HIGH LIFE : Sunny Hills High’s Paper Wins Award

The Accolade, Sunny Hills High School’s student newspaper, took first place in the best issue category of the third Los Angeles Times Orange County Edition High School Journalism Awards banquet, held Wednesday night at The Times’ building in Costa Mesa.

The Accolade is advised by Carol Hallenbeck and its editor is Jennifer Moulton, who also finished first in the best sports story category.

Corona del Mar’s Trident received an honorable mention in the best issue category. The Trident is advised by Linda Mook and its editor is Katherine Nelson. Also receiving an honorable mention was Orange’s the Reflector, which is advised by Irene Matthews; its editor is Diane Machens.

Individual first-place winners were: Lori Bachand of Brea-Olinda (news), Grace Choy of Sunny Hills (feature), Sandra Barnat of University (editorial) and Joe Lloyd of Dana Hills (feature photo).

Receiving honorable-mention awards were: Timothy Pratt of Capistrano Valley (news), Corinne Shin of Capistrano Valley (feature), Eric Antebi of Corona del Mar (editorial), Denis Faye of Laguna Hills (editorial), Chris Bergerud of Dana Hills (sports) and Lloyd again (feature photo).

“Imponderables are questions that cannot be answered by numbers or measurements or standard reference books,” David Feldman writes in the preface to his book, “Imponderables.” “They are the kinds of questions that haunt you for hours . . . until you forget about them before you ever find their solutions.”

A question found in “Imponderables”: Why do we cry at happy endings?

Feldman’s answer: “Eureka! There is actually a conclusion upon which psychologists agree: There is no such thing as ‘tears of happiness.’ We cry not because we are happy but because unpleasant feelings are stirred up at the occasion of a happy ending.

“Most adults are capable of repressing the urge to cry, but not without an exertion of psychic energy. When a happy ending indicates that our grief is no longer merited, the energy used to inhibit our tears is now discharged, sometimes in the form of laughter, but more often in an expression of the repressed sadness--tears.

“Happy endings often conjure up an idealized world of kindness and love that we once, as children, believed was possible to attain in our own lives. Children rarely cry at happy endings because they are not yet disillusioned about their own possibilities.

“For the adult, the happy ending is a temporary return to the innocence of childhood--the tears stem from the recognition that one must return to the tougher “real” world. The child, without comprehension of the permanence of death, sees the happy ending as confirmation of the limitless possibilities of life.

“In our emotional world, we are needy, selfish and demanding. We cry for ourselves at happy endings, not for others, but this does not mean we are incapable of feeling joy in others’ happiness. Crying at the happy ending reveals our idealistic side, the part of us that yearns for the simplicity and love we once thought possible and the part of us that mourns its unattainability.”

“I think the world is run by C students.”

--Al McGuire, basketball announcer