According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three women and one in four men report experiencing severe physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime. While most identifiable causes stem from drastic changes in life circumstances and generational abuse, empirical evidence points to other factors that can increase the likelihood of a dangerous home environment — including sporting events.

One report of such violence took place during the 2023 Tubi Super Bowl commercial. The advertisement begins with the game commentators giving a play-by-play of the field, seemingly marking the end of the commercial break. Then suddenly, a menu bar rises up on the screen, and an option is “clicked” as the screen jumps to the streaming service Tubi. Afterwards, on Reddit, a woman shared that her boyfriend became furious at her, believing she “clicked” on Tubi and caused him to miss a portion of the game. He then punched a hole in the drywall.

After the post garnered other women’s attention, many came forward with their experiences, including dozens of bartenders and waitresses who were yelled at and hurt by drunk patrons at their establishments. In fact, alcohol — according to Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Warren Collier — is the most significant situational force to be examined when considering a spike in domestic abuse on game days.

“Usually, people are drinking lots of alcohol, either at the games or at home watching it, and alcohol is going to make people make very dumb choices,” he said. “And that can lead to things like violence.”

Besides increasing the frequency and severity of the violence inflicted, alcohol harms victims in another way by masking violent behavior. Even though alcohol is a factor, it is never the underlying cause for violent urges, according to the Alcohol Rehab Guide. Many law-enforcement officers, perpetrators and even survivors, however, don’t see it that way. They diminish the crime by painting the narrative of an alcohol-fueled single-trigger accident. This misconception effectively sidelines victims’ experiences and absolves perpetrators of responsibility, concealing the disturbing pattern of violence and allowing it to continue.

Emotional “spillovers” also contribute to these incidents. According to Collier, immense emotional
arousal from one situation can “spill over” into other intense emotions after the fact.

“So let’s say I’m really excited that our team won, and I’ll stay happy about it,” he said. “But if my team loses, now I’m upset. And I have lots of physical arousal, like my heart is beating fast and I’m really excited. So now that excited feeling turns into anger and rage, and if I watch the game at home with friends or family, then unfortunately, the target of that rage might be other people.”

Indeed, wins and losses, when different from game predictions, determine the size of fluctuation in
domestic violence. According to a study from University of California economics professors David Card and Gordon Dahl, which drew on data from NFL games and the National Incident-Based Reporting System, “upset losses” — unexpected home-team losses — led to a 10% average increase in the number of police reports of at-home male-on-female intimate partner violence.

On the other hand, there was found to be no difference in violence when the home team lost after a prediction of a close game or when the home team had an unexpected win. This evidence serves as an important indicator in crime patterning because it suggests a crucial asymmetry in the reaction of unanticipated losses and gains – an unwelcome result of the volatile mix of alcohol, hegemonic masculinity and televised sports.

This pattern of domestic abuse, however, is not exclusive to NFL games. U.S. researchers at Lancaster University in England studied family violence rates during the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cups, discovering that domestic-violence reports rose by 38% when the English national soccer team lost and 26% even when they won. There was also a 11% rise the day after an England match, regardless of the outcome, suggesting the spillover effect.

Even though Palo Alto hasn’t charted a trend between major sporting events and domestic violence reports, according to Palo Alto Police Department Captain Zach Perron, domestic violence itself is still prevalent.

“Domestic violence, unfortunately, is not an uncommon crime in Palo Alto,” Perron wrote in an email. “It’s important to note, though, (that documented) reports and calls reflect only incidents when police are notified. Unfortunately, it is likely that a lot of domestic violence goes unreported to police.”

Moreover, fan behavior continues to be a local concern: In August 2023, two Bay Area high school games ended due to fan violence, and on Feb. 13, Gunn’s basketball senior night ended in an altercation between adult spectators.

Given the pervasiveness of family violence, resources have been designed for victims, such as domestic-violence shelters in Sunnyvale that allow up to a 30-day stay and 15-day extension for emergency shelters. Perron also urges victims to contact the police station or visit the PAPD website.

Ultimately, though, domestic abuse is not fundamentally inspired by external factors such as alcohol or the vehemently passionate environment of sporting events, but rather a need for a perpetrator to regain a sense of control over their partner. To give these situations the attention they deserve, there must be a continual willingness to support victims of this circumstance in order to end the normalization of family violence.

Source: Self-selected survey sent out to Gunn students by The Oracle from Feb. 25 to March 4 with 116 responses

According to AP Psychology teacher Warren Collier, kindness has physical benefits: People who are kinder tend to live longer and have better health, whereas people who are more adversarial and competitive tend to suffer from health problems and have shorter lifespans. He noted that even small displays of kindness toward others go a long way.

“This is one of the most consistent findings in all of psychology, which is that when we make a person feel good or better about themselves, they are much more likely to do good things for others,” Collier said. “It’s a two-way street, so when a person does good things for someone else, that also makes them feel better and happier.”

Although many choose to show their kindness through material gifts, these items do not provide people with long-term happiness. Collier confirmed that people are excited when they get something new, as they are not yet used to owning the item.

Eventually, though, the new purchase becomes normal and uninteresting, which tempts the receiver to buy something new to feel the earlier excitement again.

In order to avoid this vicious cycle, Collier suggests gifting experiences. Whether it’s going on a vacation, attending a concert or simply going out to eat with loved ones, the experience itself will be more valuable than a material good.

Another way to practice kindness is through gratitude. Expressing gratitude toward others is a simple, yet effective, way to spread positivity. English teacher Paul Dunlap encourages gratitude through a short activity in which students write down three things they are grateful for at the beginning of each class. Then, he has his students think about each one for 15 seconds.

Over a decade ago, Dunlap decided to start practicing gratitude every day and see how it impacted his life. He realized that the more he took time to appreciate small things, the happier and kinder he was. To spread this knowledge to those around him, Dunlap introduced the Sources of Strength Thankfulness Challenge to his students.

“I found that the more I stopped to say what I was thankful for, I took things for granted less,” he said. “I have so many things that I can be thankful for, and that adds resilience. When I find myself thinking negatively, I force myself to say, ‘But I have a house, I have a family, I have friends,’ and it just changes your thinking. Other people respond positively to that too. If they see that I’m willing to be thankful for something, it seems like other people say, ‘Maybe I should too.’”

While the holiday season may encourage generosity, it is important to remember that kindness should be something people take part in year-round.

“Homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other similar places see a gigantic spike in donations during the holidays, but at the same time, that also means people don’t give nearly as much during the other times of the year,” Collier said. “If only we could balance it out.”

Although the main component of a concert is the music, Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Warren Collier believes that concert participation encompasses much more. “I can just (listen to my favorite songs) on Spotify or the radio,” he said. “Concerts are not just about the music — it’s about the experience. It’s about the bonding that you feel with both the artist as well as everyone else who is there for the same reason. That really helps increase the emotional impact.”

Choir teacher Angelina Fitzhugh agrees that the connections made at concerts add to their appeal. “There’s something
about being with other people who love the same thing you do that increases the excitement and enjoyment,” she said. “There is nothing that can compare to being in a concert, and the artist stops but the singing continues. There’s nothing. bigger than that.”

These crowded events have become all. the more enticing in the post-pandemic world, leading to higher ticket prices as students become increasingly willing to shell out large sums of money, according to Fitzhugh. “Humans have this innate desire to be in groups,” she said. “We experienced not being able to be in groups during the pandemic, so I think that’s a part of what brought (concert culture) back.”

Psychology Club Co-President junior Kate Hamilton attributes the cohesive community and atmosphere of concerts to a psychological phenomenon called “group behavior.” “People tend to be strong in groups,” she said. “(Group behavior) is a strong drive to be with each other. The need to talk to each other and be social is similar to the need (for food or water).”

Beyond the connections that are formed among audience members, Collier also stresses the one between concertgoers and the artist, which provides a sense of intimacy that listening to songs on a device does not. “(At a concert), I’m not just listening to the music alone or the song alone, but maybe the artist will tell me about what inspired them to write a song or the story behind something,” he said. “I get to know them more. I get to know them more personally, and that helps me increase my interest in and enjoyment of the song.”

Although Psychology Club Co-President junior Maddy Fitzpatrick agrees that most concertgoers buy their tickets due to intrinsic motivations, she also notes the potential influence of peer pressure. “It’s similar to why people spend money on clothes or makeup,” she said. “It’s not necessarily bad, it’s just to fit in with a greater crowd.”

According to Collier, these social pressures can make concert-going seem imperative.“If all of my friends go to (the Eras Tour), I will feel that much more desire to go, whether I have the money or (if) I’m begging my parents for it,” he said. “If all my friends are going, I would want to have fun with my friends.”

Above all else, however, Hamilton believes that the concert experience prompts self-discovery through the formation of tight-knit communities. “People are dressing up because they want to feel like they belong,” she said. “It’s a sort of sense of identity. People can connect to that (as they) are trying to find some kind of purpose with the music.”

AP Psychology teacher Warren Collier believes these comments can spike in both frequency and effect during the holiday season. “During the holidays we see lots of people that we haven’t seen in a long time—people who care about us and people we care about—so their opinions of us matter to us,” he said. “[These] couple of months, people are being very cognizant of how they’re looking and dressing, making it a time of year when people are especially sensitive to those kinds of comments.”

Mental Health and Wellness Coordinator Michelle Ramos also believes that such comments can be damaging. “Regardless of where a person is with their body image, [degrading comments] can bring about guilt or shame, and can definitely tap into insecurities that were already there or that they weren’t aware of,” she said. “[They] can contribute to negative self-perception and negative self talk.”

Despite the negativity commonly associated with it, gaining weight during the holiday season is a perfectly natural phenomenon. Living Skills teacher Jeanette Tucker compares it to evolutionary adaptation. “There are different articles you can read about what we do in the winter as people,” she said. “There’s less daylight and it’s cold, so we tend to want to eat and sleep. And we’re somewhat like a bear, where we’re hibernating to some extent,” Tucker said. “It’s a cyclic, normal thing to do.”

Often, when someone feels bad about themselves, they project that feeling onto others. While some of the comments definitely can’t be justified, it’s helpful to keep in mind that other people are also struggling. “[Recognize] that sometimes those comments have less to do with them, and more about the person saying it,” Ramos said.
Comments about appearance can also come from a place of love and concern, regardless of how insensitive they can come off as. “In American culture, especially in young people, those are comments that are seen as criticisms and that they’re not received into a certain norm,” Collier said. “Whereas from a lot of the older generations, it’s a way to express care because they’re like ‘Oh, I care about you and I care about whether you’re eating enough,’—there’s a big cultural clash that can happen there, with the intention that certain older people have with those comments versus how it’s received.”

Although these comments can be challenging to sit with, there are methods to healthily do so. “Just taking a minute and stopping [to realize] it’s probably not so much a personal attack on me, even though it feels that way, [can help],” Ramos said. “If that doesn’t work, it’s important just to mentally prepare. If you know you’re going to have to be in certain situations, emotionally preparing yourself for what might come and maybe having a script to deflect those comments and have something positive to say back like ‘Oh, I’m doing great.’”

In the past, Collier has had experience with such comments and he finds himself able to cope with them effectively. “I remind myself of where they are coming from,” he said. “They are doing this out of a place of showing love and concern rather than trying put me down.”

Most students don’t continue beyond this point, but those who do will find that Alta Mesa Memorial Park, the non-denominational private cemetery across the street from Gunn, is more than what meets the eye: It encompasses upwards of 70 acres in area and over a century in history.

In order to address a shortage of cemeteries in the area, Alta Mesa was established in 1904 (just over a decade after the official incorporation of the city of Palo Alto). According to an original brochure from Alta Mesa, prior to its establishment, there was only one cemetery in the region running from Palo Alto to Sunnyvale. To remedy this issue, individuals from Palo Alto, Mayfield, Mountain View and Sunnyvale met to organize the Alta Mesa Improvement Company, which operates the memorial park and funeral home today. The land, dubbed “Alta Mesa” (meaning “high plain” in Spanish) because of its location, was then plotted and laid out by a “competent landscape gardener,” in the words of the brochure.

The cemetery has only grown since then. According to its website, it now includes three mausoleums, a crematory and a funeral home, among other additions. Buried within its vast acreage are countless people, both relatively obscure and well-known.

Take, for example, the first person buried at Alta Mesa: Margery J. Foster (née McKee). Born in Kentucky in 1832, she spent much of her life in Indiana before moving to Palo Alto in 1904, a few years before her death at 71 years old. She lived to see the United States through some of its most tumultuous moments yet—including the Civil War, in  which her husband served as a part of Tennessee’s hospital service, according to The Peninsula Times Tribune.

Also buried in the cemetery is Richard F. Leake, who was born in English Canada in 1868, a few years after the end of the Civil War and 18 years after California achieved statehood. He worked at a grocery store chain in San Jose before moving to Sacramento, California, in 1916. There, he managed a store and worked for the Wholesale Credit Association, according to The Sacramento Bee. He died on Jan. 9, 1952.

Almost 60 years later, Steven Paul Jobs—better known as Steve Jobs—was laid to rest at Alta Mesa. Born in San Francisco, California, in 1955, Jobs grew up with his adoptive parents in the Bay Area. After dropping out of Reed University, he co-founded what would go on to become one of the largest technology companies in the world: Apple Computer Company.

Separated by distance and time in life, Foster, Leake and Jobs now lie near one another in death—and they’re just three of thousands buried Alta Mesa. Among their ranks are also actress Shirley Temple, pianist Adolph Baller, writer Kathleen Norris, Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard and his wife, hospital founder Lucile Packard.

Sixty years after Alta Mesa’s first burial, Gunn officially opened its doors on Arastradero Road, almost directly across the road from Alta Mesa. Though the cemetery’s presence may not profoundly impact students at Gunn, Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology teacher Warren Collier noted that it could potentially change how often they think about their mortality. “If students are walking past it every day, it might make a difference in terms of how often they think about death, how often they think about loved ones who have passed on,” he said. “[Students are being] reminded on a regular basis that this is a thing that happens—that cemeteries exist and that people can die.”

The cemetery’s location also invites comparisons between Gunn’s campus and that of Palo Alto High School (Paly), which is across the street from Town and Country. Junior Andre Young was among those who noted the differences between the two locations. “It makes me very sad to look at [the cemetery] because it seems to be very dreary,” he said. “The main reason why I like Paly’s location more than Gunn’s is because you can’t eat anything at the cemetery—unless you’re brave enough.”

Still, for those who have ventured inside the cemetery, such as junior Michael Ibrahim, it’s not all gloom and doom. Ibrahim, who’s lived near Alta Mesa for around six years now, doesn’t visit the cemetery often—after all, it’s not your typical teenage hangout spot. On the occasions that he has come by, however, he’s found it to be quite pleasant. “We’ve walked around there a couple of times,” he said. “It was actually really nice—they have flowers everywhere, and it’s really open.”

Though freshman Saniya Sajith hasn’t been inside the cemetery, she also has a favorable impression of it. “When I come in the morning every day on the bus, I see [the cemetery] and it looks very pretty,” she said. “I know there are really cool statues and tombs in there.”

There’s more to Alta Mesa than the aesthetics: Collier noted that cemeteries serve as a reminder of an ages-old tradition defining the human species and its way of coming to terms with its mortality. “We have a special relationship with our dead that other species do not have,” he said. “[Cemeteries are] not always sad or depressing. They can also just be a place to respect, to honor, to celebrate.”

This fits with Alta Mesa Office Manager Alex Wood’s assessment of what the staff hopes to accomplish. “We help families by guiding them in the process of memorializing, celebrating or interring their loved one either at Alta Mesa or at other locations,” she wrote in an email. “Alta Mesa’s future and goal will always be to help and support as many people as we can during such difficult circumstances.”

Alta Mesa attempts to encapsulate that bittersweet mix of solemnity and celebratory spirit, and it’s evident from just a few steps inside the gates. Planted amongst the tombs are trees of different varieties—most notably oak—dappling the light and providing some much-needed shade. The graves themselves are adorned with multifarious objects: Flowers, pinwheels, American flags and even scarecrows sit upon the names of those who have passed. The cemetery also seems to be a sanctuary for all species—one might catch a glimpse of geese waddling among the gravestones, foraging for a quick bite (true story).

Although the cemetery may not be foremost on students’ minds at Gunn, Collier hopes that it serves as a reminder for those in the community to display solidarity. “We try to do something for those who are dead—a lot of people like to believe that things happen after we die,” he said. “That sense of belonging, that sense of togetherness continues. I would hope that places like cemeteries could remind people to stick together and be there for each other.”

By dividing the student body into two groups and allowing them the option of attending classes over Zoom while on campus or staying home, the reopening plan aims to return students and staff to secondary school campuses as early as March 1.  

Staff members were dissatisfied by the fact that the district chose to not consult them in formulating the revised plan. “It seems irresponsible to me to come up with a plan without consulting the two people it affects the most, the student and the teacher,” English teacher Kate Zavack said. “We’re the ones who are going to be living with this reality.” 

Palo Alto Educators Association President Teri Baldwin was similarly dismayed at a lack of teacher and student voice in the decision-making process. “From what I heard from the students that called into the [Tuesday night] board meeting and from the two student board members, it did not appear that students had much of a voice in this plan at all,” she wrote in an email. “I know that teachers did not have a voice in it. We have many safety questions, [including one] about their plan to keep so many people on one campus without any cohorts.”

Baldwin, who was not involved in the planning process, said she found out about the reopening plan a few hours before the plan was announced to the public. 

Many staff members are also unsure whether the health precautions mentioned by Austin will effectively address risks tied to returning. “We still see everyone, so if one of the teachers gets COVID, then it’s easy for us to spread to other people,” social studies teacher Warren Collier said. 

Math teacher Rachel Congress echoed Collier. “I want to be back on campus as much as I think most people do,” she said. “However, I have concerns about my safety; I have concerns about [students’] safety.”

For some teachers, getting vaccinated is a determining factor in returning to campus; under Austin’s plan, teachers do not have to be vaccinated before resuming in-person instruction. “I would have liked at least the guarantee [that] all teachers and staff are vaccinated before anything happens,” Collier said. “It does not feel like [the district has] our safety as the first priority. Also frustrating is why they are so adamant about getting back to school when it’s very clear that a lot of people are not comfortable with that.” 

English teacher Mark Hernandez, also raised concerns about the reopening plan. “If all teachers had vaccines, this would be a much different deal.” 

Ultimately, teachers spoke to a sense of being unprepared to reopen—and “betrayed,” as Congress put it—given that Austin previously announced in-person instruction would be “highly unlikely” to resume for the remainder of the school year. “For distance learning, we went to trainings [and] to professional development,” Congress said. “Now we’re going to do this totally new thing. We can’t just turn on a dime; we need to have time to plan this all out.”

Hernandez agreed. “I think a lot of us took what Dr. Austin said about having distance learning for the remainder of the school year—we took him [to] his word,” he said. “So this was shocking. We’re unready for this, that’s for sure.”