Will Meditation Make Mack More Mellow?

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photos by Indyka Reed

by Angelique Villasana

Her shoulders sagged, her body went limp, and her eyes were closed. As Brittney Conine slumped, she was totally in a state of relaxation.

The McClymonds biology teacher was a test subject in an experiment— in meditation.

Teachers meditated at a special meeting Wednesday. They were led by Jane Lazzareschi, who teaches “Quiet Time” in San Francisco.

Meditation classes were among the recommendations by the student Leadership group to make the school a more peaceful place. Students would meditate during the last 15 minutes of every class.

“We plan to start a school-wide program as a way to help people deal with trauma in their school and community,” said Namkung. A similar program was introduced at Oakland High School, he said.

In Visitacion Valley in San Francisco, once meditation was taught to students, there was a 45 percent reduction in multi-day suspensions and a slight rise in the GPA of students from 2.5 to 2.9.

“There is less violence and there are higher test scores, grades and attendance in schools that provide meditation,” said Rachael Hereford, Spanish teacher and vice principal.

Mack Lockdown: Students Shocked That Baby Critically Hurt in Kafani Shooting

by the macksmack staff

with AP wire service and newspaper reports

McClymonds High School was on lockdown Wednesday afternoon after police and school officials  decided that the shooting of a 1-year-old, a few miles away on Monday, might still pose a danger to students.

Police have not arrested any suspects, according to press reports. They are trying to piece together the events that led to a gun battle, during which Hiram Lawrence, just weeks away from his second birthday,  was critically injured. A man and woman were also seriously hurt.

McClymonds was locked down after a call from the Oakland Police Department, a security guard said. “We don’t know what could happen,” said the guard who didn’t want to be identified. “Kids’ lives could be in danger.”

This was the second time the only high school in West Oakland was on lockdown.

“It was sad to hear the news. People at the basketball game ran to see who did it,” commented Dion Ellis,14, a sophomore.

With over 100 homicides in 2011, shootings in Oakland have become the status quo, students said.

“Some people were shocked about the shooting mostly because it’s uncommon to hear about a baby being involved,” said Dontarion Layne,14, a freshmen.

However, community organizers held a healing circle Wednesday night to pray for the toddler, demand services and open community centers for residents in Lower Bottoms/West Oakland. About two dozen people attended.

Witnesses initially said that Oakland rapper Kafani was making a music video at the parking lot where the shooting occurred. But  in a series of tweets, Kafani denied that he was there, though his promotional van was.

“It’s crazy how I’m being blamed for something and I was at studio the whole time,” he tweeted Wednesday night.

macksmack Editor Wins Three Journalism Awards

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Pamela Tapia, editor of macksmack and a writer for the Oaktown Teen Times, has won three journalism awards in a contest for high school journalists in Northern California.

The Northern California Press Women’s Association held a ceremony for the winners on May 11 at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley.

Betty Packard, CPW executive director, said they were over 1,000 entries in 17 categories and lauded the quality of the work submitted.

Tapia won second place in feature writing for a story that explored the difficulties that girls experience when they leave gangs. The piece appeared in The Mosaic, a newspaper published by Mosaic, a summer minority journalism program at San Jose State University sponsored by the San Jose Mercury-News and several Bay Area media groups and foundations.

The other two awards were for stories which appeared in Oaktown Teen Times. Tapia won second place in environmental writing for a piece on the creation of YouTube videos by McClymonds students opposed to Proposition 23 and its impact on clear air in West Oakland. “Good use of sensory appeal and  good use of perceptive personal observations,” wrote the judge.

Tapia also won third place in feature writing for a story that explored restorative justice at McClymonds, an alternative to youth court and suspensions.

“What an honor to be recognized!” said Tapia.

A Lesson in Restorative Justice: Mack Students Do the Teaching

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by Pamela Tapia

Strange sight.   The tables were turned at Mack last week.

Judges received a lesson on restorative justice from McClymonds students last Friday.

The 15 students opened “the circle” with agreements about trust and honesty. Senior Amber Hill read  a quote by Maya Angelou (“if we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die”) as students related it to violence in their lives. The judges from Hayward, Richmond, Chicago, and a Mack graduate, all former prosecutors,  looked astonished at the students’ analyses of the quote.

After the circle ritual, the judges praised the students as thinkers and reminded them about the need for more people of color to become attorneys.

As the demonstration of restorative justice came to an end, students who take part in the REAL HARD program escorted the judges to the Malcolm X room where the judges shared the life experiences that led them to become judges and attorneys.

Most Mack students paid particularly close attention to the Mack alumna (class of 1972), Alameda Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte, who moved from Mississippi to Oakland during the civil rights movement as a teen mom.

“You cannot use discrimination as an excuse (for not trying harder),” she told the group. “I know:  I lived through it.”