W Eek End Scene
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W e e k e n d s c e n e providing awareness for wildcat students paws issue 3 Contents Introduction.............................................................4 Feature Story .....................................................................5 Alcohol.................................................................8 Marijuana..................................................................12 Casual Sex........................................................................15 Acquaintance Rape............................................................19 Statistics.....................................................................22 Conclusion..............................................................23 PAWS Staff Gabi Abaci ‘16* Montana Fowler ‘15* Aly Dembry ‘15 Ben Haderle ‘15 Kieran Horan ‘15 Caitlin Cozine ‘16 Grace Santangeli ‘16 Jake Rubnitz ‘16 Matt McCurrie ‘16 Sean Clark ‘16 Maggie Horan ‘17 Nitin Srinivasan ‘17 Advisor Nancy Offer * denotes editor ≠≠≠ Thanks Our staff would like to thank the Los Gatos High School Administration for their help and guidance. Finally, a huge thank-you goes out to all the experts who took time to speak with our writers. photography labeled for reuse BY GRACE SANTANGELI & MATT MCCURRIE Introduction scenarios. These are accurate tellings of what may occur on the weekend, from hanging out Introduction with friends to attending a party. They focus on elcome to the third issue of PAWS: the many influences on teenagers on the week- Providing Awareness for Wildcat end, including the pressures and consequences. Students. Our goal is to bring light For more information on alcohol, see Aly Dem- to issues that are too often left bry and Nitin Srinivasan’s article. Caitlin Cozine Win the dark. We do this by raising awareness and Kieran Horan discuss marijuana. They clear about disregarded aspects of adolescent life. up misconceptions about marijuana and explain We will expose students and parents to these how it can affect your body and mind. Montana aspects, show the existence of common prob- Fowler and Jake Rubnitz discuss casual sex be- lems, and provide suggestions on how to han- tween couples or strangers over the weekend. dle them. Ultimately, we intend this magazine to They also discuss how quickly judgement can be be eye-opening, current, and, most importantly, forgotten in the heat of the moment, as well as the helpful. We hope that people recognize the re- numerous regrets from the spontaneity of casual ality of the situation, both locally and national- sex. Then we venture into the issues of acquain- ly, and that they will be compelled to act if they tance rape. Gabi Abaci and Ben Haderle focus ever encounter these issues in their own lives. on a very important idea, that only “yes” means This semester’s publication addresses the “yes”. Finally, Grace Santangeli and Matt McCur- weekend scene and all the experiences that a rie compiled Shifting Perceptions statistic cover- high school student may become involved in. Our ing all of these elements of the weekend scene to feature article, written by Sean Clark and Mag- provide accurate facts and to provide a broader gie Horan, depicts several hypothetical weekend understanding of how common these issues are. 4 BY SEAN CLARK & MAGGIE HORAN Feature he throws up several times before passing out. This has happened three weeks in a row and his Story friends are starting to get sick of having to take hen we thinkStory of the “weekend scene” care of Michael when they drink. Assuming he we think of partying and problems. will be fine, his friends leave him in the bathroom, However our perception of the week- oblivious to the possibility of alcohol poisoning. W end scene diverges from the reality. There is no typical weekend scene for the LGHS Jacob student body. The weekend scene is a spectrum that ranges from isolation to alcohol poisoning. To Jacob’s group of friends have been par- start off this PAWS issue, we are providing sever- tying since the beginning of freshman year. Now al fictional stories to demonstrate this spectrum. sophomores, Jacob and his friends have a year By doing so, we define what the weekend scene of experience with casually drinking at kick- is and when it becomes a prob- backs. At first, their kickbacks took lem. These are realistic stories place every couple of months. The that can and do occur at LGHS. "his friends are friends become more and more ea- ger, so their kickbacks became a Michael starting to get monthly event, and soon enough, Michael shows up to weekly. They manage to balance school on Monday morning, sick of having to school and partying; their actions where he greets his group of have seemingly little backlash. friends in the upper junior park- take care of ing lot. As all of his friends talk Sarah about the weekend’s kickbacks Michael when and hookups, Taylor pulls a bottle they drink." Sarah is entering her senior year of smirnoff out of his backpack. and her friends are beginning to par- They take turns passing the bottle ty. She stays away from it for a while around until the bell rings. This routine continues due to her lack of interest in drinking. throughout the week. Friday after school, Michael She decides to go to her best friend’s birthday and Taylor decide to drive to a small kickback at party, knowing that alcohol will be present. She a friend’s house where they will continue to drink. tells herself she will not drink, but when she gets Michael, who has maintained a steady buzz since there, her friends encourage her. She caves and tutorial, plans to spend the night. As he polishes begins drinking. After several shots, Sarah begins off Taylor’s bottle of smirnoff, he begins to feel talking with Ryan, who is just as intoxicated as sick. His friends help him to the bathroom and she is. They wake up next morning in the same 5 bed, with no clue what went on the previous night. “you’ll like it.” It was the first time she had Sarah shows up to math on Monday, know- ever smoked weed, and she did not know if ing she has to face Ryan. They are not friends she should. Hannah wanted to, but had heard and have not talked since that night. His friends some freaky stories about what happens when snicker as she walks in and sits in her seat next you smoke weed for the first time. It took her to him. “How was your weekend, Sarah?” they a while to build up the courage to smoke it, but tease in a mocking tone. At tutorial, her friends she eventually did. Her mouth became real- ask her for details about the hook up. She is faced ly dry, but she started to relax. It seemed like with an overwhelming sense of guilt when she all of her worries about school were gone, and realizes she cannot even remember the details. she could just relax. For a while Hannah just sat and enjoyed the peace. The next morning, hav- Rebecca & Alex ing slept it out, Hannah felt completely normal. BY SEAN CLARK & MAGGIE HORAN Rebecca and Alex have been in a relationship for a year. Jane Sex has been on their minds, "She is faced with This summer, Jane’s friends but they have not made any de- started going to country con- cisions yet. One weekend, the an overwhelm- certs at Shoreline Amphitheatre. two show up at a casual party; October rolls around, and Jane nothing out of the ordinary. After ing sense of guilt decides to go to the last concert the two played three games of of the season with her friends. beer pong, their judgement has when she realizes During the concert, Jane finds completely disappeared. The herself abandoned by her friends couple wanders off to a room she cannot even who are now hooking up with ran- and begins hooking up. In the remember the dom guys across the lawn. Willing heat of the moment, they decide to try new things, Jane decides to go all the way. Waking up the details." to hook up with a guy who ap- next morning, Rebecca and Alex proaches her. On the way home immediately regret their deci- with her friends, they each talk sion. Rebecca worries throughout the next week about the guy they hooked up with. Jane is glad about the potential complications her drunken she went with friends and joined in on the fun. and unprotected night with Alex could cause. Emily Chris Emily and her friends decide to go Chris is not one for parties and does not bowling on Friday night after the football get out much. His weekends consist of him mar- game. They pile into Adam’s car and make athoning netflix and procrastinating on his home- their way to the bowling alley. After play- work. In his senior year of high school, Chris has ing two full games, the group calls it a night. found that his classmates have developed im- permeable bonds. His friends are not so much friends, just people to sit with at lunch. He feels Josh like he does not have anyone to turn to when he’s Josh and his pals agree to go to the movies bored or lonely. The weekends feel like 72 hours on a Saturday night. They drive to the Oakridge of boredom and isolation. Without friends, Chris Theater, buy their tickets and candy and go into finds high school life to be dull and uneventful. the movie. They see a new comedy and laugh really hard the entire time. Afterwards, they all drive back to Josh’s house and spend the night. Hannah They hang out and talk before they fall asleep. “Just do it already” her friends urged, 6 These fictional stories were written to show LGHS students can and do choose different activ- the variety of ways teenagers spend their week- ities to occupy their time.