Typical memories of high school include sports, proms, homecomings and parties. Some people just remember a moment. Like the day she became prom queen, or the time he made the touchdown that won the game.

I’ve been a freshman for eight weeks now, and what an interesting eight weeks it has been. I’ve battled the horrors of Clear Lake High School, instead of avoiding them like the vast majority of my classmates.

As other freshmen walk the hallways in fear, they are driven by stories of unlucky freshmen that unknowingly let a foot slip into senior “territory” and ended up taped to the flagpole, or facing the reeking depths of a trash can.

These vividly told stories are the weapons with which the upperclassmen maintain an iron grip on their precious picnic tables, located conveniently on a concrete stage in the center of the school. This area, known as “The Quad” is off limits to freshmen by dictation of the upperclassmen. Of course, they can’t actually kick freshmen out; the idea is that because they’ve been in high school the longest, they deserve the special privilege of ‘owning’ the quad.

Upperclassmen also establish a dictatorship over freshmen as soon as school begins. The first day of school, there is a rally. This rally, meant to spark enthusiasm in students, begins with a performance by the cheerleaders. Applause, whistles and screaming dominate the large auditorium.

The cheerleaders then perform for each class separately, beginning with the freshmen. The applause and cat calls quickly turns into booing. Sophomores, juniors and seniors all turn towards the freshmen and the auditorium is filled with one big “boooooo!”

This “initiation,” known to the legal system of the California government as “hazing,” is not stopped, contained, managed or in any other way controlled by the school’s administration. In fact, some might say that the administration supports these barbaric activities. Perhaps that is because the administrators themselves took part in similar traditions when they where in high school.

This booing, or initiation, is a way of making freshmen feel inferior, as if the seniors have complete control over them. With the administration doing nothing to control the chaos, it shows the new freshmen that the administrators allow this behavior to exist, and gives the impression that they, too, believe the upperclassmen should have utmost dictatorship over other students.

These first impressions are said to be a joke by the majority of students I’ve talked to. But I would think it reasonable to say that a joke is only funny if everyone is laughing.

Being a strong supporter of students' rights, I strongly disagree with many of these “traditions” at Clear Lake High School, and I have made that very clear through my defiance of acceptance. During both of the rallies I attended of the three we’ve had this year, I have removed myself from the activity in protest as soon as booing commenced. I respect those who respect me, and booing my friends and I is not respectful, therefore I made it a point to occupy senior “territory” at lunch for a full week in order to show that I do not respect anyone who does not respect me.

Because I did this I received countless threats. I also received flying objects, including squadrons of watermelon, water bottles and food containers. From others I have received death threats and countless insults and warnings, including from the administrators themselves!

Multiple times I have heard someone say, “I am going to beat the s*** out of you.” I guess it’s just an example of how unwilling we are to put a stop to this barbaric culture and accept civilized ethics.

So, the next time someone asks me, “What are you going to remember about high school?” I have a feeling my answer is not going to consist of joyous memories from football games or rallies. As of right now I highly doubt it will contain any recollections of all the great times I was told I’d have in high school. No, I think my answer will be a little different, unless we call for change.

The best solution that my supporters and I can come up with to this problem is to work with the administration to create a new policy that would require upperclassmen to respect freshmen and would require freshmen to respect any senior territory that is noted by the policy.

Other ideas include the implementation of a more positive behavioral curriculum, or programs such as Challenge Day (http://www.challengeday.org/ ), workshops intended to increase students' understanding and connections to each other. Activities that create connections between students typically result in more friendly environments and safer schools.

The administrators are paid by the taxpayers to create a safe learning environment for all students attending their school. If the administrators can’t do this alone, as has been demonstrated, maybe the broader community of Lake County should step in and give them a hand.

Chance Crail is a freshman at Clear Lake High School.

America has a unique cultural model, almost an archetype, not found to be so dominant in other parts of the world. The mold or model here is material success, or wealth, with all its trappings. It is metaphorically called the pursuit of happiness, but it remains as the original 19^th century wording intended the pursuit of property, which could, today, also be more accurately called simple greed.

This American dream, which has lately turned into a nightmare for many, usually mostly comprises a big house, a couple of cars or preferably the biggest SUVs that can be found anywhere on the planet, and the latest high-tech toys besides a television for each person living under a same roof, so family members not only do not have to speak but do not even have to see or spend time with one another, the outcome of which will later feed the need for psychotherapies and the content of popular mainstream television programs such as Dr Phil.

What is uniquely American is that, through the miracle of relatively easy credit, the trappings of success are acquired before success occurs … in most other nations, ordinary people seem to understand they have to make money before deciding how to spend it … you could call this simple logic and fundamental practicality, like planting a tree by the roots.

In America, success, like most that is directed at the gullible masses, is not portrayed as being (successful) but as having (the trappings of success); it is not about reality but appearances, like politics and advertising, and like the media … like all of what constitutes the popular culture.

And it is about having it all right here right now, which could be described as a neurotic impulse, but is most often a symptom of immaturity. So people grab all they can today and worry about paying for it tomorrow, if ever.

For most the dream is indeed materialistic, but the same frantic drive to have gratification without delays taints and defines everything, from instant coffee to instant religious salvation and all in between, from political sound bites to a thirst for instant metaphysical enlightenment, instant mastery in any field, instant weight loss, becoming ripped in four weeks, calling and finding your soul mate in seven weeks and becoming a multi-millionaire in a couple of months.

One, two, three, by the time you snap your fingers diner is served, you and your toddlers speak three foreign languages fluently, you have lost forty pounds, your net worth has increased one thousand folds, and you look and feel better than when you were nineteen years old, all without effort whatsoever.

This could be another aspect of the so-called rat race, since once you train or condition people to run everywhere, they usually cannot ever slow down, not even to eat a decent meal or read and comprehend a sentence that has more than five words.

The cruel irony, which appears to be lost on so many in the mainstream culture, is that real success generally means greater freedom, what is also called financial independence, while acquiring the trappings of success without success translates, in practical terms, as abject, odious bondage, the type that justifiably inspired revolutions in previous centuries.

Voluntary servitude is however the name of the game in today’s society. Rather than making an initial effort and then perhaps getting rewarded, people are taught they should seek the reward first, which becomes as a ball and chain that cannot ever be enjoyed, because now comes the struggle to sacrifice for it for many very long years, coupled with the constant fear of loosing it all, the stress of which produces cancers, ulcers, addictions, rampant divorces and very unhappy children.

The system obviously generates and preys on such immaturity, and not just con artists with get rich quick schemes but banks, credit card companies, commerce and of course the government which offers all sorts of incentives for so-called consumers to become ever more indebted, and which as a matter of fact long ago erected the financial and legal structures necessary for this endless exploitation of the populace. This structure tempts us to have it all now, and while it is presented as gaining status and reaching for fulfillment in glossy advertising and glorious commercials, the hidden cost is drudgery and literal serfdom.

In a consumer-driven economy, no laws will legislate intelligent, independent living, on the contrary. The more people spend money they do not have, the faster the engine runs, as it all is founded on illusions, on smoke and mirrors, like our paper money that is printed faster than monopoly money ever could, while the nation becomes bankrupt and the elite ever wealthier and more powerful. So what is the solution to such pervasive problems?

The simplest solution might be to jump off the merry-go-round, to no longer consume, or as little as practically possible. If major banks and multinational corporations have indeed embraced a globalist agenda meant to level the world into a homogenous mass of paupers and slaves, let them pay the price.

Become independent by recycling, growing, building, and bartering for your needs, and turn your back on a predatory system. Buy used whenever possible, and share and exchange information and knowledge to reclaim your power as a people, since the wannabe royalty, the elite, derives its power by dividing us, making us compete for crumbs like overcrowded rats in a laboratory cage.

If success comes, enjoy the fruits of your labor, if not, enjoy life, but whatever you do, do it on your own terms rather than because you have been conditioned to fill the bottomless pockets of an elite that manipulates you to the detriment of your health, your sanity, your happiness, your life, and of those of the ones you love.

The slogan “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell” might prove accurate after all.

Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport.

After nine months of meetings, what has the GE Crops committee learned?

As a member of the public who attended nearly all of the meetings and who paid close attention to the wide-ranging and oftentimes contentious discussions, I can only conclude that the issue of allowing the cultivation of GMOs in Lake County is an intractable problem with entrenched interests.

Nothing of substance has resulted in all this time with no concrete recommendations to be made to the Board of Supervisors. Despite a heroic effort, the committee barely scratched the surface on the mountain of data available out there (and still coming) regarding the effects of genetically modified crops on organic and conventional farming, our native plants and animal species, and the very health of our citizens, among many other vital interests in our community.

Co-existence between conventional or organic and pro-GMO farming has not been proven to be successful anywhere yet known, and I anticipate it to be practically impossible anytime soon with what little guidance and insufficient safeguards are available to date. And distrust resulting from fear on both sides of the issue guarantees no substantial concessions will be made.

So, if no compromise yet exists, what are our options?

Right now, farmers in Lake County adhere to the "first in time, first in right" doctrine, essentially allowing anyone to grow anything at anytime – so long as they do it first. If a farmer chooses to plant genetically modified seeds in the next growing season and no one finds out about it, not a soul will have the right to protest forever thereafter.

Without a requirement for public disclosure in place, how will any neighboring organic farmer ever know the genetic purity of his product if GMO pollen secretly drifts onto his farm? How will he even know to test? All the while, his economic interests will have been compromised without his knowing it – organic standards prohibit GMOs, and should the farmer’s land or product be contaminated, he could lose his certification and thus, his livelihood.

And, once these manmade genes are let loose into the wider environment, it is virtually impossible to contain or remove them. It is the proverbial Genie being released from its bottle.

If we as a community are not deliberate in the manner in which we proceed, Lake County will surely relinquish its right to self-determination, simply through widespread exposure to genetically modified seeds that is sure to come.

For a county whose legacy is so steeped in the frontier spirit, it will be a shame to allow our future to be determined purely by happenstance – and to be perpetually under the thumb of the GMO seed companies on whose products our farmers will rely without end.

The fact is, all genetically modified seeds are patented and farmers are forbidden from harvesting seeds from resultant crops for future use. This means our farmers will be contractually obligated to buy seeds every year, as well as the other products designed to be used with them, such as pesticides. If we allow this to happen, the very existence of our farming community is jeopardized by its absolute dependence on these companies for survival.

By doing nothing now, this will be our inevitable fate.

My hope is that the Board of Supervisors will employ the precautionary principle and put in place a moratorium until the bigger picture of GMO crops and its impacts on all of us is fleshed out more fully. Truthfully, I feel they are obligated to our community to do so.

I am confident the decision will appear to have been a wise one in retrospect as increasingly, the downsides of GMOs continue to change the landscape of our society in so many ways.

Let's not rush into a permanent, irreversible change without being fully informed on how GMOs may harm us.

Haji Warf farms in Upper Lake.

A crisis? The money will be added to current funding that is being used to control erosion, etc., towards the goal of managing algae in Tahoe. Management plans to keep non-native species (e.g. mussels) out of this favored lake will also be funded. A noble effort as this lake is a state and national treasure.

However, as we know, Clear Lake is also a state and national treasure. While not an ultra-clear alpine lake, it is eutrophic and known worldwide by scientists as one of the oldest and most interesting lakes in North America.

Geologists are amazed and challenged to understand all the mechanisms that have kept our lake healthy and in existence for over 500,000 years – maybe over 1,000,000 years.

Although seemingly off the radar of our elected officials, our national treasure lake is seriously challenged. Arguably, more significantly than Tahoe is.

The watershed issues being addressed here to manage algae in our lake, the weed issues including hydrilla, and the prevention efforts relating to mussels and other invasive species are all underfunded. One to 10 percent of the funds our lawmakers are planning for Tahoe could go a long way towards properly managing threats to Clear Lake over the next several years.

Tahoe clearly has more economic leverage (state and national) than we do. But these funds are being justified for environmental reasons and our lake is of equal or greater environmental significance than Tahoe. The funds are to “protect” a lake.

We all need to write and call our senators and congressional reps and let them know that there is another lake that is more in need of such protection. Everyone can contribute through this effort to both protect our lake and our economy. The first letters should come from our supervisors to their political chain of command firmly asking why Tahoe and not us.

Ed Calkins lives in Kelseyville.