The Menlo Park church is strongly considering joining the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO), which, like MPPC, does not recognize gay clergy.

Further complicating the issue, MPPC’s senior pastor, John Ortberg, was heavily involved in the founding of ECO, which might offer further motivation to join. However, ultimate decision-making authority will lie with the church’s session committee.

According to MPPC’s family life pastor, Jim Candy, MPPC has been threatening to leave PCUSA for over ten years, and the ordinance permitting homosexual clergy would be unrelated to any MPPC decision to split.

Contention Within the Church

Many allege that MPPC’s decision to leave is rooted in this division over the issue of homosexual clergy; rumors about MPPC’s homophobia have spread.

“The very first time I heard [about the breakaway] it was from a staff member at the church,” said one M-A sophomore and current church member who wished to remain anonymous. “She told us the main reason was because of the new allowance of gays to become pastors, which MPPC did not agree with.”

“I felt worse about attending church there,” she said, “because of the discrimination they were imposing.”

Junior Ryan Wentz, who attended MPPC’s programs in middle school, echoes her story. He, too, “heard from one MPPC staff member…that it had something to do with their views on having gay ministers, because something passed in the Presbyterian Church that allowed that, and MPPC did not agree, so now they are breaking away.”

Contrary to claims that the church does not “teach their kids that homosexuality is wrong,” Wentz found the staff member’s reasoning plausible because, “from personal experience, that is the view that [MPPC leaders] teach in small groups.”

Reuters Article

Other press has likewise portrayed MPPC as unfavorably anti-homosexuality, eliciting a defensive response from its constituents and the broader community.

An article published by Reuters.com pegged homosexual ordination as an issue for MPPC, manipulating a quote from the church’s senior pastor, John Ortberg. In the article, titled “Presbyterian Group Breaks Away Over Gay Clergy,” writer Barbara Liston quoted Ortberg out of context, presenting a remark – “the problem is people are going to Hell” – as pointed at the homosexual community.

According to Candy, Liston’s interpretation was completely inaccurate and “unethical, because they clearly just had an angle that they had already decided on.”

Rather than speaking out against the ordination of homosexual clergy, Candy said Ortberg had actually been referencing fighting within the PCUSA that he feels is restricting MPPC. Ortberg feels that by wasting time and energy infighting, the church loses its ability to encourage true evangelism, helping people form relationships with God and saving them from “going to Hell.”

Response, and Discussion Within the Church

The church will for now continue to restrict clerical positions to heterosexuals.

As evidenced in its Affirmation of Beliefs, the church currently requires its officers and leaders to “‘lead a life worthy of the calling you have received’ (Ephesians 4:1), including fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman and chastity in singleness.”

The issue of homosexuality is still not black-and-white within MPPC. When asked how the church would handle someone within the clergy coming out or someone openly homosexual seeking to join the clergy, Candy did not have a definitive answer. “It would totally be a discussion. We would talk about how we care for this person, and for the congregation, and how we best understand what God is doing with this,” said Candy. “[We] constantly struggle with the question of, what would Jesus do here?”

Breaking Away?

The church remains seriously considering a denominational change, citing disagreements with PCUSA over theology, governance and overall mission.

MPPC says it would prefer greater emphasis on evangelism. According to a list published by MPPC to its congregation last fall, “ a lack of theological clarity makes collaborative mission work increasingly difficult. If half the team thinks it’s playing football and half the team thinks it’s playing basketball then you spend more time arguing about the rules than playing the game.”

It likewise feels PCUSA’s bureaucratic governance create a negative, contentious atmosphere. “All these churches get together, but instead of celebrating with each other, and helping to move forward, it ends up being more like infighting,” said Candy.

Furthermore, there is stress between PCUSA and MPPC regarding “ownership of church property” and other “concerns with geographical church territories,” things that take time away from other issues MPPC wishes to tackle.

The Future

ECO could be the answer to MPPC’s  problems. However, only time will tell, because “it’s not just one person [we’re deciding for], it’s an entire congregation,” said communications director Nicole Laubscher. The process would first call for Session to settle on options, between which the entire congregation would then have a chance to vote.

While it remains to be seen whether MPPC will decide to break ties with the PCUSA, the issue of homosexuality has taken an increasingly high-profile status in the public and religious spheres of the nation, as religious associations, the president, and individual states offer conflicting views on the issue. If and when MPPC decides to split, it appears likely that a variety of factors, and not any single ideological motivation, will influence the final vote.

For every Mariano Rivera, there are far more Heath Bells and Javy Guerras that teams trot out to the mound with the game on the line. The closer position is far too mercurial to merit so much money, for as long as a high-paid closer lets up crucial runs in the few times they perform per week, they will be far overpaid and overvalued in my book.

What do you think? Do closers make too much money? Feel free to leave your opinion in the comment section.

The email sent out was a relatively standard one, and caused no confusion until the very last line which included a congragulatory statement of “congratulations upon your admission to UCLA.”

Attached to the letter was a form for financial aid, which gave students the notion that they were still in fact on the waiting list. Ricardo Vasquez, the university spokesman, sums up the students’ confusion: “Upon opening the email’s attached financial aid offers, the award letter made it clear wait-listed students were still on the waitlist.”

“On the one hand, you have the email line at the end congratulating them for admission, on the other hand, when they clicked on the link and went to the letter, it was very clear that they were still on the waiting list,” Vasquez says.

This chaos and confusion sent in a number of frantic emails and phone calls from parents on the weekend of April 6, who wanted to know if their student was truly accepted.

Amidst all the chaos, the admissions office was closed over the weekend, and was thus only able to ease the confusion on the following Monday.

The issue was combated when the office sent out a second email on Monday afternoon that clarified the situation.

Vasquez explained that the UCLA sincerely apologizes for the mistake and is looking into the problem. He credited the problem simply to human error.

In 2009, the California system saw a similar issue arise, but on a bigger scale. At UC San Diego, 28,000 students who were truly rejected, received emails notifying them that they had been accepted. In 2010, UC Santa Barbara falsely admitted 60 wait-listed applicants.

“It was a very regrettable mistake because we understand and realize that this is a very difficult and anxious time for parents and students as they try to make those decisions on where to go to college,” adds Vasquez, “We sincerely apologize if those students might have been led to believe that they were admitted rather than still on the wait list.”

During and interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Obama stated that “for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”

Many believe that the sudden change in his stance came as a result of pressure from Vice President Joe Biden, who openly came out in support of same-sex marriage last Sunday at NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

However, Obama explained in his interview that his change in heart came over the course of “several years” during which he has been influenced by a number of factors, including the perspectives of many younger-generation Americans, who have encouraged him to come out in support of marriage equality.

“When I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same sex marriage…[they] believe in equality,” he said.

As this is an election year, his new stance could have a variety of repercussions when it comes time to vote in November.

While the President still believes that states should be able to choose their own marriage equality laws, the recent law passed in North Carolina to ban gay marriage could jeopardize Obama’s expected victory there.

In 2008, Obama took North Carolina by 14,000 votes, partially due to its large black population. However, while 95% of African-Americans voted for Obama in 2008, only 39% of them favor gay marriage, meaning Obama could lose some of their votes.

As President, Obama has repeatedly preached equality and justice for all Americans, and his support of same-sex marriage encompasses these same ideals. So regardless of the effect this move has on his re-election, he felt it was necessary to support an issue with so much meaning to so many people.

He stated that when he considers the prospect of legalizing same-sex marriage, “I just think of members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed…same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, and I think of those soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained…because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage.”

The Bears entered the game with high morale, determined not to repeat Wednesday’s mistakes. Senior Ryan Cortez explained prior to Friday’s game that “last time we weren’t prepared. We weren’t having a good approach at the plate.” Cortez was confident that the Bears would do better on Friday with their “advantage as home team because we know the field better”.

Friday was also Senior Day, boding well for the team’s 9 seniors, who all started.

Sure enough, Senior Michael Ogrey pitched the first 2 and 2/3 innings ceding only 2 unearned runs, while junior Bear Alex Aguiar had a solo home run in the first inning. Ryan Cortez replaced Ogrey on the mound pitching the next 4 and 1/3 innings without giving up a run. Senior Dylan Cook earned the Bears some runs with a 2-run home run in the fifth inning, and a double later in the game. The Bear boys played solid defense throughout the game, preventing Carlmont from scoring beyond their original 2 runs.

The Bears triumphantly ended with a 6-2 lead over Carlmont, confirming team manager Dana Thomas’s prediction that they “would win at home”.

Despite recently losing three games in a row, the Bears came back strong on Friday with a win that placed them at 19 and 8. This win over Carlmont means the Bears will be entering the CCS seeded 11th. The Bears will face off against 6-seeded Archbishop Mitty on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Excessive stress and lack of sleep can cause frequent headaches, tremors, neck and back pain, muscle spasms, dizziness, excess sweating and blushing, increased risk of contracting infections, stomach pain and nausea, panic attacks, ulcers, sudden changes in appetite/mood, acne, weight gain, and so much more.

As of late I personally identify with the stomach aches and nausea. For the past several months, I’ve had chronic stomach pain. Every moment of every day I’ve been in minor to severe pain. I finally went to the doctor, and while I hadn’t yet developed an ulcer, my stress was causing a serious health condition. My doctor gave me Pepcid to decrease the amount of acid in my stomach to hopefully ease my pain that was preventing me from fully engaging in daily activities.

If I had taken control sooner and made sleep a priority, making time to relax and not worry about what I need to get done, planning my time wisely, respecting my body and its needs, and being less tough on myself, I wouldn’t have experienced so much physical and emotional distress.

I know, as a bit of a perfectionist and a control freak, it’s extremely hard to ask for help and listen to yourself. You probably make excuses to not do these things. You probably tell yourself, “I’m too busy to sleep! I’m young, I’ll just bounce back and be fine and just more sleep over the weekend.” While you may justify these actions by being a teenager, habits will follow you into adulthood. You’ll be far more likely to lose control at your job or around your family, and if you don’t try to fix these habits now it’ll only be harder to fix them later on.

The following are some helpful tips to try and control stress level as well as improve overall health!

1. Set a bedtime “window”, as I like to call it. I know setting a bedtime at our age seems silly and sometimes impossible, and I agree wholeheartedly. This is why setting a bedtime window will be easier to stick to. I’ll give you an example: I have difficulty going to sleep before 10:30 on a normal day, but I don’t want to stay up late so I’ll set my bedtime window from 10:30 to 11 or 11:30 depending on how much work I have to do. Setting a bedtime will help you get the sleep you need and you won’t feel as drained anymore!
2. Drink lots of water! Everyone always tells you to drink water, but it’s actually extremely beneficial and necessary for your body to function. If you drink your “8 glasses a day” then you’ll have a faster metabolism, your skin will clear up, and this will also help prevent you from getting excessively tired! If your body was a car, water would be the gasoline; your body NEEDS water to work at the top of its game. So next time you reach for a soda, get some good ole H2O instead!
3. This one goes hand-in-hand with cutting down on soda: try cutting processed foods out of your diet and stick with foods that have one ingredient (or at least ingredients you can pronounce!). Those ingredients on wrappers that you can’t read that sound like another language are more often than not chemicals. Those chemicals are bad for you and your body does bad things with them! They slow down your metabolism and make you even more tired. I would suggest that in your late-night desperation for study food, don’t just grab something out of the snack cupboard, make some eggs (they hardly take any time), grab some fruit, and leave those chips by the wayside.
4. Exercise! I know you may think that this would be counter-productive to not getting tired and keeping your energy intact but exercise is a proven stress-reliever! If you do even 30 minutes of exercise 2-3 times a week you’ll feel your stress level go down because when you exercise you release endorphins which make you feel happy. When your “bedtime window” comes around, you’ll be able to get to sleep faster because your body and mind will feel more inclined to get some rest after pumping some iron!

So put those 4 easy tips to good use and implement them right away! If you decide today to get to sleep at a reasonable time, drink water, eat organic foods, and exercise a few times a week I can almost guarantee that you’ll be less stressed, happier, and healthier!

The night saw six great bands perform, Funkdark, Sixplay, Clothing Optional, Blue Note Jazz Ensemble, Drive Thru Crew, and Fat Camp after Stone Golem had to cancel at the last minute. Nonetheless, the music was great and included multiple renditions of popular songs including Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom”, Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”, Chiddy Bang’s “All Things Go”, and lastly, Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know.”

During the night, puzzled students sought an explanation for the mic being cut off (profanity), Lunatics limitations (inappropriate), and a lack of audience voting (not allowed).

However fantastic all the bands were, there was one particular talent that left students begging for more, although that talk did not stop once the event was over. Junior Kira Lober, and member of Fat Camp, seduced the audience with her electric cello playing. Never before had a student introduced and beautifully played such an eccentric instrument that left the audience gaping, especially during their rendition of  ”All Things Go.”

Battle of the Bands was a particular success, especially compared to previous years in terms of food, entertainment, t-shirt design, instrumental arrangement, and yes, the sound of the bands.

Photo Credit: Sara Vitale