didnt respond
to our requests to reach out to
her. When the SU approached
[Principal Jie] Zhang, she said
it wasnt her responsibility.
Anything thats a major school
event is her responsibility. At
the least, she could have signed
off on scheduling and made
sure things were working out.
Others, however, point
out that the new administra-
tors need time to adjust to
Stuyvesant. I think its unfair
to blame Zhang and Tabone
for the issues at hand here.
We need to realize that when
theres a new administration,
stuff like this tends to happen.
Theyre new at the business
and will naturally have some
hard time in the beginning, se-
nior Hassan Mohammed said.
Regardless of who is ul-
timately responsible for the
SING! problems, students are
planning their schedules ac-
cordingly. I honestly dont
know whose fault it is, or if its
just bad luck. Im taking the SAT
on the Saturday of SING! and I
know its going to be really hard
for me to participate, but laying
blame without all of the facts
is never a good idea, junior
Miranda Rose Chaiken said.
SING! Faces Scheduling Changes
continued from page 1
By SONIA EPSTEIN
and SHARON LEE
Students may have been
surprised to see a group of
unknown students enter-
ing their Mandarin classes on
Tuesday, December 3. These
students were visitors from
China who had traveled to the
United States for a four-day
Model United Nations (Model
UN) competition in Princeton,
New Jersey. They decided to
visit Stuyvesant two days be-
fore their competition began.
Their visit, which lasted
from around noon to 3:30 p.m.,
was meant to demonstrate how
an American high school com-
pared to Chinese schools. The
group totaled around 50 high
school students from three dif-
ferent schools in southwest
China. In addition to visiting
Stuyvesant, the students vis-
ited landmarks such as the
Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memo-
rial, World Trade Center, Times
Square, Fifth Avenue, and other
well-known areas in New York.
Upon their arrival at Stuyve-
sant, the students were given
a tour of the building by social
studies teacher and Model UN
faculty advisor Kerry Trainor
and Parent Coordinator Harvey
Blumm. The students visited
an assortment of classrooms,
including an Advanced Place-
ment (AP) Government class
taught by social studies teach-
er Matthew Polazzo. The tour
guides also brought the visit-
ing group into several Manda-
rin classes. The students were
able to exchange questions
with students in Mandarin.
They learned its not easy
teaching your own language.
They were pretty impressed with
[the Stuyvesant students] Man-
darin, the students chaperone
and economics teacher at the
Confucius International School
of Chengdu Mark Dunn said.
The students from China
were surprised to note the dif-
ferences between Stuyvesant
and their own school. [Stuyve-
sant High School was differ-
ent because] there were stu-
dents lounging around and
sitting on the oor. [There was
also] a much more rigorous PE
program than what [our stu-
dents] are used to, Dunn said.
The students wrote their
e-mails on the blackboard of
the classes they visited, giving
Stuyvesant students their con-
tact information for future use.
Stuyvesant students had the
chance to question the visiting
students about high schools in
China and what their schedules
were like. One of them recited
a poem from the days of Mao
Zedong in China and another
poem by Li Bai, so that was inter-
esting for the kids, Trainor said.
This is not the rst time
students from China have
visited, but it was still nice
to come back again, in par-
ticular to see the new World
Trade Center, Dunn said.
Students from China Visit Stuy
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Chinese high school students visited Stuyvesant on Tuesday, December 3 as part of their
trip to the United States for a Model UN conference at Princeton, NJ.
I am frustrated at the lack of com-
munication between the adminis-
tration and the SU involving SING!
dates.
Emily Ruby, junior SING!
coordinator
Ugly Sweaters
by the Photo Dept.
Features
Page 4 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Hallelujah!: The Messiah Comes (to Lincoln Center)
By BENJAMIN ATTAL
and ARIELLA KAHAN
How many chances do you
get to perform at Avery Fisher
Hall? said sophomore Lucy
Winokur, when asked why she
decided to give up her Thanks-
giving weekend to perform the
Messiah...Refreshed. For most
students, the answer to this
question is probably zero. How-
ever, Winokur, along with the
other members of Stuyvesants
choruses, had the unique op-
portunity to perform alongside
professional singers, soloists,
and musicians in the renowned
Avery Fisher Hall, a concert hall
in Lincoln Center with the ca-
pacity to seat up to 2,738 peo-
ple.
Assistant choral director
Liliya Shamazov was the main
force behind the events organi-
zation. Shamazov came up with
the idea of getting the Stuyve-
sant choruses to perform on
a professional stage when the
Carnegie Fellows, a chorus she
is part of, was invited to sing
with the Distinguished Con-
certs International - New York
(DCINY). I sang, and while we
were performing and rehearsing
they had high school choruses
and adults just like were doing
now, Shamazov said. I thought
this would be a really cool thing
for our children to sing on [the]
Lincoln Center stage. After
consulting choral director Holly
Hall, Shamazov decided to con-
tact the DCINY about possible
opportunities for the Stuyvesant
choruses. The DCINY told her
that Stuyvesant would need to
audition, so Shamazov sent a
CD of last years chorus singing
Beethovens Mass in C during
the spring concert. They loved
it, and they said they would love
to work with us, Shamazov
said.
After Stuyvesants partici-
pation in the performance was
nalized, there were logistical
issues to sort out, such as the
need for chaperones and re-
hearsal schedules. The chaper-
one issue was quickly remedied.
Numerous faculty members,
including Principal Jie Zhang,
English teacher Philip Mott, and
other music teachers and sub-
stitute teachers, volunteered to
not only take up this respon-
sibility, but also perform. In
order to prepare for the perfor-
mance, the choruses worked on
Handels Messiah, which they
also performed at the Winter
Concert, in class. There have
been ten additional afterschool
rehearsals, around two hours
each, primarily for the students
who decided to perform at Lin-
coln Center.
The music department has
been buzzing with excitement
this whole year in anticipation
of the concert. Its been fabu-
lous. Everyone is so excited, ev-
erybody is so energized, every-
one is loving the work, and it is
really hard work, Hall said.
Perhaps the reason the cho-
ruses are so excited is because
of the music they are perform-
ing. The Messiah is an orato-
rio, an opera lacking sets and
direct speech, and has been
sung widely ever since its com-
position in 1741. Its one of the
highlights of Western culture,
Shamazov said.
The Messiahs usage of bibli-
cal texts, stunning crescendos,
and intricate melodies contrib-
utes to its popularity, but they
also make it a difcult piece to
perform. It was really hard,
probably one of the most chal-
lenging compositions the cho-
rus has ever done, sophomore
Sophia Zheng said.
In addition to being a chal-
lenging piece, The Messiah has
other functions that extend be-
yond the concert hall. I think
another mission or another goal
is to promote classical music,
which is not as popular with
your generation, said Zhang,
who is very fond of The Mes-
siah and a fan of classical music.
She believes that performing
The Messiah will be effective in
reviving an interest in classical
music among current Stuyve-
sant students.
As excited as the faculty re-
sponsible for this event were, the
students were equally as enthu-
siastic about the performance.
Many were very eager to per-
form at Lincoln Center, which is
known for hosting many famous
ballets, operas, and concerts.
Performing at Lincoln Center is
an honor most people will never
be able to have, and this is prob-
ably the only time that Ill be
able to perform there in my life,
said senior Youbin Kim.
In addition to the current
chorus members, some of last
years seniors joined this years
chorus at the concert. We also
have alums who really wanted
to do it last year when we even
said it was [just] a possibility,
Shamazov said. Of the alumni
who participated in the event,
many had to learn The Messiah
by themselves, while others who
go to college in the city attended
the afterschool rehearsals be-
fore the performance.
Though students had the
chance to perform at Lincoln
Center, some students opted
out because they werent able to
commit to the extra rehearsals.
Many believed that the commit-
ment, in addition to sectionals,
afterschool rehearsals in which
chorus members are divided up
based on their vocal ranges, was
far too much to bear. Chorus is
supposed to be strictly a co-cur-
ricular activity, which means its
in school, and Ms. Hall is turn-
ing it into an extracurricular ac-
tivity, which some students, in-
cluding me, dont think is right,
one participating chorus mem-
ber said. But once we actually
start performing on the stage, I
will think its worth it, because
this is a once-in-a-lifetime op-
portunity and these types of op-
portunities take practice.
Students commuted to Av-
ery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
at eight a.m. on Sunday, Decem-
ber 1. Until the performance of
The Messiah began, choristers
intermittently rehearsed and
took breaks. At two p.m., when
the production began, Stuyve-
sants chorus members sang
alongside professional choruses
from around the world (includ-
ing two choruses from Canada
and one from Australia) and
were accompanied by a live
orchestra and soloists. Stuyve-
sants choruses, dressed in black
and white, sat next to men and
women from various other cho-
ruses on a series of benches
behind the orchestra and were
conducted by a professional
conductor. After the rst section
of the concert, all the choruses
exited the stage and sat on the
balcony surrounding the audi-
ence for the remainder of the
performance.
Though the whole show ex-
hibited amazing harmonies,
melodies, and dramatic chang-
es in volume, the most stunning
and well-done song was Halle-
lujah. During Hallelujah, ev-
eryone in the concert hall stood
up and listened as the choruses
on stage were joined by the cho-
ruses on the balcony. This par-
ticular performance of Halle-
lujah was especially impressive
because the audience heard the
beautiful song from all sides of
the concert hall.
Throughout Hallelujah,
everyone in the concert hall
looked around to see singers in
all directions. Some audience
members even violated Lincoln
Center rules and took out cam-
eras to capture the moment. In
addition to the surround-sound
effect that distinguished Halle-
lujah from the rest of the pieces,
the fact that this performance of
the oratorio was adapted for a
full chorus and orchestra made
the sound livelier and fuller.
Hall predicted how spectacular
Hallelujah would be before
the actual event, saying, all the
choruses that are in the hall are
going to rise up and sing Hal-
lelujah with the people on the
stage, which I think should be
really thrilling.
When the performance end-
ed, Hall, smiling widely, came
onto stage with the chorus di-
rectors of other groups and re-
ceived a huge round of applause
from the whole audience, which
included Stuyvesant parents,
students, alumni, and teachers.
It was very exciting, and I was
so proud of them, said Hall,
clearly happy about how the
concert turned out. I am still
very proud.
The quality and profes-
sionalism of the Messiah...Re-
freshed sets it apart from many
other past Stuyvesant chorus
performances. However, the
successful end product was not
the only thing that made it so
special for some of the perform-
ers. I thought it was not only a
great opportunity to perform at
Lincoln Center, but to represent
Stuyvesant High School there,
Kim said. Hopefully, this per-
formance marks the beginning
of Stuyvesant representation in
Lincoln Center.
While the music department
has not yet planned for another
performance outside of school,
the success of The Messiah
makes the expansion of Stuyve-
sants choruses beyond the
school walls likely. We would
like to do some other things in
general with the chorusestake
them out somewhere and share
the world of music so they ex-
perience the world of music
thats out there, just beyond our
walls, Shamazov said.

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Members of the Stuyvesant chorus sang during the performance of Handels Messiah at
Lincoln Centers Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday, December 1.
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The Spectator December 18, 2013 Page 6
Features
Jonathan Sondow: From Calculus Prize to a Lifelong Passion
By MCVVINA LIN
In the morning, he would
teach an undergraduate
course, attend a faculty meet-
ing, and plan to meet with stu-
dents during ofce hours. In
the afternoon, he would teach
a graduate class, attend a re-
search seminar, and work on
writing a paper. In the evening,
he would prepare lectures for
the next day and work on his
computer. Occasionally, he
would work on an application
for a grant to support his re-
search. Who is he?
With a passion for math-
ematics, Dr. Jonathan Sondow
(59) has been a professor for
just about his entire career, de-
voting his time to passing on
his knowledge to young people
and researching in the eld of
mathematics.
Dr. Sondow was accepted
into Stuyvesant High School
in 10th grade, after completing
middle school as part of an SP
(special progress) program, un-
der which he nished seventh,
eighth, and ninth grade in only
two years. He proceeded to
graduate from high school at
the age of 16. Following that,
he spent three years at the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin, earning a
Bachelors with Honors degree
in topology. He spent another
three years at Princeton Uni-
versitys graduate school, from
which he graduated at the age
of 22 with a Ph.D. in differential
topology, a eld invented by his
thesis advisor, John Milnor.
In a way I regret that. I wish
I had slowed down and learned
more, because its easier to
learn things in graduate school
than later, when you have oth-
er duties and pressures. So in
some ways, it became a game to
see how fast you can do every-
thing, how young you can be,
Dr. Sondow said. I wouldnt
recommend it. On the other
hand, rushing through the pro-
cess of learning mathematics
had an upsideit helped Dr.
Sondow stay focused on math-
ematics, rather than getting in-
volved in the army, politics, or
the news.
In high school, Dr. Sondow
had planned to become a doc-
tor or biologist, and even had
dreams of becoming a ction
writer. I had crazy ideas, he
said. I also thought of being a
doctor, photographer, and even
a gambler. In college, Dr. Son-
dow had even considered pur-
suing physics, but chose not to
do so when he decided that he
did not have physical intuition
and outcome prediction. And
though he also did have an in-
terest in math in high school,
it was only in college that he
thought of becoming a math-
ematician.
Stuyvesant provided a very
competitive atmosphere and
motivated Dr. Sondow to do
better. It was the most intense
competitive experience of my
life, he said. Dr. Sondow re-
calls that the competition for
grades and colleges caused this
atmosphere, and that almost
all of the boys in the Stuyvesant
his time were invested in either
science or mathematics.
However, high school life
did not always revolve around
grades. Dr. Sondow recalls
many events involving mix-
ers, in which dances were held
between Stuyvesant boys and
Hunter High School girls. The
atmosphere was fraught, he
said, laughing. Later, he would
experience three normal years
at Wisconsin, sandwiched in
between three years of only
boys at Stuyvesant and three
years of men at Princeton, he
said.
One of the main reasons
why Dr. Sondow became inter-
ested in mathematics was Her-
man Winters calculus course
in Stuyvesant. Dr. Sondow re-
calls that Winter had a sense
of humor and was one of Dr.
Sondows favorite teachers. Dr.
Sondow enjoyed the optimiza-
tion of problems and functions
in calculus. He was nominated
by Winter for the Calculus Prize
during graduation for Dr. Son-
dows enthusiasm and work.
The Calculus Prize was a re-
ection of Dr. Sondows work
on the Zeta function and Eu-
lers formula, which were the
roots of his love for number
theory. I was surprised to hear
my name called out on the an-
nouncement of the award for
seniors that I got the Calculus
Prize, Dr. Sondow said.
When asked if there were
one thing that he would
change about his high school
career, Dr. Sondow said that
he would have joined the math
team. As with our current math
teams, practices were held at
the beginning of each school
day. I might have gotten up
early enough to be on the math
team. I didnt do that because
I lived in Queens and I had
to take a bus and the subway
to school every morning, he
said. It was hard enough being
on time for classes, much less
an hour earlier for math team
practice.
After graduating from
graduate school in 1962, Dr.
Sondow spent his years doing
research in Paris on a Fulbright
Scholarship and a National Sci-
ence Foundation Post-Doctor-
al Fellowship, before becoming
an assistant professor at the
New York University Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sci-
ences. From then on, Dr. Son-
dow continued to pursue his
career as a professor, teaching
calculus and upper-level class-
es. He particularly enjoyed
teaching non-required classes
because of the students moti-
vation and enthusiasm. I en-
joy teaching advanced classes
and students who are eager to
learn, he said. He has been a
professor for his whole career,
with the exception of one job,
in which he worked for the
Communications Research
Division of the Institute for
Defense Analyses, which may
have had connections to the
National Security Agency. The
universities at which Dr. Son-
dow has had posts include the
New York University Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sci-
ences, the City College of New
York, Rutgers University, Rice
University, Yeshiva University,
and many others.
Though Dr. Sondow con-
centrated on topology in col-
lege, he has focused on num-
ber theory for the past 20 years.
At Wisconsin, I was already in-
terested in topology, he said.
And then at Princeton [] I
became interested in differ-
ential topology and wrote my
thesis in it. But at Stuyvesant, I
had been actually interested in
number theory. He reected
on his mathematics career. So,
many years after being into to-
pology, I got back into number
theory.
Today, Dr. Sondow attends
math conferences, during
which he gives and listens to
mathematics talks. He also at-
tends seminars, which are usu-
ally held at universities and fo-
cus on specialized topics. Im
very active, more active than I
was when I was teaching, be-
cause then I just couldnt seem
to nd the time, he said. In ad-
dition, Dr. Sondow has written
many publications, only one
of which is not a paperhe is
listed as a coauthor on a book
by his mathematics professor
at Princeton. Nonetheless, he
much prefers writing papers
to writing a book. To me, it in-
dicates what you do after you
stop doing research: start col-
lecting other peoples work, or-
ganizing it, making a nice book
presentation, he said. As long
as Im still able to come up with
new formulas and new theo-
rems, I prefer doing that.

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Multi-Ethnicity: The Spice of Stuyvesant
By LON YIN CHAN,
WEI HOU WU,
with additional reporting by
SANAM BHATIA
A few years ago, freshman
Ko Lee-Berman celebrated
the holiday season in style:
not only did he light the me-
norah for Hanukkah, but he
also received some lai si, or
red envelopes. WIth curly Jew-
ish hair, tan skin, and a sharp
Asian complexion, Lee-Ber-
man belongs to the multieth-
nic population at Stuyvesant
and stands out from the more
prevalent ethnicities present.
These mixed characteristics,
however, bring both perks and
troubles.
Lee-Bermans father is of
Central-Eastern European Jew-
ish descent, and his mothers
family is from Guangdong,
China. Despite Lee-Bermans
rich heritage, he felt that he was
a very culture-less person, he
said. I only very weakly iden-
tify with either side. Most of
the time, I just consider my-
self third-culture, somebody
almost completely free of af-
liations. He added, however,
that his tendency to identify
with one side often depends
on the environment. Some-
times I feel like the Asianest
kid and sometimes the whitest
kid. He celebrates various na-
tional holidays like most other
Americans and remains reli-
giously indifferent, since both
his grandparents are atheists.
Some years well light the me-
norah and some years well cel-
ebrate Chinese New Year, but
were pretty bad at correctly
doing both, said Lee-Berman,
laughing. Were essentially still
an American family, so we cel-
ebrate Christmas.
Interactions with peers
can also result in moments of
awkwardness for multiethnic
students. What really frus-
trates me is when people start
assuming things based on the
color of [my] skin, only to be
confused by my last name,
said junior Sarah Prutchenko,
who is Egyptian and Ukranian
and has relatively dark tan skin
and curly black hair, but lives
with a Chinese stepfather. In
fact, Prutchenko was unaware
of her Egyptian heritage until
second grade. I didnt know
my ethnicity, I just thought I
was some white kid who stayed
really tan all the time, she said.
Growing up with different eth-
nicities has caused her some
struggle, but she now considers
herself white. [T]echnically
Egypt is in the Middle East and
Ukraine is an Eastern European
country, and since the Middle
East is considered white, Im
white[but] not the kind of
white [people] expect, Prutch-
enko said. Her rst language
was Russian, but her mother
told her, This is America, speak
English when she came home
from school one day, which
was exactly what Prutchenko
did. Unfortunately, since she
stopped speaking Russian, its
been harder to communicate
with her grandmother. When
her Chinese stepfather stepped
into the picture, Prutchenko
started taking Mandarin in
middle school, which she con-
tinues even at Stuyvesant, in
order to communicate with her
step-grandmother.
Senior Savannah Jeffreys
expresses a similar point of
view. I struggle with how Im
supposed to dene myself be-
cause.most people assume
Im white...because of my olive
skin, she said. When people...
dont believe me when I tell
them that Im black or hispan-
ic, I feel like I have to defend
myself in some way. Jeffreys is
Caucasian, African American,
Puerto Rican, and Cherokee
Indian, though she identies
herself mostly as white and
black. As a result of the con-
stant frustration she gets from
the disbelief of her peers, she
strives to raise awareness of the
fact that race isnt always dis-
tinct. She is the co-president
of the Black Student League, a
club designed to spread aware-
ness for African American stu-
dents.
As for Lee-Berman, he
doesnt see it [racism] as igno-
rance, though he does agree
with the lack of racial aware-
ness. Another strange part of
growing up mixed is the...abil-
ity to always be the minority,
he said. It shows the tendency
of people to reject, rather than
accept, whenever possible.
One thing that multiethnic
students can all agree on is the
fact that it has been easier to
deal with being multiracial in
an environment like New York,
where there is less discrimina-
tion than in some other places.
Nonetheless, these students
strive to dene themselves,
even in subtle ways. My hair
is naturally really curly. My
dad has dreadlocks, my mom
has curly hair. But I usually
straighten it, Jeffreys said.
On the other hand, junior
Shahruz Ghaemi, who has a
Iranian father (or, as Ghaemi
puts it, Persian) and a Chi-
nese mother, feels as though
being biracial has not really af-
fected his personality so much
as opened him up to the world.
I take great pride in my cul-
tural heritage, he said. But I
think my personality has been
more inuenced by the types of
people my parents are, rather
than their ethnicities. Ghaemi
enjoys traveling to California
every year to visit his Persian
extended family, as well as to
China every three years to see
his moms side of the family,
though he admits to not know-
ing much Chinese or Farsi.
Just as New York City is
the melting pot of the world,
Stuyvesant High School is
where these multiethnic stu-
dents, as well as students of all
ethnicities, come together. Al-
though they may be confused
as to where they belong, the
school offers them choices. As
a mixed-race individual, I love
the atmosphere at Stuy and
the diversity, Ghaemi said. In
fact, I think that a homogenous
ethnic group is one of my night-
mares for a social situation.
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(From left to right) Senior Savannah Jeffreys, freshman Ko Lee-Bernam, and junior
Sarah Prutchenko offer glimpses into their experiences as multiethnic students in and
out of Stuyvesant.
The Spectator December 18, 2013 Page 7
Bookworms
By the Photo Department
The Spectator December 18, 2013
Features
Page 8
If Teachers Could Make the Test
By The Features Department
If you were to grade the Advanced Placement (AP) exam out of vewith one being the worst and ve the
bestwhat would you give it? Here is our rubric: it should accurately measure a students performance on
a national level; it should reect a challenging college test; it should push students towards curiosity and
thinking; and so on. We leave this question to a multitude of AP teachers in Stuyvesant, whose answers are
below:
All AP Language and Composition courses are supposed
to focus on certain kinds of writing, specically argumenta-
tive, expository, and analytical. Since the writing portion of the
AP exam always, from what I have seen, tests students skills
in these genres of writing, I believe it is a fair exam. Some may
think that writing three essays in two hours is a bit too much to
ask for, but I believe the rigor of the course prepares students
well for this kind of pressure. I also believe that the reading pas-
sages that are given each year are fair. If you look at the multiple
choice questions of the past, they ask about general terms that
are supposed to be covered in AP courses. So, to reiterate, the AP
Exam is consistent with the course objectives stated on the Col-
lege Board website, so there is no need to change it in any way. If
they change their objectives and the kinds of writing they expect
students to master, I am quite sure they will adjust the exam ac-
cordingly.
Emilio Nieves, AP English Language and Composition:
American Literary History
Id like to see the multiple-choice section eliminated
altogether [on the AP European History exam]. Instead, Id
like to see a separate document analysis section requiring
analysis of both primary sources and secondary sources,
with an emphasis on historiography. Id also like to see
historiography encouragedeven requiredin the free
response essays. The College Board describes its history
courses as college-level, but compared to the International
Baccalaureate, it falls short.
David Hanna, AP European History
As far as the US is concerned, [AP Government] is not ter-
rible. Its pretty good at orienting you towards facts. If you
can pass the AP and get a four or ve, you denitely know
a lot about US Government. What I nd really frustrating
about the exam is that they never ask you your opinion,
your thoughts and feelings on it. I guess I can see why they
do that. They cant really grade you on that, I just feel that
from my course, one of the most important things for me is
that students really think a lot about the issues that are de-
bated today and really take opinions, and thats something
thats lacking in the exam...
In my US Gov class Im constantly giving my students
homework where I ask how they think or feel about the
American Government Those are things that are totally
the thing thats missing in the AP, the sense of question-
ing institutions. For US Gov, Im torn because I would like
there to be more evaluation of an opinionated essay, but I
can see how they would avoid that.
As far as [Comparative Government goes], its similar, ex-
cept it deals with all these countries and thats also worth
thinking about. The countries that I teach are dictated by
the Comp Gov exam, and those countries are Britain, Rus-
sia, China, Iran, Mexico, and Nigeria. Those are interesting
countries and I like studying their governments, but if the
AP didnt exist and I had to change this course on my own, I
would vary the material. On the other hand, because those
countries are covered on the AP, its easier to nd mate-
rial related to their government. Its a mixed blessing. With
Comp Gov, it isnt really a question, itll just be changing
the countries that they study.
Sample Questions:
1. Should the Senate be abolished?
2. The electoral college is totally undemocratic and should
be reformed; do you agree or disagree?
3. Does the Supreme Court hold too much power?
Matthew Polazzo, AP Government and AP Comparative
Government
Yes, I like the AP test. The College Board changed the AP
test before, like three years ago. And before that, it was a little
different. Now, they are incorporating more culture, and art as
well, to the readings and the works that we are analyzing and
talking about Right now, I think the change from the College
Board was very good because they incorporate other things, not
just the work itself, the poetry. They incorporate art and more
culture to the test... The test is actually very intense because we
have listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and
writing. Now, they have to write four different pieces. Two of
them are short, the other ones are essays where they have to
compare different works, and they have to analyze poetry.
Anna Montserrat, AP Spanish Literature
Im not really satised. The test is a lot easier now
and weve handled harder tests in the past... Its not good
because this is supposed to be a college course and colleg-
es teach more than this. Students need the information...
I would like to see more qualitative analysis questions on
the AP.
Sample Questions:
More questions on the topic of buffers.
Sushma Arora, AP Chemistry
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The Spectator December 18, 2013 Page 9
The College Board has set certain standards that students must reach
upon completion of the course. These are based on Four Historical Thinking
Skills: crafting historical arguments from historical evidence, chronological
reasoning, comparison and contextualization, and historical interpretation
and synthesis. There are also ve themes for the course listed under the Cur-
riculum Framework of the course description provided on the College Boards
website. Currently, the AP World exam consists of 70 multiple choice questions
and three essays (Change and Continuity, Comparative, and a Document-
Based Question). This is supposed to be a class for students who are interested
in the study of historyhistorians generally do not take multiple choice exams
to demonstrate what they are arguing. My ideal AP World exam would consist
only of essay questions related both to content and the historiography of top-
ics that we study (meaning what historians have written about a topic).
Sample Questions:
For AP World, the exam would take place throughout the school year, in that
students would write short essays periodically (5-6 per semester), culminating
in a nal essay on a topic of the students choosing, but based on both pri-
mary and secondary materials relating to the topic. The College Board would
hire historians based on the content areas of the questions to grade the exams
throughout the year, instead of the current model. In my humble opinion, this
approach would lead to both a deeper learning experience, a stronger under-
standing of what historians do, and less anxiety about one single test where
the questions are completely unknown.
1. Were the causes of World War I primarily structural in nature, or were indi-
vidual decision-makers to blame?
2. How did the role of women change during the Scientic Revolution and the
Enlightenment in Europe?
3. Was the decline of the Ottoman Empire primarily the result of internal or
external forces?
In answering each of these questions, the students would have to cite both
primary sources and the historiography of the topic. They would have to have
a clear original thesis and support it with evidence from all sources.
Kerry Trainor, AP World History As for AP Government, I would
shorten the multiple-choice section and
replace those questions with problems/
situations/simulations that the students
would solve. Again, instead of the current
model, the College Board would hire po-
litical scientists with political experience
to grade the exams. Examples of this type
of assessment could include:
1. You are the President of the United
States. A terrorist attack has just occurred
on a major American city. How do you
respond? In your answer, you must explain
the various Executive Branch agencies and
their role in your response.
2. You are the Chief of Staff to a freshman
Member of the House of Representatives.
Your boss must soon take a vote to send
U.S. troops to a foreign country to ght.
Your constituents are overwhelmingly
against sending troops, but not sending
troops could endanger the nation and hurt
your standing in your party. What do you
advise your boss to do? In your answer,
you must have a detailed strategy to deal
with the vote including the press ofce, the
scheduling ofce, and the legislative ofce.
3. You are the leader of a group whose mis-
sion is to overturn the famous Roe v. Wade
Supreme Court decision. How would you
complete your mission through the courts?
In your answer you must have a clearly
dened strategy utilizing the media as well
as the federal court system.
Kerry Trainor, AP Government
& Politics
Next year they are changing the exams substantially: they will be
reducing the multiple-choice, [adding] more document-analysis questions.
What I like: Unlike the Regents, the AP does not release the multiple-choice
questions for each exam, so even if the AP Exam recycles the questions, it
will be accurate in assessing the students knowledge. Students are forced to
actually interpret documents. Also, identities of students arent released, so
its betterno bias. The exam is hard, so it motivates the students to study for
it. My concern is that [the exam] covers events from 1492 to 2013, so its like
going on a train that never stops. There is too much material to cover and no
in-depth analysis allowed during classes, and not as much expression.
Sample Question:
Essay questions that offer two sides and requires much analysis. For example:
Was Hamilton or Jefferson a better advisor?
Victor Greez, AP American Studies
Features
If Teachers Could Make the Test
I have no objections to [the tests for AP Calculus]. I think that theyre
pretty fair and pretty reasonable. They test problem-solving and they test
knowledge of calculus, so for the most part, calc teachers that Ive spoken
toits not just my own opinionfeel that its a reasonable test. You do have
to prepare a little bit for the test in light of the fact that some of the questions
are sort of AP questions. But aside from that, its a pretty reasonable test. Its
possible they could do more with limits and evaluating limits, but Im pretty
satised in general; they do teach the prep and denitely what theyre sup-
posed to test you on, calculus.
Gary Jaye, AP Calculus AB
Im not really satised. The test is a
lot easier now and weve handled harder
tests in the past... Its not good because this
is supposed to be a college course and col-
leges teach more than this. Students need
the information... I would like to see more
qualitative analysis questions on the AP.
Sample Questions:
More questions on the topic of buffers.
Sushma Arora, AP Chemistry
Yes, I am satised with the AP test
administered with my subject I think of
the AP Chemistry test as a way for students
to challenge themselves. It is as rigorous as
it is rewarding... I like questions that test
multiple concepts. I like questions that re-
quire quantitative analysis. And I like ques-
tions that I get wrong on the rst try. For
example, I recently came across a question
asking for the pH of a dilute, 6.6 x 10^-8 M
hydrochloric acid solution at 25 degrees
Celsius. Whenever I get a question wrong,
I learn from it, and I feel like it makes me a
better teacher.
Steven OMalley, AP Chemistry
The Spectator December 18, 2013
Editorials
Page 10
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The Spectator
The Stuyvesant High
School Newspaper
STAFF EDITORIAL
Respect
No one can deny that
Stuyvesant is a school of nerds.
We dont cause trouble or raise
hell in our free time. Instead,
we study, and at worst, we oc-
casionally play handball in the
hallways. Nevertheless, admin-
istrators enforce rules curtly,
aggressively, and often patron-
izingly, creating an unnecessary
us versus them dynamic and
a tense relationship between
students and the administra-
tion. The administration needs
to change its tone to reect the
lack of severity of most rule in-
fractions and must respect stu-
dents for their mostly upstand-
ing behavior.
Many Stuyvesant regula-
tions are minor and usually in-
signicant. No hoods in school,
no cell phones, no moving
chairs in the library. Yes, these
might be important in the con-
text of DOE regulations, but in
the grand scheme of things,
they are certainly not causes of
great concern. Many rules dont
even accomplish their basic
goals, as eight Spectator edi-
tors and writers demonstrated
when they swapped ID cards
and were admitted into the
building nonetheless. A ve-
foot Asian female can scan in
as a ve-foot Caucasian male
and not be stopped, but if she
wears a hood, shell be yelled at.
Something is wrong. Rules are
in place, but they are catching
the wrong people.
Justied or not, the rules
themselves are not our pri-
mary concern. The hostile, pe-
remptory tone that is often the
default when enforcing these
rules, however, must be ad-
dressed. When a student enters
the building wearing a hood on
a rainy day, there is no need to
shout. Barking commands at
students is unnecessary, not to
mention disproportionate to
the seriousness of the infrac-
tion. When a student is stand-
ing next to an open locker on
the seventh oor, why is the
usual reaction a Show me your
ID! with the assumption that
the student is cutting class?
Why turn every interaction into
a confrontation? Because if the
worst thing we do is try to sneak
into the library when its already
lled with people doing work, it
isnt the end of the world.
It must be noted, of course,
that not all faculty members,
administrators, or school safety
ofcers are at fault for poor stu-
dent-administrator relations.
While treating students with re-
spect and compassion should
be expected rather than excep-
tional, we applaud those teach-
ers who do it on a daily basis.
In particular, Principal Zhang
deserves to be commended for
adopting an incredibly friendly
personal demeanor towards
students since her rst day on
the job. She leaves her door
open to students and greets
them with a smile and, often,
candy.
Likewise, we recognize the
responsibility of the Stuyve-
sant student body to continue
to behave appropriately, and to
treat the adults in our building
with respect. Together, we can
work towards creating a school
environment that is a little less
cringe-worthyone that feels
more like a school.
But it has to start with the
administration. Take us for the
relatively tame kids that we are,
and take your responsibilities
as our educators and/or pro-
tectors for what they are. We
dont want to ght. Please: just
dont be so rude to us.
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The
administration
needs to change
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reect the lack of
severity of most
rule infractions
and must respect
students for their
mostly
upstanding
behavior.
The Spectator December 18, 2013
Opinions
Page 11
Happy Holidays, Ms. Damesek
By DANIELLE EISENMAN
The other day in biology,
when we got back our quizzes
and I received my second con-
secutive perfect score, one of
my classmates was impressed.
Youre almost, like, Asian! he
joked. I told him I am Asian
(well, half ), and his face im-
mediately faded into a bored,
well, duh, kind of expression.
This expression completely in-
validated my hours and hours
of hand-writing chapter out-
lines, reading and re-reading
those outlines, and taking
self-tests numerous times on-
line. My good grade became,
for him, a direct result of my
geneticsnothing more and
nothing less. I went from be-
ing an intelligent white per-
son (a gem, a rarity, a freak of
nature!) to being an ordinary
Chinese girl. According to
him, I was just another part of
the not-so-glamorous surplus
of Stuyvesant.
While the days of explicit
segregation are over in the US,
indirect racism is still preva-
lent. At Stuyvesant, Ive heard
many things that arent nec-
essarily racist, but are never-
theless offensive and insensi-
tive regarding race. The racial
breakdown of the student body
plays a sizeable role in propa-
gating racial stigmasin
2010-2011, one percent of the
Stuyvesant population was
African American, three per-
cent was Hispanic, 72 percent
was Asian, and 24 percent was
Caucasian. As a part of the two
most prevalent racial groups,
the prejudiced comments Ive
received are considerably mi-
nor and infrequent. Hispanics
and African Americans, how-
ever, who make up a mere four
percent, do experience a per-
turbing amount of offhand re-
marks from their peers, espe-
cially concerning the SHSAT
and college acceptance.
The strikingly low percent-
age of minority students scor-
ing high enough on the SHSAT
to go to Stuyvesant is an issue
that has long sparked debate.
Now, Mayor-elect Bill de Bla-
sios plan is to base acceptance
to specialized high schools on
other criteria, such as middle-
school grades. Most Stuyve-
sant students disagree with de
Blasios plan, but it is not their
opinions that bother me, its
the offhand remarks Stuyve-
sant students tend to make.
We sometimes make unedu-
cated assumptions about His-
panic and African American
students and end up unfairly
criticizing them and their his-
tories.
In a recent conversation
in the Stuyvesant Class of
2017 group on Facebook, stu-
dents expressed their rather
troubling views on the mat-
ter. While Facebook may not
sound like a completely reli-
able source, it is, in my opin-
ion, a great way to get peoples
honest and uncensored ideas.
The post had hundreds of
comments from a variety of
participants across all grades.
One such student said,
[Hispanic and African Ameri-
can students] are already get-
ting a [large amount] of prep
since grade school (for free),
yet they still cant pass the en-
trance exam. This is an uned-
ucated assumption, because
I know for a fact that there
are minorities who have not
had preparation since grade
school, and certainly not very
much of it. The student is es-
sentially calling these students
stupid.
Another commenter said,
Maybe the so called mi-
norities (Latinos and blacks)
should stop wasting money
on games, and several smart-
phones and use that money
to help their childrens future.
Regardless of whether or not
this is an accurate statement,
it is said with a cavalier and
condescending attitude.
Another student said the
NAACP is a joke. The NAACP
is an important part of black
history, and calling it a joke
is extremely degrading and in-
validates a long and difcult
ght for racial equality that
still hasnt been won. We need
to start realizing that.
This racism, which mani-
fests itself on Stuyvesant;s
Facebook pages, also echoes
through Stuyvesants halls
during the college season. One
of the biggest problems with
afrmative action, I believe,
is the backlash that minor-
ity students who are accepted
into college tend to get from
the students of majority races.
Practically everyone who is ac-
cepted into an elite college has
worked extremely hard to do
so, and being told you only
got into [insert college here]
because you are Hispanic or
African American must feel
terrible. It strips these students
of their academic efforts and
misidenties them as just an-
other privileged minority.
Stuyvesant students need
to think before they speak.
Everyone has experienced
the negative effects of racial
stereotypes to some degree.
The prospect of getting rid
of them isnt aided by people
who say things that reinforce
racial stereotypes. Be respect-
ful. Stuyvesant should be a
comfortable and an accepting
community for everyone who
is a part of it.
J
e
s
s
i
c
a
W
u

/

T
h
e

S
p
e
c
t
a
t
o
r
By DAVID CAHN, RISHAM
DHILLON, JACK CAHN,
and SWEYN VENDERBUSH
This holiday season, we
would like to offer a thank
you to Ms. Randi Damesek.
As the Former Assistant Prin-
cipal of Organization, she was
competent, efcient, and well-
respected. However, she was
asked not to return to the school
on Monday, September 2, upon
being investigated by the De-
partment of Education (DOE).
Three months later, she has yet
to be charged. Lets take a mo-
ment to celebrate Dameseks
accomplishments, especially
because the DOE has thus far
expelled her from the place to
which she has dedicated her
professional life.
Damesek, who comes from
a long line of old-school New
York City administrators, was
named New Yorks Best Assis-
tant Principal in 2010. At that
time, Council of School Su-
pervisors and Administrators
(CSA) Communications Direc-
tor Chiara Colleti told The Spec-
tator, Shes extremely efcient,
extremely dedicated, and takes
almost no credit for herself.
And shes like an old-fashioned
principal [] Her father used
to be a principal [] of an old
school, where everything had
to be done exactly right and
schools ran very smoothly, in a
way many schools are not run
nowadays. And she does it just
like her father probably did.
Indeed, Damesek is one of
our role modelsa paragon of
integrity, hard work, and pride.
She was often the rst one in the
school building and the last one
out. Responsible for Organiza-
tion at Stuyvesant, Damesek
planned exams, managed stu-
dent events, and squeezed ev-
ery last dollar out of the schools
ever-shrinking budget despite
citywide cuts. She carried out
her responsibilities with ease,
earning her the admiration of
her coworkers and the respect
of the student body.
Damesek was not univer-
sally loved. She frequently took
rm stances on unpopular is-
sues. Many students resented
her harsh enforcement of the
dress code and the sternness
with which she conscated
cell phones. We certainly did
not agree with every one of
Dameseks decisions; in fact, we
were sometimes her most vocal
critics. But even then, Damesek
was a worthy adversary. She
earned our admiration as an
honest arbiter of justice, a pas-
sionate administrator, and a
woman with an unfaltering
sense of integrity.
For the DOE, however,
political games took priority
over service. In the aftermath
of Stuyvesants 2012 cheat-
ing scandal, former Principal
Stanley Teitel resigned. Over
the course of the next year,
Damesek continued to run ex-
ams, including SATs, PSATs, Re-
gents, APs, and nals, which she
conducted effectively and with-
out incident. On Friday, August
30, a Freedom of Information
Act request forced the DOE to
release a 56-page report on the
cheating scandal to the public,
which criticized the Teitel ad-
ministrations handling of the
situation. The report revealed
nothing that the DOE had not
known for an entire academic
year. But after its release, the
DOE responded to this negative
publicity by holding Damesek
guilty by association, despite
evidence that she had advised
Teitel to act according to the
letter of NYC regulations.
In seeking Dameseks ter-
mination, the DOE has made
its priorities clear. Political ma-
neuvers and public relations
take priority over effective lead-
ership and quality education.
In a school system that be-
moans falling test scores, failing
schools, and a dearth of talent,
the DOE should be courting,
not attacking, the public ser-
vants who dedicate their lives
to our students. We are disap-
pointed.
Stuyvesant students took
to the streets in protest of
Dameseks removal from the
school on Monday, Septem-
ber 9, the rst day of classes,
despite threats of suspension
by school administrators. Dur-
ing the protest, DOE repre-
sentatives tried to intimidate
students out of participating.
One man, who asked a protest
leader if he would like to take a
walk and was seen approach-
ing crowds of students and ask-
ing them why they would risk
their future for this.
Youve worked so hard to
get into college, he told them.
Dont ruin it for this.
He poses an interesting
question. Why do we, students
who protested, care?
We still care because we
are dismayed by a system that
would ruin a womans life be-
cause it is politically conve-
nient. We are shocked by how
easy it is for someone of integ-
rity to fall from power to ruin,
condemned by the city she has
served for her whole career. We
were nave. Perhaps we still are.
We believe that good people
ought to be treated with dignity
and respect. New York needs
more Dameseks, not fewer.
Today, three months later,
Dameseks legacy remains
strong. She has taught us what
it means to dedicate oneself to
education, and she serves as a
glowing example of service and
competence.
Happy Holidays, Ms.
Damesek.
This article is a print ad-
aptation of Thank You Ms.
Damesek, which was released
online on November 28.
Re: Happy Holidays,
Ms. Damesek
By CHESTER DUBOV
As a member of the Stuyve-
sant High School Class of 2011
(and former News and Hu-
mor Editor of the Spectator), I
am writing in response to the
opinion piece titled Thank
You Ms. Damesek, released
online on November 28.
While I cannot speak to
Dameseks efciency or com-
petence in administering
standardized tests, I believe
that Damesek often had a
corrosive impact on Stuyve-
sants culture and education-
al mission. Her approach to
discipline (at a school where
disruptive violence is almost
unheard of, and students are
by-and-large self-motivated
to learn) set up a combative,
adversarial relationship be-
tween students and admin-
istrators that precluded any
kind of productive interaction
between the two groups and
fostered the us against them
attitude among students that
lies at the core of Stuyvesants
ongoing battle with academic
dishonesty. When dealing with
students, Dameseks authori-
tarian style sent a clear mes-
sage: Students are not trusted
or valued. If a student did not
conform to Dameseks strict
standards of behavior (which,
in my experience, tended to
mean obsequious obedience
in all things, from the content
of SING! scripts to the length
of girls skirts) they were treat-
ed as disruptive and unwant-
ed members of the school
community. This atmosphere
of suspicion and distrust un-
dermined Stuyvesants most
basic mission: to provide an
environment where some of
the citys most dynamic and
intelligent students can our-
ish academically in ways that
might not be possible at less
specialized schools. When
administrators work tirelessly
to keep students down, it is
difcult for them to grow.
I am not writing this to as-
sail Dameseks character or to
comment on the criteria that
the DOE used to remove her
from her post. It may well be
that Damesek was transferred
to a rubber room for purely
political reasons. Instead, I
am writing this to point out
that, in my opinion, a Stuyve-
sant High School adminis-
trators job goes far beyond
efciently carrying out orga-
nizational duties, or even op-
erating based on an internally
consistent set of ethical stan-
dards. Administrators play a
fundamental role in dening
the schools culture. When
administrators are respectful
of the students they oversee,
the productive possibilities
are endless, and the school
becomes a healthier place for
students to learn. These more
intangible, cultural aspects of
school administration need to
be taken into account when
assessing Dameseks legacy
and her impact on Stuyve-
sant. To just say that she was
efcient is to miss the larger
point.

Sincerely,
Chester Dubov 11
Princeton, New Jersey
Think Before You Speak
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Opinions
The Spectator December 18, 2013 Page 12
By NINO DICKERSIN
and MUNAWAR S. RAHMAN
As white paint splashed over the me-
ticulously painted technicolor designs on
a warehouse wall in Queens, a city of art-
ists cried. The destruction of the grafti art
on the 5 Pointz warehouse in Queens is an
attack on the very culture of NYC. Since
1993, 5 Pointz (named because it signies
the unication of the culture of the ve
boroughs) has been a canvas for grafti art,
thanks to the permission of its many own-
ers. The warehouses walls have proven to
be one of the most successful outlets for
the street artists of NYC. The intricate and
colorful grafti art sprayed across The In-
stitute of Higher Burnin was a man-made
landmark that helped dene our city and
its people. But everything changed when
Jerry Wolkoff, the owner of the warehouse,
attacked. He decided that he was going to
demolish the building and replace it with
condos. The entire building was white-
washed in a single night. In a ash, 20 years
of NYC history were annihilated. Even
though it was technically legal for Wolkoff
to commit this destruction, it was com-
pletely immoral for him to destroy such a
unique phenomenon.
Grafti art has been a central part of
NYC culture since the 1970s. It has been
a fundamental medium of expression for
New Yorkers, allowing them to streak their
sufferings across a wall with the shake and
spray of a can. The issue with conventional
grafti is that it is illegal. 5 Pointz served as
a legal outlet for an anarchical form of ex-
pression and helped transform grafti into
a legitimate art form. It was a successful so-
lution to a situation that was plaguing our
city. Despite the raw beauty of the art that
covered 5 Pointz, the greatest loss we en-
dured was the destruction of not the works
themselves, but rather the vast history of
New York culture that they embodied. One
only need recall the Stuyvesant-BMCC mu-
ral displayed right outside our school. Just
as that mural signies the unity between
the two educational institutions that share
the block, 5 Pointz represents the unity of
the ve boroughs sharing our city. With its
vibrancy and spontaneity, it is a splendid
example of the quintessentially American
mixing pot of creativity. When the building
was whitewashed, the nooks and crannies
that dene who we are as New Yorkers were
bleached, leaving nothing behind.
The choice to weigh the value of a short-
term monetary gain over the cultural iden-
tity of the city is completely selsh. While
it may be Wolkoffs property, there was
never any justication for the destruction
of the beautiful artwork featured on the
warehouses walls. To corporate tycoons
like Wolkoff, a building isnt truly a land-
mark unless it can churn out millions, but
5 Pointz churned out much more impor-
tant things than money. The artwork that
coated 5 Pointz was priceless and should
never have been destroyed.
Artists across the world visited and in-
teracted with the vibrant colors and intri-
cate designs that covered the walls of the
warehouse. The obvious economic benets
from increased tourism denitely outweigh
any economic benets caused by building
condos. The area around 5 Pointz contains
enough high-rises already, most of which
are still unowned. It is a basic rule of eco-
nomics that, when there is little demand for
something, increasing the supply can only
have negative outcomes. Creating 240 new
housing units will only lower the value of
said units and is completely unnecessary.
In addition to this, current condos were
only valued anyway because they were
positioned near 5 Pointz. The destruction
of the landmark can only hurt the value
of these properties and others in the area,
causing more economic damage. Wolkoffs
decision to transform 5 Pointz into a high
rise is only going to have negative reper-
cussions for both him and the area. It was a
poor business decision overall.
Wolkoff has singlehandedly robbed
New Yorkers of a milestone of artistic
achievement, as two decades of collective,
creative labor have given way to a nonde-
script apartment complex. But the 5 Pointz
tragedy has, thankfully, turned public at-
tention to the problem of the preserva-
tion of street art. Now, ofcials and estate
tycoons will have to reconsider decisions
as heavy-handed as Wolkoffs, and similar
incidences will hopefully decrease in fre-
quency. Long live 5 Pointz.
A Culture Whitewashed:
The 5 Pointz Travesty
Lets Demolish Some Graffti!
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5 Pointz Graffti
By BRIAN DONG
You know theres a problem when you
get 8000 phone calls from angry New York-
ers who complain about the same thing ev-
ery year. After all, who wouldnt be irritated
by grafti?
A massive infection of grafti has
plagued our esteemed city for far too long.
The mid-to-late 1900s provided the ideal
conditions for its proliferation. Broken win-
dow theory, developed by now-deceased so-
cial scientist James Q. Wilson in 1982, states
that if minor, petty crimes such as grafti
are not properly dealt with, crime rates will
increase. Due to a lack of enforcement be-
fore the 1980s, grafti gained popularity
and subsequently became a larger prob-
lem. When people realize that they wont
be punished, they gradually become bolder
and start committing more serious crimes,
hence the name broken window.
In 1972, Mayor John Lindsay initiated
the infamous war on grafti. Since then,
the city has made successful, aggressive at-
tempts to stie graftis expansion. Tough
anti-grafti laws, which labeling it vandal-
ism, and more potent security measures
have substantially decreased grafti in the
city. By 1989, the MTA had removed from
service the last grafti-covered trains. For-
mer Mayor Rudolph Guliani initiated the
Anti-Grafti Task Force in 1995, which led to
greater suppression of quality-of-life crimes
and one of the nations largest anti-grafti
campaigns.
Crime rates have simultaneously fallen
within the past 20 years, which afrms the
broken window theory. Greater enforce-
ment led to lower crime rates. But grafti is
still a problem. Due to a dwindling budget
and a lack of resources, the city cannot af-
ford to maintain meticulous patrol, and the
grafti problem has resurged in recent years.
In 2007, the amount of grafti complaints
nearly doubled from 4,886 in 2006 to 8,866
in 2007, as stated by the NYPD. According to
the Bureau of Justice Statistics, grafti con-
stitutes 35 percent of all city complaints on
property vandalism.
However, the city will soon put its trump
card to the test. The citys grafti artists
arguably most sacred relic, the world-re-
nowned 5 Pointz Warehouse in Long Island
City, is about to crash down in ames. It is
scheduled to be demolished in late 2013,
and efforts to erase this attraction have al-
ready begun. Much of the iconic warehouse
was whitewashed on November 19. This
whitewashing was not a mere paint-over;
it was a vicious assault on the heart of the
citys grafti culture. The body cannot sur-
vive without its heart, and this problem will
be brought to its knees.
5 Pointzs eventual destruction is ben-
ecial for the city. 5 Pointz is widely con-
sidered to be a safe haven for grafti art-
ists. Grafti-lovers from all over the world
congregate to marvel at the building, and
its demolition will clearly be a huge loss for
its fans. Try as people might, such an iconic
and dening symbol can never truly be re-
placed, and that will substantially under-
mine the grafti spirit. Despite the fact that
5 Pointz is legally sanctioned, its removal
will send a clear message to all that graf-
ti is unwelcome. A ame without oxygen
cannot burn. If grafti artists continuously
have their outlets taken away from them,
then they will gradually tire out and stop.
In place of the old 5 Pointz site will be two
luxury towers with 210 affordable housing
units. The city struggles to meet the huge
demand for affordable housing, and the
space provided by a demolished 5 Pointz
will help alleviate the situation, in addition
to striking irreparable damage to the grafti
community. Furthermore, the developers
are lenient enough to reserve 10,000 square
feet exclusively for grafti. 5 Pointzs sched-
uled destruction is for a good cause, and it
caters to the needs of not only the city, but
the grafti artists as well.
5 Pointzs destruction is perfectly legal
and has government support. It is privately
owned by Jerry Wolkoff, and people have a
right to do whatever they want with their
own property. On August 21 and October
9, 2013, both the New York City Planning
Commission and the New York City Coun-
cil, respectively, unanimously approved of 5
Pointzs replacement with two luxury con-
dos.
Another common criticism is that, as
a hot tourist attraction, 5 Pointz is a great
source of revenue, and demolishing it
would further jeopardize the citys falter-
ing economy. It cannot be ignored however,
that grafti causes considerable economic
harm. It mars the aesthetic value of neigh-
borhoods, which harms businesses and
decreases property value. If given a choice,
people prefer conducting their business
and living in a more visually appealing area.
In 2006, Los Angeles County spent $28 mil-
lion in grafti removal with a per capita cost
of $2.80. The luxury condominiums replac-
ing 5 Pointz will contribute quite a bit to the
community. According to National Asso-
ciation of Home Builders (NAHB), the con-
struction of a mere 100-unit condo would
generate around 300 jobs and two to three
million in income in just its rst year of con-
struction. These towers are over 47 and 41
stories tall, respectively. If a plain old 100-
unit condo can make that much, think of
how much money these two luxury build-
ings will make.
5 Pointzs approaching demise is neces-
sary and benecial. Grafti has remained
one of the citys most commonly com-
plained issues for nearly half a century. The
best solution is to strike at its heart, and the
downfall of the grafti emperor is one step
closer to a cleaner, fresher, and nicer NYC.
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The greatest loss we
endured was not the
destruction of the
works themselves, but
the vast history of New
York culture that they
embodied.
Opinions
Page 13 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Big Changes, Big Results
By DANIEL KODSI
In the latest round of the
Program for International Stu-
dent Assessment, Americans
dropped another few ranks
were now 20th in reading, 23rd
in science, and 30th in math. A
mere nine percent of fteen-
year-olds are in the top tiers
of mathematics prociency,
lower by far than the average
of the rest of the industrialized
world. Testing mania spreads
like a plague; new standards
have been introduced; teacher
evaluations are being imple-
mented. None of it seems to
matter; were just falling fur-
ther and further behind. The
problem is that any effective
measure must take place at the
core of the systemif America
truly wants to begin to climb
back up the ranks, we need
drastic change. This comes in
two forms: the pushing back of
the school day, and a shorten-
ing of our summer vacation.
Let me start rst with that
rst necessity: starting school
later. Its not uncommon, espe-
cially here at Stuyvesant, to be
surrounded with a sea of tired
faces, the faces of students
who go to sleep at midnight
just to wake up sometime be-
tween ve and six in the morn-
ing. To quote Arne Duncan,
the US Education Secretary, its
a system that work for adults
and not for kids. He went on
to call it common sense that
later start times would yield
greater student achievement,
but theres more than just logic
behind it: theres science. Ac-
cording to Dr. Judith Owens,
director of the Sleep Medicine
Clinic at Childrens National
Medical Center in Washington,
D.C., we are asking [teens] to
be awake and alert at the time
in their 24-hour clock when
their alertness level is at its very
lowest. Her reasoning lies in
the fact that, beginning in pu-
berty, our circadian rhythms
(or biological clock) begin to
shift, making it challenging to
fall asleep before 11 p.m., and
wake up earlier than 8 p.m..
The toll, Dr. Owens postulates,
is grievous: depression, car ac-
cidents, and lower grades.
There is even empirical evi-
dence to back up those claims,
some of which has even been
out there for more than a de-
cade. For instance, Kyla Wahl-
strom of the University of Min-
nesota, found that when the
seven comprehensive high
schools of the Minneapolis
Public School District shifted
their start times back to 8:40
a.m., there was improved
attendance and enrollment
rates, less sleeping in class,
and less student-reported de-
pression. In addition, accord-
ing to NPR on December 2nd,
when Fayette County in Ken-
tucky pushed back start times
to 8:30 a.m., teenage car crash-
es dropped by 17 percentes-
pecially noteworthy in the face
of an eight percent increase in
the same demographic state-
wide. And according to the
United Press International on
September 5th, out of the 27
school districts that have shift-
ed their school day back, there
has been increased student
attendance, decreased student
lateness and better grades.
So, weve got the nations
students to be more attentive,
learn more in school, and be
safer on the roads. Regardless,
it isnt enough. In the end, ac-
cording to the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and
Development in 2013, Ameri-
can students only spend 180
days a year in school, as com-
pared to 220 in Korea, 200 in
Japan, and 193 in Germany.
Heres the difference: our in-
famous three month summer
vacation. From June to Sep-
tember, students are allowed
to soak up the sunlight, as the
formulas and facts we worked
so hard to learn dissipate
from our brains. Of course,
some, especially the afuent,
spend their summers at rig-
orous summer programs, but
that just accentuates another
problem: the divide between
lower-income students, usu-
ally racial minorities, and the
top performing. This annual
summer slide is another key
aw in Americas educational
structure.
To understand just how
absurd that summer vacation
is, we need to rst understand
its origins. As The Atlantic ex-
plains, it was a response to a
few drastically outdated prob-
lems: inadequate farming
schedules, an irrational fear of
summer diseases, and a lack
of air-conditioning. While that
last one might still be a prob-
lem (is there a reason Stuyve-
sants air-conditioning is on in
the winter, but off in the sum-
mer?), the other two are terribly
anachronistic. The effects of
keeping the policy, though, are
far less silly. First, according to
Caroline Hoxby, a chaired pro-
fessor of economics at Stan-
ford, in an analysis of New York
City charter schools, there was
a marked difference between
schools that stayed open just
an extra ten days every year
and their normal counterparts.
Moreover, a 90-page report by
the RAND Corporation in 2011
found that students perform,
on average, one month be-
hind where they left off in the
spring. Finally, as Malcolm
Gladwell explained in his best-
selling book, Outliers, one of
the single most important dif-
ferences between underprivi-
leged black students and their
afuent white peers is that the
former remain idle during the
summer break, while the lat-
ter do not. So, while minori-
ties and whites might end the
school year on the same note,
by the time September rolls
back around, there is a signi-
cant disparity.
American exceptionalism
is on the decline. For a country
with one of the highest stan-
dards of living, the most No-
bel laureates, and the worlds
greatest output, its unaccept-
able to have an education sys-
tem that ranks so low. In order
to compete in the long-term,
we need sweeping change, and
we need to make it right now.
Enlightenment and Employment
By TEDDY BECKER-JACOB
Ive been warned a lot
lately that my plan to ma-
jor in philosophy is an awful
idea, because its a degree that
comes without the promise of
a job. The same can be said
of most humanities majors,
as well as, some say, degrees
in pure mathematics. As a
consequence, many Ameri-
can universities are trimming
these programs, while grade
school curriculum writers
are attempting to dilute them
into semi-practical exercises
geared toward the demands of
the contemporary workplace.
But while academics are quick
to point ngers at the profes-
sional establishment, scholars
themselves are in part respon-
sible for the decline of their
disciplines.
The humanities have
tripped over their own coat-
tails: they have made them-
selves bourgeois. Many aca-
demics publish in jargo ns that
make their writing impossible
to understand, even for other
scholars. Judith Butler, the pro-
lic superstar of gender theory,
is perhaps the best example.
Her prolix and incomprehen-
sible writing style, nowadays
familiar to most students of
the humanities, is famously
encompassed in the following
outlandish sentence:
The move from a structur-
alist account in which capi-
tal is understood to structure
social relations in relatively
homologous ways to a view
of hegemony in which power
relations are subject to repeti-
tion, convergence, and reartic-
ulation brought the question
of temporality into the think-
ing of structure, and marked a
shift from a form of Althusseri-
an theory that takes structural
totalities as theoretical objects
to one in which the insights
into the contingent possibil-
ity of structure inaugurate a
renewed conception of hege-
mony as bound up with the
contingent sites and strategies
of the rearticulation of power.
Whats more, academ-
ics have further alienated the
public by establishing formal
structures for writinginclud-
ing and especially the over-
revered ve-paragraph essay,
as well as various other styles
specic to different disciplines
so that papers become exer-
cises rather than projects. And
even worse, theyve dictated
that only certain materials are
academically worthy. It starts
early: I recall my sixth grade
English teacher waxing dread
over the day when schools
teach children Harry Potter.
Heaven forbid indeed, lest kids
fall under the delusion that
literature is meant to inspire
their imagination. And should
any student stray so much as
an inch from the discussion at
hand, let us chop off his foot
and stie his tongue to make
sure he stays on topic in the
future.
Here we arrive at the illu-
sory self-image with which the
humanities have framed their
decay. In attempting to prove
their equality in rigor with the
sciences, some scholars have
lost touch with the very reason
humans began studying their
subjects in the rst place. We
study the hard problems of the
humanities merely because
theyre interesting things to
think about, in the same way
that fractals and consciousness
are interesting things to think
about. All this is not to say
that school shouldnt be prac-
tical at all. But there is noth-
ing Victorian about the idea
that education should include
some chances to examine the
complex and unanswerable
questions of existence and the
human condition.
It can be said that the state
of humanities education is al-
ready far more relaxed than
it once was, when students
memorized Romantic poems
and recited them word for word
under the penetrating gaze of
a paddle-brandishing school-
master. But I fear were headed
down that path once again,
with the assembly lines of ed-
ucation reform busy manufac-
turing new curricula based on
supposedly practically minded
standards that water down the
purer disciplines, including
mathematics and logic, to a
point where they are neither
pleasurable, nor really useful
at all. Thanks to curricula de-
veloped based on shoddy in-
terpretations of the Common
Core State Standards, students
will soon be parsing instruc-
tion manuals for literary ele-
ments to use as evidence in
critical essays. (My philosophy
degree might at least land me a
seat in law school; that activity
is completely useless.)
There are actually many
reasons to spend years of edu-
cation studying the hard prob-
lems of being, time, and the hu-
man condition, and not many
them have to do with careers.
For one thing, thinking about
questions that lack knowable
answers is a rigorous mental
workout (though like the leg
press, these strenuous exer-
cises often develop muscles
whose use is not immediately
obvious). A notable exception
is when the questions involve
human beings, in which case
they become tools to draw
upon later in life. Our person-
al lives provide us with a nite
set of experiences to consult
as we make our choices, and
quite often no one is interest-
ed in discussing these with us.
The humanities could alleviate
this problem by having people
sit in rooms and talk about hu-
man nature.
Above all, the reason weve
been drawn to the humanities
since the dawn of language is
that theyre aesthetic in them-
selves. Certain problems and
ideas are intrinsically beauti-
ful in the same way that, say,
music is. Theyre fun to medi-
tate on, spiritually fullling in
ways the workplace will never
be. And everyone should have
the chance to experience them
and talk about them, even if
theyre not majoring in phi-
losophy and do plan to go on
to have careers, white-picket
fences, screaming families,
and all the rest of it. Thinking
isnt polo, after all. So whats
bourgeois about doing it in
college?
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Certain
problems and
ideas are
intrinsically
beautiful and
fullling in the
same way that,
say, music is.
[A] ninety-page
report by the
RAND
Corporation in
2011 found that
students
perform, on
average, one
month behind
where they left off
in the spring.
Opinions
The Spectator December 18, 2013 Page 14
Euromaidan, A Turning Point
By SEVERYN KOZAK
and CHRISTINA KOZAK (04)
Ukraines Berkut, a thug-
gish military outt and the
state riot police, is feared for
its physical prowess, unbridled
brutality, and lack of political
accountability. After nightfall
on December 1, these hard
men descended on a peaceful,
several-hundred-strong pro-
test in Ukraines capital, Kiev,
and disbanded the organized
rally in a bloody fray. Mere days
later, nearly a million protest-
ers ooded the Kievan streets
and cried for the resignation
of its despotic president. These
events should not be the legacy
of our struggle for indepen-
dence.
The Orange Revolution was
a rst, cumbersome step for
Ukraines political liberty. Dur-
ing the 2004 uprising, the coun-
trys population wrested power
from the encroaching grasp of
Viktor Yanukovych, a plutocrat
who subverted elections by
committing widespread elec-
toral fraud. Ukraine, a Soviet
satellite until 1991, enjoyed a
victory for popular democra-
cyalbeit briey. The Orange
Revolution fostered an incom-
petent reformist government
and induced disenchanted
Ukrainians to elect Yanukovych
to the presidency at the turn of
the decade. Now, three years
later, he has unilaterally de-
cided the nations political and
economic future by refusing to
sign an Association Agreement
with the European Union (EU),
a treatise that would further in-
tegrate Ukraine with the Euro-
zone and distance it from Rus-
sias domineering foreign policy.
Even as hundreds of thousands
of citizens ock to the streets
of Kiev to protest Yanukovychs
potentially catastrophic diktat,
the West hesitates to act, Russia
interjects with pressure politics,
and Ukrainians remain without
an organized opposition. The
situation is dire, but not with-
out a logical resolution. The EU
should counter Russian threats
with increased nancial incen-
tives, and, far more importantly,
the Ukrainian opposition must
unite under common leader-
ship.
Ukraine has palpably im-
proved both economically and
politically over the past decade
and gradually tended towards
European inclusion. Corrupt
post-Soviet politics have part-
ly given way to freer elections
and more transparent gover-
nance. Tourism developed,
Kiev turned into a burgeoning
metropolis, and after Ukraine
co-hosted the 2012 Eurocup
with Poland, closer relations
with the EU appeared immi-
nent, promising even greater
progress. In 2005, the Euro-
pean Parliament voted almost
unanimously (467 in favor, 19
opposed) for increased interac-
tion with Ukraine; three years
later, a commercial agreement
promised to liberalize trade;
and in 2009, Ukraine joined the
Eastern Partnership, an eco-
nomic forum for post-Soviet
states seeking European inte-
gration. The country seemed
poised for a Europe-oriented
future that, besides promising
further political and industrial
reform, would mitigate Russian
inuence.
The European Union pro-
posed an Association Agree-
mentan effective precursor
to EU membershipunder the
condition that Ukraine cleanse
its federal institutions of crony-
ism. Despite tensions over the
ill treatment of Yulia Tymosh-
enko and Yuriy Lutsenko, a pair
of opposition leaders impris-
oned after indictments in polit-
ically-charged trials, the EU has
continued talks.
Russia responded by threat-
ening protectionist economic
measures if Ukraine opted
for the EU over the Customs
Union, Putins Eurasian con-
sortium. Succumbing to pres-
sure, Yanukovych attended the
Vilnius summit on November
29, 2013 and ofcially rejected
Ukraines European track by
refusing to sign the Associa-
tion Agreement. In short, our
president bowed to Putins bru-
tal pressure in a thinly-veiled
pursuit of personal best inter-
estsby pandering to Russia,
Yanukovych seeked to gain eco-
nomic support and cement his
chances of reelection in 2015.
That night, several thousand
protesters marched on Kievs
Maidan (Plaza of Indepen-
dence). Nearly two weeks later
on December 8, their numbers
had swelled to the hundreds of
thousands.
The Euromaidan protests
are deceptively similar to the
Orange Revolution, but are
genuinely different. This time,
no overt political crime has
been committed: Yanukovych
simply rejected a trade and as-
sociation agreement, rather
than rigging national elections.
Unlike the Revolution, which
occurred under the auspices of
a weak president on his way out
of ofce, Euromaidan activists
face a government with a lot at
stake and a year-long term re-
maining.
Yanukovych primarily
fears political fallout with Rus-
sia, which threatens reprisals
should Ukraine sign the Associ-
ation Agreement. The country
is a genuinely important trade
partnerin 2012, 26 percent
of Ukraines exports headed
to Russia. Ukraine is heavily
dependent on Russian gas im-
ports, and any cuts in gas prices
would give a boost to its ener-
gy-intensive gross domestic
product. It is also dependent
on Russia for credit, as Ukraine
struggles to nd external sourc-
es of funding. Thus, the carrots
that Russia offersreduction
in debt, investments in key in-
dustries, gas price reductions,
and special trade privileges
are understandably attractive
to Yanukovych as he tries to
improve the economy in order
to guarantee reelection in 2015.
This indicates that the Euro-
maidan protests were never
guaranteed the easy victories of
the Orange Revolution and will
require an incredible commit-
ment from the countrys citi-
zens to become successful.
Despite the odds, its imper-
ative that the Euromaidan pro-
tests continue. They speak to
the countrys desire for closer
integration with the EU and are
an opportunity to build a civic
society. Even more importantly,
the countrys electorate can ex
its muscle against an increas-
ingly autocratic plutocracy.
Of holdovers from Soviet rule,
oligarchy and pervasive cor-
ruption are arguably the most
corrosive: The International
Corruption Perceptions Index
ranked Ukraine 144th out of
176 investigated countries
paralleling the likes of Cam-
eroon and Syria. Upwards of
15 percent of the state budget
is pocketed by politicians. By
heavily protesting a typical uni-
lateral move, Ukrainians send
carefree politicians a sobering
warning. Yanukovych, after all,
blatantly ignored the nations
overwhelming wishes for a piv-
ot to Europea GfK Ukraine
poll found 45 percent in favor
of closer EU ties, and a mere
15 percent opposed. Ukraines
politicians must show that
they will be held increasingly
accountable for their political
agendas and records.
In order to be successful,
Ukraines opposition, cur-
rently a motley crew, will need
to mobilize. The favorite is a
world champion boxer, Vitaly
Klitschko, who only recently
initiated his political career. Ar-
seniy Yatsenyuk, a lawyer and
economist, has more political
experience but less popular ap-
peal. Petro Poroshenko, a busi-
nessman, strongly supports an
EU track but lacks support in
the polls. Finally, Oleg Tyahny-
bok is a well-known politician
but holds concerning nation-
alistic views. To pose a serious
challenge to Yanukovychs rule,
the candidates must coordi-
nate their agendas by forging
a political coalition and rigor-
ously campaigning for greater
electoral recognition.
The EU should also recog-
nize Ukraines value as both a
political and economic asset
and further incentivize Yanu-
kovych to sign the Agreement
by providing nancial aid and
helping to repair the countrys
troubled economy. Ukraine can
alleviate EU dependence on
Russian resources and energy
and simultaneously rob Putin
of a pawn on Europes political
stage. Four-fths of Ukraines
territory consists of black soil,
nutritious ground excellent for
crop growth, while its estimat-
ed iron ore reserves constitute
ve percent of the global total.
Oil giants Chevron and Dutch
Shell each recently signed $10
billion contracts for gas and oil
prospecting rights on Ukrai-
nian territory. With a wealth of
commodities, economic assets
such as a booming IT sector, an
expanding tourism industry,
and a consumer base of 45.4
million, Ukraine would boost
the Eurozones economy while
decreasing reliance on erratic
Russian commerce.
Signing the Association
Agreement may not bring an
immediate end to Ukraines
troubles. Initial forays into
European markets will be
painfulUkraines economy is
inefcient and excessively ac-
commodated to Russian supply
and demand. The country will
need to reform politically, nd-
ing capable leaders to replace
the old guard of the countrys
institutions. Yet the EU repre-
sents Ukraines only tangible
hope for a better future. We
want West.
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The Euromaidan
protests speak
to the countrys
desire for closer
integration with
the EU, and are
an opportunity to
build a civic
society.
The situation is
dire, but not
without a
logical resolution:
the EU should
counter Russian
threats with
increased
nancial
incentives, and,
far more
importantly, the
Ukrainian
opposition must
unite under
common
leadership.
This indicates
that the
Euromaidan
protests were
never guaranteed
the easy victories
of the Orange
Revolution, and
will require an
incredible
commitment
from the
countrys citizens
to attain success.
Arts and Entertainment
Page 15 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Burgers for the Connoisseur
By NICOLE ROSENGURT
I have never been a particular
fan of two-dollar burgers served
in crowded, sweltering fast food
joints that smell of grease and
stale French fries. In my search
for the ultimate gourmet patty,
I found Umami. If there were
a kingdom of burgers, it would
be Umami. The word umami
is Japanese for the hard-to-pin-
point fth taste, as well as pleas-
ant savory taste.
Once inside, the restau-
rant is loud, dim, and full of activ-
ity. The chatter of patrons in the
packed restaurant rises above the
trendy electronic music. Indeed,
the whole place is reminiscent
of a converted nightclub with
its hazy red lighting and neon
burger lights. But beyond the
nightlife veneer, the dcor is bor-
ing. Of course, I wasnt there to
eat the interior design, but to try
some famous burgers. The wait-
ress led my friends and me past
the crowded ground oor to the
much emptier and calmer upper
level, where we sat with a gor-
geous view of the West Village in
the evening.
Their best starter, the
trufe cheese fries, shouldnt
even be considered a starter; it
was great enough to be a main
course. It consisted of perfectly
salted and crispy fries drowning
in gooey hot cheese, with enough
punch of trufe that you could
taste the rich mushroom without
being overpowered. Seriously,
these fries are addicting.
What I came for was the Truf-
e Burger. I heard about Umami
from friends in California who
raved about this burger, and hon-
estly, putting trufe on anything
makes it many times better. Be-
tween two buttery, uffy brioche
buns that melt into butter and
sweet bread in your mouth is a
patty thats just as light. The patty
is perfectly cooked, with just the
right amount of tenderness and
juiciness. Its soaked in decadent
trufe cheese sauce that smells as
if gods themselves have blessed
your plate. The enjoyment, how-
ever, ends all too soon, as its easy
to nish the fairly small burger in
two or three bites.
Besides my personal favor-
ite, theres the namesake Umami
Burger, which is a bit fancier
for those who want something
more lling. Its laden with shii-
take mushrooms, caramelized
onions, roasted tomato, parme-
san crisps, and ketchup. A more
classic choice would be the Cali
Burger. Its like a BLT, but richer,
smoother and with the prized
Umami meat, which is more ten-
der and put together in a looser
patty. Other burgers have top-
pings ranging from green chili to
beer-cheddar cheese and from
smoked salt-onion strings to ahi
tuna. The beef burgers all cost
around $12.
Umami started out in 2009 as
a small shop in L.A. Since then, it
has expanded to about 20 eater-
ies around California. The Green-
wich Village joint on 432 6th Ave
is the rst one on the East Coast.
People ooded in during the rst
few months due to its high ac-
claim in California. The wait has
been said to reach three hours,
and even when the rush is down,
customers can expect to wait at
least 30 to 45 minutes. The wait is
worth it.
All the choices at Umami
work for those who want to spice
up their boring, burger-lled
lives. Umami is good for burger
adventurers who are ready try
something they never knew could
come on a patty. Mostly, though,
this restaurant is for the average
hungry citizen who just wants a
really good burger.
Restaurant
ADVERTISEMENT
Umami Burger (432 Avenue of the Americas) is an upscale burger joint with affordable prices and a relaxed atmosphere.
S
o
r
a

K
i
m

/

T
h
e

S
p
e
c
t
a
t
o
r
All the choices
at Umami work
for those who
want to
spice up their
boring,
burger-lled
lives.
Arts and Entertainment
Page 16 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Playlist
1. Find You by Skrux&Felxprod ft.
Complexion
Genre: Electronic, dubstep
2. White Nights by Oh Land
Genre: Alternative
3. Landfll by Daughter
Genre: Indie, singer-songwriter
4. Gun by CHVRCHES
Genre: Synthpop, electropop
5. Hippy Hill by Grouplove
Genre: Indie rock
6. Booty Swing by ParovStelar
Genre: Swing, electronic
7. Worse Things Have Happened by James
Wallace and the Naked Light
Genre: Psychedelic, indie, folk
8. The Sound of Silence by Simon and
Garfunkel
Genre: Folk rock
9. Sea of Love by The National
Genre: Indie rock
10. Fuerteventura by Russian Red
Genre: Indie, folk
11. Be Be Your Love by Rachael Yamagata
Genre: Indie
12. The Mother We Share by CHVRCHES
Genre: Synthpop, electopop
13. For You by Angus & Julia Stone
Genre: Singer-songwriter
14. Middle of the Bed by Lucy Rose
Genre: Alternative
15. Reasons to Love You by Meiko
Genre: Singer-songwriter
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY
17
Album release
B.o.Bs Under-
ground Luxury
Genre: Hip hop, pop
Concert
The 1975
Webster Hall
7:30 p.m.
Sports
Boys Basketball
vs. Economics &
Finance
4:30 p.m.
18
Concert
Handels Messiah
Carnegie Hall, Isaac
Stern Auditorium
8 p.m.
Museum exhibition
The American West
in Bronze, 1850-
1925
The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
Movie release
Her
Genre: Drama
Movie release
Anchorman 2: The
Legend Continues
Genre: Comedy
19
Concert
The Breeders
Webster Hall
7 p.m.
Concert
Saves The Day
Bowery Ballroom
8 p.m.
Sports
Boys Basketball vs.
Art & Design
4:30 p.m.
Sports
Boys Wrestling vs.
Wingate Educational
Campus
5:00 p.m.
20
Concert
Dillon Francis
Terminal 5
8 p.m.
Art exhibition
Group Show: Clouds
Curated by Adam
Simon
Lesley Heller Work-
space (Lower East
Side)
Available through
January 26, 2014
21
Concert
The Ocean Blue
Bowery Ballroom
8 p.m.
Art gallery
Tommy Litz: Rev-
erie
Noho Gallery in
Chelsea
The Gaits: A High
Line Sound Walk
The High Line
From Make Music
New Yorks Make
Music Winter
parade
22
Concert
The Mrs. Carter
Show World Tour,
starring Beyonc
Barclays Center
8 p.m.
Concert
The Met Orchestra
Carnegie Hall, Isaac
Stern Auditorium
3 p.m.
23
Columbus Circle
Holiday Market
10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Concert
Ancestors
Mercury Lounge
Doors open at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $10
24
Columbus Circle
Holiday Market
10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Wreath
Interpretations
NYC Parks: 31st an-
nual wreath exhibi-
tion
Arsenal in Central
Park
830 Fifth Ave
25
Movie release
The Wolf of Wall
Street
Genre: Biography,
comedy
Movie release
The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty
Genre: Comedy,
fantasy
Movie release
August: Osage
County
Genre: Comedy,
drama
Movie release
47 Ronin
Genre: Action Fan-
tasy
26
Holiday Train
Show
The New York Bo-
tanical Garden
2900 Southern Blvd,
Bronx
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Concert
Pitbull
Barclays Center
7:30 p.m.
27
Concert
Zedd
Pier 94
9 p.m.
Concert
The Front Bottoms
Bowery Ballroom
8 p.m.
Movie release
Labor Day
Genre: Drama
Movie release
Lone Survivor
Genre: Drama, war
28
Concert
Phish
Madison Square
Garden
7:30 p.m.
Concert
New York String
Orchestra
Carnegie Hall, Stern
Auditorium
8 p.m.
29
Concert
Punch Brothers
Bowery Ballroom
8 p.m.
30
Concert
Gogol Bordello
Terminal 5
8 p.m.
Concert
Big Gigantic
Roseland Ballroom
8 p.m.
31
Concert
Jill Scott
Radio City Music
Hall
9 p.m.
New Years Eve
Ball Drop
Times Square
Best seen on Broad-
way (43rd-50th St)
or Seventh Avenue
(up to 59th St)
Looking Forward : December
Laura Eng / The Spectator
Michelle Lin / The Spectator
Arts and Entertainment
Page 17 The Spectator December 18, 2013
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY
1
Happy New Year!
Movie release
The Railway Man
Genre: Drama
Cast: Colin Firth,
Nicole Kidman, Jer-
emy Irvine, Stellan
Skarsgard
2
Art exhibition
opening
Andy Denzler:
Andy Denzler
Claire Oliver Gal-
lery (Chelsea)
6 p.m.-8 p.m.
Available through
February 1, 2014
Concert
Mark de Clive-Lowe
Lincoln Center,
David Rubenstein
Atrium
7:30 p.m.
Sports
Boys JV Basketball
vs. Louis Brandeis
3
Movie release
Paranormal Activ-
ity: The Marked
Ones
Genre: Horror
Cast: Andrew
Jacobs, Richard
Cabral, Carlos
Pratts, Molly
Ephraim
Seventh Annual
NYC Charles Bu-
kowski Memorial
Reading
Cornelia St. Cafe
29 Cornelia St,
between W 4th and
Bleeker
6 p.m.
Sports
Girls Basketball vs.
Graphic Communi-
cation Arts
4:30 p.m.
4
T.V. premiere
Taste in Transla-
tion
Genre: food, cook-
ing
Cooking Channel
New York City
Ballet
George Balanchine,
The Nutcracker
2 p.m., 8 p.m.
Tickets for sale
online
Last night available
5
Art exhibition
opening
Martha Clippinger:
Hopscotch
Elizabeth Harris
Gallery (Chelsea)
6 p.m.-8 p.m.
Available through
February 4, 2014
6
Museum exhibition
MoMA Art Lab:
Movement
MoMA, the Lewis
B. and Dorothy Cull-
man Education and
Research Building
Available through
August 31, 2014
7
T.V. premiere
Deception
Genre: Crime, mys-
tery, drama
NBC
8
Art exhibition
Angel Ortiz (LA2):
A Young Collectors
Exhibition
Leila Heller Gallery
(Chelsea)
Sports
Boys Wrestling vs.
Automotive
5:00 p.m.
Sports
Girls Basketball
vs. West 50th Street
Campus
4:30 p.m.
9
Concert
John Newman
Bowery Ballroom
9 p.m.
Art exhibition
opening
Larry Poons: Larry
Poons
Danese Corey (Chel-
sea)
6 p.m.-8 p.m.
Available through
February 8, 2014
Sports
Boys Gymnastics
vs. Long Island City
4:30 p.m.
10
Concert
Jake Bugg
Terminal 5
8 p.m.
Movie release
The Truth About
Emanuel
Genre: Drama
Cast: Kaya Scodelar-
io, Jessica Biel, Al-
fred Molina, Frances
OConnor
T.V. Premiere
1600 Penn
Genre: sitcom
NBC
Sports
Girls Basketball vs.
Beacon
4:30 p.m.
11
Art exhibition
Emilio Perez:
Footprints on the
Ceiling
Galerie Lelong
(Chelsea)
Available through
February 1, 2014
Art exhibition
Paul Glabicki: Rela-
tivity
Kim Foster Gallery
(Chelsea)
Available through
February 15, 2014
12
globalFEST 2014
7 p.m.
Webster Hall
Age restriction: +16
Tickets: $40
Ninth Annual
Freeze Tag on Wall
Street
Corner of Wall and
Broad Streets
1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Free
13
Museum exhibition
Designing Modern
Women 1890-1990
MoMA, Architecture
and Design Galleries
Available through
October 5, 2014
Concert
Jay-Z, the Magna
Carta World Tour
Barclays Center
8 p.m.
Sports
Girls Basketball vs.
Bayard Rustin Edu-
cational Complex
4:30 p.m.
Looking Forward : January
Laura Eng / The Spectator
Laura Eng / The Spectator
Arts and Entertainment
Page 18 The Spectator December 18, 2013
This is a Meta Spread
Introductory Remarks
What is meta? This is the question that plagues the profound among us, those
who never excelled in soccer and cricket. According to the New Oxford American
Dictionary, the adjective meta describes a creative work referring to itself or to
the conventions of its genre and anything that is self-referential in nature. If any of
this is unclear, refer to the article below, titled Meta Spread Gone in Circles.
If on a
winters night
a meta spread
By EMRE TETIK
It is Wednesday, December
18, and youre leaving Stuyvesant
High School after a long day of
classes to hang out with friends
or do whatever else youve
planned for the afternoon. As you
leave the building, you decide to
pick up a copy of The Spectator.
You peruse the front page for
interesting news and look at the
Newsbeat for quick tidbits of in-
formation before making your
way through the rest of the pa-
per. You move on past Features
and plow through the Staff Edito-
rial and Op-Eds. Finally, you ar-
rive at Arts& Entertainment, and,
waiting for you on page 18, is the
Meta Spread. You are fascinated
by A&Es cerebral exploration
of postmodernism. The article
If on a winters night a meta
spread, written by EmreTetik,
catches your eye. You begin read-
ing it, and it goes like this: It is
Wednesday, December 18, and
youre leaving Stuyvesant High
School after a long day of classes
to hang out with friends or do
whatever else youve planned for
the afternoon. As you leave the
building, you decide to pick up
a copy of The Spectator. You pe-
ruse the front page for interesting
news and look at the Newsbeat
for quick tidbits of information
before making your way through
the rest of the paper. You move on
past Features and plow through
the Staff Editorial and Op-Eds.
Finally, you arrive at Arts & En-
tertainment, and, waiting for you
on page 18, is the Meta Spread.
You are fascinated by A&Es cere-
bral exploration of postmodern-
ism. The article If on a winters
night a meta spread, written by
EmreTetik, catches your eye. You
begin reading it, and it goes like
this: It is Wednesday, December
18, and youre leaving Stuyvesant
High School
Continued on page 18
Meta Spread Gone In Circles
By ANNE DUNCAN
and KIT ETEREM
I thought it would never end. Im still not sure if it did. It is safe to say that the Meta
Spread in The Spectator is the most self-referential work I have ever read, and then re-read,
and then re-read some more. It gave me an acute sensation of my brain exploding inside
my skull. What senior Emre Tetik, the chief architect of the spread, was thinking when he
created this black hole of cyclical thought is beyond me.
To begin with, Tetiks piece, If on a winters night a meta spread, is an insipid effort to
pretend to be intelligent and to understand the sublime ideas articulated so eloquently by
Lyotard and Baudrillard. The reader is left with nothing but the most supercial expression
of meta (see Introductory Remarks).
And speaking of the Introductory Remarks, why did the writer (I would not be surprised
if this was also the work of Tetik) feel the need to insert his athletic shortcomings into a sup-
posedly serious meditation on meta? The digression does nothing but muddle an already-
disorganized discussion of such sophisticated ideas.
The derivative art by junior Anne Duncan is mediocre at best. It is clearly a result of a
late-night Photoshop attempt gone awry, leaving the spread a haphazardly aligned mesh of
rectangular pieces.
If all of this werent bad enough, the review of the Meta Spread, Meta Spread Gone
in Circles, isin a wordgarbage. Firstly, it reads very mundanely, as if the writers are
enumerating points on a list. Secondly, it shows that the writers (Duncan and freshman
Kit Eterem) lack a discerning, critical eye. The opinions expressed in it are simplistic and
reductive, and should not be trusted.
The one exception to the overall crumminess of the spread is the news article by senior
Noah Rosenberg covering the release of Issue 7 of The Spectator. In it, Rosenberg aims for
depth rather than breadth; the article does not comprehensively lay out the details of the
issue as a whole, but rather focuses on a few highlights, namely the Meta Spread (see The
Spectator Releases Issue 7). He gives the reader a good overview of the contents found
therein, adeptly choosing his words to maintain an objective tone despite the spreads obvi-
ous low quality.
But even Rosenbergs compelling addition to the spread could not save it. I hope I never
have to experience the Meta Spread again, and yet I keep experiencing it, over and over.
Spectator Re-
leases Issue 7;
Introduces
Meta Spread
By NOAH ROSENBERG
The Stuyvesant Spectator, Stuyve-
sants ofcial newspaper, released a new
issue on Wednesday, December 18, 2013.
It is the seventh issue of volume 104.
Contents include the standard farein-
cluding News, Features, and Arts &Enter-
tainment (A&E)as well as a revolution-
arily self-referencing Meta Spread, as
reported by an article in the Meta Spread
titled Spectator Releases Issue 7.
While it is commonly known that The
Spectator does not have any readers, at
least not those dedicated enough to ac-
tually look at the articles on page 18, se-
nior andA&E Editor EmreTetik remains
hopeful that many will notice the Meta
Spread, which he spearheaded. Tetik
wrote that the reader will be fascinated
by A&Es cerebral exploration of post-
modernism in an article titled If on a
winters night a meta spread, also con-
tained within the Meta Spread.
The Meta Spread has so far met with
mixed opinions. While Tetik is proud of
his creation, junior Anne Duncan and
freshman Kit Eterem wrote a scathing
review of the Meta Spread, titled Meta
Spread Gone In Circles, which can also
be found in the Meta Spread. Duncan
and Eterem maintain that the review
of the Meta Spread, Meta Spread Gone
in Circles, isin a wordgarbage, and
criticize many of the spreads other fea-
tures.
Senior Noah Rosenberg remains neu-
tral about the Meta Spread. In his article,
Spectator Releases Issue 7, he writes
that the spread is full of self-referencing
art, photos, and articles, such as Specta-
tor Releases Issue 7. Rosenberg reports
only the facts, upholding the principles
of journalistic objectivity and never once
revealing that he thinks the spread is ab-
solutely awful.
As a whole, the issue was not read.
Is there a Shake Shack coupon? sopho-
more Sorenbera Hong said.
import java.io.File;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Meta {

public static E makeMeta(){
return makeMeta();
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
File le = new File(Meta.java);
Scanner scan = new Scanner(le);
while (scan.hasNextLine()) {
String i = scan.nextLine();
System.out.println(i);
}
scan.close();
}
}
Meta Code
Metta Meta World Peace self-reects.
Arts and Entertainment
Page 19 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Doctor Who: The 50th Anniversary
The Companions
By Nicole Rosengurt
What would the Doctor be without his companions? Just a lonely madman travelling the universe in his box. But with them, he has
purpose. He has someone to love and take care of. And he has someone to take care of him.
Each companion has been a perfect match for his or her Doctor. They t exactly who or what the Doctor needed at some point in his
existence. For the Ninth Doctor, there was Rose. Nine is born from war and anger, full of mourning for his lost planet. Then enters Rose,
the sweet, young, adventurous shop girl whose pureness pulls Nine away from his memories of war. And when Nine becomes Ten, the
Doctor falls even further in love with Rose. When she is gone, Ten is devastated, and this is where Martha comes in. At rst, its easy to pin
Martha as the pathetic rebound girl, desperate for the Doctors love. But she comes to prove that she is an incredibly intelligent medical
student and a strong, independent woman. She helps the Doctor move on from Rose by showing that she doesnt need to be the second
choice. After Martha comes Donna, Tens best friend and my personal favorite. She is the most ordinary, and yet ends up the most impor-
tant woman in the world. Moreover, no one can resist her sass and honesty.
Elevens companions are more of a reection of Moffats writing. Though I love Amy and Clara, its much harder to relate to them than
to previous companions. Theyre practically magical, each possessing some mystical plotline to explain their relationship with the Doc-
tor. While Amy is spunky and full of love, and Clara is cute and feisty, we know nothing of their normal lives, only of their special and
supernatural connections to the Doctor.
The companions are there for us. We are the companions. We are the average folk who get thrust into adventure whenever the Doctor
is around. For the most part, the companions are just like us, people making their own lives extraordinary and looking for an adventure.
Brand New Day
By Geoffrey Luu
Its difcult to imagine any pop-culture phenomenon lasting as long as Doctor Who has. And, for the many viewers who grew up with Doctor Who, it is even more
difcult to imagine life without it. Considering the massive following that it has gained since it was rst introduced in 1963, its not surprising that the science-ction TV
series would be worthy of a 50th Anniversary celebration. On Saturday, November 23, the BBC simultaneously broadcasted a special episode, The Day of the Doctor, in 94
countries to commemorate the event.
The 75-minute anniversary episode celebrates the decades-long history of Doctor Who and is lled with references, both subtle and obvious, to previous versions of the
Doctor and many of his past adventures, companions, and enemies, while addressing major plot points introduced into the shows canon since its return in 2005. The basic
premise of the episode revolves around a much older series convention: the Doctor, being a Time Lord, has the ability to prevent his own death through regeneration.
The Day of the Doctor brings together three of those regenerations to solve a twofold crisis. In Elizabethan England, malevolent aliens known as Zygons concoct a plan
to invade present-day Earth. Meanwhile, on a Gallifrey of the Doctors past, the Time Lords are embroiled in the nal day of a catastrophic conict, known as the Time War,
with some of the Doctors oldest and deadliest enemies, the Daleks. The decisions the three Doctors make in one time inuence those they make in the other, even though
the two events are otherwise separate.
The special stars Matt Smith and David Tennant as the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors, respectively, alongside John Hurt as the War Doctor, a forgotten regeneration who ex-
ists between the Doctors eighth and ninth forms. As clearly established since the series revival, both the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors have experienced the end of the Time
War. It was the War Doctor who eventually ended the war by destroying Gallifrey, along with the Time Lords and the Daleks. This is the focal point of the interactions between
the three, with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors haunted by the guilt of the decision that the War Doctor has yet to make. At rst, the Tenth and Eleventh harbor a large amount
of distrust and hatred towards the other and argue over their actions during and after the Time War. Eventually, they are able to come to terms with those actions and learn to
work together, joking and bantering along the way.
The progression of the relationship between the Doctors is one of the highlights of the episode, providing some of its most tense, humorous, and saddening moments.
Smith and Tennant give typically stellar performances as their respective Doctors. The impact of the horrors of the war on each is distinct, with the generally cheerful Tenth
prone to ts of anger when discussing it, and the goofy and eccentric Eleventh trying his best to bury his past and move on.
Given Tennants and Smiths experience in their roles, it is, surprisingly Hurt who stands out most. His Doctor, like his future selves, is weary of war but not yet guilt-ridden
over the destruction of his planet and people, and makes little effort to hide his past. Instead, the sheer gravity of the situation in which he nds himself and the decision he
will be forced to make clearly shows in his face and eyes. Though the War Doctor was only recently introduced, the fact that we can connect to the character so swiftly follow-
ing that introduction is a testament to the strength of Hurts performance.
There is only one major problem with the special. Because The Day of the Doctor is meant to celebrate the long history of Doctor Who, it is a poor jumping-on point
for new, curious viewers, who will not understand the many references to past episodes. However, viewers who have been watching since the beginning (or at least since 2005)
will not have this issue, and should be entirely satised with the quality of the writing and acting that the episode offers. The special provides more than enough action and
emotion to keep viewers invested, and watching the three Doctors alternate between bickering, joking, and collaborating is incredibly entertaining. The Day of the Doctor
does exactly what it is meant to, commemorating the history of the show while moving the Doctors story forward and opening up new possibilities for his future.
Old Who
By Anne Duncan
After becoming infatuated
with New Who, I ordered a few
Netix discs of classic Doctor
Who episodes and specials. I
discovered that Doctor Who
isnt like what it used to be,
but thats not necessarily a bad
thing. In fact, I am now infatu-
ated with both.
Old Who was all about the
plot. The point of watching it
was to nd out what happens
next: Whats the next adven-
ture? Who is the next enemy?
Where is the next world? It was
the ideal sci- experience. The
companions were young, most-
ly unhelpful women, in need of
the doctors guidance and reas-
surance. Meanwhile, the Doctor
was a brazen hero who always
found a clever way to beat his
brute of an opponent. The spe-
cial effects were nothing like the
ashy television we are used
to now, and the whole experi-
ence of watching classic Doc-
tor Who is a rewarding blast to
the past for those of us who nd
bad special effects, series that
emphasize plotlines, and robot
dogs named K-9 to be endear-
ing.
When New Who came out,
the show as a whole slowly be-
came less about the plotline
and adventure, and more about
the dynamics between the
companions and the Doctor.
Doctor Who has essentially
become two different shows,
loosely connected, much like
the Doctors different versions
between regenerations. Each
has its own appeal.
Looking Back on New Who
By Shahruz Ghaemi
From 1963 to 1989, Doctor Who was an important cornerstone of British popular culture. But in 1989, the show faced a decline in
viewership as well as script and production quality, and the BBC placed it on indenite hiatus before its 27th season. Doctor Who re-
mained off the air for 16 years until the series was rebooted in 2005.
In the early 2000s, executives at BBC began to express a desire to bring Doctor Who back to British television. One of the key gures
in this movement was Russell T. Davies, an ardent fan of Doctor Who and former writer for BBC productions who had met with execu-
tives earlier on to push for the shows revival. In 2003, it was announced that Davies would be placed at the head of the rebooted series.
Doctor Who returned to the airwaves in March 2005 with Christopher Eccleston cast as the Ninth Doctor. The Doctors story under
Davies largely picked up from where the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie left off. However, Davies introduced a major plot to inaugurate
the new show: The Last Great Time War, a universe-spanning, time-warping conict between the Doctors fellow Time Lords and their
archenemies, the Daleks. The atrocities the Doctor witnessed during the war and the actions he took impact much of his character in the
new series. A continuous subplot throughout the reboot is that the Doctor committed genocide of both races to end the war and carries
with him enormous guilt. The Doctors experience as a veteran lends more weight to his memorable exclamation that Just this once,
everybody lives! at the end of one successful escapade.
Another distinguishing feature of New Who is that it primarily features the Doctor in standalone stories, while Old Who ran in multi-
episode serials. Both Davies and Steven Moffatwho succeeded him in 2010wrote seasons of mostly standalone episodes that culmi-
nated in epic season nales (usually with the departure of a few beloved characters). However, Moffat has been criticized for his overly
ambitious story arcs, which sometimes conict with the intended nature of individual episodes. For example, the Doctor once travels to
a resort planet with his companions in the midst of an arc about the search for their abducted child.
Overall, the revival of Doctor Who has been an overwhelming success. It has prompted three wildly popular Doctors, two TV spin-
offs (Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures), and the successful celebration of the shows 50th anniversary. Smith is set to hand
over the role to Peter Capaldi, a popular choice, in this years Christmas Special. Doctor Who has returned from the dustbins of pro-
gramming history to the apex of nerd culture and even what it means to be British.
The More, the Merrier: The Real Anniversary Special
By Eda Tse
The 50th Anniversary special of Doctor Who, titled The Day of the Doctor, was an hour and 15 minutes long, but only brought back three old characters from the series.
The good news for those still nostalgic for their old favorites, though, is that The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot was uploaded on the BBC website the same day, featuring actors
whom many may have missed in the special. Written and directed by Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot brings back Davison, Sylvester McCoy
(the Seventh Doctor), and Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor) as themselves, actors desperate to get into the 50th Anniversary special. Fed up with not getting a call from Steven
Moffat, they enlist the help of David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor) and John Barrowman (Jack Harkness) to get them into the episode.
While the plot may be simplistic, Davison brings together many of the actors who are notably missing from the 50th Anniversary in an enjoyable half-hour comedy spoof.
Davison, McCoy, and Baker are spectacular at making fun of themselves as old, unrecognizable actors (except for McCoy, who is shown plugging in The Hobbit at every
possible moment) and mocking their own insistence on being part of the episode. In Davisons portrayal of Moffat, the lead writer is obsessed with playing with action gures
of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, which many fans might nd endearingly true to his character.
In The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, Davison perfectly captures the fun of Doctor Who through lighthearted gags and references abound. In one case, John Barrowman
ditches his secret wife and children to drive Davison, McCoy, and Baker to Cardiff, where the actors can sneak into lming. While the actual episode may not involve any of
the older Doctors (except Tom Baker as the mysterious museum Curator), the Reboot ends with Davison, McCoy, and Baker hiding underneath sheets during the lming
of the episode and then sleepily celebrating on a bus. At the very least, in an alternate universe, these three additional doctors did get onto the Day of the Doctorand we
can all just pretend that it happened.
Humor
Page 20 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Sophomore Alexis Kushner, an invaluable member of the Girls Varsity Basketball team,
practices her famous granny shot, a difcult move to perfect, even for players in the
WNBA.
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By COBY GOLDBERG
and NOAH ROSENBERG
Many Stuyvesant students
have dreams of becoming CEOs,
doctors, lawyers and high school
physics teachers. But some think
outside the box when planning
their life trajectory after Stuyve-
sant.
After graduating Stuyvesant,
Chad C-Dawg Dai (99) attend-
ed Syracuse University, where he
pursued a bachelors degree in
communications. While he did not
graduate, college still played a ma-
jor role in C-Dawgs development.
To this day, his canonical hoodie
bears the inscription SPE, a nos-
talgic throwback to the Orange.
Since leaving Syracuse, C-
Dawg has developed a resum
many former employers describe
as diverse.
Before moving back into his
parents Brooklyn apartment, C-
Dawg worked in the claims depart-
ment of State Farm life insurance
as a senior le clerk. Associates
remembered him fondly. Guy
with the glasses, I think, Claims
Administrator Larry said. Bob,
supervisor of the Files Depart-
ment, remembered that C-Dawg
showed up pretty regularly. One of
C-Dawgs notable achievements
at the rm was reorganizing the
I and J les, saving an average
of $7.31 for hundreds of clients in
the Western Connecticut region.
C-Dawgs proudest achieve-
ment is the development of what
he calls the Double Whammy
Peanut Butter Sandwich. What
I do is I put peanut butter and
jelly on both sides of the bread,
C-Dawg said. Once you put them
together, it tastes real good, but
make sure you have a napkin
handy because it might drip.
C-Dawg looks back on his years
at Stuyvesant with mixed feelings.
He fondly recalls certain parts of
the Stuyvesant culture: 4/20 cele-
brations, the SING! afterparty, the
sixth-oor boys bathroom, and
the sixth-oor girls bathroom,
to name a few. C-Dawg served as
Freshman Caucus President for
two consecutive years. His mes-
sage was all about hope, Adam
Spohngellert (98) said. He had
some great, fresh ideas, like limit-
ing the amount of homework.
For Stuyvesant students who
want to follow in his footsteps, C-
Dawg recommends changing for
the 2 or 3 at Atlantic Avenue on
rainy days. Keeps you high and
dry, if you know what I mean, he
said with a wink.
Im a Boy
By WINTON YEE
In what is being hailed as a
landmark move and the begin-
ning of a new era of acceptance,
Mayor Michael Bloomberg an-
nounced Tuesday that a new ini-
tiative, called Im a Boy, has been
launched by the city. The goal of
Im a Boy is to help all boys un-
derstand that they are beautiful,
and that its their personality, not
their body type, that counts.
There are just so many is-
sues that plague boys in this day
and age, Bloomberg said. Men
are underrepresented in so many
elds of society. I mean, has every
president had an X and a Y chro-
mosome? Sure. Are men paid more
than women in the workplace?
Yeah. But have you seen a recent
WNBA roster? Are you aware that
no man has ever won an Academy
Award for Best Actress?
Boys, however, are less sure
about whether they need the con-
dence boost. I aint insecure.
Like hell I wanna look like an Ab-
ercrombie & Fitch model, said
teenager Irvin McCoy, eating a
bag of Doritos.
These articles are works of ction. All quotes are libel and slander.
Junior Basketball Elective
Cancelled Because There
is Nothing Left to Teach
By DANIEL GOYNATSKY
and BILL CHANG
The programming ofce be-
gan student elective selections
for the spring term on Wednes-
day, November 20, leaving many
juniors dismayed to nd that the
basketball elective was no longer
available. The removal of the pop-
ular elective came as a shock to
the class of 2015, many of whom
were planning to fail junior year
in hopes of being able to take the
class twice. I use the basketball
class to not only impress girls with
my sick handles, but also show off
to all my friends, junior and var-
sity basketball bench-starter Ro-
man Szul said.
In the past, students who
planned on taking the course
would prepare by playing basket-
ball in their free time. I practice
every day before school and dur-
ing my lunch. I am only 32 inches
away from dunking! sophomore
Justin Oh said.
The general opinion regarding
the removal of the class was var-
ied among faculty and students.
Many teachers were frustrated
with the abrupt decision. What
are we supposed to do with all
of these basketball textbooks?
physical education teacher Dr.
Anna Markova said.
As a result of the basketball
electives removal, students began
to explore the world of physical ac-
tivity outside of basketball. Some
even discovered that Stuyvesant
offers many more physical educa-
tion classes than had they origi-
nally thought. Polar bears just lie
around all day, so the class must
be easy, said junior Daniel Kanter
as he perused the course list.
Although basketball is tradi-
tionally taken by vertically-chal-
lenged teenage boys with skin
problems, the asco has affected
female students as well as male.
Some feel that without the class,
they will be unable to nd suitable
boyfriends. I dont know about
the other girls, but I choose my
men exclusively based on their
ability to shoot three-pointers
and the size of their calves, junior
Remi Moon said. Theres nothing
like watching 13 sweaty boys play-
ing full-contact, trying to score as
many goals as possible.
Many believe that, due to the
abundant amount of sheer bas-
ketball talent present in Stuyve-
sant, it is inevitable that the bas-
ketball team will come to an end
as well.
Picking a varsity team this
season was the hardest task Ive
had to complete in my entire
Stuyvesant career, right after
problem #38 of the 1998 Algebra
Regents exam. At this point, any-
one who tries out is guaranteed
to get on the squad because of
how talented they are. What Ive
decided to do is cancel the bas-
ketball team. It simply isnt fair for
the other schools to play us, since
we always outmaneuver them
with our 30-60-90-degree pass-
ing strategy, physical education
teacher Philip Fisher said.
Intelligence and Security Studies Shut Down;
Mr. Trainor Flees To Russia
By KARANDEEP AHLUWALIA
Another scandal has forced
students to take up arms in pro-
test once again. Beloved social
studies teacher Kerry Trainor was
discovered to be a spy against the
Zhang administration, ready to
spill its secrets in his new elective
Intelligence and Security Studies.
Anonymous sources say that As-
sistant Principal of Security and
Student Affairs Brian Moran un-
covered the plan after overhear-
ing Trainor ask, Just what exactly
does Mr. Moran do in this school?
Using every security guard in his
command, Moran attempted to
corner and restrain Trainor. Just
when he was surrounded, Trainor
put on a baseball hat and was in-
stantly unrecognizable by any se-
curity guard in school. One mo-
ment we had the traitor cornered
and the next thing I knew I had a
very handsome student asking me
where there nearest exit was, Mo-
ran said.
Soon after, Spectator Humor
was trusted with the leaked les
left via an unmarked package at
editor Jeremy Karsons doorstep. I
just couldnt believe it. Library re-
strictions, SUs unknown budget,
the school blood drive; theyre all
connected. Of course, with infor-
mation like this, its important to
remember the motto of Humors
founder: I report the facts as I see
them Helen Keller. When word
nally reached the students, many
were outraged. In an attempt to
get the administration to reverse
its policies, students rallied un-
der leaders, including Jack Cahn.
There is only one way to tell the
school that they cant do this to us
without them ignoring us. Another
protest! exclaimed Cahn. Unfor-
tunately, for Jack, many protesters
were confused about the message
they were trying to send out. One
such protester, Emily Ruby, even
grabbed a bullhorn and repeated-
ly asked the crowd questions like,
What do we want? and When
do we want it? Despite the lack of
organization, many feel that the
protest worked. A sense of nor-
mality returned as students began
to stop caring about the violation
of their rights. I mean its not like
Ms. Zhang changed anything, but
at least we brought attention to it.
Plus, Im really busy right now, and
its not really that big anymore,
Student Union Vice President Kei-
ran Carpen said.
As for Trainor, he has ed to
Russia. When we nally tracked
him down for an interview, he
said, I had to leave. I no longer felt
safe living in a country with such
an oppressive regime. But I have
faith that the students of Stuyve-
sant will never allow themselves
to be controlled like this. They
would die before they would give
up. And when they nally topple
the administration I will return!
He pumped his frostbitten hand.
Yup. Wont be long now.
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Several sex tapes have been
posted online after the junior
college trip. Expert pornogra-
phers believe that the location
of the lming was the Boston
Marriot Hotel.
After multiple requests from
Freshman Caucus President
Matthew So, the Stuyvesant
administration has ordered
the construction of a Fresh-
men Bar on the 11th oor.
Students expressed their con-
cern about Mayor-elect Bill de
Blasios plans to abolish the
SHSAT. This discriminates
against the richer families that
can afford tutors, freshman
Sam Lee said.
The cricket team is holding an
interest meeting on Tuesday,
December 17.
Newsbeat
Stuyvesant Alumni: It Doesnt Get Better for All
By JACOB FABER-RICO
and SPENCER WEISS
1.When the 2-4 escalator works
2.Catching the 3 train by two sec-
onds
3.Hanukkah
4.That big gift box you know has
something awesome inside
5.Finding coal and a couple pairs
of socks inside of that big box
6.The possibility of not having
SING! this year
7.The conference schedule days
that we never have
8.Nothing
9.Getting more articles in the
New York Post than Brooklyn
Tech does
10.Finding out Santa isnt real
(wait, what?)
11.If our sports teams lose to
another school, well, were still
smarter than them!
12.When a teacher blatantly ig-
nores the no homework over
the break rule
13.The ELA exam that was cer-
tainly worth the time spent tak-
ing it
14.Our fantastic Board of Elec-
tions
15.Olive, the other reindeer
16.Seth Rogan and James Fran-
cos Bound 2 music video
17.Christmas Carols three weeks
before Thanksgiving
18.Black Friday deals that dont
actually save you money
19.Getting away with not dress-
ing up for Nerd Day because it
comes naturally
20.Absolutely nothing
21.Watching the New York Giants
play decent football teams
22.Watching the New York Jets
play every other week
23.Robinson Cano
Things Were Thankful For
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Sports
Page 21 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Spartans Search for Consistency in Rollercoaster Start
Spartans Shaky in Season
Opener
By TAHMID KHANDAKER
After nishing in third place
in the division for the past three
years, the Spartans were ready to
fulll their expectations of com-
ing out on top. They marched
into their meet on Tuesday, De-
cember 3, expecting an effort-
less win, but were quickly disap-
pointed after being outmatched
by the undermanned William E.
Grady Falcons 13 wrestlers, in
comparison with the Spartans
40. Plagued by injuries and a lack
of available players, the Spartans
one-point loss to the Falcons un-
veiled the inexperience of a team
with great potential.
We underperformed. We
shouldve destroyed the Falcons,
senior and co-captain Jae Ahn
said.
The Spartans were unable
to showcase their full lineup be-
cause of senior and co-captain
Michael Berlins shoulder injury
and foot injuries aficting senior
and co-captain George Liu and
junior Ishman Choudhury, a key
wrestler on the bench who was a
viable option for starter earlier in
the season. Berlin, who held a 6-0
record in the regular season last
year, and Liu were expected to
win, had they wrestled. Also trou-
blesome was the general lack of
starters. Junior Henry ODonnell,
for example, was unable to play
due to a failure to submit medi-
cal forms on time.
Though key veterans junior
Tony Chung, senior Yasseen Is-
lam, and Ahn were in the start-
ing lineup, the Falcons forfeited
their respective weight classes
due to a shortage of available
wrestlers, resulting in an auto-
matic six points for each forfeit.
They could have beaten anyone
on that team, Berlin said. The
Spartans were hoping for for-
feits in higher weight classes or
the 99lb weight class, since they
did not have enough wrestlers to
wrestle at those weight classes,
as opposed to weight classes that
they would have won due to their
strong wrestlers.
Such disruptions in the start-
ing lineup forced coach Michael
Cigala to resort to unorthodox
tactics. Sophomore Neil Meep-
agla wrestled at 120lb even
though he is in the 102lb division,
and some inexperienced wres-
tlers were forced to start.
I didnt expect it to go down
this way. I had to wrestle the
Falcons captain, said junior
Jarek Liang, who started for the
152lb weight class and got one
takedown. Similarly, junior Paul
Dzhugostran substituted for the
injured Liu and also lost.
As unlucky as the Spartans
were during this game, the team
hinted at a dominance that could
last the whole season. Contrib-
uting to this dominance was an
emphasis on cardio and stamina
training during practice. We fo-
cus a lot on what the other teams
neglect, and thats good stam-
ina, junior Pavel Kondratyev
said. Meepagla, who surmised a
6-2 record last season, won his
match even though he wrestled
an opponent one weight class
higher than himself. He was just
in control of the match, which
was unexpected. As soon as the
match started, Neil capitalized
on his opponents mistake and
he didnt look back, Kondratyev
said.
Junior Taras Klymyuk was
similarly assertive and domi-
nant during his match, delivering
several takedowns. Seconds into
Klymyuks match, he gripped his
opponent by the abdomen and
jerked the Falcon up until he
landed with a thud on the mat.
Klymyuk was as relentless on
his feet as he was on the ground.
Since much of the match consist-
ed of Klymyuk attempting to roll
over his opponent for a pin and
his opponent trying to escape out
of bounds, Klymyuks superior
endurance allowed him to stay
mobile while his opponent was
conspicuously exhausted.
The Spartans are accustomed
to shaky starts. They started off
the last two season with two loss-
es in the rst three games, but
they recovered both times to n-
ish in the top half of their division.
The future is bright for the inex-
perienced Spartans, especially
with the return of Choudhury,
Liu, and Berlin in sight and new
recruits like Liang. I have hope
for the team. There are just a few
things that they have to brush up
on, but once they put those few
things together and learn to do
them automatically, the result
is profound, Berlin said, refer-
ring to the teams dedication and
technique.
Spartans Aint Going Down
Early
By ZHE LEE
The Spartans began their rst
league game with their energy
and tenacity resonating in the
Stuyvesant gymnasium. They
won a decisive and command-
ing victory over the Erasmus Hall
Campus Dutchmen on Friday,
November 13, prevailing 48-21.
Numerous forfeits due to the
Dutchmens small roster heavily
assisted the Spartans. In fact, Er-
asmus immediately surrendered
ve forfeits because of a lack of
lighter weight classes, forcing
them to give up 30 easy points.
This helped the Spartans cushion
the blow of losing a majority of
their matches.
Junior Douglas Chan wrestled
rst, ghting tooth and nail in
an attempt to pin his tough op-
ponent. At one point during the
match, his opponent attempted
to utilize an illegal full nelson on
Chan, which resulted in a tech-
nical violation and gave two free
points to Chans score. Nonethe-
less, Chan could not overcome
the overwhelming strength of his
opponent and lost 11-15. Per-
sonally, though I fought my hard-
est, I fell short of victory, Chan
said.
Junior Taras Klymyuk, on the
other hand, swiftly pinned his un-
fortunate opponent within a few
minutes, scoring two takedowns.
He scored six points for the Spar-
tans, increasing the teams lead to
36-3. Taras is really good, coach
Michael Cigala said. Hes able to
make it to the City Champion-
ships. Junior Paul Dzhugostran
also cleaned up in a workmanlike
fashion and quickly nished his
opponent off with a pin.
However, junior Ra Obidul-
lah and senior Yaseen Islam could
not hold up against their oppo-
nents. Though Islam was up 15-5
and scored a number of points
from his takedowns, he was sud-
denly pinned after a quick rever-
sal in a backbreaking loss.
Some of the Spartans older
key players, including juniors
Abraham Lusk and senior Mi-
chael Berlin, were not wrestling
because of various injuries and
illnesses. Despite their absences,
it was a good chance for our
backups to get practice and [for]
our starters to rest and heal up,
junior Cooper Weaver said.
Though many of the Spartans
are rst-year members, the team
believes that it will go far this year
with a combination of effort and
talent. Our rst-year members
have a lot of potential this year.
They just need more experience
on the mat and [have to] come to
practice this year, senior and co-
captain George Liu said.
In fact, despite being marred
by injuries and illnesses, the
Spartans have already won two
consecutive meets, led by a
strong core of juniors.
The expectations that we
have this year are within reach.
That said, we expect each and ev-
ery one of our wrestlers to put in
the effort it requires, Chan said.
Boys Wrestling
Neil Meepagala (left) takes on a player from Grady High School on December 3, 2013.
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ADVERTISEMENTS
We focus a lot on
what the
other teams
neglect, and thats
good stamina.
Pavel
Kondratyev,
junior
There are just a
few things that
they have to
brush up on, but
once they put
those few things
together and
learn to do them
automatically, the
result is
profound.
Michael Berlin,
senior and
co-captain
Sports
Page 22 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Peglegs Season Starts with Stumbles
we played smart, and offensively
we played slow. Thats our game.
Thats how we play, said senior
Imtiaz Hssan, who led all Stuyve-
sant players with 13 points. De-
spite allowing the Blazer to have
a hot start to begin the quarter,
Stuyvesant managed to keep the
game close, maintaining a one-
point lead going into half-time.
After the break, the Peglegs
made adjustments on the defen-
sive end. Smothering the Murry
Bergtraum players as soon as the
Blazers received a pass from their
point guard, Peglegs were able
to force turnovers, which led to
fast break opportunities on the
offensive end. The Peglegs were
able to limit the Blazers to four
points during the entire quarter,
going into the nal quarter ahead
29-25.
We played at our pace to-
day. The ball was in control, [we
played] slow, there was ball move-
ment, and we broke the press,
senior and captain Matthew Dal-
ton said. If we play at our pace,
we are going to have a good sea-
son. The team knew that it had
to do to control the tempo of the
game during the last quarter, and
that is exactly what they did. For
the third time, the team locked
down the Blazers and limited
them to single-digit conversions
for the quarter.
Fisher will likely reference
this game when the team needs
to be reminded of playing a game
at their tempo. Other than the
run the Blazers had at the start of
the second quarter, the Peglegs
had a tight grasp on the tempo of
the game, forcing the Blazers to
slow down to an uncomfortable
speed. The team concept has to
stay, Fisher said. I got 11 players
in this game, which is something
I rarely do. With [senior Noah]
Kramer out, there are more min-
utes, so everyone else needs to
pick up their game. With a not-
so-pretty .500 record, the team
has much to improve upon and
build upon, especially facing the
throes of an injury that has reso-
nating effects throughout the en-
tire roster.
Stuyvesant Peglegs Lose Nail-
Biter against Seward Park
By ARI HATZIMEMOS
For their third game of the
season, the Peglegs faced Seward
Park, a big division rival. Last
year, the Peglegs had two close
contests against Seward Park but
came out victorious both times
by a combined margin of only
four points. This year, however,
the result was different, due to
turnovers and inexperience on
the Peglegs bench. On Tuesday
December 10, Seward Park de-
feated the Stuyvesant Peglegs
51-48.
In the rst quarter, the Peg-
legs dominated. They handled
the ball, rebounded well, and
made their shots. When the
other team tried to throw press
coverage (a defensive strategy in
which defenders press up close
to the guy with the ball, intend-
ing to force a turnover) at them,
the Peglegs responded resiliently
with sound passing. They also
forced Seward Park to foul mul-
tiple times, lending the Peglegs
15 free throws throughout the
game, nine of which they landed.
By the time the quarter was over,
the score was 12-0.
However, this dominance was
short-lived. As the game went on,
the Peglegs starters, who were
already ravaged by injuries, grew
tired, and the more inexperi-
enced bench players became in-
tegral parts of the game. [Senior
and co-captain Matthew Dalton]
has a very bad sprained right
thumb, but he still played with it.
Arlex [Gole] took a pretty bad fall
last week, so he hasnt practiced.
So we really havent had a full
team practice in a while, coach
Phillip Fisher said. This became
apparent in the plays, as no non-
starters scored in the double dig-
its over the course of the match.
The Peglegs defense and the
offense that stunningly opened
the game in the rst quarter both
faded as the game progressed.
Bad passes led to turnovers vir-
tually every time the Peglegs had
the ball. On one play in the third
quarter, a turnover led to a fast
break with only one Stuyvesant
defender left to defend the shot.
A quick crossover from Seward
Park, however, led to two easy
points. [Our bad defense] was
a combination of giving up too
many defensive rebounds and
not getting into our offense, Dal-
ton said.
In spite of this, the Peglegs
held onto their lead late until late
into the fourth quarter. They ap-
peared to be putting it away, but
more turnovers and the referees
made all the difference. Hon-
estly, the referees werent perfect.
We called on every little touch,
and the calls werent going both
ways, senior and co-captain Im-
tiaz Hssan said. During the game,
three Peglegs fouled out, includ-
ing Hssan.
With 42 seconds left, the Peg-
legs were down for the rst time
all game, 49-46. A few whistles
and missed shots later, the game
was over, with a nal score of 51-
48. The last play was actually an-
other foul, preventing the Peglegs
from even taking a potentially
game-tying shot.
There is still some reason to
look ahead for the Peglegs, who
caught a glimpse of their poten-
tial. If they focus on their defense
and look back on the rst quarter
of this game as a sort of template
for the future, they may be able to
turn this shaky start to their sea-
son around.
Bulldogs Unleashed on Peglegs
By CHRIS KIM
Imagine a gymnasium a little
less than the size of the Stuyve-
sant locker rooms. Now imagine
a cramped row of fans lined up
along the sidelines of the court,
compressed against a wall. With
a basketball court that has not
been legally approved by the
PSAL until this season because
of its size, its safe to say that the
Washington Irving High School
Bulldogs had an immense home
court advantage coming into the
game against the Stuyvesant Peg-
legs on Thursday, December 12.
But this alone was not what led
to the Peglegs defeat. Despite
the Peglegs valiant team effort,
the athleticism of the Bulldogs
came out on top, taking a 61-46
victory over the physically weak-
er Peglegs.
The Peglegs inferior athleti-
cism when compared to those of
other teams in their division has
been a persistent issue. Every
team we play is going to have a
huge advantage in athleticism
and size, and our job every game
is to overcome that, senior Nick
Kalantzopoulos said.
The Peglegs have worked out
a strategy against some of the
much quicker teams, and it has
proven to work if executed cor-
rectly and consistently. We have
to play Stuy basketballslow, de-
liberate basketball, coach Philip
Fisher said. We dont have the
speed and the athleticism, so we
have to play Stuy ball. The Peg-
legs offense focuses on swing-
ing the ball and creating high-
percentage, open shots. Even if it
takes 20 quick passes within one
possession, the Peglegs will rinse
and repeat the process until they
get that open shot, completely
slowing down the game.
However, the Bulldogs were
the ones who controlled the
tempo of the game, out hustling
the Peglegs on both sides of the
court with their superior athleti-
cism. The Bulldogs dominated
the Peglegs in rebounding, secur-
ing 13 more offensive boards and
21 more in total. The Bulldogs
also ruthlessly pressured the ball,
forcing turnovers and resulting in
easy baskets for the team. While
the Bulldogs were right up on the
toes of the Peglegs on defense,
the Peglegs stuck to a more pas-
sive zone defense, forcing fewer
turnovers and making it a com-
fortable offensive game for the
Bulldogs.
Though the Bulldogs clearly
exposed many of the areas that
the Peglegs need to work on, the
Peglegs showed major improve-
ments from their previous three
games. The fact that my kids
were able to execute their plays
as well as they did today in this
box, I thought we did a nice job,
Fisher said. In addition to their
improving offense, the Peglegs
also progressed in their defense.
We were able to limit a team
that scores around 85 points to
61 points, which really showed
how we improved as a team, se-
nior and co-captain Imtiaz Hssan
said. In Stuyvesants rst league
game against Bayard Rustin Edu-
cational Complex, the Peglegs
gave up 79 points, but they were
able to conne the Bulldogs (who
gave Bayard their rst loss) to 61
points.
If the Peglegs want to contend
for the playoffs this season, they
must aim for games that only add
up to around 30 to 40 points for
the opposing team. Though there
are still 12 games left in the regu-
lar season, the Peglegs must re-
ne their Stuy Ball offense and
nd ways to overcome the athlet-
icism of their opponents before
its too late.
Boys Basketball
Pirates Chill Through Their First Victory
By GRACE LU
and JEFFREY ZHENG
After practicing in the Seward
Park High School pool since
the beginning of last season,
the Stuyvesant Pirates were no
strangers to subpar pools. How-
ever, the George Washington
High School pool was in a con-
dition much worse than Seward
Parks. Filled with freezing, lime
Gatorade-colored water and with
a deck so cold that it would have
been warmer if the meet was
outside, junior Justin Choi said,
George Washingtons pool made
the Pirates appreciate Seward
Parks. Despite these conditions,
Stuyvesant had no trouble cruis-
ing to their rst win of the sea-
son.
The Pirates, having faced
George Washington only once
last year, were completely un-
aware of the conditions in which
they had to swim. However, de-
spite shivering on the sidelines in
their winter jackets to stay warm,
the Pirates soundly defeated
George Washington with a score
of 51-31. George Washington
High School has nished 7-3 in
the Bronx/Manhattan division in
the past two years. However, they
are never any match for the three
powerhouses of the division:
Stuyvesant, Hunter, and Bronx
Science.
Consequently, this meet was
not a test for the Pirates, serving
as more of a walkthrough for the
rookies. It was the newcomers
rst meet, so it was nice to start
off with an easy meet, since it
boosts the team morale, sopho-
more and rookie Beck Zhu said.
I was really nervous coming into
this meet, but now I have a lot
more condence from the expe-
rience Ive earned. With about
10 Pirates ineligible because they
didnt meet the PSAL requirement
of 10 practices in order to swim,
the rookies were able to swim
in more events against a George
Washington team composed of
mostly seniors and juniors.
These rookies showed not
only more initiative in going to
practices, but also no signs of
nervousness during the meet.
The 100-yard freestyle was domi-
nated by freshman Brian Chan
and Zhu, both of whom joined
the team only this year but n-
ished rst and second with times
of 57.12 and 58.01, respectively.
They also qualied for the A Di-
vision Championships in Febru-
ary. As of this season, these are
the 14th and 17th fastest times in
the city. Last year, however, nei-
ther of these results would have
placed in the 50 fastest 100-yard
freestyle times. Even so, Chan
and Zhu have established them-
selves as the Pirates top freesty-
lers. Freshman Lawrence Kwong
also surprised the team with a
1:04.60 in the 100-yard butter-
y, nishing rst by a solid eight
seconds. With this time, Kwong is
the fourth fastest buttery swim-
mer on the Pirates, as well as
the youngest. Im really proud
of him. He works very hard, and
I see a lot of potential in him,
senior and co-captain Kevin Lee
said.
The Pirates continued to
dominate the rest of the meet,
easily placing rst in each event.
By the time junior Andrew Guo
and sophomore Justin Lin n-
ished the 500-yard freestyle, the
seventh of 11 events, the Pirates
had already amounted 51 points
and went unofcial for the rest
of the meet. Guo nished with
a time of 5:49:12 and Lin with a
time of 6:43:07, both more than
50 seconds ahead of third place
and more than three minutes
ahead of fourth place. Had the
Pirates not gone unofcial for the
rest of the meet, the gap between
the scores would have been sig-
nicantly greater.
The Pirates rst meet could
be considered a warm-up for
the rest of the season, as well as
a gauge for certain swimmers
performances. With many more
practices to go, the Pirates have
just settled in for the grind of the
season. We have to work on our
underwater kicking, turns, and
streamlines, coach Peter Bolo-
gna said. Only time will tell if this
season will be supported mainly
by the underclassmen of the
boys swim team.
Boys Swimming
The Pirates practice at Seward Park High School for their upcoming season under the
guidance of Coach Bologna.
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We cant make
any excuses.
We need to box
out, and we need
to work harder.
The only way
we are going to
beat the more
athletic teams is
by outworking
them.
Konrad
Krasucki,
junior
continued from page 24
Sports
Page 23 The Spectator December 18, 2013
Phoenix
Blaze Past
Lady
Panthers
By ANTHONY CHEANG
Last year, the Stuyvesant Phoe-
nix manhandled their division,
tying for rst place with an im-
pressive record of 12-3. This year,
they hope to do the same, making
their rst game important in set-
ting a precedent for the rest of the
season. Thankfully, the Phoenix
had a tame opponent on Monday,
December 2: the High School of
Economics and Finance Lady Pan-
thers. Lacking even a home gym-
nasium, the Lady Panthers lost to
the Phoenix last year in a complete
blowout, 80-8. With home-court
advantage, the Phoenix repeated
their victory this year, crushing the
Lady Panthers 78-16.
After the rst quarter, the match
became even more reminiscent of
last years game, as the Phoenix led
20-4 and only allowed two lucky
buckets from the Lady Panthers.
By halftime, Lady Panther fans had
broken out their mobile devices,
recognizing that the game was all
but over. The Lady Panthers were
entirely unorganized, managing
zero rebounds and zero assists as
a team.
On the other hand, the Phoe-
nix ran like a well-oiled machine,
powered by juniors Lauren Sobota
and Sophia Gershon, who respec-
tively dropped near triple-dou-
bles. Sobota managed an almost
Magic Johnson-like effort, racking
up 20 points, 12 assists, and eight
rebounds, and nding seemingly
every open person for an easy
dish-and-swish. Gershon man-
aged the middle with 18 points, 15
boards, and seven assists, crashing
the board relentlessly. The starting
guard and center were individually
able to score more than the entire
Lady Panther team; as expected,
the end of the game turned into
the Phoenix scoring on the Lady
Panthers as though they were
practicing layup lines.
Moreover, the Phoenix were
excellent in sharing the sugar; they
managed 26 assists with their 78
points. I denitely think the way
we move the ball directly corre-
lates to how well we perform. If
we can keep ball movement as our
number-one priority, well contin-
ue to get better, Sobota said. Their
crisp passing cut through the Lady
Panthers defense and busted the
game wide open.
I denitely feel that winning a
game at home to start the season
is good for us. I wasnt the coach
last year, so I didnt pay much at-
tention to last years game, but
I feel this year we have a strong
squad, coach Vincent Miller said.
The Phoenix can look back on this
game as an easy win and hopefully
use it as a launching pad for future
games against tougher squads.
They beneted by giving their
deep bench some running time, as
Miller subbed out his starters after
halftime.
Its always good to get a win
under our belts. It helps to build
condence, and hopefully we
can build on this for the future,
Miller said. The Phoenix came out
scorching hot to start the season,
but they were up against easy prey.
They can take this win with a grain
of salt and come out strong in the
next game against School of the Fu-
ture, whom they beat by 45 points
last year. The Phoenix should be
able to take advantage of this easy
early schedule and start racking
up wins in preparation for a deep
playoff run.
Girls Basketball
By ANNE DUNCAN
In my time at Stuyvesant so
far, I have had my best experi-
ences and made my best friends
in my extracurricular activities.
The ties between club and team
members are often strong, and
the support of our peers is a
priceless resource. Teams buy
apparel to show their allegiance,
give senior gifts to show their ap-
preciation, and stick together to
play well. I am extremely grate-
ful for the support I receive from
my lacrosse teammates, on and
off the eld.
What has been lacking,
though, is support from the rest
of the school. My teammates
and I cheer as loudly as we can
on the sideline even after losing
17-1, just because we got that
one point. Yet our shouts cannot
ll the silence left by the distinct
lack of fans on our sideline. We
are not the only ones who feel
this way. This is a common ex-
perience for Stuyvesants sports
teams.
At rst, I thought nothing of
it. My games are often far away,
difcult to get to, and unpopu-
lar. I know most students wont
attend games unless they are so-
cial experience. When I ask my
friends to come to my games,
they tell me, No one wants to
go to Randalls Island. My team-
mates and I understand the in-
convenience.
This reluctance, however,
leads to an imbalance in fan at-
tendance. So many fans attend
boys basketball games that they
spill out the door. The football
and baseball teams usually have
at least a crowd of parents and a
few students at the side of Pier
40. Events that go on in or near
school are more likely to have
fans than those of other teams. It
makes sense.
However, I started to notice
a greater bias. Students are far
more likely to attend a game
if the sport is popular in the
streets, parks, and stadiums of
New York City (baseball, basket-
ball, football, etc.). Friends have
asked me, Hey, are you going to
the basketball game today? But
I have never been asked about a
golf match or a fencing meet or
a bowling game. Why not? Each
of those teams is highly ranked
in the PSAL, some even more so
than the basketball or football
team. Surely all of those teams
want fans to cheer them on. It
seems that the student body
ignores some teams successes
and failures.
The solution has since be-
come clear to me: the unrecog-
nized sports teams have to start
by supporting each other. After
checking in with my team and
gaining their support, I sug-
gested to all sports team mem-
bers and captains via Facebook
that we arrange swaps in atten-
dance with other teams. If the
golf team were to attend any one
of my teams lacrosse games, we
would, in return, attend one of
their matches. The bowling team
could attend a cricket game, and
the cricket team would then at-
tend a bowling game. This way,
both teams get much-desired
support from each other. But the
point is not to create more segre-
gation between teams. If teams
that already have plenty of fans
want more in the stands, then
they and their friends would
make great attendees at other
sports games.
Though some games might
be inconvenient to attend, the
promise of having someone
elses encouragement is encour-
agement enough to spend one
afternoon cheering on some-
one else. Besides, attending any
event as a team promotes bond-
ing between teammates. It can
be difcult for a whole team to
nd the time to go to one game,
but one member of a team can
make a deal with one member
of another team. Just one fan on
the sideline can make such a dif-
ference, especially to teams that
are used to having none.
This immediately solves two
problems. Each team now has at
least a few fans at some games,
and those athletes might bring
along their friends for company,
adding to the crowd. Events also
always seem more worthwhile
if there is the promise of a few
hours with your friends.
If Stuyvesant wants any unity
as a school, it has to start some-
where. I suggest that the sports
community become just thata
community. As with anything,
it is easier said than done, but
the prospect of our unpopular
teams cheering for each other
should be enough to get the ball
rolling.
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Come Together, Stuy
By JEFFREY ZHENG
Badminton is mad boring
and takes no skill, junior and
boys varsity basketball player
Arlex Gole said.
Badminton? I think my
grandma plays that, junior and
boys varsity football player Er-
vin Flores said.
These are the usual respons-
es when one mentions badmin-
ton. As a sport, it is scoffed at
and belittled by fans and play-
ers of popular American pas-
times like basketball, football,
and baseball. Most people are
unwilling to accept the fact that
badminton is a sport. They as-
sociate it with not demanding
athletic training, but leisure and
a slow pace associated with old
people or young children. This
is why sophomore Jialin Ke and
her club, the Stuyvesant Birdies,
are trying to revolutionize the
way people view badminton.
As president of the Birdies,
Ke is extremely frustrated by the
lack of recognition that badmin-
ton receives. Ive heard things
like badminton is for slow
people or its not even a sport
because its super easy to play,
Ke said. It honestly makes me
really mad, because it implies all
kinds of things about what Im
like and what my club members
are like. None of us are slow or
fat, thank you.
In order to further promote
badminton as a sport in Stuyve-
sant, Ke has revitalized the bad-
minton club. Last years club was
nothing more than a number of
fruitless interest meetings. Many
people wanted to play and antic-
ipated ofcial badminton meet-
ings, but those tournaments
never occurred. Ke was disap-
pointed at this lack of activity
and decided to take charge by
resubmitting the charter for the
badminton club to the Student
Union.
In addition, she has tre-
mendously improved her own
competitive badminton skills
and shown her passion for the
sport by training this summer.
Ke, along with freshmen Charles
Sang and Chris Ye, attended the
New York Badminton Center in
Flushing, where they worked
hard to polish their skills and
learn strategies. I remember
when I trained for the rst week
and I could barely walk after,
Ke said. The center is lled with
some of the best badminton
coaches in New York, who train
players who range from begin-
ners to experienced and com-
petitive players.
The Stuyvesant Birdies are
devoted to instructing people
about badminton, teaching
them how to play the sport,
and, ultimately, entering com-
petitions. In order to promote
the club and badminton as a
sport, the Birdies have suggest-
ed showing a few games to the
school and letting other people
try playing against Charles, Ye
said. After playing against the
clubs strongest members, peo-
ple may change their minds and
rethink their opinions of bad-
mintons difculty. Still, while
there are almost 100 members
in the Birdies Facebook group,
only 13 people showed up to the
rst meeting.
The Birdies most immediate
challenge, however, is not even
the lack of attendance. Rather,
it is the lack of a consistent lo-
cation where they can meet pe-
riodically to play badminton.
Stuyvesant has numerous PSAL
sports teams that constantly
occupy the gyms, but Ke notes
with frustration that schools
like Bronx Science can somehow
manage to accommodate for
their badminton club, she said.
As for Hunter, the co-presidents
had to ght for badmintons rec-
ognition as a sport, but eventu-
ally they got their spots during
lunch periods.
At Stuyvesant, though, the
badminton clubs options are
outside, which is not an ideal
location because it is either too
cold or too windy to hit the bird-
ie, or ofcial but faraway bad-
minton centers like the NYBC.
While ofcial badminton cen-
ters seem like a perfect spot for
the Birdies, the centers are only
open late at night or charge pric-
es upward of $10. To make things
even more tedious, the adminis-
tration requires permission slips
from each member when they
hold meetings away from the
school.
Despite these obstacles, Ke
and the Birdies will continue on
to their goal and even advocate
for badminton to be an ofcial
PSAL sport, Ye said. As of now,
the club continues to meet of-
cially at the NYBC. Though it is
not the most ideal location, due
to the schedules of the mem-
bers, they have ofcial badmin-
ton courts, and the Birdies have
even been able to cut the price of
admission from $10 to $6.
Ke faces a steep uphill chal-
lenge with the club, one that
proved to be too great for past
club presidents. The sport not
only has a negative image, but
also suffers from lack of interest
because people dont take it seri-
ously. On top of that, when there
are devoted club members, it
is hard to nd areas to actually
play. But Ke has already shown
a burning passion for the sport,
and, with two freshmen who
seem to share her interests, she
hopes that this strong core will
lead to big changes for the club
andmore importantlythe
sport.
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Not Just for Leisure
The Badminton Club travels all the way to the New York Badminton Center in Flushing,
Queens to play and practice as the Stuyvesant gymnasiums are occupied everyday.
I remember
when I trained
for the rst week
and I could barely
walk after.
Jialin Ke,
sophomore
THE SPECTATOR SPORTS
Page 24 December 18, 2013
Facing a tough schedule at
the start of the season, the
PEGLEGS, Stuyvesants boys
basketball team, are 1-3 in
their rst four games. After a
blowout loss to open the sea-
son, the team has improved
its passing and patience on
offense and hopes to turn
things around before winter
break.
The PHOENIX, Stuyvesants
girls basketball team, are
undefeated in their rst three
games. Juniors and leading
scorers Sophie Gershon and
Lauren Sobota are leading
the team on both ends of the
oor, averaging 15 rebounds
per game and nine assists
per game, respectively.
Stuyvesants girls gymnastics
team, the FELINES, kicked
off their year with a victory
over Christopher Columbus
Campus.
The PIRATES, Stuyvesants
boys swimming team, be-
gan their quest to reclaim
the PSAL championship they
lost last season by defeating
George Washington deci-
sively.
After an unexpected, disap-
pointing defeat in their rst
non-league game, the SPAR-
TANS, Stuyvesants boys
wrestling team, bounced
back with a victory over
Erasmus Hall Campus in
their season opening league
game.
Sports
Wrap-Up
Peglegs Season Starts with Stumbles
Peglegs Unprepared for Titans
Aggression
By ANTHONY CHEANG
and LOUIS SUSSER
The end of the last years sea-
son opened many questions for
the Peglegs. With the graduation
of six stellar seniors, the entire
roster shape-shifted from last
years heady veteran squad to
this years team of mostly new-
comers. The inexperience of this
team was tested on Wednesday,
December 4, against the Bayard
Rustin Educational Complex Ti-
tans. Bayard only nished fourth
in the division last year, with a
record of 8-7, while the Peglegs
ended with a 12-4 record. This
year, Bayard is looking to ip the
script, and began doing so with a
79-51 victory over the Peglegs.
Bayard has one of the less
spectacular basketball courts
in the division. Their short and
cramped court caused mayhem
for the players. We have to be
careful with the ball in such a
cramped space to prevent turn-
overs, coach Philip Fisher said.
Bayard also had the advantage of
having only three seniors gradu-
ate; 10 of their players returned.
In the rst half, the Peglegs
were outplayed. On the very
rst play off the tip-off, a Bayard
player dove out of bounds to save
the ball for an easy layup. Bayard
managed 38 rebounds, and these
showed in the score. In the rst
quarter, the Titans had 32 shot
attempts, while the Peglegs had
only 20. The Bayard players were
playing a full-court trap, hap-
hazardly sending multiple play-
ers to trap the ball handler. The
Peglegs simply couldnt move the
ball around, which resulted in
11 turnovers in the rst quarter
alone.
In the second quarter, the
Peglegs faced much of the same
Bayard aggression. The harass-
ing Bayard defense continued to
wreak havoc on the Peglegs ball
movement, limiting their posses-
sions and ultimately only allow-
ing 11 points in the quarter. By
halftime, it was obvious that the
Peglegs had to regroup through
halftime if they still hoped to
win. We cant play as fast as we
were playing in the rst half.
We were careless with the ball,
Fisher said. As the rst half came
to a close, the Peglegs faced a 24-
point decit, 44-20.
The third quarter was the
only quarter in which the Peglegs
outscored the Titans and nally
found their footing in sound
fundamentals. They managed to
slow the game down and conse-
quently got more shot attempts,
in contrast with their hasty play
in the rst half. Led by junior
Konrad Krasucki and senior Im-
tiaz Hssan, the Peglegs were able
to outscore the Titans 22-8 and
cut the decit to 12 points. In
the third quarter, Konrad came
in, and we cut the lead in half.
They dont go in the paint when
Konrad is there, Fisher said.
The Peglegs third-quarter ef-
forts were in vain, however, when
the Titans took advantage of Kra-
suckis foul troubles and proceed-
ed to blow the game wide open in
the fourth quarter. Without Kra-
sucki protecting the middle of the
paint, Bayard opened a 30-point
chasm between the two teams.
We cant make any excuses. We
need to box out, and we need to
work harder. The only way we are
going to beat the more athletic
teams is by outworking them,
Krasucki said.
Stuyvesant Peglegs Cool off
Blazers
By RAYYAN JOKHAI
After suffering a difcult loss
to Bayard Rustin Educational
Complex in their season opener,
the Stuyvesant Peglegs were hop-
ing to bounce back against the
Murry Bergtraum Blazers. They
ultimately prevailed over the
Blazers 39-33 on Thursday, De-
cember 5, in a slow-paced, me-
thodical game.
Coming into the game, coach
Philip Fisher knew that if the Peg-
legs were to win, they would have
to play at the tempo at which
they felt comfortable. In the pre-
vious game, the team tried to
play a speedy run-and-gun of-
fense to keep up with the other
team, which resulted in the Peg-
legs routing. In the last game,
we tried to run with them. Thats
not how we play, thats not us,
Fisher said.
The Peglegs were able to cre-
ate an early lead for themselves
in the rst quarter, outscoring
the Blazers 12-8. They played
tight defense on one end of the
court and then strong offense on
the other, as evidenced by their
13 total assists.
After a slow-paced rst quar-
ter, the Blazers came into the
second quarter looking to speed
up the momentum, resulting in a
quick 9-2 run to tip start the quar-
ter. However, after a timeout, the
Peglegs regrouped and got back
to their game plan. Defensively
Boys Basketball
continued on page 22
Roving Reporter: Reforming the PSAL
By LEV AKABAS and LUKE MORALES
with additional reporting from CHRIS KIM
Though the Public School Athletic League (PSAL) provides an outlet for student-athletes across New York City to participate in athletics alongside their academics, the
program is sometimes awed in the way it facilitates competitions, just as is any system in which winners and losers are selected. The programs size can understand-
ably cause organizational difculties, butThe Spectators Sports Department has witnessed many unfair rules and inconsistencies that should be involved in no sport.
By opening up the oor to Stuyvesants coaches and student-athletes, we hoped to examine the problems in the PSAL as it currently stands.
What is one thing you would change about the PSAL, and why?
The PSAL doesnt technically allow winter games for baseball because the baseball teams kept playing in tournaments under their PSAL names. But teams just play
not under their team name anyway, and its silly that they cant practice under their own team name. Theres absolutely no reason they shouldnt be able to play in
the winter.
Aaron Mortensen, junior boys baseball player
As a JV coach, the fact that a 17-year-old can play JV is a
tremendous disadvantage. A 17-year-old is much more
mature than a 13-year-old from a physical standpoint, and
I have a problem because at most of the other schools, I
know for the fact that the kids are as old as 16 or 17. Its just
not fair.
At some of the sites, the security should be a lot better. Par-
ticularly, I think that at a lot of other schools, once were
in the gym, they dont keep things in line as well as we do.
Not at all gyms, but at certain gyms, sometimes the way
the gym is laid out, the spectators are on the court, shout-
ing profanities or ethnic slurs, and I nd that sometimes it
crosses the line. But I know that [the PSAL] is a big program,
and there are going to be difculties when you have a pro-
gram that big.
Howard Barbin, boys junior varsity basketball coach
The administration from the top down should be replaced. They use
the rulebook when they want to use the rulebook, and if they dont
want to use the rulebook, they dont use the rulebook and they make
up their own rules. They only use the rulebook if they want to stick
it to a coach and show them the rule. Its different rules for different
teams.
Anonymous Stuyvesant coach
The quality of sport
teams in each bor-
ough is so different
that good teams from
Manhattan or from
each borough are not
as good as the worst
teams from other
boroughs. There is
too much discrep-
ancy, and sometimes
we should be play-
ing just to beat our
borough, rather than
once we get to the
playoffs and sudden-
ly play everybody.
Nick Kalantzopo-
luos, senior boys
basketball and boys
baseball player
Some coaches take on two sports teams right after each other, so once
youre in playoffs and your season is ending, theyre already busy with
their other team, so they cant put as much attention on you. They jug-
gle two teams at once, so each team doesnt get enough attention. [Its
a scheduling problem] because in volleyball, we were in the playoffs,
but we werent getting enough practice time because [our coach] was
busy with his gymnastics team.
Julia Gokhberg, junior girls volleyball and girls tennis player
The PSAL needs to get better refsrefs that are specic to
the sport. In volleyball, they have refs that arent trained for
volleyball. They need to know the game.
Abigail Baltazar, senior girls volleyball player
I would make it so the Stuyvesant handball team would have many more games throughout the
year, at least three or four, against the other top teams in the city, because historically, if you look at
our record, we always win the division. Were 12-0 almost every single year, and we get to the play-
offs and then all of a sudden we play these really tough teams. Teams like Bayside, for example, play
against other great teams the whole year, so its like theyre playing playoff scrimmages constantly,
because they have such a good division in Queens. So I wish that the PSAL commissioner for hand-
ball would make it so that we have scrimmages [...] more regularly during the year.
Robert Sandler, boys handball coach
There needs to be better communication between the
PSAL and the athletic directors.
Larry Barth, Athletic Director
Junior Arlex Gole shoots a basket at an away game on Thursday, December 12 against
Washington Irving High School.
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