the bird on fire

The Palm Valley School Student Blog

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Trial and Error

by 2 Comments

By Brennan Nick, Blogger and Lawyer for the PVS Mock Trial Team

Many of our high schoolers, nearly 15 in fact, are competing in the California Mock Trial Competition. Our first competition is today, Thursday, February 8, at the Indio Courthouse. Mock Trial is, as the name entails, pretend court. This year’s case involves defendant Casey Davidson who is accused of murdering victim Alex Thompson. Today, we role-play as prosecution against the team from Indio High School who will litigate against us as the defense. Our job? To prove beyond reasonable doubt Casey Davidson is guilty of murder. Wish us luck!

 

Editor: Claire Jenkins

Upper School Cultural Potluck

by Leave a Comment

Graphic by Harlow Berny

By Harlow Berny

Hello, Palm Valley Community! This is an announcement to the Upper School teachers and students for the 2nd annual PVS Cultural Potluck this Friday! Over 25 people have signed up to bring a dish to the Potluck that either comes from their family, nationality, or religion. Just as a reminder for those bringing food, you need to 1) send an email to Jordan Dinerman confirming that you will bring a dish, 2) bring enough to serve small portions to at least 15 people, and 3) attach a piece of paper with your name, the name of the food you brought, a list of ingredients (since some people may have allergies), and where the food is from (family recipes, culture, religion, etc.). If you bring food for the Potluck, then you will be at the front of the line to eat.

 

Editor: Peter Kadel

Get Your Candy Grams!

by Leave a Comment

By Claire Jenkins

 

The Upper School ASB is selling Candy Grams all week (February 5th-9th) at $2 for one bag of candy or $5 for three. ASB representatives are also selling–for the first time available this year–Barbershop Quartet songs. You can send a Barbershop Quartet song to a friend, romantic interest, or yourself. The song is just $5, and you can send a friendship or romance song. All proceeds go to your Upper School ASB!

 

Edited By: Brennan Nick

Cali-Pizza Party!

by Leave a Comment

Graphic by Harlow Berny

By Harlow Berny

 

Hello, fellow PVS students! Today from 11 am-10 pm there will be a Pizza with a Purpose fundraiser at the California Pizza Kitchen* on El Paseo**. In order to participate, you need to bring in a flyer–which you can get from either your Advisory teacher, the front desk, or online***–and present it to your server/cashier. When you do, 20% of your check will be donated to the school. Remember to write your Advisory teacher’s name on the flyer, as the Advisory class that has the most participation will have a pizza party!

 

Editor: Brennan Nick

*Phone Number: 760-776-5036

**California Pizza Kitchen 73-080 El Paseo Suite #8 Palm Desert, Ca 92260

***https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VPXscFvXAuMrsHk0bW1qUJEMTh3szJnL/view

Doomsday Clock

by 2 Comments

By Brennan Nick

 

Just yesterday, the annual movement of the Doomsday Clock occurred,… and it just moved ½ a minute closer to midnight.

 

For those who don’t know, the Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by a group of scientists– many of whom worked on the atomic bomb–as a symbolic way to show how close we as a planet are to nuclear war. Since 2007, however, it has been expanded to also reflect how close we are to unalterable climate change, and new developments in science that could cause irreversible damage to humanity.

 

When the clock reaches midnight that means that Doomsday has occurred. The lowest the clock can go to is 9:00 PM to signify how far the world has come from a 0% chance pre-humanity. Just as a reminder, we’re at 11:58 right now, the highest it’s ever been–tying with 1958. To put this into perspective, however, the furthest from Doomsday the Doomsday Clock has been since its inception was 11:43 in 1991 right after the fall of the Soviet Union.

 

The group that manually changes the time on the Doomsday Clock moved the clock ½ a minute closer to midnight because of “the failure of President Trump and other world leaders to deal with looming threats of nuclear war and climate change.”

 

Now, hopefully we won’t be heading towards the apocalypse anytime soon… hopefully.

 

Editor: Shelby Armor

No-Tube

by 3 Comments

Graphic by A.J. Patencio

By A.J. Patencio

 

Dear fellow PVS students, as many of you have probably already noticed, YouTube has been blocked by the school. While we don’t see the normal page for a website that’s blocked by the LightSpeed system when visiting YouTube, we see “ERR_QUIC_PROTOCOL_ERROR” on your screen and text that tells you the YouTube website is either “temporarily down” (which is not likely, as the website loads on all devices when off-campus) or has “moved permanently to a new web address” (which YouTube would never do). This means that the website has been blocked and students can’t access it during school for any reason.

 

There might be multiple reasons for YouTube being blocked. Maybe too many kids in the Upper or Middle School (as we share the same Wifi network) were caught watching YouTube during class, and this caused the ban (which might be the cause for Netflix being banned as well). Maybe the school is just trying to enforce the rule in the PVS Technology Handbook/Chromebook Contract we all signed (yes, you had to sign a contract to get your Chromebook, and if you’re absolutely sure that you didn’t sign a contract then you shouldn’t have that Chromebook) that states we will not watch streaming services for entertainment on the Chromebooks. Maybe it’s because when lunch came around, the Wifi network immediately started lagging horribly due to the amount of students jumping onto YouTube (and Netflix, Spotify, etc.) to look at random stuff.

 

Whatever the cause is, there are already consequences appearing (other than us not being able to watch memes). Many educational websites (such as Crash Course, JoczProductions, Khan Academy, TomRichey.net, etc.) host their videos on YouTube. Why is this important? Well, now that YouTube is blocked, you won’t be able to see any of the videos on those websites, which teachers use to assign as classwork. The teacher could use the Staff Wifi to access the video and project it on the board, but this hinders individual and small group work and is problematic for combined AP and non-AP classes that have to watch different videos.

 

Keep in mind, this is only the first week back from vacation–plus it’s review week for all the Upper School students taking Midterms–, and there are already problems arising. Whether or not YouTube will be unblocked by the school in the near future is unanswered, as the problems caused by this are still just popping up. If you have an opinion you’d like to share about this, a problem that’s caused by YouTube being blocked, or a possible solution, please put it in the comments.

 

Editor: Claire Jenkins

Special Christma-Hanu-Kwanzaa-Kah Announcement

by Leave a Comment

Graphic by Harlow Berny

 

By Harlow Berny

Hello, Palm Valley students! For the holiday season, there will be a snowflake-crafting table to your left as you walk into the Front Office in the two weeks leading up to Winter Break. Also, every Friday morning while it’s cold there will be a hot chocolate booth run by our CSF club. One cup of hot chocolate will cost $1, so make sure to bring your cash. Next Wednesday, there will be a school-wide Ugly Sweater Day, and a Holiday Luncheon will be hosted by the Parents’ Association the day after, followed by a school-wide Pajama Day on next Friday’s half day, which is a wonderful way to end school before the Winter Break!

To give you an idea of three of the holidays taking place in December, I’ll tell you the dates of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa in the order of when they happen. Hanukkah will begin on the evening of Tuesday, December 12, and end on the evening of Wednesday, December 20. Christmas will be on Monday, December 25, and Kwanzaa will begin on Tuesday, December 26, and end on Monday, January 1, 2018. Happy Holidays!

 

Editor: Makena Behnke

The Festive Winter Concert is Coming Up!

by Leave a Comment

On December 4th, the PVS Select Choir sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Palm Desert Council Chamber at The Blue Light Ceremony honoring law-enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Public Service Announcement Created by Blogger-Choir Member Charles Schnell

Our school’s very talented Select Choir and Vocal Music Elective Choir have been hard at work over the past few months on their Winter Concert, which is coming up in just a couple weeks. This year, the concert will be on not one but TWO nights: Wednesday the 20th and Thursday the 21st! The concerts will start at 7 p.m. in the MPR. Admission is $5 for students and $10 for adults. There is no reserved seating, so, first come, first served! Tickets are on sale right now online at Eventbrite–PVS Winter Choir Concert (link below); paying at the door is also a viable option. The choir members and vocal director Mr. Craig Gahnz-Kuhar have a wonderful range of festive songs prepared–slow, fast, Christmas, Hanukkah, seasonal songs galore! We hope to see you there.

 

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/pvs-winter-choir-concert-tickets-40995964032

Editor: Makena Behnke

Come See The Crucible!

by 1 Comment

Public Service Announcement created by Brennan Nick and Charles Schnell

The Crucible opens tomorrow! There are shows scheduled for December 1, 2, 3, 8, and 9! On the 3rd is the afternoon matinee at 2 p.m. The rest of the shows will start at 7:30 p.m., with the house opening at 7 p.m. General seats cost $15 a piece, while priority reserved seats are $20 each.

 

The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials. Salem at the time is a distant corner of the world on the fringes of both civilization and the dark wilderness where the Bible is the law and the citizens believe unquestionably in its teachings. A teenage girl begins accusing others of being conquered by the Devil and committing themselves to witchcraft, and the village becomes consumed by fear and religious zeal.

 

Arthur Miller lived in a similar time of fear–a fear of communism which pervaded in the early 50’s and was known as McCarthyism. Miller wrote this play to provide a parallel world to the one he and his peers were living through. Today, the play is considered by many scholars to be one of the great pieces of American literature.

 

This production is directed by Ken Sarkis, Kim Phillips, and Craig Gahnz. The Blog Staff are very excited to see it (or act in it), and we hope to see you there, too!

Edited by Peter Kadel and Claire Jenkins

Why An iPhone (or any expensive smartphone) Is Worth The Price

by 2 Comments

BY Luke Langlois — guy with opinion

 

Apple’s newest phones, the iPhone X and the iPhone 8, were unveiled to the public at their 2017 presentation in September. The new “flagship” device, the X, has sparked a plethora of design nitpicking, debating, or just plain old praise.

 

The one complaint that people tend to agree upon is that the four digit price tag of $1,000 is just too high. Pair this with any Apple Care programs, any other irresistible pieces of tech, and the day-to-day costs of life on Earth, and you’ve got a noticeable absence of money in your bank account.

 

This raises a question for everyone who loves their smartphone: just how much am I going to have to shell out for my new phone every couple of years? Will the prices continue to rise? These are all valid questions. But, my humble opinion is that people have just become spoiled.

 

I don’t mean to call people spoiled as in children who whine and cry; people maybe have just forgotten (or never have lived in) the time before the lightweight and portable phone. If you think your phone is in your pocket, you reach for it and it’s not there, it is worrying to say the least. Our phones are such an amazing luxury. We have all of the world’s information, games, entertainment, connections, productivity, and notes available in our purses or pockets. Not only the functionality of the devices are incredible. The technology in these devices are FANTASTIC.

 

No, I’m not saying you need to shell out for the latest Apple or Samsung product. It will still be difficult to spend so much money on these phones now and in the future. Nevertheless, remembering the ridiculous amount of function and power these devices give you might help make the decision easier.

 

 

Editor: Shelby Armor