Issue #5

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Bret Harte Pioneer IN THIS ISSUE… News Karl Fleischman interview Page 2 Features Dr. Harte Page 7 Don’t know what to do during the holidays ? Look on: Page 8 Have Questions for Dr. Harte? Please Leave Your Question in The Box in The Office

The Sasha Fleischman incident has caused a lot of discussion because Sasha’s father, Karl Fleischman is a kindergarten teacher at Sequoia Elementary School here in Oakland. Recently, I got the chance to have an interview with Karl Fleischman. Because Sasha is agender, Sasha prefers to be referred to as they or them. Sylvia Colt-Lacayo: What is Sasha like? Hobbies? Personality? Karl Fleischman: “Sasha has always been an excellent student especially with math when they started high school Sasha started in geometry now they are in a college level math class at Berkeley City College. Sasha also does computer programming as a hobby. They are also interested in linguistics. One of Sasha's hobbies is to make up languages.”

Bret Harte Reacts to Sasha Fleischman Tragedy By Sylvia Colt-Lacayo & Leanne Peou

Karl Fleischman Interview By Sylvia Colt-Lacayo

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Eighteen-year-old Sasha Fleishman has recently been let out of out of intensive care after being set on fire on the 57 bus on Monday November 6, 2013 around 5:30 p.m. Fleischman was on the bus going home from school when a fellow passenger lit Sasha’s skirt on fire. Sasha suffers from third degree burns. Richard Thomas, a student at Oakland High School, is suspected of committing the crime. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said in a statement, “Richard Thomas’ violent and senseless criminal conduct resulted in severe and traumatic injuries to a young and entirely innocent victim.” According to NBC Bay Area, O’Malley intends to prosecute Thomas as an adult with a “hate crime, aggravated mayhem, and felony assault.” The incident has caused a big reaction here at Bret Harte. Many student and teacher were upset after hearing about the event. “I was outraged. You know people need to be treated with respect and just cause

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Sasha is different doesn't mean he should be harassed, like be set on fire or anything, that goes for the people who are different and for everybody else everyone deserves respect people should be giving respect and expecting to get it back at the same time so my prayers are all out for Sasha and everyone else who has been abused.” Mr. Ostrom said. “I was appalled! For whatever reason it was done, no human has a right to get away with harming another living being!” said Ms.Tapia. We asked students what they think about the incident. 7th grader Joseph Thomas said, “That’s messed up. It is not okay that he did that, just because Sasha was wearing a skirt.” 7th grader Isai Velazquez said, “I think that people should have the right to wear whatever they want.” Ms. Wright, the founder of the Gay Straight Alliance said, “I was sad and shocked that people in our community still have to go through this have to experience this kind of injustice.”

Fleischman family posing for a picture. Photo Credits: blog.sfgate.com

News Issue #5

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Continued from page 1 Sylvia Colt-Lacayo: How is Sasha doing? Karl Fleischman: “They are doing pretty well. Everything is going according to schedule. We are hopeful that Sasha will be home for Thanksgiving.” SCL: How did you find out about the incident? KF:“I was in my kindergarten classroom at Sequoia. I was working in my classroom after school. I got a call from Sasha. Sasha was saying “You need to call the hospital.” They kept repeating that they needed to go to the hospital, and that someone had set them on fire. I just closed up my room and ran.” SCL: What was your initial reaction? KF: “At first I didn’t quite understand as I talked to Sasha I realized that had really been injured. By that point someone had called 911. I was able to keep Sasha on the phone and let them know that I was on my way.” SCL: How is this incident affecting your family? KF: “We’re all a little tired, going to work in the morning. It is a little exhausting it is definitely taking our focus. Our whole focus right now is being with Sasha.” SCL: Do you agree that Richard Thomas should be charged as an adult with a hate crime? KF: “That is a really good question. My instinct is that it doesn’t make sense. To my wife and me a 16 year old shouldn’t be charged as an adult. We would rather he be charged as a juvenile.” SCL: Has anything positive come out of the incident? KF: “Communities have been super supportive.” SCL: Is there anything you would like to say to the students of Bret Harte? KF: “One really important thing is to be accepting and loving of each other. People need to look out for each other.”

Karl Fleischman Interview By Sylvia Colt-Lacayo

Editor-in-Chief: Adriana Villegas Senior Editor: Claire Chao News Editor: Andres Avila Features Editor: Ashley Torres Special Section Editor: Valentina Legaspi Sport Editor: Jordan Phal

Staff: Mohamed Alawdi Sylvia Colt-Lacayo Meyoko Everett Emily Haunte-Palomino Jess Hutcheson-Wilcox Luis Martinez Leanne Peou ZamZam Shariff Advisor: Mr. Rukin

Pioneer Blue Staff

Karl Fleischman holding a picture of Sasha. Photo Credits: Sylvia Colt-Lacayo

Features Issue #5

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Bret Harte Students and Teachers Enjoy Yosemite Trip By Mohamed Alawdi and Valentina Legaspi Over the past 20 years Bret Harte students have gone to Yosemite for a week of learning, working together, and playing in the beautiful Yosemite Valley. This trip is an opportunity to see new places and try new activities that students just don't get to see or do living in the city. “For years this trip has been in the Spring, but this year we had the chance to go in the Winter and be in the snow! Many students going on the trip will experience living, hiking and playing in the snow for the first time. So exciting and they will remember this forever!” said Mrs. Nastor.

Photo%Credits:%Tiffany%Lay%%Students having fun on the Yosemite trip.%

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Yosemite is well known for the Yosemite Valley, the Mariposa Grove of Sequoia Trees, and the Glacier Point and Badger Pass. According to Politico.com, Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant on June 30, 1864. According to nps.gov, the park is “747,956 acres (or 1,169 square miles)... about the size of Rhode Island.” There was a 6-7 hours of train and bus transportation then 2-3 hours of waiting to get the Yosemite. 8th grader Ramsey Quintanilla says, “I mainly enjoyed the hike, it was a nice trail. I liked playing games, and the snow was amazing! I loved it." “Mrs. Nastor and I would love to take another group of students to Yosemite next school year! We are already working on planning another trip for Winter 2014 or Spring 2015,” said Mr. Orona.

Features Issue #5

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Q: What is your best and worst quality? A: My best quality is working with a lot of people. The worst is when I meet long time friends on the streets and I forget their names. Q: What are your pet peeves? A: My pet peeves are people that make false accusations against you to benefit them. I hate people who lie. Q: If you werent working here, what do you think you’d be doing? A: I would be back in school because I wanna learn another language and when I retire I'm going to school to learn a second language. Q: What is your most embarrassing moment? A: I was supposed to speak in front of an audience and I wasn't ready. Q: What do you enjoy in your job? A: Working with my kids. I'm one of the persons that try to keep students in school by keeping up with their attendance. Q: Do you go by anything like a motto, if so what? A:I have my motto I've been carrying this motto for the longest. ‘[The] sky's the limit when they found footsteps on the moon.’ [It] means you can go higher you just don't go to the sky you can go farther in life that’s my motto. Q: What do you do on your free time? A: I play with my only granddaughter she’s only 8 years old and we have a new dog. Q: What is a goal in life that you are thriving to succeed? A: My goal in life is to go back and get my second degree...I want to help other people who don't speak English.

Better Know a Student: Mariam Alaskari

Better Know a Staff Member: Ms. Dew

Q: What do you enjoy doing on your free time? A: I enjoy spending my free time on my phone, on kik and social media. Q: What are your best quality and your worst? A: Ummm I'm good with kids, my worst quality is spending time with family. Q: What are your main goals in life? A: My main goals in life is too finish high school and go straight to college. Q: Who are your mains (friends) ? A: My mains are: Destiny, Myrna, Tonika, Helen, and Sahara. Q: What is something most people don’t know about you? A: Something some people don't know about me is that I'm not messy. Q: Have you gone through any struggles in life? A: Like parent’s problems, and either if I want to stay in Brooklyn or Oakland. Q: How do you view yourself? A: I view myself as okay I guess, chill, and random. Q: What’s your embarrassing moment? A: My embarrassing moment was when my mom yelled at me in

front of my friend Destiny in Arabic.

By Leanne Peou By Claire Chao

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Features Issue #5

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December 20, 201 3

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November 23, 2013 was national 1D Day, a day where anyone could watch a 7 hour live stream of One Direction from the YouTube studio in Los Angeles The event started at 11 am and ended at 6:40 p.m. It was worldwide; fans from all over the world sat and watched the event. According to tubefilter.com, there were 600,000 views normally and at the most the views reached 770,000 views. The event was structured by having two members host one hour each. The first hour Liam, Harry, Zayn, Niall, and Louis introducing what would be happening. Harry and Liam hosted hour 2. Niall and Louis hosted the following hour. Then Liam and Zayn did hour 5. Towards the end Zayn and Louis took over the 6th hour. For the concluding hour all five members reunited to end the event. What could they possibly be doing for seven hours straight? Well for starters 1D

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Day was thought of as a day for the fans, so they did things that involved fan participation. Prior to 1D Day, there were challenges all over the world so these fans had the opportunity to go on the set and meet them. Some lucky Directioners, what they call people part of the One Direction fandom, were the first to listen to the complete Midnight Memories album is the red telephone booth. While others had the chance to help the boys in challenges. One of the ways fans could connect with the members was to have parties with friends and host their own Google Hangouts. One Direction would enter the chat rooms and answer one of their questions. There were also videos shown of fans all over the world, from countries including Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and the United States. Apart from that, One Direction did other activities like answering questions from celebrities, follow sprees, and tried to break Guinness World records. The four records the boys tried to break were: most coins put on your face in 1

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Anguished English: An Anthology Of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language by Richard Lederer, published in 1987, is a hilarious collection of bloopers from all over. This book gathers together mistakes in writing or speeches that are completely accidental in four sections:, but yet turn out to be completely sidesplitting. In the first section, “Schoolishness,” Richard Lederer presents examples of students’ mistakes in writing at school, and parents’ mistakes in writing excuses for students. An example of the student mistake is, “Although the patient had never been fatally ill before, he woke up dead.” “Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels,” shows that parents’ excuse notes can be even more mixed up than students’ writing. The Blunderful World of Bloopers, which is the second section, includes those wonderful bloopers from every corner of our world. One of the chapters, called Disorder in the Court! is about the mistakes said in court which are recorded by reporters. One of these is shown here:

Q. Did he pick the dog up by the ears? A. No. Q. What was he doing with the dog’s ears? A. Picking them up in the air. Q. Where was the dog at this time? A. Attached to the ears.

Newspapers’ slip-ups are in the chapter Stop the Presses!, where there is this hilarious one among many: “Our paper carried the notice last week that Mr. Oscar Hoffnagle is a defective on the police force. This was a typographical error. Mr. Hoffnagle is, of course, a detective on the police farce.”

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The third section, called Inspired Gibberish, describes many errors in language that have real words but don’t have the right words or the ideas don’t work together when changed into a different language or put into a different context. The chapter for Malapropisms coming from the French phrase, mal a propos, meaning “not appropriate,” says altogether funny distortion of the meant phrases. “You’re in for a shrewd awakening,” of that chapter, gives the sense that sometimes the malapropism is not far off from the original meaning. Lost in Translation is a chapter about things said or wrote that have a different meaning than people meant when translated. For example, president John F. Kennedy once said “Ich bin ein Berliner” which means I am a berliner in abstract, but the people from Berlin called their jelly donuts berliners. The final section, Grammar Gaffes, has defects of great hilarity. One example from the chapter References Wanted (about lack of reference) is: “No bear feet allowed.” Brought to you by Howta Reckanize American Slurvian: “Win. Movement of air. ‘He was awakened in the mill of the nigh by flashes of lining and gusts of win.”’ The photo caption for photos in the San Francisco Chronicle have sometimes not changed from their outline so sometimes they are like this: Photo caption dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes… What I think about this book is a definite representation of how humorous a blunder in writing or speech can be, and that is alot. I recommend this to all comedy lovers, especially those who have not come across any before and need a welcome laugh.

Is Anguished English Worth Reading? By Jess Hutcheson-Wilcox

Fans Celebrate 1D Day By Ashley Torres & Adriana Villegas

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minute, most toilet paper rolls stacked in 30 seconds, most t-shirts put on in 30 seconds, and to burst as many balloons in 30 seconds by sitting on them. Unfortunately, they did not break any of them. Some of the most talked about parts in 1D Day was when Niall came out with lilac hair, Tyler Oakley gave Zayn, Beyonce as his middle name, and when Harry jumped on Paul (tour manager) and almost fell. “I like Niall’s purple hair. I think it was really funny,” said 6th grader Jessica Montoya. 6th grader Kaylah Kim said, “It seemed like they were just being themselves and no one was really telling them what to do.”

Paul carrying Harry on 1D day. Photo%Credit:%Adriana%Villegas%

Features Issue #5

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On Friday November 15 Miles Scott’s dream of becoming Batman and saving San Francisco came true. Miles Scott or Batkid is five years old and has had Leukemia since he was 18 months old. Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects white blood cells. Batkid made his wish by a foundation called Make-A-Wish Foundation. San Francisco was turned into Gotham City the fictional home of Batman. According to the Oakland Tribune’s newspaper, “Convention center revenue tapped to pay $105,000 tab for stirring celebration. The bulk of the bill, which city officials say was paid for using Moscone Center convention revenue, stemmed from the Civic Center celebration where Mayor Ed Lee, police Chief Greg Suhr and other city leaders presented the chocolate key to the 5-year-old leukemia survivor in front of as many as 20,000 revelers. Because the crowd exceeded Make-A-Wish’s early estimate of 500 volunteer spectators nearly 20 times over, significant audiovisual upgrades were required to accommodate the turnout.” 8th grader Fernando Mejia said, “I think he is strong because he beat Leukemia. I think its a good thing because it was his wish,” When asked if Miles deserved to have his wish come true, he said the following, “Yeah, I think Because he went through a lot of stuff.” According to Bret Harte principal Mr. Hughes, “It’s really sad that he was sick but good because of what they did for him.” Mr. Hughes also thinks he deserves his wish because, “Sure thing he deserves the wish because you need support when you are sick.” When asked how did his parents felt he answered “Really sad and upset and enjoy his time.” 8th grader Yasmine Portillo said, “I feel bad for him.” When asked do you think he deserved what they did to him she replied, “Yes I think he does deserves that.”

Make-A-Wish Foundation Makes Young Boy’s Wish Come True By Luis Martinez

On January 24, 2013, Twitter released a free video-sharing app called Vine. In just a few months, Vine became the most downloaded free app on the iOS App Store, and is still popular today. Vine allows users to create and share 6 second videos that range from comedy, to business, to special effects, and to music. Users can gain followers and increase their popularity level on the app. They can also tag videos with hashtags to allow other users to find their videos more easily, similar to the apps’ parent company: Twitter. Arguably the most popular types of videos, or “vines”, are the comedy vines. Comedy vines are by far the most popular videos on the app, and are the main reason people download Vine in the first place. Some notable comedy ,“viners”, are KingBach, Klarity, Alphacat, Jake and Logan Paul, Eric Dunn, Robby Ayala, Pagekennedy, Brandon Calvillo, kingdaddy, and many more. Some companies have taken advantage of Vine as an advertising technique. Dunkin’ Donuts became the first company to use a single vine as an entire television ad. Vine does come with its fair share of problems. Not long after its release, spam quickly began appearing on the app. Spam is still common on the app today. Some spam comments include: “Post your favorite color and the Vine color will change, If I get so and so number of likes I will do something crazy, and if you like this vine you should check out my vines.” Even with all the spam, Vine still manages to overcome this issue. Some celebrities even use Vine, according to imdb.com, including comedian Will Sasso, television hosts Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, and One Direction member Harry styles. Some Vine users, Including Jerome Jarre, who makes vines in which he asks random questions to random NYC strangers, who has made a living making vine videos. According to him, users can make from $1,000 to $10,000 per Vine video through his talent agency, Grape Story, depending on the users’ follower count, and the videos’ engagement level. There are more similarities to Twitter and vine than just hashtags and followers. Users can “revine” vines, similar to how you would retweet a tweet. Vine videos are also measured by likes and shares, and not views. Users can comment on vine videos and share their thoughts as well. One cool feature in Vine is the trending tags feature. Every week, Vine editors pick about 6 popular, or trending, tags. This is useful for staying up to date with the latest Vine trends and finding videos more easily. On the same page as the trending tags, users can also find Vine video categories, such as comedy, business, cats, dogs, weird, and food. So, overall, Vine is definitely an app worth getting. If you have a short attention span, and/or have A.D.H.D., and love funny six second videos, Vine is definitely an app for you.

Vine Continues to Grow in Popularity By Andres Avila

Miles Scott, A.K.A. “Batkid”, is awarded a chocolate key to the city of San Francisco Photo%Credit:%www.huffingtonpost.com%

Photo%Credit:%www.underconsideration.com%

Features Issue #5

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DR.HARTE

A: Depending how nervous you are, you can either text them, tell them face-to-face, or send someone to tell him/her. Build up confidence and be ready for any possibilities and a lot of questions.

Q: How do you tell someone you like them? -Turn Down for What?

Q: I like someone who doesn't like me back. What do I do? -Lonelygirl

A: I think you should forget about them. Talk to other people and don't give in to texting or talking to that person.

Q: What do you do when your boyfriends’ brother likes you? -RideorDieChick

A: You can do two things. The first option is to avoid his brother. Anything that involves him. If that doesn’t work it is because he still won’t get the message then just talk to your boyfriends brother or have your boyfriend talk to him and tell him that you don't like him and to just back off.

Q: Why are some guys’ jerks? - UnicornGlitter

A: There are many reasons. Some of the most common are, that they want to be cool and be considered “players.” Also, other guys use it as protection to not get their hearts broken.

Q: Why do some people think they can sing? -UnicornGlitter

A: They think they have the vocals.

Q: I’m trying to fit in and people are pressuring me to do things I don’t want to do. Help me! -Need_A_Life

A: It’s hard to want to fit in especially when people tell you to do things you don’t want to. The reality is, you have to do things for yourself not for anyone else. If there are bad consequences it’ll affect your life not theirs.

If you have any questions for Dr. Harte, please put them in the Dr. Harte box in the main office.

Opinion Issue #5

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December 20, 201 3

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only in your 20’s. According to a journalist from glo.msn.com, Abby Gardner, “Our main purpose in putting on makeup in the morning is to look prettier, younger, and just all-around better. Unfortunately, there are mistakes that we're making that do exactly the opposite and end up making us look (gasp!) older.” So do not go overboard with the makeup and cover your face with toxic cosmetics! Putting too much makeup on doesn’t make you feel good, but if using a little of it makes you feel a little better then try it.

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If you are a girl who likes to wear makeup but don’t want to look like a clown than here are some tips for you about it. You should use a minimum of makeup like mascara to define your eyelashes, a simple; natural lip gloss, and also eyeliner if you like it. If you don’t want to seem like you went overboard with makeup than you should wear makeup that is similar to the color of your skin. The type of colors you should wear for your lips should be natural colors. If you are a girl who is a perfectionist than you should use a really big mirror, so you can see your whole face at one time and if you mess up your makeup, please do not scream, it isn’t the end of the world! No matter what don’t stress over messing up your makeup. If you do wear a lot of makeup you should think about spending a month without wearing makeup because makeup is toxic to your skin and your body. According to Takepart.com, “As a result, many cosmetics are thought to contain carcinogens, reproductive toxins, and other chemicals that may pose health risks.” If you wear a lot of makeup while you’re young you will have a bunch of wrinkles and look like you’re in your 60’s while you’re

Tips On Makeup In School By Emily Huante and ZamZam Shariff

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8. You can go to a Christmas party or go to the Christmas fair in San Francisco. If you're alone on Christmas you can go to a friend or family member party or if you have little siblings they have things to make them happy and not just for little siblings or it’s for anyone 9. You can go to Reno in the snow if you like snow for the winter you can go to New York to visit their snow. 10. You can stay at home and chill, have a big Christmas dinner and be warm in your bed for the rest of the day.

What You Should Do on Holiday Break By Meyoko Everett

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Natural makeup looks. Photo%credit:%Blogspot.com%

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Christmas is coming up and if you don't know what you're doing you should listen to what I have to say about the ten things I have to say on what you should do for Christmas. 1. Start your day off with a nice breakfast. 2. You can take your friends or family caroling, it’s entertainment, and peaceful holiday music and Drink hot cocoa with warm clothes while you sing. 3. If you have cable you can watch Christmas movies. Like Charlie Brown and Home Alone. 4. You should go to your families’ house and see what they got you, or just have fun with them. 5. You can go buy or make presents for people. Be creative with things around the house. 6.You can stay home and bake for your neighbors’ things like gingerbread cookies, a cake, whatever is easiest. 7.You can take pictures for a Christmas card or take pictures of beautiful things so you can have memories of a good Christmas and be able to show other people your good Christmas.