By: Malena Osborn.

Asher Zelinsky:

Asher’s favorite music artist is Marshall Bruce Mathers, also known as Eminem. He has been in the music industry since his early teen years. His specialty is up beat rap, mainly focusing on his life and the loved ones around him. He is part of a group called D-12 and was promoted by a former rap artist named Dr. Dre. Asher loves the sound of his music because it focuses on a deeper subject than the typical rap music we here today.

Zuola Guoerluoti:

Zuola’s favorite music artist is Rammstein, a heavy metal band. This group was formed in 1993, taking on a name from the location of a German tragedy where 80 people were killed as a result of an American Air Force flight show. They originated from East Germany performing for crowds of ten thousand to thirty thousand people through out Europe. He likes this band the most for their heavy sound of rock.

Ricki Stromas:

Ricki’s favorite music artist is Tremaime Aldon Neverson, also known as Trey Songs. Trey Song first popped to the top of the bill board when he came out with his song “Can’t help but wait” which became a nation wide sensation within days. He produces mainly R&B and hip hop genres. Ricki admires his looks and his outstanding voice.

Mr.Leung:

Mr.Leung’s favorite music artist is Willie Nelson. He is an old generation American Country singer. He was born April 30, 1933 in Abbott Texas. They say he is filled with a lot of talent. He being a multi talented singer, song writer, musician, producer, actor and activist makes him such a hit singer. Mr. Leung likes this artist for his great country sound.

Jasmine Dean:

Jasmines favorite music artist is Selena. She was an old time goody. She started of in a group along with her older siblings and later became a solo artist. She sang in Spanish and English and was most noticed for her sexy dancing. She was killed by one of her best friends over some money. Jasmine enjoys her music because she feels closer to her heritage when she hears her songs.

By: David Arce.

     Mission is a good high school because it offers a lot of programs and activities for students. Some of them are after school and some of them are during school. This school gives a lot of help to English learners students and helps them with their homework tutoring them at the library. However, some students don’t like this high school, because they say that there are too many English learner students in Mission, so if the EL students hang out only with other EL students they will never learn English. This is the point of view of many EL students.

      Another reason why some students don’t like this high school on their first year is because there is too much gangbanging at Mission and the teachers and other Mission staff never do anything about it. Another reason why students don’t like this is high school is because there are two schools in the same building. A lot of students have complained about this, because the students from the school that just moved this year to the Mission building bother too much. They think they’re the owners of the fourth floor and the whole school if possible. Also, there have been a lot of fights between the Mission students and the students from International School. For Some unknown reasons students from International School have started to fight with African American Students and a lot of African American students have complained that students from International school provoke them to fight.

     A lot of students at Mission complain too much about the food. 5 out 10 students complain and are sure that other high schools give better lunch. This would be another reason why you wouldn’t want to come to Mission; it must be true that this high school gives really bad meals. 5 out 10 students means 50% of the students don’t like the lunch and perhaps the other 50% didn’t complain about the food because they don’t get free lunch, which means they have to buy it so they don’t know what’s lunch like at Mission.

In addition, food is not the only thing Mission students complain about. Computers at Mission High School suck; some take at least thirty minutes to load and be ready to use. There’s no way students can finish their work on time using computers at Mission High School. Mission High School does provide access to computers and they have a lot of computers but it’s for nothing, because they are really really slow. Mr. Gipson’s computers are the best computers in the building but they’re limited. Besides they’re always busy, Mr. Gipson has around forty computers which is not enough not even for half of the students at Mission High.

This student says Mission is THE place to get your education on!

Many students think that Mission HS is a great school, because the school is two blocks from Mission Dolores, from which it gets its name, also, because the current student body is extraordinarily diverse, with Latino and African American students constituting the two largest ethnic groups, although neither group makes up a majority of the student body. In my point of view, I like Mission HS because I have had good experiences here since I was in 9^{th grade}. I have to thank Mission High School because I have earned scholarships and also because the teachers are great. I really learned many things and I hope to keep learning while I stay in this school. In addition,  Mission High has been successful in sports, especially in soccer, football and wrestling.

In Mission High many students join sports but also they have to get good grades.  In Mission, you got a lot of opportunities and also you get scholarships if you are member of a club in the school. ASAP is the program where most of the athletes go to apply for scholarships.  We should stay at Mission because this is one of the best schools in San Francisco because it offers you great opportunities. Also, these schools have great counselors who can give you good advice.

By : Sharnalee Dutta.

I have heard about different types of places that are very exciting to visit but did you ever wonder that if you can  get a chance to visit famous  haunted place that have very spicy ghostly history which will challenge your courage. I, myself want to visit a haunted place and there are lot of haunted places all over the world.

Let me tell you some haunted places that might come in your nightmare. Oh! Please don’t get me wrong, I am just doing some interesting work in journalism class (Advisory). Firstly we are in USA and it’s appropriated to start writing about haunted places in America. Some places are in USA and maybe we don’t know about them or we always visit those places in our daily life.

I will start with San Francisco .

Fort Totten Army 

Abandoned Army Hospital – This hospital is mainly for army people as you can tell by name. Many soldiers died and their ghosts still haunt this hospital in Park Presidio. It is fenced off, but you can find ways either under the fence or over it. Many windows have been boarded up but a basement door towards the back of the building is open. Also, many windows are busted out and it is musty, graffiti-filled, and very spooky. You can hear footsteps; see reflections of light, and sometimes a cold draft. Even S.F.P.D. will not enter. – The police patrol the area and it is VERY possible you will get arrested or ticketed.

    CCS Elementary School – There is an urban legend of an elderly church-going woman who was murdered by being pushed from a steep staircase, and whose body was later disposed of in the nearby dumpster. It is said that when young girls use the bathroom near the staircase, you can hear her praying.

     Golden Gate Park -There’s a police officer ghost that roams Golden Gate Park. People will get pulled over and get speeding tickets by this guy, but when they go to file it through the courts they’ll find out that the officer listed doesn’t exist. He’s been dead for 10 years.

    USCF Medical Center – Intensive Care Nursery haunted by women that have died in  childbirth. Many children haunt Pediatric. 8th floor was so bad it had to be exorcised. 

    Washington High School- The boys’ bathroom in the 3^rd floor. At night or after school many students reported to see a figure standing by one of the stall and then vanished. 

By: Brianda Panti

       Cell phones are distracting students from listening to their teachers during class. That’s the reason teachers should take bigger measures to stop students from using their cell phones at school. Not only does it distract students, they also prevent them from learning. Students should also think about their future and cooperate by turning off their cell phones during school hours. I understand that the teacher’s job is just to teach the students but teachers at Mission High School have to do something to make their students pay attention.

       Should we ban cell phones in school? My answer to that question is YES because for many teachers, one of the biggest concerns about including cell phones in schools is that they will be used inappropriately. Cell phones are a disruption in school. Text messaging can be used to cheat on tests. Students who are text messaging are not able to give full attention to the lesson. If a student cell phone rings in class, it totally disrupts the class for a considerable period of time.

Many cell phones are also camera phones. Camera phones present an invasion of privacy in the schools. One of the best ways we can protect the privacy of every student is to ban cell phones from school during the school day. During the school day, students need to be focused on classroom instruction without distractions. Are we now slaves to our technology? If the students need to call home they only need to go to the main office to contact a parent or guardian or they could also ask the teacher if they can use the classroom telephone because at this time most of the schools have in every classroom telephones. Students don’t need cell phones during school; students need to be preparing to have a better future during school hours. Go to school without a cell phone.

A Belated Teacher Appreciation

By: Ailionora Lucid.

My name is Ailionora Lucid and I’ve been at Mission for nine months.

Nine months is a little funny to say. It’s got a few meanings. That’s how long it takes to have a child, or at least that’s what first comes to mind. In this case though, thank God, babies and pregnancy don’t have anything to do with it.

In this case, nine months refers to the length of a school year.

I haven’t been here the whole time of course, in fact I’ve missed a few more days than I’d have liked, but the general spirit is clear.

Starting at Mission last fall had a special significance for me. My mother graduated from this school in the early 70’s and hated every minute of her experience here.  I’ve grown up with stories of the strung out , angry gang members of the 1970’s, and am quite sure that she even smiled at me over dinner, glad that I wouldn’t have the same high school experience that she did.

I’m glad to say that the Mission of my mother’s youth is not the Mission that I found when I came here.  While I can’t say that I wasn’t a little intimidated in my first week, it had little to do with the students and more to do with the sheer size of the school.  As I went to San Francisco Waldorf High School, a school of just over 130 students,  the two years prior to this, Mission seems huge.

Teachers here are some of the most interesting and diverse that I have ever encountered.  Ms Tom made quite an impression of course.  With height balanced out by her temper, during the first week I was more than a little intimidated.  That dissipated quickly.  Of any teacher this year she has offered me the most opportunities to learn and work, recommending summer programs and supporting my work (when it happens, as I can be inconsistent) in the library after school.  She has pushed the chemistry class beyond your average course with massive amounts of dedication even though she often had to pay out of pocket for materials for lab work and made me feel prepared for a college level chemistry course, something that I had never before seriously considered as a possibility. 

I know that there will be a few things I forget about my experience here, but Ms Tom and her class definitely won’t be one of them.

 By: Danny Yu.

                Next semester, Newcomer High School will be closed and the students will then be sent to four other schools. One of the chosen schools that Newcomer kids will enroll at is Mission High. Newcomer High School was closed because of the budget cuts for all the schools. Many people say that closing a school is a bad thing , but some people at Mission think that it is a good idea and that Mission is an ideal school for the Newcomer students.

So how many students will be sent to Mission? Principal Mr. Guthertz says “the number should be 30 or so but, we are going to be a Newcomer pathway so all year long newcomers that come to this country, Mission will be one of their choices. So we anticipate upwards of 150 students.” Even with so many students coming, Mission won’t change much according to Librarian Mr. McDonell. “I don’t know that it will change that much. The population of Newcomer and Mission are pretty similar.”

 Some students from Newcomer before they came to Mission say that they didn’t need Newcomer High School. Zuola Guoerluoti says “when students go to a regular high school, they study English in a faster way.” Zuola says that immigrant students learn English faster just by placing them in regular high schools.

                             

“LA MISSION”       

By: Maria Haucan                                                                                             

“La Mission” is a movie about Che Rivera who is a powerful man respected throughout the Mission district of San Francisco. Known for his love of building beautiful low rider cars and his violent past, Che is the widowed father of Jess. He is a man feared for his street-wise ways and violent temper. He is a reformed inmate and recovering alcoholic. Che has worked hard to redeem his life and do right by his only son Jess, whom he has raised on his own after the death of his wife.

Che discriminates against his son because he found a picture of him dancing with another boy in a night club. Instead of supporting his son and talking about it, he just tried to make his son be a real man like him.

The movie upset me  because it showed how in San Francisco, some people don’t like gays but at the same time it is happy movie because in the end, he goes to L.A  to talk to his son and he accepts him.  This movie includes a good lesson which is that you have to accept the people as they are no matter if they are gay.

                     

By: Zuola G.

       Rammstein, a German industrial metal band, is very famous worldwide. Is this band famous in our school? Our reporter interviewed a few students in the school, and some of them have never even heard about them, but a lot of them do know about Rammstein.

            Kenneth Cabrera, a senior in Mission High, is a very big fan of Rammstein. When asked how much he knows about Rammstein, he replied more than our reporter expected. “It’s a German heavy metal band, formed in Berlin in 1994. They play industrial metal. There are 6 members in the band, and they are famous throughout Germany.  They’ve published 6 albums up to now. Some songs have different languages, such as Spanish, Russian, and English.”

Is this band and its material about sex and violence inappropriate for teenagers like us? One video included material that was explicit pornographic. He replied yes, but teens already have been exposed to those kinds of material. More of that wouldn’t hurt them anymore. Rammstein has published a new music video that is banned in Germany, because it displays sexual activities.

            Rammstein’s 6 albums are, Herzeleid, Sehnsucht, Live Aus Berlin, Mutter, Reise Reise, Rosenrot, and Liebe ist für alle da. The first album was published in 1995. They are remembered for their amazing stage performance, including fire displays, head banging, and their outrageous outfit that makes them look like beasty hoboes.

            The band is, in my opinion, worth to give a try. Maybe one day when you pass by a Borders or a random CD store, you would want to go in and ask for a Rammstein album. Go home and listen to it a little more, you will find it interesting. I would like to recommend some songs if you are going to download songs online from them, “Aszhe zu Aszhe”, “Du Riecht So Gut”, “Ich Tu Der Weh”, and “Buck Dich”. I bet you would love it.

Selena Quintanilla

By: Kim Martinez.

With a 13-year career Selena is mostly remembered for her unique music known as Texmex, a combination of traditional Tejano music and Mexican rhythms like mariachi and Cumbia. Born in Lake Jackson, Texas, Selena started singing at a very young age. Her father Abraham Quintanilla Jr. had had a music group called Los Dinos back in the 60’s and 70’s and focused on the most popular type of music at the time, Rock n’ Roll. When the members of the group and Abraham himself decided to form their own families and take a break Suzette, Abraham Quintanilla III (now a very well known producer who goes by A.B. Quintanilla) and Selena were born. At first it was all fun and games and the family would hang out and do regular family stuff but then Abraham discovered his youngest daughter’s talent, the voice of an angel. Young Selena was 10 and singing like a pro.

Selena died fifteen years ago and was very popular in the nineties. People still listen to her music, including me because her music is catchy and her voice is so pretty and recognizable that Latinos just know when one of her songs is playing. Songs like como la flor, baila esta cumbia and bidi didi bom bom. I don’t know any of my Latino friends who don’t know who Selena is. Her music remains in my iPod and the image of her beautiful smile remains in my heart. A movie based on her life was released in 1996 and I watched it about five years later. The ending of the movie is so sad that I cry every time I watch it because the film reflects how popular she was among Latinos and other groups of people and how much we feel for her family’s loss.