1

AND Skateistan * Where’s Ben?

*Pima Leadership Institute

International Art Relations *

*Doodles * Light Paintings *

Graffiti * The Physics Factory

Sun Tran * Nuclear Crisis * Jared

Loughner * Sports Across the

World * Critic Corner * Word

Search * Teen Clothing * Teen

Driving

Aztec Times Issue I, May 2011

How does Aztec compare to other Schools??

Throughout my high school years I have been to a public school and a charter school previous to attending here at Aztec Middle College, and I have many impacting experiences that lead me to this debate. In bigger public schools, it can be overwhelming and there are many distractions in and out of class. There are too many students and it can be hard to focus in class when there is too much pressure . . . Continues on page 3.

Andy Goldsworthy In our Exploration class, we studied the artist Andy Goldsworthy. He has an incredible way of making art, something which we don’t come across very often. I had never heard of this man before or any of his works of art, myself along with other students in the class were intrigued by it. Andy is very involved with nature . . . Continues on page 7.

4th Avenue Street Fair

As explained in my previous article the Fourth Ave Street Fair is a great place for quality family time, and also an awesome way to explore the artwork of many people in Tucson. I decided to get a firsthand look at everything that goes on there like I do every year, but this year was totally different. It seems that more and more artists were there, and for musicians, less were to be seen . . . Continues on page 12.

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FOREword

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year a remarkable and memorable time. Special thanks to

our friends at

Pima Community College—West Campus

PCC Student Life

PCC Informational Technology

Skateistan

The Physics Factory

Contributors:

Eman Arnautovic, Christopher Blancarte, Carsen Cada, Monique Elenes, Benjamin Escobosa, Daniel

Gomez, Emma Hill, Isette Valdivia, Paul Mata, Michael Trolander, Manuel Valdivia, Kyle Tudor

Editor Chiefly—Karen Lieneke

3

AZTEC STUFF

How does Aztec compare to other Schools??

Throughout my high school years I have been to a public school and a charter school previous to

attending here at Aztec Middle College, and I have many impacting experiences that lead me to this

debate. In bigger public schools it can be overwhelming, and there are many distractions in and out

of class. There are too many students and it can be hard to focus in class when there is too much

pressure. No matter how well I was doing in school, I felt like it didn’t matter to any of the teachers

or staff. That was probably because there were too many students to keep track of. I felt like there

was no point in doing my best because peers around me didn’t seem to try either, and they didn’t

seem to be affected by not doing their work. I started to ditch class because it was easy and I never

got caught, and for the short time that I was in class I did not get my work done, I would talk to

everyone around me in class instead and was becoming a distraction to my peers. Then I got my

report card: I flunked about half of my classes and didn’t realize how much I had gotten off track.

I had to get back in control of my education and my future. The

following year I enrolled at a charter school, I figured it would help to

have smaller classes and more one on one learning. At the beginning I

was improving drastically, I received honor roll and was doing the best I

could. The teachers and staff were friendly and some were helpful. Even

though I was doing well, I still felt like there was something wrong. There

weren’t any academic challenges; the charter school was going over basics repeatedly. I wanted more

than just basics! Class was beginning to get boring to me and I was no longer interested in class

because I already knew what was being taught.

When I first heard of Aztec Middle College, I thought it was almost too good to be true. When I

received the correct information from staff here at AMC I was astounded that this school was

Aztec

Middle

College

Other

Schools

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everything I wanted out of school. Aztec Middle Colleges are sited on Pima Community College

campuses. They require you to take college courses. There are small class sizes, academic

challenges, a fresh start at college, and a welcoming, helpful staff. Aztec Middle College is the school

for me! Every day I come into class with an open mind, ready to learn, and ready for the challenges

that await me. The thing that I like about Aztec and that is different from other schools is that we

have the opportunity to dig deeper into the subject and expand the subject in a way that allows me

to understand better and gain more knowledge out of it. There is more to learning then just reading

out of textbooks and doing standard work.

In specific, for the third quarter we studied the drastic history of The Holocaust; not only did we

read an outstanding novel named The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (which was about the life of a

young German girl who experiences the tragic Holocaust) but we did the whole nine yards. We

researched all about the Holocaust and did multiple activities with the subject such as having open

class discussions about it, writing reflection essays, making a mural of The Book Thief and at the

end we enjoyed German food, and overall it was a great way

of expanding my knowledge about the Holocaust. Every day

I leave the campus I have learned something new, and I have

gathered more information out of it than I would have

anywhere else. AMC staff teaches students in a creative and

more detailed structure than other schools that are teaching

dull basics. I am proud to be an AMC student because I am

being challenged to do the best of my ability and I am being

taught in a resourceful manner. I am on my way to success, are you??

By Monique R. Elenes

SKATEISTAN

Skateistan is a school, skate park and recreational center in Kabul, Afghanistan. The programs

volunteers come from all over the world. For the first semester we had a class dedicated to

keeping a connection with them on a personal level. Although it isn’t a class anymore, some of

us still keep in touch with Skateistan.

During the time when our communication with Skateistan was more frequent than now, there

was a lot of blogging between students on our own website called Tucson to Kabul on

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Wordpress. It was really fun because we got the incredible opportunity to talk to them over

blogging, some of us through Facebook and through Skype video calls. It’s amazing that

they’re so experienced with the type of technology you wouldn’t think that they would have.

They even have some stuff us here at Aztec are envious of!

The big idea of Skateistan is to skate, of course. The students are given donated skateboarding

equipment and safety gear for the huge skate park they have and get to use which I am a little

envious of, too. I do really like the idea of them skateboarding and going through school

because I myself skateboard too. It’s just another level for us to relate with them because

some of the students there really love skateboarding and they really do like talking to other

students across the world just as much as we do. Maybe even more!

It’s great that kids around the world are getting the chance to explore new technology, even in

some countries where there isn’t a lot of money. We’re glad to see them use it and have

something they can enjoy in their lives.

By Manuel Valdivia

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PIMA LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

The Pima leadership retreats and classes were directed by the wonderful duo of Rosemary and Daisy from

Student Life here at PCC West Campus. They were so helpful and fun with teaching us what they knew about

leadership, and I must say they are great leaders and teachers. Each activity was carefully and well thought out

by them both. One thing I would like to mention is that everything that they were teaching us came from

them. They didn’t have any help besides each other with the lessons and seminars they shared with us.

Pima Leadership Institute is essentially a couple of courses that teach you about leadership and all sorts of

other things about life. There are three levels of these classes. The bronze level is where you begin and move

on up to the silver level and then the gold level. I’ve only completed the first two levels of bronze and silver so

far. The bronze level is sort an introduction to everything that will be taught about leadership and to help

identify what kind of leader you are, and what works best for you and to help you learn a little something

about yourself. The silver level is a continuation of the bronze level and learning about presentations and

being a good presenter and knowing how to control the people you’re talking to. To use the skills you’ve

learned, they had us go to a retreat on Mt. Lemmon where we had some lessons on making presentations.

The retreat was very fun and I had the chance to meet some really fun and interesting people, and of course

learn, and the experience was very exciting.

The gold level I have yet to attain. I’m not completely sure what the requirements are to pass it, but I have

heard that you must use everything you’ve learned and hold your own presentation. I hope I can successfully

complete this level in the next semester when I come back to Aztec. The whole experience with the Student

Life people was rewarding; I learned a lot from them. I learned about leadership and I also enjoyed learning

something about myself and the reasons for the way I am. It’s a rewarding experience and I would

recommend people to join in.

By Manuel Valdivia

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Art Stuff

Andy Goldsworthy

In our Exploration class, we studied the artist Andy Goldsworthy. He has an incredible way of making art, something which we don’t come across very often. I had never heard of this man before or any of his works of art, myself along with other students in the class were intrigued by it. Andy is very involved with nature. Mainly, his pieces consist of beautiful flowers, leaves, icicles, mud, rocks, twigs etc. Rarely will Goldsworthy use any tools besides his hands or teeth when creating an art piece. He has a way of incorporating the essence of time in his works of art. Goldsworthy seems to involve time in his pieces so much because time plays an essential role in life and in nature. His elaborate formation of flowers in a river shows how time flows. He builds an egg right on a shore, purposely to give an example of how unpredictable time can be. The waves come in faster and faster, soon he is done and as time passes, the egg is fully submerged in water. Andy Goldsworthy’s art is certainly very fascinating and a change from the average ink or paint on paper.

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Some thoughts from students on the blog:

Ben Escobosa

Time was the ultimate destruction of his work. Time was the challenge that he was after. Completing an egg before the tide set in, starting from 8:00 AM, which only gave him five hours to complete his work. Nature can also seem like a timeless thing, since it’s always been there and always will be.

Eman

Goldsworthy’s messages continue to display the idea that art is anything that is created. He uses the flow of the river in all of his work along with concentric patterns and serpentine movements. What makes his work so artistic is how he weaves metaphysical principals from simple patterns and ideas. We watch his process, art, and ideas evolve. I would say the time part fits into watching his ideas evolve. As time goes on the art physically changes forms or colors. It’s really unique that he uses time as a tool in his work to produce different results. By Carsen Cada

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International Art Relations

In the first semester of our class, Global Perspectives, at Aztec Middle College West we were introduced to an

organization called Skateistan which is located in Kabul, Afghanistan and is both a school, youth center, and

skateboard park. Although the class ended in December and our interaction with the students has become less

frequent, there are a few students who are still regularly speaking with them and blogging, and have even grown

inspired to do more projects. Most of this comes from the photographs showing what an everyday Afghan

teenager will find in the streets of Kabul. ~By Isette Valdivia (Kabul photography by Noman & Naveed from

Skateistan)

A sea of people, Kabul

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Kabul Street

View of a ceiling (Isette, Tucson)

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DOODLES :]

You would think that if you saw someone doodling on a piece of paper while you’re talking to them that they

weren’t listening or paying attention. That’s not entirely true. Lots of people to keep themselves busy, but

maybe not as much as they should. Some people think it’s a good tool to use to pay more attention to what

they hear.

Jackie Andrade, a professor of psychology at the University of Plymouth, tested the memory of doodler’s and

non-doodlers with a telephone message. It showed that the doodlers remembered 29% more of the message

than the non-doodlers, who seemed to be paying more attention. More often than not, the non-doodlers

zoned out.

Another thing about doodling is that it relieves stress for some people. It helps let out however they’re feeling

that day or deal with problems. Something interesting is that doodling has been known to let out your inner

genius. A lot of our greatest and most creative ideas come to us unconsciously as we do everyday things. Some

say that some of our best ideas come to us in the shower or on the toilet, everyday things right? Also, of

course when we doodle there’s a stroke of genius.

One last thing I would like to add is: just doodle. Take some time to sit down and draw something. Just let the

genius come to you, don’t go looking for it because it’ll be a long trip. It doesn’t have to be well thought out or

even look so great, and you can benefit greatly from it.

By Manuel Valdivia

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Doodling around . . .

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Light Painting from Exploration Class

digital cameras +

LED’s and other light sources +

dancing, moving +

a very dark room =

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City Stuff

4th

Ave Street Fair

As explained in my previous article the Fourth Ave Street Fair is a great place for quality family time, and also

an awesome way to explore the artwork of many people in Tucson. I decided to get a firsthand look at

everything that goes on there like I do every year, but this year was totally different. It seems that more and

more artists were there, and for musicians, less were to be seen.

While walking around I started to question the artists and the significance in their art, and in most cases they

asked me what I saw in it. When it happened I gave them my honest opinion, saw their ridiculous and left,

although I did leave on some occasions I thought there art work was beautiful. And don’t get me wrong I

completely get it, artist need their money especially in a time like this were money is scarce. On occasion I

came across the dumb pieces of art like melted down alcohol bottles, and personally I didn’t see this being art.

Some other things that caught my eye were the rides and food, with all the wide range in variety, for some

examples of the food there were things like: gyros, Indian fry bread, pastas and even Arabic food. Overall, the

experience was great, and if the chance wasn’t available to you this year, really aim for the next.

By Daniel Gomez

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Graffiti in Tucson

The levels of graffiti in Tucson are quite high; there is the mural artwork that was created by contracted graffiti artists, the

simple tagging by gangs, and then the unintelligible work of beginners. The cities graffiti abatement contractor, Graffiti

Protective Coating or GPC spends hundreds of thousands every year on cleaning up thousands of tagging in our city. In

just one year between September 2009 and September 2010 there were almost 40,000 work orders filled to erase the

tagging in Tucson. The debt of doing this cleaning was 1.1 million dollars compared to the 700,000 dollars the GPC gets,

this compared to the national debt for cleaning up graffiti which is roughly 12 billion dollars a year isn’t so bad but the

GPC gets hit with huge losses every year. They are willing to accept the loss due to the fact they wish to show their

presence in our neighborhoods. The city gets an average of 650 requests for graffiti removal every month. GPC attempts

to get everyone within 24to 48 hours.

Lupe Mercado who is the general manager of GPC in Tucson has an opinion on graffiti, “you have to cover it,” Mercado

said. “Graffiti attracts graffiti”. Officer Nathan Tullgren of the Tucson Police Department’s Target All Graffiti Unit

otherwise known as TAG says tagging can happen so fast that catching a vandal can be tough. “It is a very difficult thing

to catch these guys in the act,” Tullgren said. “This is a crime that can happen in mere seconds.” Because of this policy

often have to rely on taggers apprehended to get information about other taggers they know.

In Tullgren’s opinion he says that most graffiti is done by one person and is not done by gangs, 90-95% of graffiti in

Tucson is not gang-related. The small percentage that is gang-related is on the south side of Tucson and usually just gangs

marking their territory. They also gain recognition and respect based on where their tags are located. The legal graffiti

artists find all forms of illegal graffiti somewhat disrespectful but can understand why they do them; their opinions are

that they want to get a legal job painting legally for the city, or they are seeking a rush, or they want to be recognized in

some way. The sad thing about illegal graffiti is that it can’t be stopped, if it is not one person it is another and it will be a

very long fight for a very long time.

Kyle Tudor

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Kip Being Sciency

Kids in front of the physics bus

The Physics Factory is a small group of

people that are interested in teaching science to

children through fun and interesting

demonstrations and projects. I’ve been coming to

volunteer at the workshop they have for almost

two months now. Although the current president

of the Physics Factory (John “Kip” Perkins) claims to

know very little physics, he’s been engaging kids of

all ages in building inventions and creating small

motor powered machines. He’s even taught 6 year

old kids to weld! The Physics Factory is the perfect

mix of crazy and creative and there’s never a dull

day here. We teach everything from woodwork to

electronics. By engaging kids in science at an early

age, we spark their interest and help keep them

away from the danger of gang activity and violence.

The kids at the Holmes Tuttle Boys and Girls Club

are always waiting for our workshop to open and

they run in by the boatload every day. This is a sure

sign that we’re doing SOMETHING right amongst

our frequent improvisations. By Eman

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Sun Tran Services

Raising fares or reducing service is undecided options for those who depend on the Sun Tran to reach

their destination. The city’s latest suggestion to close their budget debt is to raise bus fares by fifty percent or

to decrease bus routes and delay bus times. It costs the city about 1.6 million to fund Sun

Tran Services and they are in need of finding this money to continue to run. The city

claims “they have no choice” but to raise fares if they want to maintain Sun Tran

Services. Those who have an economy pass will see an increase from 40₵ to 60₵, and for

those who don’t will see a 25₵ increase. For transfers it will cost the average citizen 1.50

and for a day pass it will be 3.50.

We all might not think that’s too much to ask these citizens, but the prices are

high enough already; this increase can be a bit too much for them. It affects those who are already struggling,

but the city argues that without raising bus fares they will have to make service cuts, meaning canceling some

bus routes, longer waiting periods, and less hours that the bus will run in a day. Transit services are something

that the city citizens need desperately to get to work, to take their children to school, or for just

miscellaneous daily activities. Between raising bus fares and reducing service, as a customer of

the city’s transportation service I would rather see an increase than have bus services delayed.

Although the increase of 50% is a bit too much to ask, lowering the increase would be

the better way of ending this dilemma. As of April twelfth the city has come to a conclusion, the

prices have increased fairly than reducing Sun Tran service. The increase that Sun Tran riders will

see is not as much as they expected, but reasonable. For transfers the increase is $1.25 to $1.50,

and for low-income riders the prices has increased from 40₵ to 50₵, instead of the 60₵ fare. This

transformation will take action on the first of July. Although the increase still will not be enough to close the

city’s budget gap, various Sun Tran riders including myself are pleased with the change.

----By: Monique Elenes

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On January 8 of this year a man by the name of Jared Loughner opened fire at an event where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was presenting. The gunfire killed six and wounded thirteen. A question on some peoples’ minds is could it have been avoided? It would seem that he had some troubles in the past where his mental behavior was called into question. A good example was him being kicked out of Pima Community College due to behavioral problems and that he was advised to get a mental evaluation. Of course this was never followed up on and he went under the radar for awhile. He was anti-authority in his nature and saw grammar, currency and even the date system as a way of controlling the populace and public at large.

The news reporters for his actions were slightly off on what his motives are. In his videos he references the constitution which would lead people to believe he was pro-constitution; this is false due to the fact that he states another constitution needs to be drafted. He also wants everyone to have their own grammar, language and numbering system. How this would work in the long run I don’t know. Watching his videos it’s clear he was already on a destructive path in which he would destroy himself and others. He appears to have been looking for a belief system based on the books he had read, such as; Mein Kampf, The Communist Manifesto, and Ayn Rand’s Individualism.

He is anti-everything it seems and in my opinion a pure form of an anarchist. To the people who think he went crazy because of his military career, he was actually not allowed to join the army; they rejected him on the grounds of his mentality. To put it bluntly Jared Lee Loughner was a troubled and disturbed man. It looks as if he came to the conclusion he could not fit into society in any way and was calling the world around him meaningless. I believe he was perfectly sane when he committed the shooting; he just lives on his own belief system so it would seem he is crazy to normal people.

By: Kyle Tudor

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( not EXACTLY a local issue, but a Tucson concern all the same . . . )

Nuclear Crisis

Everyone has been hearing about the Japan nuclear plants in the news but actually how bad is it? The Japanese have said they have the situation under control however, this is not the case. Water tested in a tunnel at the Fukushima Dalichi nuclear plant has an alarmingly high rate of radiation. The water at the plant is releasing more than 100,000 times its normal radiation levels. Off-shore sea water outside the plant was also measured recently and was said to contain more than 1,000 times the control level.

There was also a recent rise in temperature in No. 1 reactor that could possibly be the nuclear fuel rods overheating. If so this could result in an explosion releasing nuclear waste into the atmosphere and around the plant. The worst part of the situation is that Japan’s nuclear waste is affecting other parts of the world. The radioactive water is spreading east across the Pacific Ocean towards Alaska. Nearly 10,400 tons of low level radioactive water has been released into the sea so far. As of right now the contaminated water is only affecting anchovies and other smaller organisms such as zooplankton. However, if dumping of radioactive water continues being released into the ocean it will eventually make its way up the food chain to larger more consumed fish.

As of April 12th the Fukushima Nuclear crisis is still ongoing and has been raised to a level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) by the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). Level 7 is the highest and most serious rating and is considered a “Major Accident”. Even though the nuclear crisis is thousands of miles away it is still affecting the United States. Americans across the country are now questioning nuclear power and the safety regulations associated with it. Nuclear waste is one of the biggest problems of the 20th century and if we aren’t careful it could have devastating repercussions.

By Michael Trolander

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Sports Stuff

A few months ago my Aztec Global perspective class took an

inside look into the life of kids in Afghanistan.

They are very less fortunate than others but they all found a

common love in sports. Their sport is skateboarding.

I personally cannot skateboard for the life of me, but I wanted to

take a better look at the sports that they played in their country.

One of their most common sports was soccer played all across the

world. But I found one that caught my eye, it is called Buzkashi; it

is a brutal sport on horseback and high rate of speed. It’s a pretty

intense game.

Buzkashi, also known as kok-boru or oglak tartis, goat game.

Buzkashi is a traditional team sport played on a horse. It’s played

in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, north Pakistan,

India and Kazakhstan.

It takes a skilled

rider who could

grab a dead goat or calf from the ground while riding a horse at

full gallop. The goal of the game is to grab a headless carcass of

a goat or calf at full speed and to try to pitch it across a

goal line or a target circle or vat.

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Greco-Roman Wrestling

Greco-Roman wrestling is one of my favorite sports, I’ve

never done it personally but I did take a liking to it after

I saw my first MMA match, it was the great Matt

Hughes. I love the way he would just run through

people, taking them down with the double leg take

downs like it was nothing. His wrestling was legit in his

time. So I wanted to take a little look inside Greco-

Roman wrestling.

Greco-Roman wrestling is a style of wrestling that is

practiced all across the world today. It was contested at

the first

modern

Olympic Games in 1896. Since then it has been included in every

Olympic game. The name Greco-Roman was applied to this style of

wrestling as a way of purporting it to be similar to the wrestling

formerly found in the ancient civilization surrounding the

Mediterranean Sea.

The Weight Classes

Currently international Greco-Roman

wrestling is divided into 5 main categories : schoolboys, cadets, juniors, and

seniors. Schoolboys wrestle in 10 classes raining from 29 to 85 kg. Cadets

wrestle in 10 weight classes raining from 30 to 100 kg. Junior wrestle in 8

weight classes raining from 46 to 120 kg. Seniors wrestle in 8 weight classes

raining from 50 to 120 and up.

23

Kajukenbo was created between 1947 and 1949 at Palama settlement on

Oahu, Hawaii. It was developed by a group that called themselves the “Black

Belt Society”, which consisted of black belts from various martial arts

backgrounds who met to train and learn from each other. This was the

beginning of an evolutionary, adaptive style designed to combine the

useful aspect of the arts.

There are five men accredited with started the martial arts. KAJUKENBO: the

art is karate, tang soo do. Some of the styles in the art is judo, jujitsu, Kenpo,

Chinese boxing, Chu’an kung-fu, Se keino Ryu, Kodenkan Danzan Ryu, Kosho

Ryu,

When I was a kid I loved martial art. So one day when I

was at school, I had to have been about 9 or 10, when I started practicing martial arts.

This guy came to my school named Christopher Valdez; he was one of the best

kajukenbo masters around. It was a big class at first everyone in the school wanted to

practice martial arts with him. I was the only student to follow him when he stopped

teaching at my school. I loved it a lot; I got to do a few demo shows in front of people

with my master. Then I got my brother and uncle into it. We stayed with him till we got

our orange belt. Then he got a studio to train out of, see when we followed him he was

teaching out of his house. When he got big he started to get too expensive. Although I stopped training in

kajukenbo I still practice it today in mixed martial arts today. By Christopher Blancarte

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Teen Stuff

Critic Corner

Sucker Punch was an interesting movie about five different girls that have been

admitted into an insane asylum. There are twists and turns in their

adventures. They try to escape this place by helping one another. Baby Doll

has a captivating dance and she hypnotizes every person in the asylum. I wish

that all the characters were developed with more back round. This lack of

background I feel has a deficiency on the characters and why they act in a

certain way. Overall the twists and turns of this movie keep you on the edge

of your seat waiting for more action.

Rango (Johnny Depp) is a chameleon that doesn’t

know who he is. He’s lived in a aquarium his

whole life, until the day that he was lost in the

middle of the desert. He has to adapt to the new

environment and make new friends. He

experiences new behaviors and he becomes a hero

to the small town that is in the middle of a crisis. Rango

is a well done movie; the detail to the characters makes

them almost seem real. Although this movie was made

for children the humor mentioned in the movie would not

be understood by the young viewers. It is a great movie for a more

matured audience.

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Aztec Middle College Word Search

G D V N X C F R F S A Q K X K I W X

N O I T N E T T A D E D I V I D A I

Z Z J F H E U H T A M S U R O E K E

N I S F E O E N O G I T N A K B G X

Y P R S M I A W N X O G J D C U E L

W V P G Y O E V O G I I D Y W B X S

A N D Y G O L D S W O R T H Y J P U

G E Y J V W E Z D Z G N I G G O L B

H G D B M A S P A Z T E C X S R O A

E Z U K K F J Y S G H I S Z S S R C

N Z T H T N E M N R E V O G Z O A Y

G M S T A D L B N U G O H F B R T R

L G S T S E T O R H Z I U Q A R I O

I C I K R O W E M O H D O K D N O T

S Q Z G N I L L E T Y R O T S Z N S

H G O Y T I R U C E S H M B O C E I

R A X B O E S S A Y S G X V V Q G H

D Q X C T G L H L L S C F S N U B Z

aims

divided attention

math

Andy Goldsworthy English quiz

Antigone essays security

Aztec exploration storytelling

blogging government study

bmas history tests

diigo homework

By Carsen Cada

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Teen Clothing

Each year more and more teens

are changing the style. Teens are

expanding their minds and wearing

different stuff every year. It seems

like the retro style is coming out in

teens more and more. Preppy is

also another big trend that came

in. Kids are starting to bring out

more colors like as for an example,

vans, they sell vans in almost

every single colors on the color

wheel. There are several stores

such as: The Vans Store, Hot

Topic, Just Sports, where people go to buy hats, Zumies, Tilly’s and one of my

favorite is Pac Sun. Pac Sun is one of my favorites because the style of clothing

is more modern and kind of urban/preppy look. Now think about it, what do you

wear? And what style do you categorize yourself in?

Teens are spending more wisely. A survey says that teens are waiting for

clothes to go on sale before buying: 55% of teens say they are waiting for

items to go on sale, 50% are making fewer "impulse purchases" and 42%

are more likely to "comparison shop for the best price." Only 22% said that

the economy has "little to no affect" on their shopping behaviors.

[http://www.money-management-works.com/teen-spending.html]

By Paul Mata

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Teen driving

Teen driving is one of the scariest things in the world. More and more teens are driving at a younger age

whether it is legal driving or illegal driving without a license. Teens do not have much experience at driving,

and that’s why they sometimes crash. In my

experience teens try and drive fast to be cool to

impress others in the car. I think when teens drive

they should be more careful because they are

crashing and they may kill themselves or kill the

other driver.

As you can see in the table beside, you see that

teen crashes are rising every year and 54 percent

of crashes had a passenger aboard.

Facts about teen driving:

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading

cause of death among 15- to 20-year-olds.

16-year-olds have higher crash rates than

drivers of any other age.

16-year-olds are 3 times more likely to die

in a motor vehicle crash than the average

of all drivers.

2,739 drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 died in motor vehicle crashes in 2008, down 13.7%

from 3,174 in 2007 and down 20.2% from 3,431 in 1998.

About 2 out of every 3 teenagers killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2008 were males (IIHS).

Drivers ages 15-20 accounted for 12% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2008 and 14% of

all drivers involved in police-reported crashes.

63% of teenage passenger deaths in 2008 occurred in vehicles driven by another teenager. Among

deaths of passengers of all ages, 19% occurred when a teenager was driving (IIHS).

81% of teenage motor vehicle crash deaths in 2008 were passenger vehicle occupants.

The number of drivers ages 15-20 involved in fatal crashes totaled 5,864 in 2008, down 16% from

6,982 in 2007 and down 26% from 7,987 in 1998. http://www.rmiia.org/auto/teens/Teen_Driving_Statistics.asp

By Paul Mata

28

AfterWORD

Is it a good idea to end this

edition with a piece on teen

driving?? With a fender-bender

reminder that teen driving is

scary? I think not.

DESPITE the statistical realities,

these kids are going someplace—

somewhere off the

page, to a future we

can’t see.

This year has been full of

surprises—discoveries have been

made, bridges crossed,

extraordinary connections

created. We intend to

keep headed in that

direction . . .

kl