“The goal of this blog is not to show us devouring huge amounts of bacon ... anyone can do that. Our goals are to ... hopefully encourage people to join our grubbing tough lifestyle and to spread the word about as many local grubberies that we deem tough,” Nathanson posted on the GTWL blog.

Who flipped the backpack? Was it the quiet overachieving “Professor Plum” with the Jansport in the English Building? Or maybe it was the flirtatious “Miss Scarlet” with the North Face in the Spanish classroom? Whomever it was, backpack flipping lends itself to the ongoing game of “CLUE” to identify the backpack flipper. There’s the usual flipping routine, the sneaking up behind the victim, the suppressed giggles and the waiting to see how long it takes “the flipee” to notice. The teacher sits motionless at the side of the classroom, fully aware — sometimes disappointed, other times completely amused.

Many seniors pass through the offices of Gatell and the other college counselors with well-defined dreams of studying biomedical engineering or attending a music conservatory; others enter clueless. These students may be at a loss as to where their futures are headed, but they will still turn their noses at one suggestion: community college.

According to Edison’s website, the school immerses students in Spanish starting in kindergarten, and the curriculum gradually evolves to include half instruction in English and half in Spanish.“We walked into kindergarten on the first day of school and they completely spoke to us in Spanish,” Keller said. “I wasn’t afraid because I knew Spanish, but I remember my friend Dalia was. I had to help her out and tell her what the teacher was saying.”

Cody Williams returns to the football field to cheer on his teammates after a long season without him. This year he will star in a documentary highlighting football players who have suffered similar injuries.

Though it’s not celebrated every week, Harry Potter related events are welcomed by hoards of parties, thrown by people who have convinced themselves that their owl just got lost and any day now their acceptance letter to Hogwarts will be arriving, possibly bursting out through their chimney to defy the rule of their cruel, manipulating uncles with handlebar mustaches.

Daniel Katz was infatuated with aviation from an early age. He always looked forward to watching the planes take off from the observation deck at Santa Monica Airport and visiting the Museum of Flying with his parents. While these experiences planted the seed in his mind of becoming a pilot later in life, Katz’s love didn’t really reach the skies until the summer of 2006.

Jain said. “It is one of my favorite days of the week. I spend lunch singing with my friends and we do fun songs that you wouldn’t usually see in a classical choir.”

When a Samo student thinks of school spirit, they probably visualize a raucous group of juniors and seniors fervently screaming their graduation years until their lungs burst. Blue Crew aims to push that image aside, and take school spirit to an entirely new level.

To get away from city chaos, each month Irene Ramos heads home to Mount Pinos, her cabin and chickens — a welcomed respite.

Every word Tayllor Johnson utters is poetry. One of her passions, poetry enriches her life so that she speaks in verses, walks in dances. Her life is dictated by her passions to the point that being Tayllor Johnson is an art.

While Netflix offers convenience, Vidiots and Cinefile have begun offering more than just movies. In July, Vidiots began Vidiots Annex, which offers film study classes in everything from censorship in cinema to anime mythology to cult films as well as free screenings every Saturday night at 8. The movies they show on Saturdays are brilliantly selected, from Run Lola, Run to The Apartment. Their website includes ‘playlists’ of movies with common themes ( “Beyond Harry Potter” and “Manhattan Fabulous” to name a few).