Picture - The Atherton Aerial

THIS ISSUE’S FEATURES
AERIAL
Atherton High School
NEWSPAPER
Features - Pg 2-5
Former Aerial Writer Publishes...
Interview with J.C. Hutchins
Volume 85
Making the Invisible, Visible
issue 2
23 Years of Suffering is 23 Too Long
Nov 18, 2009
Editorials - Pg 7-13
Reviews - Pg 14-15
School News - Pg 16
2
PAGE 4
PAGE
Sports - Pg 17-19
THE AERIAL PLEDGE
The Aerial is a student publication catering
to the interests and concerns of the student body. The Aerial pledges itself to relay
important and interesting information to
the community, administration, and students of Atherton High School. The Aerial
Strongly supports the first amendment and
opposes censorship. The newspaper staff
determines the content held within the
publication. When questions concerning
word choice, legal problems, or ethics arise,
the editorial board and adviser will discuss
and resolve them. The editor-in-chief will
have the final say.
SUBMIT LETTER TO THE
EDITOR
A Deeper Look Inside:
The Mayoral ElectionOf 2010
Please submit to either Carlee Harrod or
Madison Carter, editor-in-chief, via e-mail.
Please include your name and contact information. All letters must be signed in order to be published (digital signatures are
acceptable). The Aerial reserves the right
to edit for grammatical errors, length, and
good taste. In no way will viewpoints be altered. Letters may attack The Aerial’s policy,
but not any person or persons on the staff.
The editor-in-chief reserves the right to reject any letter.
Article Written By Lizz Walters
A
fter 2010, one of the eight new people currently running for the city’s
top office will hold the title of Mayor of
Louisville. Mayor Jerry Abramson will be
stepping away from his current title, and
running for Lt.. Governor on a ticket with
current Governor Steve Beshear. Although
the voting is not until next year, the eight
candidates have already started the process
of campaigning.
The eight candidates are diverse in both
personalities and experience. The candidates include attorneys, businessmen, and
even a college professor. In the race are
four Democrats - Tyler Allen, Greg Fischer, Jim King, and David Tandy - three Republicans - Hal Heiner, Chris Thieneman,
and Jim Ellis, and Nimbus Couzin as the
sole Independent that has announced intentions to run. Although of different political persuasions, one thing they all have
in common is that they are competing in
what’s sure to be a tough race.
On September 16, 2009, Tyler Allen -(D)
officially announced that he was running
for mayor. Mr... Allen is a local businessman who graduated from Atherton High
School, where he served as a student body
president. Mr.. Allen eventually went on
to earn a degree from Northwestern University, graduating with Honors.
Allen began to make a local political name
for himself in 2005 when he started to
speak with community leaders about his
vision for an alternative to the Ohio River
Bridges Project when he co-founded the
8664 project.
He has served on many boards of nonprofit organizations, including The Healing Place, the American Red Cross Louisville Area Chapter (where he was a chairman from 2005-2007), the University of
Louisville Board of Overseers, and the
Mayor’s Public Art Committee ( where he
was a chairman from 2004-2008). He has
reached out to the community through the
internet, with his website tyler4mayor.com
and his Facebook group “Tyler Allen for
Mayor of Louisville”.
Nimbus Couzin, the only independent candidate in the mayoral race, is a PhD holder
and professor of physics at the University
of Louisville. Couzin is also the owner of
Ray’s Monkey House at 1578 Bardstown
Rd.. He has experience in business, and
can relate to the people of the city. His
teaching experience contributes to his
leadership and public speaking skills.
Local businessman Greg Fischer -(D)
graduated from Trinity High School and
Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Mr...
Fisher gained political experience while
running for Senate in 2008, placing second in the race of seven candidates. Fund
raising is one of Mr.. Fischer’s expertise.
As Chairperson on the board for the Louisville Science Center, Mr.. Fischer raised
$20 million for the museum’s refurbishment.
Currently, Mr.. Fischer serves as Chairper-
son and founder of Louisville-based Iceberg Ventures, a private equity investment
firm, and he serves on the boards of many
non-profit organizations such as the Waterfront Development Center, Jewish Hospital Board of Trustees, and the University
Board of Overseers.
Hal Heiner -(R) currently serves the city
as a Metro Council Member (elected in
2002). Like Mr.. Allen, Mr.. Heiner is
also an Atherton High School alum. Mr..
Heiner is currently a real estate agent who
serves on the Christian Academy of Louisville Board of Directors.
Jim King -(D) is a Certified Public Accountant and Metro Council Member (District 10). He was elected in 2004 and was
the sixth president of the Metro Council.
He is currently the Chairperson of the
council’s budget committee, Vice Chair of
Government Accountability and Oversight
Committee.
Mr.. King also serves as President and
CEO of his accounting firm, King and
Company, and as President and CEO of
Nelson County Bank. He is currently on
the Board for the Kentucky Derby Festival, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Kentucky Bankers Association, where he was
previously a Chairperson.
David Tandy -(D) is also a Metro Council
Member (District 4), and he works as an
attorney. This year, he was unanimously
elected president of Metro Council. He
owns a statewide law firm. He is the executive board member of the NAACP
Executive Committee and state Kentucky
Youth Association, and the treasurer for
the Kentucky Democratic Party.
With this many candidates, all with good
qualifications, there’s no way of knowing
who will be the city favorite, or if any of
them will be the favorite. But one thing
that’s certain, this election is sure to be a
tough one.
PAGE
The Driving Force Behind Unity
FEATURES
Inside the Cult of Weaponry
.2
Article Written By Ben Smith
October 9th, a very large gathO nering
of people, ideas, and weap-
ons took place at Knob Creek, near
Louisville, Kentucky.
It just so happens to be the largest machine gun shoot and demonstration in
the US. I couldn’t help but be interested, and decided to take a little trip
down there for the annual show. I was
amazed at what I saw, miles of parked
cars and trucks, all leading to a little dirt
path into the abandoned test ground,
which makes a perfect place for a gun
shoot. For the reasonable price of $10
($15 if you were going to film), seniors, children, and basically anyone
could attend and have full access to the
goodies that were to behold.
From the first time I saw the path in,
people were already advertising their
products. Old army jeeps and equipment were littered about, army boots
being one of the more popular items
since the path into the show, and the
show itself was covered in thick mud.
One of the other recommended commodities at the show were ear plugs,
from flimsy foam ones to noise-cancelling expensive ones, because this show
got loud. Besides the many little souvenirs they had for sale though, the real
beef was the guns.
From Ak-47’s to MG-42’s, they had
just about every gun for sale or for
“
use at the show. I personally fired off
a 1921 Tommy gun for only $60, that
being one of the less expensive ones.
Gun prices actually went up to $150,
and if you wanted a package, of say
three guns of a theme, it could cost you
up to $200.
I could say that firing a full magazine
off a Tommy gun for only $60 was
very worthwhile. What was not worthwhile, and very expected from a show
like this though, were the lines. Dozens
of people in line just to READ the rules
before you got in another line filled
with dozens of people to buy the tickets. Even though you could seamlessly
travel through the show, there always
seemed to be people walking right next
to you or standing near you, because if
someone didn’t find what they wanted
or needed at a certain stall, there were
always hundreds more to look at.
What I found in the stalls went from
very interesting to very questionable in
terms of material they sold. For example, one clothing stall sold not only authentic WWI helmets and British outfits, but it also sold Nazi police helmets
with swastikas on them alongside German propaganda pamphlets for sale.
Oddly enough, the German materials
seemed to be selling better than any
other clothing item for sale. Actually,
some of the stalls sold out of their German outfits. It is very odd to me that
these were selling
well, since the majority of the people
at the show weren’t
collectors, and were
either going with
their families or going to apparently
just enjoy the guns.
Of course, there was
a whole underlying
reactionary agenda
going on, and there
still is outside of the
show.
The fact is, guns and
ammo are selling
better then they have
in the last 8 years or
so, and there obviously is a fear hanging about of the
government tampering with our right
to bear arms. The people at the show
weren’t afraid to share that, wearing Tshirts with the lettering “the last man on
earth will carry an AK-47”, and a sign
reading “URGENT! Calling all patriots, Barack Obama is SHREDDING
our CONSTITUTION” from “riseupforAmerica.com”. One could avoid
the more extreme political aspects of
the show, including the blatantly racist and aggressive statements on shirts
and random items, but the majority of
the show besides the distractions of the
What I found in the stalls went
from very interesting to very
questionable in terms of material they sold
EDITORS
Atherton High School
Jasmine Ayres
NEWSPAPER
Kelsey Hale
Jordan Hoehler
Advisor: Matthew Rhinehart
Contact: (502)485-8202 or
[email protected]
Editor-in-Chiefs: Carlee Harrod
& Madison Carter
Contact: [email protected]
[email protected]
Design Editor: James Ellis
Contact: [email protected]
Ats Page: Hannah Reeves
Contact: [email protected]
Diamond Ruffin
STAFF
, Adelle Brodbeck, Thomas Dugan,
Alek Flener-Satre, Erin Gibbons,
“
Room 100
Romeo and Juliet
Cast Members
Juliet- Kia Stone
Romeo- Chris Heil
Tybalt- Drew Survance &
David Williams
Lady Capulet- Ashley McFadden
Samantha Goodwin, Levi Groenwold,
Nurse- Sarah Potter
, Beatrice Harris, James Haynes, Zach-
Lady Montague- Erinn Williams
ary Jamison, Aaron Palmer, Hannah
Prince of Verona- Antwan Dennis
Reeves, Amber Settles, Margaret
Friar Lawrence- Jarrid Campeau
Shelton, Benjamin Smith, Elizabeth
Walters, David Williams
Mercutio- Adam Creech
http://i2.crtcdn.net/images/epg/issue/KnobCreekShootout/1_400x300.jpg
guns was such.
The guns at the show acted as a calling
and a waypoint for the many people
that attended, and brought together a
large politically active group, as well
as some that aren’t usually as interested. Gun shows like this, and even political gatherings aren’t bad per se, but
when there are “how to train a militia”
books, and “Hitler gave great speeches
too” mouse pads, it goes a little beyond
the call of duty. Ideals and opinions are
fine to express, but shouldn’t be sold
or pushed on people that attend a show
that accepts anyone, whether they
agree or not.
The Room 100 Players Stage Excellent
Rendetion of Romeo and Juliet
Article Written By Amber Settles and David Williams
Room 100 Players are excited. Waving around their foam swords and
T hereciting
their lines from one of Shakespeare’s well known plays: Romeo and
Juliet. For many of them this is the first time they’ve had the opportunity to perform
on stage, expressing themselves in front of their peers. What makes this different
from every other production of Romeo and Juliet? The students in Room 100 have
disabilities. Every student on the stage belongs to a more specialized classroom to
guide them towards success. Although Atherton has two of these classrooms, only
a handful of students experience the treasures inside of those doors.
Being a peer tutor is much more than helping a student with a math problem. To
be a peer tutor, you have to understand the person and the struggles they face. You
have to be creative and willing to communicate in ways you never thought possible. “It’s amazing that you go in there thinking that you’re helping someone that’s
different from you and then realizing that the kid you help knows you better than
anyone else.” says an Atherton peer tutor. This year, the Room 100 peer tutors took
on a new role, a stagehand. Guiding students along the waves of Shakespeare’s
language and giving them encouragement.
Ms. Oberhausen admits that the area of struggle with this production was the stage
directions, but the students were so excited to perform that it wasn’t much of a
problem.”
What appeared to be a small production with hand-colored flyers placed around
the school, grew to be a crowd of high school students, sitting in folding chairs in
the small auditorium, waiting to see good theatre. “As with any production, putting
yourself out there is the hardest part, but it’s worth it in the end.” says an eager
audience member. “The best part of the whole play was understanding Romeo and
Juliet for the first time.”
Atherton Alum and Former
Aerial Writer Publishes a Novel
Article Written By Madison Carter
J.C. Hutchins, a former
R ecently
Atherton student and Aerial writ-
er, published a novel titled 7th Son: Descent.
Mr. Hutchins wrote for The Aerial his
final two years of high school. “I did
some cartooning for the paper and I fell
in love with Journalism,” comments Mr..
Hutchins. Studying in Print Journalism,
Mr.. Hutchins had dreams of becoming
a writer for a newspaper. Shortly after
college he got a job at The Palm Beach
Post where he wrote features for a few
years, this is where the novel really took
off. “While I was there I got this crazy
idea for a novel about human cloning. I
decided to switch careers and be a marketing writer.”
The Aerial: This book originally started
as audio books, why did you make them
pod casts and did you have any idea
how big this was going to turn out at the
time?
Mr.. Hutchins: “I started writing it,
and half way through I really realized
that this was some good stuff. I started
writing the book in 2002 and finished it
in 2004. In the world of literature, however, you can’t just give your books to
publishers, you need to find an agent.
It’s just like a sports agent, just far less
interesting. I was rejected universally.
No one wanted to touch this book. But
in 2005, pod-casting was really starting to take off and I saw some unpublished authors recording their books
and releasing them online as free audio
books. I saw the possibility of sharing
this book online as a pod cast. If I can’t
sell it, I might as well share it. It started to gain popularity and had around
40,000 listeners. To this day, the book
still receives over 100,000 downloads.
Through the success of the pod casts
in 2007, I got an agent, and then a publisher approached me to write a horror
novel based on what they’ve seen and
heard about me. I told them I would if
they would publish my novel 7th Son:
Descent and here we are.”
PAGE
FEATURES
Green
in Louisville
The Aerial: How was the pod-casting
experience?
Mr.. Hutchins: “It totally sucks. Its
hard, hard work. I am a terrible reader.
I would keep messing up and have to rerecord every line and edit out all of the
flubs. For a 45 minute episode, it takes
about four to six hours. But what is really neat about this, as the popularity of
pod casting was increasing, I was making friends with all of these other pod
casters. Eventually we started to promote other people’s work. No money
being exchanged, just word of mouth.
Also I would get celebrities to come and
read some of the pod casts. I had cast
members from Battlestar Galactica and
a show called Fire Fly. This also created
a lot of enthusiasm for the pod cast.”
The Aerial: Rumor has it that this book
is going to be made into a movie. Is this
true?
Mr.. Hutchins: “Late last year, my literary agent connected me with a film
agent and the entire 7th Son trilogy has
been optioned to Warner Bros. These are
the same guys that produced the Lord of
The Rings Trilogy, and iRobot, so these
guys know what they’re doing.”
The Aerial: What advice can you give
to any aspiring authors at Atherton?
Mr.. Hutchins: “There are some predictable answers, like to read a lot. But
reading a lot helps you with vocabulary
and helps you see what works and what
Cafe Mimosa
Author, and Atherton Alum, J.C. Hutchins
doesn’t. The second predictable answer
is to write, to just do it. The more you
write the better you become at your
craft. One of the things that I am grateful
for during my Atherton Experience was
journalism. It allowed me to get a regular writing schedule. In college and my
professional career the continuous writing helped me write the novel the 7th
Son. The most important thing I recommend to people is to write without fear.
It’s the writing equivalent to dance like
no one is watching. You need to hush
the inner critic and that inner voice, you
just don’t listen to it.”
In closing Mr.. Hutchins had this to say:
“Much like everyone who is in high
school, they think it is a lousy time. I
thought mine was a lousy time, too.
When I look back twenty years in the
past I see that their were some very key
positive experiences at Atherton. These
decisions that I made at Atherton really
helped me become the person I am. It
propelled my life in the right directions.”
The Green Building in Louisville, KY, in the East Market District
Article Written By Beatrice Harris
issues Louvillians face with the ever-declining economy
O neis thatof thetheybiggest
cannot afford expensive energy bills. But luckily, many of loca-
tions around Louisville are working on being almost completely green. There are
plenty of places around town that claim to be eco-friendly, with every service
from bagels to wind energy and everything in between. The legitimacy of these
services is questionable, but at least they are putting forth the effort.
There is a building downtown simply known as “The Green Building”, a 110 year
old dry goods store that was remodeled in 2007 by its owners, Mr... and Mrs. Gill
and Augusta Holland. They decided that they were going to be the first commercial building in the city of Louisville to have a LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) platinum certification.
Not many people have heard of the Green Convene, which is a shame because
it is an underground number one source for learning about sustainable living in
Louisville. Green Convene was started in February 2009 by a group of people
looking for ways to live green. They organize themselves into focus groups of different issues such as the transportation group, farming and agriculture group, etc.
The question they focus on the most is how do they take action in the community?
Green Convene takes issues in their different departments and looks for ways to
activate them in our community. The group is entirely volunteer based.
apologetically.
Despite the setbacks, Mr.. Le has a positive outlook on his business returning.
He sums everything up in to one word,
“adventure.”
Back and Better Than Ever
Article Written By Adelle Brodbeck
the atrocious ice storm of
S ince
January, 2009, Highlanders have
been frantically searching for a restaurant to take the place of our beloved
Cafe Mimosa. But now, the search is
unnecessary. After a long wait, filled
with frozen pizzas and microwave dinners, Highlanders will no longer have
to suffer. Cafe Mimosa has returned!
Cafe Mimosa is now located in the
old Jarfi's Bistro building, across from
Ear X-tacy. The old building had lim-
.3
ited parking and limited seating space;
including the fact that it wasn't in the
best condition. The new Cafe Mimosa
is much larger and is in a much more
suitable area. It has parking all around
the building, a party room, a full sushi
bar, plus a regular bar. They are even
trying to add a patio with a koi pond in
the back.
Because everything is entirely new, the
restaurant decided to have a “soft opening” without advertising to the public
for a couple weeks before hosting the
official grand opening. The only indication that Cafe Mimosa was ever returning was a scrap piece of paper discretely taped on the inside of the Jarfi’s
window stating, “Coming Soon.”
The workers had a chance to sort out
all the kinks of reopening before the
grand opening, but as owner Phat Le
said, “Everything that could go wrong,
keeps going wrong.” He mentioned that
they did not have a dishwasher the day
before the grand opening, and it would
cost $1,800 just for the shipping cost
overnight. “We had our guys washing dishes by hand,” Mr. Le chuckled
This adventure has turned into a positive development for the business. Mr..
Le says, “the fire was bad. It happened,
unfortunately, but overall it turned out
fantastic.” Now, there is more space
for the new admirers, and the loyal
customers who have returned to the
restaurant.
“Change is good,” Mr.. Le exclaimed.
It was always a dream of his to expand
the business. Now his wish has come
true.
Making the Invisible Visible
23 Years of Suffrage is 23 Too Long
Article Written By Kelsey Hale
The GoU has made efforts in ending this
war; the issue stands that their efforts
can only be minimal due to resources,
and the strength of the LRA.
In 1996 the GoU formed the Internally
Displaced Persons (IDP), an organization and camp, to support the process of
protecting the Acholi people. The Ugandan government forced thousands out of
their homes as a form of protection from
the LRA. Over the past 10 plus years
the populations in the IDP has reached
1.8 million the past 2 years, roughly
ALICE
LAKWENA
STARTED THE
HOLY SPIRIT
MOVEMENT
ALICE WAS EXILED FROM
UGANDA, AND JOSEPH KONY
TRANSFORMED HER
MOVEMENT INTO THE LORD’S
RESISTANCE ARMY (LRA)
INVISIBLE
CHILDREN:
ROUGH CUT
WAS FILMED
50% of the displaced Ugandans have returned to their homes. This still leaves
a rough estimate of 1,000,000 in these
camps, living without basic necessities.
Disease, poverty, and starvation will be
the death of these civilians compared to
outside the camps walls. If a camp isn’t
the death of an Acholi person, the LRA
will be.
There have been attempts to end this
war, with coaxing from the international
community; the GoU has tried to make
peace in their country. Many negotiations
between the LRA and the government
have taken place and have been spent
searching for a solution and a permanent
fix. The most recent discussion was held
in Juba, Sudan, in July 2006 and resulted in a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signaling an end of the violence
in Uganda) being signed a month after.
The peace talks lasted until March 2008,
these conferences allowed for Uganda to
have the longest period of peace in this
23 year war. The conclusion of the peace
conferences was the Final Peace Agreement (FPA), with signatures from Joseph Kony, who actually agreed to sign,
and President Museveni. The agreement
to sign by Joseph Kony was a reason for
celebration in northern Uganda, thinking the end of this war was a pen a paper
away. Although this relief was setting in,
it almost seemed too good to be true. A
man that is wanted by the International
Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes
might not come out of the bush, signing
the FPA would be surrender and Kony
would be prosecuted for war crimes.
The FPA was ready to be signed in April
2008, but the Cessation of Hostilities
Agreement has run out of time, due to
Joseph Kony failing to sign the Final
Peace Agreement a fourth time.
“Bear in mind that this is a man wanted
by the International Criminal Court,
they brand him criminal and the appearance of a collapse in these negotiations
is going to send a signal which is that
this man is clearly not serious about
peace.” -Yvonne Ndege, Live Al Jazeera
Broadcast.
Since the collapse of the peace conferences, the LRA has been active in Ugan-
NORTHERN UGANGDA CRISIS
RESPONSE ACT WAS MADE; THIS
WAS THE FIRST PIECE OF
LEGISLATION ACKNOWLEDGING
THE DISASTER IN UGANDA
THE
INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT
ISSUED A
WARRANT FOR
JOSEPH KONY’S
ARREST
PEACE CONFERENCES
BETWEEN THE
GOVERNMENT OF
UGANDA (GOU) AND
LRA BEGIN
2000’s
JULY 2006
UNITED STATES
PATRIOT ACT,
THIS DEEMED
THE LRA AS A
TERRORIST
ORGANIZATION
1900’s
1987
1986
18
00
’s
GREAT BRITAIN
COLONIZED
UGANDA
This sparks the question, why isn’t anyone stopping this… why can’t we just
do away with Joseph Kony? It’s one
man against the Government of Uganda
(GoU); it is one man against humanity.
So why is it so hard to stop one man?
2003
1890
2001
The Lord’s Resistance Army’s roots
Referring to himself as a ‘spokesman’
for God, he destroyed everything in his
path. Massacring villages, and abducting
children to serve in his army, he leaves
lives terrorized. In the LRA, 90% of Kony’s army is made of soldiers who were
abducted as children. These children
become monsters, and start the cycle
once more, of pillaging and destroying
villages, and abducting their brothers
and sisters. Kony is keeping these kids
hostage,.These children live in fear, and
to stay alive they must obey.
JUNE 2006
What started as subtle revolting and resentment towards an unjust government
would transpire into Africa’s longest running war. Though it would be nearly 90
years before an organization was formed
to attempt defeating the government, the
animosity built and it is still thriving today. Now, a rebel army is to blame for
massacres, rape, and abducting children.
The northern part of Uganda is war zone,
and this war presently has 2 million civilians caught in the middle of a roughly
120 year-old injustice, and an army who
will not give up the fight.
reach back to 1980 when Alice Lakwena first formed what was then the Holy
Spirit Movement. Lakwena’s belief was
that she was ordered by the Holy Spirit
to defeat the Ugandan government and
fight a political injustice against the
Acholi people (people of Uganda). The
resentment Lakwena and her followers
had towards the government was their
fuel to ignite the Holy Spirit Movement.
A movement meant to be weapon and
violence free, was intended to overthrow
the government. Though there wasn’t violence, Alice was forced to leave Uganda due to her attempts in overthrowing
the government. At this pivotal moment,
1987, Joseph Kony took control and
transformed the movement into an army
by transforming the Holy Spirit Movement into the Lord’s Resistance Army.
This wouldn’t be the only transformation he would be blamed for.
2005
890- Great Britain colonized
Uganda. Dividing the new state
into two regions, making the southern
half of Uganda a home for intellects and
the north caged the laborers and soldiers. At the time, Britain could not have
known the repercussions of the chosen
demographics. Northern Uganda could
not handle the political injustice, so they
began rebelling and the fighting for what
they deserved. The consequences of this
action are still raging to this very day.
2004
1
CESSATION
OF
HOSTILITIES
WAS SIGNED
BY THE GOU
.5
PAGE
FEATURES
This doesn’t need to be a one person,
school, country, or state effort. Our
whole nation should stand behind this
and push for the legislation, so the children of Uganda, Africa can be a priority.
Everyone in our country needs to be a
part of something bigger than themselves, and here is our chance.
You can choose your stance! Go to InvisibleChildren.com, purchase merchandise that helps Laren, Bobby, and Jason
create more ways to help these children
in Uganda. Some of what you purchase
actually goes to the people of Uganda,
200
0’s
CANADA
JOINED THE
PEACE
CONFERENCES
AS AN
OBSERVER
PEACE
CONFERENCES
BETWEEN GOU
AND LRA ARE
FINISHED
KONY FAILED
TO SIGN FINAL
PEACE
AGREEMENT
who manufactured the bracelets or bags.
Purchase an Invisible Children T-shirt
and make it a conversation starter, you
can help spread the word on your own.
Everyone knows last year required books
are collecting dust, get rid of them! Start
a book drive at your school! Donate all
the books you can, so when schools are
built for the children when they return
home. These no longer invisible children can have a safe place learn, that are
full of resources that you donated.
Get everyone involved around you!
Start a ‘Change for Change’ jar, and donate your coins, and maybe throw in a
dollar or two time and again. When you
feel you have satisfying amount, send
the money to Invisible Children. Pennies add up, so many pennies get thrown
away everyday, because society feels
there is no use for them, well put them
to use!
Sign up for the Tri fund raiser, and donate
a couple dollars a month. Sign the ‘Citizen’s Arrest Warrant/ We Want Obama
to…’ card, and be a part of committing
the United States to ending this war.
Obama said, “It’s time for a change”,
let’s see him change something.
Here is your chance, are you going to
take it?
THE LRA RETALIATED AGAINST THE
COLLABORATION ATTACKING THE
PEOPLE OF D.R. CONGO. IN THIS
ATTACK THE LRA MURDERED OVER
600 PEOPLE, AND ABDUCTED OVER
160 CHILDREN.
LRA BECAME ACTIVE IN THE DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND WESTERN
EQUATORIAL IN SOUTH SUDAN, THIS
PROVOKED A COLLABORATION EFFORT BY
THE GOU, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC CONGO,
SOUTH SUDAN, AND CENTRAL AFRICAN
REPUBLIC, WHO COMBINED THEIR ARMIES
AND ATTACK THE LRA
THE RESCUE,
WAS RELEASED
FOR PUBLIC
VIEW
APRIL 2009
70 MILLION
EUROS FOR
AID IN
UGANDA
WAS
DONATED BY
THE UNITED
KINGDOM
What the LRA will do next is ambiguous and their horrid crimes are engraved
in the minds and hearts of thousands,
Invisible Children keeps searching for
ways to save Joseph Kony’s child soldiers. This organization has given the
ideology of peace a fighting chance in
this ravenous war. Laren, Bobby, and
Jason have designed fund raisers for the
educational and economic support in developing programs for the rescued child
soldiers and other displaced children in
northern Uganda, but you can help too.
DECEMBER 2008
Though these boys were on a vacation,
all three felt the need to do something
FEBRUARY 2008
2007
2007
US STATE
DEPARTMENT,
TIM
SHORTELY, TO
SENIOR ADVISOR
FOR CONFLICT
RESOLUTION
WITH HIS FOCUS
ON NORTHERN
UGANDA
“Invisible because,
No records are kept of their numbers or
age.
Invisible because,
Their own armies deny they exist.
Invisible because,
They simply vanish.”
-The Rescue
Night commuting in Uganda used to be
children leaving their homes and searching for urban areas or centers of larger
IDP camps, fleeing in fear they would be
attacked or abducted by the LRA, once
more or for the first time. Though night
commuting has ended in northern Uganda, the violence from the LRA has not. It
has actually gotten worse.
In the most recent documentary from Invisible Children, The Rescue, the boys
went back to document the progression
in Uganda, to document history, Joseph
Kony was meant to sign the Final Peace
Agreement. The film updates the world
on the current situation at hand, how can
we end this war? With Jason Russell’s
narration, the feelings of Joseph Kony
failing to sign the FPA are made known,
“He defeated us all…” Jason says as
everyone left the bush realizing Kony
might not ever hand over his army and
surrender to the ICC. Realizing the children of northern Uganda needed their
help; Jason, Bobby, and Laren took this
to the United States and have been pushing for legislation committing the U.S.
to ending this war in Africa.
SEPTEMBER 2008
Invisible Children is a non-profit organization started by Laren Poole, Jason
Russell, and Bobby Bailey who took a
But why are these children invisible?
about this awful situation in Uganda.
Though they were just three boys, visiting a violent filled area, they took their
first stand and pushed for public awareness.
In 2003, the Invisible Children released
a film, Invisible Children: Rough Cut,
documenting what they found when
they first ventured into Africa. Since the
release of that film, night commuting
has ended for the children in northern
Uganda.
APRIL 2008
“It’s not just an Acholi problem, it’s a
humanity problem,” said Luis Moreno
Ocampo, the lead prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. If it’s a humanity problem, why isn’t all of humanity giving their hands to help? Maybe
because most of the human race doesn’t
have a clue of the magnitude of this war,
there is a chance they do not even know
these children exist, which makes them
invisible to the world. Norbert Mao said,
“How come that all these deaths don’t
even take one minute of CNN’s time,
and BBC’s time? And yet if there is one
Briton who is killed in an incident it is of
great concern to the global media”. Unless you’re an avid National Public Radio listener or you keep up with the New
York Times you wouldn’t have a clue
about what this long running war entails
or the terror it’s creating in people’s lives.
Major news stations aren’t spreading the
word, so 3 boys from California, United
States took it into their own hands.
vacation to explore Africa. They weren’t
expecting to find what they just happened to stumble upon, but instead of
stepping back they took a stand. Telling each other, “but we’re so young”,
they dove head first into finding a way
to leave their imprint in Africa, to have
the world know, that out of all the people that are trying to survive in this war,
the child soldiers are the most invisible
children. The realization for them set in,
kids, younger than themselves were killing and destroying a nation, so stepping
back and letting someone else pick up
the slack wasn’t an option, kids needed
to be a reason in ending this war. The
relationships Laren, Bobby, and Jason
made were beyond belief, they built
bonds with previous soldiers who had
escaped, soldiers who were still fighting,
and mothers who had lost their babies.
The urge to bring these lost children
home could never have been stronger.
MARCH 2008
da as well as Democratic Republic of
Congo, Central African Republic, and
southern Sudan. This spread of activism by the LRA has gained disapproval
from the international community causing them to pressure the solution to find
the end of this long war, because it has
become a regional complex.
PAGE
91.9 WFPK
FEATURES
Public Radio at its Finest
Aerial Newspaper: Did you create both
Live Lunch and Waterfront Wednesday? If so where did you come up with
the idea?
Stacy O: The idea for these series came
from former Program Director Dan
Reed. I was his Assistant program director at the time and we put the ideas
into motion. Live Lunch was inspired
by the fact that we wanted to use our
beautiful performance space consistently and bring the public into the building
which was newly renovated at the time.
Waterfront shows grew out of a brainstorming meeting with the Waterfront
Development Corporation.
AN: Are you satisfied with both of
these programs?
Article Written By Adelle Brodbeck
WFPK is one of three Lou9 1.9
isville public radio stations. It is
a non profit, commercial free, listener
supported radio station. Surprisingly
enough, most large cities do not have
more than one public radio station,
whereas Louisville has WFPK, WFPL
and WUOL. We Louisvillians should
consider ourselves quite lucky.
Not only does WFPK offer terrific music, they also provide chances to see
amazing bands perform live. No, it is
not like when you have to call in and
try to win tickets that you're probably
not going to get anyway. Waterfront
Wednesday (W.W.) is a free concert
that is open to the public, no waiting
in lines and stressing over getting your
hands on a ticket. It is situated, obviously, on the Waterfront in downtown
Louisville. The set up is ideal for a concert. Lawn chairs are propped up everywhere, blankets are strewn across the
lawn, and food stands are set up along
the side. The sights, the sounds, and the
smells are all truly authentic to Louisville.
Overall Waterfront Wednesday is a perfect experience. It is not just a benefit
to us, the citizens; it is a benefit to the
bands. A lot of these bands are local,
or not wildly popular, so this show is
an opportunity for them to introduce
themselves to new listeners. Because
Waterfront Wednesday features three
bands, performing back to back, there
is always a chance to find a new favorite artist.
The only negative is that it is not always
a family friendly concert. The bands
that are playing have complete freedom
of speech so profanity can be fairly frequent. Also alcohol is offered at most
of the stands. Although the drunks are
usually harmless, it isn't a proper environment for young children.
In addition to Waterfront Wednesday,
WFPK also offers Live Lunch. Live
Lunch takes place in the Louisville
Public Media (LPM) space at 19 S.
Fourth Street in downtown Louisville,
every Friday at noon. The bands that
perform are almost always, at that time,
touring. So if you can't make it to their
late night performance at Headliners or
maybe The Palace, then you could try
to catch their free show at Live Lunch.
The doors open at 11:30, but to get a
seat you should arrive early because
space is limited. Since the performance
room is relatively small, the fire code
regulations only allow seventy lucky
audience members to enter.
The live part of Live Lunch is self explanatory, but what about the Lunch
part? When I first went, I was excited
because I thought they were going to
make me food. To my dismay, if you
want lunch and you're not a member of
LPM, then you have to bring your own.
The members receive boxed lunches,
provided by City Cafe (next to Baxter
Theater). The process of becoming a
member is fairly easy, not to mention it
is also a good cause. WFPK is a listener
supported station, sustained by donations from members. To reward these
“loyal listeners”, LPM offers special
promotions only available to the members, heads up to future concerts in their
area, and “bi-monthly e-newsletters —
informative updates regarding current
station and community happenings”
(louisvillepublicmedia.org).
To find more information about the
WFPK concert series, I conducted an
interview via e-mail with the station's
program director, Stacy Owen:
SO: I'm more than satisfied. Live
Lunch has become our flagship program. We have about 10,000 people
tuning in throughout the course of the
hour each Friday. Waterfront Wednesday just keeps growing. I've been able
to attract some stellar bands to each
series as both have developed a strong
national reputation. I don't have to do
as much chasing as I used to. Many of
the bands come to me requesting a spot
on the WW bill or a Live Lunch.
AN: What, if anything, are you trying
to improve in these programs?
SO: Well, I'm always striving to find
the best new local and national talent as
well as catch WFPK favorites as they
pass through town. Both of them work
pretty well in their current formats, but
we've done a bit of tweaking over the
years.
AN: Where do you find the bands that
perform?
SO: For the Waterfront shows I usually
seek out artists that have a new album
to promote. The labels look at this as
a radio promotion. I consider what's
doing well on our roster of artists we're
playing and make a wish list then start
putting out feelers to see who'll say
yes!
AN: Usually, how big are the crowds?
How diverse are they? Are these performances family friendly?
SO: We've been averaging around 5
thousand for Waterfront Wednesday
but have had as many as 8 thousand
depending on the bands. There's not a
lot of ethnic diversity, but certainly diversity in age. We have attendees from
babies to grandparents and, yes, it's a
family friendly event.
AN: I know that Waterfront Wednesday is free, so do the bands that perform
get paid? Does all the money from the
food stands go to those companies or
does WFPK get some of the money?
SO: The bands are not paid a performance fee. We put them up and feed
them and they keep all of their merchandise sales. WFPK is considered a
taste maker in our format and we work
hard to support the bands that play the
event and make sure they have a wonderful experience so they'll spread the
word that it's a great thing to do! Again,
the labels look at it as a promotional
opportunity. I believe our partner, the
Waterfront Development Corporation,
uses vendor fees to cover production
costs. We have to pay for staging and
sound, security, stage hands, etc. The
sponsorship money WFPK brings in
helps cover these costs as well.
.6
AN: Specifically what do you do with
the donation money from members?
SO: Membership money supports the
purchase of national programming,
pays for the cost of locally produced
programs, upkeep of current equipment
and purchase of new equipment... any
daily expense that keeps the station running.
AN: Why aren't pets allowed at Waterfront Wednesday? Have there been any
issues with that?
SO: Yes. We received reports of dog
bites, dog fights, dogs sneaking food,
etc. Not to mention staff observation
of not-so-wise owners who would sit
with their pet and its sensitive ears right
in front of the speakers or owners who
didn’t think to give their dog water. The
event has just gotten too big to have
animals on the Harbor Lawn.
AN: Do you feel that the people who
come to these concerts enjoy themselves? Is that always the case?
SO: Definitely! I've never had a complaint about the quality of the music. I
think a number music lovers come even
if they aren't familiar with the artists,
trusting they'll be introduced to a great
new band. It's also a wonderful place
to meet with friends and socialize in a
casual and safe atmosphere.
WFPK is a great contributor to the
overall Louisville culture and has created a splendid concert series. Whether
it’s listening to the radio station, donating money, or checking out Live Lunch
and Waterfront Wednesday, WFPK deserves our appreciation.
PAGE
Swine Flu
EDITORIAL
Where are the Vaccines?
.7
Article Written By Samantha Goodwin
A
s the number of Kentucky deaths
has risen, many people wonder
when the vaccines will arrive. Supplies
of the H1N1 vaccine remain in short supply in Kentucky, but they are increasing,
officials said. As of October 27, the state
had been allocated 225,000 doses, and
175,000 had been shipped by the federal
government.
We have heard many times who should be
among the first to get the swine flu vaccination: children age 6 months to 19 years
old, pregnant women, people 50 years old
or older, people of any age with chronic
health problems, people who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, health care workers; caregivers of
or people who live with a person at high
risk for complications from the flu, and
out-of-home caregivers of or people who
live with children less than 6 months old.
However, no one seems to know when the
vaccine will be made available to these
high-risk cases.
As of October 15, Kentucky had received
73 thousand doses of the H1N1, or swine
flu, vaccine. Sixty percent is in nasal form.
The remaining 40-percent is injectable.
But State Epidemiologist Dr. Kraig Humbaugh says, that’s only about enough to
vaccinate one to two percent of the state’s
population.
Kentucky ranks 42nd in the country in the
per capita number of doses shipped, meaning state and local health officials have
not been exhausting the state’s allocation
of vaccine as quickly as other states. Why
haven’t public health officials been more
devoted to getting vaccines for Kentucky?
It seems like a lack of effort on their part
is resulting in public chaos in Kentucky
and angry citizens wait in lines.
All that is seen by public eyes are promises of shipments, promises of vaccines,
but no follow through. Across the country,
countless people are having a hard time
tracking down the seasonal flu vaccine. In
some places, people line up by the hundreds, hoping to get vaccinated — and,
after waiting in line for hours, many of
them leave frustrated, angry, and still not
vaccinated. Few healthcare workers have
even had the opportunity to obtain the
vaccination.
What’s even more unnerving is that while
Article Written By Samantha Goodwin
“
been dating for about a is because “it’s easier to avoid the emoY ou’ve
month, and you notice that things tional intimacy,” required in relation-
The vaccine allocation is based on the
population of the county. The higher the
population, the more vaccinations are allocated to that county. This makes it harder for those who live in smaller counties to
receive vaccination.
Metro Health says they have gotten 11,000
doses of the vaccine so far. They’ve given
it to health care workers and providers,
but no public or school clinics will be
scheduled until mid or late November.
Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius said she couldn’t predict just how widespread the virus will
be. Roughly a thousand people have died
from it so far in the United States. But she
also said officials do not believe there is
yet any cause to close down schools and
cease other daily activities. However, district officials say since cases are no longer
routinely tested it isn’t clear how widespread the swine flu is among students.
While everyone notices the delays in
getting shipments to cities, no one understands what causes these delays. And
with the seasonal flu shot program coming to an end, who’s to say this situation
will improve any time soon? Walgreens
has already announced it has given its last
seasonal flu vaccines for this year. CVS
reports that many of its stores nationwide
are still offering the vaccine, but only in
certain areas.
Health officials acknowledge that by the
time the swine flu vaccine becomes widely available, large numbers of people will
already have been struck by the illness.
There is a good possibility that it will be
too little, too late.
President Barack Obama declared a health
emergency over the weekend to give hos-
Serial Dating
have been going downhill for a couple ships. He does, however, agree that it is
of weeks now. He’s calling you less and
less, he’s not holding your hand anymore, and he’s not walking you to your
classes. You don’t know what happened
to change the relationship, but something must have, because it’s completely
different than it was before.
Then one night after not talking to him
for a few days, he calls you. He says
he’s sorry, but things aren’t working out.
They aren’t the same, but he still wants to
be friends. You agree,
The most common reason why peoand you both move on.
Until two weeks later
ple jump from relationship to relawhen you find out he’s
tionship is because of a fear of comasked someone else
mitment…
out, and they are apparently doing well.
most common in teenagers and young
According to Gerald Huff, a psychology adults. “They don’t have the experience
graduate with a PhD from the Univer- in relationships, and they aren’t as willsity of Louisville, “The most common ing to work at it.”
reason why people jump from relationship to relationship is because of a fear While Mr.. Huff believes this tendency
of commitment…It’s quite common… is most common in men, Dr. Watson beabout 50% of the dating population has a lieves it’s probably about equal for both
tendency to fall into these patterns. [Peo- sexes. “But I’m probably biased,” says
ple] under the age of twenty-five more or Dr. Watson. “It’s possible that males do
less are into dating just to date.”
that as much or more than females.”
Dr. Watson, a psychologist specializing
in marital and sexual therapy and relationships, disagrees with this. He believes the most common reason people
jump from relationship to relationship
parents are still watching and waiting and
wondering what’s taking so long for the
swine flu vaccine, nearby counties have
already opened up clinics to the public.
Metro Health plans to hold its first swine
flu clinic a month from now, and people
are getting impatient. Why wait that long
when you could easily go to one of the
nearby counties to get vaccinated? This
seems to be the mindset of many Kentuckians who feel that waiting just isn’t a
risk worth taking.
Many different reasons can be at the
crux of the problem. For some, the act
of pursuing a person of the opposite sex
can be a game. They set their sights on
somebody, and see it as a challenge to
get them. They flirt, testing to see how
receptive the individual is. If they get
the right signals, then the relationship
will begin; however, it will not flourish,
because they are no longer entertained
once the conquest is complete. Once
they have wooed one person, they start
scouting for the next. They forever seek
the thrill of the hunt, so to speak.
A person forever pursuing a relationship may be lacking attention, rather
than seeking a challenge. If other relationships are inadequate, one may seek
attention elsewhere.
For example, “If the
home life is lacking,
and a person is being
neglected, they may
take on a new hobby
that’s popular with
their friends,” says
Mr.. Huff. This way, a person still receives attention from those they consider
important in their life.
“
Another theory is that this is an instinct
of self-preservation. The individual has
been hurt in the past, and are constantly
pursuing the opposite sex to prove to
their self that it was no fault of theirs
that drove the other person away. “They
may think, ‘I don’t want to be quite that
vulnerable,' and shy away," says Mr..
Watson. They don’t allow themselves to
get attached to the next person in line. If
they feel themselves becoming too avaricious, or if the relationship becomes
too serious, they choke and move along
for fear of being hurt again. They aren’t
“putting themselves out there”, or taking
the risk needed to have a successful relationship.
Another common reason for this is low
self-perception and self esteem. “[They
may] seek constant reassurance from
multiple people” if they don’t have a
very good self-image, or see themselves
as not as worthy," says Dr. Watson. “Self
perception also influences the choices
we make,” he says. “[For example], how
we respond to breakups.” If our self perception is poor, we take responsibility
of the breakup on ourselves and see the
fault as our own, rather than accepting it
and simply moving on.
pitals and health professionals more leeway from federal regulations to respond
to the illness. And on Sunday, Senate
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky said Congress would be happy
to provide additional support and money
on a bipartisan basis, if the need arises.
Also, the question of whether or not
healthcare units are “playing favorites”
arises. When the presidential daughters,
11-year-old Malia and 8-year-old Sasha
got their shots, controversy arose. While
some believed that it was unfair for the
President Barack Obama’s daughters to
recieve vaccinations before everyone else,
others argued this point. They said that
this is not the case, and even so, it makes
sense. If the daughters of the president
were sick, it was sure to be distracting,
and Mr.. Obama himself could then catch
swine flu from his daughters.
If anything, this should set a good example for what all Americans should be doing—getting themselves vaccinated. Besides that, washing your hands regularly
is an important way to keep from receiving or spreading H1N1, or any other virus,
for that matter.
Dr. Watson believes that people generally don’t realize what they are doing so
much as they realize they are unhappy.
Essentially, one cannot find the satisfaction they seek in a relationship so short.
So, while they may not realize their
patterns in such affairs, they usually
will know of their displeasure, and that
something is missing.
This is the first step to overcoming these
impulses. Once one is aware of the problem, and aware of the fact that they are
the ones causing this problem, they set
their minds to changing it. They set their
minds to being more open. Determination can go a long way in matters such
as these, and it is very possible for one to
overcome this on their own.
Gambling on the Fences
PAGE
EDITORIALS
slot machines would increase their
net growth to a considerably higher
amount. However this profit would
only go to support the horse industry
and would be of no benefit areas that
are in much more dire need of funds.
If the proposal for slot machines was
not as black and white and was changed
to include one casino in Kentucky the
results would be much more positive.
Article Written By Paige Harrison
through Versailles KenD riving
tucky is like going back in time.
One beautiful Farm after another, with
black and white fences, enormous
barns and stables, and gorgeous homes.
These are the famed horse farms that
Kentucky prides itself on, the farms
that would benefit from gambling in
Churchill Downs. Do these multi-million dollar, picturesque farms need
anymore benefits?
Gambling in Kentucky has been a con-
troversial issue since it was legalized
in Indiana. The newest push has been
to legalize slot machines the race track.
The money made by these slot machines would go to Churchill Downs
and to support the horse industry in
Kentucky.
The horse farms in places such as Versailles are a rarity in today’s society
and deserve to be preserved because of
the historical and cultural impacts they
have had, but they are not in desperate need of more money. These farms,
depending on their proximity to Keen-
Graduation Standards
Article Written By Carlee Harrod
“A
nd that’s why, at the start of my
Administration, I set a goal for
America: By 2020, this nation will once
again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world,” said President Obama in his speech announcing the
“American Graduation Initiative” on July
14, 2009. “But today I’m announcing
the most significant down payment yet on
reaching the goal of having the highest
college graduation rate of any nation in
the world. We’re going to achieve this in
the next 10 years. And it’s called the American Graduation Initiative. It will reform
and strengthen community colleges like
this one from coast to coast so they get the
resources that students and schools need
-- and the results workers and businesses
demand. Through this plan, we seek to
help an additional 5 million Americans
earn degrees and certificates in the next
decade -- 5 million.”
Despite President Obama’s best efforts to
shine this statistic, the reality is five million degrees will be simply handed, not
earned, but handed to the same children that
were not left behind. A few billion dollars
“promised” to education, and no apparent
initiative to catch up the children that exPresident George Bush “promised” not to
leave behind, leaves us with, according to
my calculations, twelve years of children
that were promised not to be left behind and
degrees that are undermined by their own
standards.
In the Jefferson County Public School district, thousands of students embark on a
twelve-year journey through education, but
just how far down the road do we go? High
school graduation requirements fall lower
and lower in a desperate attempt to put a
gleam on those all important statistics. And
it raises interesting questions:
land and famous horse farms, can sell
for between ten-thousand and twentyfive-thousand dollars an acre. Higher
quality farms in Monroe County Kentucky, an area not as suitable for raising
horses, sell for around three-thousand
dollars an acre. The land in Monroe
County is not worth as much because
it is not connected with the horse industry.
Churchill Downs made $430.6 million
dollars during it’s last session in 2008,
which was a large increase from their
profits made in 2007. The addition of
Since 1983, more than ten-million American students have reached their senior year
without basic reading skills. Outsourcing of
jobs has lead to the demand of specialization and higher education; meaning even
vocational jobs require higher education.
Lowering standards for a more competitive job market completely contradicts the
intention of a degree
Advancement in technology should require
more rigorous curriculums, but this 21st
century dynamite has ultimately lowered
It is reported that 91.3% of seniors graduated throughout the country in the class
of 2009, but how many of those graduates
truly deserved a diploma? Where does the
91.3% even come from, and how was it
figured? But most importantly, what will
be the cost of the further cheapening a high
school diploma in the future?
Whatever the answers may be, nothing
about lowering standards to raise statistics
is justifiable. The lessening of graduation
standards would only further handicap
America’s newest up-and-coming generation as it is already hobbled by future prospects within the social and economic order
of things. In the end, this current generation of high-schoolers and college newbies
will be left with a minimal education to
deal with the most complex problems society has ever faced, such as global warming
and the continuing energy crisis. It seems
as if our generation is ill-fated by its own
ignorance.
4806 Brownsboro Center
Phone 502-893-5118
By building one casino in Kentucky
and having slot machines in the race
track more people would benefit. The
profits from the casino would go to the
state for improvements in the Commonwealth, such as education and state
maintenance, and the profits made in
the race track would stay and support
the horse industry as before.
Horse racing itself is a form of gambling that Kentucky has accepted for
decades, but many Kentuckians are not
welcoming of the idea of slot machines
and other forms of gambling. If not approached in the correct way, gambling
can destroy towns and the lives of the
people in them, but it also can be great
graduation standards. It is both unfair and
immoral to allow such a curve in the education of society. The most brilliant, and the
most illiterate have been forced within the
same borders, under the same blanketed assumptions..
The federal government has shown both
action, and inaction that has left American
education in shambles. I’m sure there is a
grammatical error in this piece, my point
exactly. Broken promises and unmanage-
.8
economic stimulus if it is controlled in
the correct way. Only having one casino built in Kentucky would ensure that
the state, and the city it is built in, does
not become dependant completely on
its income for funds for the state. This
extra income for the state could greatly
improve Kentucky.
As in the previous bill the slot machines
would also be placed in Churchill
Downs. The profits from these machines would support the horse industry so that Kentucky can preserve its
history and culture. No one wants to
see the rolling bluegrass horse farms
disappear, and by creating an increased
profit for the industry we can ensure its
existence.
The issue at hand now is not whether
or not Kentucky should allow slot machines, but should Kentucky’s horse
industry be the only party that benefits
from gambling if it were to exist. Putting slot machines at the race track and
in one casino will help preserve the
beautiful horse farms and the help the
people of Kentucky.
ably low requirements have left an entire
generation without the necessary skills for
life.
Lowering high school graduation standards
is both short-sighted and damaging to student success. Allowing students to “take
the easy way out” is irresponsible as professionals accountable for the preparing
students to become responsible citizens.
A generation of failure should be reflected
poorly on the government, educators and
students, not the standards.
PAGE
Evolution Within Our Walls
The River City Players
Article Written By Jasmine Ayers
A
therton’s drama program is one
of the many things that has set
us apart from the rest of the JCPS high
schools. We strive for diversity, cutting
edge arts, and enlightenment; and we
have achieved all of those. The River
City Players is a highly contributing
factor to reach these ambitious goals.
Mr. Tony Prince ran the River City
Players (RCP) program for nine years,
before Mr. Perry. Mr.. Prince was the
inventor of the “One Acts,” he wanted
to “represent the students as artists,”.
“The One Acts” is a performance held
every year, and consists of short one
act plays written and performed by the
RCP members. While RCP was under
his direction, the group became very
close, and was sometimes described
as cult-like. Often, the members would
extend their school day after the final
bell rang, and keep rehearsing.
Mr.. Perry worked at Noe Middle
School teaching drama for seven years;
in that time, he was well known as being the go-to-guy to further your drama
career. He applied for a job at YPAS a
few years prior to coming to Atherton,
but when called about an interview, he
turned them down. He didn’t want to
go into someone else’s program. However, many of Noe’s main administrators were planning on leaving, which,
along with word that this position was
open after word of the departure of then
current River City Player Director Dan
Rechtenwald - who served as director
one year between the Prince and Perry
regimes - pushed Mr. Perry to apply to
Atherton. He was more than qualified
for the job, and Mr.. Prince recommended him to Mr.. Hudson.
Since arriving at Atherton, Mr.. Perry
has changed the program to fit to his
styles. “Everyone leaves their own
stamp on it,” Mr.. Prince replied when
asked how he feels about Mr.. Perry’s
directing of the program. As much as
Mr.. Prince’s stamp was “One Acts,”
Mr.. Perry’s stamp has been transforming River City Players into a competitive drama club. Mr.. Perry did this for
three reasons: to get Atherton’s name
out there, so RCP can see other high
schools throughout Kentucky, and simply because he “wants a trophy!”
When Mr.. Prince ran the program,
there wasn’t much outside participation
with RCP, which helped to formulate
this tightly knit group. Mr.. Perry said
that he’s realized and even discussed
the change in dynamics of the group
with Mr.. Prince. RCP is not as tightly
held together as it once was. Mr.. Perry
mentioned that he would like it to be,
but has had trouble building that. Alternatively, Mr.. Prince mentions that a
major change within RCP lies with the
members, not the director: “I feel like
there’s not as much devotion on the part
of the students, not as individuals, but
as a collaborative unit.”
Next year, Mr.. Perry plans on opening up a play or musical to the whole
school, allowing others to participate in
the drama magnet. He thinks this will
be a great opportunity for all the other
talented students at Atherton to shine,
because not everyone is capable of taking a theatre class.
As much as Atherton’s program has
shifted since Mr.. Perry’s arrival, his
own evolution is also evident. There
are many perks to being a high school
drama teacher, as apposed to a middle
I
f you are an Atherton student, as
you most likely are, and you are
interested in joining a club here at school,
this is the article for you.
There are many clubs - a few that are officially school sponsored, and many more
that are unofficial - springing up inside
the Rebel House that you may not have
This is a Test is this year’s RCP competitive play. All the members will go
to the competitions, and within 45 minutes, they will set up, perform, and clear
the stage. If the competitors fail to do
all this in the allotted time, individual
performances can still win awards; otherwise, the top scored school can move
on to state. The River City Players will
compete with the Kentucky Theatre
Association on November 14, at Morehead State University.
They will also be performing at school
on November 12. The understudies
will perform at 3:00, and the leads will
perform at 6:30. Not every school is
equipped with such a capable drama
director, or the kind of opportunities
that are made within the program. So
embrace it! We can’t all be good actors,
but we can all appreciate their abilities
and support our school’s unique programs; without student body support,
traditions like RCP would never come
to be.
School Clubs: What’s Going
On in the Rebel’s House?
heard about yet. But one thing is certain,
Atherton offers extra-curricular activities
other schools don’t necessarily have.
Article Written By Diamond Ruffin
school one, although he did not leave
Noe because he didn’t like middle
school. The options are much broader
in high school level drama. The level of
literature, the difficulty of the plays, the
general ability, and lack of censorship
needed greatly changes. Despite all of
those positive aspects, Mr.. Perry makes
it clear that it is not that he likes one
more than the other, just that teaching
among older students is a different experience all together. He also repeatedly states that Mr.. Hudson has been very
supportive of him through and through,
and that they usually find a way to see
eye to eye. Atherton was the first high
school in Kentucky to perform The Larime Project that he so boldly directed
his first year on the job.
If the uniqueness factor of some of these
clubs is not what interest you, there are
other reasons why you should check out
at least one or two of them. Popping
your head into a club here and there just
to check it out puts you out into the open
socially, allowing you to mix and mingle
with Atherton’s large groups of different
personalities.
And a more obvious reason to check out
a club is this: you may just discover that
you like whatever that club or activity fo-
cuses on.
Some of the more interesting clubs on the
Atherton 2009-2010 club roster includes
Atherton’s Video Game Club, sponsored
by Mr.. Ron Grant in room 205, Monday
afternoons. That’s right, a club for video
games.
Just when you thought playing video
games at home was fun, well now you
have another thing coming. The Video
Game Club is not passive, like say locking yourself in a room and staring at a
rapidly flashing screen for hours on end.
Instead, the club is socially interactive
and, chances are, you will meet many
SCHOOL NEWS
.9
Everything BETA Club
“Let us Lead by Serving Others”
Article Written By Maggie Shelton
B
eing inducted into Atherton High
School’s Beta Club is a prestigious
honor. This year’s Beta Club is being
sponsored by Ms. Julie Wooden, and she
along with the rest of the Beta Club are
ready to welcome this years inductees.
Beta Club is one of the largest independent, non- profit, educational, youth organizations in the world. It was founded
in 1934 by Dr. John W. Harris. Beta Club is a merit association that promotes high academic achievement and focus on the development of character and leadership skills.
This club is for sophomores, juniors, and seniors in high school.
Last year was the first year for Beta Club at Atherton. As result of the club being new
to the school, last year a wide variety of students were inducted. This year’s number
of inductees is smaller, and most inductees this year are sophomores. Despite this,
the club is still expected to have ten to twenty new members. Although the number is
small, each member can make a difference in the lives of people today.
Beta club is instructive in the value of good character and well developed social skills.
There is a difference in middle school and high school when it comes to Beta Club,
though. Middle school Beta Club is just to get you ready for what lies ahead, “to get
your feet wet.” High school is a different story. There is much more work to be done,
and more people to help.
Ms. Wooden was actively involved with Beta Club throughout her high school career,
and now she is this year’s new sponsor at Atherton. This club means a lot to her. She
believes that Beta Club is for students who have a high academic achievement and
the willingness and desire to give back to the community. They have to want to help
and be role models.
Beta Club is great if you are really serious about it. It can lead to scholarship offers,
and it shows well on a transcript for college applications. One piece of advice is not to
join Beta Club just to join it; join it because you want to make a difference in people’s
lives and the community.
To be able to qualify to be in this prestigious club you must have a grade point average
of 3.0 and be able to volunteer fifteen hours of your time every year to help others.
These are called (community) service hours. Membership is not a right, it is a privilege, you must also have worthy moral and ethical personality. As stated in its charter,
Beta Club has strict rules to abide by. One serious violation of ethics or conduct and
your membership can be terminated, which is permanent without possibility for reinstatement.
This year’s Beta Club will be a hit, the Introduction Ceremony will be on November
11, 2009 at 6:30 in the Small Auditorium at Atherton. Come out and support your fellow students as they are honored with the opportunity of a lifetime.
like-minded people. What's the worst that
could happen? You lose Mario Kart?
Alternatively - if you are not into the toocool-for-school clubs like Video Game
Club - Mr.. Will Tucker has recently begun facilitating a new creative writing
workshop called *the footnote.
I'm not sure about you, but the title of the
club gives away at least some hint that
this workshop is for those into serious
writing. Mr.. Tucker's mission statement
for this club: "Express yourself. It's what
you do".
Some benefits of meeting with the *the
footnote after school on Wednesdays in
room 108 - besides being able to share
knowledge with Mr.. Tucker, the coolest teacher ever - is you will always have
the opportunity to show off your writing
skills, and you are encouraged to always
be your own creative self. How much fun
could that be? Don't answer that question
just yet.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the
more extra-curricular activities you participate in, the better your college application resume will become. So, become
active, get out and get to know interesting people, and do what you do best. Be
creative! What's the worst to happen?
ISAP is Nothing Compared to
What These Kids Have Been Through
Article Submitted By Scott Wade and his E.S.L .Classes
INTRO
Picking up by the Ears and
Pulling Temple Hairs
Narayan Adhikari is Nepalese who was forced to live in a refugee camp in
Nepal because he was born in Bhutan, described another tactic.
“They pick you up off the floor by your ears,’’ he said, as he grabbed both
ears.
Sometimes students ask Ahmed Mohamud, a Somali freshman at
Atherton, why the fingernail of his finger looks smashed.
“Teachers did it,’’ he says, matter-of-factly. “In Somalia and Kenya,
they beat you all the time.”
Ahmed is part of a wave of refugees now common at Atherton, beginning last school year. Most are Somalis who lived in refugee camps in
Kenya, and Burmese who lived in refugee camps in Thailand. A few are
from Cuba. Most are now in their second year in the United States.
Atherton students who spent their childhood in refugee camps don’t
show bitterness to their treatment, but even laugh as they show each
other what teachers did to them.
In my English as a Second Language class on a recent day, a student’s
explanation of what Americans would consider unthinkable ignited a
conversation of story sharing, as students from different countries stood
up and re-enacted punishments. They even laughed because stories
from around the world were so familiar.
Ahmed demonstrated how teachers virtually mutilated his finger,
weaving a pencil through his fingers, and putting his hand on the desk.
“Then they smash your fingers together with the pencil in between,’’
he said.
The One
Kya Wah said teachers grab hold of the hairs in front of the air
and temple area and pull up to inflict pain as punishment. Below,
Kya Wah and Po Si Sit demonstrate.
Legged Balancing Act
Holding Books on Your Arms
Melba Seijas, from Cuba, described how her cousin had to hold her arms out
straight in front of her supporting the weight of heavy text books. Kim Courtney, an
Atherton ESL teacher, said students have told her of having to kneel on corn kernels
or even Coke bottle lids. My wife, born in Taiwan, said her mother told her that
children had to kneel, putting their knees on an abacus.
Wah Wah, a Karen minority from Burma, described it: The teacher would put books on your head and make
you stand on one leg for 10 minutes. Students must have a ruler in their mouth, extend both arms horizontal
to the floor and, in the meantime, balance chalkboard erasers on their wrists. If the books or erasers fall, or
the raised foot touches the floor, the student has to start over.
“We just stood there and cried,’’ said Paw Sie, with a doll-like smile. “It’s true.”
PAGE
SCHOOL NEWS
Slapping with
Rattan Sticks or Rulers
.11
Abshiro Noor, also from Somalia, told a story every student in the
class was familiar with. Students are forced press the tips of their fingers
together and are whacked on the fingertips for missing grammar or math
questions.
Ear Pulling
Than Da Khing, a Karen from Burma, demonstrated how students had to cross both arms in front of their body, grab
their own opposing ears and do deep knee bends, also known as squats. “Ten times for one mistake,’’ said classmate
Kya Wah, who goes by Gracy. “Twenty times for two mistakes.”
Beatings Dished out for
Playing on Weekends
Mohammed Ali – that’s his real name – said when teachers in Somalia
saw kids player soccer on a Sunday, instead of studying, it was bad news
for the student. “They would beat you on Monday. The teacher will beat
you everywhere,’’ he said. Mohammed shows a scar on his forearm. He
said, “Teachers made us go to the forest to bring back sticks to beat us
with.”
Whacked
Knuckles and Skull
Wah Wah saw teachers pulling on teachers ears and teachers making students pull on their own. Ahmed Mohamud and Omar Ali demonstrated the tactic used in Thailand.
Fellow Karen national Yeh Bay drew an illustration of several students in squatting positions holding each
other’s ears. Next to the image, he wrote: “We cry.”
Like getting smacked with a ruler or rattan which on the palms, calves, all
common experiences among Atherton’s newcomers, Abdullahi Abdi wrote: “In
Africa, the teacher they hit you in the hand knuckles.” He also described getting
wrapped in the head by knuckles. Kya Wah described how the girls would have to
hitch up their skirts to be whipped across the back of the legs and calves.
Finger and Ear Twisting
Fatuma Hassan, a Somali, demonstrated a variety of techniques her teachers
in Somalia and Kenya had of using pencils to twist the ears. She said when her
brother “didn’t want to be a Muslim,’’ teachers made him strip to his underwear,
tied his hands over his head to a bar and beat his body with sticks.”
Carrying Classmates on Their Back
Saw Kler, a Karen from Burma, said boys who
broke the rules had to carry a girl all the way
around the school on their backs.
Maybe it’s not surprising that Atherton’s new
comers love their teachers. We don’t hit them.
Mr. Wade knocked out by Muhammed Ali
International Opportunities
.12
PAGE
SCHOOL NEWS
A Look at Several Programs with which to Study Abroad
understanding of the inner workings of
other cultures.
limited group of languages in France,
Spain, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany,
Italy, or China, for anywhere between
2-52 weeks.
Education First
A second, Education First exclusive
program is their EF Multi Language
Year program. In this, students will
gain the opportunity to experience 3
of the world’s largest cities through 9
months of rigorous course study of 2-3
languages of their choice. The locations
of study however, are the same for both
programs.
With claims to be “the world’s largest private education organization,”
Education First (EF) has been offering
high school and college students the opportunity to study the language of their
choice in a culturally rich environment
for over 40 years.
A multinational staff of more than 3,000
full time, and 23,000 part-time teachers
and volunteers working in hundreds
of offices and schools in more than 50
countries around the world, show that
E.F.F. is more than well equipped to
succeed in their mission to, “Make it
possible for people around the world to
communicate with one another across
borders, breaking down barriers of language, culture and geography.”
Article Written By Zach Jamison
High School is one of the
A therton
few IB magnet schools through-
out the state of Kentucky which hosts
several foreign exchange students each
year from every corner of the globe.
The main purpose of these student exchanges is to foster a community of
international scholars, and so far, they
have been working quite well. Students with the intent and desire to study
abroad have a wide variety of programs
and options available to select from, as
well as an extremely diverse cluster of
countries waiting to accept them.
Information on these programs is not
very difficult to obtain. It is made easily accessible through the use of several
websites.
American Field Service
The American Field Service (AFS) is
the first of many exchange programs
readily available for students from several countries. It is a volunteer based
organization whose yearly basis of
participation includes roughly 13,000
adults and students worldwide.
With networks on popular websites
such as Myspace.com, and Facebook.
com, the AFS is easily able to distribute
information about its wide selection of
opportunities to study abroad in over 50
countries.
Enrollment is as simple as the scroll
of a computer screen and the click of
a mouse, and, with an easily navigable
website you’ll have no trouble locating
the requirements to travel abroad.
With over 90 years of history and a core
system based on dignity, respect for
differences, harmony, sensitivity and
tolerance, The American Field Service
offers two quality programs through
which to study abroad.
The first of which offered is titled, “The
School Program”. Through this program, students gain the opportunity to
stay for the duration of one academic
year, semester or trimester, based on
the country they are attending. The students live with a host family and attend
a local secondary school as full time
students.
These exchanges are offered in more
than 50 countries across the globe,
and according to the AFS website,
“Enable(s) people to act as responsible
global citizens working for peace and
understanding in a diverse world”.
The second program The American
Field service provides to aspiring ambassadors is that of a “Summer or Intensive” program, in which students
have the choice to spend one to three
months in a foreign country. These programs tend to have a more direct focus
on home stays, language skills, community service, and cultural activities.
Although there are two different programs open to students through AFS,
participants of both gain a much deeper
The programs offered through Education First are as diverse as the countries
they send their participants to, but each
follow one of their standard promises,
affordability. In these hard economic
times we need to work together as
a global community to reestablish a
working economy, and EF recognizes
this.
“We want everyone to be able to afford our programs, and that means we
have to keep the costs down.” – www.
ef.com
Education First’s main focus is language
for the purpose of multinational career
opportunities, and this is achieved
through offering programs to students
of all ages, the earliest of which being
middle to high school students between
the ages of 13 – 16. Students that fall
into this age group are offered the opportunity to study abroad in the months
of June, July, August, January, and February. During this time, they will be exposed to the specific disciplines of the
language of their choice. It is a carefully
structured course of 20 weekly lessons
held in mornings and afternoons, and
specifically designed to help students
progress quickly.
The next age group is that of 16+, including mainly high school students,
and is presented with a multitude of
options to hone their proficiency in the
language of their choice. The first and
probably most common, is the standard
study abroad. Students have the choice
to select between Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Chinese as languages,
and will have the chance to study this
The last age group serviced by Education First is that of the 25+ age group.
This age group is offered the same programs as the two prior, but in addition
25+ year old students are given the
chance to study through what is known
as the EF Executive Courses Abroad
program. Adults wishing to further
their linguistic ability and form a career
are presented with small group and oneon-one intensive immersion courses
abroad designed specifically for executives. They are able to choose from UK,
USA, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, as possible study locations.
All in all, Education First provides an
extensive selection of possible programs through which to hone, or even
perfect your understanding of a language or culture. With so many countries available as study locations, and
so many career opportunities offered,
it’s easy to see why it would be a great
choice for any aspiring linguist.
The Laurasian Institution
The third and final major educational
site for language proficiency is that of
the Laurasian Institution. This program
is crafted specifically for fostering a
better understanding of Asian cultures,
particularly those of China, and its
neighbor, Japan.
In existence since 1990, this program
has helped connect countries of the
world with the unique cultures of two of
the largest Asian superpowers, and viceversa. While the Laurasian has its roots
dipped deep into several programs, its
two largest are that of the Chinese (CCorps) and Japanese (J-Corps).
The C-Corps has its bases set in Seattle
and China, and its students are primarily second year Chinese students who
study abroad in American public and
private schools with high educational
standards.
The same goes for the J-Corps program.
What makes these programs unique
though, and what offsets them from
other modern day exchange programs,
is that the students, with their knowledge of their own culture, are required
to contribute to their peers’ cultural understanding.
The result is an enriching experience
for both the American students and
foreign students as they collaborate to
learn about each other’s world.
With so many programs available to
today’s students in which they can examine and gain a better understanding
of various cultures, we can begin to see
the formation of a vast international
group of scholars whose primary goal
is to establish efficient communication
between each nation of the world.
In doing this, the cultural leaders of tomorrow have an incredible opportunity
with the technology made available to
them today. We can shatter language
barriers and work our way towards
becoming a more unified global community.
Bel Canto Desserts - Dec. 4&5 7:30 PM $10
Madrigal Dinner
Thursday amd Friday
December 10 - 11
Soup, Salad, and Desert for $10
atherton-choir.tk
Saturday
December 12
Dinner for $15
PAGE
Disney
ENTERTAINMENT / REVIEWS
The Next Comic Superpower?
Article Written By Aaron Palmer
A
few years from now, you decide to
take your family to Disney World.
Your daughter is pining for the new Jonas
Brothers ride which features an exclusive
soundtrack in which the audience’s own
screams are incorporated into it and a CD
of the soundtrack can be purchased from
the gift store for $25. Your son, however,
is excited about the new rollercoaster,
Marvel: Be A Superhero, which features
superheroes from the comic company
such as Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron-Man,
Captain America, and a few others. Is this
the future of Marvel comics? But first,
let’s look at the history behind the company.
Marvel started off in 1939 under the
name Timely Comics, founded by Martin Goodman. At this time, comics were
still relatively new and extremely popu-
lar in pop culture, and during this time,
Goodman hired a teenage relative, who in
1941 would rise and take over as an editor. This man, Stanley Lieber, is known
by his pseudonym, Stan Lee.
In the post-World War II era, the comic
business of superheroes was becoming
unpopular, so Timely Comics, now newly
renamed Atlas Comics, began to broaden
its selection. Some of their genres expanded to include romance, westerns,
drama, bible-stories, and a wide variety
of different works. For the children’s
market, they published a few ghost stories
and high school drama stories. They even
attempted to try to get superheroes back
on the popularity wagon unsuccessfully.
It wasn’t until DC comics began to rake
in the money through superhero comics
when Marvel started suit.
Text to Media
Lost in Translation?
Article Written By Adelle Brodbeck
and more books are being
M ore
made into movies. One would
think that transferring beloved stories
onto the big screen is a great idea. But
at what point does this transaction go
too far? Are our treasured tales being ripped to pieces by bad acting and
poorly constructed scripts?
I feel compelled to start off with one
book series turned movie that has
erupted with mass popularity. Although
some people may disagree on the quality of the books, there is no denying the
massive fan base of Twilight. I myself
am very fond of the book series, but
not a great admirer of the movie. Even
though the movie was poorly made,
badly edited, full of mediocre CGI and
not the best acting, I still own it and
watch it constantly because I am a fan.
I love the books and will pretend to
love the movies for fear of loosing all
respect for the book series.
But what about all the reluctant boyfriends, family members and friends being forced to watch the movies without
reading the books? They will all agree
that it was an awful movie. Being a fan
of the books may shroud true opinions,
but people being newly introduced will
have no problem critiquing. Then why
does this happen? Why are well written, fun and entertaining books being
turned into terrible movies?
When a book is translated to the screen
,“
In the 60s, Lee, working with Jack Kirby
and Steve Ditko, created a wide range
of new comic book superheroes that we
all know and love today such as SpiderMan, The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron
Man, The Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, Doctor
Strange, and a wide variety of other fantastical characters. Lee’s characters were
often well thought out and developed with
a wide range of complex emotions, unlike
what most superhero comics were or had
been. In the case of Spider-Man, here you
had a teenager Peter Parker, struggling
with school, family, girl problems, and all
the other usual teenage woes, but he has a
secret identity in which he protected New
York city citizens from various thugs to
equally complex and human villains.
Nowadays, however, with the boon from
comic book superheroes owning the box
.
office, Marvel and similar comics have to
have be doing quite well, right? Seemingly, yes. But how can it explain Disney’s
buyout of Marvel two months ago?
One of the main reasons is probably to
expand on the tween-age boy market,
much like Disney has been doing with the
opposite gender with its shows such as
Hannah Montana, movies and rock/pop
acts such as the Jonas Brothers and High
School Musical. Previously, the Pirates
of the Caribbean series held that throne
for young boys. So, Disney might be trying to focus on putting out new marvel
related products and shows and perhaps
even rides and video games.
For example, Disney partnered with
Squaresoft (now Square Enix) to create
the popular video game series Kingdom
Hearts, which is a mash up of the Disney
universe featuring Final Fantasy characters. And surprisingly, it made for some
great video gaming. Also, for this decade,
Disney is buying up a lot of different
companies such as Saban entertainment
(owns Power Rangers franchise, and was
a branch of marvel and featured some
marvel superhero based shows) and they
famously purchased 3-D animation powerhouse Pixar Animation Studios back in
2006.
So, what exactly is Disney planning to do
with Marvel? That’s the thing, nobody really knows. However, comic enthusiasts
think that there is a low probability that
Disney will interfere with the comic industry, other than maybe making new
rides/mash-ups/films and other projects
involving Marvel’s 8,500+ characters
Pessimistic people, like myself, think that
books shouldn’t even be made into movies because it will never end nicely (the
only exceptions being Harry Potter and
Lord of the Rings)
there is always speculation. The optimistic people have faith that the directors and actors will portray the movie
exactly the way they want. Pessimistic
people, like myself, think that books
shouldn’t even be made into movies
because it will never end nicely (the
only exceptions being Harry Potter
and Lord of the Rings).
Although there are many pessimists,
the build up for book based movies can
still be overwhelming. All the advertising campaigns, internet buzz and gossip at school is too much. Honestly, is
all the promotion necessary when it is
virtually impossible to cram an entire
book word for word into a respectable
movie length. Without all the hype and
expectations I think that some of these
movies could actually be recognized
for just plain, quality movies.
Maybe it is just the pessimist in me but,
I think that books shouldn’t be made
into movies. Not only does it create
conflict and disappointment, it destroys
imagination. Kids are reading less and
less because there’s no reason to. Why
would you want to sit and read a book
when you can just see the movie?
Movies can’t compete with book. When
you are reading a book there is so much
more left to your imagination. You can
dress these characters however you
want, picture the scenes however you
want, it’s all up to you. But, with mov-
.13
“
ies, everything’s already done for you;
zero imagination needed. When you’re
young, imagination is especially important, and these movies are tearing
that away.
There are different sides to every story.
Some people expect too much from
book based movies and are left irritated and unhappy. Some people don’t
expect anything from these movies and
could quite possibly be surprised. It all
depends on where you’re coming from.
Even if you know the movie’s going to
be a train wreck, but you don’t want
to be the only one who hasn’t seen
the new rendition of Where the Wild
Things Are, for Pete’s sake at least read
the book.
PAGE
Paranormal Activity
REVIEWS
Real or Fake?
J
Para
n
ivity
orm
al Ac
t
First, the acting of Katie Featherson and Micha Sloat is convincingly chilling. Micha and Katie are an engaged couple
that have been living together for three years when Micha thought he heard creaking pipes, but it was so much
more. Throughout this movie you witness what was once
am intriguing and loving couple transform to a very
stressed, upset, couple.
Post
er
Something that I myself enjoyed during Paranormal Activity was the
sense of strange humor in the beginning when everything’s just fun
and games. In addition to the rare sense of humor found in this horror film, the story line was very different from the ordinary shock
flick. Unlike The Others, Paranormal Activity kicks off your Halloween socks and keeps you sinking in your movie seat, with
more of a realistic feel for the home in San Diego and the activity going on in the home of Katie and Micha's lovely house.
Amo
n
Ama
r
Twili
ght o
f
th’s A
lbum
Whatever it may be that you appreciate about this movie, expect to be
thrilled no matter what. And don’t
buy popcorn - in the first ten to
twenty minutes, it will be on the
floor. Go see this movie with a
group of people; you won't want
to leave each other’s side. I'd
grab a mid-night snack before
you keep yourself locked in
your room. Come prepared
and be ready for anything.
r Go
the T
hund
e
Another thing that is an eye catcher and
keeps you in your seat is the movie camera itself. It feels as if its a home video
left behind which in a horrific way gives
you that extra chill in your spine.
d
Then there are the subtle bumps in the night has the
viewer's adrenaline rushing. Not only do the main
characters develop nicely, but Oren Piel's terrifying directing skills rubs off on the crowd, making
Paranormal Activity seem incredibly realistic. In
this day of age, movie watchers are looking for
something to really crawl down their spine and
make them feel as if someone or something is
breathing on their necks.
Amo
n
Ama
r
th Ba
nd P
hoto
And back to the original
question first raised in
this review: is it really
Paranormal Activity?
See it for yourself
and come up with
your own opinions.
If you dare.
Scre
ensh
If you thought The Blair Witch Project was terrifying, you have another
thing coming. Paranormal Activity is as scary as it gets. I'm not going to
answer the question that I myself am still asking: is it really paranormal
activity? That is a question for you to ponder.
ots f
rom
Pa
rano
rmal
ust when you thought that Transformers II was the movie of the year, Oren
Piel had audiences crouched down in their movie seats. Movie ticket after
movie ticket were bought due to the excitement of the movie trailers/previews.
Paranormal Activity has a different view. The movie is filmed with a home
camera. With two characters and their beautiful home in San Diego what
could go wrong?
Activ
ity
Article Written By Diamond Ruffin
.14
Amon Amarth
Twilight of the Thunder God
Article Written By Levi Groenewold
Amarth. It’s loud. It’s Heavy Metal. It’s centered on Viking lore and mythology. It is inA mon
spired by European folk music from the ancient times. It’s Viking Folk Metal, and no, it is not
a band that is going to carry the same legendary impact as The Beatles, or even Metallica for that
matter. That most certainly does not mean it is bad music. Your reviewer endeavors to convey to you
the very experience of every aspect of this album, as your reviewer strives to do with all the music
he listens to, but your reviewer also feels that Amon Amarth’s electric and power driven music merits an entire reality check on the music of the emerging generation and the culture it creates. Amon
Amarth’s album, Twilight of the Thunder God, contains everything that a Metalhead would want
in music. Amon Amarth manages to stand out as a Heavy Metal band without challenging the very
legitimacy of the style itself.
Like most Heavy Metal bands today, Amon Amarth, and the album itself, are not one hundred percent
pure in their subgenre. Most Folk Metal bands incorporate Melodic Metal or Melodic Death Metal.
Twilight of the Thunder God has no shortage of the Death Growls that we all love, and better yet,
some of the best instrumentals in Heavy Metal today back the extreme growling with an epic aura.
For subgenre-freaks, the album could be said to be Epic-Viking-Folk-Melodic-Death-Metal. That is
a mouthful, so why don’t we just call it for what it’s worth: exceptional.
Opening with the song whose title is the album’s namesake, elation fills the heart. For the first time,
one mat feel tears of impression swell up even in the most macho of music fans because of this heroic
sounding anthem. The songs Free Will Sacrifice, Where is Your God is arguably less melodic and have
more in common with the likes of Pantera than Agalloch, and focuses on the more extreme aspect of
death metal, which can admittedly be a little boring since we have heard Cannibal Corpse more than
too many times. But Twilight of the Thunder God more than redeems itself with epic ballads such as
Guardians of Asgaard, an extreme vocal style Doom Metal song about the legendary spiritual warrior
guarding the sacred city of all Viking Gods. Maybe the Leif Ericsons of metal music have a special
throne reserved with them behind those glorious, Nordic walls. Every song on this album has its own
place in Asgaard I believe, but taking a more mortal look at things, many would say that this very
album is a sign that music is condemned to the lofty gates of some Viking heaven to die. Listening to
Amon Amarth and feeling reborn, your reviewer is perplexed as to why so many others are trying to
say that music is dead.
This is not to say, though, that Amon Amarth is for the masses, or that it ever will be. First, the Swedish Metal band remains mostly in its home continent of Europe, where a vanguard of modern metal is
being developed right underneath American listener’s noses (or better yet, ears). And of course, your
reviewer understand that he is not the embodiment of the youth of the world and is more than comfortable, in fact feels at home, in the world of extreme metal. And yes, Twilight of the Thunder God
will never be as palatable as Avenged Sevenfold or Black Label Society, but it will more than satisfy
those who are curious. And that’s just what drives our generation today: curiosity.
No, you won’t hear bands as varied as John Legend with Amon Amarth on the same radio wave. In
fact, you’d be hard pressed to find any station nowadays that play music popular amongst people like
you or your reviewer at all. Most of them have gone to classic rock (don’t get me wrong, I love the
classics as well) or nineties pop or to ranting right wing radio fascists (did I say that out loud?). This
phenomenon of music "retreating" to the underground has caused every music snob to raise the alarm
of music’s death. "Music is dead and we have killed it!" scream the Nietzsche complex of reviewers
and musicians alike. Its all underground, there is no commonality in music, there are no legendary
labels like Mercury records staying afloat.
In a time when there seem to be no music reviewers representing you, the masses, your reviewer is
going to take on this issue once, and only once for it is music that I am passionate about, not snobbery.
I will speak for the music listening music. Music is far from dead. Music is not a corporate record
label, it is an art form. Music is not a multi-million dollar firework spewing glam concert; it is the
way how sound adds vibrancy to our culture. I say to the condemners of music that they are the true
enemies of music, not the raging undergrounds. Some of us like punk, some metal, some bubble gum
pop, some all and none of the above. What we all have in common is that we give music its immortal
breath every single day, and cursed be those who will oppose us. This is what Amon Amarth’s Twilight of the Thunder God will do for a listener like your reviewer. So what if it is obscure European
metal. It breathes life, and that makes all the difference.
PAGE
Fight Final Fantasy
REVIEWS
Gunblade vs. Bustersword
.15
Article Written By Thomas Dugan
I
f you are like me and you enjoy
Final Fantasy games, then you
would have probably heard two fans
arguing about who would beat who in a
fight with Cloud vs. Squall [Leon]. Well
fans, it is time to find out who will win,
the game Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
The story of Dissidia is about two gods
that fell into an dispute and now are in
a full- out war. The two gods that are
the reason for this war are Cosmos, the
Goddess of Harmony and Chaos, the
God of Discord. Thousands of years
later, the war is being won by Chaos.
As a last attempt, Cosmos summons
ten of her strongest warriors. People
familiar with Final Fantasy will recognize them as the main characters of Final Fantasy 1-10. Chaos does the same
thing, except calls on the ten main villains from Final Fantasy 1-10. Later,
Cosmos explains that there is a way to
defeat Chaos, and it is for each warrior
to gather a crystal of their own by defeating their enemy’s while fulfilling
their reason to fight.
Now the plot is one of the few problems
with this game. The main objective of
the game is to find the crystals and to
save the world. I mean, to find crystals
was already used in some of the past
Final Fantasy games and those were
mediocre at best, so why would recycling one of the more lackluster aspects
of the game work now if it did not do
well in the previous games?
Article Written By Thomas Dugan
I
magine waking up on a train in the
middle of the mountains and realizing you were shot. Not exactly the perfect
start to a day. Once you process that information, you are now responsible for carefully getting out of the train without falling
to the bottom of the mountain and trying
not to die after being betrayed by your
“comrades.” This is not the worst 24 hours
of your life, this is just the first five minutes
of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the follow up
to Naughty Dog’s prequel game Uncharted:
Drakes Fortune was probably the most eagerly anticipated game for any PlaySation 3
owner. The story follows Nathan Drake on
a brand new journey that will take him on
a trip around the world to find out the truth
behind the lost fleet of Marco Polo, to find
Shambhala, also known as Shangri-La, and
to find the Cintamani Stone.
One of the things that Uncharted fans will
be happy about is that Victor Sullivan and
Elena Fisher will be in this game to con-
PLATFORM(S) AVAILABLE ON:
One thing that many people are disappointed about is the fact it that it is
not on a PS3 or XBOX360. This might
give the game a broader appeal because
more people own a PS3 or XBOX360
than a PSP. If they had made this game
for the PS3 or the XBOX360, you
would be able to see a lot more in game
graphics than what you see in the PSP.
There are positives to making a game
that is portable, but it seems like it
could have been released for more than
one system.
want to mute the entire game, but the
majority of the characters voices are
good. A lot of anime fans will be happy
because some of the voice actors are
from popular anime shows such as Naruto, Bleach, and Dragon Ball Z.
Now the last issue I have with the game
is that just a few of the voice actors
have an annoying voice that makes you
Now that we are done talking about the
negative aspects of this game, it’s time
to move on to the good things. First off,
each character has their own unique
personality that makes you connect
with that character. Adding on to that,
each character has his or her own attack style with the exception of Bartz,
who uses his ally’s moves for his power
but gives each attack a special twist to
tinue helping Drake on his quest. While it
is always good to have some familiar faces,
the new characters that are introduced in
Uncharted 2 really help bring variety to the
story. You meet Harry Flynn, a long time
friend and treasure hunter of Drake’s. Chloe
Frazer, who is Drake’s new love interest and
a thief that is good at getting information
from enemy territory. Plus Tenzin, a man
from a Tibetan village that does not know
any word of English but can still communicate in different ways with Drake.
Something that you can also do that involves
close combat is stealth kill. The player must
go up behind an opponent who has no idea
that you are there and you attack him and
it will be a one hit kill. Another version of
stealth kill is when you are hanging on a
ledge and there is someone right in front of
you, you are able to pull them off that ledge
and one hit kill them. The opposite version
of that is when you kick them off the ledge;
also a one hit kill.
it. That being said there are many types
of weapons at character’s disposal,
such as swords, daggers, magic, lances,
axes, and even beach balls.
The controls for this game are magnificent, it has so many things for a character to do and you can easily remember
which button is which and using combos are a breeze, unlike the controls of
the Street Fighter series.
The music score for this game is great.
It has some of the best music from the
previous Final Fantasy games such as
One-Winged Angel. Big time fans will
be happy to know that every time you
win a battle, the victory theme from the
Final Fantasy series will play. If you
win while you are an evil character,
you will get a different victory theme
from the hero’s side of the game. It
adds a really nice touch.
This game is not easy to sum up in a
few words. If it were a math problem,
you would add the main Final Fantasy
Heroes and villains with a Tekken style
game, subtract a detailed plot line and
multiply the crystals from Crash Bandicoot with a bit more detail. This answer
would total Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
An Uncharted Adventure
The antagonist of the game is named Zoran
Lazarević, a Serbian war criminal who is
after the power of the Cintamani Stone. He
is a dangerous killer who does not let emotions get in the way of business.
Let’s start by talking about the controls.
First off, if you have played any shooter
game for any system then this will be easy
to use. You also have the option to do some
hand to hand combat, which has been improved on since the first game. When you
are in a fight and the opponent is about to
attack you, you are now able to dodge it and
do a counter attack.
A majority of the game’s combat is shooting. The shooting in this game is very precise and very user friendly. It is basically
no trouble at all for people that have ever
played a shooting game. The gun selection in the game is very good; you have
the selection from Dessert-7, M4, and even
RPG’s, or rocket-propelled grenades.
Now it is time to mention something phenomenal about the game. Hands down best
graphics ever. The graphics for this game
arethe best that the PlayStation3 has ever
have produced. The editing of how the
characters look are fantastic, it makes the
characters have their own individual feel
to them that makes you stunned at how detailed the characters and background setting
is. Movie quality graphics help make any
gamer feel like they are right in the action.
Due to the quality of the game in story
mode, it would be easy to dismiss the multiplayer in this game, but the way that the
developers created story mode makes it
worth talking about. You have the option
to go on and fight other players or team up
with two of your friends in co-op and go
through mini missions. In this mode you
have a level up process which you can find
extra items for you own needs. It is a nice
addition to the game as this will entertain
players after they complete the story mode
for a very long time. It is an intelligent decision to make sure that a player doesn't stop
playing just because they have beaten the
game.
You also have the option of machinima
mode which is a personal movie making mode of this game. You can create as
many videos that correspond with what you
would like to have seen in the story mode.
The other feature is option mode which you
can look at the previous cut scenes that you
have seen in story mode. You also have the
option to see the behind the scenes look of
how they made the game.
Beware, this game is that it takes awhile
to get connected to the internet for the
multiplayer, but the wait is well worth it.
Graphics, story line, multiplayer battles,
weaponry, behind the scenes information.
This game has it all. Uncharted 2; Among
Thieves manages to take all the great ideas
from the original game and expand on them
and make them even better. With they way
they have outdone themselves, I can only
hope to see Uncharted 3 some time in the
future...
PAGE
The Incident
REVIEWS
Porcupine Tree
Article Written By Alek Flener-Satre
rock is a term used
P rogressive
to describe bands such as Pink
he was driving one day, and noticed a
wreck. “The irony of such a cold expression for such seismic events appealed to me, and I began to pick out
other ‘incidents’ reported in the media
and news,” said Wilson. “…Each song
is written in the first person and tries to
humanize the detached media reportage.”
Floyd, Yes, and Rush. However, even
today, progressive rock is as popular
as it ever was, albeit among a small
crowd.
So, with all of this, how does the album actually sound? It’s actually rather
strong, despite its weak first impression, as I found.
Among the bands in the genre today
stands out Porcupine Tree, a band that
began as nothing more than Steven Wilson, a drum machine, and a multi-track
recorder. Today, it’s one of the most
successful progressive bands around.
This past November, they released
their newest album, The Incident.
The album starts off with Occam’s Razor. It starts out as a set of heavy power
chords that eventually come to a more
peaceful acoustic guitar. The song then
transitions into a soundscape, something I noted, Steven Wilson utilized a
lot to bring the album together in some
places.
I fell in love with Porcupine Tree because of the material’s similarity to
Pink Floyd. However, the band’s style
was never completely the same. It was
constantly changing and taking new
forms. Over time this evolved into a
heavier, almost metal, sound that was
a bit more conventional, as heard with
Fear of a Blank Planet from the earlier
works such as The Sky Moves Sideways, which was spacey.
This soundscape transitions us into the
next song, The Blind House. At first it
sappears to be a heavy song, but before
the first verse, the song mellows out
into the more jazz progressive style.
The verse is well done in my opinion,
but the chorus, which people usually
remember, seems incredibly weak. It
sounds like modern pop-rock, and rather generic. Another small soundscape
and we’re back into the heavy sound.
It’s very reminiscent of Opeth’s style.
With the new album, Steven Wilson
blends the older progressive style and
the newer metal sound to create something fresh. However, the theme for the
album is a rather strange idea in itself.
Steven Wilson’s idea behind the songs
was to attach human emotion to the detached news reports. In interviews he
has said to have gotten this idea when
As The Blind House ends, we’re moved
into Great Expectations. This is a more
mellow song, reminiscent of their early
works. The song has potential, but it’s
much too short. As well, the guitar tone
after the first verse is quite odd, almost
as if it were a mistake. With another
perfect transition, we’re into Kneel
and Disconnect. It rather compliments
Great Expectations, while standing as
its own song. It ends in a piano solo that
seems to drag on just a bit too long.
Next comes one of the weakest points
of the album, Drawing the Line. It starts
with, and sticks to, their older style for
the verses, but the chorus is more in the
style of modern pop-rock again. I find
it rather obnoxious, but still listenable.
The guitar’s tone for the solos after the
choruses is rather annoying, too.
Next comes the title track, and the track
that outlines the event that gave him
the concept, “The Incident”. This piece
is very reminiscent of Wilson’s works
from Unreleased Electronic Music.
The sound is dark and eerie, as well as
the lyrics. During the bridge you hear
the influence of the band Meshuggah.
It’s almost a replica of their sound. The
song ends with another soundscape.
Another flawless transition finds us in
Your Unpleasant Family. After the nod
to heavy metal, this is another breath
of the old. Wilson’s voice is also very
beautiful in this piece. The solo is quite
amazing as well. The piece then concludes into the transition track The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train. This
piece is rather unimportant, and in my
eyes, has no real purpose, nor need.
It does lead us into the work’s longest
piece, Time Flies, a song of reminisce
for Wilson. The song is eerily similar to
the Pink Floyd song Dogs. In fact, I can
hear influence from the Animals album
throughout. The transition from the intro to the verses and the breakdown before the solo near the middle take influence from Dogs, while another section
in the song sounds like the ending of
Sheep. The song ends in silence before
Degree Zero of Liberty, marking the
first real break.
Degree Zero of Liberty is much like a
reprise of Occam’s Razor, with a more
distraught sound in place of the acoustic guitar at the beginning. This is the
beginning of a small medley that leads
into Octane Twisted.
Octane Twisted sounds like a more
mellow version of The Blind House,
with a more ‘troubled’ that transitions
it into the heavier sound again, which
brings us back to the older style again.
It leads into The Séance, a short piece
of mellow that reprises Octane Twisted
before leading into Circle of Manias.
This short instrumental track ends the
small medley with a burst of energy.
Another break leaves us with I Drive
the Hearse. It starts with a calm acoustic verse, with a sad tone. It then heads
into a more hopeful sounding chorus.
We come back to the verse before a
break, itself having a saddened sound.
The lyrics rather mirror the music in
feeling through the song. The final chorus has an even more hopeful sound,
before heading to a sad musical ending,
and a slow fade, ending The Incident
itself.
That’s not the end, however. Along with
the main song cycle, you get a 22 min
EP length disc with four songs stemming from a band writing session. This
is a nice addition to the set, rather than
something sold separately. Although
the material would’ve fit on the first
disc, Wilson chose to keep it separate
from the rest, stressing that they aren’t
related.
It opens up with Flicker. This is a mel-
.16
low piece that reminds me almost of
Stars Die. The piece has some intricate
drumming and a wonderful, slow, melodic solo in the middle. In contrast to
this, we have the dark piece Bonnie the
Cat. It has a rather interesting middle
section, which throws the rhythm section into the far background through
distortion as the chorus is repeated.
This leads into a strange synth solo,
which translates the tone, before leading into another Meshuggah influenced
riff.
We then come to Black Dahlia. This
song is familiar to the material on
Deadwing. Its light-hearted sound and
dark lyrical theme are catchy and beautiful at the same time. It really stands
out from the rest of the material in the
set.
We find ourselves now on the last
track, and longest of the disc, Remember Me Lover. This stands out to me as
well. It starts mellow, but very sharp in
tone, which conveys the message of the
lyrics through the music, as well. The
breaks after the chorus are heavy riffs.
The second break leads us into a quiet
solo that crescendos into another heavy
section that ends the disc.
All in all, I was very impressed by the
new work, and I’m saddened by the fact
I missed them when they came around.
Although it may seem weak at first, this
is one of those things that has to grow
on you, much like a Rush album. It also
gladdens me to see Wilson reaching
back to the roots he came from while
branching out, something a lot more
artists should try, instead of rehashing
old ideas for a quick buck.
PAGE
The Rebels Get a Win
SPORTS
Too Little Too Late?
.17
Article Written By James Haynes & Jordan Hoehler
T
he Rebels Football team closed
out their season with a 1-9 record,
and a last game 12-8 victory over Iroquois. Laronta Murray, who has had an
explosive season, rushed 25 yards for
their last Touchdown of the season, and
Coty Wright recovered a fumble and
ran it back 11 yards for a touchdown.
But was it too little too late for the Rebels? Can their season still be considered
a success? Yes it can, this is a team who
normally never seems to care by the last
game of the season, but not this year.
They knew it was their last chance to
win and they jumped on it.
A 1-9 season with no playoff berth,
makes fans turn their attention to basketball quickly. Still, you have to give
the Rebels credit for their heart and
dedication, for not letting a whole season look like a failure. The fact that the
Rebels scored only 40 combined points
this season causes opposing teams who
see Atherton on their schedule to think
that it’s a sure fire win. The Rebels disproved that in their final game. Iroquois
was favored to win 14-6 over the Rebels. That did everything but discourage
them though. They went out and played
“OCHO” + T.O. = EGOS
with a fire that had been building all
season.
Looking at the stats it doesn’t look
like it was all that amazing of a performance, considering the Rebels only
had 29 total yards of offence and went
0-11 on 3rd down conversions, as well
as 0-6 on fourth down conversions. But,
and you have to focus more on the stats
to see this, the Rebels proved that with
this win. Senior Derrick Robinson said
it best when asked what he believed was
the reason the Rebels won, “We wanted
to go out with a bang, and everyone did
their jobs.” You have to have heart to
win. Desire is the ultimate key to success. How else can you win when you
only have 29 yards and never convert
a 3rd or 4th down?
Despite those horrific offensive numbers, the Rebels still managed to grab
2 interceptions and recover a fumble
and return it for a touchdown. It takes
more then offense to win a game, and
on Friday night, defense proved to be
the key to victory.
The Rebels closed out their season on a
positive note. This may just be the type
of energy they will need going into next
season. The Rebels will be returning six
juniors and a handful of sophomores
and freshman. This season has been a
rebuilding one for the Rebels as they
welcomed a new head coach, and all
signs point in the right direction with a
final game victory like this. Good job
Rebels, and good luck next season.
Article Written By James Haynes
F
rom all my years of watching football, I have never seen more ego
at a position than at the wide-receiver spot, which always seems
loaded with athletes ready and willing to be the next one in the spot light.
You can’t talk about wide outs who think too much of themselves more
than Chad Johnson (a.k.a. Ochocinco), or Terrell Owens (a.k.a. T.O.),
two of the most dominant - yet selfish - forces of our time.
If we are going to start off talking about who has the biggest mouth,
heads turn straight to 85, excuse me… Chad Ochocinco. Known for his
memorizing celebrations and his wonderful catch phrases, is it such a
bad thing that he talks so much? He has the skills and drive to back it up.
Ochocinco is what the league needs to stay alive in my eyes. Motivation
surrounds this man’s head every season, weeks 1 through 17.
If you don’t know Ochocinco, you’ll love to hate him, and you’ll hate
to love him, period. His most famous celebration is the “Dear NFL,
PLEASE don’t fine me AGAIN!” celebration. This lets people know,
“Hey, I’m paid to play this game, don’t restrict me, I’m bringing fans to
the stadium, and that’s what the NFL needs me to do.”
Another little celebration, which turned out to be a big deal to the league,
was the “Hall Of Fame 20??” jacket incident. He was also fined $5K,
when he velcroed “Ochocinco” over his name on his jersey, (which was
ripped off by Quarterback Carson Palmer during pre game warm ups.)
But to sum things up, Ochocinco is one of the most animated characters
who has ever run a route in the league, and until retirement, I hopes he
keeps it up.
Then there is Terrell Owens, who’s career totals include 4 teams, 13 seasons, and all attitude with the ego to back it up. Terrell Owens, who soon
generated to the unstoppable alter ego known as T.O. started his career
with the San Francisco 49ers, and from there started a rollercoaster that
spread through four teams. Yes, he was the guy who quarterbacks wanted
to throw to, but they didn’t want him in the locker room. When Owens
was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2004, things started to slip up
in the locker room with the drama between T.O. and Eagles quarterback
Donavon McNabb basically tearing the Eagles apart. But 81 didn’t stop
there, being traded for the third time in his career, this time to the Dallas
Cowboys. His relationship with his QB, Tony Romo, took a turn for the
best as the real Terrell Owens cried about the public abuse Romo was
getting from the media. That soon changed when T.O. stopped getting
the ball every time he wanted it. Now, as a member the Buffalo Bills,
Owens is in his 14th NFL season. Will this team be the one T.O. finally
fits in with? Only time will tell.
So after looking at both of these great wide receivers, you have to ask
yourself, do I really want all the baggage that comes with these two
players? The answer is a tough one, but when it comes down to it, do
you want to win?
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Low Key
SPORTS
Rebel Cheerleaders
.18
Article Written By James Haynes
fail to look behind all the
P eople
short skirts and glitter when
cheerleaders hit the floor during home
games at Atherton High School, but behind all the back handsprings and peppy attitude lies a real athlete. According to Coach Julie Wooden, (Atherton’s
Cheerleading Coach) “It’s a lot more
than shaking pom-poms.”
After being on the Dance Team in both
High school and College, last year was
a learning experience for Coach Wooden. On top of being a teacher, she then
had to grasp the spirit of cheerleading.
“Being involved at the games makes me
proud.” Coach Wooden says, “We’ve
grown as a team, I started coaching after the football season, and had to start
picking up on it.”
Cheerleading started in the late 1800’s
just as fans cheering on their favorite
teams. But it soon evolved to what we
know as cheerleading today. It wasn’t
until 1923 when females were able to
cheer. In 1999, ESPN acclaimed that
cheerleading was a sport, due to the
level of difficulty, athleticism, and
competition.
Junior Captain Ashley Goodman said,
“If people actually saw some of the
things we do to condition or practice
and the ways we do they would realize
that most of the girls on the team are
in better shape than other sports teams
at Atherton.” To help prove that cheerleading isn’t as easy as it looks. “Conditioning, running, year around practice, and physical strength are mostly
overlooked.”
Coach Wooden said, “The upperclassmen have really stepped up, and we
have a lot of talented freshmen this
year, I’m really proud of the team”.
With Junior and Freshmen Captains
Ashley Goodman and Ally Sulzer, and
75% freshman on the squad, a lot of experience really seeped in.
Ashley Goodman started cheering at
Indian Trail Elementary School and
participated in gymnastics for 5 years.
While trying to make a hard decision
between gymnastics and cheering, a
day in the gym made her decision one
sided. “One day at gym practice, they
used me to fly, and I realized I loved it
again,” she said. “So my mom gave me
the choice of cheering or gymnastics,
and I choose to cheer again. Cheerleading pretty much is my life, when
I’m not doing something cheer related,
I’m sleeping or eating,” Ms. Goodman
joked.
Women
And Sports
Over the Years
Article Written By Maggie Shelton
L
ook at public and private high
schools thirty years ago; there
were very little sports teams available
for women. Most of what was offered
was girl’s softball. That was basically
it. Women’s roles in sports were limited to a team manager, or even a water
girl, but it was the out of the question
to have full teams of women playing
with desire and being competitive. Today, almost every public and private
high school in the country has teams
so women and men can have equality. There are now soccer, basketball,
swimming, golf, field hockey, cross
country, and track teams available for
women participation.
It’s not just that there are women’s
teams now, but these teams are also
very competitive. Girls in today society
work hard to get things done and prove
themselves. You see, teams working
out in the blazing sun, and the freezing winters just to get better, faster,
and stronger, whereas thirty years ago
the few sports that were offered were
played simply for leisure. Competitiveness was not even an issue that was
touched on.
Atherton’s Athletic Director, Ms. Debbie Beichler had insightful comments
on the topic. Ms. Beichler played keeper for her soccer team and also was a
member of the softball and tennis teams
in high school. Before the 1970’s, she
commented there were little to no sports
that were offered. Everything started
to change in the 1970s when Title IX
(nine) was passed by Congress.
Title IX is a law that was passed on
June 23, 1972. This law required federally funded schools to make sure sport
activities and clubs equal. It states, “No
person in the United States shall, on the
basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or
be subject to discrimination under any
education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance…” In
Second year cheerleader, Chelsea Cochran said, “The squad is a lot more
organized from last year.” When compared to the other sports, some look at
one important statement, is cheerleading a sport. “A lot of people don’t think
it’s a sport, but we have to commit just
as much as everybody else, condition
and all the other stuff like other sports.”
says Ms. Cochran. This year, the cheerleading team took on a whole new
training technique, “learning from the
best,” Power Cheer program, where the
team trains with private instructors, to
work on their technique, and improve
as a team.
other words, this law made high school
and college sports equal for both men
and women. Therefore these programs
would get the same amount of equipment, supplies, facilities, uniforms,
coaching and medical opportunities as
any other male sport in that school.
edly the best female soccer player ever
to play. Shawn Johnson the seventeen
year old Olympian who in 2008 won
the Olympic gold medal in the balance
beam and the individual all-around silver medalist champion. It is not just
female athletes who have succeeded
,there are coaches like Pat Summitt
who has been coaching at Tennessee
since 1974. She has eight national
championships in her pocket and over
a thousand wins. She is considered by
most to be one of the greatest coaches
in the history of basketball.
Title Nine has greatly impacted women’s sports ever since it was enacted
in 1972. In 2009 there are more opportunities for female players to compete and learn from more experienced
coaches. Some coach’s preference is
to coach girls. It is unbelievable how
much women have accomplished in
sports.
Some of the top athletes in the world
are women, including Serena and Venus
Williams the two sisters who torment
the competition in the tennis world and
have won countless championships.
Then there is the famous Mia Hamm
who single handedly made women
soccer what it is today and is undoubt-
This year, the cheerleading team really
stepped up to what everybody, especially Coach Wooden expected. They
can only get better as the years move
on.
Change has been huge in women’s
sports over the past thirty years; there
are more opportunities for women at
both the high school and collegiate levels, with the help of Title IX. Today it
is common to see that girls don’t just
“hang” with the guys, they actually
compete. Look back and see how much
growth has taken place and it has been
for the better.
PAGE
Rebels Boys Basketball
SPORTS
A Team in Transition
.19
Article Written By Jordan Hoehler
in high schools
T heacrossatmosphere
the country shifts to bas-
ketball, a game loved around the world.
It’s the same here at Atherton as the
Rebels Boy’s Basketball team is getting
their season underway.
This no doubt will be a tough season
for the Rebels considering they lost 4 of
their 5 starters from last season. But that
doesn’t discourage Coach Thomas Wilson too much. When asked what he was
hoping for out of the team this year, he
responded, “At least win 10 games. I’m
really hoping for a .500 record.” Coach
Wilson also said that the main improvement he hoped for from last season was
to improve “team play.”
A few of the players had comments they
wished to voice. Junior shooting guard
Ian Kelley said, “I think Coach Wilson
mainly wants to see us give as much as
we can and improve as the year goes
along.”
When asked about his expectations
for the season Mr.. Kelley said, “For
us mainly to improve as the year goes
along, we are a little inexperienced since
we lost 4 seniors who were very important to the team. I, as a teammate, expect
a lot from my teammates and a lot from
our one and only senior, Dwayne Gordon, who will be the team leader.”
Leadership is a huge part of sports, and
it’s necessary for victory. And on a team
with only one returning varsity starter,
it looks as if that role will be put on the
shoulders of Dwayne Gordan (the only
senior/returning starter). When asked
where the leadership needs to come
from this year, both Coach Wilson’s and
Mr.. Kelley’s responses were, “Our one
and only senior, Dwayne Gordon.”
When asked which underclassmen he
expected the most out of this year, Coach
Wilson responded with this: “I’m going
to be depending on my sophomores a
lot, mainly on our one returning varsity
sophomore, Andy Read. I’m also going to be depending on sophomore Trey
Hayes.”
There are strengths and weaknesses
with every team in every sport. But it’s
a strange case with Atherton as they
are a young team and feel they have a
lot to improve on. When asked about
the strengths of the team Coach Wilson said, “Not many. Our one returning
starter will be the biggest strength we
have this season.” Mr.. Kelley agreed
1553 Bardstown Rd.
stating: “Our strength is mainly Dwayne
Gordon.”
When asked what his expectations were
for the season, sophomore Andy Read
replied, “My prediction for this year is
for it to be sort of a building year for
the sophomores and juniors. We had almost our whole varsity team graduate
last year and we only have one senior
this year.”
ketball smarts.”
It seems as if the Rebels Boy’s Basketball team has a lot to improve on
this season, but they also have shown
heart. No one is willing to just give
up and expect a terrible season.
Senior guard Dwayne Gordon is the
only senior and the only returning
starter for the Rebels this year and a
lot is expected out of him.
“We need to improve on playing together and talking out on the court. Communication has always seemed to be
a problem with us,” replied Mr.. Read
when asked what they need to improve
on.
When asked if he felt any added pressure because he is the only senior he replied with, “Yeah, Coach Wilson will be
relying on me a lot this year. Mainly because I am the only returning starter.”
When asked about the team’s weaknesses, Mr.. Read said, “Our main
weaknesses are our size and experience
which are both going to be a BIG factor
in the upcoming season.”
“We hope to improve the underclassmen
in practice first. But I do think we will
have a successful season,” responded
Mr.. Gordon after being asked what his
expectations are for this season.
Finally, Mr.. Read said this when asked
how much potential the underclassmen
have, “Our underclassmen definitely
have the potential, they just need to be
willing to put in the hard work to keep
improving. They also need to get in
some more experience and more bas-
What do you think Coach Wilson wants
out of you this season? “I think he wants
me to teach the underclassmen. To take
them under my wing and teach them the
game of basketball.” Said Mr.. Gordon.
Mr.. Gordon also commented on the
strengths and weaknesses of the team
“Our only real strength will be our
speed. We are a much smaller team, but
we are also faster.” Mr.. Gordon said.
“Our biggest weakness will be our lack
of size. We also have a big lack of depth.
We don’t really have a proven bench.”
Finally, Mr.. Gordan commented on his
hopes for the underclassmen. “I hope
they learn how to play the game of basketball. And most importantly have fun
playing the game,” said Mr.. Gordon.
A lot is expected out of a young team
this year at Atherton. But it seems as
though they are up for the challenge.
Clearly they have the potential to have a
great season, and a great future. Adversity is staring them directly in the face,
and all signs point that they will come
out on top.
WRITERS BLOCK
Poem Written By Sterling Richmond
Art Created By Parker Spurling
A stump.
A blank.
Thoughts scattered to no end.
The fuzz in ones mind grows and consumes all.
A purpose?
A basis?
There is none.
The pencil drops upon an empty page with a dull thud,
reverberating through one’s mind,
as they desperately search for the words.
For the meaning.
You stare at it in silence.
The loss of thought is beyond comprehension,
the feeble attempts to grasp your thoughts, words fail thee.
Your soul is frozen, void of a mission.
Unmoving, unknowing.
Unexpressable.
But only light can create shadows.
So the darkness shall fade, the light will enevitably come,
and the pencil will touch the paper once more,
sliding across it gently, the canvas of your expression.
The justification for all that you are.
And thy shall tell the story of life.
And paint the picture of the future, the truth.
The embodiement of all greater thought.
The storm after the calm. The calm of writers block.
And Her Beloved, Which Was Not Beloved.
My door broke.
What?
I said my door broke.
When?
Last night while I was reading Beloved.
Who broke it?
My family.
Why does it matter?
When my door is shut I feel the tranquility of loneliness, the security of
oneself, and when my door is open my
heart is spread wide; an open spring
from which others may partake and enjoy all that I am. Without the lock there
is no regulation, no control over myself
or my thoughts. No barrier between the
manifested “me” in the comfort of my
home-in-a-home, and all that rests outside. Something just stirred within me;
my family didn’t break the lock it was
His curtains are black as the night sky
in which the sun wields no power. You
have no dominion there, whether he
does or doesn’t receive light or guidance in the dark is for the moon to decide.
What if my bulb runs out?
I do not know. I have only known you
as long as you have been burning.
How long have I been burning?
17 years, 10 months, 20 days.
How long have you been remembering?
The same.
Who made me?
I do not know, I am merely a box. I am
here to serve 2 purposes, to store what I
am told to hold, and to survive.
Without me would you forget?
No, remembering is remembrance is
memory.
And although I would be in the dark,
memories never fade. Sometimes they
(How convenient and peculiar to run are moved from box to box, sometimes
out of ink at that exact moment)
burned, but our ashes transcend time.
Now, as I go to lock it it may open, Will I die?
when I shut it it may swing wide. The No. Light and memories never die.
point remains that the lock is broken
and one only needs to bang the door So I trudged onward, destroying literaand all the security I’ve ever had will ture, bludgeoning books, and in angst,
desert me, betray me, and swing open remembered. Chills I’ve suffered toon its hinges to reveal all that I am.
night will leave a painful residue on my
Who are we?
neck so cold it will have burned into
You and I?
my skin. Chills which, icy, will have
Yes.
trickled down my spine to form a trunk,
We are ourselves, we are the light in his and inching out, will have seared into
room and the box under his bed.
my flesh the scarred and withered reWhy are we important?
mains of a tree. A tree whose branches
Without me, he wouldn’t remember, house the ropes from which hang every
and without you he could not see.
memory I have ever sustained.
I’ve heard of the sun.
ME.
My room is
ALIVE.
My aunt lived and died in this house.
Felt the pain of her own slavery which
took the form of cancer. It whipped
her until she begged for death’s sweet
embrace, and I can feel her memory
crawling through the walls. I feel sick,
as though I don’t want to move.
My body screams with the desire to do
just that, to call to war the aunt I never
knew. Her life was spent raising crosses and mine
Was spent burning them. So why,
Why?
me?
Would you force this upon
“You seclude me in a room
whose color is of my choosing, promise me freedom
in my loneliness, and then
shatter it by breaking my
lock and inviting a ghost?!”
And all the while all I hear is silence.
Voices screaming through my orange
walls to bust them open so that they
may escape to an uninviting world, and
all I hear is silence.
Silence, the whirl of a white fan blade,
and the conversation between a box of
all my memories and the only light I’ve
ever had.
A Tributary By Zachary Jamison
Art Created By James Ellis
“Beauty in art is often
nothing but ugliness
subdued.”
-Jean Rostand
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