Middle College @CSM January 2023 Newsletter

Middle College

January 2023 Newsletter

Mark Your Calendars!

Feb. 5: Last day to drop semester-length classes without appearing on transcripts

Feb. 7-10: Sophomore Shadow Week

Feb. 17: Lincoln Day Holiday (No School)

Feb. 20: Presidents Day Holiday (No School)

General Updates:

Fill out this survey if you're interested in helping make the 2022-2023 yearbook

What's In This Newsletter:

What MC Students Did Over Winter Break, New Year's Celebrations, Cinépolis Field Trip, Movie and New Food Reviews, and much more!

Middle College 2022-23 Calendar

Winter Break

Where did MC Students Travel?

Happy New Year!

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

“Get better at drums” Alejo Manuel

“Exit my hater era”

Jaden Luke

“Drink more- I mean less- boba”

Clara Sapugay

“To scrapbook and journal!”

Michelle Lopez Grijalva

“Hit diamond in valorant and gold in league”

Kevin Vega

“My new years resolution is to stress less”

Ashley Fuenzalida

Blythe Jones, Chloe Chan, and Noelia Quezada said they want to make/save more money.
Madison Matthews, Amina Amani, and Lo Alston said they want to read more.

New Year's Resolutions

By Loralei Rohrbach

New year, new me. I think we’re all familiar with the phrase. January always marks an exciting time when we get to change our attitudes and habits for the new year. We’re filled with hope and motivation, but let’s be honest, how many of us really follow through with our New Year’s Resolutions all the way up until December?

Not me. I don’t think I remember a single year where I could commit fully to all my January goals. It’s hard, the year is long, and sometimes the goals I make are just unattainable…like the one year I wanted to stop procrastinating…

To be fair, though, 80 percent of New Year’s Resolutions fail. But why?

Too often, I view the goals I set for myself more like checklist items rather than something I need to approach continuously, which is why I rarely hit said goals.

This year though, I’ve decided to look at my resolutions from a new perspective. Instead of setting temporary goals, I’m going to make lifestyle changes I want to embody past the end of 2023.

This year I’m looking to:

1. Seek out opportunities that excite. As the year goes on, I want to put myself in new environments where I’m challenged to think abstractly.

2. Live in the present moment. Every day I want to do something that makes me feel content - whether that be getting coffee with an old friend or waking up early to watch the sunrise.

3. Know where I put my energy. I’ve recently recognized that no matter the situation, I can choose the outlook I want. I don’t know how to adequately describe this idea, but it’s sort of like this: if I’m on the dance floor and the people next to me are complaining and having a bad time, but I am, I’m just going to keep dancing.

I think if we use our New Year’s Resolutions as an opportunity to reframe how we feel rather than something we have to accomplish, perhaps it will be more obtainable. Who knows? Maybe this is the year we fulfill our goals.

Cultural New Year's Celebrations

By Blythe Jones

With every January in our culture comes the New Year. New Year's traditions are some of the most exciting and out-of-the-ordinary of the year. However, New Year's can look very different depending on the time of the year and where you are located. In the United States, or at least the commercialized aspect, we like to kick off the New Year with parties, fireworks, and the famous New Year's Eve ball drop in New York City's Time Square. We may also keep personal goals called New Year's resolutions. Although we may be accustomed to those traditions, here are some traditions worldwide that you may not know about.

Some of my favorite traditions I learned about in South America come from Venezuela and Colombia. In Venezuela, people often wear yellow underpants and eat twelve grapes for good luck. If you want to travel in the New Year, you can take a suitcase and carry it around the house for a while. Colombians have a school New Year's tradition called "Burning Mr. Old Year." The whole family makes a big male doll, dresses him in old clothing, and stuffs him with things that represent the past year. They also throw in some fireworks for good measure. On New Year's Eve at midnight, the doll is set on fire to symbolize burning memories of the past year and starting a fresh new one.

The Lunar New Year is celebrated across East Asia: in China and Taiwan and countries like Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea. The festival lasts fifteen days and can begin anytime from late January to February. Each country puts its unique spin on the celebrations. For example, Chinese families spend the new year together. They wear and exchange little packets of money for luck. They also light firecrackers to ward off evil spirits.

The Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah. It falls in September or October, depending on the year. Jewish people worldwide go to the synagogue, eat special foods like honey cake, and blow a ram's horn called the shofar during the two-day celebration. Muslims celebrate the Islamic New Year all over the world. It happens on the first day of the first month in the Islamic lunar calendar, celebrating Hijrah — the prophet Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina. The Islamic New Year is a peaceful, quiet day.

Every culture on Earth has its traditions, but the basic ideas are the same — putting the past behind us, starting fresh, and wishing peace and happiness to friends and family. These ideas can be seen in all sorts of symbolic activities. For example, in parts of India, people buy new clothes, clean their houses, and decorate with mango leaves. In the Netherlands, they eat donuts on New Year's, while in Japan, they eat rice cakes called mochi. In Scotland, folks roll barrels of burning tar through the streets. What's unique about the United States is that it brings multiple cultures together to share their celebrations. Hopefully, this will inspire you to learn more or create your own New Year's celebrations and traditions, whatever that may be.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

By Steven Acuna and Mariana Lopez

As the crowds of people started gathering and the police cars cleared the streets, we began to march in unison down the busy streets of San Francisco. It is here where we gather not as strangers, but as neighbors; shown through the beauty of many people coming together from different backgrounds and cultures we witness our community pay tribute to the grand efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Overall, the experience was very eye-opening, to be able to partake in firsthand and to be able to reflect upon the occasion and realize that we are all part of something much bigger. Everyone had their different motivations for attending the march, but in the end what mattered was that we all came together and were there to represent the diversity of the Bay Area. Being able to talk to my neighbors and hear their stories taught me what it truly means for everyone to have a voice that must be heard.

Throughout the event, multiple speeches would be given by members of the community ranging from speeches of what exactly it meant to celebrate MLK day and others calling out the injustices of our world today. It was fascinating to see that some of the speakers were teenagers our age, some even younger. Demonstrating how the negative consequences and injustices of our world today reach even the youth, indicating that we must listen to what they have to say since they are the future of our planet, and they will continue to represent and fight against any injustice as we progress into the future. Reflecting on the day as a whole also taught me that we as people have to contribute more. There are many voices that go unheard and we each have our thoughts and opinions that we can bring to the table that would help us work together to build a stronger and more connected community, so why sit back and watch others do it when we ourselves could be contributing, shedding light on these various issues so that something can be done? Why wait when we can act now and amplify our voices so that they are heard?

Movies

Cinépolis Field Trip

On January 6, Middle College students braved the Pineapple Express Bomb Cyclone to reach their destination: Hillsdale Mall’s very own Cinépolis movie theater. After the first day back from Winter Break was canceled, many students were looking forward to finally seeing their friends as they watched a movie in the luxury recliners.

The majority of the students were grateful that the staff chose Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as the film of the event, and as they relaxed in the nice leather seats with complimentary food, Spring Semester of 2023 commenced.

I See You, Avatar: The Way of Water, But Only in 2D

By Jaden Luke

This review is spoiler-free.

For the past few years, I’ve been waiting for Avatar’s sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, to be released from James Cameron’s grasp and into the world. I mean, who doesn’t want to see what the eight-foot-tall-blue-alien-people that have (what one could argue) the greatest love story of all time are up to now? So the weekend it was released on December 16, 2022, I sprinted to the theaters. I chose to buy tickets to the 7:15 2D showing at the Redwood City Cinemark.

As my stomach filled with butterflies, I was extremely anxious to finally see the movie I had waited years for. I tried not to set the bar too high, worried because many sequels fail to live up anywhere near the first one—but I was wrong. Cameron did not let us down, to say the least. Avatar: The Way of Water is a visually stunning, creative, and breathtaking movie. The VFX team outdid their performance in Avatar (2009) despite many franchises using CGI in the past two years failing at being even remotely realistic. As an older sibling I saw myself in Neteyam, wanting to tell him the three Na’vi words of “I See you”. Jake Sully and Neytiri’s love story is only expanded further, torn apart and mended and torn apart again in a never-ending cycle. You’ll leave the theater asking yourself if the two will ever find peace on the beautiful Pandora moon, where they are now accompanied by their own children. My friend said that “you know it’s a good film when you literally cry after”, and I couldn’t agree more. Tearjerkers are my Achilles’ heel.

On a mission to do my part in making the movie as successful as the first one, I had to see it again. But this time, 3D was the only option on the table as 2D was sold out. I felt the same nervousness I had felt during my first viewing, and it stayed with me as I tore open the bag labeled REAL D 3D holding those black plastic glasses. Part of me felt I was going to get bored simply because it is a three-hour movie and that I wouldn’t let out a few tears during that scene—but I was wrong. Again. Still as amazing and heartbreaking as before, I had only one complaint: 3D robbed me of the intensity of Pandora’s colors, similarly to when I saw the 3D re-release of Avatar (2009) in September. I caught myself taking off the glasses just to catch a glimpse of the bright blues of the Na’vi’s bioluminescent skin and the yellows of the fish in the Metkayina reefs. For movies like Avatar, color is everything. I saw it again (yes, again) for a third time in XD 3D and had a very similar experience; the only seats available were towards the back, so I’m sure it would’ve been more immersive it if you sat towards the front of the theater to experience the vastness of the XD screen.

I’m not sure how to say this without sounding slightly insane, but I saw it for a fourth time in XD 3D D-Box. I figured that since I had already seen 2D, 3D, and XD I just simply had to finish the last of the Cinemark experiences. The beginning of the movie, with the most machine-gun action, was the most entertaining part of the D Box feature. However, as the movie went on, there was less D Box-worthy action and therefore less of the 4D experience. If you’re interested in watching the film in D Box, I would go on a Tuesday because they’re discounted by $10; I say it’s definitely worth $18 per ticket but not worth $28.

It’s safe to say that, coming from a well-seasoned Avatar: The Way of Water watcher, 2D is the way to go. You’ll get the colorful intensity the production team wanted you to watch it with without the distractions from random objects flying at you from the screen. But, if you decide to go the 3D route, definitely watch it in XD (and pick seats closer to the front). Nonetheless, however you watch it, I’m sure you can’t wait for the next film in the franchise just like I can’t. I’d give anything to see another of Cameron’s intellectual children on screen again, including my own first-born. So, Cameron, what do you say—a son for a son?

Other Movie Reviews

By Jaden Luke

As an avid movie watcher, I’ve seen my fair share of good, bad, and everything-in-between movies. I saw too many movies to count over Winter Break so in honor of Academy Awards season, here were my favorite viewings that were released in late 2022 (in no particular order):

Babylon (2022) – 4/5

I am a Damien Chazelle enthusiast. Although his movie credits are limited, none of them are bad. Babylon is a fun, passionate movie (that you definitely shouldn’t watch with your parents), so ignore the Rotten Tomatoes score and go see it for yourself!

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) – 4.5/5

I really have to stop watching bittersweet movies, but I love them too much. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson star in this movie about a friend cutting the other off (and his fingers too) and has a dog in it as well. I’m sure that’s enough to convince you to watch it.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) – 5/5

If you don’t believe animation is true film, you need to see this movie. Del Toro has some interesting movies under his belt, and this is no exception. Pinocchio is a heartwarming, claymation twist that leaves your eyes glued to the screen, even if you’re an adult!

Other honorable mentions:

The Whale (2022)

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

New CSM Cafeteria Food!

By Katie Yeh

Make way CSM cafeteria food fans, a new menu has hit the table! Known for its chicken tenders and various selection of sauces, the cafeteria has wowed us yet again with the addition of sushi, teriyaki and orange chicken, potstickers - you name it! For the past three weeks, I've been exploring these new tastebud delights and am readily prepared to share my thoughts with you all.

My personal favorite that I came across was the orange chicken. Glazed in sweet and tangy sauce, the chicken is perfectly crispy as it's paired along with some rice, carrots, broccoli (although it has recently come to my attention that they have removed broccoli). Ready at the counter, along with their teriyaki chicken version, this is a perfect grab-and-go meal! However, one downside is definitely the cost - is it worth the $9.99? Personally, not really, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that.

Another noticeable item was the sushi. I was pleasantly surprised by the plentiful selection being offered, and I thought that it was pretty decent. They also offer some daily special items such as their chicken alfredo and fried chicken! Needless to say, I'm very excited to try all of the new menu items at the cafeteria and hopefully all of the students are too.

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Productive Habits (Part 1)

By Sarah Grover

Welcome to the new semester! As our advisors have asked us to build new study habits, I will be writing a series of articles with a few ideas on how you can make this semester very productive for yourself! Here’s my first tip:

Keep a Planner / Calendar.

Our advisors can’t get enough of emphasizing the importance of keeping a planner or a calendar, but what they don’t tell you is how to keep it organized. To begin, try color-coding your calendar for Personal Events, School Events, and College Events. If you want to get more organized—because perhaps your classes have endless assignments—then you can try having separate colors for each of your classes! I know this may look like a lot of work now, but it will make you far more productive in the long term. When you train your brain to associate colors with a specific class or a group of events, you’re more likely to keep track of these events better. Furthermore, don’t just mark assignment due dates, but also frequent reminders to actually do it— especially when the assignment may be one that spans several days and/or weeks. If you would rather stick to just assigning due dates, then remember to regularly check your planner/calendar for the next few weeks, rather than just the next few days.

Many of these tips could work for some, but not others. But it’s always good to try it out rather than assume because you never know what could click for you :D

Winter Fashion

By Michaela Gonzalez

In the past few months, the fashion industry has seen a new sun arise over fashion and the culture itself. Not only is high fashion getting swapped out for thrifting, but we see more gender-bending clothing and repeats of past trends come forth too.

Skirts of all lengths, colors, and sizes are definitely making their way as a new trend. Often, skirts are paired with some type of Loafer or Mary Jane, and ankle-high white socks.

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Enya Umanzor

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The classic Bratz baddie accessory: faux fur russian hats. Especially during the winter, these fluffy hats are used to keep the head warm in a stylish and Y2K way.

As croquet and balletcore are new arising aesthetics in mainstream fashion, leg warmers are as well. They don’t always have to be knit, some are lace, jean, and even fur!

As weird as it may sound, over-the ear headphones have been very popular in the culture. Many pair their black or white bulky headphones with any outfit to get a city/study look.

@sungziyoung

@chicjerk

@islafranciis

Lastly, the shoe industry is changing as well. We can see the shift from air forces and UGGS to “grandpa shoes” and bulky shoes such as chunky boots and loafers.