Staff Writer Max Gumbel discusses the benefits and downsides to earlier AP exposure for Samo Sophomores.

What can you do in 19 seconds? Put your hair up? Tie your shoes? Sophomore Ben Gelfand can solve a Rubik’s cube.

For the upcoming March 16 pep rally, the Associated Student Body (ASB) is allowing students to showcase their talents.

International student and Samo junior Eva-Maria Unger has come to the states to train for triathlons (swimming, running and biking) and to improve her English and Spanish.

Spend Valentine's Day celebrating how powerful love is, even if you're not in a relationship.

There’s always that one annoying kid in that one class that just always seems to ask one too many questions.

For most students, a perfect 36 on the ACT is an unattainable goal, even with countless hours of studying. Trent Nelson, currently a senior at Samo, achieved this perfect score with no tutor and only three practice tests in total.

It takes creativity and imagination to turn an object into art. Molly Conn has this talent, and has a unique ability to see objects in a lighting that most people normally wouldn’t.

Girls’ water polo lost to the Mira Costa Mustangs 9-4 on Fri., Jan. 27.

Staff writer Alison Guh researches the history of slang and how it has changed throughout different time periods.

Staff Writer Gregory Boehm discusses the many different slang words used at Samo.

Staff Writer Mia Lopez-Zubiri examines the different relationships students and teachers have with slang.

A&E Editor Joe Colajezzi questions the real motives of AP students.

Staff Writer Lillian Kalish examines the pros and cons of affirmative action.

Opinion editor Nadine Melamed talks about the lack of respect for Veteran's Day and Memorial Day among Samo students.

Samo teacher Megan Walker discusses the need for more student creativity.

Copy editor Henry Boyd steps back and reflects on the different techniques of the theater teachers that, in recent years, have graced Samo's Humanities Center stage.

The idea of luck is important to many Samo teams, clubs and orginizations.

The idea of luck has existed since the beginning of time, and superstitions about luck have been found in cultures all around the world.

Editor-in-chief Taylor D'Andrea overviews the Football posters around campus glamorizing individual players, and discusses her thoughts on Samo's student support network.

Staff writer Gregory Boehm argues the lack of parking for seniors at Samo due to construction.

The Vikings ended the season with a perfect record in league, 10-0, finishing overall with record of 13-17.

Is on-screen violence more explicit than on-screen sex? It depends on the time and place. Staff writer Olivia Legan explores the societal discrepencies on what makes something rated “R.”

H-House Student Outreach Specialist Kimberly Nao responds to percieved misconceptions about the roots of hip-hop conveyed in Danny Karel’s review of “Warm Brew,” an LA-based undergroud rap group, which appeared in “The Samohi’s” last issue. (Note: “The Samohi” in no way endorses the lifestyle depicted in songs by “Warm Brew” or any other bands it reviews.)

An epidemic has been sweeping the senior class and leaving behind zombies of their old selves. There’s no use in rushing to the nearest drug store, because there is no vaccine. You may even try to stuff a thousand posies into your pockets but this epidemic will take you hostage – it’s the new black plague. Senoritis has hit the halls of Samohi and it is ruthless.

Life can be stressful. Running from class to class from AM to sixth, cramming in knowledge in 56-minute intervals, shuffling to work, soccer practice, community service … oftentimes it seems as if teenagers are left without a break. I get that. But the part I find disturbing is that high school culture has developed a faux illness to go along with this overworked mentality: senioritis.

Freshmen Emma Gardner and Robbie Staenberg explore the scandalous sources of everyday electronics and how students can help reduce the corruption.

Very few children — at least, very few of the children I knew growing up — imagine a career in politics. As teenagers and adults, many people seem to become downright opposed to the notion.That’s fair, considering a few corrupted politicians have tainted the image with deceptive remarks and unprofessional scandals (Smile and wave, former Governer Blagojevich). It’s just like the one rude cheerleader who ruins the cheer name for everyone else, when in reality the other cheerleaders are quite kind and thoughtful.

Raise your voice, speak your mind—it’s a common theme pushed upon American children. We are fortunate enough to live in a society where our thoughts, protected by the first amendment, are encouraged and relatively valued.

It starts when you’re a newborn, competing to be the prize baby in the newborn viewing room, vying for attention with incessant cries.

Planned Parenthood serves one in five American women at some point in their lifetime. It is important that this bill be halted.

Children across the United States woke up on Sep. 11, 2001, wondering why their parents weren’t in their beds. We wandered into our living rooms to find our parents sobbing on the couch as the television replayed footage of the tragedy that would define our generation.

Back in Brazil, I watched several American cartoons, movies and series about foreign students in American high schools: their first day of class, tons of people saying “hi” to them, studying in regular classes.It’s not like that at all.

It’s not “cute” or “hot” to see teens demoralize themselves by dressing like strippers.

Perhaps what we need is a little reality check and here it is: tomorrow is not a promise.

Being thrown headfirst into final exams after an extended break is unrealistic and does not prepare us for college, where finals precede winter break.

A broader honors program, properly managed, might alleviate the disparity between advanced and regular classes.

Reflecting on his Latino roots, Leslie Wells discusses the offensiveness of the 2011 theme “Juan Juan.”

Like Moses, I have heard the cries of my people, and contrary to Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, I’m prepared to morph California from a land of deficit and sin into a land of milk and honey. (Mind you, this will be untaxed milk and untaxed honey).

This election is not the first political race to use these smear tactics, nor will it be the last. However, our new age of media has catapulted them to astronomical levels. The accessibility to the public that viral ads offer to candidates has incredible potential, and if used properly could be an invaluable way of educating the public. Instead, candidates like Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman use the airwaves to distort the image and character of their opponent instead of expounding upon their own political opinions, ideas and plans.

Chanting is the one spirited activity that arises spontaneously, and is therefore the only one we truly feel a motivation to participate in.

Laughter is the best medicine. LOL doesn’t always cut it.

LAUSD teacher’s suicide causes people to reconsider the methods used to rate teachers.

When I first heard about it, the idea of building a Muslim mosque near Ground Zero rubbed me the wrong way. But after I calmed down, took the initiative to listen to what American Muslims were saying and further researched the issue, it became apparent that allowing the Muslim center to exist in lower Manhattan is exactly the kind of thing that makes us a free country. We are a democracy founded on freedom of religion. We build synagogues next to cathedrals and Mormon temples next to Buddhist temples.This is America!

As if that weren’t enough, the cost of private tuition has gone up 154 percent since 1979, and 186% for public tuition. This would be fine if family income increased at this rate as well. Unfortunately, it hasn’t. Since 1979 family income has only gone up by a measly 10%, according to the US Census Bureau and the College Board.This means that while college is getting ridiculously more expensive and students are expected to pay thousands more than they were ten years ago, income isn’t making any sorts of leaps or bounds to meet that gap. The estimated undergraduate tuition is slipping farther and farther away from what families can pay.