Monica Flores bounded out of the Barnes & Noble store on Stevens Creek
Boulevard, nearly collapsing with joy. She had waited 36 hours to have her
copy of "My Life" signed by former President Bill Clinton.
For Flores, it was worth the wait.
"It just feels so good," said Flores, of San Jose. "It was so fantastic."
More than 3,000 people from all over California lined up for a chance to meet
Clinton. But only the first 1,000 got their books signed.
For the two days leading up to the highly anticipated book signing Tuesday,
the parking lot at Barnes & Noble was filled with excitement, happiness,
frustration, anxiety and annoyance.
Angela Boyd, who drove six hours from her hometown of Los Angeles, was only
one of many who left in tears. "It was perfect," Boyd said. "He shook my hand
and even talked to me. It was worth every second of my wait."
But only one-third of the crowd left Barnes & Noble with a signed book and
handshake. Many left with nothing but a sour attitude and a sunburn.
"I'm pissed off," said Sammy Tsang of Oakland, who had waited in line more
than 18 hours. "They said they would give out 1,500 bracelets, but they only
gave out a 1,000."
"We are sunburned too. We didn't get anything because there was no
organization - it was horrible," said Julia Nita, a resident of Fremont. "It's
not fair because we were willing to follow the rules."
Although Clinton was not scheduled to arrive until 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, the
adventure started much earlier.
At 6 a.m. Monday, Ruben Mendez and his daughter were the first to arrive -
more than 36 hours early. "I knew a lot of people would be coming. I even
called Sunday night to see if people were here lining up already," said
Mendez, of San Jose. "The people working kind of laughed and said no, but I
just wanted the head start. "
Though Mendez and his daughter were first, the line quickly grew to include
thousands of people.
Fred and Ali Menbari, who are cousins from San Jose, arrived at 1 p.m. Monday.
"The day went by fast actually," Fred Menbari said. "We've been keeping
ourselves busy with dominos and the name game."
Menbari said some might think it's ridiculous to camp in a parking lot
overnight. But he thought it was worth it. "It's a manner of respect," he
said. "He's one of the best presidents ever."
Many of the people who waited long hours in line to meet Clinton said they did
it for the same reason.
"I think the world of him," said Denise Eliason, a resident of San Jose. "We
feel he deserves the strength from us after all the pain he's been through.
He's a very special man."
Steve and Lynda Cuckovseh drove two hours from their home in Sacramento.
"We actually drove to Berkeley because they told us that it was on a
first-come, first-served basis, but someone lied," Steve Cuckovseh said. "So
we were shut out at Berkeley, shut out at San Francisco - this is it."
Barnes & Noble's lack of organization infuriated many in line.
San Jose resident Maria Adorador could have gotten a wristband if not for the
two people who cut in front of her in line.
"Basically I would've gotten a signature with better crowd control," Adorador
said. "There was no control of the flow of traffic - not at all."
"When we first got here we started making a list," said Mendez, who was first
in line. "This lady down the line was number 23, but a little later, she
turned out to be number 47."
Many of the attendees were angry - and blamed Barnes & Nobles.
"I'd tell people not to shop here," Adorador said. "If I bought my book here I
would return it."
Some in the crowd said there was miscommunication long before the day of the
event between the bookstore and the visitors. Robert Aguirre of San Jose said
he called the store three weeks earlier so he could be clear on the rules for
the book signing.
"They told me there was no camping. They actually even told me that no one was
allowed on Barnes & Noble property before 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday," Aguirre said.
That's why Aguirre and his family did not show up until 9:30 a.m. on the day
of the event - and ended up with no wristband.
Many nearby coffee shops took advantage of the hoards of people, opening their
stores a few hours earlier to attract those waiting in line. Numerous food
vendors patrolled the lines, taking orders and displaying their tasty wares.
Another distraction appeared shortly before Clinton was to arrive. Four
Clinton protesters congregated in front of Barnes & Noble and held up signs,
despite heckling from many Clinton supporters.
As 8 p.m. neared, people became increasingly anxious.
Clinton emerged promptly at 8:15 p.m. from the second in a succession of four
green SUVs, escorted by U.S. Secret Service agents and local police. He looked
sharp in black-rimmed glasses, a sports jacket and a pink tie.
All the confusion, chaos and angst that had abounded in the morning and
afternoon melted away once he stepped into the store.
Seated in the children's section of the bookstore, Clinton was amiable as he
offered a friendly hello to each person, signing their books and giving them a
firm handshake.
"You are beautiful," Clinton said to one toddler after signing the child's
hat, even though the fliers said that he would sign nothing but books. Others
got a "god bless" from the former president, along with a "thank you" to every
compliment that came his way. And, when people would walk off without their
signed book, because they were still in awe of him, Clinton would gently
remind them to pick up their copies.
Some who braved it all to get their books signed described the experience as
almost transcendental.
Sunnyvale resident Nitin Matthew, 19, was in pure joy, saying that when he
shook Clinton's hand, he literally felt the chills running down his spine.
"I didn't know what to say when it was my turn, so I just said, 'I play tennis
just like you,'" he laughed. "It was a trip."
Megan and Sarah Kindsvatter, sisters from Cupertino, said they'd always
cherish the memory of meeting Clinton.
"We are never washing our hands again," they said.
Mosaic staff writers Carl Ponzio, Vikram Mahal, Sara Malik, Neeraj Berry and
Victoria Tang contributed to this report.
As one drives up, there’s not much to look at. Just a corporate building one might almost mistake for a high tech office, and a parking lot scattered with cars. The only hint of the magic within is the bluish neon sign, softly whispering “Starlight…”, which decorates the impossibly dark façade. The name beckons, promising a romantic escape from the toils of everyday life -- a brief reprise from the stress and pressure of daily routine. Through the doors, a whole new world opens up. A world of fairy tale shoes, twinkling lights, shiny hardwood floors just begging to be danced on, mirrors to multiply the beauty, and the pure joy radiating from every enchanted couple in the room. A place where, from eight to midnight, one can lose oneself and become a line in the poem of movement, a place where nothing else matters, as long as you aren’t afraid to let your heart burn and your soul fly, and find the perfect self-expression somewhere between the sexiness of salsa rhythms and the soothing flow of two-step melodies.
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Don't call the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadet Corps a "marching band.''
Every summer, about 100 Bay Area students between the ages of 12 and 18 meet six days a week at Mission College in Santa Clara to prefect their musical talent and practice their drills. The Vanguard Cadet Corps offers students the chance to do something rewarding for three months.
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| Ramon Esquivel, Juliana Manbler, Scott Driscoll and Richard Powell practice. |
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| Brass captain Ken Rydeen is framed by Contrabass players Robert Wendland and Syna Saberi. |
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| A neighborhood child caught up in the excitement of a live mimi-parade in San Jose follows the Vanguard brass line on his bike. |
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| Trumpet player Corey Kuruma from Monta Vista High School and mellophone player Pablo Coppola from Diamond Bar participate in a small practice parade. |
Patrick Herndon, a senior at Fremont's Irvington High School, has plans to start a cultural club there next year. Like many of the other clubs on campus, he wants to focus on his heritage and raise awareness about its roots.
But Patrick, 16, is white - and he knows that his idea for a Caucasian Cultures club is bound to receive some harsh criticism and maybe even allegations of racism. But he's prepared to argue his point.
"I think people will consider it to be racist and they won't let us do it because they think we will try to infringe on the rights of other races," Patrick said. "But by not allowing us to have a club, it infringes on our rights as Americans."
He's not the first with the idea for a club for white students. Last year, Lisa McClelland, a freshman at Freedom High School in Oakley, made headlines around the world when she tried the same thing and ended up transferring to another school because of the harassment she encountered.
It's a sign that the tables might be turning when it comes to racism, with whites on the receiving end this time. And it's an especially sensitive issue in diverse Silicon Valley, where minorities make up about one-third of the population. In many Bay Area cities, they represent the majority.
Edna Bonacich, a professor of sociology and ethnic studies at the University of California-Riverside, said some white people are still adjusting to their changing communities and neighborhoods.
" I think they're uncomfortable," she said. "They feel like they're losing control."
For Roni Cohen, a Jewish 16-year-old who goes to Monta Vista High School, it isn't an issue of control. For her, it's more about being taken advantage of and being able to speak her mind, even if what she has to say isn't necessarily politically correct.
"African-American girls laugh at us when we dance because we're white, but we can't laugh back," she said. Even though white people represent the majority of the nation's population, it's almost as if "they don't have the right to speak, so they can never defend themselves."
Nikhil Matani, a senior at Bellarmine College Preparatory, understands why minorities are so sensitive about racism.
"The idea is that white people haven't undergone a certain amount of racial oppression that others have, so when white people make racist comments or ideas, it's more like they're in an ivory tower," said Nikhil, 16, who is Indian.
Other students, however, said they personally were not involved in racist behavior such as slavery and shouldn't be held accountable for the actions of their ancestors. But Bonacich said racism continues today, even if it's in smaller doses.
"There still is a privilege connected with being white," she said. "You're the normal person if you're white and everyone else is qualified in some way. You're an immigrant, you're black, you're different. Whites can say they're not racist but that doesn't mean that they don't benefit or participate in a system."
But not everyone - white or otherwise - considers race to be a big deal.
"Every person is human and should just be treated equally on all levels." said Sahil Patel, a senior at Harker School. "I wonder why people consider race as such a big issue in the first place."
Suzie Spelyanksy, 16, knows that racial differences between people can't be ignored.
"After a while you get used to it and it doesn't bug you as much," she said. "Now, it's just, 'These are my friends, why should I care what they look like?' "
It's just a regular day at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, one of the most diverse schools in the Bay Area. In classrooms, students of all ethnic backgrounds mix together.
But as soon as the lunch bell rings, things change. Suddenly the Asian students are congregating at one lunch table, the African-American students at another, white students in yet another area.
It has been well over 50 years since the historical Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case took place. The Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal institutions were inherently unequal, and from that moment on the world of education has become more and more diverse.
However, a closer look at high schools across the Bay Area and the nation shows that even though many improvements have been made in terms of integrating different cultures, students still tend to group themselves socially by race.
According to a study of 638 students conducted by Stanford University Assistant Professor Anthony Antonio, more than 90 percent of students acknowledged that, while on campus, students predominantly cluster around individuals who are similar to themselves.
Irmina Gawlas, 17, said that at Monta Vista, students tend to group themselves into small social circles, often along racial lines.
"At my school, all the Asian people hang out with Asian people, and Caucasian people with Caucasians, and everyone else with their own race," Irmina said.
Educators see this as a natural occurrence.
"Students do tend to associate with people of the same race, but it is simply because everyone likes to be with people who they have a lot in common with," said Sandy Prairie, vice principal of Mission San Jose High School.
Andrea Wong, a 15-year-old incoming junior at Gunn High School in Palo Alto who is Chinese, feels that in today's schools, being the same race allows students to reach a comfort zone.
"I can relate to other Chinese people in a lot of ways," she said. "Even just language-wise, we can tell each other jokes in Chinese and just do things I can't do with other types of people."
Psychologist Beverly Daniel Tatum said in her book "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" that the desire to form racial cliques can be traced to the brain. She said racial grouping is simply a developmental process students undergo in response to an environmental stressor, racism.
However, Prairie and Andrea both agree that there is a fine line between trying to be comfortable and creating animosity between people of different races. Being shut out of a group, whether because of your race or other factors, is hurtful.
Ameya Ananth, 17, a student at Lynbrook High School, doesn't like it when students isolate themselves into racial groups. Ameya remembered a time when she was left out of a study group because she wasn't part of the clique. She thinks it might have been because she was a different race.
Some people are fighting to break down racial barriers. Mike Seppi established the Diversity Awareness Partnership with the idea of breaking down stereotypes.
While Seppi said he does believe that "it's a natural tendency to associate with someone that is like you because it helps alleviate the insecurity of being judged by others," he added that "many teenagers are developing a lot of prejudice, which is a big problem." The DAP's mission is to show the value of diversity, and eliminate obstacles that can divide communities.
Matt Pogue, a 17-year-old Campbell resident, said he believes that high schools share some of the blame for racial segregation that exists on campuses.
"A lot of the segregation on campuses has to do with the schools and society, because of their hypocrisy," he said. "The school administrators always say that segregation is bad, but then they do nothing to stop it, which is kind of like they are promoting it."
Other students have different experiences in their high school. Nancy Lee, 20, a junior at the University of California-San Diego, recalled a program at Palo Alto High School designed to promote interaction between students from different neighborhoods, including East Palo Alto.
Regardless of a school's attempts to strengthen the relationship between different groups of people, eventually the burden falls on individuals.
Chanukya Dasari, 17, a senior from Mission San Jose, is a firm believer in interracial interactions.
While he acknowledges that the easy way out is to interact with people of the same ethnicity only, he said just a little bit of effort can produce amazing results.
"I'm Indian. I hang out with a lot of Indians because they know where I'm coming from and they share the same family backgrounds, so we have a lot in common," said Chanukya, who is vice president of Mission San Jose High's Black Student Union. "But on the other hand, I also make an effort to talk to people of other races, because I have a lot in common with those people too. To break down social barriers, you just need to realize that everybody has something in common, so there is something you can relate to with other people."
In the shadow of the bustling metropolis known as San Jose sits a small piece of heaven, Arzino’s Ranch, where all genders, races and creeds come together for one reason: their love of horses. The true passion comes through in the environment. It’s not always neat and tidy or prim and proper. But it's home.
Life happens in the span of two days, a boy of four runs past a barn of more than fifty; a baby is born; a young man lovingly takes care of his horses; and a child wraps up his ridding lesson. It's like any other day on the ranch.
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| Bennie Glover, 21, from Texas comes to pick up horses and practice ropes |
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| Matthew Pilling, 7, Polo Alto, and horse Skipper come in after a long day riding. |
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| O.D. Sims, 18, From Palo Alto takes his 7-month horse, Diamond, out for a little exercise. |
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| A new addition to the Arzino Ranch family, this foal was born at dawn on June 25, 2004. |
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| On his way to show off his horse, Carlos Cruz, 4, from San Jose, runs down a back alley. |
Lana Hyatt was surfing the Web on the computers at Lee Mathson Middle School in San Jose, searching for pictures of her favorite music group, B2K, when she clicked on the forbidden link to MTV.com.
"This site has been blocked," the message read.
It's a typical response on computers connected to public networks - in libraries, on school campuses and even businesses. Some teens, who say there's nothing offensive about the sites they're visiting, are becoming irked by the restrictions placed upon them.
But the Internet filters put in place to keep hate sites, pornography sites and other offensive material away from their eyes aren't likely to disappear anytime soon.
Lana, 14, thinks the filters are flawed.
"They blocked many sites that didn't deserve a block and they missed a lot of sites," she said. "When I found that MTV.com was blocked, I just used Google" to find the images.
But what was so offensive on the MTV.com Web site?
It's hard to say. The rules and guidelines for blocking offensive content are decided, for the most part, by trial and error.
"We know almost nothing about how they select restricted sites," said Ann Beeson, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York. "It's very dangerous because decisions can be made based on ideological factors, such as religious or personal factors."
For public schools, installing Internet filters on computer networks wasn't something school officials had much say about. The Children's Internet Protection Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton in 2000, requires all public schools and libraries that receive government funding to install filters.
Quang To, who worked as a volunteer in Oakland High School's administration office in Oakland, said the filter there has done a good job of keeping students out of pornography Web sites or those that allow illegal downloads of commercial software.
But that doesn't mean the system hasn't had its share of problems. A few pornography sites have slipped through, and other sites that should have been free to access were locked out, he said.
Most filtering programs work by searching for a specific list of words or phrases found in a Web site's address or on any page within that site. Mostly, those lists are monitored by a computer, which might not know that a site about breast cancer education isn't necessarily offensive. That's where people intervene, updating the lists and marking some sites as safe or unsafe.
David Miller, vice president of the Citizens for Community Values group in Cincinnati, said the government has set standards for filtering and that the filters have done a good job so far.
"Sometimes students are doing research and have to go to a site that's been labeled questionable," Miller said. "But I think, by and large, that the filters are objective because offensive things can be easily defined."
However, on the Internet, there's always a way around restrictions.
There are programs, such as the circumventor software found at www.peacefire.org, that will connect a blocked computer to an unblocked remote computer to access the Web site in question. The filtering system thinks that the user is accessing a safe site, when the user is actually viewing something that should have been blocked.
Sarah Story spotted the little yellow man in the bottom corner of her computer screen. She clicked on him, typed her password as fast as she could and let out a sigh of relief.
She was logged on.
Sarah is one of 36 million users of America Online's Instant Messenger service that allows people to chat with each other through text. About 15 percent of AIM users are from 13 to 17 years old.
"During the summer when I'm at home, I spend about 10 hours a day online," Sarah said. "It's great. I can watch TV, talk on the phone and IM six people at once."
The AIM attraction has sparked major interest among adolescents, but has this fascination turned into an addiction?
According to Krista Thomas, spokeswoman for AIM, the average time of use is six hours daily.
"Log-on time for AIM is booming," she said. "One reason that AIM is so popular is it helps things get done quickly; it has speed benefits."
Many people say they're hooked on the service because it serves as a medium through which people can communicate with greater efficiency. Some people even use the feature to talk to themselves.
"I talk to myself on different accounts often," said Aly Fiebrantz, a senior at Alta Loma High School in Rancho Cucamonga. "It's fun that way, especially when I'm bored."
It is this mindset that Alan Kanner, a psychologist at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, condemns when analyzing the increasing trend of communication through impersonal technology.
"Narrowing the amount of information and development of linguistics causes us to lose people skills," Kanner said. "We start spending less time with people and forget what we are truly missing."
Ruchi Jhaveri, a senior at the Harker School in San Jose, said there are both advantages and disadvantages of messaging for her.
"It's easier to bring up difficult topics online than it is on the phone or in person," she said. "Even though it's convenient, my parents hate it because it wastes so much time. When I'm doing my homework and online at the same time, it takes double the time to get it done. "
One of the reasons AIM has reached so many people around the world is through advertising, from television to Internet to magazines. Thomas said the service makes money "from the pop-up screen that appears when people sign on, to new video chatting available for all to use."
But Kanner said advertisers love the service because it delivers them a captive audience.
"Marketers hire psychologists in order to analyze and understand the adolescent mind," he said. "These professionals understand teenage desire and, therefore, market towards this specific population with their ads located on the AIM screen."
Katie Heil, a senior at Presentation High School in San Jose, agrees that AIM is useful at times to talk with many friends, but is useless when having important conversations.
"My goal is to stop using the service as much as possible because of a fight with my friend," she said. "I wonder if the same conflict would have happened in person, because online chats open the door to say whatever without understanding how the other person feels."
Katie's mom, Barbara, enjoys the AIM service because it enables her to talk to her five children all around the world. "I talk to my husband sometimes through AIM because his office is on a different side of the house than mine," she said. "It's more convenient than walking to ask a question."
This trend is not going to go away. In fact, the technology is evolving to allow instant-messaging capabilities on smaller handheld devices such as PDAs (personal digital assistants) and cell phones.
Although many young people say they like that AIM enables them to stay anonymous and not deal with people face to face, experts like Kanner say that can cause teens to become distanced from real-life communication. That can be helpful for shy people, who find it easier to communicate online, but if they only chat online, they never truly learn the skills they need to socialize at school.
Some psychologists believe that a possible remedy could be for teens to just take a step back and reevaluate their positions online, making sure that they don't lose fundamental skills in the process of their impersonal chatting.
While closing the windows on her screen, Sarah witnessed her conversations finish box-by-box, click-by-click. As the file menu dropped and the cursor descended the list of options, Sarah pondered whether to sign off or not.
She opted for her "away" message - so she could stay connected, just in case.
Hundreds of eager shoppers will flood the stores of Santana Row and Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair this weekend, but at Eastridge Shopping Center business won't be nearly as bustling.
These days, chairs in the lounge areas of the 34-year-old mall are usually unoccupied. The escalators rarely carry more than two shoppers at a time. Shoppers are scattered throughout the stores and walkways, browsing through the racks and shelves.
Eastridge's owners hope a large-scale expansion and redevelopment project that began in March will change the fortunes of the East San Jose shopping center.
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| Photo by Rhiannon Wheeler |
The changes will include:
• A 16-screen AMC theater with stadium seating in a new building connected to a new food court in the original building by a walkway.
• Sit-down restaurants around the mall's perimeter.
• A completely redesigned interior, with new stores, a center court with cushioned seats and a children's play area.
• A streetscape, offering a variety of shops, added in conjunction with the movie theater.
• Reducing the height of the center from three stories to two.
• Additional parking. The mall will have 7,500 parking spaces, about the same as Valley Fair, but all of Eastridge's parking spaces are on a flat surface, accommodating shoppers who want to make a quick stop and avoid parking garages.
"Our customers tell us that they really value being able to save time," said Wareham. "It will be really convenient for them to park and dash in and out."
This is the mall's fourth renovation since its opening in 1970 and its first since 1995. It is the first complete make-over of the center -- renovating 254,991 square feet of space and eliminating the ice rink, the vacant Emporium building and other internal stores. Just one-third of the mall's stores will remain open during construction, which is expected to be completed in October 2005.
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| Photo by Rhiannon Wheeler |
Will the changes bring customers back? Denise Tran doesn't think so.
"They just don't care about their customers," said Denise, 15, a student at Silver Creek High School. Denise said that she used to go to Eastridge but now frequents Westfield Shoppingtown Oakridge in South San Jose. "I mean, they shut down half the mall."
Jimmy Phan, 16, a student at Silver Creek High School, wondered if customers will be lured back for good.
"They'll come out the first couple of weeks because of the 'new' factor," said Jimmy. "But the mall needs a lot of variety to make sure they don't leave."
Another challenge facing the renovation project is coming from the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, which has accused project managers of hiring out-of-state workers in order to cut costs. The group recently held a protest outside the mall and has purchased full-page advertisements in the San Jose Mercury News urging customers not to shop at Eastridge.
"We've been working closely with the labor unions for some time, so we were quite surprised that they used these tactics," said Wareham.
In response, General Growth Properties, owner of Eastridge, bought a full-page ad in the June 23 Mercury News, attempting to rebut the claims of the trades council.
That controversy aside, Danh Nguyen, 18, an incoming freshman at San Jose State University, best sums up the consensus among South Bay shoppers:
"I think I'm going to just wait and see."
Christy Kampanero used to teach at Christa McAuliffe School, a Cupertino campus where teachers were well-paid, students earned high test scores and parents held bake sales and fundraisers to supplement the school's budget.
Then, in 1999, she moved to Salinas, a less-affluent area with a drastically different school environment. The restrooms at her Salinas school, funded primarily by the state, were in desperate need of cleaning and renovation
"In Cupertino, it wouldn't be stood for at all," she said.
Her experience is an example of the widening gap between schools that are dependent solely on money from the state and those that receive funding mostly through foundations, property taxes and private donations. By far, the majority of schools are state-funded but schools in wealthier areas - notably Los Gatos and Palo Alto - rely on the community to stay afloat.
When the state's finances are in turmoil, as they are now, state-funded schools feel the pinch - and that means extras such as laptop computers at Independence High School or sports programs at Piedmont Hills High School are in danger of being cut.
"We've lost our jazz choir and our laptops," said Emilie Rivard, 17, a senior at Independence. "We've had to cut or combine classes, our class sizes are bigger and teachers have been laid off. I'm disappointed in the lack of support for education."
But it's not as though parents, school administrators and students aren't trying to bring in extra funds or get other parents involved.
In Palo Alto, a fundraising group raised almost $1.2 million for schools while parents in Campbell brought in $44,000.
"People just aren't aware of the need and parents are far too busy," said Tish Bayer, president of the Campbell Education Foundation. "They expect the state to take care of all of their needs."
And those who do understand that there's a problem often don't know how they can help and sometimes simply give up.
"It's kind of swept under the carpet," said Kampanero. "It's very sad, because you see these kids and their parents struggling to make a better life for them, yet they can't get ahead."
Maria Mendoza buys school supplies for her kids and donates money - when she can - to the fundraising efforts at James Lick High School in San Jose, where her daughter Christina Martinez is a senior.
"I would volunteer but I've got four kids and I work full-time," said Mendoza. "In the richer schools, the parents have more money to pay for more things and they somehow get all the better teachers. They have better everything."
But sometimes it takes more than asking for money to get parents involved. Raising awareness about how schools are funded and how the community can help is just as challenging.
"It's hard to raise money wherever you are, especially for school, because people say, 'Look, we pay all these taxes for school already, I don't understand,'" said Deborah Stephens, a working mother who spearheaded a campaign that raised $45,000 for the music programs in the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District. "You have to explain how the schools have been impacted. You have to educate them. "
In Campbell, school officials asked last year voters to approve a parcel tax, an extra fee added to local property tax bills, to generate millions of dollars for the school. But the measure failed by less than four percent, or about 300 votes.
"One of the things we're hoping is that people realize that the only real way to sustain these programs would be through the passage of a parcel tax," said Terry Peluso, the director of administrative services for the Campbell Union High School District. "The $200,000 gathered at a fundraiser would be good for one year, but the parcel tax would sustain that program for four or five years."
At Piedmont Hills High School in San Jose, just one program - the after-school Math Mastery tutoring program - costs about $32,000.
"Every type of program needs a teacher," said principal Carol Blackerby. "A teacher, plus benefits, costs $15,000 to $30,000 a period. We used to have a literacy coach, but we lost him because it's so expensive."
A parcel tax could save the career tech center and library at Piedmont Hills, said Blackerby.
"How can you run a school with all these people without a career tech?" she asked. "And how can the district say it cares about literacy without any librarians in a school? Eventually the district did fund them but without a parcel tax, there will be a good chance they will be cut next year."
That's tough for teens to understand - especially when they see how state dollars are spent on other services.
Lincoln High School student Manana Barba, 16, looked around Cesar Chavez Park in downtown San Jose recently and wondered if the money spent on beautification of "an already decent area" could save the performing arts programs that are in danger of being cut at her school.
"I don't think it's fair or logical, especially when it comes to something as pivotal as education," she said.
Lianne Zhang, an incoming senior at Palo Alto High School, feels she is being pushed to fit a perfect formula.
"All these people are telling me what to do for college," said the 16-year-old. "It's really crazy."
To give herself an edge, Lianne, who has a 3.9 GPA, has taken four SAT preparation classes and spends her free time doing various extracurricular activities - and not always ones she wants to do.
"Freshman year, my mom signed me up for fencing, for an 'unusual sport,'" she said. "I joined these random national societies, which are just for my college application. France was for a 'cultural experience.' I didn't quit the piano because it looks bad for college, even though I really hated it. I've volunteered at the library for over 200 hours. If it wasn't for college, I definitely wouldn't have started all this stuff."
Getting into a prestigious university has never been more difficult. There is more competition, and in the case of California's public universities, fewer slots. So students and parents are doing whatever they can to get an advantage, and some begin plotting how to stand out from the crowd even before high school.
Lianne's parents are so worried that they have scaled back their expectations.
"My parents have given up on me going to Stanford; they just want me to go to a UC now," Lianne said.
But Lianne's mother, Ying Li, still puts college on the top of her priority list.
"Education is so important," Li said. "The college you go to and how well you do in four years will determine the rest of your life. Going to a good college will make your life better because you can rely on what you've learned."
Competition for college slots is increasing because of a growing tidal wave of applicants who are the children of baby boomers. The college-age population (18 to 24 years old) in the United States, at more than 28 million people, shows signs of being crowded. In 1984, Yale University had 10,304 applicants and accepted 2,130 students, or 20.7 percent of applicants. In 2004, Yale had almost 20,000 applicants and admitted only 1,950 students, or 9.9 percent of applicants. Other top schools have similar statistics.
Budget cuts have forced the University of California and California State University systems to cut their freshman spots by 10 percent, or about 30,000 students. About 7,600 students in the top 12 percent of their class, traditionally guaranteed admission to a UC campus, were denied this year. The CSU system cut its student population by approximately 20,000 new admissions.
Recognizing an opportunity, myriad application-brightening services have sprung up. Lianne's family has spent more than $1,200 on four Princeton Review courses for the SAT 1 and 2.
"It's a waste of money, but everyone goes," Lianne said. "Every time I go to a Princeton Review class, I see lots of people from my school there."
Princeton Review, a private test preparation company, has seen tremendous revenue growth in recent years. Last year, the company's revenue was $104.5 million, a 50 percent increase from $69.1 million in 2001.
Another expensive step is to hire a private college counselor. Mary Clarke, of Menlo Park, has never advertised but said she doesn't have any trouble finding students who are willing to pay her $75 per hour fee. She meets with students for one hour every week starting during the freshman year and guides them through the maze of high school academics and college applications.
"She pushes people to try to get into the best college they can, and if you need to do more extra-curriculars, she'll tell you what to do," said Ruven Chu, a 17-year-old student at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, who is one of Clarke's students.
But not everyone can afford or is willing to do these extras. Samuel Germaine, 18, who will be a freshman at West Valley College this fall, said that not taking SAT classes left him disadvantaged.
"Even if it was one little thing that helped me do a little bit better, I would have taken them," he said. He said that his parents would have paid for SAT classes, but they would not have paid for a private college counselor.
Some admissions officers say a neatly groomed resume may not necessarily guarantee admission into a top school.
Daniel Krause, an admissions officer at Pomona College, said he sees application padding frequently, and he said he can't always tell if the applicant is really passionate or just prettily packaged.
"There are ways and indications, though," Krause said. "Sometimes if the resume is a mile long, then they probably did each thing once. It's better to be really invested in this club, and have a really personal connection."
Sometimes, students may find that although they started something for their resume, they enjoy it after all. For Palo Alto High student Lianne, college has been, overall, a positive incentive. Although she started many activities to enhance her college application, the line between real interest and application packaging has blurred.
"If it wasn't for college, I would have quit piano a long time ago, but I found out that I really like it now," she said. "It's not too bad. I got to find things like fencing that I like. Although I don't have any passions, I do enjoy a lot of things."
With his head in his hands, 16-year-old William To stared at his computer screen as a wave of fatigue rolled through him. He glanced at his watch - it was 3 a.m. Scrambling to finish his five-page essay after a long day, William longed for sleep but was forced to keep writing.
"There are weeks when it seems like everything is due at the same time," he said.
Because many teens today strive to live up to increasingly high expectations concerning school and college acceptance, stress levels among adolescents have risen greatly.
According to a 1999 study conducted by Reuters Health, nearly two-thirds of U.S. teens admit to being stressed at least once a week, and one-third feel stressed on a daily basis. Experts say that a possible reason behind the anxiety is that parents, teachers - and society - expect teens to excel at everything from sports to school.
"When you do so much, something's going to give," William said. "Either schoolwork won't be up to par, or you won't go out as much."
The requirements needed for a solid college application have increased and become harder to accomplish. In addition to high grade-point averages and SAT scores, students now have to participate in extracurricular activities and obtain as many leadership positions as possible.
"The whole philosophy on college has changed," said 17-year-old Ping Matthrey, who attends Gunn High School in Palo Alto. "It started out only being white males that went to college, but now, everyone gets out of high school and goes to college, so there's more competition."
Susan Linn, associate director of the Media Center for Children at Harvard University's Judge Baker Children's Center, feels that the reason for this increased pressure lies elsewhere.
Many parents today expect their kids to strive to get accepted into "designer" colleges that are well known, such as the prestigious Ivy League schools, Linn said.
Ping's parents fit that profile.
"My parents want me to go to Stanford," Ping said. "And when I don't get straight A's, my parents get more strict. But luckily, I don't really get grounded."
At a time when students feel bombarded by all the qualifications needed for college, some, like William, sacrifice sleep in to lengthen their days. But lack of sleep only hinders performance in other areas, experts said.
According to an article by WebMDHealth, bad sleeping habits can affect a child's health, mood and productivity later in life. Because teens have so many things to do, they try to maximize their waking hours to accomplish everything that needs to be done.
Many teens give up their healthy dose of nine hours of sleep to get all their work done, but there are others who choose a different, less honorable route.
Cheating has resurfaced as a seemingly easy way out for students who feel overburdened.
"Things are so tough now that people will do anything to get ahead of others," William said. "They know that cheating is wrong, but as long as they think they can't get caught, no one will know."
Many students say they cheat in an effort to save time - from copying a friend's homework to spying on a classmate's test during class.
"There are lots of pressures on kids today in that some ways the message we're sending them is that the ends justify the means," Linn said. "That the results are more important than the way they got there, which certainly leads to cheating."
Of course, students know that cheating is wrong. But some experts say that students today put their ethics aside when it comes to gaining an extra hour of sleep, or getting an A on a test.
Cheating has become an increasingly difficult issue to address as it becomes more popular, and in some ways, a little more accepted.
Late last year, students at Saratoga High School were caught circulating a test. Though cheating is certainly not unique to Saratoga, school administrators used the incident to address the problem in the future. Ethics classes were proposed, and there were many conferences between students, parents and the administration in efforts to prevent a similar incident from happening again.
Because teens today are so in touch with - and have easy access to - the media, seeing all the cheating and dishonesty affects what they think is right and wrong. Linn believes that there have been a rash of exposés about corporate corruption, such as the Enron debacle. And those don't set a good example for kids today.
"I hope that kids will take a look at the culture and values, and think about what they really want," Linn said. "Hopefully there are kids out there that believe that material objects aren't the most important things in life."
The gap between older and younger generations has long been a problem for politicians, but Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has been commended for addressing and uniting both sides in his campaign.
Kerry's attempt to bridge that gap was reflected even in his use of campaign songs ranging from Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" to Outkast's "Hey Ya" at an appearance at San Jose State University on June 24.
"The focus is not just on the next election, but on the next generation," Kerry told an audience of more than 1,000 at the university's student union.
It's a theme Kerry continued in his speech, which acknowledged America's manufacturing and industrial history and reinforced Silicon Valley's position at the forefront of future digital and innovation frontiers.
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| Photo by Riannon Wheeler |
Vietnam veteran Robert Adams, who led the Pledge of Allegiance before Kerry's speech, said he thinks Kerry is "a very young thinker."
"There's quite a dichotomy of old vs. new," he said. "Even though Kerry is 60, he's bringing new ideas."
One of those ideas is a concentrated effort to extend cutting-edge technology to primary schools and high schools. Kerry's proposal to build the high-tech workforce of tomorrow begins with an investment today in math and science programs for children in grades K-12.
Kerry expects to fund his $30 billion plan through the development and auction of a nationwide broadband network.
The Kerry campaign recently got a boost from the endorsement of Lee Iacocca, retired chairman of Chrysler Corp., who was deeply involved in President George W. Bush's 2000 campaign.
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| Photo by Rhiannon Wheeler |
That plan includes opening foreign markets to U.S. imports, eliminating capital gains taxes on small businesses, expanding government investment in research and ending special tax breaks for companies who ship jobs overseas.
Evan Low, a 21-year-old candidate for Campbell City Council who attended the Kerry rally, said that Iacocca's endorsement brought credibility to the campaign. "It showed that Kerry changed a particular influential individual."
Steve Preminger, chairman of the Santa Clara County Democratic party, said he thought the rally was a success. "It attracted a lot of curious people," said Preminger. "Kerry came across as charming and sensitive."
Low said that Kerry effectively played to both his contemporaries and younger supporters. "He engaged both students and adults," said Low. "People could see him with their own eyes, hear him with their own ears."
San Jose State student Laina Gaoteote, 22, attended the event with other students from her political science class at the urging of her professor. While she makes an effort to keep herself politically aware, she is not surprised few young people are following her example.
"The reason they're apathetic is that they think nobody represents them," said Gaoteote. "Nobody has in the past, or now."
But Kerry hopes to change that.
As the loud energy of U2's "Beautiful Day" drowned out the fading rhythm of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," Kerry's words resonated: "We just need to believe in ourselves - and in opening up the paths of progress, America will be America again."
As someone who likes to keep up with the political comings and goings of the world, I'm all for the idea of getting more teenagers into politics. But lowering the voting age to 14, 15 or 16 is not the best way to accomplish this.
Let's face it. Most teenagers would rather vote for the next American Idol than participate in a local referendum about funding a new overpass on Highway 101. It's not our fault. As teenagers, we are interested in many different things. It's just that pop culture appeals to us much more than politics ever will. It's the way our minds work.
Many youth groups have used the well-known phrase of our Founding Fathers, "No taxation without representation" as the crux of their argument - that youth have adult responsibilities, but not adult rights. But the opposite is true. Teenagers actually have most of these adult rights and no responsibilities, since the law dictates that parents are responsible for their children and their actions until they turn 18.
For now, 18 is considered the age when teenagers make the transition into adulthood. It is the time when they venture out into college, join the military, start paying taxes and vote. It is a time when they start assuming the responsibilities of a certain age. If teens want to have the right to vote at 14, 15 or 16, they should take the responsibilities along with it - including paying taxes, supporting themselves and the possibility of being drafted into the military. When teens take on new responsibilities, they actually start to understand how the world really works. Think about it: what does your average 14-year-old know (or care) about Medicare, Social Security or income taxes?
It's a known fact that the 18- to 24-year-old group has the worst voting record in the U.S. It is already hard enough to lure them to the polls, so what makes us think that 14- to 16-year-olds would do any better? There are some 16-year-olds who would be capable of voting more intelligently than some adults, but they would be a small minority in comparison to the huge group of teens who just don't care.
Many youth-rights groups have also argued that if 15-year-olds can be tried as adults, they should also able to vote. But being tried as an adult does not indicate that the culprit has reached maturity, but implies that the crime committed was serious enough not to be waved away as something minor. A 15-year-old who shoots someone is not a mature adult capable of making decisions concerning society, thus, the crime is obviously something that cannot be fixed by spending a few years in juvenile hall. The culprit did not have the maturity or the common sense to understand the seriousness of his or her actions, but he or she should still be conditioned out of this behavior in an adult manner.
Most teenagers have a hard enough time choosing what to wear every morning, let alone choosing their future leaders. I'm not saying that most teens are stupid or lazy because they have strong and justified opinions about issues they care about. It's just that teenagers are not as firmly entrenched in their values because they are always influenced by their surroundings. Teenagers can be very fickle sometimes, switching from one thing to another and always constantly following the trends. I, for one, do not want our laws and policies to be affected by erratic emotions and neither would the framers of our Constitution.
Restless teens out there who can't wait to vote or get involved in politics shouldn't give up. People are always talking about how apathetic teens are. Show them that this stereotype is not true. Throw yourself into your community, join the local youth commission or start a community service project. And once you turn 18, don't worry. Your crossover into adulthood will not be completely fruitless. I mean, at least you'll finally get to vote.
Carlota Montes believes that voting is a privilege.
As a student representative in the Eastside Union High School District, a member of the San Jose Youth Commission, an intern at Councilwoman Nora Campos' office and a soon-to-be freshman at George Washington University, Montes is an accomplished young woman.
Turning 18 was a landmark for her, and Montes is especially excited that she will be voting for the first time in the November election. Voters ages 18 to 24 have historically had the lowest turnout at the polls. According to the U.S. Census, only 32 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds who were registered actually voted in the 2000 presidential election.
Montes does not believe that teenagers are responsible for this lack of voter participation. She blames politicians.
"It's your right to choose whether or not you want to vote. As teenagers, we are a very large population, yet we're still being treated like a minority group and are often being overlooked," she said. "If politicians are not getting teens motivated about politics, they won't want to vote."
Young adults just might be the newest "swing voters" of the 21st century, according to Ajita Talwalker of the United States Student Association, a group that represents youth on Capitol Hill.
"The elections have been getting closer and closer in subsequent years and there are very defined groups of voters right now," said Talwalker, 24. "Students are really untapped pools of voters, so it would make sense for partisan campaigns to target them."
But why exactly have young adults been lagging behind other groups in voter turnout?
"A lot of times, young people do not feel that candidates are addressing their concerns and their issues," said Veronica De La Garza, executive director of the Youth Vote Coalition in Washington, D.C.
Benjamin Quinto of the Global Youth Action Network - an international organization aimed at making teens more politically active - says polling shows young adults' most pressing political concerns are violence, the war on terror, drug and alcohol abuse and cuts to education funding.
Fifteen-year-old San Francisco Youth Commissioner Constance Mourning said another issue for teens is "not having things to do." And she believes that politicians do not know how to appeal to teenagers.
"A lot of times, politicians don't pay as much attention," Mourning said. "When they do, they go about it in such a way that they are almost mocking us."
Youth coalitions - with the help of large entertainment enterprises - have found one way to attract young voters.
"Smackdown Your Vote!" is a collaboration between World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) and MTV and is supported by the League of Women Voters, Youth Vote Coalition, the National Foundation of Women Legislators, Project Vote Smart and the Harvard Institute of Politics.
The aim of "Smackdown Your Vote!," according to executive director Gary Davis, is to use a nonpartisan approach to get young people involved in the political process and registered to vote. When it was created in July of 2000, "Smackdown Your Vote!" registered 150,000 new voters and is looking to register 20 million more young adults by the November 2004 general election.
Some say that teens would be more engaged if lawmakers would show that they care about issues important to youth.
Adam Fletcher of The Freechild Project, which promotes social change by youth, said politicians get their cues from the media, which often portrays young people as lazy and apathetic. And, he added, most teens never receive positive feedback from the media that their perspectives matter.
One way for leaders to reach out to young people is through the alternative media - Internet blogs, Web sites and movies. Fletcher believes more young people would vote if they thought their votes could make a difference.
"We actually need a real acknowledgment of our voting demographic," he said.
Gary Davis of "Smackdown Your Vote!" said, in the end, youth coalitions and organizations just want teens to be empowered.
"If you vote, you have power. If you vote, you win," Davis said. "It doesn't even matter who you vote for."
James Liu is an ambitious 17-year-old who started a club called "Democracy Matters" with some friends at Saratoga High School, with the goal of getting more young people engaged in politics.
"If I could, I would vote because if you look at the people who ... don't, it's just because they don't think it's worth their time," James said. "I'm not easily influenced. It's really important when it comes to politics that you see all sides of a story."
James does not stand alone. Teens and adults alike have been pushing for more youth involvement for years.
And among the proposed solutions, lowering the voting age has become increasingly popular.
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| Photo by Konina Biswas |
Mullin's attempt comes at a time when the number of young voters has dwindled. Vermeer said voting among those 18 to 24 years old has dropped 15 percent in the past 32 years. Politicians, lawmakers and MTV's Rock the Vote hope to increase voter turnout to 20 million youths.
"Young people who are about to enter the majority at 18 are affected by the decisions made by voting and ... they should be able to participate in those decisions," said Beth Moore Haines, spokeswoman for the Green Party of California. "The Green Party has long sought to engage young people in politics, especially in an era where young people ... don't see a point in going into politics."
The effort isn't unique to California. Similar measures have popped up in numerous states including Arizona, Hawaii and Texas. Earlier this year, Maine approved a measure allowing 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections.
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| Photo by Konina Biswas |
Teens' reaction to lowering the voting age vary greatly. Some argue that six months or so age difference is critical, others say that any hindrance in voting is harmful.
"I don't care," said Nhan Le, 19, an opponent of Mullin's bill. "It should be at an age level where you can learn and understand how lives work."
When informed about the bill, Abraham Huerta, 16, nodded his head approvingly.
"It benefits the people. It's our voice being heard even though we aren't the right age," he said. "If not, our thoughts will never be thought. Nobody would hear them."
State Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, also is also taking a stand on lowering the voting age.
The man responsible for California's "self-esteem" movement composed a constitutional amendment that would give 14- and 15-year-olds a quarter of a vote and 16- and 17-year-olds half of a vote.
"I like to get teens involved, it's sorta like training wheels for citizenship," Vasconcellos said. "You'll make politics more exciting and people will start voting. It will become part of their lives. If we invite people into that, the better democracy is."
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| Photo by Konina Biswas |
David Chiang, 17, said if allowed, he would vote because "for one thing, I have an opinion about the government. Since I'm not a lobbyist or a politician, it's the only way I can be heard. "
David believes that teens younger than 18 should have the right to vote, but there should be an age limit.
"Teens are opinionated people," David said. "If they aren't heard, it gives them less of an incentive to vote in the future."
Some parents say they don't know if lowering the voting age is the answer.
"My son is mature enough to vote, but he is more mature than people his same age," said David's mother, Sheu-Ling Chiang. She is worried about teens voting because it's "a special age with emotion and influence from others."
But constitutional amendments are not the only path to teen involvement.
Groups like the Education Commission of the States support civic education starting in kindergarten.
"Teens that want to get involved can go to school board meetings, city meetings, and, if they can, they should register to vote," said Susan Vermeer, a policy analyst
for the education commission. "We need to have ... civic engagement."
Experts agree that civic education at earlier ages will interest teens in politics. And some say that giving them the right to vote, as well as education, would increase voter turnout.
"Teens might not be mature enough to understand politics. One of the ways to get political involvement is through education," Vermeer said. "Schools should teach them through government classes. It's called civic education."
Designer handbags, social status symbols of the rich and famous, seem to have fallen accidentally into the hands of eager teenage girls. Supposedly rare and coveted, they are now ubiquitous in the mall and on the streets.
Taking a closer look, though, the trademark "Burberry" plaid is slightly skewed. Or the inside lining of a "Dior" bag is poorly sewn and says "Made in China."
That's because these handbags are counterfeits. And although illegal, many teenagers carry them because they want what Paris Hilton has but they aren't heirs to a hotel industry. So they buy copies and counterfeits of the high-priced brand.
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| Photo by Miriam Alvarado |
Some of the coveted bags closely resemble the real thing while others are easy to spot.
According to the International Chamber of Commerce, counterfeiting makes up five to seven percent of global trade, or $450 to $500 billion. Any name brand is at risk for counterfeiting, and the most commonly counterfeited fashion labels include Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, Christian Dior, Prada, Gucci and Burberry.
Flea market vendors often sell counterfeit handbags. At the San Jose Flea Market, there are several stalls displaying bags vaguely reminiscent of the Louis Vuitton monogram prints, selling for around $20. Instead of the trademarked "LV" logo, the bags displayed an "XL" monogram. When asked for the "real" counterfeits, one seller, 33-year-old Terry Tren, dug through boxes in the back of her stall.
"I don't want to display them because somebody will steal them," she said. She said they cost $85, and explained the higher cost denotes their higher quality. Despite the cost, she said that "a lot of people" were interested in buying the actual counterfeits. "When you buy it, nobody knows (that it is fake)," she said. "This is $85, the real one is $800."
Kiosks at shopping centers offer a variety of imitation items. Melody Wang, 17, a senior at Saratoga High School, bought a knockoff Prada bag from a vendor at Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair for $30. "It's really cute and it looks real," she said.
In cities such as New York, counterfeits are most easily found in Chinatowns and garment districts. Crowded shopping districts like SoHo also have salespeople stationed on the street who will attempt to make eye contact with shoppers to bring them to private houses with stashes of counterfeits. The price of a handbag is usually around $20.
"I bought my fake bag in Los Angeles for $18," 14-year-old Ivannia Serpas SCHOOL? said. "Some people thought it was real." Most are cheap, but some high-quality counterfeits may cost up to one-sixth of the real price.
A common place to buy a handbag is in countries such as China, Mexico and Thailand, where manufacturing is a big industry. In those countries, the government does not have enough police to enforce trademarking, so counterfeiting runs rampant, according to brandchannel.com.
When 18-year-old Mike Sun, a freshman at the University of California-Davis, went to China with his basketball team, he bought fake Louis Vuitton and Prada purses and wallets to bring home as gifts.
"They were everywhere, and a lot of tourists bought them," he said. "They were only $5 to $10, which is so cheap compared to the real thing. And they look pretty similar."
So-called "purse parties" - in which a seller brings a selection of fake handbags to a private gathering - have become the modern woman's Tupperware party.
"I met this woman through a friend who came to my house," said 25-year-old Beatriz Monjaras. "There was Gucci, all the fake kinds. They were nice and cost $40 to $80."
Selling these counterfeits is definitely illegal, but so is buying them.
"Purchasing an illegal item is usually not prosecuted," said attorney Erin Williams, who works at the Intellectual Property Law Group in San Jose. "But it could be confiscated, especially when you go through an airport or something like that."
Counterfeiting dilutes brand names by stealing the company's identity, she said.
"If you see somebody walking around with a Coach bag that looks bad, it reflects badly on Coach and Coach doesn't have as many sales," she said. "If you see a 15-year-old with what looks like a $20,000 Rolex watch, it dilutes the value of the watch. People don't want to wear the same thing as a 15-year-old."
Consumers are hurt when they buy products they think are genuine that turn out to be fakes.
"Counterfeit products are not just purses or shoes, but cosmetics, medications and practically anything," said Williams. "Do you want to put things on your face or swallow things that haven't been tested or approved by the FDA?"
Counterfeiting, though, is hard to stop because it's expensive to catch and prosecute violators. Teens may not be aware that buying counterfeits keeps sweatshops - that often employ child labor - in business.
What's safe is to buy the department and chain stores items that closely resemble designer bags in look. Brands like Guess imitate the Coach signature print, but replace the "C" with a "G." Or the signature triangle metal Prada label might say "Guess" instead of Prada. These are not counterfeits because they do not imitate the actual logo, only the fashion style, so it is considered "artistic license."
Still, designer companies stay in business because there are many devoted women willing to pay for the real thing.
Stephanie DiPietro, a 40ish woman shopping at Valley Fair, said she has previously bought a fake Louis Vuitton, but the majority of her designer handbags are real.
"Fake ones look cheap, and it's just not the same feeling," she said.
HOW TO TELL A REAL LOUIS VUITTON MONOGRAM CANVAS BAG FROM THE FAKE
We asked Quyen Nguyen, assistant manager at Louis Vuitton in Valley Fair, how to tell the real thing from a fake.
* The classic Louis Vuitton monogram bags run from $400 to more than $1,000.
Fakes range in price from $20 to $80.
* Take a close look at the handles. The color should be made of an entire strip of natural leather. When first purchased, the handle is a light tan color, and over the next few weeks with use, it oxidizes and turn into a darker, cognac color. A fake bag's handle will not change color because the handle is probably painted. The stitching should be clean and consistent. Vuitton uses yellow thread. The sides of the handles should be a shiny, glazed red.
* The zipper pull should be brass hardware, and heavy to the touch. Look for a neatly imprinted "LV" symbol on it.
* The canvas of the bag should not be too soft or stiff. It shouldn't be "oily" or shiny.
* The LV monogram should have irregular brown lines through the gold colored "LV" and flower pattern. Fake monograms may be solid colored, or too green or too orange.
* Look for identification. There should be a card with the style number and name inside the bag.
* Know what styles of the bags are genuine and look at the lining. Fake bags often come in styles and colors not available in the real thing and the lining will be different.
Since the popularity of belly-baring shirts and low-rise jeans is fading, many teens have begun to demand more modest clothing.
But some are saying that not much change is occurring in the stores and that it's not easy to find attractive alternatives. There also are girls who say that they don't want to cover up.
Becky Flanagan, 14, visiting from South Carolina and shopping at Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair, says finding a skirt she likes is almost impossible.
"They always rise high above my thighs since I'm so tall," said Becky, who was wearing a pink tank top and slightly baggy jeans.
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| Photo by Miriam Alvarado |
Walking through Forever 21 in Valley Fair, a store where teen girls frequently shop, there is a splash of tank tops and short skirts hanging on the clothing racks. Despite the supposed reports of clothing becoming more modest, some girls seem to be frustrated with the type of clothes they find in their favorite stores, including Forever 21.
In recent national headline news, an 11-year-old Washington girl wrote a letter to Nordstrom, asking the chain to sell less revealing clothing for her age group. Ella's letter made its way all the way up to Peter Nordstrom, executive vice-president, according to the Seattle Times. Two executives responded by promising to educate employees on the fashion choices young people should have.
Other stores also are aware of the demands being made by teens.
Monica Gubrud, the special events manager for Macy's Valley Fair store, said, "Macy's has a broad sense of what the teenage girls wear. There is modest clothing, which is made to be cute, but at times is conservative. However, there is also clothing which is slightly risque to satisfy those who like to show a little bit of their stomach. We also market everything in between."
Macy's has a junior department that sells clothes ranging from designer labels such as DKNY and Guess to brands that are less well known, such as Necessary Objects.
"Our clothing basically reflects the runway models' style," said Lauren Halpern, public relations director for Bloomingdale's at Stanford Shopping Center. "Modesty is the trend for fall of 2004, but it will take a couple seasons to get popular because people usually wait to see if the style sticks."
Most stores sell a broad range of clothing that includes both risque and conservative styles. Many girls say the clothing they find in the stores doesn't bother them. They think girls should have a choice and as long as they feel comfortable wearing short skirts and low-cut tops they should be able to wear them instead of knee length skirts and boat-neck shirts.
"Everyone has a different comfort level, and if they want to wear revealing clothing and they're comfortable with it, then it's none of my business to tell them what to wear," said Julia Kwan, 18, who likes to shop at American Eagle.
Other teens believe that even as they voice their frustrations, not much changes.
"When I go shopping, I don't see anything different. The clothing is just as revealing as it used to be," said Jackee Nguyen,16, a Fremont High School student who tends to wear jeans and tops from Forever 21 and Abercrombie and Fitch.
Idols like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, who favor body-exposing clothes, are now being challenged by the more elegant, feminine style of such stars as Mischa Barton (of "The OC") and Katie Holmes (of "Dawson's Creek"). Their characters are generally seen wearing sundresses, flannel shirts and jeans and in real life, they wear the latest clothes by designers such as Chanel and Carolina Herrera.
"I don't really like Britney Spears," said Flanagan, the South Carolina teen. "The main reason I don't like her is because of the clothing she wears."
The teens who are bothered by revealing clothing say that sometimes people are judged by the way they dress.
"It's true that girls are judged upon the clothing they wear, because if they're wearing some outrageous clothing, they're probably not going to be someone I would take home to see my family," said Mike Gorsche, 17, a student at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. "To me it seems as though a girl wearing revealing clothes is still trying to find herself and trying to fit in."
Zehara Levins agrees.
"I personally judge people if they wear something tacky and overly revealing," said the 17-year-old from Gunn High School in Palo Alto. "I think it makes them seem trashy, but I'm not going to tell them what to wear."
No matter what the trend is, the girls interviewed for this story believe that modesty will never be entirely popular.
"Girls are always going to wear revealing clothing," said Cheryl Chu, 15, of Fremont High. "It's never going to change."
Since the time of the rebels and the greasers of the 1950s, kids from the suburbs have been mimicking the fashion style of inner-city teenagers.
The thing is that those teens from the streets weren't trying to set fashion trends. They were simply wearing the only clothes they had.
Some trends - like sagging pants that are worn well below the waist - were never meant to be copied.
My colleague, Sameer Jain, talked to teenagers from the 'burbs who think it's cool to dress like a rap star or a gang member. He even found a politician who thinks that sagging pants should be a crime that's punishable by jail time or a hefty fine.
Do the police really need another tool to target people in poor neighborhoods? Does anyone really think that cops are going to cruise around rich neighborhoods to look for kids who are sagging?
I don't think so either.
But the thing that society doesn't understand is that wearing sagging pants didn't start off as a way to look cool. The look didn't come from prisoners or gang members trying to rebel against parents or teachers or police. The origin of this trend came from poor neighborhoods, where families simply make clothes last.
As the older brother, I know that my younger brothers sometimes get the clothes that I've outgrown.
There's nothing really wrong with them. I would keep wearing them if I could. And my mom does a great job at keeping them nice and clean so they can be passed down the line from one kid to the next. But sometimes, they're still too big for the next kid.
And they sag.
I ducked into a Goodwill store in East San Jose to look for moms who might be shopping for pants for their sons - just to make sure my brothers aren't the only ones getting hand-me-downs.
"I buy clothes for the oldest and keep them until they don't fit the youngest one or until they are useless," said Araceli Henriquez of San Jose, who has four boys. "It's smarter to buy here because there isn't a lot of money to buy clothes for them at the bigger stores."
She doesn't like the idea of sagging as a fashion trend and said she tries to buy belts for the boys and hem the cuffs so they don't drag. They still sag sometimes. It's uncontrollable.
Cantinflas, a well-known Mexican comic from the 1940s, was one of the first to sag, according to Enrique Flores, director of diversity and outreach at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. But even he wasn't trying to be fashionable. He was poor and simply couldn't afford a belt, which caused his pants to droop. Eventually, he used the look as a form of protest against society.
Later, sagging pants did become a fashion trend set by the pachucos, the 1950s-era Latino gang members. Even later, Latino gang members known as cholos adopted the look in the 1970s as a way to hide and easily access weapons in their clothes, Flores said.
That's why this fashion trend has the potential to become dangerous.
Kids in the suburbs think it's cool to look like kids from the city streets. But those kids need to watch what they take from the streets. There's no arguing that East San Jose has its problems with street gangs. And it's true that some of those gang members are sagging on purpose.
When suburban kids make their way into the cities, they're probably safe if they don't come around provoking people and trying to act like they're better than people from urban communities. But I wonder how many sagging suburban kids would know how to handle themselves on the streets if a gang member - seeing their style of dress - did confront them.
I think they're just looking for trouble that they really don't want to find. And I think the kids who are sagging out of necessity, not fashion, are doing their best to avoid trouble from the police and lawmakers who think they look like criminals.
They're not trying to look like thugs. They're just wearing the clothes their mothers gave them.
I've been wondering for some time why teenage boys are wearing their pants so low these days. I have no desire to see their underwear, and it seems kind of silly that they have to waddle around to keep their pants from falling to the ground.
So I decided to loosen my belt, lower my pants and do some research on this latest fashion craze.
My colleague Ricardo Herrera hit the streets to explore the origin of sagging. He says that teenagers from low-income areas never intended to make a fashion statement by wearing baggy hand-me-downs. They never expected kids from the suburbs to adopt their look.
But in cities from Palo Alto to Saratoga, kids with the money to buy clothes that fit are spending top dollar on clothes that are way too loose.
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| Photo by Miriam Alvarado |
Thomas Niemasik, a senior at Menlo School in Menlo Park, said he started wearing his pants low because he just wanted to look cool.
"I started mainly because I saw other people doing it," Thomas, 17, said. "I was never a real socialite, so this was a way for me to sort of gain a bit of similarity to the cool kids."
Of course, looking cool never hurts when it comes to meeting girls. Unless, of course, the girls think it looks stupid.
Elena Park, a 17-year-old student at Cupertino High School, said that sagging is "not appealing" and "kind of disrespectful."
But Jeff Cabebe, 18, of San Jose, said sagging is "more of a comfort thing. It's the same thing with my friends. It's not to be badass and show off, just to relax and be comfortable."
Again, I don't get it. For two days, I tried to wear my pants way below my waist. But there was nothing comfortable about it. I was constantly watching my step in fear that my pants would plummet to my feet.
Maybe it's just me. But I don't think so.
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| Photo by Miriam Alvarado |
Give me a break. What's next? Fashion police dressed in skin-tight leather, cruising around in Mini Coopers? Instead of guns, they could carry rulers in their holsters to quickly measure the distance from my waist to the top of my pants.
"It was a stupid bill," said Joe Cook, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. "It didn't fit the constitutionally allowable definition of obscenity, and it could be used as a pretext for racial profiling."
And it already had a loophole roomier than the empty space in a sagger's Levi's.
"They have a huge lobby, so we were going to exempt plumbers," Shepherd told me.
I was surprised by his sincerity. But what amazed me most was that 38 politicians actually thought this was a good idea. The bill was defeated 38-55 in May.
"There's a silent majority of people who are sick and tired of seeing people's underwear," Shepherd said. "We think that this is a fad that is just as indecent as streaking. And we will try again next year."
OK, so they just won't give up. But the way fashion trends come and go with teenagers, the folks in Louisiana ought to listen to parents like Wally Niemasik, whose son Thomas started sagging to look cool.
"I think it would be very boring if all kids dressed the same way," Niemasik said. "If you're doing things that the older generation is uncomfortable with, you're kind of setting your own identity."
No one knows how the teenagers of tomorrow will be wearing their pants, he said.
"Maybe your kids will be wearing their pants up high," he said.
With the famous blue bag swinging from her hand, 13-year-old Michaela Brown exited the Tiffany & Co. store with a look of satisfaction. She had just purchased a $125 necklace.
"It was a gift from me to my mom," she said. "I saved up for a long time."
But even if she had been shopping for herself, the price tag wouldn't have been significantly less.
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| Photo by Miriam Alvarado. |
Michaela believes that if she stops buying popular brands and looks for cheaper alternatives, people would change their perception of her. "People are so judgmental these days," said Michaela, who attends Fisher Middle School in Los Gatos and was interviewed at Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair.
There are many reasons why students opt for more expensive clothing and accessories. If asked to choose between a $30 polo shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch and a $6 polo from Target, most students - if they have the means - would choose Abercrombie.
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| Photo by Miriam Alvarado |
In times when the economy is less than thriving, young people still find ways to spend $175 billion a year, according to a study by Harris Interactive, a global market research firm based in Rochester, N.Y.
Sonya Thompson, a professor of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta in Canada, said she felt compelled to create a class called "Marketing to Teens: Gotta Have It! Designer & Brand Names" so that students could "step back and begin to clarify their values around consumerism.
"Adolescents get stuck in a very superficial version of reality," said Thompson. "One of the effects of this is that we lose touch with what is really important and focus instead on how we look and what we wear."
And that might be what makes teens spend outrageous amounts of money on the hottest new trends. Peer pressure also plays a significant role in this name-brand obsession. Experts say that pressure functions as a type of "bragging right," prompting teens to display how much one owns, and how much he or she has to spend.
Teens admit that the desire to fit in, as well as look good, can lead to expensive habits.
"Clothing is more or less an expression of one's personality," said Jeffrey Ying, 17, of Fremont.
Jeffrey said he shops at upscale retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Gucci and Versace because he believes that these stores offer a more unique look. "They cut very well," he explained. "And they have good sizes."
Jeffrey sells unwanted accessories, clothing and other miscellaneous items on eBay for extra spending money to bolster his allowance, which is about $100 a month.
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| Photo by Miriam Alvarado |
"Wearing an Italian designer like Versace is probably going to do more for their self-image than K-Mart," he said.
Materialism also influences the choices teens make about shopping.
Michelle Thelen-Steere, a partner in Native Intelligence, Consultative Educators, said that Americans, especially on the West Coast, are at the heart of consumerism worldwide. She argued that the media fills the public with materialistic principles, prompting teens to buy into the overpriced market.
"Teens nowadays are the No. 1 population targeted because they are the consumers of the future," said Thelen-Steere. "It's analogous to the stock market: teens are treated as investments that yield higher returns as time continues."
Thelen-Steere said corporations use that attitude to market their products to teens. Instead of using mainstream tactics of advertising, she said, these companies use "masstrans," which is a belief system that subconsciously appeals to the ego.
While Jeffrey uses eBay to help him buy expensive labels, where do other teens get the means to pay for these pricey items?
Michaela does 20 chores around the house each week, and in return, her parents give her $20.
Seventeen-year-old David Cilia, who just graduated from Prospect High School, works as chief supervisor in a restaurant to satisfy his love for expensive, name-brand clothing. David likes shopping at upscale stores such as Abercrombie, American Eagle and Banana Republic because, he said, "they have really good clothes, and sometimes they have specials for less money."
Some people may argue that simply having Abercrombie and Fitch's little embroidered moose on a shirt isn't worth the extra money, but teens find a way to justify their spending.
"True, Abercrombie's clothes may be more expensive, but they're more likely to last longer than Target's," said 15-year-old Katrina Totten of Ft. Bragg, who with a San Jose friend was shopping at Valley Fair. Her favorite stores are Hollister, Abercrombie and Urban Outfitters.
Some parents and teens argue about adolescent spending habits, but it's not an issue between Jeffrey and his mother.
Jeffrey said his mother does not put a cap on his spending, and actually likes to buy expensive purses and shoes as well. And since he earns his own money, his mother doesn't really care about how he spends it.
That's exactly what those who market their products to youth like to hear. Marketing officials at big corporations know that many parents have a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to their kids' spending habits and they take advantage of this by purposely creating advertisements that make the gap between parents and their children even wider.
The proliferation of technology means marketers can, and do, advertise to youth through many types of media, including the Internet and television. These experts talk to psychologists and find out how to woo young customers. Studies show that 26 percent of children under the age of two have televisions in their bedrooms.
And some experts say that since the obsession with brand names is a symptom of poor self-esteem, the solutions really lie in teens themselves.
"People are bombarded with messages that clothes make you sexy, cool. Marketers make people think that they are dumb if they don't follow the trends," said Susan Linn, associate director of the Media Center for Children at Harvard University's Judge Baker Children's Center. "There isn't just one solution; it's a societal solution, ultimately. But teens can make a difference."
Don Barreau loves the Oakland A's. A season-ticket holder since the 1980s, Barreau's involvement with the team reached new heights a few years later when he became the president of the A's Booster Club.
"I like the Coliseum and I like my spot," Barreau said during Saturday's game against the Giants.
But Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig does not share his affection for Network Associates Coliseum.
"Clearly for this club to be competitive in the future it needs a new venue," Selig said in a release following a May visit to the stadium. "Once people around you start getting new ballparks and generating more revenue, it becomes hard for that particular franchise to compete."
A's owner Steve Schott shares Selig's opinion and has advocated moving the A's to a new stadium. "We need a new facility to insure the A's will be financially competitive for the long term," Schott said in a statement at the time. "We can't achieve that goal in our present facility."
The A's are open to a new stadium in Oakland, but another proposal the team has entertained is a move to the South Bay. And some South Bay boosters would like to see the team move to the San Jose area.
The Bay Area is the nation's fourth-largest baseball market, according to an article on Internet magazine Diamondangle.com, and even split into three parts, all three would stay in the top 15.
Larry Stone, the Santa Clara County Assessor, is on the executive committee of Baseball San Jose, a group that is attempting to lure the A's or any major league baseball team.
"Every complete metropolitan city needs a few things: the arts buildings, the education facilities and the vibrant retail," said Stone. "Sports teams are just part of that."
It seems like a perfect match: the A's want to move, San Jose wants the team. So why are the A's still in Oakland? The answer: An early 1990s agreement between Major League Baseball and the San Francisco Giants that granted the National League team exclusive territorial rights to Santa Clara County. That means no other team may move there - nor could a new team be based there - without the Giants' permission.
Giants owner Peter Magowan has used the agreement to block an A's move, citing a large revenue source from the South Bay that he claims would be lost if the move was made.
But many A's and Giants fans doubt that an A's move to the South Bay would have a major effect on the Giants.
"I wouldn't care if the A's moved to the Santa Clara area," said Scott Myers, 30, a die-hard Giants fan from Santa Clara. "They could move into my back yard and I still wouldn't support them. Giants for life!"
Of course, many A's fans in Oakland don't want to see their beloved team leave town.
"For me personally, the fact that I can't get up and go to an A's game is a negative. I would very much dislike the commute," said Oakland native Zach Iohile.
But in the meantime, many A's fans such as Barreau are content with the status quo.
"Frankly," he said. "I just like it how it is."
While Modesto resident William Velazquez was putting on his baseball cap embellished with San Francisco Giants logos Saturday, his girlfriend Sarah Flores was in the next room looking through a wardrobe filled with the vibrant green and gold colors of the Oakland A's.
Soon the two were sitting quietly, side by side, on a BART train headed for Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, where they took sides against each other as the Bay Area's two baseball teams battled it out.
Velazquez and Flores have been able to coexist despite being huge supporters of different baseball teams. But the Oakland A's organization recently has attempted to create a bigger rift between fans of the two teams.
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| A's and Giants fans can co-exist peacefully...sometimes. |
The strategy this seems to be more of a marketing battle than a representation of public opinion, as many fans don't seem to mind the bridge straddlers.
Peter Maguire, a 41-year-old Gilroy resident, has been a die-hard Oakland A's fan for more than 34 years, but he does not mind fans who support both teams.
"If the Giants got to the World Series, I'd probably root for them just because I'm a Bay Area sports fan," said Maguire. "But hey, if the A's are still in, then I'd be rooting for them 100 percent."
There are some fans who believe that rooting for both teams is unacceptable, including Rob Chang, 19, a University of California-Berkeley sophomore. "I don't believe anyone who is a true A's fan or a true Giants fan can possibly be a fan of both," said Chang. "Because they've had a cross-town rivalry for years, and whenever two teams have a rivalry, you can't genuinely go for both teams."
Regardless of how the fans behave, the games between the teams are always special. The Giants lead the series record 20-19, and both sides bring plenty of fans across the Bay Bridge whenever they play each other. Saturday's game set the league high for this season with 55,989 fans in attendance.
Despite winning Major League Soccer titles in 2001 and 2003, the San Jose Earthquakes have failed to capture the level of popularity of other Bay Area professional sports teams.
"Championships clearly aren't cutting it," defenseman Craig Waibel said with some sarcasm.
Now, with time passing and attendance stagnant, the Earthquakes' future in San Jose hangs in the balance.
Anschutz Entertainment Group, the company that operates the Earthquakes, has begun seeking a new stadium in the Bay Area. But AEG isn't ruling out a move out of the Bay Area, with Houston and San Diego being mentioned in news reports as cities willing to finance a new facility.
Last year, the Earthquakes averaged 10,036 fans in 15 home games at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium, which placed them second-to-last in the league. In six home games this year, the average has increased marginally to 10,956 fans.
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| Stagnant attendance could drive the Earthquakes out of San Jose. Photo by Konina Biswas. |
That figure got a boost when 17,667 fans flocked to see 14-year-old phenom Freddy Adu make his first appearance in San Jose with D.C. United on May 1. Despite this slight uptick, the Earthquakes remain stuck.
"Soccer is a sport that is still trying to gain its foothold in this country," said Seth Burton, the Earthquakes' media relations coordinator. "But I think we're pretty good at promoting attendance."
At the home game between the Earthquakes and the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday, several faithful fans expressed concern over the Earthquakes' uncertain future.
"The U.S. isn't very soccer-oriented," said Zoya Ashfar, 16, whose family has been season-ticket holders since 2000. "There are so many other sports that overshadow it. People don't see what a great product we have locally."
Joel Scoles, 17, of Bay Point, said he believes any possible move boils down to an old cliché: "In the end, it's all about money."
Players and fans alike suggested several ways to increase attendance, including better marketing and a more lucrative television contract.
One solution players and fans agree would help attendance woes would be a new soccer-specific stadium. The Earthquakes have been playing at Spartan Stadium for their entire nine-year existence. Columbus and Los Angeles have recently built new soccer-only stadiums, and similar facilities are in the works for Chicago, Dallas and New Jersey. AEG has committed $15 million towards a new stadium and is asking cities where the team might relocate to commit $50 million.
Burton points to the stadiums where the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's play to demonstrate how a new facility can make a difference.
"If you look at SBC Park and Network Associates from a physical standpoint, it's obvious why the Giants outdraw the A's," said Burton.
Spartan Stadium "is a very old facility, and in this day and age, you need to be able to keep up and maintain a brand new facility," he added.
Waibel and other players have dealt with questions about the stadium and attendance for several years, but he said that it shouldn't affect how they play.
"As an athlete, you accept that you could be traded, waived or released. Moving is the same way; it could happen," said Waibel.
Star forward Landon Donovan said he believes things are heading in the right direction.
"For the most part, things are going well," said Donovan. "But it's not easy pushing soccer in America."
Still, Donovan tried to look on the bright side: "The only way is up. We have to hope."
Sitting in a quiet San Jose living room, Danielle Passanissi ties up her shoelaces. She leans forward and begins stretching to get ready to run her daily two miles. Running could be the one thing that keeps her from losing her ability to walk.
Passanissi, 18, underwent physical and emotional losses in her four years at Wilcox High School. She suffered injuries, illnesses, and lost her mentor. But now she has returned to a high level of strength, one she maintains with her daily run.
"Running to me, is being in touch with yourself, being in touch with the inner peace which you contain," she said. "Running to me is taking a break from everyday life, and setting myself into a free zone."
Soon after Passanissi began running track in 2000 at Wilcox High, she seriously injured her knee in a basketball game. Doctors told Passanissi, 15 at the time, that she wouldn't be able to have knee surgery until she was 18 and her knee had fully developed. After this injury, Danielle was devastated because she couldn't run for some time.
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| Photo by Rhiannon Wheeler. |
"If it hadn't been for the infantigo, I wouldn't be here today," Passanissi said.
Although Passanissi suffered so many traumas in such a short time, she pushed herself to get back on her feet and run again. During the time she was unable to run, she realized how much she loved sports and how much she wanted to be able to run track. She felt that by running, she was removing herself from the adversity she faced.
"Running has always been my sanctuary. By running, I can take myself away from reality, and that's why I love it so much," she said.
But she couldn't do it alone. Mike Hazlett, a physical education teacher and coach at Wilcox High, inspired her to get better. He taught Passanissi to walk again, and helped her regain her strength through special stretches and exercises. Their dual goal was to get her back in shape for the track team. That dream seemed to crash when Hazlett died of cancer in February 2003, just weeks before the track season started.
"I always wanted to run so that I could win an award and take a picture with Mr. Hazlett," Passanissi said. "When Mr. Hazlett died, my dream sort of died as well. I don't think he ever knew how important he was to me, or to any of us."
Although she lost her mentor and source of inspiration, Passanissi regained her determination and decided to run again. Running, she said, would be a way to honor all the time and effort Hazlett had put into helping her rehabilitate.
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| Passanissi suffered so many traumas in such a short time, but she pushed herself to run again. Photo by Rhiannon Wheeler. |
Even though there were people who pushed her to do better, there were those who also tried to put her down. People at school and even sometimes friends would tell her that she wouldn't be a track star again. More than anything, Passanissi wanted to prove them wrong.
"I'm the kind of person who cannot be told that I can't do something, if someone tries to put me down, I always try to prove them wrong."
Passanissi did indeed prove them wrong. Passanissi reached a personal best of 33 feet in the triple jump and took first at several meets. She also competed in sprints and the long jump.
Sara Vincent, 19, was a teammate of Passanissi's at Wilcox High and remembered her comeback.
"Danielle worked really hard, sometimes she would get on the track and just run to the point where she felt sick," Vincent said. "This was all because she is so determined to achieve her goals."
Passanissi, who graduated from Wilcox High in June, plans to have surgery on her knee as soon as possible. She also wants to study to become an emergency medical technician.
"I want to be able to help people, the same way that I was helped," she said. No matter what lies ahead of her, she said, "running is definitely a part of my future."
Kevin Alger, 20, is an ordinary college student. He goes to San Jose State University, hangs with his friends, stresses about school and does sports. What kind of sports? Just one: cheerleading.
Alger is a member of the Titans, a competitive cheerleading squad.
While cheerleading is traditionally a female sport, it's one of a growing number of athletic activities with an increasing number of male participants. Other examples include ballet, synchronized swimming and gymnastics. These sports don't usually draw many men; in fact, sometimes they're considered not manly enough.
But the opposite is true, Alger said. The techniques can be very challenging and dangerous for those who aren't physically prepared.
The Titans had three male chearleaders in 2002 and more than doubled that number to seven in 2004. At Western Ballet, a Mountain View dance school, there are 15 male dancers compared to 100 female dancers, a ratio that's been pretty consistent over the years.
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Why are men attracted to these so-called women's sports?
Some men said they simply thought it was cool or they just tried it and found it was fun. Such is the case of Gonzalo Espinoza, a male ballet teacher at Western Ballet.
"I saw how athletic it was in college, and I wanted to see what it was about," said Espinoza, 40. "I took it for college credits, found out it was fun, and kept going."
He's been dancing for 20 years.
Greg Borromeo, 20, a member of the Titans squad, joined cheerleading because he wanted to be at football games.
"I was very active in football in high school," he said. "I wasn't at a high-enough caliber for football in college, so I joined cheerleading instead."
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Daniel Maxfield, another member of the Titans, sums up the reason for his participation in one phrase: "It's like working out at the gym, but our weights look better."
Cheerleaders mostly are female so the male team members are sometimes subjected to insults from observers, usually from the crowd at football games.
But the men who participate in these female-dominated athletics say the sports require a lot of strength and stamina. A typical cheerleader practice session begins with stretching to warm up. Then the male cheerleaders lift women cheerleaders into the air and try to hold them up without dropping them. They practice the moves over and over for two hours or more.
Ballet, too, requires strength, stamina and discipline. Whether the dancers are professionals or are training to be, the sessions are rigorous and long.
Mark Foehringer, the director of Western Ballet, said he always got ridiculed from the time started dancing at age 15. That quickly stopped, though, when he became a professional at 17.
Bill May, 21, is a synchronized swimmer for the Santa Clara Aquamaids who tried out for the 2004 Olympics in synchronized swimming. He was not allowed to join the team because he is male and forbidden from participation, according to the rules of Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA), the organization that governs the sport for the Olympics. Mixed-gender pairs are not allowed to compete.
Would May have been eligible if he were a she?
"Yes," said Amy McClintock, the Olympics media relations director.
"May is a very good athlete," said Betty Hazle, the president of the synchronized swimming division of FINA. "He is very comparable to the female swimmers in the Olympics."
Alger and the other men say there are perks to being one of a few men on a largely female team. The snide comments don't really bother them.
"They're just jealous because we get to pick up beautiful women," Alger said.
I registered to vote while waiting in line to see Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Not many people in my age group vote. In fact, according to the U.S. Census,18- to 24-year-olds are the lowest percentage of registered voters, but I don't like to follow trends.
Now that I'm 19 and leaning toward the left, I knew that it was time to take political action. Being a novice voter, this election has inspired me to look under every rock in search of my own political ideology. And I wanted to find my path without the guidance of CNN or Fox News.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" is the sludge I found after I turned those rocks.
The film is from the creator of "Bowling for Columbine." And though some see it as a cheap shot against President George W. Bush's administration, I see it as mud being slung in a fresh fashion. "Fahrenheit" exposes Bush's seedy underbelly and has left me wondering how trustworthy our president truly is.
During the last presidential election, I was 15, I didn't care who took office and I had no political views. I was more concerned about missing my favorite TV shows than I cared that two old guys were fighting for the presidency.
After the events of 9/11 and the collapse of the economy, I started to care about who was running the country. I needed more guidance than my family could give me. I needed to see stuff that I wouldn't see on TV. I needed someone like Moore to shed light on our commander in chief.
And when I saw what he had to offer, I was convinced that the American public doesn't know as much as they think they do about Mr. Bush.
The movie starts with fireworks bursting in air, followed by the peculiar events that followed election 2000. How did all of the controversy over who captured the presidency get started in the first place? Moore's movie claims that one man is responsible - John Ellis.
Ellis, one of the big wigs at Fox News, took it upon himself to declare Bush the winner in Florida, thus cementing the election.
Oh, did I mention Ellis is Bush's first cousin?
Moore goes from there to reveal that the president was on vacation 42 percent of the first eight months he was in office. Funny, where great presidents such as Franklin D. Roosevelt took instant action to revive the nation after a national crisis, Bush hit the courses to practice his golf swing. I wish I could get a job in which I controlled the "free world," was paid $400,000 a year and got about 20 weeks of paid time off.
From there, Moore moves on to a touchier topic - 9/11. Moore shows glimpses of people in tears, but what I thought was truly shocking was how Bush was notified that Osama bin Laden had threatened the United States weeks before Sept. 11, 2001, and was given a report stating that fact in the title of the report. Moore's film makes it look as though Bush ignored that report.
Angela Anderson, a De Anza College student, thinks that "Fahrenheit 9/11" is an "excellent portrayal of how ignorant Bush is."
Is Bush really ignorant or just playing dumb?
Let's give some more credit to the man. He isn't dumb; he's crafty.
The Bush family has a large amount of money invested with the Carlyle Group, a corporation that specializes in defense. And what better way for them to gain financially than to promote defense after the destruction of the World Trade Center?
Bush stood a lot to gain if he ignored the threats of Osama bin Laden - a lot of money! The picture is so clear to me now. The Saudi members that were on the Carlyle Group's board with Bush, the ignored threats, the cut in soldiers' pay and veterans' checks. I've connected the dots. And they have revealed a tremendous dollar sign.
Repulsive. I can't have a man serving me as president who cares more about his own well-being than the good of a nation. Watching Moore's film has made me more aware of the things happening in the world of politics. I'll be staying up on the issues more than I ever have before, because my vote counts.
Moore has made his case and I'm not the only one rallying behind him. "Get Bush out," Anderson said, "I don't care who it is."
Seeing Bush's puzzled looks on TV, hearing his butchered sayings and living through the hardship of the economy he produced made me want to register to vote. But watching "Fahrenheit 9/11" has encouraged me to cast a ballot against him no matter where I am on Nov. 2.
Oops, she did it again.
Britney Spears is set to marry for the second time. The pop star recently announced she's engaged to Kevin Federline, a former backup dancer for her tour. Earlier this year, she married her childhood friend Jason Alexander in Las Vegas and annulled the union a few hours later.
Are her actions are just one more reason teens today look at the institution of marriage in a different way?
It's not just Spears and other celebrities fond of quickie marriages and divorces molding young perspectives. Other pop culture trends also are making an impact, such as reality shows like "Who Wants to Marry my Dad?"
But at the most fundamental level, marriage today doesn't look like it did 50 or even 25 years ago. Compared to past generations when marriage was defined only in the traditional sense, modern times have led to broader definitions: easy divorces, remarriages and same-sex marriages.
It has also changed as equality has increased between men and women, with expanded roles for both, according to marriage and family counselor Larry Isaacs.
"The father used to be the breadwinner, and women took care of the children," said Isaacs, who practices in Berkeley. "Now, things are changing."
Shifting values
The divorce rate in the United States nearly doubled from 1962 to 2003, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. This increase may be one reason youths today say they recognize marriage as an agreement that can be terminated at any time and for any reason.
"Kids feel separated sometimes, but it's not their fault, " said Giovanna Hernandez, 12, a student at Monroe Middle School. "Divorce is not a big deal for some people anymore."
And in recent months, same-sex marriages challenge tradition as homosexuals fight for their right to be wed despite President George W. Bush's opposition.
"People should choose who they want to marry," said Nicole Garthwait, 13, who was shopping recently at Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair. "Gays should be respected as people."
As seen on television
Exposure to reality television shows that depict love as a material item also contributes to the mentality that marriage is disposable.
"They give the impression that marriage is easy. People could just be on these shows for the fame and time on television," said 16-year-old Eric Wang, a student at Lynbrook High School.
Some reality television shows also send the message that faithfulness in marriage is no longer important. Shows such as "The Bachelor" and "Who Wants to Marry My Dad?" involve couples who claim to devote themselves to each other but few of those matches actually survive the test of time. Other shows, such as "For Love or Money," represent love as a paycheck instead of a genuine feeling.
"I hate reality television shows. I think they are fake and they probably do not find love at first sight," said 15-year-old Dalan Dinh, who also is a student at Lynbrook High.
Love and the tabloids
Celebrity weddings are often widely publicized. But the divorces that are right around the corner demonstrate that marriage can just as easily be thrown away.
A perfect example of a celebrity who has tied the knot - for a third time in this case - is actress-singer Jennifer Lopez.
She married singer Marc Anthony just months after her famous break-up with actor Ben Affleck. At the time of the wedding, Anthony himself had only been divorced from former Miss Universe Daynara Torres for less than a week.
"It is immature for celebrities to act this way," said psychiatrist Morris Brock, who practices in San Francisco. "Marriage is presented in a casual way."
Emphasizing tradition
Still, some people are working to strengthen the focus on the traditional aspects of marriage.
The Catholic Church, for example, requires couples to participate in prenuptial retreats where they are supposed to realize that marriage involves intimacy and trust, not simply a physical attraction.
"Marriage is faith in general," said the Rev. Robert Brocato of the Christ the King Catholic Church in San Jose. "It is not seen in the same light by kids today, who are more critical of what they see as traditional religious practice."
But others say the changes that are in motion are far-reaching and can't be stopped that easily.
"Values are changing rapidly," said Isaacs, the marriage counselor. "Gay marriage is not a governmental issue; it is a cultural issue. The attitude about marriage has evolved, but I'm not sure if it is positive on society."
For many teens, these issues have prompted them to a new set of guidelines about marriage.
"Marriage can't be taken for granted, it is sacred," said Owais Mahesri, 16, a student at Irvington High School in Fremont. "The way Americans in general observe marriage is way off-base, like it is some kind of temporary restraining order keeping a person faithful."
I'm a firm believer that remakes rarely outshine the original movie's acclaim.
To test my theory, I saw two very different films, both based on the Jules Verne classic "Around the World in 80 Days": director Michael Anderson's 1956 version and the latest effort from director Frank Coraci. After reviewing and analyzing both films, the classic wins hands down over this year's Jackie Chan rendition.
I judged both films on the following five categories: plot, acting, special effects, cinematography and length.
While the 2004 version was more visually appealing at times, its plot was far from perfect. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that a "true romance" blossoms after Phileas Fogg catches a glimpse of travel companion Monique's leg. The newer film also strays far too much from the book. Instead of an epic journey around the world, it turns into a showcase of Chan's stunts and fight scenes. I couldn't recall any of the scenes two days later, while images from Anderson's film are still ingrained in my mind.
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Technology sides with Coraci's version. The 1956 classic was plagued with cheesier examples of special effects - something I regrettably have to hold the older film accountable for. Modern advances have given moviemakers new techniques, including the green screen, which is digitally enhanced to simulate various backgrounds. The green screen allows Phileas Fogg to soar through the air. Coraci rushes the plot, but definitely tries to impress with the explosions and sweeping global views.
Anderson's film had some elaborate scenes of bullfighting, greenery and ships. On the other hand, Coraci's most elaborate scene is either the view of Fogg's house or the palace of Prince Hapi, played by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The cinematography seemed much more worldly in Anderson's original, and it gave me the sensation that I was present in the film.
In a day and age where people rush about most of the day and traffic stands still at rush hour, time is unforgiving. Anderson's "Around the World in 80 Days" was more than three hours long. Coraci's version is a polite hour and a half. Venturing to see the 1956 original is a considerable task and requires significant time. For those of us with shorter attention spans, 2004's "Around the World in 80 Days" is the solution. I found the original movie more rewarding, but as a student I don't have three hours to watch a movie.
Anderson's movie will always be the original film version of "Around the World in 80 Days." Comic relief from the real world comes in the form of Jackie Chan, but if you want a true movie experience, classics are the way to go.
In the dimly-lit bar, a single yellow spotlight bounced off the red velvet stage curtains to accent Kyle Houston's black Foo-Fighters shirt and baggy gray shorts.
The San Jose teen stepped behind the microphone and began his poetic message:
"Conform to your individuality without being a conformist individual/
'Cause trying to be like everyone else is not cool."
Houston, 18, looks like a typical teenager but his passion for poetry sets him apart.
He's become a regular at Waves Smokehouse & Saloon in downtown San Jose, which becomes a poetry hot spot each Tuesday. On stage, he criticizes the way young people follow societal trends and compares them to mass-produced products that all look the same.
Poetry slams, much like live theater and improvisational comedy shows, are gaining in popularity among Bay Area teens as an alternative form of entertainment that's competing with movies, concerts, television and Internet surfing. And the hosts of these events are thrilled to see teens becoming more involved.
"We want kids and teenagers to see the importance of bringing art into people's lives," said Jill McIntyre, spokeswoman for San Jose Repertory Theater.
The Rep isn't alone in urging young people to sample live theater.
"We encourage kids to be involved in theater productions - to act, direct, do tech work and design costumes," said Brad Erickson, the executive director of Theatre Bay Area, a San Francisco-based company that works to strengthen and promote theater in the region. "Kids who are involved in theater are more likely to attend shows."
Live performances have several perks that don't exist in other forms of entertainment. The interaction between the performers and the crowd creates a one-of-a-kind pizzazz that isn't found in high-tech forms of recreation, event organizers said.
"Slam poetry is the distillation of emotion," said Rebecca DeKeusfer, who hosts the poetry slam at Waves. "It is energetic, physical and involves the audience. Humans need to hear each other and make a connection."
Comedy Sportz, similar to television show "Whose Line is it Anyway?", is competitive improvisational comedy between two teams, complete with an umpire and an Astroturf stage on the second floor of Bella Mia restaurant in San Jose. The show involves participation from audience members, who offer suggestions to the players. The audience also might have a chance to choose games, call fouls and volunteer for a variety of tasks. Ultimately, the audience decides which team wins.
"I like how it is funny because they are feeding off the audience's reactions so that we feel more involved," said Katie Warren, 19, of San Jose.
Compared to recorded programs, live productions tend to offer their audiences more of a motivational experience, McIntyre said.
"When you see actors in a play in front of you, it is tangible inspiration," she said. "People on television have the perfect life on screen, but the artists in front of you can make you dream. They are more realistic."
Teens have differing thoughts about live entertainment vs. high-tech fun.
"It is hard to act live on stage," said 16-year-old Homestead High School student Shir Hasson. "Movie actors can re-do scenes and make lots of money, but actors in plays have to practice and get it right."
But 18-year-old Orr Golevarg of Sunnyvale saw it differently.
"Live performances are slow," he said. "They are boring unless you know the performers."
Jeff Kramer, a player in the Comedy Sportz show, said there's nothing like seeing something live.
"Picture watching something on television at home as opposed to being there," he said. "The excitement of the crowd is overwhelming. The first thing you would say to someone who didn't go is, 'You should have been there!' "
Today's teens are rebellious, searching - and hungry.
And with limited cash, many young people in the Bay Area choose going out to eat as a social activity.
Here are four restaurants that attract teens with quality food and value in the bustling, pricey Bay Area.
In-N-Out Burger
Why it's a hot spot for teens: In-N-Out's late hours, honest atmosphere and friendly employees make for the ideal locale for teens looking for late-night food.
Location: Various locations in the South Bay, including San Jose, Milpitas, Mountain View and Santa Clara.
Hours: 10:30 a.m.-1:00 a.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays.
Price range: Most menu items are under $3. Value meals range from $4-$6.
Web site: www.in-n-out.com
What they serve: The regular menu consists of burgers, fries, milkshakes and soft drinks. What sets In-N-Out apart is its freshness. The burgers are served on buns delivered each day with hand-leafed lettuce. French fries are hand cut every day - not cooked frozen out of a bag. The well-known secret menu lets customers order burgers "animal style" - a mustard-cooked beef patty, with pickles, grilled onions and extra spread. Or, go beyond the traditional "Double Double" (double-meat, double-cheese) with a 3x3 (three patties) or a 4x4 (four patties). The protein style burger (wrapped in lettuce instead of on a bun) is popular with people on low-carb diets. For vegetarians, In-N-Out offers grilled cheese and veggie burgers.
What teens say about it: Harker School graduate Ravi Mishra, 18,says "The burgers, fries, and shakes taste better" than those at other places.
Panda Express
Why it's a hot spot for teens: It's got a great location at the food court of Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair and young people are drawn to the inexpensive chance to try many foods -including peppers, broccoli and egg rolls - which aren't on the regular menus of a lot of American fast-food restaurants.
Location: Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair on Stevens Creek Boulevard; Westfield Shoppingtown Oakridge on Blossom Hill Road.
Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sundays. 9:45 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays.
Price range: For $5.52 (plus tax), you can purchase a two-entree plate with rice or chow mein . Another entree is $1.40 more.
Web site: www.pandaexpress.com
What they serve: Traditional Chinese food such as kung pao chicken, beef broccoli, potstickers, shrimp and orange chicken. Most entrees include rice (steamed or fried) or chow mein.
What teens say about it: "You can smell Chinese food from all over the food court," teenage shopper Abri Nelson said at Valley Fair.
Little Caesar's Pizza
Why it's a hot spot for teens: For those countless teens who find themselves hungry with little money, Little Caesar's fits their situation perfectly.
Location: Various locations around the Bay Area.
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays.
Web site: www.littlecaesars.com
Price range: It's only 99 cents for Crazy Bread (bread sticks) and $5 for a large pepperoni or cheese pizza.
What they serve: Little Caesar's is known for its pizza and Crazy Bread, but the menu also includes chicken wings, sandwiches and salads.
What teens say about it: "I think it's cool for friends to get together and each put in $5 and get four pizzas," said Anthony Paramo, 17, of San Jose.
Taco Bell
Why it's a hot spot for teens: Similar to Little Caesar's, Taco Bell is popular with students because of its low prices and convenience. "They have good food and it's cheap," Mission San Jose Senior Ritu Ghai said.
Location: Located throughout the Bay Area.
Hours: Opens at 9 a.m. daily. On the weekends, it is open until 1:30 a.m., and until 1 a.m. Sundays-Thusdays.
Web site: www.tacobell.com
Price range: Regular tacos and burritos cost less than $1, but a great value is the "grande meal'' - a combination of 10 tacos and burritos for $7.47 that's great for two.
What they serve: In addition to tacos and burritos, other items with a Mexican twist include quesadillas, Mexican pizza, gorditas and nachos.
What teens say about it: "Whenever I go to Taco Bell, I get a taco because it's only $1," said Fischer Middle School student Hilary Humphries.
Bassist Tony Bursese of the band Sentenced to Burn feels that he has been ostracized because of his first love - heavy metal music.
"I've always been considered an outsider," said Bursese, 19, a San Jose resident and De Anza College student. "I've never taken anyone's opinion, but I try to be cool with people."
The types of music young people listen to today vary greatly - and many say it's hard to find tolerance for tastes outside of the mainstream. While some teens listen to whatever they find on the radio dial, others flock to sounds that are slowly rising from the subterranean venues of their communities.
Whether they listen to hip-hop, Goth or country music, many of these people say they are often misunderstood and may appear intimidating and different. But, they say, they are not so different from anyone else.
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Deena Weinstein, a sociology professor at DePaul University in Chicago and author of the book "Heavy Metal: The Music and Culture," said people who listen to music that's outside the mainstream often feel ostracized.
But Weinstein said she's seen research that suggests teens who listen to heavy metal music are actually less depressed than other teens - a notion that debunks the stereotype of the "metalhead."
With artists like Britney Spears and 50 Cent at the top of the charts right now, it can be tough for people who like bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Fear Factory to feel like they are accepted by society.
"I don't consider myself in the mainstream or out of it," said 23-year-old Billy Young. "In the trend area I consider myself independent, mystic."
Tommy Selves, who will be a senior at Westmont High School, said it doesn't bother him that he's not part of the "in crowd."
"Music tells me to be who I want to be and do what I want to do," he said. "It's basically all for the music."
On a recent evening at the Gaslighter Theater in Campbell, more than 200 young people milled around waiting for Sentenced to Burn to begin their set of black, symphonic metal.
Most of the teens and young people were dressed for the show. They wore black t-shirts featuring gory scenes or castles in ruins; jeans or Dickies that either covered a tattered pair of Converse or were rolled up to the shins displaying a pair of surplus boots.
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"It affects the way I dress, I tend to like things with an atmosphere," said Ayax, keyboardist for Sentenced to Burn, "My life is pretty much metal."
Ayax said he and others turn to the Gaslighter for a place to go where they can find people who talk, dress and act like them.
It's not uncommon to see people dressed like the metalheads at the Gaslighter on the streets of San Jose or standing outside a local record store. But many young people who are into styles and music that stray from MTV culture feel they are being judged and looked down upon.
"Sometimes it can be demeaning," said Branham High School student Joey Bowler, who favors heavy metal. "But I'm the type of person who will support what I like."
Metal is just one genre of music that is not recognized greatly by the mainstream media or accepted by other music fans.
Campbell resident Sergy El-Morshedy 17, is a fan of underground hip-hop. Unlike mainstream hip-hop, which focuses on money, cars and women, underground hip-hop explores more metaphors and deeper issues.
Sergy appreciates artists like Atmosphere, Sage Francis and Prozac Turner, even though they are not popular hip-hop groups.
"I listen to underground hip-hop and a lot of mainstreamers will say it's crappy," he said.
Sean Wilson, a student at South Side High School in Alaska, is a dial-turner who gathers with people who listen to what he does - mainstream rap.
"If I feel uncomfortable around a certain group of people, I will find a couple of people who like rap," said Sean, after talking about one of his favorite artists, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs.
Tommy Selves, who listens to heavy metal and punk, said he and his friends are not much different from teens who listen to mainstream music.
They still hang out with friends and spend time doing other things.
"I'm a 'Star Wars' freak," said Bursese, when asked what he likes to do in his spare time. "And I still play with Legos."