The Smoke Signal

By: Diya Roy Homecoming star Sophomore Tessa Shanley was seen in multiple dances throughout the week. Not only was she rocking the amphitheater on Sophomore Day, but she also proudly represented her class Thursday during the Senior Class Unity Dances. Tessa has been dancing hip-hop and contemporary for the last six years. Smoke Signal: How did you first get interested in dancing? Tessa Shanley: Well my mom signed me up for ballet when I was like three at Mission Dance, but then my teacher stopped working at the studio so I quit. But I guess when I was in about…

By: Omar El-Sadany July 4, 1776. April 9, 1865. July 2, 1964. The signing of the Declaration of Independence, the end of the Civil War, the legislation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; all of these dates have had a profound effect on American History. This coming winter history may add another critical date to its ranks. Nov. 14, 2010 marks the much awaited premier of TLC’s ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’, hosted by none other than the delightful Sarah Palin herself. The show, which outlines Palin’s treks all over Alaska with her family, blesses viewers with the opportunity to receive…

Thousands of Giants baseball fans gathered in downtown San Francisco to cheer the World Series champions who rode in convertibles and cable cars down the parade route. (filmed by Mary Lan, edited by Kevin Zhai)

By Ditha Balaji             Scrub. Scrub. Scrub. The craving for that feeling of the ultimate pleasure of being clean is something that everyone wishes for. Especially after a grueling day of school, we really want to get all that AP Chemistry grime out of hair, literally. But what you might not know is the amount of chemistry, I mean, chemicals that go into your shampoo. Your typical Head and Shoulders or Pantene has more than 20 different types of chemicals per bottle. The potentially hazardous chemicals that are used are made synthetically and result in adverse health effects. One of the…

By Sanjna Shukla It’s that time of year again. The NBA season has just kicked off, and just about everyone is coming forward with predictions for the 2011 champion. Inevitably, there are the few teams that everyone believes will advance far into the playoffs, but there are also always the underdogs who seem to come out of nowhere, and upset the top-notch teams. For the past couple of years, the Celtics, Lakers, and Magic have been among the better teams in the league. This season, a new team has been added to that list. The Miami Heat, coming off one…

By: Angie Wang On November 1, 2010, MSJ’s performing arts students were formally invited to the 2011-2012 New Year’s Day Parade and festival in London, England. The students gave a heartwarming welcome to Lady Catherine Longworth, former Lord Mayor of the city of Westminster, London. She came with her husband, John Longworth, and Robert Bone, the executive producer of the event. During the assembly, MSJ’s marching band, led by Monica Kraft, played their routine march, followed by the orchestra, and chorale’s engaging performance of their musical selections. MSJ’s orchestra was also led by Kraft, and our very own chamber…

By: Anthony Chen Education has become an even more hotly contested issue in the United States in the wake of higher dropout rates, the failure of No Child Left Behind, and the rising possibility of a reverse brain drain. A study in 2009, released by The Program for International Student Assessment, ranked 15-year-old students in the United States as 25th in math and 24th in science out of all the countries that participated. The test was administered in 2007 and is called the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Clearly, something has gone wrong, but who or what is…

By: Kevin Zhai Courses such as multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and AP Physics C may be offered in the 2011-12 school year. However, these possible additions further demonstrate the lack of humanities-based classes at MSJ. There is a conspicuous trend among these new classes and recent course additions before it: they focus solely on math and science. Last year, both AP Environmental Science (APES) and History of China were potential electives on the course catalog. APES Teacher Lisa Ishimine said about the possible science class, “Being the first year, I expected maybe two sections.” This year, there are six sections…

By: Allan Ko Traffic is indubitably the worst part of driving. It is the conductor of a symphony of honking horns, sprinkled with groans of frustration to accentuate the sinking feeling that you’re most likely going to be late. If only you could go into the carpool lane and cut around all this traffic! Enter the I-680 toll lane, where the coveted position in the fast lane can be taken by anyone – for a fee. From September 9 to September 19, workers converted fourteen miles of carpool lane on the southbound portion of I-680 running from Sunol to Milpitas…

By: Mekala Neelakantan With the world of Internet messaging and communication leaving telephone conversations in the dust, federal law enforcement and national security officials are finding it harder to wiretap criminal and terrorist suspects. The simple days of intercepting phone conversations are coming to an end; many online communication services such as Facebook and Skype, as well as sophisticated phone and e-mail messages, carry encrypted messages that are very hard to crack. Naturally, the Obama Administration wants police and spy agencies to have the ability to tap into these encrypted conversations, just as the 1994 Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement…