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Vol. XXVII, Number 16 • Friday, November 25, 2005 ■ 50¢ Two hearts beat as one Page 10 Check out the Weekly’s new online classifieds at fogster.com WeWeekend eEdition k l y www.PaloAltoOnline.com Fairytale Theater Sondheim’s ‘Into The Woods’ returns to TheatreWorks Page 7 Page 30 Nicholas Wright Worth A Look 11 Eating Out 12 Movie Times 17 Goings On 20 Crossword Puzzle 45 ■ Upfront Physical fitness: Half empty or half full? Page 3 ■ Sports Castilleja wins NorCal volleyball Page 27 ■ Home & Real Estate Do Try This At Home Page 34 We Think William Deserves a Medal Before the Race Begins. A brain tumor hasn’t slowed down 10-year-old William. Because of the world class care he received at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, William is now up on his feet every morning, training with his mom for a half marathon and setting an aggressive pace to help others in need. Ranked as one of the top ten pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S.News & World Report, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford is a world class hospital devoted entirely to the care of children and expectant mothers – right in your backyard. Read more about William and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at www.lpch.org. L U C I L E PA C K A R D C H I L D R E N’S H O S P I T A L Page 2 • Friday, November 25, 2005 • Palo Alto Weekly UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis SCHOOLS Fitness levels The a mixed bag Some kids having a hard time touching their toes, Pleasure state test shows by Alexandria Rocha L espite faring better than their princip e peers throughout the state on Nicholas Wright D last year’s physical-fitness STRESS-REDUCTION FAIR TEACHES tests, only half of Palo Alto’s school TEENS THE VALUE OF RELAXATION children are considered fit, accord- ing to results released this week by by Alexandria Rocha the state Department of Education. The Palo Alto Unified School Dis- iddhartha Oza sat cross- trict’s 17 schools are a mixed bag of legged on the Mitchell Park fitness levels, with some campus’ S Community Center floor scores rising and others plummeting. Monday evening. Classmates El Carmelo Elementary School around him buzzed about, doing saw the largest gain, with 45 percent yoga, eating, or banging on bongo of fifth-graders qualifying as fit last drums. Oza tuned them out to focus year, up from 26 percent in 2003-04. on his breathing — a technique he Walter Hays Elementary School saw learned to reduce stress. the most significant decline in the “I call it balloon breathing. It’s number of fit students. In 2003-04, 47 most useful when you’re up against percent of the site’s students who something that is really frustrat- were tested made all the benchmarks. ing,” said Renee Burgard, instructor But last year, only 19.5 percent did. of the Palo Alto Medical Founda- The state Department of Education tion’s Mindfulness-based Stress requires school districts to annually Reduction program, who led Oza administer a physical fitness test to all and his peers through the method. fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-graders. Burgard was one of a handful of The test, called the FITNESSGRAM, guests at the second annual Teen assesses students in six major fitness Stress Reduction Fair Monday. The areas: aerobic capacity, percentage of event was hosted by the Palo Alto body fat, abdominal strength and en- Youth Council and held at the Mid- durance, trunk strength and flexibili- dlefield Road center. About 50 stu- Nicholas Wright ty, upper body strength and en- dents from Castilleja, Gunn and durance, and overall flexibility. Those Palo Alto high schools attended. translate into running or walking a It’s well known that high-school mile, measuring weight to height, and students in Palo Alto are stressed doing sit-ups, push-ups, and sit-and- out. Teens and their parents are of- Nidia Morales, a Gunn High School freshman (top, left) shares a laugh with Paly senior Lili Xu at the Teen reach toe touches. ten accused of being obsessed Stress Reduction Fair Monday night at the Mitchell Park Community Center. Paly and Gunn students take It is straightforward whether a stu- about grades and college admis- turns with the ‘singing bowl’ while learning about meditation and relaxation (above). dent meets requirements in each area sions. — they are either fit or not. The def- “Everyone is trying to be No. 1, since the Palo Alto community be- inition of fit, according to the test, a super kid, and no one can achieve came aware of the overwhelming says a student must “represent a lev- it,” said Christine Rogers, a senior stress and competitiveness teens el of fitness that offers some degree of at Castilleja. endure. Student suicides in 2002 protection against diseases that result There have been many forums and 2003 brought the issue into a from sedentary living.” and lectures to address the issue in glaring light. Since then, parents In Palo Alto, only half, or 47 per- the past two years. However, Mon- and educators have tried to debunk cent, of the 2,430 students tested were day’s two-hour fair was drastical- the myth that there are only a fit in all six areas. In the prior two ly different. handful of colleges worth attend- school years, 2002 to 2004, it was Although most of the recent ing, such as the Ivy Leagues and about the same. Fifth-graders per- events were held to examine the Stanford University. formed the best in sit-ups and push- problem and discuss strategies, this They have thought about limiting ups and had the hardest time with program put such cerebral matters the number of advanced-placement touching their toes. Seventh- and on the shelf. The teens who came courses students take, and have en- Nicholas Wright ninth-graders had more abdominal played with animals, finger paint- couraged teens to only be involved strength, but also had the most trou- ed, jazzercised, and like Oza sim- with activities that are enjoyable, ble with overall flexibility. ply sat and breathed. rather than simply impressive to a School-board member-elect Dana “That was the goal of the fair college admissions office. Tom, who has two children in dis- — to provide an atmosphere for But one thing became clear Mon- Mike Lee (left), Michael Fortune and Brecon Welton improvise a song trict schools, considered Palo Alto’s students to participate in activities day evening. There is nothing like at a drum circle. results as good, compared with the they normally wouldn’t and to time set aside to relax and have fun. county and state. learn about the different outlets, Gunn senior Susan Wu is a prime of her class and a student repre- the room, which was filled with oth- “Being the same (fitness ranking like drumming. They’re learning example. sentative on the district’s Board of er students’ pets, including a gerbil, as last year) is OK if it’s at a very, it’s fun and it feels good,” said When asked if she is stressed Education. mice, two turtles and two dogs that very high level. But if there is signif- Kim Parker, the center’s recreation out, she said, “absolutely.” Col- But on Monday she sat and cud- were brought in for the fair. The icant room for improvement, that’s supervisor. lege applications are due next dled with her bunny, named Imp. teens giggled, danced, sang songs, different,” he said. Various strategies have emerged week, added Wu, who is at the top Her friends strolled in and out of (continued on page 5) Last year in Santa Clara County, (continued on page 5) Palo Alto Weekly • Friday, November 25, 2005 • Page 3 703 HIGH STREET, PALO ALTO, CA 94302 (650) 326-8210 Gregory Wait, PUBLISHER Music Director William S. Johnson ReaderReaderWire comments via e-mail, voice mail and U.S. mail presents EDITORIAL Jay Thorwaldson, Editor tron visits last year and yet they cost Marc Burkhardt, Managing Editor Racism not ‘hidden’ Jocelyn Dong, Associate Editor Racism is a problem in Palo Alto as it only 8 percent of the total library budg- Allen Clapp, Carol Blitzer, Assistant Editors Keith Peters, Sports Editor is in every corner of this country and it et to run (according to city documents). Rick Eymer, Assistant Sports Editor Reserving books online has become Rebecca Wallace, Arts & Entertainment Editor isn’t hidden, certainly not from those of Don Kazak, Senior Staff Writer us who habitually suffer insults large hugely popular and many of the small- Bill D’Agostino, Alexandria Rocha, Staff Writers Norbert von der Groeben, Chief Photographer and small that make us feel like tres- branch library users take advantage of Nicholas Wright, Staff Photographer this to (cost-effectively) access titles Christmas Garland Brian Connelly, Photo Intern passers in our hometown — and some- Tyler Hanley, Assistant to the Editor & times even in our own homes. from the larger branches. Online Editor Wendell Whalum’s “Betelehemu,” Vaclav Nelhybel‘s “Estampie Natalis,” Sue Dremann, Staff Writer, Special Sections I am African-American. Not long ago We can certainly find more ways to George Guest‘s arrangement of the traditional Welsh lullaby “Suo Gân,” Cammie Farmer, Calendar Editor Jeanne Aufmuth, Dale Benson, Lynn while driving a few blocks from my efficiently build on the neighborhood- Conrad Susa‘s “A Christmas Garland,” and much more. Comeskey, Tim Goode, Jill Slater, Susan house I was stopped by a policeman branch model as we move toward a Tavernetti, Robert Taylor, Contributors Wrap yourself in the music of the season! Suman Mudamula, Saqib Rahim, Ken Selis, who asked me as he stared down at long-range plan for our libraries.