YICK WO NEWSPAPER CLUB
SPRING 2014
Yick Wo Elementary School | San Francisco, May 2014
YICK WO’S
MODERNIZATION
What can we look forward to next year?
By Stephanie Lee
What’s been happening behind the
blue fences at 2025 Jones Street? The old
Yick Wo is being rebuilt. The workers
painted the new Yick Wo orange, blue,
and green. You may wonder how the
school looks now.
TECH TALK
AT YICK WO
By Gigi McMillan
Recently, teachers at the tempo-
rary location of Yick Wo Elementary
School have had issues with the lack
of technology equipment and the slow
internet. Until March, the new building
didn’t have reliable wireless. Ms. Susie,
a kindergarten teacher who serves
on the tech committee, says, “I wish I
Back Row (l-r): Austin Lesseps, West Middleton, Ellie Aronica, Fiona Tan, Chloe Hu, Stephanie Lee, Gigi McMillan, Lina Deng
Front Row (l-r): Nadja Goldberg, Sinclair Wessling, Brenner Wessling, Andy Liang, Alice Talker, Carson Beale, Cheyanne Chow, Francesca Ficano
had wireless printers in the classroom
along with enough ink cartridges to
Latimer, Ava Jones Dubois, Mia Gale
Absent: Zenobia Pellissier Lloyd and Ashley Chun
print.”
Ms. Susie isn’t the only teacher who
would like new tech equipment. Fourth
grade teacher, Mr. Steve, along with
many others, says that the biggest prob-
lem in his class is the lack of computers
in the classroom. Other teachers say
they need printers, better connectivity,
and smaller things like ink cartridges
and laptop batteries. (See chart, next
page.)
Another concern the teachers have—
continued on page 4
Page 16
Here is what Principal
Stephanie Young says:
New Yick Times:
What are the changes?
Principal Young:
Well, the cafeteria is Renovations at Yick Wo include a wheelchair ramp at the front
bigger. The library and door and a larger multi-purpose room.
the computer lab are
separate. Room 101 is bigger, and they
added a bathroom.
NYT: When is the new Yick Wo going
to open?
Young: August 18, 2014.
NYT: What is the lunchroom going
to look like?
Young: There are doors made out
of glass and you can roll them up. The
floor is also different.
NYT: How many girls’ bathrooms are
there going to be?
Young: Two girls’ bathrooms.
NYT: How many boys’ bathrooms
THE NEW POETRY TEACHER: 
MS. MARGO PERIN
By Ashley Chun
Last year we got a new poetry
teacher. Her name is Margo Perin. She
encourages us to express ourselves in
poetry and comes up with really fun
ideas to do it. She uses creative tech-
niques like having the students write
their poetry around drawings.
Ms. Margo has had a really inter-
esting life. Did you know that in 2012
are there going to be?
Young: Two boys’ bathrooms.
NYT: When are they going to finish
rebuilding the school?
Young: They are almost done right
now.
NYT: What do you think of the new
Yick Wo?
Young: I think it looks great! I think
everyone will like the changes they made.
Well you heard it here, straight from
the mouth of Principal Young. Are you
excited about the new Yick Wo? I hope
you are because I am!
she was hired by the San Francisco Arts
Commission/Baleaf and Shimon Attie
(a sculptor) to create a memorial to
honor police officers that were killed
through their jobs?
She was also recommended for the
Push Cart Prize. Ms. Margo also was a
contributing editor of the books Only
the Dead Can Kill, Stories From Jail, and
continued on page 3
 CURRENT EVENTS
JUST ONE MORE: WHY YOU
The Newspaper of Record for Yick Wo Elementary School, San Francisco
May 2014 CAN’T SAY NO TO DORITOS
By Fiona Tan
Nom! Nom! Crunch! Crunch! Maybe
I’ll have another one. No this is my last
Reporters: Ellie Aronica one. How about just one more. Oh no!
Carson Beale There’s no more. What have I done?
Have you eaten one chip after anoth-
Cheyanne Chow er trying to tell yourself “stop eating.”
Ashley Chun But you just seem to keep eating more.
Lina Deng Researchers and experts have found the
big secret chip companies have been
Ava Jones Dubois keeping from the world.
Mia Gale
Nadja Goldberg Doritos Power
Doritos are popular. You can see them in
Chloe Hu every corner store. Food scientist, Steven
Francesca Ficano Latimer Witherly, who studies Doritos in his Va-
Stephanie Lee lencia, California, lab told Junior Scholastic
Magazine, “They excite your taste buds.”
Andy Liang You might think twice, once you know the
Austin Lesseps Special thanks to: ingredients in these irresistible chips.
Ms. Susana and Principal Young for their support
Zenobia Pellissier Lloyd
Ms. Stephanie for sharing the computer lab Fat-filled
Gigi McMillan Andrew Middleton & Antea von Henneberg for More than half of the calories come from
West Middleton underwriting the printing costs fat. The fat in these chips is detected by
Alice Talker Daniel Tan for financial support your trigeminal nerve. This nerve sends a
happy signal to your brain. In this situa-
Fiona Tan tion, the fat translates into a feeling instead
Parent volunteers:
Brenner Wessling Bob McMillan, Natasha Levine, Carol Lloyd, Suzanne of a basic taste like sweetness or sourness.
Sinclair Wessling Hansen, Kate Beale
Salt +
Salt gives what food companies call
a “flavor burst.” It activates your brain’s
pleasure system, encouraging you to eat
more. A 1.75-ounce bag of Nacho Cheese
Doritos contains 25 percent of the maxi-
Copyright 2014 mum daily salt intake advised for adults.
Yick Wo Elementary School
940 Filbert Street (temporarily!) Eye-popping colors
Experts have found that bright colors
San Francisco, CA 94133 draw you closer. The company that makes
Doritos, Frito-Lay, has designed their
chips to have bright colors such as artifi-
cial yellows and reds to make them stand
out. Before you even touch them you start
to drool.
Page 2
Gold dust
Frito-Lay’s chips are
topped with first–class
Romano cheese. According
to The New York Times, you
will not find this type of
cheese in any other chips
you eat (most companies Frito-Lay makes sure Doritos are hard to resist, even with all
use cheese with preserva- the fat, salt, and calories in the chips.
tives). It is ground into fine
powder that is then sprinkled on every
part of the chip. This increases the con-
tact of the cheese with your taste buds.
Finger-licking
After snapping the chips tight between memories (and contributes to “Dorito
your two fingers, your hand will be filled
with cheesy powder. Without thinking
you want to lick your fingers. Your brain
is focusing on the powder, no chips
around you to be distracted by sending
your brain a large burst of flavor.
Give it up for ... GARLIC
There is also garlic powder in some
Doritos. This savory taste is umami.
You might be wondering “what is
Hurricane Sandy
continued from Page 13
we had weeks off. When we went to
the grocery store, everyone already
had taken the water! We threw out all
of our food supplies. Since we had no
electricity, everything spoiled quickly.
We used flashlights and candles in the
night.
After weeks and weeks, my friend
and I were playing outside, (of course
carefully) in the evening. All of a sudden,
a burst of light spread throughout all
the windows. We screamed and ran to
our homes without saying goodbye. I
umami?” Well, it’s a fifth taste sense.
The four other basic senses are sweet,
bitter, sour, and salt. Umami is a taste
in between sweet and bitter. Garlic cre-
ates an irresistible smell that simulates
breath”).
Forgettable flavors
The formulas for Doritos are so well
balanced, not a single flavor lingers in
your mind after eating them. It makes
the food scientists avoid what’s called
“sensory specific satiety” or the full-
ness caused by dominant flavors. Think
about it. Would you rather eat a bag of
rosemary chips or Doritos?
was so happy we got our electricity back.
Although it was inconvenient an unpleas-
ant, I also learned from that experience.
I learned that the forces of nature are
unpredictable, and you also have to be
prepared.
 Here are some tips for surviving a
natural disaster:
1. Keep a stash of candles and flash-
lights just in case you lose electricity.
2. Keep some food that doesn’t need a
refrigerator, so it won’t get spoiled.
3. Always keep extra water in the
house.
4. Go to the safest room in the house,
like a bathroom with no windows.
Page 15
 CURRENT EVENTS
PUPPY MILLS: A PUPPY JAIL
By Cheyanne Chow
Have you ever looked through a
window and saw a cute dog or puppy
that you like? Well this dog or puppy
you may like may reveal a miserable life.
This puppy or dog could possibly be
from a puppy mill. But what exactly is a
puppy mill? A puppy mill is a breeding
kennel where dogs are raised in a horri-
ble way. Puppy mills are filthy places for
dogs to live in. The puppies are kept in
small cages. Puppy mills can sometimes
cause terrible illnesses. For example,
they could cause epilepsy, heart dis-
ease, kidney disease, musculoskeletal
disorders, endocrine, blood disorders,
deafness, eye problems, and respiratory
disorders. In puppy mills, puppies don’t
get to play and exercise, and they some-
times do not get enough to eat.
Sometimes when dogs get adopted from
puppy mills they often can arrive at their
new home with disease or infirmities.
Also, they can have giardia, ticks, fleas, and
more. When puppies are adopted from
puppy mills they will be separated from
their family. See the illustration for how the
whole process works.
Dogs die every year in puppy mills all
around the United States. Some dealers
want to avoid the U.S. laws and keep their
business going so they move somewhere
else, but just outside of the U.S. Female
dogs are bred twice a year and they can ei-
ther get killed or abandoned once they can
no longer produce puppies. Four million
dogs get killed each year, which means at
least nine thousand dogs die per day.
You might be wondering now, “How
can I stop puppy mills?” Well one way is
to not get a puppy from a puppy mill by
educating yourself. For example, one day as
I was looking through a book about dogs, I
suddenly decided that I wanted a dog, so I
asked my mom if I could get one. She said,
“yes,” so we went to the American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Page 14
(ASPCA) website, and there I found out
about puppy mills and educated myself so I
would know how to avoid them.
You also can ask your local library
to put up a display on puppy mills so
MR. MALVIN CHEW,
people will know about it. You can tell PING-PONG CHAMP
people about puppy mills and about the
cruelty of puppy mills. Also, you can By Andy Liang
donate to ASPCA because they save His name is Malvin Chew. He played
puppies from puppy mills. ping-pong in Japan. His dad taught
him to play. When he was young he
played in many ping-pong tourna-
ments and won most of them. In high
school he stopped playing ping-pong
because he wanted to play other sports
such as baseball, basketball, and track
and field. He later picked up ping-pong
again after he finished university.  pong team in
In 2005 Malvin went back to Japan
again. In his second week there he met
a very famous ping-pong player named
Hideki Maishi. He was also a very
Margo Perin
continued from page 1
How I Learned to Cook.
For more than a decade Ms. Margo
taught men and women at the San Fran-
Photo by Chris Stewart/The San Francisco Chronicle
Illustration courtesy of the ASPCA
Yick Wo poetry teacher Margo Perin taught creative writing at the San Francisco County Jail for
more than 10 years.
SCHOOL NEWS
famous ping-
pong coach. He
taught Malvin
Photo courtesy of Malvin Chew
how to be a
better ping-
pong player and
person. After
training for
many months he
joined a ping-
Yick Wo’s Malvin Chew trained hard to perfect his ping-pong.
Yamagata, Japan. 
He played in many matches and had Table Tennis Association. He retired
a lot of fun. Malvin was probably the from ping-pong in 2007. He is now a
first American to play in the Japanese teacher at Yick Wo.
cisco County Jail in San Quentin State Dealing with Mortal Distress at Marin
Prison. Ms. Margo also taught poetry to General Hospital.
people with cancer and other life threat- Right now Ms. Margo teaches in
ening illnesses along with professionals workshops throughout San Francisco
at UCSF through the program Art for and at the University of California,
Recovery and Medical Professionals Berkeley Extension. She also teaches
poetry to kids in grades K-12 through
the program California Poets in the
Schools, the program that lets Ms. Mar-
go teach us at Yick Wo.
I interviewed Ms. Margo about her
work and this is what she said:
New Yick Times: How many years
have you been teaching poetry?
Margo Perin: 30 years.
NYT: How do you feel about Yick
Wo?
Perin: It’s a really good school. I feel
really good about it.
NYT: How did you feel about teaching
people in jail poetry?
Perin: It was very rewarding because
they don’t have very much opportunity.
NYT: When did you start teaching
poetry?
Perin: After I left school.
Ms. Margo is a very good teacher and
we are very lucky to have her at Yick Wo!
Page 3

Tech Talk
continued from Page 1
particularly the ones teaching third
through fifth grade—is the computer-
based testing. Recently the San Francisco
Unified School District implemented a new
form of testing that is done on computers,
called the Smarter Balanced Assessment
Consortium (SBAC) tests. All the third-,
fourth-, and fifth-graders took these tests
from April 21 to May 9. There are not
enough computers in the computer lab for
a whole class, so teachers send half their
classes at a time. This disrupts teaching and
means the computer lab has to be closed
over those three weeks. “There are 17
computers and approximately 130 students
taking these tests,” says 4/5 split teacher Ms.
Dixon. “The scheduling for this has been a
huge disturbance to our routine, academic
teaching time, and extra curricular activi-
ties like poetry, music, and art.”
Teachers are trying to raise money to buy
computer equipment for their classrooms
and the computer lab. All the teachers re-
ceived $500 at the beginning of the year and
many have done fundraising with parents.
Both Mr. Steve and Ms. Goodyear bought
iPads from parent funds and Mr. Steve, Ms.
Goodyear, and Ms. Slater bought digital
projectors. Mr. Steve even raised $800
from parents to buy an iPad stand, printer
cartridges, and other accessories.
The need for computers in the class-
room is so great that Mr. Steve allows
his students to bring in their own lap-
tops and other electronic devices to use
for their reports.
There are lots of other reasons to use
electronics in the classroom: watching
educational videos, viewing and print-
ing learning materials, and looking at
photos and maps. Ms. Susie says that
she wishes there was a way at the new
school to watch “former operas, con-
certs, and assemblies.”
One of the solutions to both the
testing problem and the need for
electronics in the room is the iPad cart
that Yick Wo will be getting from the
Page 4
SCHOOL NEWS
school district next
year. The iPad cart
is a mobile hand-
cart with 40 iPads
that can go from
room to room and
will be available
during the testing
period.
Another solution
teachers rely on for
technology is the
Donor’s Choose
program, an online
fundraising site
where teachers can
post things they
need money for.
Both Ms. Slater and
Ms. Annie have
requested donations for equipment in
their classrooms this year. Unfortunately
Ms. Slater’s request for a projector and an
iPad did not get completely funded, but
Ms. Annie’s request for a projector has
been funded. Donors can give to these
projects at Donorschoose.org. Some-
times their donation is matched.
There are lots of technology problems
THE BIG TEACHER SWITCH
By Mia Gale
Last year, Mr. Ehrmann retired from
teaching fourth grade, and there was a
big switch. Mr. Steve moved up to fourth
grade. Last year he taught kindergarten,
and Ms. Wong, who taught second grade,
now teaches kindergarten. Luckily, 21
years ago, Mr. Steve taught a 4/5 split at
a different school, so he felt excited and
happy for the opportunity at Yick Wo.
Since the switch, Mr. Steve has re-
alized that he likes both kindergarten
and fourth grade equally. For him, kin-
dergarten was fun because the children
were learning their letters and letter
sounds for the first time. He also liked
teaching socialization skills.
CURRENT EVENTS
I SURVIVED TREASURE OR
PLANE HUNT?
HURRICANE SANDY
By Sinclair Wessling
A plane has gone missing! This plane
By Alice Talker We looked outside the window and is called Flight 370. It was flying from
You probably heard of Hurricane could see the stormy sky ripping the Malaysia to Beijing. The plane had 239
Sandy when you turned on the news in trees apart. It came in the evening and people on it, 227 passengers and 12 crew
two years ago, and it said there was a lasted all night long. When we woke members. People have found signals from
hurricane. But I’m sure you were glad up it was not safe to go outside because some of the black boxes in the water.
because it was not coming in your area. all the trees were blocking everyone’s It’s getting hard to track even with radio
Well, before I came to San Francisco, I houses. We climbed over them anyways, signals. Black boxes are little cubes in the
was living in New Jersey on the East Coast. and came outside. We observed all the airplane that help ships get radio signals
That’s one of the spots the hurricane hit. wreckage. Then my neighbor came from far away. People are finding signals
The hurricane hit New Jersey on October outside and pointed to some trees that from around the world, like a mind game.
29th, 2012. Sandy hit other spots too, like were huge. She said that one huge tree The Boeing took off from Kuala
New York, which was wrecked badly. fell on top of the other, but if the other Lumpur, the state capital of Malaysia,
When the hurricane started in our one wasn’t there, it could have fallen at 12:41am on Saturday. It was sched-
in the present but lots of possibilities for area, we closed all the doors and win- on our house and caused some serious uled to arrive at 6:30am on the same
the future. More than just teaching her dows and lit our fireplace so we could damage. “It could have even injured day, but something weird happened.
first graders math and language arts, Ms. see. We ran to the corner of the room by you,” she said. At around 1:30am air traffic controllers
Lizzie would like to teach them computer our fireplace and curled up near the wall. It was not safe to go to school, so lost contact with the Boeing pilots, in
programming. “I really want children to We lost our electricity for weeks! continued on page 15 Subang (outside of Malaysia) on the sea
start learning about programming at a between Malaysia and Vietnam.
very young age,” says Ms. Lizzie, “It would Nobody knew what happened next.
be great to have a robotics class, both for And nobody knew what to do next. Even
coding and making cool robotic Legos.” now it’s a mystery that maybe even will
go on for years, just like the Titanic. They
looked for it for years, as well, and finally
found it. But we don’t know if we will find
it this time so it is just a lucky chance.
There are many suspicions as to what
This year, fourth grade has been exciting might have happened. Stolen passports
for Mr. Steve because the kids already know were detected and may have contrib-
how to read. The kids have more advanced uted to losing track of the planes as
learning, like book clubs and overnight field well as the plane maybe crashing. Once
trips to the Balclutha. Mr. Steve feels that in again, it’s a mystery, and it matters a lot.
fourth grade the students are able to help The stolen passports might tell us that
the teacher as well. He enjoys teaching the plane was hijacked. Nobody was
students who can read and write. suspecting who they were, but probably
“Kindergarten was more physical work, thought that they were trying to get
they’re moving faster, they’re running something. They did know their names
Photo by Allison Talker
around—it’s a long day for them,” says Mr. though. Their names were Pouri Nour-
Steve. “Fourth grade is harder because mohammadi, 18, and his brother Reza
the curriculum is harder. It’s hard to teach Nourmohammadi. But people also say
kids how to be in school and it’s hard to that the passports only identified them
teach kids more difficult subjects: math, as those names. We might never find the
science, social studies, and language The Westfield, New Jersey, street where the Talker family lived during Hurricane Sandy. There was plane, but we should always keep our
curriculum. no electricity or school for weeks after the storm. hopes up.
Page 13
 CURRENT EVENTS COMMUNITY NEWS
FACTS ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA DROUGHT THE INVISIBLE: HOMELESS FROM PARK TO
By Austin Lesseps
The drought is going to affect you. Be
get sick or even
die.
CHILDREN OF SAN FRANCISCO PARKING LOT—
prepared!
2014 is looking to be one of the dri-
The drought
is killing
By Zenobia Rose
Imagine that you come back from
planted by the families. Next to the gar-
den there’s a small playground.
OUR NEW
est years on record. Last year was the
driest year in California’s history. The
crops that
farmers are
school and before you can do your home-
work or anything else you first have to
Hamilton House has several other
programs all over San Francisco, such LIBRARY
drought affects everybody in Califor- planting, and find out where to sleep for the night. You as emergency housing in the Tender-

Photo courtesy of Weather Underground

nia. Less water means fewer crops and
wild animals. Small towns lose water
to big cities and farmers can’t grow
enough food for everybody.
Kids are affected by the drought too.
One of the major problems caused by
the drought is toxin build-up. Toxin
build-up is caused by poisons that
come from factories and agriculture.
Without heavy rain to wash the soil,
the poison stays above ground. Plants
suck the toxins up from the topsoil
after light rain spreads them around.
Also, the toxins are infecting the wa-
ter. When the toxins rain on the land,
animals start drinking the water and
FOUR THINGS YOU NEED
TO KNOW ABOUT THE DROUGHT
1. The Hetch Hetchy reservoir is at one-third of its normal water level. San
Francisco receives almost all its water from the Hetch Hetchy.
that’s a bad may think that’s crazy, but many children loin. There are programs for different By Francesca Ficano Latimer
thing because in San Francisco experience this. lengths of time. North Beach opened up a new library
California On Thursday, April 24, I went to Hamil- How does homelessness affect chil- this month with a bigger, brand new
produces most ton House to interview Debbie Wilber, the dren? Many homeless children get children’s section. You can whisper and
of the crops children’s program director, about child stressed because their parents are have conversation with your friends all
for the United homelessness in San Francisco. Hamilton stressed. Kids who don’t have clean you want, because now the children’s
States. Farmers House is a homeless shelter for families. clothes might be made fun of at school section has become the children’s room.
will not get as On the third and fourth floors there are 20 for this. Wilber says that the children can Now mom and dad can read in the
much money, units for the families. The units are a lot be aggressive when they arrive, but soon adult’s room without having to hear lots
and we will not like small apartments. They have bed- they calm down when their lives become of children’s whispers.
have as much rooms and bathrooms, and the families more stable. Wilber also told me about I am a constant reader, which means I
to eat.
It is really important to conserve
TIPS FOR are given towels, sheets, pots, and pans.
On the bottom floor there’s a playroom
a specific child that changed massively:
Mark came to Hamilton House when
go to the library very often to check out
books, since you can only have so many
water! Turn off the sink. Take a short- CONSERVING with books, art supplies, and toys. Outside he was six, with two older brothers and books in one home, right? Well, now
er shower. Don’t flush the toilet so there’s a garden with newly grown flowers continued on page 10 there’s a new self-checkout system. You
frequently. WATER get to check out the books yourself and
this little machine and scanner helps you
The drought of California is affect- do it. This system is going to help people
who read a lot so they don’t have to wait
ing many people in the state. Crops
are dying in the heat of the sun. in line every time they want to check out
We need to do something. We need
to conserve! Conserving means to
a book. If you’re not in such a rush to get
out, you can still have a librarian check
save. When you conserve, you help out books for you.
the state. Conserving won’t stop the The library has a really interesting
drought, but it helps. Here are some history filled with debates.
ways to conserve: In the 1950s, the people of North

Photo courtesy of Hamilton Family Center

2. Fire danger! The drought is also affecting wild plant-life. Dry hills mean 1. Turn off tap while brushing teeth. Beach wanted a new library and they
California is experiencing more wild fires that could even reach cities! 2. Don’t leave water on while clean- were debating where to put it. North
ing dishes. Beach was an old neighborhood, so a
3. Don’t go on the beach three days after rainfall because of toxin build up. 3. Take showers more often than lot of space was already taken. The city
The ocean needs time to wash poisons away. Birds and seals are affected baths. council proposed to put the library on
by toxin build up too. 4. If you do bathe, used bath water Joe DiMaggio Park; they were going to
can be recycled to water plants take a chunk of the park and make it
4. The drought is affecting agriculture, which could cause food shortages. and wash down sidewalks. into a library. The North Beach citizens
Why do we care about food shortages? We all like to eat don’t we? 5. If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s grumbled because they love our park
brown, flush it down. as much as we do, but they wanted a
—Austin Lesseps Always conserve! Hamilton House helps homeless children by adding stability to their lives. They make sure kids library very badly, so they agreed with
—Brenner Wessling gets to school as well as receive help with their homework. continued on page 11

Page 12 Page 5
 COMMUNITY NEWS
SAN FRANCISCO’S
NOT-SO-LITTLE LEAGUE
By West Middleton
There is nothing little about the San
Francisco Little League, which has
over 100 teams and 2,000 players. Yick
Wo Elementary School has quite a few
SFLL players, including these four: John
Matheson of the Rookie Giants, Charlie
Weatherall of the Majors A’s, Daniel
Matheson of the Majors Nationals, and
me, West Middleton, of the Rookie
Brewers.
SFLL is a baseball and softball league
for boys and girls. It is divided into
levels depending on your age and skill.
The league provides coaches, umpires,
and workers to help kids enjoy playing
baseball. By the way, the coaches don’t
get paid, but they go out of their way to
help kids learn sportsmanship and how
to play better baseball.
The league was created for kids
to have fun and learn to play base-
ball. There are different levels starting
with Lower Farm teams and ending
with AA Majors teams.  There is even
a special-needs level called Challeng-
er. Games last about two hours and
are held on baseball fields all over San
Francisco, from the Sunset to the Presi-
dio to the Marina and even on Treasure
Island. Each team plays about 12 to 14
games during the season, not including
playoff games.
I interviewed the Rookie Brewers
head coach Richard Pierotti and as-
sistant coach Brian Heafey. They each
have a son on my team.
New Yick Times: Why do you like
coaching SFLL?
Pierotti: I like coaching because I like
doing things with my son Daniel. I like
baseball and I like being around kids.
Heafey:  Me too.  It’s fun, I like
baseball and I like spending time with
my son Jack.
NYT:  Did you ever play little league
Page 6
when you were a kid?
Pierotti: Well I played high school
baseball and inter-mural.
Heafey: I played in CYO and fire
department leagues.
NYT:   Were you ever coached by
your father?
Pierotti:  Yes, but in football.
Heafey:  No.
NYT: What is your favorite sport?
Pierotti:  Baseball and basketball.
Heafey: Baseball and fly fishing.
NYT: Have you ever coached kids who
have become famous baseball players?
Pierotti: Yes, Ryan Klesco.
NYT: Tell me something that people
wouldn’t know about SFLL.
Pierotti:  My little league team won
the World Series.
Heafey: Umpires can start umping
when they are in 7th grade and they get
ALCATRAZ: THE ISLAND WHERE
THE WORST CRIMINALS GO
By Carson Beale
I bet you did not know that one of
the most famous prisons in the world
is right next to San Francisco. It’s called
Alcatraz, otherwise known as The Rock.
The average number of inmates there
was 260 in its time as a prison, with
about 90 guards there too.
The island was known for its top se-
curity until June 11, 1962, when Clar-
ence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank
Morris escaped from Alcatraz. Some
people say that they died in the freez-
ing water or got eaten by sharks, but
some say they went to South America.
They made masks in art class that
looked like themselves and left them
in their beds so the guards would be
COMMUNITY NEWS
New North Beach library
continued from page 5
the council. They tried to make it as
small as possible because they wanted to
keep as much of the park as they could.
That’s how our old library was made.
Our new library is built on an old
parking lot, which I’m sure most of you
remember. The debate over the parking
lot started in about 1999. The man who
owned that lot wanted to make the space
into condos and stores. Lots of people
thought we had plenty of condos and
stores and we could do something else
West Middleton of the Rookie Brewers with with the space. Our old library was very
Charlie Weatherall of the Majors A’s (right). small and not accessible for everyone,
while the parking lot would be the perfect
$30 a game. solution for more space and more sun-
NYT: Who is your favorite baseball light. We took a vote and decided to make
player? this space into our new library!
Heafey: Willie McCovey, #44, Giant’s “I’ve always thought that our old
first baseman. library wasn’t a good idea,” says Julie
I hope you will join SFLL and play Christensen, a board member of Friends
baseball. You can come and see Yick Wo of Joe DiMaggio. “It wasn’t strong
players during the playoffs in May.  enough to withstand a major earth-
quake, while the new one will be—and
the old one was very dark, while the
new one will have lots of light.”
Will the new library would be as cozy as
the old one was for people who go a lot?
“Yes!” says Christensen. “It will be bigger,
better, more efficient, and it will certainly
fooled. Then they opened vents in their be a place to make many good memories.”
cells and climbed up them and got a
raft and went away on it.
People lived on Alcatraz. There were
even kids there! People would act like
it was no big deal to be on the same
island as inmates. If someone lived in
Alcatraz, it would be because a family
Photo by Francesca Ficano Latimer
member worked there. All the people
on Alcatraz lived in apartments, except
the warden and his family, who lived
in a fancy home. Did you know that
the inmates cleaned the clothing of the
people who lived there?
One of the most famous prisoners
on Alcatraz was Al Capone, a gangster,
bootlegger, racketeer, and boss of the The new North Beach library is full of natural
continued on page 9 light and can withstand a major earthquake.
ASK A LIBRARIAN: An Interview with Robert Carlson,
branch manager of the North Beach Library
New Yick Times: What is your role in the transition and opening of the
new library?
Robert Carlson: I’m part of the move team, which helps move the books from
one library to another and sort them. I’m also involved in some fundraising. One of
the fundraisers I helped organize raised $50,000! I work at the Chinatown Branch,
but every once in a while I go to visit and help out at the North Beach Branch.
NYT: How many more books are there (in percentage and number)?
Carlson: There are around the same number of books­—mostly new and in much
better condition. See, what happens is that the books that are not in good condition,
we give them away. We only keep the ones that look almost new. Then we buy new
books, not the same books we had before, but new ones. So the vast majority of the
books you will see will be brand new. Of course, for some we make exceptions—for
example, Harry Potter. There may be an old copy of a Harry Potter book, but it is a
very popular book, so we will buy a newer and better copy of that book.
NYT: The old library had lots of activities. Will this one have as many, or
maybe even more?
Carlson: It will be around the same number of activities, but it’s much
better. When we first started activities, we usually did them upstairs where
story-time was held. We found it very hard to do it there because more and
more disabled kids who couldn’t get upstairs wanted to join our programs—in
other words, we needed a solution. We used the clubhouse at Joe DiMaggio
playground for the last 3 years, so disabled kids could come. Now, there is an
elevator in our new library for disabled people to get to the 2nd floor, so they
can join activities without everyone having to go across the street. There are
also going to be more adult and teen programs.
NYT: What role will digital books and eBooks (on iPads and Kindles) play in
the new library?
Carlson: There will be the same eBook programs we had in the old library.
However, the new library will have a new program which lends iPads, laptops,
and Kindles with new and old issues of magazines downloaded on them. Now
we’re actually getting more Chinese material, which is good because we have
lots of Chinese people coming to our library constantly requesting Chinese
material we don’t have—well now we do!
NYT: How will the new library affect you as a librarian?
Carlson: The new library will be a great plus not just for the people, but for
the librarians. There is going to be a new checkout system so not so many li-
brarians have to go to and fro just to help someone check out a 5-minute video
or a small picture book consisting of 3 pages. There is a bunch of stuff the new
library has that really helps librarians like me.
NYT: What do you think is the best thing about the new library?
Carlson: I don’t really have a favorite—everything is amazing in its own
way. The light, the space, the resistance to earthquakes, everything! They are all
really amazing improvements in their own special way!
I think this new library is an amazing addition to our wonderful neighbor-
hood. I hope you get a chance to visit!
Page 11
 COMMUNITY NEWS
Crookedest street
continued from page 8
but what do we really know about it?
Here’s a quick history. The crooked
Lombard Street was built in 1922 to
make the street less treacherous for
drivers. (For its first 17 years, cars
could drive up and down the street!)
Not many people know that there’s
another crooked street in San Francis-
co: Vermont Street at 20th. Crooked
Lombard has eight turns; Vermont
Street only has five, but the turns
Homeless children
continued from page 5
his dad. One day she was playing football
with Mark outside in the garden. When
Wilber was looking away, he threw the
football at her, hitting her in the face and
knocking off her glasses. She was very
shocked. His response to her injury was,
“I hate you.” But then, over the course of
several months, Mark became kind, sen-
sitive, and loved to help everyone in every
way possible. Wilber said, “It’s amazing to
see how the surroundings affect some-
body and how he just needed that stability
to see who he really was.”
Sadly, not all homeless families are
even as lucky as Mark’s family. Many
children don’t have a place to call home
this very second. You may think that
there aren’t many homeless children
just because you don’t see small chil-
dren begging on the street, but you
are wrong. There are more than 2,700
homeless children in San Francisco. The
families may be living in their car or in
a cheap hotel. The children may go to a
friend’s house while the parents live on
the street. For a single night, families
can go to Hamilton House’s emergency
housing, but it only has 14 single beds.
Families don’t just become homeless
in the blink of an eye. There is always a
reason. Sometimes families are immi-
grants that don’t know how to speak
Page 10
on Vermont Street are steeper. And
there’s another difference. When I
visited Vermont Street on a nice Sun-
day afternoon, there was not a single
tourist in sight.
In one ten-minute visit to crooked
Lombard Street. I met people from
three different continents. I’ve often
wondered why people come from all
over the world just to see a street, but
the tourists say it’s a beautiful sight.
One of the city’s busiest tourist attractions
up the street from Yick Wo.
English and they are undocumented.
Or the person in the family that makes
the money might lose their job or
pass away so then the family can’t pay
rent. Another possibility is somebody
becomes so ill that the family needs
to pay for medical treatment and can’t
pay the rent. There also can be violence
between parents that destabilizes the
whole family. Wilber says that there
is usually more than one reason for a
family to become homeless.
At Hamilton House they don’t only
house families. They also have services
for the children there. For example, the
staff help the children get ready for school.
They also throw the children birthday
parties and get them presents on holidays.
Wilber said that children sometimes ask
things like “can I have a guitar?” or “can I
go to ballet?” and Hamilton House tries to
provide them those things. The children
under five years old get to go to the play-
room two times a day and play there. The
elementary kids also get help with their
homework after school.
When asked what her favorite part
about working at Hamilton House is,
Wilber answered in a very moving
way: “To be able to be there with them
in their moment of crises, whether it’s
helping them get their child registered
for school or get them clothes or just
do basic things for these families. I just
love to help with small problems and
Photo by Nadja Goldberg
see the relief in someone. It’s really an
honor. And to meet all these kids—
they’re wonderful kids that are going
through a very hard time and just to
do things like go camping with them is
very special.”
Are there any stereotypes about
homeless children? Yes. Wilber rec-
ognized a stereotype about two weeks
ago when she was in the playroom
with three blonde white toddlers. If
you believe that all homeless children
are a certain race, it really isn’t true.
Wilber also said there are other stereo-
types: “Some people think all homeless
children are bullies or get bad grades.”
She said that these were not true at all
because she had met really great, kind,
smart, and amazing kids that are the
same as any other child.
There are millions of ways to help
homeless children. Wilber says the first
thing you should do is discover that
you are passionate about. Next you
should use your passion to help. For
example, I love to write so I am telling
the Yick Wo community about child
homelessness in San Francisco. But
let’s say you love to cook—you could
make food and donate it to a homeless
shelter. Or you could donate Halloween
costumes to the children in the home-
less shelters. All you have to do is do
what you love to do and find out what
the children need from you.
COMMUNITY NEWS
EVERYTHING FLOWS IN ANYTHING GOES
By Ellie Aronica
In January the first rehearsal for
Anything Goes was in motion. Different
groups of different students from different
schools, a number of them from Yick Wo
including myself, went to the downstairs
stage in the gym of St. Peters and Paul
school. We were there for theater and for
an exciting production of a play called
Anything Goes. The production is full of
tap dancing, singing, and of course acting.
This exciting play is full of energy,
sorrow, tragedy, and joy, but the actors
needed to work hard for these top-notch
qualities. On some nights the actors
stayed until 8:30pm or later. Kids needed
to memorize lines, costumes needed to
be hung up, and the props needed to be
made, but who is the one who helped all
the kids learn their lines, hang up the cos-
tumes, and make props? Mary Powelson.
Mary has directed about 15 plays, one
of which is Anything Goes. She has been
acting, writing, and directing for over 30
years. She started running the Salesian
Boys and Girls Club theater program
in 2005 when she wrote a proposal for
the Salesian club that they should add a
theater program. They said OK, and that
is how the theater program began. Mary
has been putting on plays at the Salesian
club for eight years. It took four months
to prepare for Anything Goes. “It’s a lot
of work, and it’s very hard, but it is the
most important work I have ever done
in my life,” says Powelson. That just goes
to show how important it is for the kids
and the teachers.
Some kids, like 14-year-old Fiona
Mittlestat, who played the lead role of
Reno, think of the Salesian club theater
program as a family. “I have been
doing plays at the Salesian club for so
many years and everyone is so nice and
are like my family, so I didn’t get too
nervous,” says Fiona, a former Yick Wo
student and now a Gateway student.
The passenger and chorus member Gigi
McMillan enjoyed being in Anything
Goes as well. “It was a fun experience and
I met a lot of new people and I made new
friends,” commented Gigi.
Sioban Dixon, 4/5 split teacher at Yick
Wo, attended the performance and also
had strong feelings on Anything Goes. “I
loved it! I thought it was a fantastic per-
formance. Mary Powelson is an excellent
director. ... I was very proud of all of my
students in the play!”
Lots of Yick Wo students also attended
the performance to support their fellow
classmates. Some said it was funny, some
said it was loud enough, and some like
fourth-grader Gracie James-Hickey even
said, “There was nothing that I didn’t like!”
The cast of the March 2014 Salesian Boys and Girls Club’s production of Anything Goes included
students from Yick Wo and other neighborhood schools.
SWIM WITH THE DOLPHINS ...
IN SAN FRANCISCO
By Ava Dubois
Have you ever wanted your own place
to go, or a club where you can exercise
and have fun with your family at the
same time? You should try the Dolphin
Club. The Dolphin Club is a swimming
and rowing club. Yes, you might not like
either of those options that much, so it
may not be the club for you, but if you
do, this is definitely the club for you.
The Dolphin Club was established in
1877 and is right next to Aquatic Park.
My experience as a actor in the Any-
thing Goes production consisted of a
lot of hard work and staying some late
nights working to get the play to perfec-
tion and to get the top quality that it had
when we performed. I especially liked
when we first ran the play all the way
through with costumes. I love costumes
in plays because it’s so fun to see what
your character wears and it’s an oppor-
tunity to really see who your character
is and what their personality is. On the
night of the performance I was a little
scared but not too scared because during
all of my parts on stage I had friends
around me to ease my nerves.
If you choose to join the club it costs
$36 per month, that’s $432 a year. For
non-members to use the facilities, it
costs $6 per day. The club is open all
week from 10am – 6pm during daylight
savings, and from 11am – 5pm during
standard time.
“The Dolphin Club has a great com-
munity and is in a great location,” says
Brendan Mckenna, a five-year member
at the Dolphin Club. I hope I see him
the next time I go to the Dolphin Club.
Page 7
 COMMUNITY NEWS
THE HOUSE ON THE HILL
By Chloe Hu
Cars zoom down Franklin Street not
suspecting that they’re passing a SF
Heritage Museum, the Haas-Lilienthal
House.
The first thing you notice when you
enter the Haas-Lilienthal House are the
great white columns of this 100-year-old
museum. The Haas-Lilienthal House
was donated to SF Heritage after the
death of Alice Haas-Lilienthal. When
the 1906 Earthquake struck, it caused
a single crack in the wall. “The family
chose to not repair it,” says Caroline
Sperry, a member of the staff, “because
it reminded them how lucky they were
that their house wasn’t destroyed by the
earthquake and fire.”
Peter R. Schmidt built the Haas-
Lilienthal House in 1886. Built in the
Queen Anne style, the house features
Page 8
open gables, varied shingles, and a corner
tower topped by a “witches cap” roof.
The house is made out of redwood, since
they determined it would be the strongest
type of wood. “This house is essentially a
wooden house, but they also added some
decorative tiles,” says Sperry.
The children of William and Bertha
Haas were Florine, Charles, and Alice.
Florine, the eldest child of William and
Bertha, was married to Edward Bran-
denstein, who later changed his name to
Bransten. Charles Haas ended up mar-
rying Fanny Stern, who was the niece of
Levi Strauss. “Alice Haas married Samuel
Lilienthal which is where the name Lil-
ienthal came from,” says Sperry
The toys that were played in those days
were wooden toys and balls. Alice and
Florine would play with dolls. “The most
fun plaything to Charles,” says Sperry,
“was the train set Charles
built with the chauffeur.”
This particular train set is
in the trunk room along
with trunks of old-fashioned
clothes that Alice and Flo-
rine played dress-up with.
The kids had a won-
derful cook named Tillie.
Tillie, clearly, was a very
good baker. She would
bake tiny little cookies
and give them to the chil-
dren along with sarsapa-
rilla. Tillie was famous for
her chocolate cake. They
called it “Tillie’s cake.” At
their San Raphael proper-
ties, “they grew their own
vegetables and fruits,”
says Sperry
San Francisco’s Victorian
house museum is truly a
special place!
The Haas-Lilienthal House is
128 years old.
THE CITY’S
CROOKEDEST
STREET
By Nadja Goldberg
I’m at crooked Lombard Street on
a windy Thursday afternoon. There
are hundreds of tourists—some
with their friends, some with their
families and some with tour groups.
I recognize the sound of Spanish,
French, and Chinese. There are
two-year-olds; there are eight-year-
olds; there is everything in between.
There are babies in strollers and
kids complaining that they want to
leave. Tourists cover their faces with
big maps; others block cars in the
street.
Cars stop on the crooked street to
pick up passengers. Others try to get
away with parking illegally. There’s
a couple running down the street,
holding hands. People on rented
bicycles pant as they ride up. Teenage
daredevils try backflips on the hill.
Almost everyone on Lombard Street
has a camera. People run out of their
cars to take a picture. People take
selfies with the crooked street in the
background. Heads are sticking up
out of the sun-roofs of cars to take
pictures. Some people just have a
stick with a camera attached poking
out of their sun-roofs.
Why are all these people here?
They visit crooked Lombard Street
from around the world because the
street is mentioned in guidebooks
and on Google. Another reason the
tourists are here is because the tour
buses take them close by on Colum-
bus and they decide to have a look
at the street.
Crooked Lombard Street is right
around the corner from our school,
continued on page 10
COMMUNITY NEWS
WILD RACCOONS ON THE RUN
By Lina Deng
Wild raccoons have been seen
wandering around our city looking for
food. Have you seen any? They travel in
packs of four or more. They eat leftover
food, garbage, small mammals, insects,
and other snacks. They also eat apples,
bananas, berries, such as blueberries, and
cranberries. They eat any kind of fruit.
They eat almost anything: fish, mice,
eggs, and human trash.
Did you know that more than 60 years
ago, a person named ‘‘Cramer, The Rac-
coon Man’’ had a raccoon as a pet? He
lived at Filbert Street near Grant, just a
couple blocks away from Yick Wo. Cram-
er fed grapes and cherries to his raccoon.
He wanted a pet so he got a raccoon. Re-
ally weird, but cool. There is a picture of
him with his raccoon on a leash at Coit
Tower. There are other amazing pictures
of “Cramer, The Raccoon Man” online.
Have you seen any raccoons around
the city? I saw a pack of raccoons when
my dad and I were dumping out the
trash one night. Raccoons are noctur-
The Rock
continued from page 6
Chicago Outfit. He was sent there
for 11 years. Another famous crim-
inal there was George Barnes, also
known as Machine Gun Kelly. He was
a gangster, kidnapper, robber, and
businessman. One other famous in-
mate of Alcatraz was Robert Franklin
Stroud, more commonly known as
The Birdman. He was there because
he was a murderer, but his job was an
ornithologist and salesman. He was
known as The Birdman because he
found ways to stop bird diseases and
had a lot of birds.
After Alcatraz was shut down as a
prison, Native-American protesters
came and occupied the island for two
nal. Nocturnal means that they sleep in
the morning and are awake at night. I
saw three raccoons near our trash can
and one was climbing on the trash can
looking for leftover food. I was about
Photo from the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
three feet away. It was sort of scary, but
cool. After the raccoon was finished
eating, it saw me and ran away. A sec-
ond later, when I was walking up the
stairs, a pack of raccoons was trying
to get closer to the trash can again,
so I shined my flashlight at them. My
flashlight didn’t really work very well
so I didn’t really get to shine it at the
raccoon. But that was okay. At least I
got to see the raccoon.
My mom said the raccoons are a
problem, but I think they’re no prob-
lem at all, and if you think raccoons
are a problem you can build a home for “Cramer, The Raccoon Man” used to make his
raccoons away from your house. And if pet raccoon wear a leash.
everyone can build a home for a pack
of raccoons, they won’t bother you or places such as mini caves, and small
knock down your trash can anymore. spaces with access to lots of food.
But first, ask your parents so that I won’t In my opinion, raccoons are incredi-
get in trouble! Raccoons like to live in bly awesome. I really like them.
years, from 1969 to 1971. They wrote telephone service, and water on the
things on the prison walls and made it island.
their home. They left after the gov- Now Alcatraz is a museum where you
ernment shut off all electrical power, can go on a boat ride.
Photo by Carson Beale
You can take a ferry boat from the Embarcadero and visit Alcatraz Island, which is also known
by its nickname “The Rock.”
Page 9