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Articles by Benjamin Zhang
The Gender and Sexuality Alliance Club hosts its annual SHARE Panel
The Gender and Sexuality Alliance Club hosted its annual panel on May 19 and 20, in collaboration with freshmen Biology teachers as part of the Sexual Health and Relationship Education (SHARE) unit. Since the curriculum includes topics regarding sexual orientation and gender, the GSA Club hosts an annual panel of queer students to share their experiences and answer questions about the LGBTQ+ community.
11:11
For someone who my mom swears can’t stick to anything, I’ve gotten my 11:11 routine down pretty well. 1111 is supposedly an angel number — a recurring number sequence believed to carry messages from higher beings — that represents manifestation. Some people believe that if you make a wish at 11:11 p.m., the universe will listen. I am one of those people.
Seniors in 4 S’s
In the stories I once thought were a waste of time, my grandma is helping me hold on to memories I had forgotten. Photo Illustration | Olivia Zhang
EE Tries Sports: 3-Point Contest
Ananda Singh is currently a senior and Sports Editor for El Estoque. Aside from being a competitive dancer, she likes to listen to music, hangout with friends and visit new places.
MVHS students share their experience with participating in the Cupertino-Toyokawa Student Delegation Program
Every year, 16 middle schoolers from the Cupertino Union School District visit Cupertino’s sister city, Toyokawa, Japan. For two weeks, these delegates wake up to the rhythms of Japanese daily life, which include tasting home-cooked meals, hearing conversations flow, and absorbing the culture firsthand. Four months later, 16 junior high students from Toyokawa visited the homes of these delegates in Cupertino to do the same.
The Class of 2026 swings for the fences in their last-ever Homecoming skit
With colorful confetti falling from the sky, boys dance members point Spiderman hand gestures toward the audience for their second ending pose. Photo | Rafaella Vento If you want to watch the skit for the Class of 2028, click here! For more coverage on other Homecoming events, click here!
The Class of 2026 swings for the fences in their last-ever Homecoming skit
Seniors conclude the Homecoming skits with a confetti-filled “Spiderverse” celebration Tags: About the Contributors Rafaella Fantine Vargas Machuca Vento is a sophomore and a new staff for the El Estoque magazine. When she is not doom scrolling on Instagram, she is found reading romance and mystery novels or binge watching Kpop Demon Hunters. She loves playing Flag Football and hanging out with her family and friends. Benjamin is currently a senior and Editor-in-Chief for El Estoque.
HOME | Homecoming 2025
El Estoque's Arts & Entertainment section documents Homecoming 2025 By Maahi Dev, Meghna Dixit, Rafaella Fantine Vargas Machuca Vento, Sana Karkhanis, Vaishnavi Katukam, Sih Yu (Melody) Lin, Juju Ling, Alex Perrault, Alexandra Qiu, Leo Wei, Kate Yang and Benjamin Zhang ILLUSTRATIONS | MEGHNA DIXIT, JUJU LING, ALEXANDRA QIU AND BENJAMIN ZHANG Check in daily for updates!
HOME | A Problematic Summer
El Estoque's Arts & Entertainment section explores 2025's problematic summer By Maahi Dev, Meghna Dixit, Rafaella Fantine Vargas Machuca Vento, Sana Karkhanis, Vaishnavi Katukam, Sih Yu (Melody) Lin, Juju Ling, Alexandra Perrault, Alexandra Qui, Leo Wei, Kate Yang, Benjamin Zhang
The ‘performative male’ takes over social media
The MVHS community shares its critiques regarding the recent trend of performative men This July, a new species of man came to the limelight — the “performative” male. The performative male, a brand new social media trend and archetype, curates his image by appealing to feminine interests in an attempt to attract attention from women. They’re known for owning vinyl records, flaunting feminist literature and wearing washed jeans in coffee shops.
Crossword: March 14, 2025
Solve EE’s mini crossword Built by Benjamin Zhang using the cross word maker from Amuse Labs About the Contributor Benjamin is currently a junior and an Arts & Entertainment editor for El Estoque. In his free time, he likes to play soccer, collect vinyls and review bad movies.
Crossword: March 12, 2025 Mini
Solve EE’s mini crossword Built by Benjamin Zhang using the cross word builder from Amuse Labs About the Contributor Benjamin is currently a junior and an Arts & Entertainment editor for El Estoque. In his free time, he likes to play soccer, collect vinyls and review bad movies.
Crossword: March 11, 2025 Mini
Solve EE’s mini crossword Made by Benjamin Zhang using the free cross word generator from Amuse Labs About the Contributor Benjamin is currently a junior and an Arts & Entertainment editor for El Estoque. In his free time, he likes to play soccer, collect vinyls and review bad movies.
Breakfast bunch
El Estoque’s Arts & Entertainment section reviews three local breakfast restaurants Holder’s Country Inn Overview On the corner of Main Street Cupertino sits a branch of Holder’s Country Inn, a restaurant serving all three meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Boasting a cozy and warmly-lit interior and fully decorated with a bar and multiple TVs broadcasting sports games, Country Inn invites customers to try its impressively diverse array of items.
Food truck faceoff
El Estoque’s Arts & Entertainment section reviews three local food trucks Spartan Taco Truck Overview In the heart of San Jose, Spartan Taco Truck — an offshoot of the primary restaurant, located right across E. William St. — offers a casual late-night experience with dynamic and flavorful Mexican street food.
Dessert Detectives: Xing Fu Tang
Reviewing popular menu items based on quality and taste In our Dessert Detectives series, El Estoque staff members scour local bakeries and cafes, rating the quality and cost of popular menu items. Preserving the alphabetical theme of the series, we ordered drinks and ice cream from Xing Fu Tang, a boba tea shop located in Milpitas.
Artificial Intelligence is increasingly taking a larger role in our daily entertainment
Chatting away on her computer, sophomore Jasmine Teoh grinned as she waited for a response from Captain America. Of course, her texting pen pal was not the actual Steve Rogers, the actor Chris Evans or even a random cosplayer — it was a robot. From the ridiculously generic-sounding dialogue by AI chatbots to soullessly robotic AI music, artificially generated entertainment was far from enjoyable for critics when it was first introduced to the general public.
San Francisco hosts annual Martin Luther King Jr. march
The Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Foundation (NorcalMLK) held its annual commemorative march in San Francisco to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 20. The procession, beginning at 11 a.m., spanned around one mile, beginning at the San Francisco Caltrain Station and eventually ended at Yerba Buena Gardens.
Crossword: Dec. 13, 2024 Full
Alyssa is a senior and an Editor-in-Chief for El Estoque. She enjoys spending too much time in dance studios and socially recharging by exploring new hiking trails.
‘The Party Never Ends’ is a forgettable farewell
Late Chicago rapper Juice WRLD’s third and final posthumous album, “The Party Never Ends,” dropped on Nov. 29. After a series of heightened hopes and broken promises about the album’s launch, Grade A Productions finally delivered Juice WRLD’s concluding project just nine days before the fifth anniversary of his tragic passing. The album, running short of an hour, consists of 18 tracks hand-picked from the thousands of unreleased tracks Juice WRLD recorded before his death.
Morgan Mayhew’s journey to becoming an animation producer
BZ: Hi, I’m Ben. AY: Hi, I’m Alyssa. BZ: Today we’re interviewing Morgan Mayhew, a Monta Vista alum who is a prospective producer in the animation industry. AY: Here’s our conversation with her. MM: I’m Morgan Mayhew, and my pronouns are she/her. I actually graduated from Monta Vista in 2019 and then went on to pursue animation illustration at San Jose State University’s BFA program. And then I recently graduated from that.
The generational gap
The start of summer 2024 brought an influx of new music, movies and television shows. Junior Aaryan Sharma especially enjoyed listening to the new Sabrina Carpenter album “Short n’ Sweet.” To him, the songs point to a re-emergence of bubblegum pop music — pop songs with catchy choruses — and he loves the happier feeling these songs evoke. However, his parents do not share the same enthusiasm for summertime music.
Solve EE’s mini crossword Created by Benjamin Zhang using PuzzleMe’s online crossword maker About the Contributor Benjamin is currently a junior and an Arts & Entertainment editor for El Estoque. In his free time, he likes to play soccer, collect vinyls and review bad movies.
‘Red One’ makes the naughty list of holiday films with charm
Warner Bros. Pictures kicked off the holiday festivities with its Christmas film “Red One” on Nov. 15, showcasing a fantastical and mythological interpretation of the classic “saving Christmas” cliche. Ranking among the most expensive films in recent years, “Red One” was given a staggering 250 million dollar budget, partially due to a cast that flaunts more stars than a North Pole sky.
Rome wasn’t built in a day
For the past month, Advanced Acting and Tech classes have been preparing for the upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” which is on Nov. 1. The production — MVHS Drama’s annual Fall Showcase — is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Black Box theater.
‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ is a double dose of pure delusion
The ‘Joker’ sequel is a pathetic shadow of its former self October 8, 2024 The chaotic sequel and musical “Joker: Folie à Deux” was unveiled by Warner Brothers in theaters on Friday, Oct. 4. Its 2019 predecessor, “Joker,” established itself as one of the greatest supervillain movies of all time after an extraordinary performance from star actor Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker.
Mitski’s ‘The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We’ tour saves itself with emotional intimacy
Set against a backdrop of the glimmering San Francisco skyline and the towering silhouette of University of California, Berkeley’s Campanile, indie-rock artist Mitski performed one of the last shows of her “The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We” North American concert tour on Monday, Sept. 23, at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theatre. The open-air concert revolved around Mitski’s most recent album release and featured a 90-minute setlist.
2024 Homecoming dance by the numbers
Benjamin is currently a junior and an Arts & Entertainment editor for El Estoque. In his free time, he likes to play soccer, collect vinyls and review bad movies.
Summer 2024 in review
The summer of 2024 featured an exciting mix of movies and albums. With the upcoming autumnal equinox marking the official end of summer, El Estoque’s Arts & Entertainment section rewinds and reviews some popular pieces of media from recent months.
Cupertino residents rally behind “We deserve better”
Cupertino City Council candidates Kitty Moore and Ray Wang held a joint rally on Saturday, Aug. 31, outside Cupertino City Hall. Approximately 100 Cupertino residents attended from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to hear speeches from the two candidates, as well as Council Member Liang Chao, former Council Member John Willey, former Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul and other local leaders.
Dessert Detectives: Ume Tea
In our latest edition of the Dessert Detectives series — where El Estoque evaluates popular menu items based on quality and taste — we maintained the alphabetical theme and visited Ume Tea, a boba tea shop based in Cupertino with a diverse selection of drinks and snacks. Brown Sugar Boba & Mochi Black Milk Tea ($5.75) As this drink is Ume Tea’s signature, we approached it with high expectations and it impressively met them.
Time Out! Ep. 15: Darren Lin
BZ: Hello everyone, my name is Benjamin Zhang and welcome to Episode 15 of Time Out! Each episode, we will be diving into the sports scene here at MVHS and exploring the journey of athletes from various sports. In this episode, I’m joined by junior Darren Lin, who competes in the long jump for the MVHS track and field team. Let’s jump right into it. BZ: When did you start track and field? DL: I started track and field when I was in sixth grade.
On the streets of SF
Protestors gather at Harry Bridges Plaza, San Francisco in a demonstration against the APEC convention. The 2023 APEC summit was held in San Francisco from Nov. 11 to 17, bring international leaders from across the Asia Pacific region to the Moscone Center to discuss global issues. From protestors and blockades filling the streets, to local businesses losing customers, click here to uncover El Estoque’s journey through the streets of San Francisco. Contents 1. The voices against APEC 2.
Finding the beauty in violence
“I wake up in the morning, I got murder on my mind.” Written by rapper Jamell Demons, better known as YNW Melly, these disturbing lyrics characterize his hit single Murder on My Mind released in March 2017. The song, which peaked at number one on the US Apple Music chart, describes YNW Melly murdering one of his close friends.
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