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Rio Americano High School • Sacramento, CAVolume 48, Issue 10 May 28, 2010

This IssueRead and comment on this issue of The Mirada and addition-al features at www.riomirada.com

Online

See page 20 See page 12 See page 6

Art students decorate the campus Rio alumn, Shon McFessel shares a frightening experience and other awesome adventures

Pro riders and school commuters cycle through

JARETT HARTMAN/Mirada Staff

Sophomore John Sockolov and freshman AJ Sanders ride their bike homes from school on the levee in honor of May being bike month. The are pictured here riding down to the bike trail from the levee right behind Rio.

Bike Month

See complete coverage of Bike Month on page 10 and 11

Girls soccer makes it to San-Joaquin Section Cham-pionship

See page 2

Band students travel to New York

Tour of California heads through Sac-ramento with Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer

See page 10

Ashton, Estates, and Paradise Beach are just a few of the popular local river spots. With summer quickly approaching and the weather warming up, many students are enjoying their free time down at the river.

Although the river days may be filled with fun and excitement, there are still many precau-tions one must take to ensure those fun filled days last.

Each year people drown while swimming in the American River. The American River is notorious for deathly currents and under-tows, each ending helpless lives along the river.

The first step one must take is to wear a life jacket while swimming in the river. Even if you think you know the water and how it works, that’s not always the case. In 2007 a 19 year-old man drowned while swimming in Discovery Park, the man had made the swim numerous times, but this time he was taken under.

Kids ages 13 and under must wear a life jacket while on a boat, or swimming in the water. As many park rangers say, “Kids don’t

float.” And just in case you don’t have a life jacket, many river accesses along the American River offer free life jackets to promote river safety.

And remember not everything is as it appears to be. You may think the current is going one way, and that you have it under control but the reality of the river is that it surprises you.

Drowning isn’t the only life threat-ening risk that the American River Parkway offers. This area is prone to rattlesnakes and this is the time of year that baby rattlesnakes are just coming out of their mother. The babies are much more dangerous than the older snakes, because they have no control of the amount of venom they release into their victim. If you want to avoid the snakes, the best way is to stay on the bike trail. But if you do venture off into the unknown, try to avoid the knee-high grass, and pay attention to where you walk.

With this knowledge, be ready for the unexpected and stay safe this summer while enjoying your care free days along the American River Parkway.

Adios!I really had a great time here. I stayed with a great family, the Sheridans. They were really nice and made

me feel like part of their family. My favorite part of staying here and going to Rio was meeting new people and new friends. I loved hang-

ing out on the weekends with them, and I hope to keep in touch on Facebook. I also really enjoyed being a part of the Rio soccer team. I’ll never forget how the coach gave us so many funny rules like, “Don’t kick the ball over the fence or you’ll be benched!”

While I’m happy to be going home, I’m going to miss everyone here. I’ll miss you guys!

Salukes!It was a very good and unique

experience this year. At the beginning it was really hard because it was really different, but I had a really good family over here, it made it easier to get used to everything. I enjoyed school be-cause you have a lot of sports. I played in the tennis team during the first season and it was really nice. I met so many amazing people this year that I cannot even remember all their names. I love California because I like the sun, I’m going to miss that too. The coolest thing about the exchange year is you can go to so many different places and meet so many different people. I’m ex-cited to come home, but I’m also sad to leave at the same time. The year went so fast. I will never forget this year. It was the best year in all my life.

-Linda Tilkin, 11Belgium

News Friday, May 28, 2010 • The Mirada

Keep river safety in mind over summer

By SARAH VAIRAMirada Staff

Dances keep step with social change

By TATE ROUNTREEMirada Staff


Many students overlook the dangers of rattlesnakes when hanging out by the river. Above, a rattlesnake sneaks up on one of our photographers. Rattle-snakes are especially dangerous because of their ability to camouflage themselves with the river landscape.

An evening trademarked by long gowns, lavish hairstyles, and spiffy bow ties, bet-ter known as prom, is an event eternally glorified in the typical high school mind. The anticipation and celebration of prom is commonly shared by all students- gay or straight.

While it is the established practice for teenage boys and girls to attend the dance together, same sex prom dates are turning the traditional tide.

Despite recent controversy over same sex prom dates, Rio Americano High School’s policy regarding gay and lesbian attendance at school dances match the pro-gressive trend.

“If someone wants to bring a guest, male or female it doesn’t matter, as long as they fill out the right paper work,” principal Bri-an Ginter said. “We have a dance and who-ever comes, comes.”

During his first year as principal Ginter has not noticed any animosity towards gay and lesbian students. Compared to his previous Pennsylvania high school, he con-siders Rio a very accepting campus of all sexual orientations and cannot see an issue at dances.

Student agree with the school’s open minded policy and Ginter’s gay-friendly ob-servation.

“If I wanted to bring a guy [to a dance] I would,” junior David Vallejo said, “It’s curi-ous to me what everyone’s reaction would be but I know that nobody would start any-thing obnoxious.”

Despite the campus wide acceptance, gay students are aware but are not threat-ened by those who are more apprehensive about homosexuality.

“I’m sure there are people who would be less comfortable, but I’m sure no one would be outwardly malicious,” junior Sean Shel-ton said.

Rio Americano High School is not the only local establishment to support gay at-tendance at prom and other dances. Last month, the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center threw their second annual queer prom at the Pagoda building in downtown Sacramento.

The event was introduced last year for homosexual teenagers looking for self expression outside of traditional school proms.

Freshman Chance Dunbar attended the queer prom and described the dance as a “friendly environment” filled with “a lot of people really enjoying themselves.”

The dance was decorated to the “Holly-wood Glamor” theme, complete with a red carpet, DJ, and paparazzi photography.

“Everyone was smiling and people gave you compliments.” Dunbar said.

The communities acceptance of homo-sexuality and Rio’s support of gay and les-bian students at dances carries over to the average school day.

“I feel comfortable in my own skin at school,” Vallejo said.

The campus’ tolerant and cordial ambi-ence is noted by students.

“Rio is a pretty safe place to be,” Shelton said, “there’s really never been a problem.”

As the push for gay and lesbian equality is met by a shove, Rio’s policy and its stu-dents propel homosexual progress.

Au revoir!

Exchange students say their last goodbyes

My time spent here has been a great experience. The United States is so much different than the Normandy Coast of France, but I stayed with a very friendly family, the Cofers, and they helped me feel very comfort-able. There are a lot of things I will miss about the United States such as the nice weather and the friends I have made. I’ve had a lot of fun here, especially with my closest US friend, Max Jensen. We will definitely stay in touch. The food in this country is something I will not miss though. Most of the food here is junk food, and I did not like Rio’s cafeteria food at all. Also, the schools here are much more strict than they are in France. In France we have open campuses and there are a lot less rules. But I still had an incredible time with everyone here, and I am very thankful for this adventure.

-Simon Braun, 11France

-Guillerme Machado, 11Brazil

NewsFriday, May 28, 2010 • The Mirada

Civitas students mix ‘Pancakes and Politics’ with Mayor Kevin Johnson


Senior John Butterfield presents Mayor Kevin Johnson with a basketball signed by the freshman and sopho-more Civitas students and a Civitas t-shirt after the Mayor presented community service awards and spoke on the importance of community service to Sacramento.

Courses are now available at the Virtual High School; simply use the nearest internet access to attend class.

You can now enroll in online courses at two different virtual high schools and get credit as if you had taken a full year of class at Rio Americano.

Brigham Young University and National University Virtual High School are the two online high schools that have courses already approved for credit within the San Juan school district.

Many students have already taken online classes in order to complete the quarter-year health course, but there are several other courses that can be taken online.

Not only that, “[SJUSD] is looking to add more,” counselor Heather Jensen said.

The math courses include Pre-algebra all the way up to Pre-Cal-culus. There is also English 10 and Economics available.

English 12, World History, US History are also offered, but only for one semester credit, and not a full year.

The cost for taking online cours-es ranges from $124 to $375, but there is also a $60 application fee for NUVHS.

“These courses are accepted by the UCs, but not all colleges,” Jen-sen said. “We’re not encouraging students to take them because of

the cost...It’s so muddled. It’s pit-ting payers against those who aren’t paying which isn’t good.”

Once enrolled, the online course gives access to the an online textbook, practice assignments, stu-dent forums, and live chat.

There is a teacher for the NU-VHS courses who is available to help all the students with their studies.

The instructor answers ques-tions on the forums or participates in the real time chat.

The best part is the course can be done wherever and whenever the students choose.

However, you can only take one full online course per year.

In other words, 10 credits can be earned by online courses and 10 credits can be earned by summer school per year, but no more.

“For some people, online cours-es are the only way,” Jensen said, “Summer school is very limited, and in some school districts they aren’t even offering it.”

To apply for on online course, just fill out the form which can be obtained from the San Juan District Website.

It only takes a few minutes, and asks very basic information like name, birth date, phone number and current school.

The requirements to apply for an online course include approval from a school administrator.

Reasons to take a course must be: for make-up, grade improve-ment, or an impacted schedule.

By TANDENA NELSONMirada Staff

Welcome to cyberschool: Online classes now available

Available classes:

Grandma says goodbye: After 19 years of serving Rio, Pat Starr takes off her gloves and gets out of the kitchen

Full year: • English 10• Pre-Algebra • Algebra 1• Geometry

• Algebra 2

Half year:• English 4• World History• US History• Economics • Health

For application information:http://www.sanjuan.edu/files/122999/Online Cour-seEnrollmentApplication.pdf

See her goodbye letter on page 9

A New York State of MindWhile many were studying

for AP tests, the AM jazz band was in more than just a New York state of mind.

On May 6th, the band left for New York where they stayed for 6 days participating in one of the world's most prestigious jazz fes-tivals and enjoying the city. The festival, Essentially Ellington, is the brain child of jazz great Wynton Marsalis and is put on every year by Jazz at the Lincoln Center to promote youth in-volvement in and the preserva-tion of jazz music.

"It's the greatest jazz festival in the world," senior Zach Gib-erson said.

The band was ecstatic to be accepted into the festival. It is only Rio's 5th time going to El-lington, having previously gone in 2001, 2002, 2006, and 2007.

"It's a tremendous honor and it's our goal every year," band di-rector Josh Murray said.

AM was one of 15 bands se-lected to head to New York for the festival.

"The Lincoln Orchestra had someone transcribe the music of Duke Ellington and other com-posers and sent it to 1500 bands across the nation," senior Scott Buchanan said. "Out of the 96 that sent in recordings, 15 were chosen."

It's no surprise AM was cho-sen, the band is exceptionally good.

"This year's group is excep-tionally hard working, very pas-sionate about music, and quite talented," Murray said.

Of the 15 bands at the fes-tival, judges chose three top bands who got the privilege of playing with Wynton Marsalis on the last night of the festival. Though AM did not place in the top three there were no hard feelings.

"While we did not make the top three, we were satisfied with our playing," Giberson said."The bands that did make the top three were phenomenal."

Playing at the festival itself was an amazing opportunity.

"Playing was the best part because that's what we had been working for the entire year," Giberson said.

Though our boys, and girl, did not make the top three, the

players received a number of individual awards: the entire rhythm section got an honor-able mention, senior Aneil Dhil-lon also received an honorable mention for tenor saxophone, senior Zach Darf got outstand-ing tenor saxophone, junior gui-tar player Victor San Pedro was named outstanding soloist (so there all those who criticized his solos during the National An-them), and Zach Giberson and junior Graham Smith received outstanding alto saxophone.

"I was surprised and hon-

ored," Smith said. All were proud to receive an

award at this major Jazz festival."I was excited to be recog-

nized by the jazz greats that were the judges," Darf said.

The group also got a chance to play with some of the world's best jazz musicians.

"We got to play with several professional musicians in the Lincoln Center Orchestra," Gib-erson said. "We jammed with some of the best musicians in the world."

The bands amazing opportu-

nities went far beyond Essential-ly Ellington. The band attended several jazz shows, saw Saturday Night Live Studio, watched the Broadway play Fela, chilled at Central Park and downed a lot of Mariela's pizza.

"I had 20+ slices of pizza," Dhillon said.

After a lot of hard work, the band of 17 thoroughly enjoyed their stay in New York.

"We put all our hearts into getting to New York, and we left them in New York," junior Miles Roberto said.


Though the name Spaghett! may sound like a shortened version of the word spaghetti, our very own jazz combo band is nothing to compare to pasta. In fact, the group just won best high school jazz combo band in the nation in Downbeat Magazine’s 33rd Student Music Awards.

Spagehtt!, consisting of seniors Zach Darf, Zach Giber-son and Nathan Swedlow, and juniors David Williams, Vic-tor San Pedro and Jarrett Tracy, have been a combo band since only the beginning of this school year; yet, they became close very quickly.

“Playing together gives us a fun way to connect with each other in a musical way,” Swedlow said. “We’re all good friends.”

Their connection has definitely paid off. Their award in Downbeat Magazine, which will appear in the June issue (don’t forget to pick up a copy!), was given to them after they sent in three recordings of music they had made includ-ing “The Ladder” written by the band’s Giberson, Giberson’s composition of the song “A Call For All Demons” originally by Sun Ra, and “Humble Beginnings” by San Pedro.

“After we sent the music in, we just kind of waited for them to announce the results,” Tracy said. “It was an abso-lutely amazing feeling to win.”

In particular, senior Zach Giberson stood out to Down-beat; he received two individual awards: Outstanding Per-former in the original song category for his song “The Lad-der” and National Winner in the jazz arrangement category for “A Call For All Demons.”

“I was really surprised because I had no idea how I would place,” Giberson said. “You don’t know who’s applying. I was very satisfied.” In addition to their Downbeat award, the group has won numerous other awards as well, such first place at the Folsom Jazz Festival, the “Spirit of Charles Min-gus” award at the Charles Mingus Jazz Festival at the Man-hattan School of Music in New York and fourth place at the Next Generation Jazz Festival in Monterey.

“In Folsom the band finally started really clicking and making magic happen,” San Pedro said. “In Monterey we didn’t live up to our expectations, but when we got the Downbeat award I was very proud of the group and happy for the recognition.”

After such a successful year, all three seniors of Spaghett! are sad to leave their band, but excited to go off to college. The three plan on incorporating music into their studies as well. Swedlow will be attending Oberlin College, Giberson will be attending the Berklee College of Music and Darf will be attending the University of Oregon.

The juniors in Spagehtt! plan on continuing with another combo band, including juniors Miles Roberto, Tuan Phan and Graham Smith, that has been together since freshman year.

“We had already had a crazy year: going to New York to-gether, winning Folsom, being one of the six combos in the country to be accepted into the Monterey Jazz Festival, and AM jazz band getting into Essentially Ellington,” Tracy said. “This definitely was an awesome way to end the year for our combo.”

The band had one final performance and celebration on Tuesday where they served free spaghetti for all.

Spaghett! named best high school jazz combo band in the nation by downbeat magazine

By ALEX KLEEMANNMirada Staff

SEAN SHELTON/Guest PhotographerClockwise above: 1) The entire AM jazz band played their official performance on the stage at the Lincoln Center. 2) The boys play a jam session backed by a loom-ing face of Duke Ellington and a breathtaking view of the city. 3) AM poses in their tuxes in Co-lumbus Square. 4) Juniors Miles Roberto and Victor San Pedro and Senior Zach Darf stare in awe at the fountain outside the Lincoln center while they try to click a pix.

By DANIELLE ARBIOSMirada Staff

1

4 2

3

At prestigious Essentially Ellington festival, Jazz band takes a bite out of the Big Apple

With a combined total of 70 years teaching, Stephen Ruggiero and Tom Kossack have some experience under their belts.

Both started their teaching ca-reers in the ‘70s with Ruggiero com-ing to Rio in 1971 and Kossack fol-lowing 8 years later in 1979.

Ruggiero has taught science classes that include Chemistry, Bi-ology, and AP Biology for 39 years. Kossack has taught Algebra I, Alge-bra II and Statistics for his 31 years here.

Kossack is known for his jokes and off beat sense of humor. Ruggie-ro is known for his hands-on lessons including dissections of fetal pigs.

Ruggiero has always been in-terested in science, he said, in part because of his fourth grade science teacher and field trips to the teacher’s own home to show her students a shrunken head that she owned.

Kossack “figured [math] out, and it all added up.”

Because of this revelation, he too became a high school teacher..

Before joining the teaching staff, Kossack and Ruggiero both attended Sacramento State with Ruggiero also attending the Santa Clara.

They both enjoy interacting with their students, with Kossack noting that its “sort of like baby sitting”.

When not teaching, Ruggiero en-joys Bonzai gardening, reading and traveling.

With more free time after retir-ing he hopes to travel with his wife to Ireland as well as building a pizza oven in his backyard. Kossack is looking forward to spending his time tearing it up on the golf course and visiting Italy next spring.

Throughout all of his years teach-ing, Ruggiero remembers one par-ticular moment that he will always cherish forever.

“A student of mine wrote a book and acknowledged me in the forward cover” said Ruggiero. “At least I got one person to listen to my lectures.”

Kossack, in his first year coach-ing baseball, recalls his players giving him a gift and remarking that “[Kos-sack] taught us much more than just baseball.”

Instead of memorizing lectures and formulas, Kossack hopes his students apply the skills they have learned and have a greater apprecia-tion for the subject itself, a view with which Ruggiero agrees.

Govind Raghavan, a senior in Mr. Ruggiero’s AP Bio class, has nothing but positive feedback for his teacher.

“In AP Bio this year, not only was the class entertaining but I learned

a lot of information we finished the entire textbook,” Raghavan said. “Mr. Ruggiero is hilarious and really knows his biology and I enjoyed be-ing in his class.”

Kenny Moulton, a junior who previously had Kossack remembers him as one of his favorite teachers.

“He was a great teacher who was able to teach and joke around while keeping the class interested in math,” Moulton said.

When asked why they are leaving now, Ruggiero said that “It’s time to move on and pass along the torch.”

Kossack, being his usual self, re-plied sarcastically: “Because I can.”

NewsFriday, May 28, 2010 • The Mirada

School’s out foreverBiology teacher Steve Ruggiero and Mathematics teacher Tom Kossack celebrate their last days of teaching as they prepare to retire


By ROHITH SACHDEVADYLAN CARTER

Mirada Staff

With the newly passed Strategic Plan, big changes are coming.

One of the goals is to make the tran-sition to high school easier for the fresh-men class. Therefore, a “LinkCrew” will be implemented.

Approximately 100 upperclassmen will be chosen as LinkCrew Leaders, who will act as mentors to the freshmen class.

“I’m applying to be a LinkLeader because I wish someone older would’ve helped me get through my first year of high school,” junior Danielle Koire said. “I want to get everyone involved in things together at Rio, and I think that upper-classmen helping out freshmen is a good start.”

Over summer, these LinkCrew lead-ers will have two days of training in preparation for the main event, Frosh Orientation. Then, throughout the year, LinkCrew leaders and their 9th grade partners will participate in fun monthly activities.

In addition to making the transition to high school easier, the LinkCrew will hopefully result in fewer discipline is-sues and increased involvement for all students.

The creation of a student store is an-other part of the plan. This student store will be located on campus, and will sell Raider gear to generate more school spir-it and pride.

Another part of the plan that will ef-fect all students is the new community service requirement.

The exact amount of community ser-vice required has not been finalized, but it will most likely be 10 hours per year. A weekly community service newsflash and a display case by the library will pres-ent various ideas for students looking for community service opportunities.

Some students, however, do not like the idea of making community service a requirement.

“I think community service is very important for students to partake in,” junior Jacqueline Grossbard said, “but I think by requiring hours it would go against the essence of community ser-vice, which is to be selfless and do some-thing with no expectation of something in return.”

All of these changes are coming for a reason, to make Rio even better. If all goes according to plan, students will par-ticipate in more school related activities and community service, and the number of students who receive passing grades will increase by 10% each year.

Strategic Action Committee lays out plans for next year

By ALLI HENDERSONMirada Staff

ALEX MCFALL/Mirada Staff

One of Mr. Ruggiero’s many hands-on lab projects includes a dis-section of a fetal pig. Above, Ruggiero assists senior Alex Reinnoldt with the project


1971 2010

20101979

It was a normal day.Shon Meckfessel, a 37 year old 1991 Rio Americano alumnus living in Seattle,

planned a hike in Kurdish region of Iraq while on a 10-day vacation with friends Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, both 27, Sarah Shroud, 31.

Bauer and Shroud had been working in the Middle East and Meckfessel, himself a seasoned traveler, and Fattal were visiting them for the summer.

When he felt sick with a fever, Meckfessel decided to stay behind and rest in the city Sula-maniyah, while his friends went on hike to a nearby village and beautiful waterfall the locals had told them about.

The three friends stayed on the same trail the entire time without any warning of possible danger, because the Kurdish Iraq area is considered very safe for Americans. After talking on cell phones a few times and planning to rejoin the group, Meckfes-sel got a call from his friends that they had been arrested for crossing into Iran.

The international affair began on July 31, 2009. The three Americans remain in an Iranian prison, and Meckfessel contin-ues to advocate for their release.

As an international traveler, author of a book on the Balkans, and original bassist for the band Cake, Meckfessel has seen a lot, but the events that began last summer stand out.

“I’ve lived a pretty crazy life, but this has got to be the craziest,” Meckfessel said in a tele-phone interview.

Meckfessel, who teaches English as a sec-ond language, will be getting his masters from the University of Washington this month and is also working on his PhD in language and rhetoric.

“If anybody wants to see the world, the easi-est way to get around is teaching ESL,” Meck-fessel said. “It’s very easy to get a job teaching ESL.”

However, Meckfessel did not obtain his de-grees in a normal fashion.

While still at Rio and a member of the jazz band, he became the original bassist for Cake, and stayed with the band for about a year and a half, leaving before the breakout 1994 album “Motorcade of Generosity.”

“I quit Cake to go traveling, but I’m glad I got out of them when I did,” Meckfessel said. “Cake became the emblematic band for the 90’s ironic distance--not my thing at all.”

Besides his jazz band class, he also loved English.

“Rio was definitely part of what got me in-terest in traveling and writing,” Meckfessel said. “I had a great English class with a teacher, Mr. Lawrence. He instilled a passion for literature and new thinking into students.”

After leaving Cake, he took a few months off to travel in Europe and Canada. After tour-ing for six months, he came back to the United States and attended St. John’s College in Santa Fe, N.M.

“For most of the ‘90s I traveled around the

U.S., besides finishing college, including hopping freight trains around the country, which I also wrote a zine about,” Meckfessel said.

In 1999, he returned to backpack in Eastern Europe, particularly in the Balkans area. This is where he got ideas to write his book, with a title inspired by the label on an Albanian water bottle, “Suffled How It Gush: A North American Anar-chist in the Balkans.”

The purpose of the book, according to Meck-fessel, was to relay to Americans what was really happening in the Balkans during the

1999 NATO bombings.

“I met a lot of really amazing people and got the strong feeling that most of what people heard and thought about the area was misguided,” said Meckfessel, who went back to this same area 10 times over the next three years.

Meckfessel’s desire to relate the real situation in areas of war is also what drove him to go to Iraq and visit his friends who had been staying there a year.

They, too, had been “doing amazing writing

about the culture and the people in the Middle East and trying to clear up misunderstandings of the U.S.,” he said.

Though this hiking incident happened months ago, just last week the

mothers of the three detained hikers were al-lowed to visit their children in prison in Iran.

“At the beginning I was kind of optimistic that they would let them out (in connection

with the visit), but I’m not sure now,” Meckfessell said. “It’s good that their parents got to see them.”

According to an Associated Press article earlier this week, the mothers, now back in the U.S., still have hope for the release of their children. Two of the hikers, Bauer and Shroud, even became engaged to be married during one of their daily

exercise periods, illustrating the optimism they have in their situation.

“I think Shane and Sarah getting engaged is the sweetest thing ever!,” Meckfessel said. “I got teary-eyed when I read about their rings, which

they wove from strings Shane pulled from his prison shirt.”

The normal amount of time prisoners are held after such an incident is usually only three to four months. Af-ter over nine months now, Meckfessel said he knows that his friends will be released eventually, but couldn’t say when.

Meanwhile Meckfessel encourages everyone he knows to look at his friends’ writing, which they were working on during their year long stay in Iraq. He recommends Bauer’s June 22, 2009, cover story in “The Nation,” “Iraq’s New Death Squads,” and Shroud’s blog called “Through Un-fettered Eyes: Dispatches From Addis Ababa to Damascus.”

“Even if you’re knowledgeable, you might not have all the information you need,” Meckfes-sel said. “It’s frustrating how their backgrounds and what they do hasn’t gotten out there.”

Ironically, Meckefessl said that if he has learned anything from his experience, it’s to en-courage people to continue traveling.

“If you read our writing, we live our lives to encourage people to go out and see the world and get to understand misunderstood cultures,” Meckfessel said. “I’m probably the last person to say this now, but I wouldn’t want our example to discourage anyone from going and seeing the world.”


Rio alumn Shon Meckfessel was bassist for Cake and wrote a book about the Balkans, but illness kept him from being arrested with his 3 friends

‘Crazy life’ almost leads to Iranian jail

Courtesy of Shon Meckfessel

Clockwise from the top left: Shon holds a lizard he came across during a hike through the Sahara desert in Tunisia on one of his many crazy adventures. Top right: Shon sips from a tea glass while visitng an Iraqi neigh-borhood in Dmascus, Syria. Middle right: Shon’s three companions, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal, were arrested by Iranian authorities after accidentally crossing the border into Iran while hiking through Iraqi wilderness. The three are shown here hugging their mothers, who got visas to see their children in Iran. Bottom right: In addition to all of his travels, Meckfessel has also written a book. Suffled How it Gush: A North American Anarchist in the Balkans is the a novel about the 1999 NATO bombing in the Balkans. Bottom left: Shown here in his 1991 senior portrait, Shon Meckfessel enjoyed English and band class with Joe Lawrence.


Courtesy of the Tesoro


“I’ve lived a pretty crazy life, but this has got to be the

craziest”Courtesy of freethehikers.org

By DANIELLE ARBIOSMirada Staff

Community service is essential to sustain society. Without reaching out and helping others, our communities would fall apart.

Community service, for some, is a great way to help others; and for others it is a treacherous deed, which takes more work than it’s worth.

However, even kids who are unwilling to do community service often feel like it is a rewarding experience after going out into the community.

Activism allows even the most reluctant students to feel good about themselves while helping others as well.

Many teenagers don’t find community service interesting or worthwhile, seeing as they have their whole lives to get involved.

These kids just need a push in the right direction.What many teens don’t realize is that there is

only that one moment, that one chance, to make that one impact.

The problem is some students don’t understand how much of an impact it makes to volunteer, and how many people are affected.

This misconception is why it’s a great idea for schools to get kids involved and familiar with com-munity service programs. Required service hours teach students to help others so later in life they can

still help if they choose. Civitas is a great program that encourages stu-

dents to get involved.Civitas is a political studies academy where

students are encouraged to engage themselves in politics and become socially aware. Part of the re-quirements of the program is to fulfill 100 hours of community service by the end of senior year.

By making community service part of a student’s grade, it gives students initiative to start doing com-munity service.

Also, many students involved in Civitas find it invigorating and inspirational; it’s their job to find out the many opportunities available for students because those not involved in Civitas are not aware of these events. Requiring service hours leaves kids with no choice but to seek out the otherwise un-known service projects.

If there are more events and opportunities, then more people will find something they’re interested in and be more likely to volunteer outside of school.

Although it may seem that high school is just a place of learning, not a place of required volunteer-

ing, required community service is becoming a huge movement throughout many high schools.

Next year, the school is planning on requiring ten hours of community service from each student; it’s a step in the right direction.

Eventually having more than ten hours required would be ideal, as it would cause students to contrib-ute more of their time to help the community.

For now, though, just thinking about getting students involved to reach out towards others, will ultimately better the volunterring students and the school’s value.

It doesn’t matter how or why the kids are doing community service, or if they are “willing” or excited about it, because either way community service is getting done.

If every school requires community service for every student, then the community would have a whole new dimension helping them out. If they are happy to help, good. If not, still good, because they need character building and need to learn how to en-joy helping and giving back to the community.

Once they are introduced to community service, who knows? Maybe they’ll love it.

It’s like soup, you love it or you don’t. Have a little taste of soup, and go do some community service.

OUR VIEW

Opinion • The Mirada

The MiradaRIO AMERICANO

HIGH SCHOOL4540 American River Dr.Sacramento, CA 95864(916) 971-8921 ext. 80

[email protected]

Editors-in-ChiefSarah Vaira

Jessie ShapiroAlex Kleemann

News EditorsJessie Shapiro

Alex Kleemann

Opinion EditorsJessica Obert

Danielle Arbios

Sports EditorsSarah Vaira

Alli Henderson

Features EditorsAlex Chan

Tate Rountree

Photo EditorJarett Hartman

Staff WritersSuzanna Akins

Riva BallisJesse Bartels

Dylan CartierGina GaribaldiJarett Hartman

Thomas HemingtonDayna IsaacsEugene Kwon

Scott MacDonaldElise Marsh

Tandena NelsonSummer ParkerPerry

Rohith SachdevaRebecca SanfordAndrew Spittler

Rachel Tochterman

Business ManagerMolly Ingram

AdviserMichael Mahoney

[email protected]

The Mirada is the independent voice of the students and a forum for diverse ideas published by Rio Americano’s newspaper class.

The Mirada welcomes story ideas, comics, letters to the editor and opinion pieces. Submit ar-ticles and letters to the box in A3 or the main office. Unsigned edi-torials represent the views of the Mirada editorial board.

Opinion articles and letters to the editor are the views of the in-dividual writer and not necessar-ily the views of the Mirada or Rio Americano High School.

We welcome advertising, but reserve the right to refuse any ad.

“Yes, everyone should give back to the community. It’s a character builder! Be

Green!!!”

“Civitas already requires hours, and so do lots of other schools. I wouldn’t like

it, but it would make sense.”

“What has the community ever done for me?”

Marc Yee,11

Matt Saria,

10

Jackson Wagner,

12

AlexEngleburt,

9

Should community service be a graduation requirement?

Community service: selfless, or selfish?

Friday, May 28, 2010

“No, because you should want to do it on your own, and because it might cut

into time you’d spend studying.”

BARBARA KALUSTIAN/Guest Artist

opinion Friday, May 28, 2010 • The Mirada

New Arizona legislation has made it clear that not only do illegal immigrants not

have the right to reside in the U.S., but they no longer have rights.

The new law, SB 1070, gives the police the right to arbitrarily identify, prosecute, and deport illegal aliens. It states that policemen can detain any “reasonably suspicious” person who is not carrying adequate proof of his/her legal status. The law is the first to make not carrying identification and proof of legal status a misdemeanor.

This new stringent anti-immigra-tion policy has many obvious down-falls and was criticized by Obama himself (the White House rarely comments on state issues).

The law not only allows but also promotes racial profiling. Though they recently added a measure to prevent this, by requiring police stop

only those who broke a law, not just people who looked “suspicious” or, in other words, Mexican, the legislation still gives policemen the power to ar-bitrarily decide who they bring to jail.

This legislation opens the door for rampant misuse of police power. Anyone who looks “illegal” (i.e. His-panic) can be pulled over for simply forgetting to use their blinker and go to jail for forgetting their ID.

Anyone who is out of favor with a policeman can be arrested for simple absent-mindedness. One critic likened the treatment of illegal im-migrants allowed by this bill to that of free blacks prior to 1863.

Not only does this bill pave the way for abuse of police power, but it also provides the possibility of even more strain on our already ineffective justice system.

The law creates yet another point-less crime--not carrying your birth certificate if you are Hispanic--to crowd the court system.

The justice system is already inef-ficient and their are a number of laws that simply clog it up.

What we need to do now is review and revise already ineffective laws, not add new ones. If one has the

unluckiness of immigrating to the U.S. legally and forgetting to carry their green card to the grocery store down the street where two bored cops are looking for someone to pick up, they should prepare to deal with a bunch of legal nonsense and inconvenience.

The bill, meant to prevent illegal immigration, does little to stop people from coming to the United States or even effectively get rid of those who have already come.

Illegal immigrants will have little knowledge of this legislation before they come, and the threat of deporta-tion is already present without the law.

This merely creates difficulty for those of us who talk with an accent, look a little different, and forget to carry around our birth certificates 24/7.

Arizona’s new immigration law opens the door for racial profiling, abuse of police power, and an even less effective justice system.

Forget about the people taking $3 for a job that most of us wouldn’t do for a $1 million. Instead, focus more on the murderers, capitalists, and dirty politicians who are really ruining our society.

Jessica Obert

What is this world coming to when the state works to enforce laws that should be

enforced by the federal government? I’m sure a lot of people don’t even know that the law recently passed to fight against illegal immigration are laws already in existence.

The law that the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, passed only re-enforces an already existent federal ordinance.

Instead of actually reading the law passed, people are taking myths the media has spread as simple fact. But what they are saying is not fact.

Recently reported by the WSJ, nearly two-thirds of the American population agrees with Arizona, and 64% favor the law.

It is already in federal law that it is illegal for an individual to not register with the government as well as there to be a sanctuary city, a city that protects illegal immigrants, though you are allowed to sue against such legislation.

In addition, the law only allows police to arrest illegal aliens upon “reasonable suspicion;” they can-not arrest an individual because of the color of their skin. The rumor promoting racial profiling is a myth; in fact, it reduces the possibility of any such act more than the exist-ing federal law, where section two is amended to say that police authori-ties “may not consider race, color, or national origin” when determining if one is an illegal immigrant or not. Before, the police officers only had to consider those factors, so this law actually makes an effort to protect the fourth amendment against racial profiling.

Misinformation has led to rumors and outcries by the public over a law that only protects an already existent law. Arizona suffers a great deal due to illegal immigration, especially with the drug war spilling over the US border.

As quoted by the Arizona State Senator, Johnathon Paton, by the AFP, “The violence in terms of kidnapping, home invasions, and assassinations here has increased. We

see the violence flowing from Mexico into the US and we’re seeing we have to take different steps.”

Not to mention, Phoenix is home to the second most kidnappings in the world.

Not only that, but due to illegal immigration, the California Census recently reported that it costs CA more than 10.5 billion a year to provide education, medical care and incarceration to illegal immigrants, placing an unfair $1,183 burden on each legal taxpaying citizen a year to cover the cost of illegal immigrants.

Can you imagine how much Ari-zona must be suffering if Californians are having to pay this much?

Another myth about the Arizona law is that the law requires one to carry registration that one was not already required to carry. In fact, since the 1940s, it has been a federal crime for an illegal alien to not carry registration documents. Also, since a license is supposed to only be handed to legal citizens, a license is a form of registration for American citizens. So, American citizens do not have to carry their birth certificates with them at all times.

Myth number three: reason-able suspicion will lead to police misconduct. In truth, it does not do that as well, as exemplified in the Estrada v. Rhode Island case where a 15 year old was pulled over for a traffic violation and was asked for his license, which he did not have. Later, the boy told the officer that him and the passengers in the back were, in fact, illegal citizens. The law does not encourage law enforcement to pull over anyone they suspect to be illegal, just because; there has to be a legitimate reason.

Lastly, myth number four, the law will enforce that police officers randomly pull over and question people. In reality, law enforcement can only question an individual if one is stopped or arrested. Even if one commences questioning ones’ legal status, law enforcement must call ICE to confirm whether a person is legal or not.

The law in Arizona has been mis-construed to seem like an unconsti-tutional, racist law made to give law enforcement power to discriminate against hispanics. However, the state of Arizona, getting no help from the federal government is taking matters into their own hands, reinstating an already existent law, and protecting already legal U.S. citizens.

Is Arizona’s law the answer to illegal immigration?Yes: The new law is based on federal rules

No: The law is racist and unconstitutional

Alex Kleemann

Sarah Vaira/Mirada Staff

Dear Mirada,When reading the school news-

paper, I always find the articles with statistics on students and their busy school schedules fitting into their daily lives interesting. I think more articles on how school deprives us of sleep and how we never have time to do anything but school work would make the newspaper more interesting. Who knows, maybe the teachers will catch on that they should give out less homework if the keep seeing articles related to those subjects. Thanks for making a great paper and keep up the good work!-Stephanie Dalton, 11

Dear Mirada,Today we live

in a society where people think it is acceptable to pick on someone based on appearance, the way they move, talk, or are just different from the “norm” of everyone else. People make generalizations based on what they see, and more than 90 percent of the time, they are wrong. What people fail to realize is that the little things they say about peo-ple have long-term affects and ruin their high school lives. High school should be a time where people can learn and have fun without hav-ing to look behind their backs or change their appearances so people can treat them kindly. What I am trying to say is that, I want to see more articles on the effects people have on others through what they say, include statistics, and show people that they are not doing the right thing.

-Michael Johnson, 9

Dear Mirada,I really enjoy getting the Mirada each month. It’s fun and unique to read. My favorite part is reading the bachelor and bachelor-ette of the issue. I can tell you guys put a lot of hard work into it, and it pays off! Keep up the work and I can’t wait to read the next issue!-Macey Peterson, 10

Dear friends,The 30 years with the District

(Encina, Garfield, and the past 19 years here at Rio) have been the best! But now I have ended this chapter. I have enjoyed this campus, staff, and especially you students. So...I’ll say ‘Goodbye’ to all of you, I wish you well, and will wonder ‘what’s up?’!

Best Wishes,-Pat Starr

(aka Grand-ma)

Have an opinion?Submit your letters and/or articles

with your name and grade online at

[email protected]

MAIL MAIL

Friday, May 28, 2010

To be completely honest, I love my pajamas. I love my pajamas so much that I

even dare to wear them to school.I say “dare” because technically,

according to San Juan Unified School District’s “Rules for Suspension and Ex-pulsion,” pajamas fall under the category of “prohibited clothing.” However, label-ing simple pajama pants as “prohibited” seems just a little unreasonable.

According to San Juan’s list of the so-called forbidden clothing, pajamas fall under the exact same category as clothing that “promotes or symbolizes the use of drugs, alcoholic beverages, or tobacco,” as well as “clothing or acces-sories considered to denote gang lifestyle or affiliation, cult affiliation, satanic refer-ence, profanity, or contempt for any race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.”

It might just be me, but simple paja-mas certainly do not belong anywhere on that list. And for pajamas to warrant suspension or even expulsion, that’s just insane. There doesn’t seem to be any reason why San Juan shouldn’t lift the “restriction” on pajamas. Cracking down on pajama-wearers isn’t and shouldn’t be too high of a priority on the administra-tors’ lists.

Besides the fact that pajamas have ab-solutely nothing to do with Satan, cults, gangs, or illegal substances, pajamas aren’t at all a possible threat to “a positive, psychologically safe, and appropriate learning environment,” unlike the other items on the list.

I mean, if anything, they would add a little variety to our school’s extremely boring pair-of-jeans-and-uggs-mold. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more colors other the dull blues and grays that seem to dominate the student body’s wardrobe. And on top of that, they’re comfortable. Fashion and a little flare, what could be better than that?

Now, please understand when I say that we should be allowed to wear paja-mas to school, I’m not advocating that everybody should come to school barely dressed or in revealing lingerie. But as students who spend close to seven hours everyday at school, a place that many consider a second home, we should be granted the right to be comfortable and to express our individuality.

So why can’t SJUSD make this a win-win situation for both the students and the administration? By officially lifting the rule, maybe Rio would start looking a little livelier and brighter, and students could have a lot more fun with a wider array of possible clothing choices.

As for me, I know I’ll keep wearing my pajamas to school. Will you?

Sleep wear,

the new school wear

Jarett HartmanFormspring: Another Bully?

“Ask me anything.”These three words are

the headline for popular question-and-answer site, Form-spring.me, the latest social trend to hit the internet. A few months ago, Form-spring was unknown. Friends asked each other innocuous questions such as “What’s your favorite color?” or “If you could do one thing to change the world, what would it be?”

But ever since Formspring be-came the hottest social network-ing site since Facebook, things have changed. It is no longer the place where friends quiz each other, but now a place where internet bullies have the opportunity to attack their victims.

Formspring’s most controversial feature is its ability for users to ask anonymous questions. This allows literally anyone to share their feelings about their peers, whether those feel-ings are nice or not. People don’t even ask questions on Formspring these days; instead, they use the site as a way to spread nasty remarks.

Some of the things I’ve seen on Formspring are sickening. It’s diffi-cult to believe that students can be so cruel to their fellow peers.

“You are creepy. Stop trying to hit

on everyone when no one likes you,” one person wrote.

“People tell you you’re attractive on Formspring, but they would never say that to your face,” another said.

“Your senior ball dress was so ugly! My grandma dresses better than you,” one more person wrote.

Formspring isn’t just limited to the usual cattiness of the female pop-ulation. Even boys are insulting their friends with elementary school abuse such as “You’re fat” and “You smell bad.”

I just don’t understand where people find the energy to say such disgusting things to their classmates.

Everyone is exhausted from two weeks of AP testing in the middle of the month, yet the same people still have energy to get on the computer and concoct snarky comments to publicize on Formspring.

The abuse on Formspring has spi-raled out of control. There just isn’t any reason to spread animosity and cruelty over the internet. I don’t know about the rest of the Formspring pop-ulation, but I grew up following the saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.”

I find it even more dishearten-ing when abuse victims constantly

respond to the nasty comments they receive. They write back with vicious snide, “Why don’t you get a life and leave me alone?”

People shouldn’t have to deal with so much malice on a daily basis. Rath-er than spreading hatred, we should be spreading kindness and friendship.

Write something nice on a friend’s profile. I know that it brightened my day even to see a comment in my inbox that said, “I loved your prom dress.”

Don’t use Formspring as a plat-form for abuse; use it to be a good Samaritan, to make everyone’s day a little brighter.

By ALEX CHANMirada Staff

Editor’s Inbox:

Hannah Milstein/Guest Artist

opinion • The Mirada

The bike: a wonderful, simple invention. No motor to repair, no oil to refill, and most of all no exhaust to dam-age the environment. A vehicle powered entirely on the pure adrenaline and agility of a living being.

Of all modes of transportation deserving its own month, the bike is it.

May is bike month. Bicyclists around the coun-try are saddling their customized Specialized

road bikes or dusting off their old Schwinns, and hitting the bike trail.

We Sacramentans are surrounded by wonderful trails, scenery and

weather for biking. Bike month advocates encourage people to

take advantage of it. May also brought

the Tour of California to Sacramento. Some of

the best cyclists from around the world

rode from Grass Valley to the Capitol, includ-ing Lance Arm-strong, Levi L e i p h e i m e r and and the tour champi-on, Michael Rogers.

In an-other race, t e a c h e r s and a stu-dent from Rio won their divi-sion at the 24 Hours of Cool.

C h e m i s -try teacher

Phil Mont-briand, math

teacher William “George” Dun-

kum III, senior Nick Jimenez and

Dunkum’s wife Asa were first in co-ed

relay. But you don’t

have to be a racer to par-ticipate Bike Month. For the past few months

this reporter has started going out on weekend mornings and

following the river trail for miles. It is a truly amazing experience: sun,

rain, wind, hail, everyday holds a differ-ent beast to tackle. The American River bike path stretches

from Folsom Dam westward to downtown Sac-ramento, a 64 mile round trip that rises 450 feet in

elevation.

There are a dozen access points along the path that can lead you to main roads, so you can ride as long or short as you’d like.

Perhaps one of my favorite qualities the bike path possesses is that it’s immediate surroundings hold a nat-ural abundance of wildlife and vegetation, while mod-ern civilization is only, at the most, half a mile away.

At this time of year I would recommend starting your ride on a weekend morning. This way it wont be unbearably hot and you can acclimate to the trail as com-fortably as possible.

“Relaxing, beautiful, and voluptuous” is how se-nior Kevin Bush describes the American River bike path. “I don’t bike ride very often, but I’m planning on going a lot over summer. I can’t wait to ride everywhere on my bike. It’s going to be the best day ever,” said senior Alan Eyster.

Though the trail can be a fun-loving, relaxing point of interest, there is plenty of danger and risk of disaster. The trail embodies a false sense of security if you do not give it’s surroundings the proper attention and respect they deserve.

Economics and Psychology teacher, Kurt Cassaza, an avid bicyclist, has experienced his fair share of mis-haps, though non have proved to be too serious. He rides the trail three to five days a week, and has racked up quite a number of total hours dodging miscellaneous wildlife along the way.

“Unfortunately, I’ve hit two squirrels and a rabbit already. You have to watch out because they come out of nowhere,” said Cassaza. Cassaza also pointed out that it is very important to wear a helmet. Many bikers in the area have been caught by misfortune, such as being hit by cars or getting caught off guard by wildlife, and not wearing a helmet can be the difference between a quick recovery, or being in a wheelchair the rest of your life.

Cassaza also organized 15 teachers to participate in a bike month challenge. Teachers set a goal of riding 3,100 miles during May. Mayisbikemoth.org has set a goal of 1 million miles. As of last Friday the teachers had logged 2,200 miles

Bike Month organizers strongly urge everyone to go out this summer and start some kind of new physical ac-tivity. It does not necessarily need to involve bike riding if that is not your type of thing, but I highly recommend it. If you are looking for a new healthy experience, grab that old bike from the attic, pump up those tires, and hit the pavement.

May offers chain ofevents for cyclists

2.

B ANDREW SPITTLERMirada Staff

3.

1.

Bike Month

1. Dylan Cartier rides his bike along the levee after school.2. Tour de France win-ner Lance Armstong bikes trhough Sacramento in the race. 3. Mark Cavendish and Michael Rodgers race through Nevada city. 4. Armstong looks on as he bikes. 5. A BMC Team rider pedals through the starting line at the 2010 tour of California.

4. 5.

Features • The Mirada Friday, May 28, 2010

Where art thou wall mural?Attention: The wall mural by the art rooms is

missing. But have no fear, it is still in the process of

receving a new coat of paint.In art teacher Leslie Cusick’s room, students

gather every day to work on the latest mural, which combines different ideas and styles to cre-ate a lasting piece of Rio history.

“It is a tradition that the mural is taken down and changed every couple of years,” junior Han-nah Milstein said.

Each time art students remove the mural in order to repaint it, they switch which side they paint on.

Later, they save the opposite side for another painting to appear in the following years.

According to Milstein, with many diverse and distinctive student artists at Rio, various styles of paintings characterize each mural and make it di-

verse in its own way.“Since there are so many different people with

different painting styles working on the mural, the painting is especially unique,” Milstein said

Students are starting with a different basis and theme than usual.

This time around, they are drawing art within the boundaries of a television screen.

“The mural starts at the same base of TVs,” Milstein said. “We paint different types of televi-sions and paint scenes within the existing screen.”

The finish date is not yet definite, but Cusick estimated that it will be complete either at the end of this year, or the beginning of next.

“If we run into problems, we’ll have some students finish it up at the beginning of the year,” Cusick said.

So don’t forget to keep a look out for the mounting of the new wall mural.

The decorative artwork will signify a new year and times to come at Rio, displaying a piece of lasting student art.

By JESSICA OBERTMirada Staff

Art students join together to paint a wall mural to reflect the start of the upcoming school year

Clockwise from top: 1) A sketch of the wall mural next to English teacher Matthew Valencich’s room. The mural will depict a scene from William Shakespeare’s classic play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 2) Junior Barbara Kalustian paints the background of the Midsummer Night’s Dream mural. 3) Seniors Katie Cannon, Sheila Emami, and Julia Scha-ber outline their TV mural during art class. Art teacher Leslie Cusick said she hoped the mural would be finished by the end of the school year. 4) Cannon adds finishing touch-es to her TV. The final mural will display scenes inside the TV. Photos by Jens Driller.

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3

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FeaturesFriday, May 28, 2010 Page 14 • The Mirada

Two’s are a very important num-ber when it comes to superhero mov-ies. Two’s are where a series can move ahead and prove themselves or get buried and forgotten. In the past we’ve had some amazing two’s and some horrible two’s. Then there are the two’s that are somewhat in the middle, that aren’t better than the first film, but aren’t terrible. “Iron Man 2” falls into this distinction.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is back, and is living it up as Iron Man, having brought about a long period of peace. However, he is under pressure from the government to sell the Iron Man technology so that they can wea-ponize it. Meanwhile, he is also under pressure to run Stark Industries while trying to find a replacement for his ar-tificial heart, without which his blood will become toxic and kill him.

Then, a new villain comes in from Russia: Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), whose father, Anton, helped Tony’s father, Howard, develop the original Iron Man technology. With his fa-ther’s plans, Vanko builds a suit for himself with two electrically charged whips and attempts to kill Stark, but is not successful, and is arrested. Howev-er, he is picked up by Justin Hammer

(Sam Rockwell), who is the CEO of Hammer Industries, a competitor to Stark Industries. He hires Vanko to de-sign new suits for him, but Vanko has plans of his own.

The film also features other Marvel characters such as Black Widow (Scar-lett Johansson), Nick Fury (Sam Jack-son), and Lt. Rhodes (Don Cheadle) as War Machine.

Seeing all of these Marvel charac-ters that I know and love up on the screen was an extremely fun experi-ence, and for the most part the movie tries to stay pulpy and fun.

In this era of dark, serious super-hero films like “The Dark Knight”, it’s nice to take a breather and see some-thing that’s just pure entertainment. I don’ t have to analyze the film, I just have to sit back and watch Iron Man beat up thugs, and it’s fun.

Unfortunately, the film is not as good as the first one because the screenplay by Justin Theroux is ex-tremely unbalanced. A good superhe-ro film has to have an equal amount of exposition and character development as well as an equal amount of exciting action scenes, but Theroux’s screen-play seems to rest entirely on the char-acter of Stark himself, with very little of the actual Iron Man suit.

I understand what Theroux was

trying to do; he was trying to focus more on Tony Stark, to bring out his inner psychological problems after the stakes have been raised with a new villain. Unfortunately, Tony Stark just isn’t complex or interesting enough as a character to do this. He’s a bil-lionaire playboy, he’s got a huge ego, he’s a huge narcissistic jerk. It’s almost impossible to really care about him be-cause he’s not likable, and his past isn’t very interesting or sad, really.

Since Stark doesn’t have a tragic past like Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker, his motivation seems a little shaky. We aren’t really led to understand why Stark feels the need to save everyone, and so the film tends to drag.

However, those moments where Stark puts on the Iron Man suit are absolutely incredible. The action scenes in the film are very-well cho-reographed and use very little of the annoying “Shaky-Cam” effect that’s plagued so many action films these days. There’s also a great fight scene between Iron Man and War Machine, and the final fight between Vanko, Iron Man, and War Machine is excellent.

But still, overall the film feels hol-low. The action scenes are incredibly short, and I was extremely disappoint-ed to find so many characters under-used. Mickey Rourke is entertaining as hell playing Ivan Vanko, but he only has two big action scenes, both of which are ended quickly, and we don’t learn a whole lot about him.

Instead of the cool villain with the electric whips, the film seems far more interested in Justin Hammer, the neb-bish CEO of Hammer Industries. Sam Rockwell is fine in the role, but frankly, the character of Hammer is boring, annoying, and should have been killed off. Instead, he steals almost every sin-

gle scene in the film. Yes, he’s impor-tant to the plot because he hires Vanko and gives him money to develop his technology further, but that’s all he should have been, just a guy to push the plot.

I don’t care about Hammer at all, I don’t want to see him and Tony Stark fighting over ownership of the Iron Man technology, I want to see Iron Man and Ivan Vanko going at it!

That’s the whole problem with the film; it focuses way too much on character rather than entertainment. I mean, come on! This film isn’t the next Batman or Spider-Man; I don’t pick up an Iron Man comic to hear about his crippling depression and alcohol-ism, I pick one up to see a rich guy with an awesome suit fight people!

The film isn’t horrible; it’s just not blowing anyone away. Rather than being bigger and better than the first movie, the sequel feels more like it’s trying to bridge the gap between the first and third films, which Jon Favreau reportedly has big plans for. If you’re a huge comic book geek like me you’ll probably have a good time just being strung along by all of the entertaining characters that make an appearance, but if you don’t even have the slightest interest in Iron Man, give it a miss and wait for the Captain America movie.

By JESSE BARTELSMirada Staff

MOVIE REVIEW

Action scenes can’t save disappointing Ironman 2

Recent RecordsSenseless screams aren’t your ‘Best Friend’

I’ve been a fan of Oneohtrix Point Never for a while. Daniel Lopatin’s newest album, “Re-turnal,” is by far his most progressive album to date, moving from pure synthesizer arpeggiators into a weird amalgamated genre that dabbles in IDM, drone, and older, more classical electronic music.

“Returnal,” which is a combination of the words “eternal” and “return,” seems to have not only a cyclical theme, but also seems to go to two contradicting places at the same time: a primor-dial landscape and the deep future.

The first track, which is an epic 15 minutes, is a synth opera of sorts. “Nil Admirari” rips apart all preconceieved notions of what Oneohtrix Point Never is and what music is made under the name. This track is loud, abrasive, and extremely

fast-paced. The song slowly morphs into “Describing

Bodies,” which is more along the lines of what Oneohtrix Point Never has done before, good synth loops and a calming feel.

“Stress Waves” is the next motion in the synth opera that is even softer than the previous movement; warm synth tones and pads looping to create an otherworldly ocean.

The title track of the album is also another first for Oneohtrix Point Never, reason being: lyrics. Oddly rhythmic synth is the only back-ing in this song making it sparse and lonely. The voice also gives a strange alien feel, almost Davis Bowie-esq yet pitch shifted and metallic feeling.

“Where Does Time Go” is the most regres-sive of all of the tracks, sounding similar to Lopa-tin’s first limited cassette release “Betrayed in the Octagon.”

The last song on the album “PreyouandI” again deals with the inevitable return, taking similar sounds from “Nil Admirari” and slowing down and reusing stripped down lyrics from the title track.

Overall the album is a complete killer, defi-nitely the most futuristic and far out release un-der the Oneohtrix Point Never name and defi-nitely the most crystal clear in its approach and sound. The cyclical nature of the whole album and it’s relationship towards time also makes it more and more interesting. A highly recom-mended album and for sure something I will constantly revisit.

-Christian Oldham

Oneohtrix Point Never“Returnal”

Symphonic synths signify sound ‘Returnal’

Kate Nash“My Best Friend is You”

Pop darling Kate Nash has often been compared to fellow British singer Lily Allen. It’s easy to see how critics have commonly grouped their music together, especially when both women sugarcoat their malicious lyrics with sweet, piano-filled melodies to fill their listeners’ ears.

On her latest release, “My Best Friend is You,” Nash breaks away from her stereotype as a Lily Allen knockoff by incorporating more guitars and spoken word, as compared to Allen’s signature synthesizers.

“My Best Friend is You” drastically differs from Nash’s first release, “Made of Bricks,” which juxtaposed dark lyrics with upbeat music.

In tracks such as “Kiss the Grrrl” and “I

Just Love You More,” Nash takes advantage of rumbling electric guitars that make for a per-fect soundtrack for summer days at the beach. The screeching guitars don’t seem to go well with her tiny, angelic voice but nevertheless emphasize her versatility as an artist.

Nash goes for utter nonsense in “Take Me to a Higher Plane,” where she spends most of the chorus chanting “Wah ah ah ah” repeat-edly. Then, in “Mansion Song,” she noticeably switches genres, going from pop to spoken word. The first half of the song features Nash literally screaming about sex in the 21st cen-tury, her voice echoing off the walls as though she’s speaking straight from a “Twilight Zone” episode.

While the middle few tracks of the album showcase a different, more edgy side of Nash, her last few songs truly epitomize who she is as an arist—a truly unique singer with a knack for piano ballads and whimsical lyrics.

“Early Christmas Present” and “Pick-pocket” are two tracks that are reminiscent of Nash’s first album and will surely satisfy de-vout fans. However, other parts of the albums simply don’t live up to her potential. The fire-cracker Brit is much more impressive playing the piano and signing about broken relation-ships than babbling sheer absurdity.

Although “My Best Friend is You” has its musical moments, it lacks tracks that made “Made of Bricks” so memorable.

-Alex Chan

Features Friday, May 28, 2010Page 13 • The Mirada

The Mustard Seed Spin benefits the Mustard Seed School for homeless children.

It’s an awesome organized bike ride along the river for kids of all ages.Do something good for yourself

and somebody else!Bring some friends and make a day of it...

Register on our website to ride onSunday, September 26:

www.mustardseedspin.orgSee you there!

Yearbooks are still on sale!It’s not too late to buy one!

$75Buy online at

yearbookordercenter.comnumber: 7574


Sweet Rides

How did you get your car?I got my car from my mama and papa. I needed a car to get to school, and this was the one. It’s been serving me well ever since.

What’s your favorite thing about your car?My favorite thing about my

car is the wide variety of mu-sic in it. My favorite artists to listen to are the Benny’s, Jack Johnson, and Biggie Smalls.

Why do you like your car?I like my car because it fits my personality: plain and simple.

What’s the most interesting experience you’ve had with your car?One time when I was driving to a Rio tennis match, I was so

tired that I fell asleep at a red light. About five cars honked at me and woke me up.

What are you going to do with your car while you’re in college?I’m going to leave my car at home while I’m at college. I’ve got a bike and longboard that I need to get reacquaint-ed with.

-Jarett Hartman

Ted Burchett, 122005 Honda Civic

FeaturesFriday, May 28, 2010 Page 14 • The Mirada

What do you look for in a guy?Trust, respect, relaxed, and open to new things.

Casual or more formal dates?Casual, like out to a River Cats game or to the park.

What makes you different from oth-er girls at Rio?I have fun doing anything!

What’s your best feature?I’m really laid back.

What do you look for in a girl?Any features identical to Loveleen Brar.

What’s your best feature? I got myself some smooth moves.

What’s your best pickup line?Girl, do you have a license? ’Cause you’re driving me crazy.

What is your perfect date?Chuck E. Cheese’s with Loveleen.

1. Summer is almost here, what new hobbies are you consider-

ing?a. Aging, collecting dust, wrinkling, you know.b. Traveling across Europe where US currency is GOLD.c. I’m going to lasso enough sharks to drag me through

the very first ever circumnavigation of the globe by shark. Someone call

Guinness.d. Longboard + baseball bat = zombie drive-bys.

2. L’été est pres, quelles nouveaux choses feras-tu?a. Je compte gagner Mo’ Dollaz.b. I don’t speak that thar frenchy lang-gidge. This is ‘MURICUH.c. J’écouterai “Rad Bromance” par Señor Gaga tous les temps.d. Je vais écrire quelque fiction de Raider Quiz.

3. Greece’s economy is collapsing, how would you fix it?a. They’re obviously very “greece-y”, so I’d sell all that “greece” as a valuable export. It’s the same thing as soil.b. Ahd give ‘dem all mah cashez n’ benjaminz. ‘Dem benjaminz iz chump change!c. I would find some technological development that Greece could specialize in the production of, and subsequently export. Or just throw money at them, that seems to help.d. NPR says I must send money to Greece. All hail NPR. Morning Edition forever.

4. How can I keep the Raider Quiz flame alive?a. Petition your congressman, then stay tuned for further Raider Quiz updates.b. Just stay classy, respect your elders/teachers, and never forget that chivalry is still alive.c. Wear gender-appropriate clothes. Sorry, the administration told us to write that.d. Get “Raider Quiz #1” tattooed on your forehead. Or get it shaved into the side of your head Kanye West- style. We’re not picky.

5. As its writers are graduating this year, what will you miss most about the Raider Quiz?a. The secret directives from Elvis. To crack the code, just read every other word. Keep giving us money in love your beautiful hearts.b. Hands down, best part of The Mirada.c. Somehow it keeps me informed on current events.d. Its cancer-fighting enzymes.

-Alex McFall & Scott McDonald

Bachelor and Bachelorette

-Dylan Cartier

Tyler Broadland, 10

Megan Macha, 10

It seems like Benicia and Rio are good at taking turns when it comes to girls sectional soccer titles.

Unfortunately for the Raiders it was Benicia's turn this year, as the Pan-thers won 1-0 in the Sac-Joaquin sec-tion championship game at Folsom High on Saturday.

Rio, who has played in the cham-pionship game for four years in row, beat Benicia last year and lost to them in 2008.

This year, Benicia junior Emily Smith scored on Rio only 3 minutes into the game. This quick goal was part of Benicia head coach Josh Brad-ley's strategy.

A tough first half became even more difficult for the Raiders when an injury befell junior Candace Edwards, a key player.

"I was dribbling, and a defender came up behind me," Edwards said. "I landed on my leg wrong. It bent the wrong way, and I heard a pop."

Losing a starting player to a knee injury in the championship game was a discouraging blow for Rio, but the team continued to fight for the sec-tion title.

Determined to score, Rio be-came more aggressive in the second half of the game. Two Rio players received yellow cards, but the game remained 0-1 for 78 minutes.

Benicia matched Rio's intensity. Three Panther players had shots on goal, though they were unable to put one past Rio sophomore goalie Mi-chaela Milesi.

In the last few minutes of the game, Rio quickly took a penalty kick, shooting before most of the oppos-ing players could set up their defense. Nonetheless, Benicia goalie Tori Klug still made the save.

The referee blew the ending whistle, and the score remained 0-1 for Benecia.

Despite losing this last game, the girls had a very successful season. The team was undefeated going into the championship game, and finished the year 10-1-5.

It was an impressive season for a team who had obstacles from the start. The team was very young hav-ing only five seniors, all of whom were defense players. These seniors include Sherene Thompson, Haley Val, Meg Lewis, Alexis Mendoza, Ashley Tay-lor. Thompson and Val were on var-sity all four years.

The team knew they had huge cleats to fill for the season. Last year, Rio won sectionals with an undefeat-ed season. Head coach Jennifer Smi-ley also coached last season, and her expectations remained just as high for this season: winning sectionals.

Smiley and assistant coach Bill Taylor pushed for the team's success from the start. Each year, girls join from different soccer teams and clubs,

and the coaches strive to make the girls come together as a united team.

At the beginning of the season, the girls were not very close as a team, and the coaches could see this in the games.

Taylor describes them as a "hard-working, intelligent group of girls; no one was on academic probation." He believes their motivation and effort from school also show on the field, and the first challenge was to put forth these skills as a team.

However, after the first few games and hardworking practices, the girls quickly overcame this obstacle,

and began to "play as a team and win as a team," Smiley said.

Last year's group of girls relied more on individu-al talent, whereas this year, the players became a true team.

"There is no 'I' in team, and there are definitely no 'I's here," Smiley said. "Coming together as a team keeps us winning."

The seniors also contributed to the team's success, and their legacy will help the team for next season. The coaches expect seniors to be lead-

ers, and they expect juniors to learn how to lead the team from the seniors. This helps build the team for the up-coming year.

The coaches additionally want the junior varsity girls to learn from the upperclassmen.

"We have a program at Rio. The JV team practices with varsity in order to build the skills they'll need for the varsity level," Taylor said.

Overall, the girls truly grew to-

gether as a team, improving phe-nomenally from the start.

Milesi is proud of how far her team has come. "We have been a re-ally strong team, and even though we lost, I'm happy that Jen was able to help us come this far to champi-onships for the second year in a row. We're going to come back next year even more prepared to win!"

SportsFriday, May 28, 2010

Girls face tough competition in section championship

1: Sophomore Alexa Heinzer shoots against Benicia’s goalie during the section final game on May 22. 2: Junior Lauren Kohastu dribbles past a Benicia defender in the midfield. 3: Junior Candace Edwards is carried off the field after fall-ing and injuring her knee at the end of the first half of the section finals game. Edwards did not return to play the rest of the game. 4: Senior Sheren Thompson steals the ball and accelerates past the defender.

By DAYNA ISSACSMirada Staff

• The Mirada

Photos courtesy of Heather Peterson

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Sports Friday, May 28, 2010 • The Mirada

But with a powerful hitter, a pitch-er throwing gas, and if the ball hits the sweet spot it will jump off the bat at a very high velocity. Wooden bat or metal.

I leave the safety decision to the experts. I'm just a pitcher. But there is another reason to consider banning aluminum bats.

Metal bats are a way for weaker hit-

ters to get by at the high school level by sticking out their backside and get-ting a lucky base hit or a ground ball with eyes.

Trust me, I've given up my fair share of "hits" that with a wood bat would never have made it out of the infield. Especially when I'm pitching, and a hitter the size of a 12 year old squeaks out a base hit with that metal bat of his.

I have played in tournaments in Arizona and Georgia against talented

high school players. In these tour-naments every batter has to swing a wooden bat, and they still hit bombs and seeds all over the yard. If a high school player can knock one out of the park with a wooden bat, imagine what could be done with metal. Risk and injuries are part of sport. The ex-perts will decide if aluminum bats are too risky.

One of the hardest things to do in sports is hitting a baseball. That chal-lenge is part of what makes the game

great. Using an aluminum bat makes hitting easier and so diminishes the game--if only in a minor way.

While the experts look at risk and injury, they should consider the qual-ity of the game, too.

But the game will go on no matter what they decide.

When it comes time to step up to the plate it's too late to worry about what type of bat you are using, you just have to play the game.

BATS: Safety decision left to experts

In the 21st Century, girls strive to get into S.T.E.M. (science, technol-ogy, engineering, and math)--and into Coach Smith's K.R.A.C. class: kayak-ing, rock climbing, archery, and com-pass navigation.

No previous experience is required and for 17 weeks students have the op-portunity to engage in unique outdoor recreation.

Coach believes in equal oppor-tunity for girls. He has adapted the Chinese proverb about the man and the fish: If you "give a girl a fish you feed her for a day. But if you teach her how to fly fish, she can feed herself for a lifetime."

In Outdoor Adventures, girls, (and boys), learn to become experts at ty-ing flies and casting lines.

And they learn backpacking sur-vival skills, too, such as how to build a fire with a flint and how to clean game.

Like the futuristic author Ray Bradbury, whom he admires, Coach disdains a dependence on technology. So he has chosen a curriculum that spans the centuries: from archery to rock climbing.

He cautions against relying exclu-sively on a G.P.S. system, which may not always be avaliable or safe. He wisely believes that students should understand the digital technology (small 'd') and learn to let their fingers do the navigating--with a real com-pass.

But this exciting class is not just about surviving in the outside world. Coach realizes that it is also good to unwind at the end of a long school week and take a look at your surround-ings.

Making excellent use of Rio’s ri-parian locale, he allows an occasional “Constitutional” along the river bank. Students bring snacks and their favor-ite book for a relaxing hour.

The fact that Rio is not on a delta directly going to the ocean, does not deter Coach Smith from wanting students to kayak--even if it is in the swimming pool!

But even compassionate Coach Smith doesn’t demand too much of the kids--being tipped over in your kayak so you can struggle to the sur-face is extra credit.

This is a once in a high-school life-time opportunity to meet challenges and test your fortitude.

Smith givessurvival techniques in outdoor education

By ABBIE JENNINGSMirada Staff

Boys varsity baseball wins league for first time in ten years and goes to playoffs

1: Freshman Guillermo Salazar throws out his bat for a bunt during an early inning of the play off game vs. Rodriquez High School. 2: (From left to right) Freshman Alec Kazanjian, sophomore Sutter McLough-lin, junior Kenny Moulton, and junior Kenny Tripp stand in the infield during a stoppage of play due to poor sportsmanship from a Del Campo player. De-spite the ejection of the oppos-ing athlete, Del Campo won the conference game 7-0. 3: Senior captain Andy Bissell sticks his mitt out to catch a pitch from senior pitcher Thomas Heming-ton during the playoff game against Rodriguez. 4: Heming-ton throws one of his trademark fastballs also during the game against Rodriguez. Thanks to his consistency on the mound, Rio defeated Rodriguez 7-0.

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SARAH VAIRA/Mirada staff

From BATS page 20

SportsFriday, May 28, 2010 • The Mirada

As I slipped my toes into their individual compartments, I could feel the comfort and freedom of the shoes begin to take effect. Instantly I felt a wave of primal instincts begin to take over as I arose and began to walk "barefoot" in my new Vibram Five Fingers.

Just a few weeks ago I purchased the Vibram Five Fingers KSO to sat-isfy my craving curiosity with this bizarre-looking shoe I had seen on the internet. Before that, I had only once seen the Vibram Five Fingers in action on the feet of a friend's friend.

Now, as a three week user of these shoes I deem them "pure awe-someness."

The concept: Barefoot running. For thousands of years "man" has re-lied on his two bare feet as his only means of transportation. Ranging from the geographic movement of nomadic civilizations or the primal hunting of wild animals, I am fairly sure that they were not wearing Ree-boks or Nikes when performing these tasks.

Just as civilizations evolve ev-eryday, the commercial usage of foot-

wear has grown as well. What once were bare feet are now covered and laced with an assortment of padding and materials which may be stylish

yet sacrificing optimum health with use. Because of this crossover from bare feet to modern shoes, running efficiency, muscle development, coor-

dination/balance, as well as other key components of natural running have been lost among the general popula-tion.

Because of this, many companies have began to focus a specific line of shoes to function for better health. A few examples would include the Sketchers "Shape Ups" as well as the Nike "Free." Both of these shoes were designed for better physical health, however cannot even be classified within the same category or competi-tion as the Vibram Five Finger KSO.

Specifically, the Vibram Five Fin-ger KSO is the rising favorite among the line of Vibram shoes. The versa-tility of the shoe is amazing and can-not be beat. There is literally nothing that cannot be done with these shoes. Sprint, run, jump, climb, or fly... well maybe not fly, but you get the point.

Breaking down specs of the shoe, the millimeter thick cloth/mesh on top is extremely breathable allow-ing a small amount of perspiration yet protection from debris. Within the Vibram Five Finger line, the KSO stands for (Keep Stuff Out), which they do quite well.

Next the thick hard rubber bot-tom protects my feet from sticks,

stone, as well as the spiky little brown balls that fall from trees. The rubber bottom is much harder than a usual rubber and is also an engineered shape to help support the specific contours of my feet.

Last but certainly not least, the shoe has has individual compart-ments for all ten toes. The sizing may be different for everyone but most likely works out to fit all the toes. In addition a strap which wraps around my ankle provides a range of comfort from tight running to loose walking. This strap as well helps "keep stuff out."

All in all the shoe costs $85.00 MSRP; however may be inflated at private stores because of such high demand. This price is quite reason-able in comparison to the $110 Shape Ups and similar $85 Nike Free. Sold out almost everywhere, the Vibram Five Finger KSO's are a difficult shoe to find and when found are hard to come by again.

Of all the shoes that I've worn, mostly PUMA, I have never had a shoe so comfortable and versatile as the Vibram FF KSO's. I give it two thumbs and two big toes up!

Preps of the issue

Varsity Girls Softball

Apr. 10 vs. Placer L 1-5Apr. 10 vs. Capital Christian L 0-7Apr. 13 @ Bella Vista L 0-9Apr. 15 @ El Camino L 2-8Apr. 22 vs. Del Campo L 0-10Apr. 26 vs. Casa Roble L 0-18Apr. 27 @ Mira Loma W 21-3Apr. 29 vs. Bella Vista L 0-14May 4 vs. El Camino L 3-4May 6 @ Casa Roble L 0-15May 13 vs. Mira Loma W 7-16

Apr. 10 Bronco Invit. @ B.V. 9:00 amApr. 16 *#Woody Wilson @ UC Davis Apr. 16 Del Oro Invite 1:00 Apr. 21 Center Meet 3 @ B.V. 3:30Apr. 23 Distance Carnival 5:30

Apr. 30 Twilight Meet @ El Dorado HSMay 1 *Meet of Champions 11:00 @ Hughes Stadium May 7 #Nevada Union Invite May 13 CAL Finals @ B.V. 3:30May 19/21 *#SJS Div. 2 Trials 3:30/4May 27/28 *#SJS Masters Meet 3:00 @ Hughes StadiumJune 4/5 *#C.I.F. State Meet 2:00 @ Buchanan HS

Apr. 27 vs. Jesuit/St. Franci @ RioApr. 28 vs. CAL Diving Champs Apr. 30 vs. CAL Swim Champs May 1 vs. CAL Swim ChampsMay 6 vs. Diving Sec. GirlsMay 7 vs. Diving Sec. BoysMay 8 vs. Diving Finals- G&BMay 13 vs. Swim Sec. GirlsMay 14 vs. Swim Sec. BoysMay 15 vs. Swim Sec. Finals

Varsity Boys Volleyball

Apr. 6 vs. Union Mine L 0-3Apr. 8 @ El Dorado L 0-3Apr. 10 @Grant W 2-0Apr. 13 vs. Oak Ridge L 0-3Apr. 15 vs. Ponderosa L 1-3Apr. 17 @ Nevada Union L 0-2Apr. 20 vs. Vista del Lago L 2-3Apr. 22 @ El Camino W 3-1Apr. 27 @ Christian Brothers W 3-0Apr. 29 @ Union Mine L 0-3May 4 vs. El Dorado W 3-1May 6 @ Oak Ridge L 0-3

Varsity Girls Soccer

Apr. 19 @ Mira Loma W 3-0Apr. 21 vs. Bella Vista T 2-2Apr. 26 vs. El Camino W 2-1 Apr. 28 @ Casa Roble T 0-0May 3 @ Del Campo W 3-1 May 5 vs. Mira Loma W 7-1May 13 vs. Vanden W 5-0May 18 @ Rodriguez W 1-0May 22 vs. Benicia L 0-1

Apr. 6 vs. El Camino 3:30Apr. 8 vs. Casa Roble 3:30 @ Arden Hills RCApr. 13 vs. Mira Loma 3:30 @Arden Hills RCApr. 15 vs. Bella Vista 3:30 @Rollingwood RCApr. 20 vs. Del Campo 3:30Apr. 22 vs. El Camino 3:30 @ Arden Hills RCApr. 27 vs. Casa Roble 3:30May 11 vs. Team Sectionals TBAMay 12 vs. Team Sectionals TBAMay 13 vs. Individual Sectionals TBA @Johnson RanchMay 14 vs. Individual Sectionals TBA @Johnson Ranch

Apr. 30 vs. Mira Loma W 11-0May 5 @ Mira Loma W 14-0May 5 vs. Del Campo L 7-10May 7 @ Del Campo W 7-1May 10 vs Casa Roble W 5-4 May 11 @ Casa Roble W 5-4May 12 @ Casa Roble L 3-4May 20 Rodriguez W 7-0

Date Opponent Time

Date Opponent Time

Varsity Boys Tennis

By EUGENE KWONMirada Staff


Mirada staff writer Eugene Kwon models his new Vibram Five Fingers KSO shoes. The individual toe compartments and rubber sole engi-neered to fit the contours of the foot take on new barefoot running technology.

Date Opponent Time

Varsity Swimming

Varsity Boys BaseballDate Opponent Time

Date Opponent Time

Varsity Track

Vibram Five Finger shoes pave the way for barefoot running

How long have you been playing soccer?Since I was six...something like that.

How was winning the section title last year?Pretty sweet.

How was the season?We won league for the third time in a row.

What’s the best moment you’ve had this year?I got two hat tricks...oh wait, that was Can-dace.

What’s your pre-game ritual?Hydrate and we show up.

How is the team chemistry?I love my team.

-Thomas Hemington

How long have you been playing volley-ball? 4 years, the best 4 years of my life.

What’s your best experience?Bwong, and when I spiked the ball in this guy’s face.

What’s your pre-game ritual?Go to the river, chew some sun flower seeds, bump to some tunes, and drive a car full of kids to all of our games.

Are you planning on playing next year?I’m playing club volleyball next year at Boul-der. They have a league where they travel around the state and play other schools.

How was the season?This was the best year we’ve had, we had a winning percentage of over 500.

-Thomas Hemington

Ashley Taylor 12Varsity Soccer

Micah Mador 12Varsity Volleyball

Scores and Results

Date Opponent Time

Date Opponent Time

For the first time in eight years, Rio Americano’s men’s tennis team has finally reclaimed their title of Sec-tion Champions.

Senior Ted Burchett, who has played for Rio Tennis since his fresh-man year, says that reclaiming Rio‘s title was “a great team effort.”

“I really loved winning sectionals because it was the work of the entire team, not an individual effort. It was great to win it as a team, and it was about time that Rio won it again.”

For four years, Burchett and his teammates eagerly awaited the oppor-tunity to give Rio back it’s title. After winning his match by nearly sweeping both sets of six games, Burchett, pant-ing from nearly 45 minutes of intense play, said “What a great way to end a season.”

Spectator and tennis supporter senior Ben Egan noted that all of the matches’ were energized and the play-ers were full of passion for the game.

“They fought and sweat, and it was some great tennis to watch,” Egan said. “I’ve never seen back-and-forth look so interesting. The rallies really drew me in. Those matches were nuts.”

But getting to the championship wasn’t in any ways easy. Many hours of rigorous, but vital practices were needed in order to prepare for the lineup of challenging schools that

stood between the team and their title.“For the tournament players on

our team, our tennis coach let us play sets against each other and do our own thing to prepare,” Burchett said. “But what our coach really stressed was our Doubles teams. He really wanted to build stronger Doubles teams because he knew that that‘s what it would come down to.”

As far as a practice schedule, the players barely even got a break from the game, Burchett said.

“During the regular season, we practiced Monday through Thursday,”

Burchett said. “But once we got into sectionals, we

practiced everyday that we didn’t have a match in order to prepare for our net matches.”

However, in the end, it was all worth the effort. Rio became Section Champions after winning the champi-onship rounds 6-3 against competing school, Granite Bay High School.

Even before becoming section champions though, Rio had to fight hard to become Division Champions, which they have been for eleven of the past twelve years years.

Even though the team lost in the

tournament between all of the teams who won Sectionals in all of Northern California, Burchett said that the year was “extremely successful.”

“I think we started off the year with two major goals: the first goal was to do our best in Fresno and our second goal was to win Sectionals, which was our major goal for this year,” Burchett said. “We weren’t really together as a team at first, but when it was time to step it up, we all came together. A lot of people really stepped up, and that really brought the team up.”

SportsFriday, May 28, 2010

Aluminum bat use provokes debate

Varsity tennis wins section title

JARETT HARTMANMirada Staff

THOMASHEMINGTON

It's baseball. It's hardball. If you're scared of a line drive, go home.

The past four years of pitching and playing the field in high school has taught me something about the risks that come with the game I love.

I have spent countless hours playing, watching, and learning the ways of baseball. There's been many weekends when I have driven to Davis or Chico to spend an en-tire day out on the mound covered by the sweltering sun.

And I've seen my share of line drives. I've gotten lucky by throw-ing up my glove at the last second to fend off a heat-seeking bullet on a mistake pitch I left too high in the zone. Last week, I had to hit the deck in a playoff game to dodge a line drive off the clean-up hitter from Rodriquez.

Not everyone has been so lucky. Earlier this season, Gunnar

Sandberg, a pitcher for Marin Catholic High School, suffered a severe concussion when he was hit in the head with a ball hit from an aluminum bat.

In response, a California legisla-tive committee has advanced a bill that would place a two-year ban on the use of metal bats in high school baseball.

The bill makes sense because it will buy athletic leagues time to review the risks of aluminum bats.

It's true that the ball comes off an aluminum bat faster than wooden. But the difference isn't that much. One study clocks the difference at 88 mph and 92 mph for wooden and metal bats.

As much as it seems it's not, baseball is a contact sport, but the use of metal bats might be too high of a risk to take with athletes at the high school level. Especially for pitchers because they are so close to the batter and their pitching mo-tion gives them less time to prepare.

1: Senior Ted Burchett returns a serve with his backhand at the sec-tion championship match against Granite Bay. 2: Junior Wyatt Brown moves into position in anticipation of his opponents hit. 3: Junior Alex Yankeaur high-fives fellow teammate and doubles partner Junior Ashk Nazeri after winning a point. After winning sections, the team competed in the first round of states.

Photos by SARAH VAIRA/Mirada Staff

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Girls soccer playoff run: see page 17

See BATS: page 18

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