It is 9:48 p.m. and you are staring at a blank Word document. Biography… Nathanial Hawthorne …three pages… You open your internet window in a sincere attempt to do some research, maybe even to use your favorite less-than-credible internet encyclopedia for help.

But there it is—that little navy blue and white icon that your fingers will almost without fail lead your mouse to: Facebook. In half a second you forget why you took your laptop out. You enter a semi-permeable timewarp-bubble where you can simultaneously instant message people and join a group called “I always slide on wood floors with socks on.”

Maybe you were just bored. Maybe it began as a simple way to connect with friends. Maybe you realized that Myspacers are a dying breed and converted. Or, it’s possible that you were looking for a socially acceptable way to creep people, though most people don’t realize this is an included perk of Facebook until after they’ve joined.

Any way it is, at some point Facebook got bookmark-ed, or toolbar-ed, or, for a few, even home-page-ed. And if, since then, you have spent more time on Facebook than you or your English teacher would like- if, since then, you feel like Facebook has become like a nagging little sister that you have to check up on every hour-  read on.

Hello, my name is Rachel. I am a recovering Facebook junkie. (Hi, Rachel.) I haven’t used Facebook in one month (Round of applause).

Yes, last month I deleted my Facebook because it was sucking my life up. No, I don’t deserve a round of applause. And no, I’m not encouraging you to do the same.

But, if you are a procrastination-prone teenager such as myself, or if your time management skills are any bit as corruptible as mine are, I find it my solemn duty to warn you. Facebook is pure evil.

I came upon this revelation behind the wheel. I was driving and I saw a red flag out of the corner of my eye. To my shock, my automatic thought was, of all things, that I had a notification. This is when I realized I had a serious problem.

The thing is, I don’t remember when I stopped liking Facebook. Not that I ever loved it. But I realized that I was dependant on it to some extent, and that I didn’t want such a big part of my life to be written in html.

I guess I could have decided just to spend less time on Facebook, but I knew too well that I probably didn’t have the self control and that I would make any excuse to myself to not start my homework.

And it was more than that—it was an issue of pride. Facebook had become the man. And I hated the man. I didn’t care that the website had plenty of good uses to me, or that it was a technologically-savvy way to make the world a little smaller. I wasn’t going to make myself some calendar of time allotment so that I could only partially lose to the man. For me, there was no compromise, no second thoughts, and no buts. I had to quit cold turkey.

Flash forward 1 month, 1 week, and then some. I can honestly say that my life without Facebook is, in more ways than not, better. I have gone back to the good, ol’ fashion way of communication: phone calls, texting, and email.

And while all of these things can lead to moderate procrastination themselves, they tend to do so less. I think this is because they don’t have the addictive quality that Facebook and the fridge have in common. (You can keep coming back and opening the door, but there’s nothing good to eat!)

With email or texting, you aren’t constantly checking your phone or computer for a message. Beside that, you’re much more likely to be interacting with people who are actually your friends. Not to say that there aren’t some people who enjoy reading via newsfeed what Jon and Jane and every other of their hundreds of “Facebook friends” did over their spring breaks.

But, for me, that was wasting my brain-space, and the sweet time I tend to allot to procrastination. I haven’t stopped procrastinating—far from it—but at least when I’m actually working on something, a Facebook window isn’t taunting me in the background.

And that is the lesson I wish to impart on you, dear reader. If you haven’t at some point said a mental amen while reading this article, then by all means continue to utilize the biggest internet craze since…well, Myspace.

And, while I deleted my Facebook, I said I wouldn’t encourage you to do the same. But, if this dilemma applies to you as well, remember: the first step is admitting you have a problem.

If you’re in the mood for more than a little light viewing, there’s no shortage of movies about the Holocaust, ranging from documentaries to ones loosely based on fact, and from heart-warmers to tear-jerkers. But nothing even comes close to the real thing: hearing an actual personal account from the mouth of a Holocaust survivor.

That rare experience was given to CCA students last week, when classes were given the opportunity to hear the touching story of survivor Edith Palkowitz. She spoke in the proscenium theatre in an event organized by history teacher Mr. Stiven, student Solomon Mizrahi, and Rachel Talpalatzky, a student and Edith’s granddaughter.

Edith bravely told the story of how she was taken to a ghetto in Budapest when she was only 13 years old, and how she escaped and worked in a morgue for two years until she could get her visa to come on her own to America.

The experience, though not a first for the school, was the first experience like it for many students who didn’t get the chance to hear last year’s speaker.  Hopefully, CCA will have the opportunity to have another Holocaust speaker come next year and continue the tradition.

After years of skeptical methods of paper disposal, sparse recycling bins and the inconvenient lack of paper towels in the bathroom, it’s about time that CCA invests in a smart manner of going green: the use of solar powered energy. In order to use energy from the sun, solar panels must be installed around campus. The board has recently decided to go forth with this project over the course of the next seven months here at CCA.

In order to turn the sun’s rays into usable energy, solar panels must be installed (hence the loud jack-hammering outside our classrooms each day). These panels are made of many individual solar cells. When those cells come into contact with the light, they convert the rays into electricity that can be used around our school.

SDUHSD board member Jon Addleman is one of the few people in charge of the project.  “The reason for selecting Canyon Crest Academy and La Costa Canyon High School was the availability of space to construct a sufficient solar panel system, in particular, the open expanse of the parking lots,” he said. “The parking lots are ideal because solar [panels] could be installed on a dedicated structure that has dual benefits: shaded parking and solar [energy].”

In the next few months, the panels will be installed in the teacher and student parking lots. By installing these environmentally-friendly gadgets, our school (as well as LCC) will replace approximately 70 percent of electricity costs with energy collected from the sun. Alongside this project, the board plans to execute even more eco-friendly duties in the future, finances providing.

A major concern among SDUHSD families includes the source of funding for these costly projects. In order keep from taking money from public-funded school programs, the board must acquire the money in ways that do not fiscally impact the public or the schools. “We look forward to implementing solar at all [SDUHSD] school sites, but can do so only if market conditions and financing allow the District to do so in a way that the system will pay for itself,” comments Addleman.

 Whether it be installing solar panels or simply placing recycling bins around campus, it is necessary that our schools must do their part in reducing our carbon footprint. As Addleman states, “Some ways are as simple as using environmentally-friendly cleaning products to the sometimes more challenging ways, such as bringing awareness and the importance of conservation [to the schools].”

The group of elementary school friends collectively known as CSG has extended their foot in the Battle of the Bands door as the first rap group to participate in the annual competition.  Seniors  Maurice Bumbu, David “D-Fab” DiFabrizio, Dylan Hackett, Chris Hynes, Shawn Katebian, Jai Patel, and Matt Scarano are looking to add a dynamic that has not been used in the four years of BOTB: the power of the many.

       “We have a mob of people, and an even bigger stage presence,” says D-Fab. “We feed off of each other, and [the music] becomes something greater than all of us separately. It’s like Lennon and McCartney, but with seven of us.”

       By incorporating a variety of electronica-based chord progressions and an alternative-rap flow, CSG is looking to employ the same crowd-appeal that last year’s winner, WillikerS, used. The self-proclaimed “hooligans with talent” are going to take the audience hostage next Tuesday, and aim to do some damage.

       Ultimately though, the group’s top priority is to have a good time. “We try to have the most fun we can possibly have. That’s what people want to see. We are taking that idea to BOTB, and are going to have the most fun,” says CSG veteran Maurice Bumbu. “We’re just party kids, and we want to invite everyone to the party. We’ve got a lot of surprises, so be ready.”

     Big-time companies are no stranger to stirring up intentional controversy with their advertisements. The controversy then draws attention to that particular company or product, which inevitably improves business. Sometimes the tactic works, while other times it simply falls flat. Burger King’s latest TV ad, however, brought about an entirely unexpected type of controversy: in a recent advertisement aired on national television, the infamous BK mascot (the “King”) is seen running down the halls of what seems to be a hospital. He makes his way past several obstacles, all the while being followed by a man who shouts, “Stop that king! He’s crazy!”

     Harmless, right? Wrong. It turns out that mental health advocates across the board are taking offense to the ad, claiming that it is insensitive to those who have real mental illnesses. Michael Fitzpatrick, the executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said that he was “stunned” and “appalled” by the commercial.

     Call me insensitive, but I’ll tell you what’s stunning and appalling: the idea alone that people are legitimately offended by this ad, but not in any way concerned with the fact that the ad is actually advertising a burger that contains 970 calories, with a total of 85 grams of fat (23 of which are saturated), and 1,930 milligrams of sodium. The actual product being advertised is far more harmful than the advertisement itself will ever be.

     If the advertisement depicted a man chasing the King down screaming, “Stop that king! He’s bipolar!” then maybe I would understand why some people took offence. But “crazy” is not a clinical term; it doesn’t clearly point out any one particular group of people, so there really is nothing to be offended by. It seems that there is a fine line between being politically correct and just being, well, crazy. Anyone who genuinely took offense to this ad should worry about other things instead, such as the fact that our parents’ generation is the first expected to outlive ours, thanks to the foods that companies like Burger King offer.

     So where do we draw the line between controversial and harmless? It’s a question with no definite answer, but for now the media controversy will just have to continue. It’s kind of crazy if you think about it.

You come home from school and you’ve got a headache, a lot of stress due to your overwhelming amount of homework or some aches and pains from PE or other sports. You take some Advil, Tylenol, Motrin, Aleve or other type of medication, and believe that your problems will all dissipate once you take these pills. Not necessarily. For any and all students who’ve been taking pain-reducing medications consistently for more than two weeks to combat symptoms, here’s a newsflash that will shock you: not only do these medications eat away at your stomach lining, and put a strain on your kidneys and liver, but your body is also likely becoming immune to them! It has been scientifically proven by Penn State University’s Medical Center and College of Medicine that once you’ve been on a pain medication for over two weeks, your body starts becoming immune to the medicine, and it no longer helps relieve your pain. Instead, it will leave you with a stomach ache and the false belief that your pain is receding due to the medications you are taking.

                What if there was something that could help cure acne, aches and pains and sore muscles, help with type two diabetes and weight loss, combat ADHD/ADD, depression and anxiety and give you the essential vitamins and supplements that you need in your daily diet to keep you happy, healthy  and far away from a doctor? As hard as it may be to believe, there are such remedies and therapeutic treatments to cure all of the above external and internal problems. Homeopathy, a dynamic system of medicine, is based on the principle of “like cures like,” or the Law of Similars, which was a theory introduced  by Samuel Hahnemann, the German physician who founded homeopathy in 1796.

                To get a more thorough understanding of Samuel Hahnemann’s system of homeopathy, Pulse interviewed local homeopathic practitioner Lorrain Hobbs. She helped sum up the homeopathic theory of “like versus like” and the Law of Similars: “The symptom pattern of the remedy matches the symptom pattern of the disease, so that every expression of imbalance in the body has a corresponding substance in nature, which will assist the vital force in restoring balance.  In other words, homeopathy pays very close attention to the symptoms expressed by the vital force and uses them as a guidepost to identifying the specific remedy needed to produce a healing effect in the body.” Therefore, homeopathy and homeopathic remedies revolve around the idea that medicine from nature, or homeopathic remedies, are based on a natural medical science that works with your body to help it stimulate your own defenses.

                  Now think about your headache. Before you take those pain relief pills, remember: in more conventional forms of medicine such as Advil, Aleve, and Tylenol, these same symptoms, [like headaches and other pains] if suppressed, can possibly contribute to a more chronic condition later  on. This is huge when you consider that many people are treating specific ailments for long periods of time with medicines that treat only the symptom and not the individual, and often the results are temporary.

                According to HerbalRemedies.com, “conventional drugs often cause side effects because they work by suppressing symptoms. Homeopathic medicine relieves symptoms by helping to put your body’s systems into proper balance. Because homeopathic medicines support the body’s own defenses, they do not cause side effects.” But is it possible, or even sensible to think that we can turn away from conventional drugs and rely simply on homeopathic remedies to help cure our physical and emotional problems? And as Lorrain Hobbs says, there are many more “benefits of homeopathic medicine as an alternative to some of the more conventional medicines in treating acute and chronic conditions.  Homeopathy is designed, in contrast, to work with the body’s natural defenses, and a well prescribed remedy produces a cure without risk of side effects. Homeopathy is prescribed for the whole person.  Homeopathy also treats many common illnesses such as asthma, allergies, skin conditions, headaches, fever, infections and much more.”

                There are whole systems of ways in which you can help your own body treat and effectively combat its various symptoms and multiple problems. Bach Flower Remedies, edible oils, detoxifying and cleansing pads, liquid and chewable supplements, herbal and dietary remedies, and natural treatments for pain such as Arnica are all derivative of homeopathy and homeopathic remedies and treatments.  To combat stress, anxiety, depressions, and feelings of overwhelm and lack of self-confidence can be treated by simple Bach Flower edible oils, and therapeutic remedies can help provide you with herbal and dietary supplements to give you the boosts of energy and self-confidence you  may need to get through a rough day. Health and beauty bonuses lie within taking Homeopathic, natural, and alternative medical remedies.

                     For girls who want glossy, healthy hair, and mineral face cosmetics and other various beauty and hygiene products, there are bounties of herbal remedies or homeopathic supplements you can take that will provide you with beautiful hair and glowing faces.  For the men out there who want to have acne-free faces, there are natural supplements for you as well. Homeopathic remedies helps your body activate its natural responses and processes to help you achieve the appearance and health that you want.

                For those of you who are vegetarian, vegan, or only eat organic foods, don’t stress. There are multiple dietary and alternative supplements to give you the sustaining protein and energy you need to get from day to day. Also, detoxifying pads and edible oils help clean out your internal systems, so that your body and all of its systems run smoothly.

                 Open your mind to a more alternative, dynamic medicine with long lasting, and in most cases, permanent effects. There are natural, more holistic and healthier types of treatments for all your symptoms.  For more information on Homeopathic Remedies and Therapeutic Treatments, visit HerbalRemedies.com, or go to your nearest chiropractor and/or holistic health treatment center.

Whether you consider them to be just a fleeting echo of the divisive 2008 presidential race or the emergence of something new and revolutionary in America, the Tea Party is definitely making some noise.

The grassroots effort that began right after Obama’s 2009 inauguration, in response to the government’s $787 billion stimulus package and health care plan, has grown in size over the past year and now reached into our hometown. A Tea Party in El Cajon even drew about 1000 people in February of this year. Although still in its early infancy, the national Tea Party represents a group of mostly white, middle-class independent-leaning conservatives that feel overtaxed and underrepresented by Washington. While previously dismissed by Democrats as an extreme right-wing group incapable of doing too much damage, the coalition is doing more than just printing posters that read “I didn’t vote for this Obamination” and “Taxed Enough Already” (a popularized acronym for the movement). Anchored in a belief in fiscal conservatism, the “party” has already dipped its populist head into the political arena, boasting a fresh new resume that includes holding a national convention in Tennessee and serving as a driving force behind Scott Brown’s election to the Senate following Senator Ted Kennedy’s passing earlier this year. But while the Tea Party’s sharp, meteoric rise to national significance is impressive and undoubted, the future of the burgeoning young movement is uncertain. They may become a third party and rival both the Democrats and the GOP in November, or they may be dissolved into the Republican Party itself. For now it is a coalition without a clear leader.

Until they choose someone to lead the movement, the Tea-Partiers will remain in their current state of political limbo – not quite an independent third party powerhouse but also not quite a subset of the GOP. Some have pointed towards Sarah Palin as the new voice of conservative populist protest in America, but most see her as just too radical. Palin told Fox News that the movement should “take over the Republican Party” because “it is easier to reform one of the parties than it is to form a new machine and new process via a third party.”

Politics is a world of opposition. Red versus blue. Republican versus Democrat. Conservative versus liberal. Any new movement that wants to change the game without getting sucked into one of the two opposing extremes faces a daunting task in self-identification. While local leaders bicker about the Tea Party’s direction, the coalition’s future may just fall onto the shoulders of some larger-than-life demagogue who can turn conservative frustration into power… and votes.

Four kids play with a rope. They take turns jumping over it and holding the ends, as a crowd of onlookers watch. 1…2…3…4…

This isn’t kindergarten- it’s Kinder Klash, the latest ASB event where students faced off, competing in activities that they did in kindergarten. This list included jump-roping, hop-scotching, apple sauce eating, and Oreo face-surfing.

The festivities took place in the lower quad. It started with the Oreo face-surfing competition, where contestants licked half of an Oreo, put it on their forehead, and had to somehow get it in their mouth—all without using their hands.

Announcer Sarah Speigelman gave advice to the perplexed contestants, who were concentrating hard on the task before them. “The key is a lot of saliva,” she told contestants Ryan Loyland, Paris Sorci, Blaise Yokoyama and Andrew Huang.

Blaise won the round, deftly maneuvering the Oreo down his face. He utilized the rarely seen technique of the sideways eye-twitch. This unique method has some students calling him the Kobiyashi of competitive Oreo face-surfing.

Loyland won the jump rope challenge. Sorci took the apple sauce and hopscotch rounds, finishing his carton in a flash and skillfully answering math problems while hopping on one foot.

In the end, the title of Kinder King went to an exhausted and sticky-faced Yokoyama. But this won’t be the last you’ll see of him. Kinder Klash will hopefully be back soon, and Yokoyama can honorably defend his title as the King of the Playground.

The Girls Varsity basketball team had fans on the edge of their seats on Saturday night as they fought against Montgomery High School’s Lady Aztecs for a spot in the CIF Semifinals. While the Lady Ravens pulled out a well-deserved win, the game had fans biting their nails as the outcome of the game came down to the very last seconds.

In the first quarter, the Lady Ravens secured an early lead: 24 to 8, which is a whooping lead of 16 points for those of you who are mathematically challenged. However, just as fans began to get comfortable in the bleachers, the game took an unexpected turn when Montgomery came back to tie the game in the second quarter, causing fans and players to realize that the game was anyone’s to take.

With four minutes left in the third quarter, the Ravens and Aztecs were tied 35 to 35 when Montgomery scored a basket and two more points, leaving the Ravens longing for that early 16 point lead again.

Senior and Varsity veteran Michaela McGuigan recalls the thoughts of the team as the lead turned over to Montgomery: “At that point there was one thing we knew, [Montgomery] was going to fight hard and take it from us if we didn’t fight back.”

And fight back they did. With their defense and offense at the height of the battle and three free throw points made by junior Julia Brew, the win was secured in the last ten seconds of the game.

When asked what it feels like to win such a close game, McGuigan recalls, “It is one of the best feelings in the world. It makes all the hard work, stress and concern worth it.”

McGuigan also addressed the closeness of the game by adding, “We don’t like causing friends and family members to feel as though they are going to have a heart attack, [but] games just turn out that way.”

Come watch this Wednesday as the Lady Ravens battle it out against top seeded Mt. Miguel High School for a spot in the finals.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was rolling, popcorn was popping, and CCA Senior Movie night had begun. However, the event was missing one key component: the senior class.

In the week prior to the Feb. 25 Movie Night, ASB advertised the events through the morning announcements, posters, and reminders that were sent directly to senior classes. Despite their efforts, the event received a lower turnout than expected.

“I think about a total of twenty people showed up,” said event coordinator and Senior Class Vice President Kathleen Qui.

“I think there was such a low turnout because most seniors are not interested in attending school events, despite their want for class bonding.”

While some students cited a heavy homework load as the main reason for not attending, many did not attend due to a lack of interest in the movie itself.

“Everybody’s already seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. If they played a better movie, I probably would have gone,” said senior Matt McBurnett.

“It’s not really a big school event. I realized not many people were going. I think they didn’t make it a big thing, so I wasn’t inclined to go,” said senior Andrew Harman.

When asked about the possibility of another movie night, Qui remained hesitant. “There may be more movie nights, I’m not sure, but [there] definitely won’t be [another] senior movie night”.