The Locksmith
December 2008
The official newsletter of Stuyvesant High School Key Club. “Caring – Our Way of Life”
STUYVESANT HIGH SCHOOL KEY CLUB New York District: Division 11
Stuyvesant High School Key Club 345 Chambers Street 1.646.258.2723 stuykc@yahoo.com January 2009
2008 - 2009 Cabinet Gavin Huang, President Victoria Tsang, Vice President Kenny Yu, Secretary Adeline Yeo, Treasurer Victor Ma, Editor
I’VE LOST MY MIND, OR MAYBE JUST MISPLACED IT
Gavin Huang, President
I lost a friend last week. But this article is not for lamenting. I’ve done enough of that this week and last. It seems that no matter how unfair and sudden one’s death may be, tears and sniffling won’t do anything, not even for comfort. Eventually, my sniffling from grief turned into sniffling from cold. The pace of things started becoming normal. It was a time to think. About things. Lots of things. Things like where I am heading, why I’m up at 12 am, when I’m going to finish my homework, how a douche like me could have so many friends, how someone eclectic like me could have so little friends, and why Tim changed his profile picture to a sub-par sketch of himself. And then the alleged second case came, and everyone got scared. And I got angry. Because everyone was crazy. Because everyone couldn’t think straight. Because everyone was being plain stupid. Because people were just being so damn inconsiderate. The grief turned into anger and people told me, yet again, that I was PMS-ing.
I lied. I said I would not use this article to lament, but I did. It’s hard not to. These things make you care more. It’s so painfully hackneyed to say it. Your friends, your family, the person sitting next to you, in front, behind, left, right, whatever. They could all be gone the next day. And that sucks. But we could at least tell everyone we know that we care, that we love them, that if they were gone for a moment, they would matter to someone. This sounds like a Scrubs moment, lame, clichéd, and only slightly humorous for some odd reason. Ava was always charitable. She loved the neighborhood of East Village in Manhattan. You
know, the place with all the bohemian folk, if you know the definition of bohemian, and it doesn’t not mean Czechoslovakian, even though that country doesn’t exist anymore. See a homeless man? Give him a dollar, maybe two, perhaps a bagged lunch. Working with kids? Give them something they could use. Not a toy, maybe some advice, maybe your friendship. Cleaning up a garden? Ask the locals something. Anything. They’re interesting people. Visiting a senior citizen, perhaps your grandmother or grandfather? Sit down for a while and talk with them for god’s sake.
Things can all just disappear. But before some cruel sleight of hand takes away the things we care about, let’s show them we goddamn care. Because we do. Not about those goddamned points, but about the people. Not about the amount of money we raise, but about where it’s going. I may be cursing like a sailor, but I give a damn. And that’s saying a lot.
In a few months, someone else will be writing something like this. I’ll be handing over my work to someone else soon, and it’s up to you to decide who it will be. The people who will be president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, editor, even lieutenant governor will be chosen amongst you by the will of popular sovereignty. But they’re just like you. They’re sitting in class, they’re walking the halls, and they’re talking the talk, whatever that talk may be. They curse their computers when they’re not working and rejoice in hallelujah when something finally goes right. And they care. We all care. I care. They care. He cares. She cares. You care. Fin.
JOIN T-CAB!!! Teen Community Advisory Board •TCAB is a new program which builds leadership, involvement and community within the teen population. •TCAB is youth-run and located at the JCC on 76th Street, the same place as Chicken Soup events. •TCAB is responsible for helping The Director of Tween and Teen Programs organize both entertainment and service events. •It is a great place to have fun and do service! We try to make it your second home. •If you have any questions please contact Dana Shakarchy of the JCC or your very own Jensen Cheong of Stuy KC. Contact Us! E-mail:
Jensen
Dana
flyingbluejensen@gmail.com
dshakarchy@jccmanhattan.org
Of course we’re on Facebook so don’t be afraid to ask us anything via it. ** Coming to a meeting is NOT binding. If you come but aren’t interested in the end, it’s OK. That’s why you should all check it out! ** ** If you want to go to a meeting or are curious about when the next one is, just ask! If you don’t know how to get there, I can help with that. JUST CHECK IT OUT! **
ELFIN PROJECT BY JENSEN “FLYINGBLUEJENSEN” CHEONG What is there better to do after a Key Club meeting than to go volunteering? Easy. Football, basketball, eating, physics homework. *Gavin kicks me.* I MEAN, NOTHING IS BETTER than volunteering…ohhhh…that hurt…. Hehehe, right guys? Yes, after the Key Club meeting one day, a few of your homies and I went to the Visiting Neighbors “Elfin Project.” It sounded like a good event and it was above 50 degrees that day, and since I had no homework I decided to check it out. So, we had two choices to make to get there from Stuy. We could either jump the turnstile, surf the R, and do the same going home because we lack more than 3 rides, or we could walk into the notorious crowds of TOURISTS. While the other group fended off the tourists, I chose the not-so-legal way as usual. I snuck past the beefy guards and once I got past the turnstile, I heard whistles coming from behind me. I started running and an R train pulled up. It started leaving as I approached the platform so at the final second I lunged and caught the back of the train. “DARN that little rat,” I heard the cops say. I tipped my hat to the cops for trying to get though. YAHOO! “Where were you guys? I got here 20 minutes before you!” I said when they emerged from the storm of tourists, a little scratched but nevertheless in one piece. “Let’s go inside,” said Gavin, and we entered the building that said “Visiting Neighbors HQ.” (Although I did see cops coming around the corner….) Inside, we were given a brief lesson about Visiting Neighbors and what they did. They are a non-profit organization that delivers gifts to the elderly in the city and helps them with their everyday lives. Our job was to bring bags of gifts to some clients around the area. It was such a nice thing to do for them and even better for us to help out! We had partners and we had to go to the address given to us. As we gave the gift, we were supposed to take some mental notes to report back to Visiting Neighbors—basically what condition the elder was in
or appeared to be in and f their house looked inhabitable. Visiting Neighbors just wanted to know how the elders were doing but didn’t want us to ask directly. We also added a few comments of our own. Our client, Ms. Ethel Luttinger, seemed to be in the best of spirits even though she looked tired, but that may be because she just woke up from a nap. I felt the same too. She was quite happy to receive the gift from me and my partner, Victoria. (Brownie points to whoever knows who she is and what she does for the club!). We then left and decided to go home. By now, the pairs had parted ways and the slippery weather was about to get worse. I was soaked from my knee down but that’s what I get for walking into puddles. I thought the Elfin Project was an awesome thing to do for the seniors around our community. It was the holidays and it felt good to receive something. It felt even better to give it to them. The “I beat the cops” feeling. I MEAN, just kidding. But you get the warm feeling that I really can’t describe on paper. It’s not every day you get a present. We all did more than our assignment that day, we brought happiness to one. :] NOTES: •If you see my picture along with the words WANTED and REWARD, please ignore them. If possible, destroy them. •Victoria’s your Vice-President! Brownie Points to whoever knew that! If you didn’t, SHAME on you! :] •DO NOT JUMP TURNSTILES. •DO NOT RUN FROM COPS. •FOR YOUR OWN SAFTY, DO NOT SURF TRAINS. Unless you are trained with me, please don’t do any of those things. xD Examples set in this writing piece are not to be followed, except for the good spirit of volunteering. Please don’t do anything illegal. You didn’t read it in this paper. :] Disclaimer: Key Club does not endorse any actions that may be, in any way, in noncompliance with the rules and regulations governing society. The anecdotes told by this author are for entertainment purposes only and are not to be taken seriously.
LTG BIOGRAPHY VICTORIA TSANG BOOMBA! Hey uber-awesome key clubbers :D I’m Victoria Tsang, your vice president. I am a junior and I hope to represent our school in the Lieutenant Governor of Division 11 election. If I were to be elected as Lieutenant Governor, I will ensure that the entire Division 11 is running smoothly and everything is on track. I will also help link the District Board (the higher level of Key Club) with the key clubs of Division 11. The key clubs of Division 11 include: Stuyvesant High School, Hunter College High School, LaGuardia High School, Bronx High School of Science, High School for Math Science and Engineering, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, DeWitt Clinton High School, and Washington Irving High School. I have been an active member of Key Club since freshman year. I wish to be able to contribute even more by being Lieutenant Governor. So please support me by voting for me to be the candidate of Stuyvesant High School. EVENTS ATTENDED District Convention ‘08 Divisional Meetings President Council Meetings Chinatown Kiwanis Meetings March of Dimes ‘08 AIDS Walk ‘08 Kumon Fresh Meadows ‘08 Queens JDRF ‘08 Flushing Tutoring ‘08 New Visions Garden ‘08 Sunset Cinema ‘08 Baby Buggy ‘08 JCC Wrap-it-Up ‘08 JCC Operation Chicken Soup ‘08 Japanese New Year Fair ‘09
Skate-a-thon!
By Flyingbluejensen and Pikachu Do y’all want to know why this event meant so much to me, why everything had to be perfect? It’s not because I really liked the event. It’s because I bet a ton of money that my friend Sharif would fall, more money I would ever owe anyone else. ;) Haha, things turned out a little differently.
I’m going to skip the part about how we waited to go in, how we prepared to go on the ice, how I caught my first Pikachu, and how I nearly got killed by an avalanche. Too bad. :P So at the beginning, it wasn’t exactly the best rink in the world, especially because their ice was all bumpy. Unless people are pro like me *ahem*, it would be tough to steer and especially tough for newcomers, which was a good thing considering Sharif would fall and I would win my bet. ^^ Anyway, it was so bad that even I first had trouble doing my signature skating backwards tricks =O. But I adjusted fast (bout time…grumble) and I was happy to see everyone having an EASY TIME! (No sarcasm intended there, I promise.) They cleaned the ice later! After that, the event was past awesome! I spent my time teaching someone to skate and convincing her to skate by herself! =D She insists that after I left, she did skate by herself. I also tried to get our own president out on the ice and he wasn’t bad at all! GET ON THE ICE, GAVIN! But it was a pretty good day, and skating sure got our blood warm again after the freezing cold. No seriously, before skating I was in 10 layers and after an hour people were playing the stripper song whenever I stopped, which was usually to strip some more. I think we did pretty well for USACF. The foundation for children in Africa is sure getting a fat check and lots of love from us! That was the main reason for iceskating. Sure, we also wanted to learn to skate and have a good time. Even I had a goal to do a 360, which didn’t happen :[. But the foremost motive was to help the children in Africa, even if it was indirectly, in any way we could. HEY HEY HEY! It’s the skilled Flyingbluejensen. And I just realized that there’s another ice-skating event coming! I hope you all read this in time to go! BECAUSE AFTER THIS ONE, I SO WANNA GO AGAIN. Guess what? I am! =O YOU SHOULD ALL GO! And I have some convincing arguments. Guys, you can pretend to teach girls to skate, only to hold their hand or catch them when they fall ;). But hey, go to the divisional ice-skating! *Does a 360 =O) Editor’s note: Article has been left mostly intact in its original grammatical state.