INSIDE: Opposing Viewpoints: Youth Revolt? (see page 2) ServingServingServing the thethe Archbishop ArchbishopArchbishop Mitty MittyMitty Community CommunityCommunity Volume 19 Number 4 March 2010 Behind the Scenes: Mitty Parking East Lot Q&A with Mrs. Cathy Campbell So what are your main concerns/hopes for Mitty parking and Mitty drivers? Well, I hope students realize that we’re here to help them and not to persecute them. We want to get them into class on time and safely, but also to park legally. So we try to get as many as we can in here and, if we can’t, we try to accommodate them in other parking lots. What was your most frightening or exciting moment in a Mitty parking lot? Some strangers tried to drop a bag off in the bushes and then tried to get onto campus. It was clear that they were trying to be where they shouldn’t be for the wrong reasons. I thought that we were here just to park the kids and then be done, but, yeah, there’s more than that…there are out- side influences trying to get to you guys. What would you like to say about your reputation as a parking lot lady? The official term is “parking lot supervisor.” Other terms are “parking lot mom,” “parking lot Nazi,” and “parking lot lady.” You know, I just love the kids and it’s fun. Most of them don’t realize I went here and it was open campus, so I know all the ways to get in and out. And I remember what it was like to be a student…but, I just love the kids. And if they’re trying to get away with something, I can most part, Mitty’s Parking Supervisors show off the tools of their trade as they attempt to tame the chaos of our “paved paradise.” id going xtension Curbside Info: The 411 on Parking at Mitty of their parents. By Hannah Moeller The second most commonly broken parking rule is students,” explains Mrs. Wesmiller,er, “but Staff Writer turning left onto Mitty Ave from the senior lot exit. Ad- for us to build anything, we mustust get On a typical school day morning at Archbishop Mitty, ditionally, students are not allowed to drive straight across , and the parking lot can truly resemble a vehicular labyrinth Mitty Way from the senior lot exit to Bevans. During peak the city asks our neighbors if they straight out of a chase scene in The Bourne Identity. Between traffi c hours, this area becomes very dangerous because of . No 7:20 and 7:40, over one thousand cars are registered under the poor visibility, and as a result, there have been accidents one wants a big, tall, ugly structureure the Mitty parking program. For many students, the parking and many close-calls. It is safest to turn right onto Mitty built near their house.” process is a diffi cult balancing act of not being late to class, Way from the senior lot exit. The neighbors most com- shortening the after-school walk to the car, and obeying the So what does the future look like for Mitty parking? monly request that extremely often-daunting number of parking regulations. “We have no drastic changes in mind,” says Mrs. Wes- tall buildings not be built and “The most common offense is students parking any- miller, “But we do want to continue to expand the carpool that students do not park in front of their homes, as it is where in the surrounding neighborhoods where they aren’t program.” frustrating to have parking spaces taken up, as well as supposed to,” says Mrs. Wesmiller, assistant dean and head With the carpool program, students drive with their having garbage bins or yard waste moved or parked over of the parking department. “Especially on the corner where peers and enjoy parking spots in senior lots especially by students. Park Meadow turns into Lapa Drive,” she continues, “Stu- reserved for members of the program. The program helps If Mitty were to satisfy both neighbors and students and dents park past the Lapa street sign, placing them on Lapa reduce the number of cars being driven to school every build an underground structure, the cost of such a project Drive where they are not permitted to park.” day, freeing parking spaces and lowering overall gas con- would increase by millions of dollars—an unfeasible ex- Sometimes, students are running late to class and take sumption. Currently, about fi fty carpool cars are driven to pense. Ultimately, the parking situation at Mitty is left with the fi rst available parking spot they can fi nd. Since parking school each day. With advertising, Mitty hopes to increase little room to grow or change. Other high schools, such as is limited at Mitty and many students drive themselves to participation and convert more regular senior spots to Serra and Valley Christian, experience similar stressful school, few easily accessible and permitted spots are left, carpool spots. limitations, all resulting in frustrations for students. and the quickly found parking spots may be illegal. The It has been suggested by many that Mitty should build “When students become frustrated, occasionally they resulting consequence is often a Saturday detention for the a parking structure. may break rules or lash out at our parking staff,” says Mrs. student driver. “We would love to build a parking structure for out Wesmiller. see PARKING, page 16 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Curtain Call for Class of 2010 By Payam Mirfendereski and Sumedh Guha Meszaros, closely cooperated with them in order to create the best performance on Staff Writers stage. All the crew, including students’ parents, worked hard to arrange the scenery and Mitty recently wrapped up its production of the musical-comedy Dirty Rotten choose costumes and props. The cast too had an active part in the production of the Scoundrels, a story of two con men and their amusing lives on the French Riviera. musical, helping with inerpreting the characters and improvising in rehearsals. With W e stude ts app ec ated t e p all the hard work, it’s no surprise that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a smash success. diffi cult and co Though the musical may have drawn wild laughter from the audience, many of explains, “Th the students involved in the production regarded it as a bittersweet experience. For for many of o the talented actors of the class of 2010, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was their last show We have a cre on the Kinkade Theater stage, and a last chance to work alongside their friends and rrunun crew to spot lights.” peers at Mitty. Mr. Santana collaborated with Mr. Kimont for Senior Logan Breitbart (an ensemble member in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), who the music production, and with Ms. Moura for the has participated in every Mitty show since his freshman year, refl ected on one of his choreography. Mr. Santana’s student stage manager, fi rst turns in the Mitty spotlight—the comedic play Lend Me a Tenor. Alison Kalpakoff, along with assistant director, Sierra see SCOUNDRELS, page 16 OPINIONS Opposing Viewpoints: Do Teens Need Provisional Rules? TEENAGERS ARE PEOPLE TOO THERE ARE RULES FOR A REASON By Eugene Woo simply because of their lack of experience, By Sneha Singh ing the increasingly popular “Call of Duty.” Staff Writer and therefore it is completely unreasonable Staff Writer Teens’ excuse for this could be that they to force all teenagers to comply with stricter Why do most 16-year-olds drive like need time to “unwind.” Do they really need “The youth are our future,” people rules simply because of their age. they’re missing a part of their brain? to “unwind” up until dinner time? always say. Yet adults still continue to No one is claiming to be a Nobel Prize Because they are. Teens account for a mind-boggling denigrate teens as universally impulsive, winner fresh out of high school. We just “Adolescence is a period of profound number accidents and injuries. Is that not frivolous, and reckless—and then they use want our fair share. The youth only got the brain maturation, and that maturation is not reason enough to put restrictions on their these stereotypes to unfairly discriminate 18 year-old vote because our country wanted complete until about age 25. It’s a process,” driving? The rule that states that teens must against us. We are bullheaded, pigheaded, to send us to war. Since then, youth have had states Dr. Ken Winters, a professor in the have their license for a year before driving and bigheaded, they say, but sometime in a dismal showing at the polls, but those who Dept. of Psychiatry at the University of their friends is not intended to make teens the future we become the responsible, sen- do show up at the polls are one step above Minnesota. feel powerless or constrained, but to keep sible adults that run society. So when does the signifi cant number of adults that do not Teens under the age of 18 have to wait them from injuring or possibly killing other that transformation occur? Does something show up as well. While some adults may a year to drive their friends around town. teens with their rash and impulsive driving. in our heads snap as we turn eighteen, or make derisive arguments that our voting Insurance prices for teens are signifi cantly Today’s youth also seems to hold twenty-one? How can a universal standard percentage is remarkably low, we can point higher than for adults.