By Callie Janza

Going to work and school while wearing masks has become the new norm. A world without masks is hard to imagine. [this is editorializing, I think, but I haven’t thought of a better line] For California, this world is coming into focus.

On February 28th, 2022, governors from California, Oregon, and Washington met to discuss new mask policies. After seeing a declining rate in COVID cases, California officials thought it would be a proper time to reduce mask use. According to the official California government website, “After March 11, in schools and child care facilities, masks will not be required but will be strongly recommended.” Along with the change for schools, California also lifted the indoor masking requirement for unvaccinated individuals on March 1st.

Following this statement, almost all California public school districts revised their rules regarding facial coverings. One of the only districts that were skeptical of these changes was SFUSD. With the fear of an increase in COVID cases, SFUSD officials thought the best plan of action would be to keep masks on at school.

Less than a week later, SFUSD retracted that statement and is currently following the state's lead. No clear reason for this change of policy was found after being reached out for comments.

Assistant principal Jordan Loey shows us what SFUSD may look like going along with their first response to the mask mandate lifting. “I think with how much stuff the district is dealing with and how much stuff the Board of Education is dealing with, with the recall being done, they can’t be the ones to say we’re the only school district in the Bay Area who’s masking for the rest of the school year. Optics-wise, people will be like ‘Wow, this school district is crazy’ and we’ll have declining enrollment.” 

As of March 12th, 2022, students, teachers and faculty of middle and high schools no longer need to wear their masks while at school. Elementary schools followed behind and lifted their policy on April 2nd.

To most people, this is a relief. It’s hard to find a mask that fits everyone's face. Some people are constantly uncomfortable and have to pull their masks up every five minutes. For one Lincoln High School sophomore, Laron Zeigler, “It was suffocating to wear all the time.” 

Others wouldn’t even contemplate not wearing a mask. Since this pandemic started, many individuals are fine with wearing a mask and found it much safer than going without one. According to the CDC guidelines, “Layered prevention strategies — like staying up to date on vaccines and wearing masks — can help prevent severe illness and reduce the potential for strain on the healthcare system.”

After polling anonymous Abraham Lincoln High School students, 88% out of 50 kids said they would keep their masks on, mainly because it’s “better to be safe than sorry.” 

One person wrote, “I don’t want to make others uncomfortable. Because I do not live [or] come into contact with anyone older or immunocompromised, I feel very safe taking off my mask, but I also understand that’s not the same for everyone. I do hope that at a certain point this year, I will feel okay about not generally wearing a mask inside though.” 

On the other hand, one student argues, “I’ve already had COVID so I feel more comfortable going without it.” 

As for contact tracing, SFUSD is shifting from individual contact tracing to group contract tracing on March 24th. This new protocol allows students to stay in school after having been in close contact with a COVID-positive individual. The students quarantine only if they’ve developed symptoms. Superintendent Vincent Matthews shares in an email to all SFUSD families, “Testing is highly recommended but not required.” 

While this pandemic has had its tremendous downs, most people try not to focus on the negatives. Senior Zoe Yee thinks back to the pandemic in a positive light, “I haven't had the flu in over two years. In terms of the near future, I don’t see myself ditching the mask completely anytime soon… Overall, I think I’d keep the mask and use it when I want. My hope is that we can return back to normalcy as much as anyone else, but that takes time. I’ve waited this long, I think I can wait a little more.”

Published on 04/08/2022

By Mia Rossitto

AP teachers in the San Francisco Unified School District have been given an extra prep period for teaching AP classes for the past several years. This means that they teach four classes instead of five, but get paid as if they were teaching five classes. The extra prep period helps several AP teachers get work done and plan out curriculums for their regular classes and AP classes.

With the new contract that was approved in early March, there will be a one year pause on AP prep periods starting next school year. Shari Balisi, Lincoln principal, says, “Instead of paying for their AP prep [period], the [school] board decided to give AP teachers a 3,000 dollar stipend.”

Sara Falls, an English teacher who teaches two sections of AP Literature and Comprehension, says, “It doesn’t really benefit me to make my classes a little bit smaller but still take away my [extra] prep [period]. I would rather have that hour each day to do work if I’m going to have the same amount of students.”

Falls adds, “I personally think that every teacher should only teach four periods a day.” By putting a pause on AP prep periods, Falls believes that this is a step back. She believes that teachers should be asking for more time to do work instead of trying to get rid of the extra time that AP teachers currently have.

Travis Heidepriem, a physics teacher who teaches two sections of AP physics, says, “I expect to take on another NGSS physics course next year.” This means that he will have three NGSS physics classes and two AP physics classes.

Heidepriem adds, “We’re just going to be forced to work outside of our contractual hours to get done what we need to get done. That’s going to be really difficult to do throughout the course of a year.”

Falls states that she is already doing hours of work outside of her contract day. “Most of us [teachers] do, even with that extra prep period. I’m almost always barely staying afloat.”

Heidepriem says, “I fear that taking on an additional class, as well as losing a prep, will limit my ability to provide students with the instruction and feedback they need in order to succeed in AP physics.” 

Even though AP teachers are upset that they will not have as much time to prepare for their more advanced classes and are likely to take on another one, it doesn’t seem to be their biggest concern. Shamira Gratch, who teaches AP Language, states, “This will impact the quality of teaching that students receive. It will most likely impact the rigor of their classes.”

Kristy Erickson, a health teacher, says, “It’s not so much about the AP prep periods in my opinion but about the funding because it pays for other positions on site as well…It’s about 650 million dollars that we’re losing [in funding] for next year.”

Though AP teachers get a stipend, they are not the only ones that were promised a bonus. Erickson states, “The bonuses across the district for all the teachers and paras that work K-12 get 2,000 dollars in June and another 2,000 dollars in November, but that money is coming off the backs of the high school programs.”

Erickson believes,“If you're an elementary school teacher, you don’t care about the AP programs, but you might care about the bonuses you're gonna get because you have to pay your rent.” 

It would be great for K-8 teachers if having a pause on the AP funding just meant getting a chunk of money, but if these AP teachers are taking on another class, there’s a chance that high school teachers will be moved around from school to school. If their credentials are better than say a teacher in middle school, they are able to take the place of a middle school teacher.

This is not just a problem happening at ALHS but all over the district. If the district keeps cutting programs that help teachers perform better, students can expect their education to reflect the working conditions of teachers.

Erickson says, “If they're willing to cut this, I’m scared of what else the district is willing to cut.”

Published on 04/08/2022

By Liam Hargis-Bullen

Since returning back to in-person learning students have noticed that the second and third floor bathrooms are almost always locked. Many students are confused about why this happened and would like answers. 

Towards the start of the school year a challenge began circulating on TikTok in which students were encouraged to destroy school property, mainly in bathrooms.

Due to this challenge, the bathrooms all over the school were being regularly destroyed. In addition the bathrooms are used by students to smoke and deal drugs. 

According to vice principal, Jordan Loey, the destruction consisted of “breaking of urinals, toilets and sinks; mirrors, soap and paper towel dispensers being ripped off the wall; intentional flooding of the bathrooms, urine everywhere, many students smoking and intentional burning of the toilets and sinks.”

After the bathrooms continued to be completely obliterated, the Lincoln staff made the tough decision to close the second and third floor bathrooms as a way to limit the recurring damage. The decision was made around the end of September according to Loey. 

While the bathroom closure may have limited the destruction and have taken a burden off of the custodial staff, it has had drawbacks. 

“It has made going to the bathroom much more uncomfortable. Many people use the same bathroom, reducing cleanliness and longer wait times to use the bathroom,” claims senior, David Li. 

Seniors Flora Chan and Tiffany Chou claimed that the closure has made their passing period trip longer, sometimes making them late to class. 

“It makes me walk very far just to go to the bathroom on the 1st floor then walk all the way back up to class,” states Chan. 

“It has made me travel very far just to use the restroom. It’s especially frustrating if I am on the 3rd floor,” asserts Chou. 

The closure is not a permanent change. “Things are gradually starting to simmer down, so we have been working on opening the bathrooms during passing periods,” Loey states. 

Thus far there is no set date to fully reopen the bathrooms, but progress is being made with the occasional opening of the third floor bathroom.  

Holding students accountable for the damage is difficult. “In order to catch these students and stop this destruction, we would need to have a staff member in the bathroom which is something that we just can’t do,” Loey states. 

As Loey was being interviewed after-school on March 10th, a custodial worker walked into Loey’s office and stated that a student had destroyed a urinal with a rock.

The closure of bathrooms for extended periods of time is violation of Ed-code, although temporary closure is allowed to ensure student safety. 

According to Ed-code #35292.5: “Open restroom means the school has kept all restrooms open during school hours when students are not in classes and has kept a sufficient number of restrooms open during school hours when students are in classes.  This does not apply when the temporary closing of the restroom is necessary for student safety or to make repairs.” 

No time limit has been stated on how temporary a bathroom closure can be, but the second and third floor bathrooms have been closed on and off for roughly six months. 

While the prolonged bathroom closure can be considered an Ed-code violation, opening them in their current condition is a violation as well. 

Ed-code #35292.5 states; “Clean or maintained school restroom means a school restroom has been cleaned or maintained regularly, is fully operational, or has been stocked at all times with toilet paper, soap, or paper towels or functional hand dryers.” These are items that have been consistently damaged or destroyed in bathrooms all over the school. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Joyce Li

For over ten years, Abraham Lincoln High School has offered its students the option of joining one of the four career-oriented Career Technical Education (CTE) academies: Business, Teacher, Green, and Digital Media Design. Now, Lincoln is excited to announce that a fifth academy, the Public Health Academy, is officially accepting applications from rising tenth graders.

Since 2018, the Public Health Academy team of teachers at Lincoln has been planning a new academy or pathway. Initially, they drafted out a theme for each academic school year, focusing on mental, physical, social, community, and public health. 

Following this idea, the team applied and received the Superintendent’s Innovation Fellowship (SIF), a program in partnership with San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) iLab to support three SFUSD schools to improve 21st-century teaching. This was incredibly transformative for the Public Health Academy and took their planning in a new light.

Avery Balasbas, the English Department Head and 10th and 11th grade English teacher, says, “This gave us a direct line to Dr. Vincent Matthews, his team, and iLab. They reviewed our lesson plans, curriculum, student work and approved that we were striving towards deeper learning.”

As a result, SIF gave the Public Health Academy their funding and support. The team drove their focus towards the big essential question: How can we use cross-curricular collaboration to dismantle habits that condition students to work for the right answer, pass the test, get an A, etc, and instead scaffold reflection & self-assessment to promote growth and a sense of purpose in school?

Balasbas shares, “...We've [the Public Health Academy team] noticed that many students, and even our own academic careers, that students are driven by the letter grade or percentages instead of mastering a skill or content.”

This sparks the goal for how teachers can get students to elaborate on their thinking, learning, and understanding, rather than relying on simply what they see presented in front of them or memorization.

To promote growth, Balasbas has introduced a new teaching model to the team; it includes blended instruction, self-paced work, and a mastery-based way of teaching. For example, students are given opportunities to master material by receiving feedback from teachers, retaking tests, quizzes, and assessments. This style of teaching could potentially result in students developing autonomy, self-regulation, and accountability for their own learning and mastery of a topic.

Currently, the three-year intensive skill-building Public Health Academy focuses on sustaining mental, physical, social, and community health. Additionally, the pathway also introduces a new perspective beyond just the medicinal approach to learning about public health. 

As this academy focuses on interdisciplinary learning, Balasbas takes an example of how students learning about the history of gentrification in Ethnic Studies and redlining and housing discrimination by reading A Raisin in the Sun in English can lead to a better understanding of the outcomes of displacement from gentrification and how that affects the overall public health of a community.

For example, the curriculum teaches students to “look beyond physical illness” by understanding the effects of gentrification on local citizens and how it may lead to a decrease in accessing local hospitals or how housing crises are a systemic issue that affects community health. 

Furthermore, Beatrice Tesorero, the 12th Grade CSU Expository Writing Teacher and SFUSD Secondary Humanities Curriculum & Instruction Teacher on Special Assignment (TSA), says, “During their time in the pathway, students will take elective courses that will ask them to analyze the connections between race and class as determinants of health outcomes in addition to systemic issues throughout institutions to improve the well-being of individuals, interpersonal relationships and support from institutions.”

Balasbas elaborates, “By learning about these systemic inequalities and injustices we can see the links to disease and human health. We can see how organizations are serving or underserving marginalized peoples.”

Like all the other academies at Lincoln, the Public Health Academy offers a cohort learning community, volunteer and internship opportunities, chances to earn college credits and enroll in dual enrollment at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and receive support with resume building and the college application process. 

From numerous meetings to discuss the purpose of the academy to setting the students’ learning outcomes, the process has been going on for four years and counting. Though the team has come a long way, they are continuing to climb up their next steps of recruitment, earning a CTE credential, and designing their curriculum for the better. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Ashley Talbott

With the current global economy and the pandemic, the San Francisco Unified School District is trying to get back to where it used to be financially. The school district is making some budget cuts, for example the cut of one AP prep period and the possible loss of faculty. 

Lincoln High School’s budget is based on the number of students that attend the school. “We used to have close to 2000 students in the last two years, but because of the pandemic, we lost students to moving out of the city/state or some students have decided to stay home”, said ALHS principal Shari Balisi. 

During the fall semester, we were down to 1,918 students. In the spring semester, we gained more students because some decided to return, and our English Language student population increased as well. Lincoln has 1,986 students. These numbers are important because the number of students equates to how much our school gets in funding. Ninety-two percent of our budget goes to funding and teachers salaries. The school administration's priority is to maintain our FTE (full-time) teachers and programs and A-G classes (high school courses required) for graduation. 

One big concern is our Peer Resources program is getting cut; the district is funding all Peer Resources programs across the district except for ours. Peer Resources teacher Morgan Wallace may not get the funding he needs to have a class. Thankfully, Mr. Wallace commented on the 22nd, “that the district has backtracked and is now going to provide funding (a bit less) for Peer Resources at Lincoln next year.” In the last couple of years, an AP teacher would get two AP prep periods to prepare for AP classes, but now they only get one. This means out of six periods in a day, AP teachers used to get two periods to set up for class.  We’re the only school district that offers AP prep time to teachers. AP teachers need the prep time for grading and preparing for class, but each prep period costs the school district approximately $24,000-25,000. 

With a shrinking school budget, the administration had to decide whether we can afford to give the AP teacher this prep time, their final decision was to cut one AP prep period. Parents, faculty, and students are worried that Lincoln will lose AP classes and teachers.

Additionally, Special Ed classrooms need to be smaller in size compared to regular classes in order for the teacher to provide extra support and give each student more attention. Special Ed funding comes from a different budget, it comes from the federal government. 

English Learn classes must also be smaller in size since the students are trying to learn English and need more teacher support. There's a pocket of money that comes from a Spring Prelim budget, but it is fluid, and we don’t know if it will stay a balanced budget. From now through June, there’s money coming in and going out from a typical budget, but we never know if we will need to deduct something or add something else. The principal says what are our priorities, and that students are always at the center of all our decision-making. 

The school district gives us funding for our Wellness Center and Peer Resources as many students rely on these programs especially due to the pandemic. If the school district cuts our budget, the principal will need to take money from Lincoln's budget.  

Balisi is waiting to hear whether we will get funding for Peer Resources; if there is no funding, the principal doesn’t know where she will get the money to fund Peer Resources. The school district also provides funding for security guards and our  Ethnic Studies teachers, Mr. Navarro and Mr. Aquino. 

When looking at the budget, whatever is left over is for supplies and books. The copy machine costs $25,000 plus paper. We’re asking our teachers to do more electronically and reduce paper usage. We used to have a very healthy budget with three parent liaisons. Without a stable budget, the school must pay for teachers, counselors and parent liaisons. The principal must find where she can save money and potentially cut items like supplies and books.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Xara Alexander

In light of the recall of three school board members in March, a process meant to improve the board’s net decision making, and the negative media coverage of the SFUSD school system, students are preoccupied with a negative impression of the board. 

SFUSD has had payroll issues where teachers had money taken out from their retirement funds, unexpected tax effects due to unnegotiated salary changes, subs paid the wrong rate and teachers not getting their paychecks. SFUSD has been in the national news multiple times, and negative media coverage just keeps coming out, from the name changes to Allison Collins tweets to their slow response to pandemic issues. Students and teachers are leaving the district in droves to attend and work at private schools or other districts.

Compared with  teachers at Abraham Lincoln High School (ALHS), many ALHS students appear ignorant of the school board's election and decision-making processes: how the board processes inquiries and requests made by students, faculty and families. In a survey of 42 students at Lincoln conducted April 4th-6th, 2022, 92.9% report a moderate to null understanding of the school board's function and 64.3% report a moderate to null understanding of SFUSD’s decision making process. 

In the same survey, upon asking about the students’ perception of the board, 45% used keywords like “I don't know,” 55% used keywords like “not listening to students/faculty,” and 30% used keywords like “bad, fails, inadequate.”  

There may be a link between media coverage of the board and peoples’ knowledge of its function: it would be more useful if the media coverage was accurate to the average performance of the board. In response to the negative media coverage of the board, Kevine Bogess, a current member of the Board of Education states, “I think ultimately we as a board have to be willing to be held accountable and have our feet held to the fire when people are upset, so I support [harsh media coverage of the board] in practice.”

Bogess continues, “I think they are lifting up real perspectives and real; facts, but in such a way that makes people more interested and agitated than they would normally be if they were just being shared the facts.” 

The board’s job is to answer to the public and make scheduling and budget changes that  benefit the school, teachers, faculty and students. According to the SFUSD website, they must establish educational goals, approve curriculum, budget, purchase of supplies, services, leases, renovation, construction and union contracts. 

The Board of Education is also in the process of searching for a new Superintendent to replace Superintendent Matthews. There's an assumption that members of the board are taking advantage of their position and salary. According to Bogess, “I get a stipend of $500 a month. I get a little bit of money for cell phone use and a parking spot, and that’s all the compensation I get. So I don't get paid for training or meeting with people. All that stuff is just what I chose to do as a part of my duty, even though I’m not mandated.”

According to Bogess, the board actually doesn't have a lot of tangible power. The superintendent is the only person that they directly supervise, and they are only in charge of evaluating them on a regular basis and hiring/terminating them. “If this is like a car service, we are the people in the back seat and [the superintendent and his staff] are the driver of the car. Ultimately they are the ones kind of behind the wheel and guiding it,” states Bogess.

In order to accommodate community values and opinions, board meetings are held in person every second and fourth Tuesday, with the option for the public to observe the meetings virtually, and anyone attending is given the opportunity to speak directly to board members and officials in the meetings.

However, in the same survey, 47.6% of students said they were unsure if students' voices were adequately taken into account, and 50% said they weren’t.

There is a section of the District called the Student Advisory Cabinet, which collects information from students and raises issues with the board. On the SFUSD website, they have put one survey out to students this year about the omicron surge, asking for people’s opinions on going back to online learning and their comfort levels in school during the surge. They published a comprehensive report of a student survey with around 5000 subjects.

Since accurate information about the district and board’s decision making process isn't easily accessible to students, many will naturally be more prone to misjudgements. news of them running smoothly. Students being uninformed and misinformed may be one of the main reasons they feel their voices aren't being considered in decision making.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Tommy Tian

Librarian Gilbert Chan has been working at Lincoln High School for 21 years. He started as a history teacher here in 2001. After six years in this role, Chan returned to school to continue his education while teaching. He went on to earn a Master’s in Library and Information Science and a Teacher Librarian Services Credential at San Jose State University in 2011. Chan became the ALHS librarian in the fall of 2013.

“I wanted to change my career from being a classroom teacher to something similar but different, and becoming the school librarian was that,” said Chan. “It’s similar because I still work with students; I still encourage reading; I still encourage literacy, education and finding good information. It’s all related to academics and education but in a different context.”

Chan describes himself as someone who is trustworthy, cares about others and enjoys reading. He is also a lover of life: he loves animals and nature. Additionally, he loves going to the beach, walking his dog and having quiet time. His most ideal place to be is at home, where he reads. 

“The power of empathy is one of the most important results of getting into reading,” exclaimed Chan. “There’s a term they use called hermeneutics meaning that you become one with the text or the book. That's the point where I’d like students to reach. They can imagine themselves as another person, in another life, in a different world. That’s powerful. That’s the power and beauty of reading. It transports you, and then you become loyal to certain writers and characters, and you want to follow them, hopefully in a series. That’s the beauty of enjoying a series because you feel connected, and there’s a certain literary commitment to the books and the writer.”

The library supports students and staff in their reading endeavors and other daily needs. For example, it offers a safe and serene environment for visitors to study and read, a place to print out assignments and other documents and a place to learn.

“Mr. Chan is very diligent and passionate about maintaining the library for student use,” said Brian Law, a student aide at the library. “While he may come off as overbearing to some, he needs to enforce the rules of the library. He is, however, very open to students coming to the library, allowing all to spend time in the library as long as they have a pass. He takes his job seriously and shows that he truly cares about his position as the school librarian.”

The library also offers assistance to visitors who need technical help, information, or someone to talk to. “One of the soft skills of a librarian is to listen,” said Chan. “I’ve helped students just by listening to them if they needed to talk. I think one of my most cherished experiences is if I could just listen to students and what they need to talk about. It’s way beyond just a book recommendation.”

According to Chan, the library has gone through a massive transformation since he started working there. He has transformed it to add “life, color, air, and light.” The library now has improved book and manga collections. Additionally, the library has revamped its book collection by removing books people rarely use and books that are in poor condition.

“[Student aides] help to weed out old, unused books from the library and catalog new additions to the library,” said Law. “In the process of weeding and cataloging, student aides are also allowed to make judgments about which books are added and removed from the library.”

One book that Chan greatly recommends is “Waiting for the Barbarians” by J.M. Coetzee, a South-African Nobel Prize winner. According to Chan, the book highlights the problems in South Africa in a “simple storytelling narrative” about how a survivor survives apartheid. “You could feel the grime, the grit, the pain, the guts, the blood, the agony, and the fear of the characters; you feel it on a visceral level,” elaborated Chan.

Another book that Chan recommends is “The Soul of an Octopus” by Sy Montgomery. The book focuses on the life and experiences of an octopus. It highlights the intelligence of octopuses, and it’s very sentimental.

“I have stopped eating squid and octopus after I read that book. It was life-changing, and it’s non-fiction,” Chan said. “It is such a good book I could not put it down. It really expands your appreciation for life and intelligence and things of the soul, and in this case, it was in the form of an octopus from birth to death. I was just stunned and amazed and transformed by reading that book.” 

Chan deeply encourages people who dislike reading to give it another shot. He believes that everyone should give themselves a chance for reading, a chance to find something they’re interested in and a chance to be curious. 

“Everything starts with curiosity,” said Chan. “I want to know about this; I want to know about the life of an octopus; I want to know about Native American spirituality through a book, which I did. I read all these myths of Native Americans before I read “Ceremony” [by Leslie Marmon Silko] so I had an appreciation already. If you are curious about something you’ve seen or heard about, find something that you can read about that’s related to that. And then, it will take you to another dimension.”

Published on 04/08/2022

By Daniel Toy

At the age of 17, Lincoln High School senior Joshua Chew wants to take his photography skills to the next level. It all started in eighth grade when he used his iPhone 6 to take pictures, not knowing anything about photography except the basics of framing and lighting. During freshman year, he started to take photography more seriously by watching YouTube videos, learning what creates a good quality photo. He decided to focus on sneaker photography. 

“I love photography so much, just to see the world in a different perspective. It’s special to be able to photograph so many different things and people to admire the detail I can capture. I want to remember the moments and reflect on the good times that I’ve had with people,” Chew says. 

Chew isn’t just a photographer that only goes to Lincoln school events or sports games to take photos. He is trying to perfect his photos by doing more photoshoots and attending events. Then, he will show his work on Instagram for others to see. But at the rate he is working and improving, he is receiving increasingly more direct messages from other people from other schools asking for photoshoots with him. He is currently doing sports photography and portraits of people, but he is open to anything. 

During his photoshoots with people, he looks for the quality of photos rather than the quantity. Chew said, “When I look into my lens, I pay attention mainly to two important things, my composition and detailing. I find this important because it is the main thing that a person pays attention to. I want the best details in my images. Afterward, I look towards the colors to ensure that they are authentic; showing their true color, and it doesn't make it look fake.”

He has put lots of dedication into photography, spending his free time taking photos. This year he attended sports games like volleyball, basketball, and baseball. He also attended events like Spring Fling for Lincoln and has done tons of photoshoots with his friends and other people.

Jonathan Lee, a senior at Lowell High School, has been friends with Chew since middle school. They hang out once in a while to talk about life or do shoots with each other at different sceneries. Lee praises Chew’s work and would describe him as driven.

“It’s unheard of for a high school student to be consistently producing the way that he does, sometimes having three shoots a week, and then three the week following. There’s some other exciting stuff to come that I can’t share, but just know this kid is one of the hardest workers that I know,” Lee says.

Haley Trinh, a senior at Lincoln, has known Chew for around 13 years. Trinh says, “Josh is a very good person. He prioritizes his friends, family, and work over himself which can sometimes be a bad thing, but that’s how much he cares about others. He is also someone who is very friendly and outgoing with everybody. He’s very easy to get along with. He is someone who is very passionate and dedicated to his work.”

Chew has other hobbies on the side like hiking, trying new foods, hanging out with friends, and playing basketball. He plays basketball with his club team, “Associates,” where he has won a championship, contributing 20 points in the championship game.

Chew plans to graduate from Lincoln and attend college to pursue his career in photography. Even though he doesn’t have a school in mind yet, he has applied to NYU, UCSD, UCB, and UCLA. “I do hope to get into a UC like UCLA, UCB, or UCSD to study photography to continue to learn and pursue my goals,” Chew says.

Chew is inspired by some of his favorite photographers, Cameron Look (@koolmac on Instagram) and Jordan Jimenez (@__jsquared). These two people push him to strive for his goals by trying to get shoots with major league athletes and mainstream artists in the future. 

Chew says, “My advice for anyone trying to do something they love is to focus on it with everything they have. Ignore what everyone says and be yourself. Set goals and deadlines for yourself to meet to become a better version of yourself. The most important part about doing something you love is to be yourself.”

Published on 04/08/2022

By Brandon Tse

The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps is a program that motivates students to become better citizens. Active in public and private high schools, military institutions, and correctional centers, it is a seventh period elective PE class that focuses on leadership, confidence, attention to detail, organization, and teamwork. 

“Not only does JROTC teach about leadership, it also teaches about etiquette and manners. It teaches citizenship. It's about building to become better citizens. I think that JROTC exists to get respect and give it back to the community,” Master Sergeant Marieta Lagat Top, one of the army instructors in JROTC, said.

JROTC is a community of cooperative students who always look out for each other like a family. “You just meet really good people in the program, people who are genuinely there for you. I have met people for the first time in my life. Instead of yelling at me or just being disappointed in me, they actually sit down with me and help me improve as a person,” Cadet Command Sergeant Major Zekiah Chu, who oversees all enlisted cadets, said. 

Every cadet in JROTC follows their number one priorities to help each other.  “My number one priority in the program is to make sure everyone feels like they can have a second home in JROTC. I want everyone to feel safe and connected with everyone in the program,” Carla Dagandan, the Battalion Commander, says.

“My number one priority is for cadets to succeed but also to be happy at the same time,” Steven Hum, JROTC alumni, said.

“The cadets, their safety, their curriculum. They might get hurt on the flag team, and you’re there for them. Sometimes I spend more of my time here than at home. I’m supporting my cadets, and it's a lot of work. It's not about money, it's about passing the torch of knowledge,” Top said.

“Good leadership is what JROTC believes in and is what we try to do, and in a way it's similar to family. We stick with each other no matter what, and we don’t give up on each other,” Chu said.

“A big lesson that I’ve learned from JROTC is that you have to take care of one another. At the end of the day, no matter what, the instructors and cadets have your back. Through tough times and all. It's a safe space, honestly. I remember always venting to Col. Ishikata, almost as if he was another friend. He was also a father figure too, inspiring me to be a leader but also a better person as well,” Hum said. 

JROTC is student-led and many of the students conduct their own lessons in class. This means they can teach, form activities, and do field trips for other cadets. 

During birthday celebrations each month, they also hold battalion reviews and host awards to promote cadets and honor those that accomplish milestones in the program. Higher ranking cadets host the monthly celebrations in JROTC and give out cake after the battalion reviews. They also host parties for Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving meals, ice cream socials, and movie nights. 

Some JROTC students believe that the program has some things that can be added or improved on. With free time taking up most of the program, lessons last a short amount of time and some opportunities are lost. 

“Creating more leadership in classrooms,” Chu said. 

“Having more events and opportunities related to real life situations,” Dagandan said. 

“I would say more learning time. We have been having a lot of free time lately, all the lessons would be in a short amount of time and it feels like a burden overall. They need to spread out more lessons,” Ella Binsfeld, a first-year cadet, said. 

While JROTC is militaristic and connects to military recruitment, no one is enlisted when joining the program. According to Hum, most people in the United States Army do not participate in JROTC. Additionally, the program does not completely focus on teaching about the military. However, JROTC students learn about the 24-hour clock, wear military-style uniforms, and have army instructors.

Due to the presumption that JROTC is completely military-related, it becomes a stigma that makes other people think that the program is military-focused and that the military is scary and war-affiliated. 

“Cause we do military things, of course people are going to think that JROTC is a path to military recruitment, but we only take aspects of the military that can help discipline and train young people to gain leadership experience into the real life world. Almost no one actually joins the military in JROTC. Of course they’d learn about the benefits of the army and stuff better than most people, but our goal is to help them in life, not join the army,” Chu said. 

“Due to the stigma of the military being scary and involved with war, people assume and stray away from the program,” Carla said.

“JROTC is not about recruiting, it is about leadership. We don’t use anything that’s for war, we teach life lessons. Self-assessment, teamwork, communication, etc. People should expect to learn life lessons,” Hum said.

JROTC participates in competitions that focus on teamwork, drilling, and leadership. Along with yearly parades and volunteering events (featuring Veterans, Unity, Chinese New Year, etc); the program also does service learning projects, such as beach clean-up, planting trees, and canned-food drives. They also participate in activities like the Brigade Ball, an event similar to prom, and the JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge, which consists of getting to know others in the brigade and a lot of team exercising. 

Overall, the JROTC program offers students the chance to learn how to improve as a person. The program exists to bring respect and spread it out in the community. In JROTC, citizenship and leadership matters, and maybe in a few decades, students will end up running the country. Students continue to join the program to learn how to be a better citizen for their future endeavors. 

“I joined because I wanted to be part of a community at Lincoln, and the people in JROTC seemed really nice. That and the uniforms looked fun to wear,” Sam Foster, one of the second-year cadets, said. 

“Well for one, I didn't want to take physical education. Two, I was aware that it taught important skills, i.e. writing a check and stuff,” Veronica Pederson, a previous second-year cadet, said.

“I joined because of the drum corps,” Binsfeld said.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Riley Brown

“My friends all think it’s hugely humorous that I’m a dean,” says Joel Balzer. He has been one of the deans at Lincoln High School for 24 years.  

Balzer never thought that he would be a dean or any form of authority. As a high schooler himself, he had issues with authority and says that many high school teachers did as well. 

“A lot of people are taught without even thinking about it, that authority is something you can’t trust, and in psychology, that’s called black and white thinking,” Balzer says. “Even if somebody does not consciously think that, that's actually a category for most people.”

Although as a dean his job requires him to enforce some form of order and rules, he says, “I don't believe that rules bring life, in fact, rules do not bring life. Rules bring death.”

“My job is to maintain order, and so rules are kind of like a framework for that,” Balzer adds.

Balzer had previously been an academic counselor at Washington High School and was an academic counselor at Balboa High School when he was recruited to work at Lincoln as a dean in the fall of ‘98 by the principal at the time, Ronald Pang. 

Throughout his career working in SFUSD, he has done a lot of work with youth. When Pang asked him to work at Lincoln, he was recommended for the job because he was good at talking to and liked hanging out with kids who didn’t do so well in school. 

“A lot of what I do as a dean came from a couple of years I spent working at San Quentin,” Balzer says.

Balzer held an internship at the Marin prison in order to help inmates make a shift to being employable when they got out.

“I had all these clients who’d been locked up for half their life...a year away from being released…I remember thinking over and over, ‘Aw man, if we had this guy when he was 16, then we would have a chance.’” 

After this, it wasn't necessarily his intention to work in a school with people when they were young enough to make that change, but when the offer arose it was a opportunity to do so. 

Balzer puts a huge emphasis on the importance of relationships. “Relationships are unbelievably rewarding, even if they start in a negative place,” he says. 

Even if he is meeting with a student for negative reasons, he has a window of opportunity to build a relationship with them.

Balzer adds, “Most people don’t have a category for having a relationship with authority… I try to give students a category for having a relationship with an authority figure.” 

“I try to understand what they're going through and honor what they're going through, while also pointing them in the direction of walking across the stage,” he says. 

Balzer says, “On a good day, I’m able to be present when somebody learns more about themselves.” Being able to form relationships with students is one of the best parts of his job. To be able to do so, students must let their guard down and allow him to understand what is going on so he can truly help them. 

On the flip side, he says, “On a bad day, I can’t get past the antipathy.” 

Balzer says, “I have to work really hard with [students] for my relationship with them to not be confrontational…naturally people get angry.”

“

I think it must be absolutely exhausting to be the frontline of kids messing up, and he’s the person who’s working with them, ” says Sara Falls, an English teacher at Lincoln. “That's part of why he does that, roams the halls and comes in to talk and whatnot, because if your job is working with people in their worst moments all the time…what a hard, utterly exhausting job.”

“He doesn't just interact with the students when they're in trouble… He’s building relationships all the time. So then when a student is in trouble, he already knows them…He’s building a sense of presence and accountability just by being here,” says Falls.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Marley Steiger 

Adrienne Smith is not just an assistant principal here at Lincoln, she is the backbone of the entire school community. She brings light to everything she does here. From her office room which is filled wall to wall with motivational posters to the way, she stops to check in on students and staff in the hallways during each six-minute passing period. Smith spends her free time snowboarding, reading, biking, weightlifting, and hiking in the beautiful California redwood forest. 

Smith said, “I grew up in San Diego, California…I came here in August of 1992 and attended San Francisco State and became a teacher.”

Smith describes her first teaching job, “I taught kindergarten at Glen park for six years. I loved that job; it was the best job; I still think about it. It’s so rewarding because you can see the students’ growth in such a very short time. I really pushed my students. My students were writing simple sentences before they moved to first grade. And it was a really good time for me and for them.”

Smith shares an important part of her life outside of Lincoln, “I am chair of Mount Sutro Stuarts Advisory Board. We are creating space, time, and teachings for people of color to get outside more. We have a partnership with UCSF, where UCSF medicals prescribe walking, bird watching, looking at trees and flowers, and planting. They have done studies that these outdoor activities can help with mild depression, anxiety, and some levels of high blood pressure and other low-level health issues, rather than prescribing a pill. That is the work we are doing, prescribing outdoor healthy things as opposed to a synthetic pill.” 

Smith said, “I never imagined becoming an assistant principal. I even said I wouldn’t become an administrator.” 

Smith continues, “I became a counselor, and I was at Everett middle school for four years. I was appointed dean by the principal, and I did three years of that. And then I moved on to Lowell as a counselor for five years.”

Smith recalls making the transition to the Mustang community, “The summer of 2016, I came to Lincoln to be a counselor. Ms. Balisi was here…and her eyes were large staring at me. I thought I did something wrong, and she said ‘I want you here, I want you here!’ And I said, ‘What do you mean you want me here?’ Balisi said, ‘I want you here at Lincoln!’ And Ms. Balisi said, ‘not as a counselor, but as an assistant principal!’” 

Smith said, “I became emotional…that's when I went back to school, and I earned a master’s degree in educational leadership. That’s what got me here at Lincoln.” 

Lincoln’s lead principal Sharimar Balisi has known Smith for the past six years, “Her communication style with the students is being able to create that warm feeling.” 

Assistant principal Jordan Loey elaborates, “She’s able to foster such a warm welcoming community and aura. A lot of students see her as a responsible, trusted adult, and they always check in with her. It is very homey and very warm.” 

Smith says, “The most rewarding aspect of my job is supporting people. I like to listen; I like to be the sounding board; I like to give fertile opinions and guidance. I like to point people in their own direction, although they are already going in that direction, they don't believe they are going in that direction. I like to affirm that they are going in the right direction.” 

Smith voices her skills, “It’s a big part of my professional and personal identity, the work I do here at this school is the same work I do in my personal life. At first, I said ‘What's wrong with me?’ Everybody comes to me with their mishaps or dilemmas. That was when I was younger and immature to not see the gift that I have. And it certainly is a gift, I have learned to recognize that gift. I've come to love it, and that is rewarding; I love edifying people.” 

Smith said, “We have a large batch of very strong, educated, intelligent teachers. I'll go into the classrooms and observe some of the teachings, and I find myself slipping into that student that I once was, being drawn to a teacher's delivery of instruction. It's just so wonderful to see the dedication, passion, and knowledge.”

Mr. Loey shares the positive impact Smith has on the Lincoln community, “I have known her for six years, I first met her during summer school when she was the counselor…In my new role, I’m able to go into her office or go on a walk with her. And talk as a thought partner. I’m able to really heavily rely on her previous experience as a counselor, dean, and as assistant principal.” 

It’s clear that Ms. Smith’s optimistic attitude and love for the students keep the school community moving forward. Even though Smith never wanted to be in administration, everyone around her can genuinely say she is the best fit for the job. Because of her work, students have a safe space inside a big school; they are able to have the nostalgic feeling of home and comfort, which is something that is tremendously crucial and hard to find. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Joshua Chew

AP exams begin May 2 and run for about three weeks until May 20. Course exams include Biology, English Literature and Composition, Statistics, U.S. Government and Politics. With all the stress and anxiety that arises, Lincoln High School AP teachers offer tips to help prepare for the test and relieve stress. 

A common strategy AP teachers recommend is to take practice exams. AP Biology teacher, KC Jones, explains, “Take lots of practice tests. The AP exam is written in such a tricky way, where it is hard to get questions correct. Taking lots of practice tests so you get used to how the test is written.”

Ms. Gerek, AP Statistics teacher, further emphasizes, “Practice classifying statistics problems. Determine what questions on the AP Stats exam are actually asking you to do.” 

MyAP provides multiple resources for students to access. From watching videos and doing practice problems, the College Board has provided an easy accessible method for students to prepare for the upcoming exams.  

With the AP English Literature and Composition Exam, Ms. Falls encourages students to read as the test has less to do with studying. “Students should be readers across genres for fun. Reading and writing can show you so much about the world and yourself. This prepares students for the sheer stamina of reading and writing on the exam. ” 

AP U.S. Government and Politics teacher, Ms. Sulem, highlights the importance of being organized. “Students need to realize that the class will be challenging and demanding and they might be very bright, but time management is crucial to succeed. If students study a little bit every day, by the end of the academic year they will be ready without the need to memorize anything or kill themselves a week before the test. create a plan of study/homework/assignments from the very beginning of the semester.”

Collectively, these AP teachers stress the importance of getting enough rest before the test, to eat breakfast, and to know when the exam is. Most importantly, breathe!

During the AP exam, Gerek also advises to “read the questions carefully and answer them in context, use appropriate notation and don’t leave anything blank.” This will help students to not leave any easy points that may be lost when they are scored. 

Gerek emphasizes, “Be confident! You have worked hard all year. You have spent time and energy reviewing for the exam. You are ready! Bring this confidence into the AP Exam with you.”

Published on 04/08/2022

By Nicole Chao and Adalia Wani

During a teenage boy’s adolescence, they are taught to adhere to traditional and cultural masculine norms. These taught behaviors can lead to boys avoiding vulnerability from a young age. Toxic masculinity is the extreme cultural pressures men face to act in certain ways, like hiding their emotions. These pressures highlight three factors: toughness, anti-femininity, and power. Anti-femininity is the resistance to show traits that are deemed  “too feminine” and often associated with women. These attributes include being emotional, submissive, and not behaving aggressively.

Boys are often told to “man up” and not show their vulnerable side. This can be extremely unhealthy and harmful on anyone’s brain, to be bottling up emotions and holding in pain. This is why most people cry when they feel strong emotions. Crying is a form of expression and a way of releasing thoughts of grief, love, or passion. 

Seniors Joshua Henriquez, who identifies as a cis-male, and Andy Malelang who identifies as non-binary, open up on their feelings on how vulnerable they are in front of others and how often they cry. 

“To other people around me, I’m relatively comfortable [crying]. If it’s in public, and I just start bursting out in tears on a bus, I’m sure no one wants to see that,” remarks Henriquez.

Malelang explains, “I would say that I’m not very vulnerable in terms of crying and being sad and all that. I would say that’s my own thing. That’s how I grew up. I don’t like showing my emotions a lot. With my close friends, I’m more comfortable, but still not as vulnerable as I’d like to be.” 

Henriquez continues, describing his experience as a boy having to conform to masculine traits. “At times, you would just have to push through no matter how you’re feeling. No matter what the fuck happens,  you just got to push through. It’s not really a thing that’s dictated as a male, but as a human.”

In an anonymous survey given to male students attending Lincoln High School, one student mentioned, “I grew up as a very emotional boy, crying very easily, but my parents didn’t acknowledge my emotions, saying things like ‘boys don’t cry.’  I felt like I didn’t matter or my emotions weren’t necessary. Now I’m pretty stone-faced.” 

At least 13 percent of students who took the survey said they’re uncomfortable displaying their emotions, and sixty-four percent responded that they’re sometimes comfortable. Only about forty-two percent of male students had cried in the past year. The majority stated that they don’t cry or don’t remember the last time they did. According to the American Psychological Association, females on average cry three to five times a month, while males only cry one to three times a month. The disparities are huge. Men aren’t as comfortable crying compared to women. 

But often, no matter what gender they identify as, people can get embarrassed publicly displaying their emotions in the form of crying, but for males, it can be especially difficult because of society shaping the characteristics of what it is to be a man.

The toxic trait of males hiding their emotions can lead to the closure of sharing their trauma. Research shows that one in six men have been assaulted before. Often men who have been assaulted feel shame or self-doubt when confronting their trauma. They convince themselves that they should have been tough enough to fight off the perpetrator. Sexual assault is seen as a predominant crime only against women in society.

A few students at Lincoln that identify as male mentioned in the anonymous survey that they have experienced forms of sexual harassment. One student wrote that he had been taken advantage of by a female student, while another wrote that he had been groped before. 

Lincoln High School math teacher, Alexander Wong shares his input on the sexual assault of men and boys. “I think because it happens less often compared to women, that’s why it isn’t taken seriously as much or talked about as much. But child abuse is a different category to begin with and should be talked about more.” 

Sexual assault is already a sensitive topic to begin with and is much harder for male victims to speak about. Many don’t believe that men can be sexually harassed or raped because of our societal impression of men. When women are the predators, it’s much harder to combat it.

A student in the anonymous survey stated, “Men are seen as stronger than women. If the woman is the rapist people will say, ‘why didn’t he just push her off?’ Men are characterized as sex-hungry like we always want sex, and that we can’t keep in our pants. If we don’t want sex, then there’s something wrong with us.” 

Wong also shares his input into why he believes men sexually assault/harass others. “Insecurity; I think anytime bullying occurs, there’s a lot to unpack as far as that individual person goes. But I think oftentimes it’s a cry for help. The person needs help, they need something, and I don’t know what that is.” Wong believes when boys and men sexually assault or harass others, it’s often because the perpetrator is dealing with some sort of trauma. 

Additionally, there can be many other factors as to why boys and men take the action of sexually assaulting each other. While browsing through any porn website, a person is likely to run into some videos that degradingly portray women. Women are treated like sex toys often for the pleasure of men. Young men might perceive that women get sexually aroused while being choked, beaten, and so on. The fault is mostly directed to the media. Television shows, movies, anime, video games, etc. often portray women as hypersexualized individuals. Female portrayal in our media is often targeted towards the male gaze or fan services, such as with anime and video games where underage characters are often drawn to be over-sexualized. 

We as a society have often considered the topic of sex as taboo and have enforced the standard of toxic masculinity as the norm. This leads to many young men, some with insecurities, some with internalized trauma, some sexually frustrated, and some just twisted-minded individuals, unable to share their experience due to toxic masculinity. This results in men taking the additional step of violating and sexually assulating someone.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Zayar Myint

Many people have brushed over the idea of a music class, especially at Lincoln High School. What many people don’t know is that music can be counted as VAPA (Visual and Performing Art), and that it fulfills a requirement to graduate high school, all while learning more about music and enjoying playing an instrument; especially here at Lincoln High School, where there is a music program to help students learn about music and fulfill this requirement.

The music classroom, located near the North Gym, is taught by Sean Gresens. He also  teaches AP Music theory, a college level course where students study and analyze music concepts, such as rhythm and pitch. 

When Gresens started his career in high school, he realized music was something he really enjoyed and wanted to continue. Pursuing his dream, he attended the University of San Francisco where he studied music and worked as the assistant director of the contemporary choir. After graduation, he worked in a music store and later taught choir at AP Giannini Middle School. He then received his teaching credentials and has taught at Lincoln ever since.

The main programs that are primarily taught at Lincoln are guitar and piano, which do not require students to pay for instruments or materials. In a room littered with instruments, it also houses a third class taught by Gresens, AP Music Theory.

AP Music theory is a class about the rules of music and how to write music through mainly the piano. 

“The piano is visually very accessible,” Gresens points out. “On a piano, you have 88  keys and each key makes a different sound, so it’s very convenient for teaching music theory, it’s much more tangible.”

The class goes over different styles of music, primarily with 18th-century music as its frame to build off of. The class is taught in order to prepare students for the AP test, checking students on their ability to write a good melody. 

“What’s cool about this class is that after the test, you have a little more free rein,” Gresens explains. “We’ve learned the rules and now we’re going to learn how to break them as we figure out what our own styles of music are.” 

Relatable to many teachers, Gresens had a rough time with the impact of COVID. When asked how the pandemic had affected his clases, Gresens voiced, “It was rough. Not being able to see students' faces was tricky, especially with music, and I would imagine other more physical things like PE.” 

“You really have to be there in the room to be an effective teacher, so last year was about survival and doing as much as I can to support my students learning guitar remotely,” stated Gresens. Being able to listen and correct students about their music is crucial, and that is something that distance learning made nearly impossible. 

Along with fulfilling the VAPA requirement to graduate highschool, learning about  music also fulfills  A-G requirements. The F requirement, being the visual and performing arts requirement, can be used to apply to the popular schools in the state, being the University of California schools. 

A current AP Music Theory student, Liam Baker, states that along with learning about music, music has helped him grow as a person. 

“I’ve played the piano for as long as I can remember, and I think that it really helped me become who I am today,” says Baker. “I think that learning music would help people learn and understand more abstract topics more easily.”

When asked if they considered music as an option to fulfill their VAPA requirement, Elly Fan stated, “I never had the talent for this, I guess. I was always more into drawing and art and I think a lot of people can agree with me because it is a lot easier to pick up than music.” 

“It’s not my strong suit because all my life I focused on things that were unrelated to music,” says David Kim, a student who has never heard of Lincoln’s music program and was interested in the idea of music. “I’m tryna to learn how to play different instruments so I can use it to play in the future.” states Kim. “There's more applications for music than other VAPAs. If I had the option to go back and choose music as my VAPA, I would, because I feel like it will help me longer in the long run than ceramics.” 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Mariah Jones

The Graffiti club was started 13 years ago by Alex Douhovnikoff. The program was inspired by a student named Orien Moganum. Moganum got in trouble for tagging inside of Abraham Lincoln High school. The club takes place in room 177 every Wednesday and Thursday after school. The meaning of graffiti is to be defined as letters and illegal and street art could be anything and given permission. 

The club began with giving taggers and students a chance and a place to tag legally and relieve their stress and problems. 

Douhovnikoff has been doing graffiti since he was a teenager in highschool. Alex taught himself to tag areas in San Francisco. 

Douhovnikoff says “Graffiti is a therapeutic for him and his students to forget about there negative problems and situations”. 

In December 2013 a reporter Jill Tucker interviewed former principal Mr. Payne about being the Best principal of the year. Tucker complimented the graffiti from the window. 

Tucker said “it was rare to see graffiti programs in school”.  Jill planned a date to Interview the students and Alex Douhovnikoff. The graffiti club made the front page of the “Chronicle” newspaper and currently on the “SFGATE” website. 

Douhovnikoff enjoys teaching students the art of graffiti, he says, “Passing the torch, it's a craft and not just anyone can pick it up and do it”. 

The program betters the community because of the ”beautiful works of art” says Alex Douhovnikoff. It is a positive and safe place for students to express their emotions or a creative side of themselves by doodling/ drawing on the walls in 177. 

The four students, Mikayla, Zae, Manuel, and many other students are currently apart of the club. The club is currently working on a project called “Unified Students”near the theater behind the auditorium. Principal Belise suggested the title for the graffiti club.

Mace also known as Alex Douhovnikoff says “To the taggers who haven’t joined the graffiti club come check us out”.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Callie Janza

The Lincoln boys varsity basketball team had a successful season this year. They won the city championship, had a remarkable run for the CIF division three state title before losing in the regional semifinals, and finished with an overall record of 22-4. 

The team was led by team captains Jordan Aquino, Daniel Toy, and Andre Irving and consisted of quality players all around.

Lincoln had an incredible non-league record beating some very tough teams and went undefeated in league play. They topped it all off by beating Lowell, 49-45, at Kezar Stadium to win the city championship. 

“Winning this year was a big deal for us,” said senior Jordan Aquino, “especially after losing the past two and missing a year because of the pandemic.”

“Our commitment and hard work definitely contributed to our success this season. We had two-three hour practices every day, and everyone was always focused,” said senior Daniel Toy.

In addition to practices, a strength and conditioning program was instituted this year to help the players improve their game and their bodies.

“Strength and conditioning makes a big difference. Not only is it making the kids better, but it is also changing their lives,” said Head Coach Carl Jacobs. 

Lincoln was heavily underrated this season and many teams across the Bay Area didn’t expect them to be as good as they were. 

“Lots of people thought we weren’t going to have a successful season, but we used that as fuel to motivate us,” said Tyreque Elleston. 

The team was presented with lots of obstacles over the course of the season and faced tough challenges throughout the year. The biggest challenge was the pandemic which heavily affected the team.

“We had to overcome SFUSD canceling some of our games at the beginning of the season due to COVID-19,” explained Tyreque Elleston, “but we never let that mess up our focus or get in the way of our work.”

The team consisted of multiple seniors this year and many of the players have been playing together for years now.

“We learned a lot. It sucks how we didn’t bring home a state title this year but it was one great season,” said Daniel Toy. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Hanson Pan

The Lincoln Boys Varsity basketball team beats Lowell and wins the city championship. Jordan Aquino and his brothers, Justin and Jeremyah, have led Lincoln’s basketball team into states with hopes of winning it all. 

“What makes me a good leader is that I am always the oldest of three younger brothers, so I always had to set the right example,”  Jordan said. “Be a leader so they can follow the right footsteps, so it was just meant for me being a good leader.” Jordan takes experience from his personal life and transfers it to basketball. He was already a great leader by having brothers and being very experienced. He would now lead the Lincoln team.

Jordan praised his teammates after winning the city championship. “It felt good finally getting a championship my last year,” said Jordan. “We had a great group this year, and we fought together.” After coming up short during his freshman year and missing a year due to COVID, Jordan would lead Lincoln to beat Lowell in the Championship game.

Being a great leader does not always mean that he has to score all the points. “I think my defense and my IQ for the game are some of my best qualities,” said Jordan. “I feel like that’s very important to the game.” Leaders don’t always have to score the most or make the flashiest plays, but make the correct plays and impact the team in other ways.

“Our relationship is like a love-hate relationship.” Justin said. 

“We can argue and bicker, but we're pretty close. We always end up talking about things in our interest, and we tell each other everything.” Justin loves his humor. They have a similar sense of humor and often crack jokes. 

Justin also gives continuous praise to his brother for being a good leader. “He’s a good leader.” said Justin. “He works hard and that energy feeds off towards the team.” By getting his teammates involved and hyping them up, Jordan pushes them to do their best for the team to succeed. 

Jordan can’t get his mind off basketball. “I watch a lot of films on players I wanna mock, '' said Jordan. Jordan improves by watching other great players play, but that’s not all as he often goes shopping for clothes during his freetime.

Not being tall doesn’t always mean that you can’t make basketball your career. “I plan on being a professional basketball player,” said Jordan. “Actually being someone that is not so tall but can make a difference with small guards.” 

Although height is important, Jordan would need to be extremely good if he wants to play basketball professionally as a small guard.  

After missing a year due to the pandemic and coming up short during his freshman year, Jordan with his hard work and leadership would bring a championship to Lincoln along with his brothers and great teammates. With good chemistry and understanding one another, Lincoln succeeded in their goal of winning. Jordan has proven to be a good leader and led Lincoln far into states. Although the outcome was not what they had hoped for, it was yet an unforgettable season with much to be proud of.

“Keep working. You never know when it will be your last game, you never know when that ball will stop bouncing for you, so play every play like it's your last!”

Published on 04/08/2022

By Isabel Goins-Riley

After coming out of the pandemic, the Abraham Lincoln High School Mustangs played a competitive season landing themselves a spot in semifinals. Action-packed playoff games resulted in the team’s fourth place standing in the CIF Division One soccer league. 

The Lincoln girls soccer team is coached by Kenyatta Scott and David McPherson, referred to as “Mac” by players. The captains of the 2021-22 season were Shoka Omi and Kylie Devivo. 

Lincoln’s first win was against Galileo High School with a score of 3-0, earning them three points. The CIF standings are based on points; three points for a win, one point for a tie, and zero for a loss. The team earned four more points in the season. One from a tie against ICA and three from defeating Leadership High School.

With a total of seven points after the first round, Lincoln was in the fourth rank and had qualified for playoffs.

Lincoln’s first playoff game was against Leadership. After the whole 90 minutes of regular playtime the score was still 0-0, and the match was forced to go into overtime. Overtime consists of two ten minute halves. Whichever team is in the lead by the end of the halves is victorious. Double overtime is two five minute halves where any shot made instantly wins the match. 

By the end of double overtime neither team had scored a single point. 

After overtime, games are turned over to penalty kicks. Penalty kicks are executed by players from each team taking a shot at the goal with the opposing team's goalkeeper guarding it. Once a shot is deflected or missed the other team has a chance at redemption. 

By this time the sun had gone down, and it started raining and hailing. Lincoln had made three out of four shots and Leadership had made two out of four shots. The next shot by the Mustangs would decide whether they won the game or continued kicking. 

Freshman Laila Blu Chietti stepped up, made a shot into the top left corner of the goal, and scored the winning point for Lincoln. Coaches and players, along with family and friends, flooded the field to celebrate.

The semi-final game was scheduled for two days later against Lowell High School who had defeated Burton High School. The first half of the match went back and forth without any goals, similar to the Leadership game, but just before halftime Lowell scored. In the second half Lowell scored two more points. With a final score of 0-3, the Lowell Cardinals moved on to the championships and the Lincoln Mustangs’ season was officially over. 

Before playoffs, the team held senior night. “Senior night” is a celebration across many sports that takes place after the last home game of the season. This game is special to graduating seniors as it’s the last one they’ll ever play on their home field. 

The celebration is usually planned by underclassmen and can include posters, decorations, flowers, and speeches commemorating the seniors' time on the team. Lincoln managers and players handed out red roses and made posters, gift bags, and cards for each of the eight seniors. 

Senior captain Shoka Omi has been on the team for all four of her high school years. “On senior night the rest of the seniors and I walked down to the field and were surprised with balloons and posters. They also decorated the stairs and the bleachers which was really sweet,” she says, “We ended senior night with speeches from the coaches and seniors, but also from the underclassmen which was really nice of them.”

Senior midfielder Ashley Saripin has been on the team for three years. She says one of her favorite memories from the season was senior night. “...I was able to really express my gratitude towards the team and tell our underclassmen how proud and privileged I was to witness how far they’ve come,” she says.

Moving forward, many players say they are excited for the next season. Chietti says, “I’m excited for the team to be closer next year. I feel like we have a good opportunity for that.” 

Goalkeeper Clementine Costanza looks forward to next season as well. “Since it will be my last season, I look forward to working hard and maybe having a team strong enough to make it to finals,” she says.

Starting a season with COVID still present was a challenge for the team. Players and coaches would miss training and matches because they had gotten sick or were protecting family members at home. This caused games to get postponed often and made training tricky, especially when the surge occurred after winter break.

Usually the soccer season consists of two rounds, so each team plays all the schools in their division twice. This year, due to COVID, it was decided that only the first round would be considered for playoffs. It was also decided that the top six teams would make the playoffs instead of the top four. 

Costanza mentions, “It (this decision) cut half of it (the season) short which, I guess, helped us since we were able to get more practice in but it also extended playoffs to six teams instead of four which was riskier.” The more teams qualifying for playoffs the tougher the competition is. 

Players and coaches agree that the freshmen show great promise for the team in the following years. The freshman made up a large portion of the team; out of 21 players, nine were freshmen. 

Senior Itzia Carr has managed the team for two years and played for two years. Carr says having a lot of underclassmen “leaves us a lot of room to grow and advance in coming seasons.”

Junior captain Kylie Devivo has been on the team since her freshman year and plays center mid. Devivo says the season went well, “I think the season went pretty good because we had a lot of new and strong freshmen that contributed to a lot of wins.”

Saripin says the freshmen had a large impact on the team this year. “It was very fulfilling to see them grow throughout the season and feel like the team is in good hands for the next few years.”

Carr leaves some advice for players in the coming years. “You don’t have to be the best friends in the world, but just knowing that you have each other’s backs on the field translates to off the field as well.” She adds, “Growing and building those relationships [between teammates] is probably the most important part of playing on the field.”

Scott thanks the veteran players for creating a space for the team to thrive. “The leadership from our upperclassmen [was great] because they did make the freshmen feel welcome. With everything that was going on they were able to come together and demonstrate that leadership,” he says, “...we’re always looking to do better but our first thing is to make sure they have a family first.”

Published on 04/08/2022

By Carina Lee

“Uncharted” is the latest action movie topping charts across the country. Directed by Ruben Fleisher (“Zombieland,” “Venom”), the movie follows Nathan Drake, played by Tom Holland, and Victor “Sully” Sullivan, played by Mark Wahlberg, on their adventure to find the lost gold of Spanish explorers. 

“Uncharted” is a movie adaptation of the successful video game of the same name. 

Action sequences and big names in the cast do the heavy lifting for “Uncharted.” The dominant advertising point was Tom Holland, as “Uncharted” was released on the heels of the chart-topping “Spiderman: No Way Home,” Holland’s third movie in the Spiderman franchise. Unfortunately, “Uncharted” is probably the worst film of Holland’s career. 

The storyline is driven by convenient coincidences rather than the ability of the characters. Sully is introduced as a seasoned treasure-hunter and Drake is presented as a history buff who’s quick on his feet. Yet, most of the clues are found by chance.

  The characters seem two-dimensional as they quickly change their mind without much internal conflict or outside pressure. Nathan Drake initially refuses to join Sully’s search for gold, but then suddenly does a 180. The movie doesn’t offer any motivation for his change of heart. 

Additionally, the biggest conflict for Nathan Drake is allowed only a few minutes of screen time, where the camera pushes in on a teary-eyed Holland before it’s forgotten and never mentioned again.

The dialogue feels like a set-up for more action, but the poor writing and reasoning does not build a foundation for a satisfying payoff. Though the sequences are well-choreographed and well-filmed, the many scenes where the characters are in life-threatening situations fail to evoke any sense of anxiety or danger. Sully and Drake fight faceless, nameless henchmen who can’t land a single punch. From the moment Sully and Drake are introduced, I don’t doubt that they will find the treasure and emerge with little more than a scratch.

“Uncharted” suffers the most from the lack of attention to detail. Small inconsistencies and continuity issues become more and more noticeable as the movie progresses. This is particularly offensive for a treasure-hunting movie, where the characters are supposed to find clues in the details. It performs poorly when compared to movies like “Knives Out” (2019) where subtle easter eggs hidden in the background details add to the movie. 

I assume the majority of the $120 million budget was allotted to the climax of the movie because some smaller, shorter scenes suffered. In one scene with two characters having a conversation in mid-air, the green screen is plainly obvious and the lighting unrealistic.

In terms of being an easy-to-digest, action-packed throwaway film, “Uncharted” is successful. The end of “Uncharted” sets up for a second movie. Based on the success of the video game and the movie so far, I think we can expect to see a sequel in the coming years.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Snow Jiang

Netflix is back and better with its newest Korean action horror series, "All of Us Are Dead." Filled with thrilling scenes mixed with an abundance of comic relief, "All of Us Are Dead" is the perfect show for you. 

Released on January 28, 2022, the zombie apocalyptic series spotlights South Korea's up-and-coming young actors including Yoon Chan-young and notably “Squid Game” actress Lee Yoo-mi. 

Based on the popular webtoon, “Not at Our School,” “All of Us Are Dead” depicts a dystopian story set in Hyosan High School. The series opens with a dark, rainy scene of Lee Jin-soo (Lee Min-goo) getting beat up by a large group of bullies, when suddenly, the bullied victim starts twitching and acting abnormally. Later, viewers find out that the symptoms of twitching and abnormal movements are the effects of Hyosan High School’s science teacher’s (Kim Byung-chul) virus experiment gone wrong. When the rot-inducing, frenzy-causing virus begins to spread throughout the school after a student is accidentally exposed to a testing rat, students are left isolated and forced to do whatever it takes to protect themselves and their friends from the flesh-eating monsters breaking down their classroom doors. 

Friendships and morals are tested, limbs are lost and the virus rapidly spreads, all in the refreshing context of a school through the eyes of the teenage students.

The show does an excellent job in reflecting teenage decision making and maturity through heart wrenching scenes. The topic of sacrifice perfectly intertwines with teenage minds, facing the cruelty of what it means to live and how important decisions reflect on a person’s future. 

The plot follows several groups of students who survive the initial virus outbreak during a lunch period.

Survivors of Class 2-5 work together to survive the growing zombie apocalypse surrounding them on all sides. Another group of students find themselves trapped in the bathroom; Using Jung Ha-ri (Lee Seung-ri) and Yoo Jun-sung's (Yang Han-Yeol) archery equipment, the group fight the zombies off with bows and arrows.

As time passes with no food or water and communication cut-off by the government, the groups of students must use equipment, like desks and PE equipment, around the school to protect themselves in the midst of a battleground or they will become part of the infected.

This zombie thriller covers a multitude of conflicts and topics like mental health, politics, bullying, social hierarchy, and the importance of love and friendship. 

One important lesson in the show that captivated me is the overreliance on adults results in negative outcomes. Throughout the first few episodes, students are heard saying, “Let’s just wait until the police come,” “I’m sure the government will do something about this,” and “There’s no way the police will forget us.” Except the adults do. The adults are not only of no help to the students escaping from the school, they come back to the infected city to find ways to wipe out the growing zombie population, instead of saving the students.

One aspect in “All of Us Are Dead” that makes the series stand out from the other zombie apocalyptic movies and shows is the attention to detail and new light it shines on the perspective of teenagers. 

As the show progresses, the group of students slowly start to learn and understand what it means to stay alive after seeing several of their loved ones turn into zombies. Through their adversity and perseverance, the students build lifelong friendships, bonds and trust.

Additionally, lighthearted moments of comic relief scattered throughout episodes not only help ease the tension of a zombie apocalypse but also make the tragic moments hit all the harder. My favorite scene is when the group of students find an expired chocolate bar in the midst of the apocalypse in the gym equipment room. The students gather around and take turns taking microscopic bites. As the chocolate bar nearly reaches the last person, Yang Dae-su (Im Jae-hyuk) eats the rest of the chocolate without realizing that Oh Joon-young (Ahn Seung-Gyun) never took his share of the bar. The pair hilariously cause a dispute among themselves over a simple chocolate bar all while there’s hundreds of thousands zombies just outside the gym equipment room. 

Overall, “All of Us Are Dead” doesn't pretend to be intellectual or sophisticated. It is straight up what a good classic zombie drama should be— packed with heart-thumping action, characters that one can relate to, and the right balance of emotional & heartbreaking moments with comic relief. 

Despite having a cast full of young and fresh faces in the Korean entertainment industry, every actor delivers their roles remarkably with their emotions and facial expressions as they make their way through the endless waves of zombie attacks.

Gory yet heartfelt, “All of Us Are Dead” will become your newest obsession. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Nicole Chao

Unlike any teen drama you’ve ever seen before, “Euphoria” is raw and close to reality. On January 9, 2022, the highly anticipated HBO Max series, “Euphoria” came back with a new and exciting season of suspense and drama after a two year hiatus. Fans of the show waited eagerly for a new season after the season one finale where Rue Bennett (Zendaya) relapses from her drug addiction after her girlfriend, Jules (Hunter Schafer), leaves East-Highland. 

Created and written by Sam Levinson, the melodramatic series was brilliantly written to captivate teen viewers. Levinson started directing the series in 2019 when the first season was released. He continued to produce many other famous works such as the Netflix movie “Malcolm & Marie,” “Assassination Nation,” and “Another Happy Day.” The series is an adaptation of the Israeli television miniseries with the same name created by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin.  

The unique choice of a character narrating adds a certain dynamic throughout the show. Rue’s commentary of each East-Highland High School student tackling the struggles of being a teenager, better helps viewers understand the depth of each character. 

Unfolding outside of school, drug dealer Fezco (Angus Cloud), and his adoptive younger brother Ashtray (Javon Walton) struggle to hide and fend for themselves as they get caught up in a whirlpool of police investigations. 

Through the second season, we get to know more about the upbringing of Fezco and Ashtray and how the duo began their illegal drug business.

Throughout the drama, teenage struggles are exaggerated to focus and bring attention to real-life problems. Season two tackles more sensitive topics such as teen drug abuse, relationships, and assault. Each character is dealing with a major issue and they're given the space to explore it. 

Some critics may describe the series as too raw, too graphic, and too provoking for a young audience. Scenes of highly sensitive topics including sex and gore can trigger most people, not just young viewers. Because the series is intended for a more mature audience, it isn’t diluted or sugar-coated. A lot of scenes captivate viewers as if they are immersed in the show. 

When following the series, you’re never really sure if what you're watching is reality or a simulated high. I highly encourage teens who can withstand rawness to watch this series since it teaches many notable lessons like how to recover from hardships.  

Introduced to Rue and Jule’s friendship this season is a new character named Elliot (Dominic Fike). Rue and Elliot instantly bond after they met at a new years party since they have a common trait of being drug addicts. With a bad influence friend introduced to her life, Rue began to relapse. Back in season one, Rue had decided to stay clean for her girlfriend Jules. However, Jules left her, and she started having depressive episodes and anger outbursts.

While following Rue’s journey of trying to stay clean, I feel like I’m constantly cheering her on as she attempts to end her harmful drug addiction. Rue is not only reaching out for help for herself but also for the people around her because she negatively projected her depressive episodes to loved ones. 

Some of the parts I enjoyed the most were where we get to see her lowest moments and her recovery. 

While the story of  Rue unravels, the situation between Cassie and Maddy gets messy. The relationship between Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) and her best friend Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie) gets complicated this season after Cassie betrayed Maddy. We get to see how Cassie makes wrong decisions and develops a stronger desire to form romantic relationships over valuable friendships. While watching scenes between the best friends, I couldn’t help but get frustrated over Cassie and her ruthless wrongdoings. 

Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) and his dad, Cal (Eric Dane), don't get along anymore. Nate finds some dirty secrets about his dad who he wants to punish. Nate goes undercover and finds a mine of secret non-consensual, self-filmed pornography of every person Cal has ever slept with. Cal struggles a lot throughout the episodes and goes insane after departing from his family. 

In my opinion, Nate and Cal have one of the most tragic stories of this season. The father and son relationship portrayed between the two is abusive and not healthy. 

Every episode brings you up on your feet and wanting more. It gets more frustrating each week as the episodes play out. Luckily we viewers aren’t the only ones ripping our hair out and gritting our teeth from the rush of emotions this show makes us feel. Cassie’s younger sister, Lexi Howard (Maude Apatow) captures all the dramatic scenes in her life into a play she wrote called, “Our Life.” With the assistance of Fezco, she writes up a complicated play about her childhood friendships and how she grew apart from her friends as they went to high school. Lexi’s whole character is mostly revealed through her play. We get to see how she lives in the shadow of her sister, Cassie. 

What disappointed me the most this season was the lack of scenes for the character, Kat Hernandez played by Barbie Ferreira. Compared to the last season, Kat barely got any screen time. Kat’s storyline of exploring herself and growing to be more confident was cut short and 

I was a bit upset since Kat was one of my favorite characters. She is the only plus-size character and struggles to fit in with her friends because she was a virgin. Her lack of screen time was most likely due to a rumor that Ferreira and Levinson got into a fight behind the scenes. 

Unlike many viewers who began following this series in 2019, I jumped on the bandwagon a little later than most people and binged all eight episodes of season one and all eight episodes of season two in one sitting. What intrigued me about “Euphoria” is the production and soundtracks. Amongst teens, this show is quite popular. Which explains why I see small clips of the show on all social media platforms. The costumes, makeup, and sets are just stellar.  Even the special effects and editing on every episode feel like a fever dream. It showcases incredibly dreamy and unreal feelings. I recommend the series to anyone and everyone solely because of its visual appeal. But be advised, there are scenes of nudity and sensitive content. So watch at your own risk.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Adalia Wani

Humanity’s last survivors live inside three enormous walls to protect themselves from the humanoid, man-eating giants called Titans. “Attack on Titan” follows the life of the protagonist, Eren Yeager, whose life goal is to “kill as many Titans.” It also follows the life of Eren’s two childhood friends, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert. 

“Attack on Titan'' has grown significantly complex over the eight years since it first aired. It includes many different plot twists, a major one being that Titans are former humans turned into Titans by Marley, who turns disloyal Eldians into Titans and sends them into Paradis (where humanity’s “last survivors” live). Marley is a military empire, modeled after 20th century European empires like the USSR, the Third Reich, and Great Britain. Eldians are an ethnicity of people that ruthlessly ruled over the world hundreds of years ago. They are the only group of people with the ability to turn into Titans if exposed to Titan serum.

The entire world despises Eldians and calls them “devils” because of their ability to turn into Titans. Eldians live in ghettos around the world, where they need permission to leave and are forced to wear armbands to signify their ethnicity. 

With season four released in 2021, we got to learn more about the history of Marleyan and Eldian relations. Marleyan and Eldians have been rivalry empires for centuries.

The climax of season four currently is the split between four ideologies. The Yeargist (Eren’s followers) want to use the power of the Titans to end everyone’s life except the Eldians that live on Paradis. The Yeargist are frustrated by their oppression, and they know the world will never accept the Eldians as “nothing more than devils.”

Zeke’s (Eren’s brother) euthanization plan is to sterilize the Eldian populace, so the remaining population can live out their life peacefully. Zeke and his followers believe conflict would cease to exist if the Eldian race was wiped out.

Another group known as the Alliance wants to whisk away the Titans’ power in the Eldian race. They believe without the Titan power, the world wouldn't be afraid of them and would be willing to make amends with them. 

Lastly we have the Marleyan and the majority of the world, who want to commit gendiocde against the Eldian race. They want to use Paradis’ natural resources for their own benefits. 

At first sight, the anime might seem like your basic everyday shonen anime, with many  shonen elements such as a teenage boy protagonist, the power of friendship, and action packed battles. But “Attack on Titan'' has developed into something more complex than that. With season four, the show touched on realities of the 20th century: racism, facism, nationalism, anti-semitism, segregation, militarism, war, war crimes, and PTSD from war, just to name a few. The show draws a parallel to our world. 

Eldian’s current oppression can be compared to the oppression of the Jewish community during the Third Reich.

“Attack on Titan” has no clear hero or villain. Before, it was obvious that the heroes were humanity’s last survivors and the villains the titans. But with season four, the concept of hero and villain has become increasingly difficult to address. Our original heroes, Eren and his friends, have launched a military attack on Marley while killing hundreds of innocent people, including many Eldians. As a fan, I was thrown into unease, seeing some of my favorite characters turn into war criminals. 

The author, Hajime Isayama of the manga series of the same name as the anime, has developed the plot incredibly well. Since chapter one, the author has been foreshadowing the events of the story. 

One of my favorite parts of this anime is its characters. Eren is a dynamic character who is introduced as a traumatized little boy that desires revenge against the Titans for eating his mother. But in season four, Eren transforms into a full-blown war crimminal who murders thurands of innoncents.

The new character introduced this season, Gabi, is a parallel to Eren. She is brave and strong with ambitious dreams. But she’s just a kid who’s a victim of Marley’s propaganda which leads her to have internalized racism. Floch is a character hated by most people. Floch turned from a coward, afraid to go to war, seeing his whole unit die before him, to an merciless Yeargist commander, willing to do anything for the Eldian empire. 

“Attack on Titan'' is incredibly detailed. The show manages to capture every minor detail: cracks on the ground, some areas being darker or lighter because of the lighting, texture of the food, etc. The show is animated by a top Japanese animation studio known as MAPPA. From season four, MAPPA took over the “Attack on Titan” project after the previous, much smaller studio WIT couldn’t handle the heavy workload for the anime. Many fans were excited to hear that MAPPA was taking on the project.

Even the soundtrack of the show is outstanding. The new opening, “Rumbling” has gained over 10 million views on YouTube, so far. The previous opening gained over 60 million views. The producers of the show go all out when it comes to the soundtracks, opening, and ending music. They hire symphonies just for the soundtracks and background music. 

The Japanese voice actors go to extremes to portray their characters.  In one scene, the voice actor of Eren actually bit his hand until it started to bleed to portray Eren’s actions in the anime, biting his hand being a sign that he's about to turn into a titan. Every aspect of the anime is stunning, from its parallel to our world, to its character dynamics, its animation, and its music. “Attack on Titan '' is the new masterpiece anime. It has the potential to overthrow the big three (Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach which are regarded as the three best animes to ever exist). 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Jay Fabian

If you want a movie with mystery, action and stunning visuals, “The Batman” is a movie you have to see. It is directed by Matt Reeves and is the newest addition to the DC Universe. It is an amazing movie and a huge success for the franchise.  It stars Robert Pattinson as the Batman and has co-stars Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as Riddler, and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon. 

“The Batman” takes place in the fictional city of Gotham. It is set two years into Batman's career. Burce Wayne is still finding his way as Batman and is still asserting himself as Gotham's protector. This movie keeps Batmans past the same as any other Batman story. Young boy, dark alley, robbery, dead parents. However, they do put a nice twist into the classic story. This portrayal of Batman makes him an angry young man looking for people to punch in his quest for vengeance. 

The movie is three hours long and does a good job at keeping you invested. The movie has great pacing and never feels like it drags. 

The movie's plot is that Batman must follow the Riddler's trial and stop him from unleashing more chaos on Gotham. The constant battle of wits between Batman and the Riddler is fun to watch. Having Batman follow Riddler's tail keeps you on the edge of your seat through the movie. 

The movie opens with a monologue by Batman. He gives you some exposition and talks about Gotham. As he talks we see crime is rampant. People are being robbed and gangs walk the street. As this all happens we see the bat signal light up in the sky. When this happens, all the criminals look up as well.  After seeing the light, they all look around in fear. Batman then explains how fear is a weapon and how criminals fear the shadows because he is the shadows. 

The whole scene was shot at night and with heavy rain. The scene is an amazing opener and instantly gets your attention. 

The movie's atmosphere is very dark and gritty. Gotham truly looks like a run down and corrupt city. Every camera shot pulls you into the city of Gotham. We can see GCPD (Gotham city police department) officers walking in the background or fake signs and maps that make the city feel like a real place. The movie has garbage through the streets that highlights Gotham’s hopeless situation. Gotham is put through some serious events throughout the movie, and it's great how they make citizens react to all the events. It makes the city feel alive. 

All the actors do a great job at showing established characters in new and fresh ways. Robert Pattinson does a great job at expressing emotion in the dark with a big bat suit on. He can express so much emotion through just his eyes. He does not get much time to show off his Bruce Wayne side as a suave billionaire, but maybe we will see it in a potential sequel. 

Paul Dano as Riddler shows us a sadistic killer. He has a certain way of talking and moving that is just unsettling. All his scenes make you feel sick and terrified of what he will do next. 

This movie is great and really enjoyable. It is the next big step for the character and is the start of something new. A sequel is reportedly in the works so one cannot help but be excited. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Joshua Henriquez

Not too long ago as of writing this article me and my friends had an argument about the quality of each chex mix piece. With a split decision on one half deciding that the rye bread piece was the worst piece in the bag, and the other half coming to the conclusion that the rye piece is the best. This article is going to be my opinion on the whole chex mix bag.

To start things off I'm not saying Chex mix is one of the best snack bags you can get in the grocery store, there are arguably better and tastier bags you can get, but in the end it’s to each their own. 

With that out of the way I just want to lay out that I am a big fan of the rye bread piece, I think it’s the best chip in the whole bag. It just has a very unique taste that I can’t get tired of, it has a nice crunch and feel, and the only complaint I really have to it is that it leaves somewhat of a mess in comparison to the rest of the chips. Not only that but it is also the biggest piece in the bag having the most mass out of each chip. 

As for the rest this could just be the fact that I haven’t had it in a long time but it just doesn’t come off as anything memorable nor unique. I understand that the entire gimmick of chex mix is the variety in each bag making it more unique and quirkier than the competing bag of chips, and might I add this is not a bad way to stand out if anything it’s a great idea. 

The part where it fails is when you have one chip that is remembered for either being amazing or horrible. The rest of the bag is either a strange shaped cracker or a pretzel. Not only do they have a bland and forgettable taste, but it just leaves you with a dry feeling in your mouth, dry enough to rival the Sahara desert, and to top it off you are simply left unsatisfied and in my opinion disappointed.

I’ve been really harsh towards chex mix and it may seem that I am just really biased against everything against the rye chip and even though I want to agree with you, I do have a confession to make. Even though I still agree with everything I just said prior, the only other piece I find enjoyable in the bag of lost corporate souls trying to make a killing in this cruel industry of snacks run by massive companies feeding thousands of people the most healthiest food that has enough calories in one bag that can easily be replaced with two proper meals, is the pretzel piece. 

Despite the fact that some of these chips are part of the Chex Mix are extremely disappointing, the square crackers can sometimes taste very well with the seasoning that can be found at the bottom of the Chex Mix bag. The seasoning of the bottom bag alleviates the fact that the crackers have a very bland taste however it doesn’t solve the core problem that most of the bag contains tasteless crackers. Some of the alternative flavors that can be bought with Chex Mix can be good because they solve the problem of the bland taste of the other flavors. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Olek Mendoza

Our world is getting more polluted each day, and sea levels are rising faster than ever.

Motorized vehicles are a major cause of global warming. These vehicles produce nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons, just to name a few. The gasses are extremely harmful to our home planet Earth. We need to save our beautiful Earth, but change will not happen overnight. You can minimize your carbon footprint quickly and healthily. You can make a small but profound change by abandoning the motorized vehicle you use to commute to school and ride a bicycle instead. By doing so, you will help our planet, save money and stay fit.

People are aware of global warming but ignore what we do to contribute to it. Based on data from the Environmental Protection Agency, the highest carbon emission for the average American comes from transportation. The carbon footprint of transportation is significant, and it affects the state of our Earth and all of its living beings. Climate change does not just affect our lives but the lives of many other species who do not pollute the Earth; why should they be responsible for our mistakes? If you care about our planet, you should think of how to minimize your carbon footprint by biking.

Biking saves lots of money. In San Francisco, driving a vehicle is a big hassle. If you get to your destination, you will most likely pay for parking or wonder whether your vehicle will be vandalized upon your return. You can save that worry when you switch to biking. Sea levels are not the only things rising; gas prices are also, almost reaching seven dollars per gallon. Owning a car is not pocket friendly. Some say that electric cars are the solution, but getting one does not make you “greener” or save you from paying tons of money if the car gets an electrical issue.

The best part of biking is its health benefits. Riding a bicycle is super advantageous for your health. After all, cycling is one of the best cardio activities you can do. Many people gained weight during the past two years, and obesity has risen. Yet people invest their dollars on electric bikes, scooters, and single-wheel electric scooters instead of getting analog bicycles. People, get back to basics, tune in with your surroundings, and pedal your hearts away. Biking brings me joy, and it is one of the best things I do every day for my physical and mental health. It makes me feel free and happy. You will have so much fun and enjoy your morning commuting on a bicycle, gazing at the sunrise, and enjoying the birds chirping instead of being stuck in traffic. You will notice the beauty and feel the breeze that gets unnoticed when you are stuck in a vehicle.

Biking is a fun activity, and you should consider trying it. Just think about how many people are out there right now polluting our already suffering Earth. If you care about our planet, just as I do, you should think of minimizing your carbon footprint while having fun and staying fit at the same time.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Samantha Hong

In this era of social media, the concepts of positivity and productivity are overused and losing meaning.  It’s gotten so bad that it’s become toxic and circulates the issues of inauthentic self-love, false happiness, and burnout.  

Issues grew after the increase of influencers advertising extravagant lives to viewers and promoted unrealistic ideals of a perceived perfect life. 

By definition, influencers' toxic positivity is the fake/excessive positivity projected in social media.  It helped add onto trends like body positivity, self-love and self-care, which were initially great ideas to promote, but later became redundant and lacked true meaning. 

Self-love/care evolved into a tool that influencers could use to advertise skin care products or vitamin gummies. The genuine want behind self-love turned into a fast-paced trend rather than a long-lasting goal. The notion added to the problem of consumer culture and the desire for better. People wanted new clothes, new hair, and new lives, and they were willing to spend a lot of money to achieve it. 

Skincare lines came out and spent more time emphasizing ‘self-care’, than the actual product and the line's benefits. Influencers linked sponsored products like vitamins or shampoo bottles to self-love and nurturing the body. The idea of positivity and love simply became a convenient mask to humanize a brand deal. 

Then the body positivity movement surfaced and everyone was so into loving their bodies. They wanted glow-ups, workout routines, and juice cleanses. People were told to love every curve, inch, and dimple in their body by influencers who had toned stomachs and fit physiques. Again, I noticed the pattern of turning these wholesome terms into money makers with the concept of “body positivity”. Gym memberships, workout apps, and athletic wear sponsorships bound themselves to “body positivity”, and the meaning of the notion dissolved into just a trend. 

I noticed repetition in the hypocrisy of influencers who projected terms like “body positivity” and “self-love” onto their viewers. They pretended to empathize with their communities when they were on a whole other level of wealthy success. They showed care for the ideas while exploiting them for their own benefits. They spoke words of self-love when they had a cushion of vacation and financial stability to lay back on. 

Influencers were feeding us a false pretense of an authentic life which harmed many's mindsets. As a consumer of this media, I fell into the trend and hype around these concepts. I felt pressured to feel more love towards myself, and I let strangers be the models to set a precedent for my own life. 

One trend that affected me was the pro-productivity movement. “How to be productive” was the headline for most of the videos I saw on my feeds and homepages. It was this advocacy to utilize every second of the day to the fullest. 

If you search “productivity” on YouTube, you will see hundreds of thousands of videos showcasing a “productive day in the life vlog” or a “productivity instructional guide.” This trend gained popularity, especially over quarantine, when people felt useless. It gave people a new sense of purpose, and it was well-received. The trend was big, popular, and perfect for marketers to sell more products. As we’d seen in trends before, things started to tie to productivity. Sunset alarm clocks, to-do lists apps, self-care journals all fell under the category of productivity. 

Companies, influencers, advertisements taught you to buy these products to become more productive. They wanted you to feed into their markets and help them while making you think that you were helping yourself. 

People loved it; they loved feeling productive. This wave took my family, and we bought so many useless things that are now collecting dust in our cabinets. I am dumbfounded by the number of journals I purchased just because some video told me it was the only way to organize my life. I bought bullet journals to diy planners and leatherbound notebooks to write down my feelings.  I fed into the consumer culture, and I lost the meaning of productivity. I lost the actual desire to better myself and wanted to only be productive because it was a trend. 

Throughout all of these movements, I’ve noticed how the world takes these trends, runs with them and ruins them. Consumer culture, social media and general public pressure play a big part in corrupting these values.  

Self-love, self-care, body positivity and productivity are all concepts that we should strive for, yet they are heavily commercialized and lose their meaning. Paying for change and growth doesn’t work. You need to find it for yourself.

Published on 04/08/2022

By Cassidy MacKinnon

Social media has helped me stay in touch with my friends that don’t go to the same school as me and my extended family members, especially during the pandemic. Social media can help people stay in the loop with the news or gossip about their favorite celebrities. Many teens use social media to find out about local events or activities that are happening on a particular day.

With social media, teens can positively engage with their interests or their experiences. Teens can also explore new hobbies by watching videos based on what they like.

A senior at Lincoln High School, Esther Zeng, shares her experience with social media, “Social media shouldn’t be used to appeal to others and try so hard to get people to view you a certain way, but just as a fun way to express who you are as a person.”

Callie Janza, another senior at Lincoln, expresses her feelings about having social media, “I deleted Snapchat and Instagram and kind of just got rid of my phone entirely. It felt so nice to be off of social media and I wish we lived in an age where it was normal to not be on social media. It’s so sad that we rely on social media so much to be an outlet and a daily thing and something to do when we’re bored. It’s hurt a lot of teenage lives and it’s made it hard to be yourself and I just wish it wasn’t so scrutinizing.”

Although social media has its benefits to teens like building relationships with their fellow teens, it  causes a teen’s mental health to decline. Teens who are on social media platforms frequently are more likely to experience cyberbullying, which can lead to having social anxiety and feeling left out. A 2018 study from the University of Pennsylvania found that reducing social media use to 30 minutes a day can result in a significant reduction in levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and sleep problems. 

According to Health Guide, a mental health website, some signs that are affecting someone’s mental health are if they are distracted at school or work, have no time to reflect on themselves, suffer from sleep problems, and could worsen symptoms of anxiety and depression.

People who have mental health disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can be heavily impacted by the frequent uses of social media. 

I believe that high school teens should limit their usage of social media to 30 minutes a day. To help lower social media usage among teens, I think that parents should keep track of how long they are on social media each day. Instead of teens being on social media everyday, students should practice in person interactions. In person interactions can help communicate potential goals with other people and can help someone focus on something easier for a long or short period of time.

I think teens can reduce their usage of social media by using apps that track how much time is being spent on apps. Another way I think teens can reduce their usage is to spend a certain amount of time a day doing a hobby that interests them without screens. I believe that having social media helps remove boundaries of meeting new people, could be a great way to connect with other people who share common ideas and interests. If teens don’t use social media a lot per day, I don’t think it can harm one’s mental health. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Tommy Tian

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people wondered when the world would return to normalcy, if ever. “When will the lockdowns, layoffs, social distancing, masking and other COVID-19 restrictions end?” people frustratedly asked.

As the months went by, vaccines became available and cases decreased. We started easing the restrictions little by little. Lockdowns turned into grand openings (or reopenings); vaccination rates went up, and we had access to better COVID-19 treatments. We are now at the point where we are no longer required to wear masks in public or at school! We should all be rejoicing, but I’m not.

Many of us have first-hand knowledge and experience of just how terrible masks are, especially those of us who have had the great pleasure of wearing them the entire day. It might be the tight straps that cause discomfort, the foggy glasses, the obstruction of sight, the recycled air or all of the above. I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons (not excuses) why wearing a mask is not ideal.

But before we continue, let me quickly introduce myself. My name is Tommy Tian. I am disabled and severely immunocompromised. You might know me as the “guy in a wheelchair.” I missed almost four years of school previously, and now I experience constant social anxiety.

In my experience, wearing a mask doesn’t just cause physical discomfort. It also causes social discomfort. The mask mandate has made it impossible for me to recognize anyone, even classmates and friends who walk by. The most irritating part is that everyone can recognize me–the most recognizable part of me is my wheelchair–but I can’t recognize anyone. 

Consequently, the mask mandate has worsened my social anxiety. I don’t feel comfortable talking to anyone anymore. I can’t see facial expressions, and I can’t even tell if someone is talking to me.

Despite my experiences, I strongly believe that we need to keep the mask mandate because COVID-19 is still here. Even though cases have dropped significantly since the Omicron spike in January, we should still stay cautious. Wearing a mask is one of the most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19; will the removal of the mask mandate lead to another surge?

According to the New York Times, COVID-19 cases are quickly rising in Europe once again due to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the rise of a “new” Omicron subvariant known as BA.2. Researchers believe that BA.2 is more contagious than the original Omicron variant, but “does not appear to cause more severe illness…and existing vaccines are effective against it.” BA.2 cases are also on the rise in the United States, and this might signal yet another COVID surge.

You might ask, “Are you going to live in fear forever?” or “If not now, then when?” We should keep the mask mandate until there are annual COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. Moderna is currently developing a yearly one-dose vaccine that would offer protection against both COVID-19 and the flu. No timeline has been released yet, but it’s a promising start. 

We absolutely need to keep the mask mandate because we are still living in a pandemic. According to the World Health Organization, a disease outbreak becomes a pandemic when transmission is exponential and affects several countries. The exponential growth of a virus means that one outbreak can easily lead to another, multiplying rapidly.

Many experts believe that COVID-19 will never be eradicated and instead will become endemic, just like the seasonal flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an endemic as “the constant presence and/or usual prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area.” In an endemic, the transmission and growth of a disease is steady and predictable, making it much more manageable and easy to treat. 

During the Omicron spike at the beginning of the year, there were substantial shortages of life-saving COVID-19 treatments in hospitals around the nation. Many people died because medications like Paxlovid and other similar treatments were (and still are) in short-supply. We should at least extend the mask mandate until we deal with the current shortages of treatments.

Since the start of the pandemic, masks have played an integral role in saving lives and slowing the spread of COVID-19. We need to heavily consider keeping the mask mandate in order to prevent needless suffering and death. 

Published on 04/08/2022

By Zaihra Mena

I saw posts on social media regarding the City Hall protest. One that stood out to me was from Oropeza, a latina, who pointed out how the planning of the protest failed to include and acknowledge students of color. 

I spoke with a couple of leaders who were the main support for students at the City Hall protest on Friday, December 10th, 2021. The students of color are Daniela Oropeza, Asha Bhagwan Sager and Matt Garcia who are seniors at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts(SOTA).

Oropeza and Deyani were the first to organize the first protest at SOTA with a list of demands against the culture of sexual assult and sexual harrassment at SOTA High School. This protest then sparked motivation in students like Sager and Garcia to step up in organizing for a student wide protest. 

In our interview, Oropeza shared that the day before the initial protest she looked at the list of organizers and told the organizers “it was very white” and was concerned as to why other students from different schools were not involved. She proceeded to tell them this was not okay. Oropeza said that their response was to gaslight her and dismiss her opinion. Oropeza also says, “Representatives of SOTA took over the entire thing who were white cis gender women taking over a movement intially started by people of color, while silencing and amplifying their own voices.” 

Other leaders like Sager and a female senior, who chose to stay anonymous, felt the same way. Sager says, “two white students took over when it came to planning the protest, and when I, as well as other students of color, tried to take on more of a role, we were shut out and ignored by them.” 

The behavior of excluding students of color needs and voices was continually carried out. Sager overheard that Salomos contacted the city to receive a permit for the protest. This led to law enforcement intervening with the protest by hiding within the crowd of students and surrounding them. Before the protest, Sager confronted Salamos about this and said, “I asked her not to get one, and explained that the city would send law enforcement if there was a permit. Plus, it isn't truly a protest if you have permission to do it.”

The anonymous female senior agreed with the importance of not needing a permit because of the safety of the students, specifically students of color. She says,”This is really threatening, that there's going to be police involved and it's going to make people of color feel unsafe here and it's supposed to be a safe environment.They did not listen.” 

The day of the protest, Oropeza says, “The mic was being overpowered by representatives of SOTA. Students were told they couldn’t stand on the City Hall steps and that they weren’t welcomed.” 

Garcia says that he heard other students asking why law enforcement was there, because of this students didn't feel welcomed due to the presence of the police and the overtaking of the mic. 

Essentially there was a Google Doc form created for anyone who wanted to speak at the protest. The female senior says, “Those two people did not get that out…Yes, there were students of color speaking, but not as many as there should have been.” She added that many students of color came up to her asking to speak, she supported those students by saying you can go after this person. The main white leader then came up to the female senior telling her she needed to stop saying yes because they were running out of time.” 

Oropeza says, “I want to use my privilege and my power to create opportunities for people of color, specifically black and indigenous people of color to feel like they have spaces created for them to talk about those things and for them to fight against these issues that primarily impact them.” 

This is a fact, according to Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, 26.9% of Native women and 22% of black women experienced rape, while 18.8% of white women experienced rape. 49% of Native women and 41% of black women experienced other sexual violence while 47.6% of white women experienced other sexual violence. 

Oropeza says, “A lot of the time when you talk about rape culture or sexual assult, it is essentially white dominated, specifically white cis gender women, because that’s the only issues that they face besides classism, faceism, ablelism and sexism. White people don’t experience racism, they are not discriminated against for the color of their skin, their citizenship status isn't threatened when they walk out of their house to protest.”

There are hopes to shift the goal of the organization which is to learn when to step back and leave room for others who feel inspired to speak up or create changes.

Oropeza says “ it's important to highlight one's identity and look at how it impacts their choices and how they are affected by these issues.” She continues to say the main leaders “were blind to people's personal circumstances and cared more about taking action without valuing the different kinds of people this impacts the most.”

Published on 04/08/2022

By Lincoln Log Staff

SFUSD central office wants all of the schools in the city to have the same schedule. This would include all schools starting at 8:40 a.m. and having minimum days on Wednesdays. The purpose of having a common short day is to ensure faculty attend board meetings on time, students don’t go to other campuses while they’re in session and Special Education buses all have the same schedule. A new schedule would also allow all the schools to meet the required instructional minutes.

Here at the Lincoln Log, we advocate for student voices in all aspects that affect our school community. As there was very little information put out to Lincoln High School students, we believe that administration should inform us about what the new schedule looks like and how it might affect the students.

Lincoln’s schedule should remain as is, or at least get student input before changing the schedule. Students followed a new schedule during distance learning. Upon returning to in-person school, we had to adjust to another schedule. Changing the schedule yet again would make students adjust for a third time. 

Students' voices are important in decisions like this because they are the ones waking up and going to school. They also have to make time for after-school activities and homework. Experiencing the wide range of changes over the course of the past few years, students want a set school schedule that is realistic and comfortable for the entirety of a school year. 

This schedule adjustments also affect families of students. Students who rely on their parents to drive them to and from school will be faced with traffic from other schools in the city. The same start and end times may cause a higher level of stress for parents with multiple school-age children. 

SFUSD should get input from students and families to plan schedule changes that will help all parties.

Published on 04/08/2022