December 21, 2007
Transcription
December 21, 2007
Page 16 December 21, 2007 Fear not bargain hunters, there are plenty of gifts you can buy/make for just $5: compiled by Richard Bowie by Richard Bowie My English teacher promised our class a field trip. Not since the sweet, honeysuckled days of my youth in Southern Australia have I felt such sheer exuberance. In the midst of a gloomy, wintry, hellish season, with the biting cold nipping at every nook and cranny of my young body, the prospect of a field trip lifted my spirits to a high unmatched by no other joy, not even at the birth of my two young twin sons, Wimbledon and Ludwig. Furthermore, the field trip in question was to none other than the Ontario Mills IMAX theatre, the Mecca of cinematic artistry. We were to watch the blockbuster hit Beowulf in 3-D, as we had just finished reading the book. All week I had walked around school with a newfound outlook on life. No longer did untalented, pear shaped women who had nothing better to do than to criticize my column bother me. Had it been a week earlier, that pear shaped monstrosity would have had to answer to the swift justice of my fists. But my disposition was a whimsical, fancy-free one, and as long as a field trip to the cinema was in my horizons, nothing could have put a damper on my parade. I was well prepared for our November 29th field trip, I had saved all the tips I had accrued from work, I requested all the classwork I was going to miss from that day, I bought a new outfit for the occasion, I arranged for sitter to come and take care of my extraordinarily rare pet macaw Frederica. I didn’t even eat for four and a half weeks, that’s how excited I was. Then something horrifying happened. My English teacher Suzanne Miller told us that the field trip was postponed until the 11th of December because the Board of Education had to go over our request. Apparently because our tickets were $10, it became a national issue of security, and a secret blood oath was required of the Royal Colton Parliament. They lay my plans in ruins. Weeks of saving, starvation and cherub-like merriment were all for naught. I would have to wait for what felt like an everlasting sleepless eternity to see Beowulf. I cried out to the heavens, “If I don’t end up going on this trip, I will kill, sahmbodyyy!” As I lay awake at night, chilled by the wicked frost of loss, I asked, “Why? O Why hath the Board of Education stricken me with such a devastating blow? Had I not led a life of charity and gentility? What wrongdoing had I committed to deserve this?” I had to wait nearly three agonizing weeks. I had to search every corner of my heart to find the courage, nay, the hope to soldier on for a bit longer. Then, the day of reckoning dawned. It was Thursday, seven long days had passed since the day we were supposed to go on our field trip. I thought it was going to be a regular day, but I knew otherwise when my English teacher had said she had bad news. The school board held their clandestine meeting and apparently one meddlesome board member went to go watch the movie themselves over the weekend, and convinced the rest of the group that it was unfit for us to watch, the nudity was “borderline obscene.” Was it not supposed to be a monetary issue, concerning only fiscal scruples? Nudity was not as frowned upon in 13th century Norway. It was a part of life. The computer-generated nudity was enough for us to take. Everyone in my English class is a senior, all of us 17, some of us only mere weeks away from being 18. My body still trembles with disbelief. After hearing the news, I initially felt emptiness. My heart was a cavernous void where no ray of light dared dance. Then, when night fell, I lost all reason. I became something I did not know, straddling the lines of what was human and what was animal, a godless beast. I ended up killing four school children and a mule. Now I find myself embittered, disillusioned with reality. To that board member, I implore, “Have you no soul? No pity? You are no member of the Motion Picture Association of America. You think only of yourself and I seriously question your judgment. Your avarice will be your undoing, and you will never know true happiness.” Packs of cookie dough: Packs of cookie dough usually run anywhere from $2-$5. And you don’t even have to bake them, because who doesn’t love raw cookie dough? A decadent treat that’s sure to please, cookie dough is a holiday favorite! ($2-$5, Stater Bros.) Keychain: Ever find yourself losing your miscellaneous keys? Tired of having to look all over the place for your different keys? Well have we got the...key! A keychain! A simple and effective way to keep all of your keys in one spot, key chains are inexpensive gifts that serve you with convenience and peace of mind. ($1-$5, Anywhere) Magazine: What did you do during SSR today? Read? Me neither! Well you can fix that by buying a magazine. Modern Bride, the Smithsonian, Railroad Modeler Magazine, and Bovine Veterinarian all are top notch, quality magazines that are $5 or less. More fun and colorful than any book you could ever find, magazines are a sure fire way to get even the laziest of students reading. ($2-$5, Bookstores) $10-15: compiled by Rebecca Schisler Target gift card: For that picky friend you just don’t know what to get, a target gift card is just the thing. This allows your friend to buy anything, ranging from electronics to clothes. Give them something they really want for Christmas by letting them pick it themselves! ($10.00, Target) Deluxe scrapbook kit: A wonderful way to remember and cherish times spent with your friends and family. The kit includes a cover with a wood frame and an opening to place a special photograph. It also includes 10 scrapbook pages with plastic sleeve protectors, six sheets of patterned vellum, embossed paper, and over 300 stickers. ($14.99, Target) Zadro Z’ Shower Bug Radio: Give your groovy friend this battery powered radio they can rock out to while taking a shower in the morning. This FM radio is complete with four suction cups to stick to the wall and has a hanging rope. ($14.99, Target) $15-20: compiled by Susana Hernandez T-shirts: Graphic tees-for guys 12-18 who like to wear that kind of T. Clothes make a statement. ($15.00, Virgin Megastores) Britney Spears CD The Blackout: Fans who have remained loyal to Britney through her trials and tribulations and have been eagerly awaiting her comeback will be glad to see she’s back, better than ever. (15.99, Best Buy) Flowers: They’re always a great, sweet gift for anyone you want to make feel special. (17.50, Stater Bros) $20-50: compiled by Kevin Miller Clocky the Runaway Alarm Clock: For the friend that is always late to first period, Clocky the Runaway Alarm Clock is an alarm clock with wheels, designed to roll off of its resting place while blaring its alarm if the snooze button is hit twice. ($50.00, The Sharper Image). Ear Warmer Headphones: For the outdoor loving music hound, these headphones are the perfect gift. They fully cover the ears, warming them while streaming tunes from any electronic device that can be hooked to. ($34.95, The Sharper Image) Lomography Camera: For the art lovers, this camera takes your picture and displays it in a grid of nine, with each one artfully colored versions of the same photograph. ($40.00, Uncommongoods.com) Mrs. Beasley’s Movie Tins: For the one that loves sweets, Mrs. Beasley’s Movie Tins are in the style of classic film canisters and filled with an array of delicious cookies. ($36.00, Mrsbeasleys.com) Page 2 December 21, 2007 Page 3 December 21, 2007 Lunch time fights raise questions about campus safety Students and staff give “love” to cancer patients by Saige Downs by Shawn Quintero The issue of campus safety has been brought to the forefront by a bottle-throwing melee that occurred during second lunch on November 29th. What some students are calling “the riot” began with a lunchtime fight that seemed to spark others. According to freshman Monica Quintero, “There was one fight, that lead to other fights, which lead to the riot.” Some students believe there were as many as nine fights that lunch period, a rumor that was immediately discounted by Assistant Principal Melissa Kingston. “There were only three fights,” she said, “two of them were [between] females and one [between]males.” Kingston denies rumors that the fights were racially motivated: “The fights were because of a boy, which led to other fights.” But some students are sticking to their beliefs that there were more than just those three fights. One student says he personally saw two different fights in which the students fighting saw Security and ran back into their classrooms to avoid getting in trouble. The fighting was quelled by campus security, who felt they were able to handle the situation in a timely and appropriate manner. “We got it situated and calm in a matter of minutes,” said Campus supervisor Joe Montes. But not everyone on campus agrees with that assessment. One student claimed that “security seemed as though they didn’t know what to do or what was happening.” There were also charges that Campus Supervisors were overly aggressive in putting down the disturbance. Such assertions were immediately denied by School Resource Officer Todd Smith of Colton P.D. “The proper procedures were taken, and everything was settled.” Although the fights were quickly dispersed and the students dealt with, the overall subject of how safe a campus we have here continues to be discussed. One sophomore student, who didn’t wish to be named, asserts “the school thinks this campus is airtight safe, but it’s not.” But Officer Smith disagrees. “We have many different types of methods for keeping the school safe,” he says, “such as the Lanyard policy, locking up the gates, having and understanding procedures, and keeping a strong communication between the Police Department and the school’s administration. There are over 3,000 students here and the security team hardly knows any of the students, so it’s easier for us to use these procedures, especially the Lanyards, to identify a student.” It seems that while there were a lot of rumors about the fights, the so-called “riot” of November 29th has given the administration more ammunition in its battle to keep the campus safe, most notably and visibly by the past weeks’ constant enforcement of the Lanyard policy. As for the rumors? Ignore them, says Kingston. Quintero adds, “You shouldn’t believe stupid rumors. If you want to know the truth, go find it out.” Trial-based pep rally proves to be success by Divya Joseph The trial-based pep rally held last Thursday proved itself to be a success, says ASB director Gloria Haldeman-Ramirez. “I am very happy with the behavior of all the students, teachers, ASB and Renaissance,” she says. In the recent past, pep rallies were held during lunch, and students would have to give up their lunchtime to be a part of them. Thus, many students chose their lunch over the rallies. This time, however, ASB students felt that the school was lacking spirit. So seniors Andrew Venegas, Valerie Amador and Natasha Zahra took this matter up to the school staff’s leadership committee. They asked that there be a pep rally during class time that would enable more people to show their school spirit. The adminis- tration was supportive of this idea, yet there were several members of the committee who were against this. They said that it wasn’t necessary because it wasn’t academics related. But ASB was persistent, saying that school spirit is just as important. Finally the committee approved to have this rally as an assessment to base the future of pep rallies. ASB planned and organized the event well, says ASB president Samantha Beltran. “We worked our butts off and it was amazing,” says junior Megan Leen. The students showed school spirit that many of the classes didn’t even know they had. The applause and screams shook the Hubbs gym like an earthquake. Ramirez says that though she doesn’t know the results of the pep rally assessment she feels positive about it. Dr. Clark accepts responsibility for ELC mishap by Divya Joseph Several of Colton High’s seniors are enraged that they missed out on receiving an ELC (Eligibility in Local Context) number because they say they didn’t receive the informational call on the matter. Colton’s Head Counselor, Dr. Kenneth Clark, claims responsibility for this error. “There is no excuse the students would accept, there is no excuse I would accept,” says Clark. “I screwed up.” This number gives you the privilege to early college application and often guaranteed admission in many UC schools. “It could definitely be the fine line in whether a person gets into his dream school or not,” says senior Richard Alvarez. Many seniors including many from the top five of the 2008 graduating class say that it is the irresponsibility of the school, especially that of the counselors that they missed out on this opportunity. “I think that the counselors screwed us over,” says valedictorian hopeful senior Sarah Medina. Clark says, “I severely apologize to those who feel that they were left out of the ELC list.” The ELC forms were to be given before students went off on the summer vacation last year but Clark says he forgot and when the records office reminded him, the students were already on vacation. Then Clark says that Principal John Steven Coke tried to help the situation by informing eligible students that the ELC number nomination forms were offered during the summer when school was off session. The top 4% of the 2008 graduating class (about 26 seniors out of 690) were eligible, according to the criteria’s provided by UC schools, says Counselor Myrna Cardenas. The forms were an agreement signed by the parents and students that they are allowing the school to send their information, such as transcripts, to colleges. Since it was summer and many could be on vacation and thus cannot come to the office, the counseling department allowed verbal agreements to be accepted, says Clark. 109 Teleparent phone calls were made and only 10 people didn’t receive a phone call because of an informed phone number change or their phone was disconnected. Clark says that the way the Teleparent works is that if anyone hangs up in the middle it will call repeatedly five times. He says that he has solid proof that all except 10 students received the call. Flores, who is at present number two of the graduating class, says that this isn’t true in many cases, and even if they did call that it isn’t enough; they should have found of other ways to getting in touch with students, such as the mail. “This really says something about that our school puts into academics,” says Flores. After hearing all the complaints that teachers and students brought up, the school provided the students who were left out wrongfully a letter, which was supposed to be equivalent to an ELC number. But when Medina called the UC schools, they denied it being so. Clark tries to console and comfort these distressed and dejected students by noting that ELC isn’t the only thing that UC schools look for but it is one category along with well written college application, grades and good test scores on SAT or ACT. “If someone didn’t get approved to a school it is not only because of ELC but other factors,” says Clark. But for someone like Olivia Conboy who has worked all her high school life for this explanation doesn’t calm her down. The seniors say that though they can’t do anything now for them but they owe it to the future generations to give them all the right that belongs to them. Locks of Love is a fundraiser where you do not donate money to show your affection, you cut off ten inches of your hair and it will be turned into a wig for a cancer patient. Counselor Sharon Halter-Day started this fundraiser by announcing on November 30 that she had cut off all of her hair and shave her neck for the first time. In order to donate your hair, you need the minimum of ten inches and the maximum of twelve inches. If you do not have the amount that is necessary, Halter-Day asks you to help by asking other people to donate their hair to Locks of Love. If you do have the required amount of hair to donate, but you feel that your hair will be still too short, you have until March 28, 2007 to donate your hair. What if you have dyed your hair? If you have not bleached your hair, it will be accepted. If your hair is bleached or has been, it will not go towards Locks of Love to make wigs, but to make hair extensions used at beauty salons. Before you donate your hair make sure that it is clean, and when you cut your hair make sure that it is tightly secured in a hair tie so none of the hair will fall out and put it in some sort of bag. To turn in your donation(s), there is a box in the counselors’ and the records offices. When you turn in your donation, there will be papers that you will need to fill out. One senior, Delanea Aguila, donates her hair every year, and on January 10, 2008 at the National Honors Society members meeting, she and English teacher Lucy Tillema will sit down and donate their hair along with other students. “I like the fact that my hair will go to towards children who don’t have any hair and it’s a great feeling when I do it and that is why I do it,” says Agulia. Halter-Day is currently trying to set up a day where students, teachers, and others could donate their hair. Halter-Day’s goal is to get 100 locks of hair by March 28, 2007 and hopes that the love could be spread. A NEW ‘DO-Counselor Sharon Halter-Day shows off her hair after her donation to Locks of Love Football finishes season with muddy loss at CIF semifinals game down the field over and over, but several drives ended in fumbles, frustrating the normally efficient Colton offensive attack. “You can’t win with eight turnovers,” Niess said. Some felt the weather had a lot to do with the defeat. The game was played in a continuous rainstorm. Although both teams had to contend with the elements, it seemed to affect the Yellowjackets more. Could the outcome have been different had the game been played at Colton’s home field, with its new artificial surface? “A lot of us believe so,” said Niess. “But it was not to be. We’d already had two home playoff games and we had to go on the road.” Despite the sad ending, the Jackets look back on a very successful season, one in which they went farther in the postseason than they had been in 25 years. From staff reports Colton’s Yellowjacket football team found itself in a place it hadn’t been in years: past the second round of the CIF playoffs. One more win, and they would play for the finals. But it was not to be. On a wet Friday at the end of November, the Jackets saw their playoff dreams of a championship dissolve into the muddy, slippery, rain-soaked Moreno Valley field as they were shut out by Canyon Springs 13-0. “Turnovers killed us,” said senior linebacker Kenny Niess. “Early in the game we turned the ball over early on our own 20 yard line, and they capitalized. After that, we stopped them defensively pretty much the whole game, but we couldn’t get going offensively.” The Jackets found themselves able to drive Upcoming Events -Alumni Band Concert: January 17, 7:30 p.m., Whitmer Auditorium -Winter Formal: “A Mid-Winter’s Dream,” January 25, Orange Show -Senior Ring Ceremony: February 5, Whitmer Auditorium, 7 p.m. -District Band Festival: February 7, Whitmer Auditorium -Band Ensemble’s Concerts: 7:30 p.m., Cafeteria; February 12 -“Evening of Jazz”: February 14, Whitmer Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. December 21, 2007 Page 4 ...not sexual predators Bullies: by Randie Ortloff The world is made up of bullies, and teenage bullies are probably some of the worst: they’re cruel, bored, and most of the time insecure so they have to put someone else down. It used to be that just at school bullies had the power and once the day was over you could go home and not have to worry about it anyone. Now with myspace, aim, and emails, bullies have more power than ever before. It is starting to look like there is no escape from them and it’s time everyone faces the fact that the keyboard has become a new weapon. The most pointless of all bullies are the bullies that go to another school, live in another city and sometimes even another state. Most of the time they hate others based on their myspace “friend” list. Remember, everyone can be connected on myspace. This type of bully cannot see how you really look in person, so they leave you messages insulting the way you look in your pictures. This bully is just plain bored with their own lives and you can’t let them hurt your feelings, they don’t even know you and will probably never meet you. The best thing is to be the better person and block them instead of responding back, it will just make you look as immature as them. The insults to each other will go on and on. If you don’t respond back the bully will get bored and eventually find someone else to go after. (please see Bullies, continued on page 5) Human beings, or Pepper Bough A Colton High tradition since 1917 w w w.pepperbough.colton.org Volume 91, No. 3; Friday, Dec. 21, 2007 by Patricia Delgado Editor-in-Chief Divya Joseph Photography Team Shawn Quintero, Maria Torres, Kevin Miller Page Layout and Graphic Design Richard Bowie, Hannah Macdonald Saige Downs, Patricia Delgado, Rebecca Schisler, Cecilia Cabrera Business/Advertising Manager Patricia Delgado Staff Cartoonist George Rubio Faculty Adviser David Rainey StaffW riters and Reporters Richard Bowie Cecilia Cabrera Patricia Delgado Saige Downs Destiny Espinoza Treasure Fortune Gabi Gahr Susana Hernandez Jacob Lopez Hannah Macdonald Christine McLachlan Randie Ortloff Rebecca Schisler Maria Torres The Pepper Bough is published 8 times a year (approximately every four weeks, plus an end of the year Senior Farewell Edition) by the Journalism class of Colton High School, 777 West Valley Boulevard, Colton, CA 92324. Opinions expressed in the Pepper Bough in bylined stories are those of the individual reporter, and not necessarily those of the faculty, administration, school board, or school district, and are not to be construed to endorse or promote activities reported upon. Opinions expressed in non-bylined editorials are those of the staff as a whole. All photos of school related activities are taken by Photo Editor unless otherwise indicated. The Pepper Bough welcomes letters to the editor, but they will be printed according to space available and may be edited for space and taste. Please submit all letters to the editor to adviser’s email: [email protected]. Some material used courtesy of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Wire Service. Ads printed in the paper are sold by fractions of a page. Call (909)580-5005 extension 2383 for advertising rates and deadlines. Long live a free press. (www.splc.org) Page 5 (continued from page 4) by Kevin Miller Remember back in elementary school, when each student was assigned a pen pal to correspond with over a prolonged period of time? It may seem like pen pals have faded into the past, but if you look closely it becomes very evident that they haven’t faded into the shadows like it seems. Although pen pals, much like snail mail, have waned in popularity since the internet boom began to flourish, many social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook allow users to connect with each other from anywhere in the world. In this age of instant access more and more people are making friends from around the world and corresponding with them regularly through text messages and the Internet, developing deep friendships and getting a taste of foreign cultures. What many people overlook is that this is, essentially, the same thing as having a pen pal. Many people overlook this fact as a result of how close they become over a short period of time. This easy access to almost anyone around the world has changed our ways of thinking, but not always for the better. Many parents restrict their children from using the Internet unsupervised out of the fear that sexual predators and the like will attempt to exploit their children, and sadly this is sometimes true. All of this negative media focused on internet friendships overlooks the good points of having friends from far away, and it makes it difficult for the older generations to realize how useful these are. If we could just make those opposed to any form of internet communication realize that, much like pen pals in the days of yesteryear, these friendships allow a magical window into the cultures of other, and having these friendships online actually allows for a safety screen that snail-mail lacked. Unlike the hand written letters from before, the internet doesn’t allow access to any form of address that isn’t freely given, and if something does seem fishy about it you can always block them and never have to deal with them again. So next time someone gives you guff about having a friend online, just tell them that you’re using a pen pal to expand your cultural intake. December 21, 2007 Fashion has surely been influenced by pop culture, the Not long ago I visited a department store in which I saw media, and society since its existence. Political messages shirts promoting peace, anti war, anti drug, and other like “Vote or die,” “Make love not war” or “Hugs not drugs” inspirational messages. But now that I revisited that same have been printed and marketed on shirts that have been store, several of those shirts are now on clearance. Of sold and worn world wide. It’s obvious that the idea that course the reason for this is, is that they are out of style, these fashion companies want is to promote these consumer and no longer popular, but that is just the thing. One friendly messages to their buyers. Using slogans that are minute it’s the new item, and the next it’s not. This is popular, moral and politically correct creates a marketable fashion, hardly anything can be timeless anymore, clothes product which attracts buyers. But the question is are these are constantly changing. But why must fashion compashirts just going to fill up the clearance rack after the next nies use what is in the media to get consumers like us to big trend hits? Are these articles of clothing just meant to be spend money on their product? Why are we so attracted a trend or timeless pieces? Are these to these merchandise items, influential messages just another when we know they are just livfashion fad? Or are we just used as ing off of us? Of course this is walking advertisements, helping pronot only with shirts containing mote someone else’s message to the politically correct messages, this world? happens with everything that It seems that every impact on you can purchase. But why must life is always taken seriously in an we be used as billboards? Why “unserious manner.” Events such as are we used to promote somewars, political elections and others, one else’s product? Well there not only impact human kind, but evis no answer, but the fact that we ery aspect of society, including fashsimply just are, and it’s kind of ion. It seems that they impact so terrible how we can’t change much that we must show how we feel that at all. on our sleeve, car bumper, or It seems that everything through our online blogs. No matter nowadays is changing by the how we feel there is always a way to minute, whether it’s upgrading Paris Hilton sports a Vote or Die express our emotions. But since they and advancing technology, raisshirt, but is it for the right reason? are so marketed in so many ways, it ing gas prices, or even updating seems that the issue is not that seriyour wardrobe. But it seems no ous at all. An example: in the 2004 matter what is changing, we, the presidential election, the hip-hop artist currently known as people, are the ones always being affected. Life is con“Diddy,” created a simple shirt for his Sean John clothing stantly shuffling and society and the media is affecting line. The plain yet captivating shirt stated the words “Vote its path. Events such as wars, political elections and othor die.” Fans, Americans, registered voters and others sup- ers, not only impact human kind, but every aspect of our ported the message and bought the shirt. But of course after lives, including what we wear. In reality our clothes are that presidential election, no one supported the shirt. It what distinguish us; our clothes are what tell us apart seemed as if our bodies were used as advertisements pro- from others; therefore, clothing companies use us to sell. moting a message that was just used to gain fortune. Of course Obviously we humans are the ones who can buy, but at that is the reason for everything people buy, while you lose the same time unintentionally sell. money, someone else gains it. That is just the way life works, We as consumers sell products by buying them. It’s no matter what we buy, someone else will benefit, it’s inevi- a never-ending cycle of spending and gaining money. table. You can guarantee drama especially in High School. Friends getting friends in drama will just lead to bullies and often people gang up on one person. This is the same in cyberspace. Most of the time it is the girls who will leave other girls rude messages and often threaten to fight them the next day at school. The next day comes and it doesn’t happen, but over MySpace they threaten them again. It’s a cycle that will never end unless you do something about it, in the real world, not online. Talk to peer supporters, or a counselor, that’s what they’re there for. You should also try to talk to them maturely at school, because you can’t end your problems through emails. Nothing is better than talking in person. The Internet and MySpace will never go away, but you can. You don’t have to get on everyday and read what they have to say. Block the bully without even reading what they wrote to you. Until people realize that they don’t look tough or cool threatening others online it won’t stop. MySpace is just a website, they are just mean messages, and that is really just words internet bullies put together to make themselves sound cool. Just remember you won’t always have to deal with these bullies and sooner or later than will leave you alone, nothing lasts forever. Always be mature, online and off, and you’d be surprised how much trouble you won’t have to deal with. Due to the growing number of teens opting for cosmetic surgery, no one knows anymore by Destiny Espinoza Graduation time is one of the most important and exciting times in our lives. A time where we take the stand to become adults. A time where our mothers drive us to the clinic the next morning to receive our new breasts, that never fully developed the way we wanted them to, right? Why? Because society has drained everyone to think beauty is small, slender and flawless-never bold, big with a few flaws under the skin. In reality, no one is perfect, yet thousands upon thousands are signing up and getting in line to nip and tuck their problems away in their bodies varying everywhere from their face to bellies and even toes. Many teenagers are becoming a victim to this idea of society. In a BBC News poll, it was revealed that four in ten teenage girls were considering plastic surgery by the time they were eighteen. Only 8% were happy with their bodies with a quarter saying they had suffered from an eating disorder. Plastic surgery was once considered to be used by aging women who wanted to look younger. Now, increasingly, teenage girls are turning to surgeons “ to perfect their bodies and in some cases even look similar to their most admired celebrity. Bliss Magazine editor Chantelle Horton stated, “The endless parade of thin yet curvy, surgically-enhanced celebrities has made young girls obsessed with their own normal lumpy, bumpy bodies.” I believe this look-obsessed generation is to blame. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and everyone has some feature that no one else has. My definition of beauty is having something that no one else has. When people judge, it’s because they’re not satisfied with themselves and they use those with low self-esteem to build up their own confidence. Many people confess that there decision to receive plastic surgery was pressured because boyfriends believed they’d look better with bigger breasts, people would not make fun of them, even just so they can look at themselves twice in the mirror. Many people believe “if only if only I had a body like hers,” or “if only I had muscles like his,” they’d get what they want in life. Honestly, it’s ridiculous; plastic surgery has become so big pretty soon even Barbie will But the sad part was that my father didn’t even know that I did not like ham. This proved to me that my father and I did not have a close relationship when I was young. ” by Saige Downs In today’s world, it seems weird to teens when another teen says, “My parents are divorced.” Having divorced parents can be a positive or a negative thing depending on what the situation was with the parents. But what is it like for the kids? What is it like around the holidays? Holidays with divorced parents are not easy. I remember the first Christmas my brother and I spent with my father after having been so used to a different tradition of the previous years. My father loved it that I was at his house on actual Christmas day but when I got home, I heard complaints from the whole family on how we we’re missed and how it was so strange without us. I seemed to be out of place at my own father’s house. Another thing that was awkward was eating honey-roasted ham for the first time, which I ended up not liking. But the sad part was that my father didn’t even know that I did not like ham. This proved to me that my father and I did not have a close relationship when I was young. Having Christmas together was supposed to bring family together but it showed us how far apart we really were. After that Christmas, I stayed with the tradition that I have always done. I didn’t really understand how hard it was on my father not spending the holidays with us until recently. My cousin (who also has divorced parents) was gone for what seemed to be almost every important holiday for two years to go visit her mother in Arizona. Again, my family did nothing but complain about how they missed her and how she should be spending the holidays with them. My uncle was of course very sad that she was gone but he knew that his daughter missed her mother. I thought of my father and how lonely he was with out my brother and I. It was the tradition that I did not want to break, not my fathers heart. To this day, I still don’t spend the holidays with my dad but the first thing that I do on that day is tell him Happy Holidays and that I love him. You might think that I am selfish for not switching the years between my parents but I like tradition more than change. In exchange, I have vowed to my father that I will take care of him and change his diapers when he’s old. There are some kids who spend the holidays with their parents every other year, or they don’t spend any holidays at all with them. Sharing holidays with divorced parents is obviously terribly hard on the parents too hard, but maybe what people don’t realize is that it’s very it’s hard on the kids. be going under the knife. Besides the given fact that plastic surgery has created beauty in the worst situations dealing with people that suffer from cleft lip to healing facial deformities keep in mind it involves many risks and is not exactly guaranteed to be permanent or satisfying to what you want. All surgeries carry some risk. And while plastic surgery can improve a part of your body, it rarely improves your whole life. Make sure your goals are realistic. Why? It’s important to have realistic expectations and cosmetic surgery cannot change your life or make you 20 years younger. Moreover, if you smoke or drink a lot, your face has a higher risk of complications and the results from a cosmetic procedure may not last as long as you’d like. So it’s very important to have realistic expectations from your cosmetic surgery procedure, it’s also important to do your research on what you’re getting done and who’s operating on you. Make sure your body is healthy enough to receive surgery and make sure you have a good state of mind. Is it possible to love a computer more than a human baby? The war wages on... by Hannah Macdonald What would you do without a computer? For most students this question evokes horror; to think of no MySpace, Sparknotes, or Google would be inconceivable. Yet computers became mainstream just twenty years ago and life was bearable before without them. Before computers there were books made for research and games were created for recreational fun. Will books soon become foreign to us; have they already? Computers opened up a new world to our generation: the World Wide Web. With a few clicks of your mouse you can get highlights on the book you were supposed to read for your English and find the answer to a math problem you were supposed to work out for Algebra 2. You no longer need tutors for what you cannot comprehend or something to occupy your time from morning to night. These examples seem to support computers, but truly look at them. The Internet is now a permanent staple in the world, but is it bringing us more bad than good? We are constantly misinformed in the research we conduct, because for many it is easier to post their information on the Internet rather than publishing an informative book. It is now as simple as opening a web page and you can fake, convincingly, that you have read a book. There is no need to buy movies or CDs when they can be found on the Internet, costing millions for those who work so hard to make them. Every step of life that is in the least bit difficult is daily being solved. If you were to study life in its whole is it not shown that you learn from mistakes? The Internet is trying to make sure that you never make any. But without mistakes can we ever really grow? The Internet seems to be leading up to the death of many things like journalism. Will people still buy newspapers when world news is updated constantly on web pages? Maybe schools and teachers will die off since there are web-cams that that can connect you with your teacher without you having to get up and ready for school. Does it seem such a far stretch that other forms communication would die too? No need for school and work locations because of the glorious Internet and E-mail; why even leave your house? This is the route our world is driving down and there is no block to it. Maybe we will soon learn how to type instead of how to write and who am I to say if that this is right or wrong. With every new year isn’t it a fact that our knowledge grows, but are we really progressing? December 21, 2007 Page 6 Page 7 December 21, 2007 Customize your gadgets with your favorite color! Religious tradition, or pagan abomination? Opinion/commentary by Cecilia Cabrera Today, Christmas is a very popular holiday. However, as is often the case, what is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular. Christmas means ‘mass for Christ.’ The name of the holiday is much newer than the holiday itself. The customs associated with Christmas, in one form or another, have been celebrated for literally thousands of years. ‘Christmas’ is just a new name for an old holiday. There are some beliefs that the customs that are associated with Christmas, as well as the idea of a God being born on December 25th, are of pagan origin. One needs only look to at an encyclopedia or even many local newspapers in the 12th month of the year to find this to be true. The real issue is whether or not we should celebrate these customs. So what is so bad about it? Is it just for the children? What should we be teaching our children? Truth or lies? The truth is that Jesus was not born on December 25th. December 25th is the birthday of nearly every pagan god ever worshipped In fact, the pagan customs associated with Christmas are clearly written in the Bible. Paganism is something that is against the Bible. If we know that the roots of Christmas are of pagan origin, why do we still feel the need to celebrate it? All over the world, Santa Claus is God to the children. Others say “Father Christmas.” Parents purposely and de- liberately lie to their children and tell them that they should fear Santa Claus because “he knows if you’ve been bad or good.” These same parents also don’t tell the truth to their children about the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. Then they wonder why their children and are deceitful later on in life. So why do we feel it necessary to continue with these beliefs. Is it tradition or is it just lies? We all should reconsider what we are teaching our future generations. -- Get out and DO something this vacation! by Treasure Fortune There are a lot of things you can do during Christmas break instead of sitting at home and being bored. You can go to a lot of different places and hangout with your friends, family, boyfriends, or girlfriends. These are some things that you can do during your Christmas break. You can go to the theater and see the new movies that were released for the holiday season like Juno, I Am Legend, The Golden Compass, National Treasure Book Of Secrets, and Charlie Wilson’s War. These movies will be coming out all month, so you go and enjoy them. You can also go to amusement parks like Six Flags, Disneyland, Universal Studios, Knotts Berry Farm, Sea World, Raging Waters, Scandia, and Ice Town. These places are very cool to hang out because you can have a lot of fun and you can also get on rides and get away from home. That’s what everyone wants for their Christmas break, right? by Kevin Miller by Jacob Lopez Louie Rodriguez graduated from Colton High School in 1993, and now lives and works in Miami, Florida as an assistant professor at Florida International University. Rodriguez was raised in the communities of San Bernardino and Colton. He attended CHS until 1993. Rodriguez then went on to attend Harvard and graduated with a doctorate in education. His current research involves the research in relationships in school reform, educational policy, and education as a civil right, specifically as they relate to student-teacher engagement and dropouts. Rodriguez also teaches urban education, educational policy and theory, and social and cultural foundations in education at Florida International University. Rodriguez has also written a biography that partly talks about his experience here at CHS that will be put into the CHS libary. He hopes to set an example to all students,showing them anyone can achieve anything. As time goes by more and more people are getting into the trend of customizing their possessions to stand out from others with the same product. Some people add stickers, some people add rhinestones and some people take it a step further, getting their favorite things a custom paint job. ColorWare, (www.ColorWare.com) a website that allows consumers to purchase various electronic devices in the custom color of their choice, is a growing trend as more people discover it, and it is a really unique way to stand out in a crowd. ColorWare offers customization on iPhones, Sidekick 3’s, iPods and many other things, including computers and gaming systems. With ColorWare you select a product that you want to either send in or order through the ColorWare company and the site gives you a screen with a large image of said product and a choice of colors and controls so that you can change the color on most parts of the product. For example, when customizing an iPod, you can color the front, back, and scroll wheel with different colors of your choice. With the trend of having eye-catching possessions growing exponentially, options like ColorWare are a great thing. Although the prices are usually steep, it is oftentimes worth it. ColorWare does an excellent job of coloring the products, using a unique, scratch resistant, high-gloss polymer-based coating that gives the finished product a brilliant finish. ColorWare was featured as the 108th fastest growing, privately held company of 2007 in the Inc. Magazine 500 list, and its popularity continues to grow as they take more products into their line of customizable goods. ColorWare has been featured in many highly popular publications, including Vogue, Entertainment Weekly and Style Magazine. ColorWare works with a large list of private clients, many of them among the most notable companies in the world. From DC Shoes to Mercedes-Benz, MTV to Pokemon, ColorWare has a broad spectrum of clientele, which goes to show how reliable they are. Although the prices may be steep, ranging from $75 to upwards of $2000, for purchasing the custom colored computers through them, ColorWare is definitely a unique, admirable way to stand out from the crowd, and it is a great gift to give or receive. by Gabi Gahr by Randie Ortloff Did you ever wonder why Yogi the Yellowjacket is our school mascot? Did you know that the Coyote almost became our mascot? “I went back every issue of the Colton Courier until I found the first mention of the Yellowjackets,” said Scott Klemm, a retired Colton High School history teacher who wrote the book Colton High: the First 100 Years. Most students at Colton high are unaware of why we are the Colton Yellowjackets. On October 2, 1926, our school’s mascot was officially recognized as the Colton Yellow jackets. “Donald Macintosh, principal and superintendent at the time, mentioned that during a game against Corona, both teams wanted red jerseys,” explained Klemm. “The league decided Corona would get the red and Colton would wear the yellow with black arm stripes. The opposing coach said Colton looked like yellowjackets swarming around, because of all the yellow and black.So the name just stuck,” At one point the school mascot could have actually the been the Colton Coyotes, but Yellow jacket was chosen instead, Yogi. by Saige Downs He cheers, he jumps, he shakes his behind and he is junior Aaron Gamboa, Colton High School’s Yellowjacket mascot. He became the school mascot last year, he had to attend a meeting and a special tryout just for mascots even though there were only three people. Gamboa made the tryouts and went to cheerleading camp with all the cheerleaders. Gamboa had to learn a lot of complex moves. He says, “Going to cheer camp made me realize that it is actually hard to be a cheerleader and this made me understand what the cheerleaders go through.” In spite of this, he is very appreciative of the experience. “Cheer camp was a different experience but it was a lot of fun.” Gamboa recalls from last year that he remembers talking about wanting to be the school mascot and how much fun it would be. Some laughed at his dream but now he has proved his friends wrong. Now Gamboa does his cheers at all of the football games and will be cheering at the basketball games. At the end of the year he will be trying out to be the school’s mascot as a senior. Lately, it seems anyone can be a celebrity in Hollywood, with no talent needed. Singing, acting skills, not required, get your picture taken and get invited to the hottest parties on the nightclub scene, and if you’re really lucky, you can star in your own reality show. Hollywood sure isn’t what it used to be and you can thank Perez Hilton, Kim Kardashian and Lauren Conrad in part for making it that way. Being famous has never been so easy; just make sure you have these: connections, reality show, enemies, and an Everyone talks about others behind their backs; Perez Hilton does it in front of more than 8 million viewers everyday. Little known by his real name, Mario Lavandeira, and without family connections or rich parents, Hilton made it big in Hollywood all by himself. His vicious, flat out offensive website PerezHilton.com makes fun of anyone and everyone in Hollywood, Actors, singers, and athletes are all to be made vulnerable. His nasty offensive remarks about Hollywood’s A-D list and their children have made Hilton many enemies. The self titled “Queen of all Media” got his own reality show What Perez Sez on VH-1, was a cohost on The View and has had countless articles written about him; it’s clear people love what he has to say because you never know what it will be. No one can deny he is well on his way to becoming a household name for trash talking. Hilton is unstoppable, except for maybe karma, which is very overdue. outrageous personality (the crazier the better). With any luck our talent less celebrities will have their 15 minutes of fame over soon and a new batch of fresh faces will be their to take their place. In time people won’t care about celebrity gossip, what the Kardashians are up to or if Lauren Conrad will ever be friends with Heidi Montag again. Fame won’t last forever and everything comes to end sooner or later. So in enjoy it, and in the meantime go the walk down Rodeo Drive just to get your picture taken, all for doing nothing. Lauren Conrad, star of the popular MTV reality show The Hills spends her days doing the following things: interning at Teen Vogue, talking about how much she hates Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, going out to LA’s finest night clubs, and don’t forget the all important texting. Conrad, who has been featured on two of MTV’s biggest shows, has become a pop culture icon herself this last year. Gossip websites, magazines and paparazzi all can’t seem to get enough of her. She is photographed at Hollywood’s biggest parties frequently and has become even more popular when reports surfaced that The Hills is really scripted. With her new popularity; she gained her own clothing line and is the spokesperson for the makeup line “Mark.” Conrad definitely proves that no talent is required to have your own show; her success comes from just plain luck, with her city, high school and friends being documented in the pop culture icon, Laguna Beach, the rest is history. Judging by how many viewers watch her show every week, it’s undeniable that people love watching Conrad, it seems that watching her text never gets old. Former Paris Hilton sidekick, Kim Kardashian, has gained a lot of things this year: her own reality show, a Playboy cover, and more money (not that she needed it). Born into a rich family, thanks to her late father, she hit it big time when she was photographed traveling with ex-best friend Hilton, which caused many to take interest in this new socialite. Fast forward a year and Kardashian is now the star of E!’s hit show, Keeping up with the Kardashians, which chronicles the daily lives of Kardashian and her many siblings. The premiere episode drew 7 million viewers and only increased as the season progressed, E! announced that there will be a second season. Just because reality TV fans love her doesn’t mean the critics do. The New York Times has written: “The Kardashian show is purely about some desperate women climbing to the margins of fame, and that feels a lot creepier.” Kardashian seems to be copying Paris Hilton, with the parting, famous last name and television show, let’s just hope that Kardashian is smart enough to stay out of jail. by Hannah Macdonald They are humans just like us, but they have certain talents that seem to set them apart. Celebrities are idolized in our culture, yet they are not perfect. This past year has presented us with the multiple mistakes made by the “celebrities” in the spotlight, perhaps proving their similarity to the average person. I have to start out with the number one butt of jokes, Britney Spears. What a year! She starts out the year in her marriage with Kevin Federline [K-Fed] and pops out a couple of kids. Well, who could’ve guessed it; the marriage is closely followed by a divorce. With that Spears shaves her head, (see picture, right) gets a few tattoos, and beats up a car with an umbrella. Normal right? Next, numerous rumors, photos, and videos are leaked exposing her parenting skills or lack thereof. She drives with her babies in her lap, lets them fall out of their highchairs, and leaves them to go out and party. Hit her baby one more time? Now this may be normal for inexperienced mothers, but since she is in the public eye these incidences resulted in the loss of custody of her two sons. Whilst all of this happens she still manages to drop a CD, literally drop since it quickly fell to the bottom of the charts. She also had time to embarrass herself on the MTV Video Music Awards. 2007 will most likely go down as the year of the death of Britney Spears, what can I say, it was toxic. For more parenting drama there were two dads who reigned supreme: Alec Baldwin and David Hasselhoff. Baldwin recorded an appalling message to his “pig” of a daughter and Hasselhoff tried to eat a hamburger obviously drunk, while his daughter filmed it. Who do you think is having the Best Year Ever? Lindsay Lohan follows right behind Spears in the celebrity name to use as a punch line. This poor girl wound up heading to rehab at the end of her year, maybe the death of her career. What I want to know is how did this 20-year-old actress got to drink at nightclubs? Does being a “star” give you an all-age-access card to drinking even though the federal law sets the age at 21? I think that 2007 should go down as the year for no mercy, for Paris Hilton that is. This year is the first time I have ever seen a celebrity go to jail for their wrongdoing. Speaking of jail or killers-who-got-away-with-it or whatever, what about O.J. Simpson? I don’t know about you, but if I got away with a double homicide I would lay low and enjoy life. I would not, repeat, would not release a book titled If I Did It. Through that stupidity he got himself sued by the family of one of his victims and a permanent level of disgust from all of the American people. The Miss America winner, Tara Conners was caught drinking and then she was accused of having a drinking problem. Conners, how dare you drink while over the age of 21 and in America where drinking is not illegal! Through that stunt she started the vilest feud of this year if not of all time, Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell. This was portrayed on almost every live television network including The View, Larry King Live, and Good Morning America. I love this year. Celebrities are just people who have a job with a few extra perks. They are known by everyone and are followed, but do these examples sound like perks to you? Who am I to say that these mistakes are average are not? All I can say is that it was fun to watch these mistakes publicly portrayed. it makes me feel so much better about my life. Thank you celebrities for the year of 2007. by Gabi Gahr The October 2007 California wildfires were a string of wildfires that began burning across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 homes were destroyed and over 500,000 acres of land smoldered from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.-Mexico border. Nine people died as a direct result of the fire, 85 others were injured, including at least 61 brave fire fighters. Nine hundred thousand people where displaced that’s the most in California’s history. The fire caused power outages and more urgent water conservation. In result to all the catastrophes, the government became involved. President Bush ordered federal aid to assist with the fires. The fire not only destroyed homes but it ruined the air by Kevin Miller I walked briskly into the San Bernardino Target and grabbed a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off of its display shelf. It was 8:46 p.m. on Saturday, July 21. At 10:34 p.m. that night, I closed the cover on the book, and along with it; I closed the cover on the most important part of my life: my childhood. I wasn’t alone in this, though. Junior Hannah Macdonald, and Stephanie Marchand, a girl many upperclassmen would remember, shared this moment in time with me. To express how important Harry Potter is, I will share with you a little glimpse into that fateful day. Marchand and I carpooled, purchasing the seventh Harry Potter together and reading it in the parking lot of Grand Terrace’s Pico Park. Marchand and I had parked next to each other and read in our respective cars, occasionally calling out in surprise or dismay as we got further along into the book. At noon that day we trekked, and by trekked I mean drove, to the Colton Public Library, where we found fellow Potterverse fan Macdonald hiding in the far stacks of the library. Being the emotional roller coaster it was, we made quite the disruption in the library with our cries of jubilation. The librarian threatened to kick us out, so we did our best to contain our emotions. Eventually we went our separate ways, and we finished the book on our own time, each one of us feeling the pain of the characters we had grown up with each loss, the joys of our pen and ink friends with each triumph, and the fear they felt when it seemed all hope was lost. It may sound crazy, but to us it made sense. The thing is, we weren’t alone in this. On that day thousands of people, kids and adults alike, wept as they read through the final adventure with the fantastical wizards they had grown to love over the by Randie Ortloff The race has yet to officially begin but you can already be sure this upcoming year presidential election is going to be an extravaganza. The elections are a little less than a year away and you can already feel the excitement coming from the 2008 candidates. With more than a dozen candidates up for the job, you can’t deny two of them have already begun to stand out and become household names. The front runners, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama of the democratic party have already made it seem as it is a two way race. Yet only one will get the democratic vote and the other may just be America’s new president. Hilary Clinton, former first lady and New York senator has already stood out as a front contender. Clinton, who is married President Bill Clinton, has proved that she is serious about the job. Clinton is one of the most, if not the most popular contender for president. With her beliefs and thoughts about the direction America should be going, it’s no wonder Clinton has made a couple of enemies--one being her biggest opponent, Obama himself. If Clinton becomes the first American female presidents it brings up another big question: what will Bill Clinton be called? The first lady will be the president and the former president will then be in the role of first lady. The answer will be decided over the next 11 months. You’ve probably seen him either chatting to Tyra Banks on her talk show or dancing with Ellen DeGeneres on hers. Barack Obama seems as though he cannot be stopped. Obama is already the front runner in the Hollywood crowd and it doesn’t seem to hurt in the polls that the Senators most powerful woman in show business is on his side. Barack is Barack Obama not stopping there; he has even reached out for the younger vote and Hillary with appearing on MTV. What the future holds for Obama is Clinton still unsure, whether he will get the democratic vote or not seems to change every day. Predictions for president are flying left and right theses days but all of that will stop November 2008 when for the first time in eight years, America will have a new president. Changes will in no doubt come for the USA along with a new commander in chief. Questions will be answered soon and your leader for the next four years will be decided. Even if your not 18 and able to vote encourage those you know to, after all you will be spending 1,460 days with your or someone else’s candidate. by Jacob Lopez quality which had effect on many people. The air quality was so poor in San Diego city attorney Michael Aguirre began to urge that San Diego to consider a whole city evacuation. The fires had numerous sources. Several were set off by power lines damaged by the high winds. The Buckweed fire was set by a ten year old boy who admitted to accidentally setting when playing with matches. He was not charged for the incident. The San Bernardino fire was reported as having been intentionally caused; the suspect was shot and killed at the scene by state authorities, he was a 27 year old man from Arizona, he was spotted around San Bernardino University campus. On November 9, 2007 was the last fire that was fully contained 19 days after the series of fires started. years. As we finished the epilogue, a part of our life boarded the Hogwarts Express with little Scorpius and James, being spirited away and forcing us to move on. Although at first we were afraid, knowing we would never again be waiting anxiously to find out how our favorite heroes were doing, but soon we realized the beauty in it. Harry Potter was a magical journey, and it was so influential that there is even a species of dinosaur named after the book (Dracorex Hogwartsia) on display at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. With two more movies to go and the promise of an eventual Encyclopedia of Harry Potter, this phenomenon is far from over. Every truly dedicated fan will reread Harry Potter for years to come, eventually passing the addictive adventure on to younger relatives or children, and will never let go of the magic. If you aren’t one of the Potterverse fans, chances are you’ve at least heard of it. Created by J.K. Rowling, to whom the character of Harry Potter had first materialized on a train, the series is one of the most popular children’s book series in the world, and has been credited with spurring a generation of readers. Prior to the success of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling had been an unemployed single mother, and now the success of her books has catapulted her to be the 136th richest person and the 13th richest woman in Britain. Although you may not consider it to be important, the finale of Harry Potter in June 2007 is certainly one of most influential things that has happened this year, and as such it deserved a spot in this list of important events of this past year. Video Games, computer, gadgets, ipods, movies, cell phones, the next generation is upon us. Welcome to the year 2008. Those of you who don’t have an iphone yet, but wish to get one may be in luck. The new 3 GB iphone is set to hit store shelves early 2008. Currently the iphone runs on AT&T’s 2.5G network. The phone does not have the capacity to run on the company’s faster 3GB network. Another hot item from Mac is the new iTablet. This device is going to be geared to people who already have Macs, so no, this is not going to be a full-fledged computer. The iTablet will be running a specially designed version of Mac OS X Leopard. People will able to control their computers over the internet from a remote location, video conference over the internet, and will also be able to beam files to other Macs or iTablets wirelessly. It has yet to be confirmed weather or not this will be a Mac-only product. Some of the movies that are lined up for the 2008 year have been anticipated longer than the freshmen of CHS have been alive. Movies like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull, Watchmen, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Star Trek, Rambo, and Speed Racer have been in our culture for many years. Lets not forget The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Chronicles of Narnia 2: The Prince of Caspian, Horton Hears a Who!, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Cloverfield, and Bond 22. As for video games, gamers have Halo Wars, Grand Theft Auto IV, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, Ninja Gaiden II, Burnout Paradise, Mario Kart Wii, Final Fantasy XIII, and Ghostbusters to look forward too. Already, 2008 is shaping up to be a promising year. Keep your eye out for these most anticipated movies and games. by Destiny Espinoza Michael Jackson is releasing a new edition of his past greatest top chart album Thriller early this upcoming year. The release date is rumored to be set around Feb 12 by epic/Legacy recordings. The new Thriller is also going to include remixes by Kanye West. Akon, and Will.i.am along with 1982 never released material. The unreleased tracks on the record are For All Time, which has been personally mixed and mastered by Jackson along with the original Billie Jean demo and the rarities Someone in the Dark and Carousel. The new songs include Michael Jackson with featured artists Kanye West remixing Billie Jean and Will.i.am changing up the beats with The Girl Is Mine and P.Y.T. The album also features Will.i.am and Akon joining Jackson in the new version of Wanna Be Startin Somethin’. The rest of the tracks on the 25th Anniversary Edition include songs Baby be Mine, Beat It, Human Nature, and The Lady in My Life. Alongwith this hit album there is a bonus DVD including the Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean videos, plus Jackson’s performance of the latter cut during the 1983 NBC special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. by Treasure Fortune This summer, students are on their way to travel Europe on the EF Tour “Essence of Europe” Eurotrip for 17 days. This trip is the brainchild of English teacher Lucy Tillema and is her second year planning this trip. You don’t have to have good grades and you don’t need to have perfect attendance to attend. Your parents are even invited to go and they will be a chaperon will you enjoy the experience. If you would like to talk to Tillema, she is located in room 351. She would love for you to go and have fun with her and other students. The first day will be spent on an all night flight across the Atlantic. While you’re in Europe you will be led by London EF through a walking tour of Germany, Heidelburg, Munich, Venice, Florence, Paris, and London. While you’re in Germany, you will see the house that Anne Frank was hiding in during WWI1. You will be leaving Friday, June 20th and returning Sunday, July 6th. You will be departing from Ontario, CA. The cost for this trip is $3,428 for students. The subtotal for adults will be $3,918. It covers everything that you do in Europe such as the 15 over night stays in hotels, the tour director, the seven sight seeing tours, and trains for transport. December 21, 2007 Page 10 THE NEXT BIG THING: The Sounds of Animals Fighting, Daft Punk, and Cage are all music artists ready to shake up the music scene. by Cecilia Cabrera by Jacob Lopez After increasing tensions between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the WGA, took action on November 5th, 2007, the WGA went on strike. Late Night talk shows were immediately affected and were forced to air reruns. Production of some T.V. shows such as Lost, 24, and Heroes were affected as well. Lost, having only eight episodes done, is still expected to start airing its fourth season in February. Heroes has now been forced to end their season early, and the show 24 is being postponed. Desperate Housewives is now scheduled to finish filming its latest episode because it had run out of scripts, along with The Office. Sitcoms that will stop the cameras include Back to You, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Til Death, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. The decision to go on strike was unanimous. The WGA called for demands that AMPTA (The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) wouldn’t give them. Some of these demands included provisions for internet distribution in any new contract. As things stand, studios are selling their product through the new medium of the internet for which there are no provisions really in the current contract for writers to be compensated for. However, AMPTA wanted to put off the issue of the Internet business for three years because it’s so new and they’re not clear how it will work. Other demands are that reality and game show writers are to be covered under the new agreement. In other words, the WGA wants reality and game show writers to be covered on contract with these new agreements with AMPTA. However, AMPTA wants their say in it too. AMPTA is demanding withholding royalty payments until the studio makes back its investment. Under the current agreement, royalties are paid on a project right away. AMPTA want to change this to a more fair system where royalties only begin to be paid after a project has recovered its investment. In other words, if a movie cost $53 million to make, then the royalties on that movie will only be paid out after the producers have made back their initial investment. Movies have yet to feel the full impact. If the strike doesn’t end before Jun 30th, 2008, a fellow union known as the Screen Actors Guild will initiate a strike. Then, with both SAG (the Screen Actor’s Guild) and WGA on strike, it’ll bring a total halt to movie production. This strike has been predicted to last through half of next year. Then on June 30th, 2008, other guilds will join the WGA and they’re hoping for AMPTA to be forced to rule in their favor. Writers have not gone on strike since 1988, when the walkout lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million. Great-unknown bands are pretty much a rarity these days. We are surrounded in a world where everyone thinks they are the next best thing. But in reality not everyone is going to be the next John Lennon or Michael Jackson. But recently some musicians have come forward to change that for us. The trick is finding them before they’re done being great or unknown or both. Such as Daft Punk, a duo, consisting of Paris house musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The duo is considered one of the most successful electronic music collaborations of all time, both in album sales and in critical acclaim. After Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France, other artists such as Air, Cassius and Dimitri from Paris began to receive a similar amount of attention. The mysterious French duo has never revealed their true identity, wearing various types of masks to cover their real faces in interviews and concerts. The media-shy duo has nevertheless become an absolute phenomenon on the 90’s music scene. Daft Punk has not only put French techno on the map but convinced music fans around the world that they are here to stay. Another artist we should keep our eye on is Cage Kennylz, an American hiphop artist from Middletown, New York. He is known for his acid rap horrorcore lyrics, inspired by his experiences in a mental institution as a teenager. He is also notable for a short-lived feud with rapper Eminem. Cage’s latest album, Hell’s Winter, released on September 20, 2005, showed how Cage has cleaned up his act, turning his back on drugs, and forgetting the typical rap vocabulary. This resulted in a mature and intelligent, although still emotional album, which pointed towards a very personal direction for future work. In a recent interview with PopMatters magazine asked what was new about the album, and he replied, “There’s nothing fake in it. It’s not about money and cars. So it’s different from most hip-hop.” Last but not least we have The Sounds of Animals Fighting, an experimental/progressive rock band incorporating many musicians, including members from bands such as Finch, Rx Bandits, Circa Survive and Chiodos. They have a unique and odd sound. As we are aware Tsoaf are not worried about what’s new and hip on the music scene, they are just about the music. All of the parts of the album, Tiger and the Duke, were recorded individually and each member was only able to hear the part they contributed to the album so this is what makes them different from anything around. So the next time you go look for what’s hot on the music charts, steer clear of what’s big and go for something that’s original and real. Stephen Colbert is America and so can you! Book review by Rebecca Schisler You may know him from his hit T.V. show The Colbert Report on Comedy Central or from his recent campaigning in the 2008 presidential election. His name is Stephen Colbert and if you don’t know him chances are you don’t know his new book; I am America (and so can you) in which case you should slap yourself. Colbert’s comedic humor is clearly expressed in his book as he addresses such issues as race, religion, homosexuals and the elderly and their collection of social security. Controversial and outspoken Colbert expresses his opinions on these manners and writes, “You may not agree with everything Stephen says, but at the very least, you’ll understand that your differing opinion is wrong.” While reading this book I nearly died of laughter on several occasions. His humor may offend some, and at points I found some of his subject manner down right insulting, however, the good in his comedy outweigh the bad in the controversy. Fellow reporter and Colbert fan junior Kevin Miller says, “His numerous digs at homosexuals were the most pleasurable things I have ever read, even if I disagree with them completely. But the truth is, it IS ‘our father who art in Heaven, not our father who art in Kevin.’ Who is me.” Not only does I am America (and so can you) contain humor in the form of text, Colbert ads fun little activities in his fun zone. Activities such as celebrity matchups, word finds optical illusions and more. The book also includes stickers, clever comedic side and footnotes, witty diagrams and pictures along with a red ribbon to be used as a bookmark attached to the book. The many diagrams offer Colbert’s advice on matters he finds important, such as a picture of the abstinence bases and the Jesus train timetable. I highly recommend this book for those in search of a good laugh. Its controversial topics are overshadowed by the humor Colbert addresses them with and can be enjoyed even by those that do not share his beliefs or opinions. Colbert himself recommends this book saying, “[Its] a great read! I laughed, I cried, I lost 15 pounds! I cannot recommend this book highly enough.” And I myself agree with him. Buy I am America (and so can you) and fill your life with joy today. December 21, 2007 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 Upcoming events and must sees! 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678 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Just moments before the crowd had been roaring with excitement as they watched David Beckham, dressed in his most obviously metrosexual mahogany brown sweatervest, purchase a cotton candy. Nobody had noticed the Galaxy soccer teams most talked about player until he had called Jorge, the good-natured cotton candy man, over to his seat and subsequently attracted the attention of every person in the packed Staples Center arena. Of course Beckham would be there, showing support for his beautiful wife Victoria Beckham (also known as Posh), for soon after she would be singing in front of a gigantic crowd with her old friends, the Spice Girls. Spotlights focused on stage, signaling the appearance of the girls all of these fans had come to see: Posh, Ginger (whose locks were no longer the same festive red her fans had grown to love), Scary, Sporty, and Baby Spice rose from the abysmal black stage, all sparkles and joyous grins. Suddenly a tune began, then the girls opened their mouths and emitted something that, to the adoring fans, sounded much like a heavenly chorus signing: “When your feeling sad and low, we will take you where you’ve got to go!” Suddenly the crowd, unable to hold back their joy, erupted in raucous applauds and shrieks as they began to sing along. To my left a woman in what appeared to be three foot tall platform boots made from the finest pleather in the land danced to the music, to my right a young man in a short brown dress slammed it to the left (obviously he was having a good time), as the choreographed dance routine reached its climax. In the beginning, I was skeptical as to how the Spice Girls’ reunion tour would be, but once Scary Spice had danced provocatively atop a ladder, I knew it would be one of those moments in life that will never be forgotten. All around me and my fellow reporter, Junior Rebecca Schisler, hoards of fans screamed and danced as they watched one of, if not the most popular musical groups of the ’90s dance together again in front of us. As the show went on, each girl performed a solo, pleasing the crowd to no end. Ginger, the once-delightfully redheaded, bilingual spice girl, was hoisted up by her crowd of dancers and spun around as she sung, her surprisingly fit body being displayed to the crowd. I was surprised to find this to be such an enjoyable event, with their main theme being girl power, but the presence of the amiable, beautiful Spice Girls was enough to end any doubts I had as to their talent. As they sung what most of the crowd thought was their final song, one of the spice girls said “I think we forgot something,” and with those words the crowd exploded, screams and hollers coming from every member of the audience, for we knew that they were going to perform another song. The lights dimmed for a moment, and soon there were dancers on the stage, performing an intensely well choreographed routine. A few minutes into the dance the girls reemerged from backstage in what had to be the sparkliest, most frighteningly blinding outfits I had ever seen. The Spice Girls were surprisingly good, bringing with their reunion a sudden surge in affectionately reminiscent thoughts of the ’90s. They proved themselves to be well worth the steep ticket prices of $80 or more, and the entourage they brought with them was frighteningly impressive. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, close personal friends of Posh Spice, have been spotted attending their concerts, along with David Beckham, of course, and many other high profile celebrities that are in the Girl’s inner-circles. Sadly, only a few choice fans that were selected in an internet raffle were eligible to purchase tickets to their concert, and Ticketmaster sold out of tickets to their concert frighteningly quickly. Although the Spice Girls had disbanded long ago, they were never far from the hearts of their fans. Their music still played in various stores, most notably being played to patrons Victoria’s Secret, who are the exclusive retailers of the Spice Girl’s Greatest Hit CD, and select songs were still proudly displayed on the Myspaces and iPods of adoring fans everywhere. After such a long hiatus, the reunion of this gang of girls that had once ruled the charts all across the globe has drawn the attention of thousands, and although only a select few of their fans got to witness them in concert anyone can tell you. It was by far the most marvelous moment anyone could have hoped to experience. Delightful crepes leaves a party in your mouth! by Kevin Miller There are many restaurants available for people to choose from, but these days it seems increasingly difficult to find one that has an interesting selection of food at an affordable price. Enter Crêpe D’lite & Swirls, an affordable food joint with an uncommon specialty. Crêpes, which are often described as very thin pancakes, are typically filled with various fruit fillings and rolled, or folded, for consumption. At Crêpe D’lite, they fill their crêpes with a variety of foods, from avacado to gelato, which make them taste marvelous. Although the combination of meat and crêpe may sound awkward to some, it is actually a delightful romp for taste buds to take as a vacation from the usual, bland food we’ve become accustomed to. Along with the interesting selection of food, Crêpe D’lite has an amazingly enjoyable atmosphere, friendly workers and an array of quaint artwork. The tables, each with some unique feature such as being suspended from the ceiling or being a large tic-tac-toe board, are unique and add to the great atmosphere of Crêpe D’lite. The food is broken down into two categories: sweet, which is their selection of dessert filled crêpes, and savory, which is their selection of heavy foods such as meats, cheeses and vegetables. Some customers call it Subway meets Coldstone, but worlds more interesting. Junior Alex White, who frequents Crêpe D’lite, says that the food is “like a party in [her] mouth,” and many patrons agree with that statement. Surprisingly, the prices are almost as good as the selection, so you can get a combination of sweet, savory and a drink for under $20 easily, and the portions are very large (the lowest price is about $3.50 per food selections for the basic choice). If you’re looking for a new, unique place to enjoy a lunch with friends, try Crêpe D’lite and Swirls, which is located on Hospitality Lane, Ste. B. Page 12 Please support our sponsors! December 21, 2007 Right across the street from Colton High! by Destiny Espinoza 909-423-0831 Hamburger $1.55 Double burger $2.49 Cheeseburger $1.79 Double Cheeseburger $2.89 Chili Cheeseburger $4.99 Combo Burger $4.29 Double Burger combo $5.29 Combo Cheeseburger $4.69 Double Cheeseburger combo $5.49 Combo Chili 1/2 lb Cheeseburger $6.99 ice cream and shakes are sold as well ALL COMBOS INCLUDE: FRENCH FRIES & SMALL DRINK 10% Discount to all Colton High! Page 13 December 21, 2007 by Richard Bowie Colton High is home to countless clubs. From Student Peace Coalition to Fever Dance Club, from Biological Sciences to Believers Club, from Drama Club to Chess club, there is somewhere for almost every type of person. One club, however, is rapidly gaining momentum, becoming what seems to be the one of the most heavily populated clubs on campus...Well, off campus. I’m talking about the “Stater Bros. Employees Club.” Walk into any Stater Bros. Supermarket any time school is not in session, and you’re almost guaranteed to find a CHS student. Over 25 students in the senior class alone are part time employees at Stater Bros. But what makes Staters such a magnet for job seeking students? “Getting paid, to be quite honest. It makes working all worth while,” says junior Rebecca Schisler. Just like any other job, the motivation behind working at Staters is the almighty dollar. The more hours worked, the more money that’s raked in, especially with California minimum wage rising to $8.00 staring January 2008. According to senior Ray Sabala, the hours get piled on. “I work usually seven days a week, sometimes six if I’m lucky. Five to eight hours a day and sometimes I get closing shifts on school days. So I’m there unti1 1 a.m. sometimes, but I’m not complaining, the money is good.” Another similarity is that as a Stater Bros. employee, you must pay dues. Union dues, that is. It is a requirement that you must join the union within 30 days of getting hired, or your employment will be terminated. Says senior Chad Souice, the union is overall a good thing, “They protect your working rights and help you out if you’re in trouble. They do take around $6 from your paycheck but still it’s pretty cool.” Stater Bros. is the place to be if you’re looking for low priced, high quality food. They also have extensive meat, produce and service deli departments and don’t forget their hot bakery, with all of the warmest, most sumptuous treats you heart could ever imagine. And if you’re looking for a job that pays well, offers a great union and will enhance your social skills, Stater Bros might be the place for you. Walk the Dead, a fusion rock band, consists of lead vocalist Isiah Ruiz, drummer Gabriel Garcia, guitarist Adrian Cordero, and bassist CHS senior Alfredo Contreras. Cordero and Ruiz met while in a previous band, Alien Vomit, back in 2005, which lasted less than a year because the drummer, Ricky Martinez, decided to leave the band. Cordero and Ruiz later experimented with acoustic projects for about a month before meeting friend and now member Contreras and Ruiz’s cousin Garcia. With two EP demos already released (Dead Skin Cells and Crumble into the Sea) this unsigned band is getting ready to make it big time and is a group you should keep an eye on. Formed in the Spring of 2006, the band titled themselves Walk the Dead Walks before dropping it to the shorter Walk the Dead. With lyrics strong and upbeat, their music has a funky and psychedelic feel that will have you grooving like Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez Lopez. The group experiments with different beats that are ‘original,’ as singer Ruiz says, “There are not many bands like us out there right now.” Not afraid to speak the truth in most of his songs, Isiah gets his writing inspiration from real life experiences and stories that piece well together. Whatever the case, it always comes out with a well-ordered story line and a tune that’s different from the popular hardcore music scene, and you’ll be surprised to discover just how easy it is to relate to most of their music. From their recently released demo, Crumble into the Sea, Ruiz wrote “My Inspiration,” a song about a girl in his life that shared a beautiful experience with him while in love. Ruiz sings about how he loves her so much he is willing to fight with everything he has to prove he loves her and only her. Another song released form Crumble into the Sea, “27 Club Funk Song,” is jumpy and gets the audience on their feet as Ruiz sings and grooves about how partying and living too fast will have you dancing on the fingertips of death and dying at the age of twenty- seven. An example of harsh times in the nineteen-year-old singers life, Ruiz writes a very special song titled “Few Friends,” that is a more serious song from the group about never letting go and sticking it out to the death with a close best friend. Walk the Deads demos contain nine recorded songs all together and with eleven unrecorded songs. Ruiz is still writing and working out new material so, keep an eye and ear out to listen and view this young upcoming bands journey to make it to the top. The band plans on touring in different areas once members Garcia and Contreras graduate later this year. Check out their myspace website www.myspace.com/deadskincells to listen to their demos and view upcoming shows. Residential and Commercial -Windows -Stairways -Screen Doors -Electrical Gates AND MORE! FREE ESTIMATES Office (909) 381-9850 Jr. Cell (909) 240-6184 Sr. Cell (909) 838-6829 1280 W. Rialto Avenue, CA 92410 no signs of stopping. Having just completed her CSU by Richard Bowie applications, she has made the steps to keep dance in her As children, our parents aspire for us to grow up life by choosing dance as her college minor. Though she and become doctors and lawyers. But for seniors is choosing to major in Psychology in college, her future McKenna Corder and Sara Archuleta being doc- aspirations for dance remain. tors or lawyers warn’t a cre“With a minor in ative enough outlet. Dance dance, there is no real adis their love. Let’s Dance- Seniors Corder vantage, but you defiand Archuleta show off their “I dance because it nitely learn more. I’m exmoves keeps me in shape,” says cited for classes but I reCorder, “The people around ally want to teach dance.” there are amazing. It also She hopes to become an teaches me the meaning of instructor at Dance Dicommitment.” mensions. Corder takes classes at Like Corder, senior Dance Dimensions PerformArchuleta has been dancing Arts Center. There, both ing since a very early age she and Archuleta practice and is another student at jazz, tap, and ballet dances. Dance Dimension. She “In jazz class we work took a break from dance on dance combinations and this summer to be a part our technique. In ballet it is of the Varsity Volleyball very mellow and we work on team, but is excitedly rebody placement. Tap is all joining this January. about your feet so you get “I’ve missed danctired really quickly.” ing with [my friends from Corder has been dancing for ten years and shows the studio] for so long that I feel like something is miss- ing,” says Archuleta. But now that volleyball season is over, she will have more time after the holidays. But to her, dance is much more than just movement. She sees it as a personal growth tool. “I dance because it’s something that I love to do, and I learn so much more than just how to move,” says Archuleta. “It teaches me to have patience with other people and how to be helpful when someone else isn’t catching on as quickly. I learn about teamwork and chemistry which are really important, or else the whole dance won’t look good.” Archuleta has also applied to colleges with dance as her minor. Her aspirations are aimed toward Hollywood. She wishes to move to Los Angeles to get more experience with the entertainment industry, saying that she wants to go to castings and auditions in order to familiarize herself with the process. “Maybe a choreographer, but what I really want to do is get behind the scenes and eventually be the one who runs auditions for music videos, events and musicals. Almost like a casting director.” Creating art with nothing but your body is a feat that not just anyone can do. Dance takes a tremendous amount of work, patience, ambition, discipline, and above all else, practice. Colton High School is the home to two dedicated, talented young ladies who’s futures are as bright as the stars they aspire to be. Page 14 December 21, 2007 Wrestling gears up for successful season by Maria Torres The team is tied, and the last match will determine the winner, every second counts as in a squint of an eye the match could be won or lost. All of a sudden the referee starts the count down with only fifteen seconds left for the match, one, two, three, Pin! The crowd stands up stomping their feet and clapping their hands as the referee holds the winners hand up in the air. The other team stands in disbelief as they see the score of defeat. Wrestling season is back with Varsity returnees seniors Anthony Carvalho, Trevor Pack, Shane Bidney, junior Edgar Sanchez, and sophomore Dannon Savage. During the summer the returnees participated in the wrestling summer program AAU with the help of Coach Elliot Diaz, who is currently an assistant coach. This season also brought the surprise of a new head coach, Tom Caldwell, who is also a teacher at Colton High School. Coach Caldwell has high expectations for this year, saying, “I think the team will place 2nd or 3rd in league this year, I also expect senior Trevor Pack to make Masters or even State.” This year the wrestling team will be wrestling in the San Andreas League (SAL.) On December 8th Colton had a tournament at Lake Elsinore High against nine other schools. Colton took 9th place at the tournament. On December 14th and 15th Colton hosted the Christmas Classic, a tournament that’s been hosted by Colton hosted for more than 25 years. Twenty-six schools arrived at the tournament with the same goal, to take home first place. “ My goal is to make state this year,” said Pack, who took 2nd place at the Christmas Classic this year at the 160 lbs. weight division. Bidney took 6th place at the 152 lbs weight division. This year Colton didn’t place at the Christmas classic. December 21, 2007 Page 15 WWE Wrestling hits local area with a vengeance San Bernardino show plays to packed house of Wrestling fans by Maria Torres On November 4, 2007, Cal State San Bernardino was packed with a crowd that was bloodthirsty for action. WWE came down to San Bernardino for a house show at the Cal State Coliseum. There was a full card of many wrestlers that are usually seen on WWE TV but there were also others that wouldn’t be shown on televi- Other assistant coaches are Ricardo Gonzales, Adrian Silva, and Vicente Polanco who have all been past Colton high wrestlers. The San Andreas League (SAL) will begin on January 2, 2008. Boys Soccer looking to improve by Saige Downs Last year, the Varsity boys soccer team lost over half of their players due to them being seniors and graduating. So far they already have a record of 3-1-5 . They won a tough match at the December 3, 2007 game against Rim of the World with a score of 3-0 with Varsity captain senior Jose Rincon making two of the goals. Rincon says, “This season is having a slow start but the team hopes for a great season this year and go to playoffs.” On December 14th they played against Beaumont High School but they were defeated with the score of 1-0. Senior Richard Alvarez recalls, “It was too bad that we lost, but hopefully we will be doing better the rest of the season.” The Varsity team at played at Rancho Verde High School at 3:15 yesterday afternoon, but results were not available at press time. If you are interested in going to one of their games during the Christmas break, on December 26th they will be part of the San Gorgonio Tournament against Serrano High school at 8:30 a.m. and Indio High School at 11:00 a.m. For more information, you can check out Colton High’s website for game information. sion until later on. The coliseum was packed, tickets were sold out and many sad faces were left behind without a chance to watch this show. The doors opened at 4:00 p.m and people started rushing through to either get to their seats or get some of their favorite wrestlers merchandise. They had various things such as shirts, hats, and belts, to glow sticks for everybody to buy and show their support to their favorite wrestlers. The show started at 5:00 p.m with a ten-bell salute to the late great Fabulous Moolah who died two days before this show at the age of 84 after a lung surgery. There then was the national anthem played over the loud speaker to salute the flag. The first out was RAW General Manager William Regal, who started by running down the aisle and jumping into the ring, this caused a warm reaction from everybody. Soon after he introduced the crowd to his opponent. His opponent was developmental wrestler and So Cal resident Atlas DaBone, who got a big pop from the crowd even though no one had ever seen him on television before. The match started off with Regal dominating, then with Atlas getting quite a few good moves in, after that it went back and forth with Regal getting the pin after a running knee to Atlas head. Carlito vs. Hardcore Holly. Most of the match was dominated by Hardcore, in the end it was the Alabama Slama by Hardcore that gave him the win and Carlito a huge whiplash.. Next up was the Russian Vladimir Kozlov vs. the high flyer Brian Kendrick. Brian held his own much of the match but Kozlov won with a inverted torture rack backbreaker, some good flying by Kendrick though. The next match was a triple threat tag team match for the World Tag Team Championship. It was Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas vs. Cade and Murdoch vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Super Crazy. Duggan and Crazy Got a good reaction from the crowd with the “Hoooo”, “Siiiii” chant with the crowd loving it. Lots of mat wrestling and some good high flying sports by Benjamin and Super Crazy. Lance Cade got the win after Benjamin hit a superplex off the top rope and Super Crazy, and Cade took advantage of it to get the pin. Up next was cocky but kind of cool Mr. Kennedy, vs. the grandson of a plumber Cody Rhodes , son of wrestling legend and Hall of Famer The American Dream Dusty Rhodes. From what I saw of the match it was pretty good. I went to get some food from the stand and missed the finish but I heard Cody got the pin. Next up Maria Kanellis was tossing out shirts when she was interrupted by Santino Marella who ran down Stone Cold Steve Austin and his movie The Condemned. They then left to make room for the next match for the women’s championship with Mickie James vs. the champ Beth Phoenix. I was still in line trying to get food (which by the way I think Cal State needs to wake up the people there because the line never moved), so after waiting a half an hour I left to get back to my seat to see the finish with Beth beating Mickie for the win and retaining her title. Next was the Co-main event for the WWE Championship of Champ Randy Orton vs. the man that never met a risk he didn’t take, the Intercontinental Champ Jeff Hardy. The match was great with hardy flying over the ropes twice to crash onto Orton on the outside. The finish saw Orton try for a RKO only for it to be reversed by hardy for a Twist of Fate only for it to be reversed back to a RKO by Orton for the pin and retaining the WWE title. Next up was the final match pitting “The Game” Triple H vs. “The Samoan Bulldozer” Umaga in a “No DQ” match. Back and forth the match went, with Triple H getting his head rammed in the corner by Umaga. Umaga then tried again but with the steel steps behind Triple H so add the extra dash of pain to it, only for Hunter to move out and Umaga crashes and burns into the steps. Then followed by the Pedigree on the steel chair for the win with Triple H as the winner. Lots of “DX” chants and chops after, with Triple H entertaining the crowd with some funny jokes with a guy that came from England followed by the chant that can’t be printed on this paper. All in all great show with WWE announcing they will be back in Anaheim and L.A. in February. Death of Dr. Pepper: Troupers put on dinner theatre, a first for CHS by Divya Joseph I was sitting at a table trying to eat my dinner peacefully, despite the company of a smug Lt. Colonel Percy Blunt who jaded me with long tales of his army days. A few people stopped by asking for lost loved ones: a lawyer asking for his uncle, a Dr. Pepper with wandering eyes, asking for his wife, and three loony sisters, all searching for their husbands. I was thinking to myself that these occurrences were sure looking peculiar, when I was interrupted by a loud noise like that of a gun shot. Dr. Pepper came in from outside oozing blood; he was shot! I knew immediately that this wasn’t going to be any ordinary day. The Death of Dr. Pepper, a dinner theater presentation held by Trouper’s club, captivated its viewers through its characters interaction with the audience and vice-versa. The audience feeling like one of the characters themselves spent the night figuring out who the murderer of Dr. Pepper was. The actors loved the interface with the audience, say Gabriell Darter, Kristen Romos and Mary Skates, who played the suspected loony sisters. The actors say that the event for them was a growing experience, for they had to think on their feet because each member of the audience would react and respond differently when they would interact with them. “Every time we went to a table we had something different to say,” says Romos. The actors say that they impro- vised a lot with the script and the props as the show went along “About 50% was made up at the moment,” says Derek Gonzalez (Dr. Pepper). Skates says that the balloon that they popped to imitate the sound of a gun shot at the 6 o’ clock showing wasn’t present at the 1 o’ clock showing so they all gathered around and shouted out the word ‘bang.’ The blood (also know as spaghetti sauce) that oozed out of Dr. Pepper was a last minute idea as well. But they pulled this all off well, says Troupers club advisesr and director Renee Fegan, “I know they could have done better but for their first time they did really well,” she says. The Death of Dr. Pepper was the first time that Troupers have held a dinner theater presentation and the first time that a whole event was planned, directed and executed solely by the members of troupers with very little help from their advisor Fegan. Fegan says that the club was brainstorming of more ways to raise money for themselves and the community, when someone suggested a dinner theater presentation and they all loved the idea and further decided to give half their proceedings to the Southern California’s fire victims. “This is something we give to the community because the community gives to us everyday, ” says Adam Ghovayzi. Seeing how well they pulled this one off, how much fun they had doing it, and how close this event has brought the club members to one another and the community, the club has unanimously decided to make this an annual event.