The Urban Legend

Understanding what the leaked SCOTUS opinion means for Urban, California and the United States

May 16, 2022

Read the whole article, or jump to a section. What happened? Background Justice Alito's Reasoning Effect on individual states Reactions Urban and privilege Biden & non-SCOTUS methods of protecting the right to abortion Knock-on effects What happened? “We hold that...

What is Denim Day?

May 4, 2022

Trigger Warning: The following content contains mentions of sexual assault and rape. Denim Day, established in 1999, takes place on the last...

Russia, Ukraine and why oil is so expensive?

April 26, 2022

The worldwide wholesale petroleum and oil industry is — to no surprise — immensely lucrative. Many countries like Saudi Arabia or Russia have denationalized...

BART President Rebecca Saltzman on Lateefah Simon seat shenanigans

April 26, 2022

On March 10, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) announced that Director Lateefah Simon—the only Black board member—had been removed from her...

View All

Features

The real cost of raising tuition

Viva Wertz, Staff Writer

April 26, 2022 • Comments closed

According to the Urban website, in 2021, the school offered a collective $4.65 million in financial aid so students whose families were not able to afford the full Urban tuition could attend. Though there is a great deal of money being funneled into the financial aid budget, the rising costs of running a private school are forcing Urban’s tuition to constantly increase. What...

To exempt or not to exempt: vaccines and student health

April 26, 2022

Classical utilitarian ethics—an ethical theory—dictates that the well-being of everyone is weighed equally in the pursuit of a morally-good life. Rapid...

Evie Hidysmith’s thesis on socioeconomics at Urban: “Private schools are unethical. Period.”

April 26, 2022

Evie Hidysmith, Urban’s Pandemic Coordinator and graduate of Urban in the Class of 2017, wrote a senior thesis for Brown University titled “ .”...

‘Say gay’: students speak out on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation

April 26, 2022

Over recent months, countless bills across the United States have been enacted that discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community. From Florida’s Parental...

View All

Arts and Culture

Senior pranks shut down: the past and future of a school tradition

Luke McKane, Staff Writer, Designer

April 26, 2022 • Comments closed

Senior pranks are an iconic tradition at many high schools, including Urban, and after returning to a non-hybrid spring schedule many students have been wondering if the pranks will make a comeback. Urban has had a long history of senior pranks filled with plenty of memorable events. “We turned the...

What grade deans really think about you

April 26, 2022

CHARISSE - 12th grade Give five phrases/words to describe your grade. Ambitious, capable, curious, good-hearted, honest. What color would your grade be? Purple, because it's a royal color. What animal would your grade be? A griffin because griffins have wings, they’re part eagle, part lion, and they are pretty...

Do students actually read the Urban Legend?

April 26, 2022

The Urban Legend has long been a staple of the school and is a valuable student-driven vehicle of expression and information sharing. However, on distribution day, a pattern has surfaced time and time again — Urban recycling bins brim with discarded papers mere minutes after their delivery. So, do people actually read the...

Behind the curtain of One Acts

April 26, 2022

Audrey Douglas ‘22 Why did you sign up to write One Acts? I am interested in maybe writing and directing when I’m older. I love writing and I’ve always liked storytelling, so it just sort of made sense for me in a lot of ways. I also love theater and it is something that has been consistent for me throughout my time...

View All

Sports

A tale of two stadiums: Oakland after the A’s

Ezra Bergson-Michelson, Staff Writer

February 3, 2022 • Comments closed

Right now, the Oakland Athletics, often known as the A’s, are the leaders of two contrasting visions of the city of Oakland: one to revitalize West Oakland into an economic and social asset to the city, and another of a sportless Oakland and a profitable and popular team in an untapped Las Vegas...

Urban girls fight for recognition in the predominantly male sport of golf

October 21, 2021

Historically, Urban’s golf team has been composed of a small, co-ed - though predominantly male - group of students living on the fringe of Urban culture. However, times are changing. This fall, for the first time, Urban has had enough female students...

View All

Opinions

Opinion: Stop complaining about school, you signed up for this

Lochlain Steere, Editor in Chief, Creative

April 26, 2022 • Comments closed

During the fall trimester, I heard students complaining about their workloads more than I ever had in my three years at Urban. Understandably, the transition back to fully in-person school was challenging for everyone. During Zoom and hybrid school, it...

Opinion: Is senior spring the epitome of privilege?

April 26, 2022

As the days get longer and the San Francisco weather refuses to get warmer, senior spring has arrived. While ninth, 10th, and 11th graders have completed their course selections for the upcoming...

Emeryville’s blueprint to a better Bay Area

January 21, 2022

The Bay Area is in trouble. Rents which, according to apartment listing website Zumper, are the second-highest in the country, continue to rise. Rising rents are pricing the artists, craftsmen,...

Letter from the Editors

January 21, 2022

Dear Urban, Your Urban Legend Editors are thrilled to share the 12th edition of The Yeti magazine with you. Despite the challenges the pandemic presented this month, our staff continued to...

View All

Caboose

Searching for students’ successful study spots

Maya Campbell, Editor in Chief, Online

April 26, 2022

Although summer is within our grasp, the final six weeks of the school year can feel long and at times...

Senior Glow Ups

April 26, 2022

The seniors are all glown up! Here are a few seniors and their transformations since freshman year. I asked seniors to describe how they’ve changed since freshman year: not just in looks but also in character. Fiona...

Bashful Blues

March 3, 2022

We’ve all embarrassed ourselves at school. Whether it was two years, two trimesters, or two days ago, embarrassing moments stick in our memory and haunt us. Some Blues shared their most horrible and hilarious...

Eliot’s Urban Crossword

February 3, 2022

CLUES: ACROSS 3. Spiderman 7. Worse than Newspaper 8. Ice Cream 9. Nicki Minaj Stans 10. Mascot 13. Hates society 16. Above…At…Below 19. Danny Cardoza, for example 20. Invasive in Australia 21....

View All