Is number one good enough? Field of shattered dreams

Vol. 8 No. 7
Northside College Preparatory High School March 2007
HoofBeat
The
News
pages 1-3
•Rodriguez wins first at the
Talent Show
Editorial pages 4-6
•Beres and Born debate
Creed’s best song
•Drinking parties-- with your
parents
Centerfold pages 8-9
•The woes of the new
scheduling system
•Do AP recs make sense?
A&E
pages 10-11
•Radtrocity: time with
parents should count as
service learning hours
Features page 12
•Global Intiatives exchange
Sports
pages 13-16
•Cheerleading and poms
squads win City
•Men’s varsity baseball team
has high hopes
Page 14
Page 12
Mustangs get
psyched for
Cubby Walk
Smooth moves
at “Groove
Thang”
Is number one good enough?
Northside tops state charts in PSAE results
by Aliy Markowski
Northside tops the charts
for the sixth year in a row in the
statewide ranking of high schools’
performances on the Prairie State
Achievement Exam. Northside
ranks number one in the state with
98.3 percent of students meeting
or exceeding standards on the standardized test, followed by Walter
Payton College Prep at 95.2 percent
and Whitney Young at 93.7.
Before the scores were released
this March, rumors had been flying
that Northside had dropped from
its top spot. Jill Swanson, Adv. 702,
says she was relieved to see Northside remain number one.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to
be part of the class that brought
the rank down,” Swanson said,
referencing the fact that the March
results reflect the performance of
the class of 2007.
Although Northside still managed to clinch first place for the
percentage of juniors meeting state
standards, the number of Northside
students exceeding standards in science and reading decreased in 2006,
continuing a steady trend of decline
in all three subject areas since 2004.
“I don’t think the PSAE is the
standard by which we should hold
our students,” Tim Devine, Social
Science Chair, said. “We know we
have students who are excellent test
takers from the day they walk in
the door. The question we need to
be asking is why aren’t 100 percent
of our students exceeding state
standards?”
The percentage of students
exceeding standards in reading
dropped from 63 to 60.5 percent
this year, while in science only 46
Piotr Maniak, Adv. 701, reads about genetic mutations, taking advantage of the library’s wide
selection of free magazines.
Photo by Aliy Markowski
percent of students exceeded standards, compared to 49.5 percent last
year. Although the percentage of
Northsiders exceeding standards in
math increased from 26 percent last
year to 29.9 percent this year, scores
have still drastically declined from
52 percent of students exceeding
math standards in 2004.
“The most important way to
use these results is to figure what is
the best way to prepare students,”
Devine said. “There are more important standardized tests than the
PSAE for Northsiders like the ACT
and SAT.”
Devine says the school should
use the PSAE results to determine
what areas need improvement.
If students aren’t exceeding state
standards, something is not right,
Devine said.
Stephanie Levine, Adv. 805, is
also unimpressed by the news that
Northside is number one again.
“I feel like these test results just
reaffirm our sense of being better
people every year,” Levine said.
“We take an achievement test to get
into Northside, so we were accepted
to begin
Continued as “PSAE” on pg. 3
Field of shattered dreams
Grass replanting disrupts spring sports
by Molly McAndrew
by the reconstruction.
Although this is better than
practicing indoors, it is still
harder for teams than using
the entire field they have
had in the past.
“It puts us at a disadvantage when we are playing teams that have a whole
field to practice on every
single day,” Patricia Mazur,
Adv. 701, said.
Mazur, Captain of
Northside’s Women’s
Varsity Lacrosse Team, says
the team would have had
more opportunities to work
on stick skills before
the season began if
the field had been
available.
Spring sports players like Mazur say it
seems unfair that they
have to practice in
the gym while spring
sports are the sports
most played outdoors
on fields.
“Playing lacrosse
in the gym is really
different than playing
outside,” Mazur said.
“It’s a whole different
feel and it’s practically
impossible to practice
ground balls effectively on the wood floor.”
When teams practice in a place smaller
than their playing
field, they have to curb
their practice agenda
Unlike the spring sports teams, the Men’s Varsity Soccer Team was lucky enough to
practice on their home field last fall.
to fit the constraints
Photo by Kana Yoo
of the area. Basil
Spring teams across the
board are furious at one
of Northside’s most recent
construction projects: the
grass replanting in the field
behind the school. The
school, usually tight on
budget, has found money to
assist spring sports teams by
providing them with an appropriate playing field. The
teams most immediately
affected by this makeover
are women’s soccer, men’s
lacrosse, and women’s
lacrosse. Other teams have
had their gym time cut to
make room for the homeless
teams that usually rely on
the field as a place to hold
practices.
Although they realize
that this reconstruction is
meant to help them, many
players say they are annoyed with inconveniences
that the field reconstruction
has brought to their practicing and training, Hannah
Shier, Adv. 900, said.
“They chose to do this
at the wrong time. It’s stupid,” Shier said.
Shier’s lacrosse team
has had to settle with practicing in the gym and training throughout the school.
“It’s not very helpful
when we have to practice
in the gym,” said Hannah
Basil, Adv. 907, who plays
for the women’s soccer
team. “It’s obvious the gym
is much smaller than the
field.”
Aside from practices in
the gym, teams can practice
on the small portion of the
field behind the shed that
has been left untouched
says she thinks the school
should have tried to start
the project at a time when
it would have interfered less
with school sports.
“I don’t know why they
couldn’t have done it during
the summer,” Basil said.
“No teams use the field
regularly then.”
The school chose to
redo the field this spring,
however, because it was the
only plausible time. School
officials say it would have
been nearly impossible to
do landscaping in the winter
with a frozen ground. Snow
was another concern that
ruled out the winter possibility. If the process had
been done over the summer,
spring sports may still have
been unable to use the field
to accommodate the long
time period necessary to
complete the project.
Despite this reasoning,
some spring athletes still
believe that the disadvantages of not having a field
to practice on outweigh the
advantages in the future.
“I get that it’s going to
be a good thing for the future,” Mazur said. “But it’s
hard especially for those of
us who are seniors because
it’s our last year and it’s
affecting our season. I just
hope that once it’s done
it can be maintained for a
while so they don’t have to
go through this again.”
Page 2 News Yeah, we’ve got talent
Annual Talent Show a roaring success
by Zlatana
Alibegovic
Students
showed off talents
as diverse as the
student population
at the annual Talent Show, held on
Friday, February
9. Talents ranged
from singing to
dancing to poetry
recitation, as each
student contributed something
unique.
The show was
sponsored by Key
Club and directed
by officers Tyler
Johnson, Adv.
907, and Kana
Yoo, Adv. 707.
The time and
dedication put in
by both Key Club
and Stage Crew
were evident when
the show began.
Despite minor
technological
issues, everything
ran smoothly and
on schedule.
“Many hours
of work were put
into casting the
MC and performers, finding
judges and running
through the performances several
times to make sure Zachary Rivera, Adv. 708, sings his favorite tune to an eager audience.
everything ran
Photo by Zlatana Alibegovic
smoothly for the
ence, told jokes, and even free-styled.
Kalaw, Adv. 900, said. “It just makes me
big day,” Johnson
His comedy was well received while the
want to do it again.”
said.
backstage crew set up for the next act.
In the end, the four judges had the
Johnson maintains that this success“[Mike Jao] did a great job of entertask of naming a winner. The panel
ful show was a group effort, while giving
taining the audience during the numerincluded an actor/singer, a brand manmuch recognition to Co-Director Yoo.
ous times they had to fix the technologiager, a modern dancer, and a local news“Of course, this enormous task
cal glitches,” Preston Buehrer, Adv. 809,
paper editor. Performances were graded
could never have been accomplished
said.
based on stage presence and professionwithout the leadership and guidance
The technical difficulties were not
alism, technical ability, appearance/cosof the Key Club president, Kana Yoo,”
Stage Crew’s fault, merely dilemmas
tume, difficulty of selection/creativity
Johnson said. “Throughout all of the
that could not have been prevented, nor
and appropriateness for audience. The
technical difficulties, bad rehearsals and
anticipated, Johnson said.
judges awarded a third place tie between
hours of organizing she was always
“The three main speakers which
Zach Rivera, Adv. 708, who sang a
there to keep the leadership team on task
hang above the stage blew up; therefore,
medley and the tango, danced by Fabian
and enthusiastic.”
we had to rely on the two old speaker
Flexsas, Adv. 900, Carla Ortiz, Adv. 902,
This year, the Talent Show consisted
monitors that were on stage,” Johnson
Isabel Yanes, Adv. 804, and Jose Choto,
of seven more slots than last year, thus
said. “Also, the lights in the auditorium
Adv. 804. Second place went to singer
requiring more time and dedication on
were broken, and we could not turn
Marisa Buchheit, Adv 701, and Steven
the part of the entire Key Club. Because
them off, so it was really bright and disSolomon, Adv. 810, who accompanied
there were only 30 slots available, Key
tracting, especially for the performers.”
her on the piano. Finally, first place was
Club officers had to turn away four acts,
Each act received the wild applause
awarded to singer Joel Rodriguez, Adv.
reassuring them that it was merely a
it deserved, sometimes in the midst of
808.
time issue.
hitting a high note or a clever dance
“It was such a pleasure putting on
Perhaps the best act of the evening
stunt. For the performers, this applause
the show, working with people and dicame before the show ever began. MC
meant everything, as their confidence
recting,” Johnson said. “If this year was
Mike Jao, Adv. 805, was chosen from
grew and the thrill overtook them.
this good, I can’t wait to see what next
four candidates for his humor and
“It’s really awesome performing live,
year has in store for us.”
fearlessness on stage. He kept the crowd
in front of a bunch of people,” Theodore
entertained as he serenaded the audi-
Northside slams the bomb
by Rachel Hautzinger
On March 3, 2007, a tiny
group of Northside students
stood in front of a crowd
of screaming teenagers and
really riled up the crowd. It
was not a dance competition as one expects, no, it
was a poetry reading. The
Slam Poetry team won the
two preliminary bouts of
“The Louder than a Bomb”
competition at Columbia
College and continued on to
semi-finals, which took place
on March 5. Adam Gottlieb,
Adv.807, made it to the finals
as an indie poet (an individual performer). Finals were
on March 10, and Gottlieb
ended up making it to the
All-Star team. The Northside
team as a whole consists of
Gottlieb, Natalia Emmanuel,
Adv. 808, Jesse Welch, Adv.
810, and Claire Niederberger,
Adv. 016.
According to Gottlieb,
Poetry Slam is a poetry com-
petition in which poets are
judged by the audience, not
by a panel of judges. To the
average audience member, a
poetry slam consists of teenagers from all over the city
competing in two preliminary bouts, each consisting
of three or four competing
teams. In each bout, poets
from each of these teams
jump on stage and perform a
dynamic poem as emotionally as they can. There are
judges that rate each poem,
but audience members can
dispute and possibly raise
their decisions by shouting,
“Listen to the poem!”
“Slam poetry is an absolute blast,” Emmanuel said.
“There comes a point where
you’re no longer reciting or
performing the poem, it’s
simply running through you
and frankly that’s a great
feeling.”
“It’s [A slam poem]
something that’s built around
being performed instead of
read off a page,” Welch said.
“So both your words and
your stage presence have to
be strong.”
After performing each
of their individual poems to
the audience, all the team
members come together to
perform a unified piece. This
year the team did a comical
piece over the fact that they
were white, nerdy, and Jewish. The poem began with the
members doing an imitation
rap while shaking their rear
ends and trying to break
into a more urban style. The
performance and words of
the group poem, along with
the individual scores, helped
the team when first in both of
their bouts and then advance
onto semi-finals.
“Afterwards, people
asked me if I was really white
because they didn’t believe
white girls could shake their
butt,” Emanuel said. “For
this reason, it became less
embarrassing and more
changing. Although it still remains mainly embarrassing.”
This year many changes
were brought to the team.
The previous team sponsor,
Mr. McRaith, left Northside
and was replaced by Ms.
Ebikepreye Porri. Two spots
were also opened up this
year to be filled by Welch,
who was the team’s alternate
last year, and Niederberger,
the freshman member of the
team.
“Slam for me is about
expression of human feeling
and the formation of a tight
knit community,” Emanuel
said. “It ends up not being
about the points or about
winning, but instead about
the poetry from our lips and
from our hearts.”
“I can’t think of the poetry slam team because they
blew my mind!” Jane Bialek,
Adv. 808, said.
The Hoof Beat
Northside College
Prep High School
5501 N. Kedzie
Chicago, IL 60625
Tel: (773) 534-3954
Fax: (773) 534-3964
Principal: Dr. James Lalley
Advisor: Mr. Chester Tylinski
Editors-In-Chief: Aliy Markowski,
Damon Beres
Copy Editors: Maxwell Brown
Managing Editor: Kana Yoo
Assistant Managing Editor: Rachel
Hautzinger
News Editor: Ashraf Abbas
Features Editor: Elizabeth Jose
Centerfold Editor: Abir Usman
Editorial Editor: Muamera Hadzic
Arts and Entertainment Editor:
Patricia Radkowski
Sports Editor: Geethi Abraham
Photo Editors: Neha Alam,
Zenobia Gonsalves
Art Editors:Vasiliki Mitrakos,
Michelle Zacarias
Polling Managers: Shoaib Ali,
Mohammad Kahleelullah
Satire: Liz Born, Damon Beres
Reporters: Zainab Bilfaqi, Sejla
Dizdarevc, Muhammad Acktar,
Mohammad Khaleelulah, Nadir
Rashid, Sonya Dekhtyar, Sejla
Dizdarevic, Ahmed Imtiaz,
Zahra Lalani, Farrukh Mukhtar,
Zlatana Alibegovic, Andrea Ljevar,
Mohammad Rahman, Riaz Shaikh
Junior Reporters: Sarah Jose,
Helen Liutongco, Bridget Illing,
Jordan Garcia
The Hoof Beat is a monthly publication
produced by the Northside Prep Journalism
Class. As a student-run newspaper, your
opinions are important to us. If you have
any comments, corrections, critiques, or
questions, please e-mail Mr. Chester Tylinski
at [email protected].
March 2007
News
Page 3
“PSAE”
Continued from pg. 1
with based on how much we
already knew. I’m pretty sure it’s
nature not nurture.”
Dr. Lalley doesn’t seem to
disagree.
“The kids come to us bright
and we don't screw them up,” Lalley told the Sun-Times.
Student Council President
John Holler, Adv. 705, says that
Courtesy of ChicagoTribune.com
he thinks students feel too strongly
attached to the label of being the
number one school.
“Community is really what
defines Northside,” Holler said.
“Northside is not defined by one
test score. It doesn’t mean anything. The school is about the
people: the students, the teachers,
and the administration who make
Northside a place where you actually want to be.”
The gap between CPS top
selective enrollment high schools,
which claimed the top three slots
in the state ranking, and Chicago’s
next highest performing school,
Jones High School at 29th, startled
CPS officials this year. Jones fell 21
spots from its number eight position last year. Even Northside
students see a problem with the
discrepancy in performance
that exists even among CPS selective enrollment high schools.
“I’m really surprised that
Jones isn’t up there too,” Jessica Galang, Adv. 708, said.
“There’s clearly some kind of
flaw in the system that we need
to address if the scores are
drastically different between
Chicago’s top schools.”
And the scores are drastically different. While well
over 90 percent of students
met or exceeded standards at
Northside, Payton, and Young
High Schools, only 67 percent
of Jones students met state
standards. Only 31.5 percent
of all CPS students met the
PSAE standards, a statistic
significantly lower than the
54.3 percent statewide. Critics
are concerned that the development of selective enrollment
high schools strips the rest of
the system of bright students
and hinders the performance
Mr. Devine says 100 percent of Northsiders should be meeting
state standards.
Photo by Ashraf Abbas
of other CPS high schools.
Devine disagrees.
“It may be true that selective
enrollment schools have a dense
population of bright students that
might otherwise go to their neighborhood high schools,” Devine
said. “But I think the fact that the
top three schools in the state are
Chicago Public High Schools is
tremendous. It means there are
great schools in the city, a higher
degree of choice for Chicago
families, and it brings a number of
families into the CPS system.”
Devine says all of these things
bring positive attention to CPS.
“We have to look at CPS as a
total system,” Devine said. “Having such great schools adds to the
robustness of the school system.
It’s a good thing for everyone and
the positive light is a good thing for
the city of Chicago.”
Page 4 Editorial
The Hoof Beat
Beresouffle
Illiterate generation?
by Damon Beres
We don’t really like books, do we?
They’re time-consuming, intimidating,
don’t have pretty pictures, lack the instant
gratification of a video game or movie, and
so forth. It’s telling that Borders is glutted
with teens in the manga, DVD, and
periodical sections, yet more often than
not completely empty elsewhere.
I should know; with a Borders right
across the street and “Rewards Card”
lodged next to my house key, I practically keep the place in business. Though
Borders is a multi-million dollar corporation, I get the sense that DVD coffee sales
are as integral to profits as books, and
even then, I’d bet that age has something
to do with their revenue. It’s probably the
24-and-over group that’s snatching up the
novels, leaving a younger crowd, a crowd
most sought after by marketing firms, to
buy up the other stuff. Perhaps fondness
for literature comes with age, or perhaps
youths are just turning their interests
elsewhere.
An older, more cynical columnist
might be outraged at this. It’s true that,
as an age group, we should probably be
reading more, and not just pulp, neo-Goth
stuff like Palahniuk. There is so much to
be found in the written word that people
are missing out on. James Joyce is an
incredibly hip dude – read him.
On the other hand, there are positive
unintended consequences spinning out of
this decline in literary consumption. I’m a
huge proponent of what I like to call illustrated media, a flowery term to give some
credence to comic books. This, more than
any other by-product of pop culture, has
caused a generational rift. I can see why; the
comics of yesteryear had about as much literary merit as a dead fish. Stan Lee, though
deserving of acclaim for other reasons, had
such little tact with his writing that it’s no
wonder old folk rip on the funny pages. Flip
to any Spider-Man comic from the 1970s
and you’ll find dialogue that’s about as deep
as a “Power Rangers” episode.
It’s a different story in 2007. Just recently, the death of Captain America made
the headlines on major news brackets, and
it was featured on some primetime news
programs. Similarly, Marvel’s “Civil War”
mini-series garnered serious mainstream
attention, just as the 2004 DC Comics series
“Identity Crisis” drew attention because of
its morose themes and controversial rape
scene.
These stories aren’t making the news
for nothing. Suddenly, comic books aren’t
targeting small children, but are instead
becoming meaningful commentaries on
today’s political atmosphere and pop culture tastes. This, in turn, is attracting more
serious, talented writers. Brad Meltzer, New
York Times best-selling author, regularly
lends his talent to DC Comics’ “Justice
League of America” series (and was the author of the “Identity Crisis” series). Frank
Miller is becoming a household name with
“300” and “Sin City.”
Literature, it seems, is evolving. Even
video games (arthouse favorite “Shadow
of the Colossus” chief among them) are
beginning to offer meaningful stories and
symbols. Young folk are turning to comics,
movies, and games not because they don’t
want to read literature, but because these
new mediums are becoming literature. Just
as Dickins’ “Great Expectations” was once
viewed as the disposable entertainment of
the moment, Ennis’ “Preacher” is what our
generation is turning towards. While we
must never leave the novel behind, it’s time
to embrace the evolution of “text.”
The vanishing voter
Recognizing and reversing the dismal trend in voter
turnout
by Muhammad Akhtar
The American democracy faces
a new threat, one that is far more
dangerous than anything else seen in
recent years. It is not a failing presidency or an increasingly unpopular
war. It is not even the prospect of a
full-fledged attack against the axis of
evil. This problem is instead that of
the “vanishing voter”. Democracy
functions on the fundamental principle of voter participation; unfortunately, with an increasing disinterest
in national affairs, it seems that the
American empire may be brought to
its knees by its own citizens.
Although historically there have
been several spikes and falls in voter
turnout, the past forty years have
seen a tremendous decline in nearly
every form of political participation.
In 1960, about 63% of the eligible
voting population actually voted,
compared to less than 50% in 1996.
The numbers for local and gubernatorial elections are even bleaker. The
substantial rise in turnout for the last
national election was considered an
anomaly by many analysts and not a
clear indication of a reversing trend.
It was simply caused by a passing
passion brought about by the War in
Iraq, September 11th, and hot issues
like gay marriage.
Although many explanations
can be given, the media is the prime
culprit behind the negative turnout
trend. This reasoning seems to be
counter-intuitive for many. After all,
shouldn’t mass media heighten voter
turnout, with its infinite potential
to inform and educate? The massive media boom of the 20th century
blessed the world with inventions
such as the television, internet and
radio that could easily enlighten and
thus mobilize the electorate. Then
why has turnout plummeted instead
of soaring at what some predicted to
be exponential rates?
The reason, quite unsurprisingly,
is profit maximization. The media,
specifically the television, revolves
around one main objective nowadays: ratings. Ratings arise from
a public interest in programming.
Thus, major news corporations, such
as CNN and CBS, adopted a philosophy of “giving the people what
they want”. Naturally, Americans
prefer scandalous and sometimes
trivial reports over positive coverage on anything, including electoral
candidates; this, of course, leads to
biased and overwhelming downbeat reporting. Negative coverage,
however, is nothing new. In fact, its
roots date to the years when political
participation first began to decline.
Media corporations began the
era of such coverage in the early
1970’s, almost immediately following the Watergate scandal. It intensified over the years and transformed
into the monster known today. Every
news program seems to be driven
by partisan hackery or a political
agenda, be it liberal or conservative. The majority of air
time regarding candidates is
devoted to mudslinging in
lieu of intelligent discussion
about political stances. For
example, 63% of the media
coverage for George W.
Bush was negative in 2000.
The rates were even worse
for Al Gore. Such a significant amount of negative
news leaves the public feeling unsure of the political
system; it persuades them to
keep their distance from the
corrupt and unfair world of
politics. Many Americans
have simply lost faith in the
system, leading to another
phenomenon of political
inefficacy. That is, many
people choose not to vote
because they feel isolated
and insignificant.
Voting registration
programs also contribute
to a decrease in turnout.
In numerous cases, eligible
voters forego voting because
they are not registered. For
instance, 41.9% of 18-20
year olds, 40.5% of 21-24
year olds and 33.9% of 25-29 year
olds were not registered to vote in
1997. To combat this, the government implemented the Motor Voter
Act of 1993, allowing citizens to
register when they received their
licenses; this did little to amend the
situation.
It is undoubtedly true that
citizens are the backbone of the
American democracy. Thus, it is
imperative that measures be taken
to ensure active voter participation
in the political process. In addition,
some of these measures need to be
targeted for two very specific demographics: young adults and the lower
to lower-middle class.
Research suggests that those
aged between 18-21 years old
are least likely to vote out of any
other age group; the same is true
for the lower/lower-middle class
in socio-economic groups. In other
words, these two demographics are
disproportionately represented in the
voting electorate.
To increase voter participation
from these two groups, it is vital to
consider pragmatic approaches that
guarantee results. Enticing voters with incentives is one of such
options. Programs that offer small
monetary compensations for voting
would effectively mobilize the lower
middle class and perhaps even teenagers. The sum could be something
small, paid by the government to
voters on Election Day. Revenue
for this could be generated from
private organizations that currently
fund failing voting initiatives (like
MTV’s Rock the Vote). If this policy
still seems financially unfeasible, legislators could implement measures
similar to the one being considered
in Arizona, where a random voter
could win a large sum through a
lottery.
In order to fully reverse the
declining turnout trend, more drastic
measures need to be taken. First
and foremost, the media needs to
be addressed. Although no direct
regulations can be placed on the
programming news channels provide
(infringement of 1st Amendment
rights), already existing laws can
be further enforced. For example,
the equal-time rule, which specified
that equivalent air times be given
to political candidates by television
and radio stations, has been largely
ignored by major news corporations.
If it is more stringently regulated, the
electorate would be better informed
about the political opinions of both
candidates and thus more like to
vote.
Another more extreme measure
would be to reinvent public television (at least around election time)
to grant more coverage to candidates
and their campaigns. An American
version of BBC would be an attractive choice. Again, funding could be
provided by private organizations
that already fund public television.
Finally, as stated earlier,
many people do not vote because
they are not properly registered.
This is because voter registration is
complicated and somewhat limited, despite the measures recently
undertaken by the government.
Many times, people register to vote
but lose interest as time passes and
elections approach. In other cases,
people are prohibited from registering due to residency laws in different
states. There is an obvious solution
to this: Election Day registration for
all voters and looser residency laws.
Critics are reluctant to accept same
day registration, primarily because
it requires large amounts of funding. This money, however, can be
extracted from existing registration
initiatives, like the aforementioned
Motor Voter Act. If all is done
correctly, large increases in turnouts
should result.
Aristotle once stated, “If liberty
and equality, as is thought by some,
are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained
when all persons alike share in the
government to the utmost.” With
Americans lacking the means or interest to “share in the government”,
our democracy appears to be on the
brink of destruction. Only through
new, innovative measures could the
American democracy be guaranteed
a lasting lifetime, with liberty and
justice for all.
March 2007
Editorial
Page 5
Mark My Words
Solving inequity with discrimination: the trouble with affirmative
action
by Aliy Markowski
As college admissions letters begin to
flood our mail (or more frequently ­e­-mail)
boxes this spring, the taboo topic of the
role of race and ethnicity in admissions
decisions begins to creep into conversations. The touchy discussion of affirmative
action creates an underlying tension among
students at a time that is already so stressful as our futures are held in the hands of a
few individuals sitting around long wooden
tables in a land far, far away. I don’t believe
that affirmative action is entirely wrong; I
would never want to find myself trapped
on an entirely Caucasian campus. Achieving diversity is a worthy goal. Bringing a
mixture of people together is part of the
college experience and an introduction to the
real world. Yet the means by which college
admissions officers work to achieve this goal,
by lowering the standards for applicants of
underrepresented minorities, has unintended
but drastic consequences on the psyche of
today’s youth.
Most ironically, affirmative action separates people based on the color of their skin.
The practice essentially tries to solve past
racism by making the same mistake of classifying individuals based on their physical
appearance yet again. In an attempt to level
the playing field for people from all different
backgrounds, the process alienates different
racial and ethnic groups even further.
Perhaps this is because race and/or
ethnicity are not actually the characteristics
of college applicants that schools should
be considering. A better method to try to
compensate for a lack of opportunities
would to be for college admissions officers to
consider applicants’ socioeconomic backgrounds and to work to diversify student
populations from there. Yet we see this less
frequently, and often the opposite is apparent
as wealthy students are a shoo-in at some
universities. Maybe this is because the strategy would not only become more complicated for schools than simply a checked box
for racial or ethnic group, but it would also
take a toll on schools’ wallets. So instead,
colleges and universities across the country
make the lazy correlation that race and
ethnicity indicate socioeconomic position in
the U.S.; the idea of diversity becomes only
skin deep.
Maybe the admissions officers aren’t
entirely wrong. Your average American
white student does have more money and
greater access to educational opportunities
than his underrepresented minority coun-
of other racial groups that don’t qualify as
underrepresented minorities. Any diligent
student will get into some college and will
prosper wherever he goes. What I find more
alarming is the way of thinking that affirmative action encourages. Lowering standards
terpart. But this is a vast generalization; not
every Caucasian student is better off than
every Hispanic, African American, or Native
American applicant. College admissions
officers take the easy way out: they make an
assumption knowing their oversimplification will wind up keeping some deserving
students from underprivileged backgrounds
out, while letting less-qualified students from
more affluent backgrounds in because of the
color of their skin or their ethnic origin.
The real problem with affirmative action
is not that it denies equal opportunities to
hard-working white students or members
for underrepresented minorities sends the
message that these minority students are in
some way less capable than everyone else.
It tells the next generation of leaders that
people are so inherently different based
on the color of their skin or their ethnic
background that schools and employers need
to use divergent standards (an oxymoron
which actually seems to detract from the
very meaning of the word ‘standards’). This
is clearly incorrect. Caucasians, Asians, or
other racial and ethnic groups not included
in affirmative action procedures are no more
capable of performing well in school than
any underrepresented minority group. In
fact, I think it is blatantly offensive to hardworking and capable students to say they
need a leg up in school admissions or career
placement just because of their skin color or
ethnic background. There is no smart gene
passed through white or Asian blood that
other races or ethnicities are missing.
The danger of continuing affirmative
action is that it reinforces the misconception
that this mysterious genetic trait exists. Our
society needs to move away from this delusion that some people are better than others
and the way to make up for it is to differentiate individuals based on the color of their
skin or their ethnicity. Instead, we should
solve the problem of a socioeconomic gap
in academic achievement or disproportionate opportunities by making an effort when
students are young so they actually have the
opportunity to succeed.
Our government should spend more
dollars on elementary and pre-school education and improving schools in impoverished
neighborhoods instead of focusing on making sure the upper class doesn’t have to pay
too much in taxes. Students from underprivileged backgrounds should be provided
with the resources to level the playing field,
and at an early age, so by the time they’re 17
they are just as high-performing and just as
capable of gaining college acceptances. By
the time students are applying to colleges,
this kind of academic gap between socioeconomic strata shouldn’t exist.
Politicians, admissions officers, and
employers must stop pretending to solve the
crisis of socioeconomic inequality by promoting the absurd notion that one racial or
ethnic group is more capable than any other.
They must start taking action to develop
a real solution that actually addresses the
problem of America’s economic disparity.
This approach may take time. Affirmative
action policies may not be eliminated right
away (although they did it at the University
of California’s nine campuses in 1998), but
we should at least strive for a future when
Americans of every race, every ethnicity and
every income level have equal access to opportunities and the means to succeed.
Let’s drink to that
Northside’s underage drinking tendencies
by Andrea Ljevar and Zlatana Alibegovic
Here’s a question for every Northsider:
how much did you drink last weekend? A
glass? A bottle? A keg!? The truth is it’s probably more than many outsiders would think.
All studies indicate that young students,
and in many cases even adults, are not ready
to handle the responsibilities associated with
alcohol consumption; for instance, 12.8% of
all fatal traffic crashes were alcohol-related,
and 40% of that number involved teens
driving while drinking alcohol as reported
by KeRo Corp. Yet evidence indicates that
few things will actually prevent them from
drinking.
“The more limits there are for something,
the more appealing it becomes,” Kristine
Ciruelas, Adv. 904, said.
The truth is, few parents realize what
their children are doing when they’re not
looking, and even fewer can prevent anything
from happening to their kids. I have been
witness to several family parties where the
teens in attendance took a shot or two while
their parents were around. These children,
remarkably enough not Northside students,
aren’t able to make smart decisions when
sober, much less intoxicated. So, inevitably,
they will be the ones that are speeding down
the street at all hours of the night.
“A lot of these students are striking out in
their independence, but they aren’t equipped
to deal with the dangers and responsibilities
of drinking,” Barry Rodgers, future Northside principal, says.
Just because this is Northside College
Prep—a collection of the best and the brightest—students aren’t in any better shape to
handle the impediments of intoxication. In
fact, it is the very nonchalant attitude towards
drinking that many Northside students hold
that shows that Northsiders may be much
less prepared to handle drinking than you’d
even expect.
“Alcohol is a social thing, you do it to
have fun,” an anonymous Northside student
source said.
While Northside students may posses book smarts, it is obvious that in many
areas of social life, Northsider’s lack plain
logic. Many students expressed that alcohol
consumption at Northside comes as a result
of peer pressure, depression, or the rebellious idea of creating a new reputation
for Northside. Sadly, none of these reasons provided any proof of safe practices
while intoxicated. Most students choose,
on a regular basis, to put their lives and
the lives of their friends at risk, by driving
drunk, or getting in the car with a drunk
driver. The grim truth is that alcohol has
the same effect on everyone, no matter
how well they perform on standardized
tests.
Yet there seems to be a very viable
solution for the problem: parent supervised drinking. Many parents have
already begun to practice this new safety
mechanism, though it remains illegal. In
an attempt to better supervise their son, a
Rhode Island family threw an after-prom
party where they served alcohol, on the
condition that each attendee surrendered
their car keys when they arrived at the
party. But what was meant to help
prevent the teens from making bad decisions such as driving drunk, doing drugs,
or having sex, ended up leading to a jail
sentence for the parents.
The debate and criticism that erupted
was absurd, as this family probably did
more to keep children off the street and
keep them safe than any single organization
claiming to fight drunk driving and underage
drinking. In our opinion, it is people like
those parents who deserve praise for facing
the reality of teenage drinking and keeping
children safe and supervised, rather than
ignoring the problem at hand.
So, Northside, the point is that you aren’t
any smarter than an average teen when it
comes to alcohol, and you are just as likely to
do something mind-numbingly stupid while
intoxicated. If you absolutely must experiment with drinking , do it in a safe atmosphere with a sober friend (or even parent)
who will knock some sense into you before
you get behind the wheel, or do something
equally idiotic. If you plan on taking part
in the mass murder of your brain cells with
alcohol consumption, at least be sure to preserve the one thing that may help you in the
future: your life.
October
Editorial
Page 6 2006
Editorial
A “Higher” calling
by Damon Beres
Creed. Gracing the world with their
musical presence for nearly 10 full years
before returning to their heavenly kingdom,
they are, more than any other, the band that
has influenced the youth of America and
inspired millions. They are without doubt
the Beatles of our generation, mixed in with
a healthy smattering of Black Sabbath (for
the hardened edge, though Creed might disagree with their demonic image) and Frank
Sinatra (a hint of sensitivity). They outshine
even that trinity.
When asked which of their blessed
songs – hymns, really – are the best, one
would say, without question “Higher,” and
certainly not “With Arms Wide Open.”
Based on the cold numbers alone, “Higher”
launched dear, sweet Creed from the toils
of obscurity and into the big time. It was
this single that drove millions, billions even,
towards Creed’s second album “Human
Clay,” allowing it to top the Billboards.
Though “With Arms Wide Open” would
also enjoy such popularity, that came later.
Forget, for a moment, the zillions of
dollars that Creed made from their exalted
odes. From a lyrical standpoint, “Higher”
is rather obviously Creed’s magnum opus,
their finest effort. “So let’s go then,” lead
singer Scott Stapp belts through his gravely
voice. “Let’s make our escape,” he urges,
“Come on, let’s go there, let’s ask can we
stay?”
To me, this lead-in to the earth-shattering chorus is about so, so much. In my best
estimate, the song is about Thanksgiving.
“Let’s go then,” is probably an abbreviated
way to say, “Let’s go then to grandma’s
house, where she has a lot of turkey and
sweet potatoes.” And once there, Stapp
wants only to ask if we can stay. What a
good host he is.
Despite this, some have concluded that
the song is about drug hallucinations and
lucid dreaming. That’s one way of looking
at it, I suppose, and the fact that one could
draw even that alternative conclusion speaks
to the resounding depth of Creed. Music
snobs are so apt to suggest that meaningful
lyrics are found only in the independent
stuff, wherein “true artistry” can really
shine. I guess they aren’t familiar with
Creed.
Who can
dispute the merit of
the most powerful
chorus in history?
“Can you take me
Higher? To a place
where blind men
see. Can you take
me Higher? To a
place with golden
streets.” Oh, Mr.
Stapp, take me
to your glorious
euphoria, save us
from this barren
wasteland. You are
the golden ewe on
the black, parched
farmstead of this
wretched planet.
If Creed’s
“Higher” is not the
best song ever composed by man – ever
– then I’d like to see
what is.
The Page
Hoof7Beat
Embracing Creed, with
arms wide open
by Liz Born
Friends, it is time to grip
your iPods more tightly than
ever before, and above all else,
beware the radio, for the noise
it spews nowadays can hardy
be called music. Let’s face it:
the songs that top the charts
just aren’t what they used to be.
Grazing the frequencies, one
might think that DJs nationwide have gone completely
and utterly insane: when songs
like “Make It Rain,” Fat Joe’s
seemingly nonsensical (or
perhaps incredibly vulgar) ode
to the weather, Gwen Stefani’s
ridiculous “Wind It Up,” a Julie
Andrews-inspired train wreck,
and “This Is Why I’m Hot,” the
latest from New York rapper,
Mims (I'm hot cause I'm fly
[fly!], You ain't cause you're not
[Mims!]) play simultaneously,
the gods of music must weep
uncontrollably (perhaps this
is the rain that Fat Joe has so
graciously provided).
It is time for a radio revolution. It is time to rid our frequencies of this filth. Why can’t
we return to the good old days, when bands
of epic proportions graced our ears so readily? It is time that those greedy radio moguls
listened to the people.
And the people want Creed.
We long for Scott Stapp’s soaring vocals
and Mark Tremonti’s screaming, yet tasteful, guitaritry. With tears in my eyes and a
soaring heart, I put it to those awful radio
DJs: When will you stand up and fight this
new-fangled garbage? When will you bring
back Creed? And most of all, when will you
recognize “With Arms Wide Open” as the
ultimate magnum opus of rock?
Because ladies and gentlemen, that is
exactly what it is. “With Arms Wide Open,”
Creed’s third single from their sophomore
album, Human Clay, is not only the best song
Creed has ever written, but also the best song
any musician has ever dreamt up since the
dawn of time itself.
The track opens softly, with a gentle
pitter-patter of guitar strings that gives way
to a robust and visceral set of chords that
shake the very heart of every listener. That’s
what the song is about: emotion, passion,
and innocence. The innocence of a virgin
baby. “Well I don't know if I'm ready,” Stapp
Croons, “To be the man I have to be/I'll take
a breath, take her by my side/We stand in
awe, we've created life.” Creed’s powerful poetry addresses the very core of what it means
to be human…clay.
In this sex-crazed, anything-goes world,
where one’s ears are assaulted daily by the radio’s sinister clamor, we must find solace not
in the music of arrogant rappers, but instead
in the humble words of Scott Stapp. If we are
going to survive this musical wasteland, we
must embrace Creed, with arms wide open.
Stampede sudoku
created by Aliy Markowski
Fill in the grid at the left so that
every column, row and 3 x 3 box
contain the digits one through nine
without repeating.
Think you solved it quickly?
Be featured in the next issue
for your fast time by emailing it to
[email protected].
Page 8
Centerfold The Hoof Beat
New schedules, is change a
Can’t take it at Northside?
Take it online
by Andrea Ljevar
With the second semester of the 20062007 school year underway, the freshmen,
sophomores, and juniors have already chosen
classes for the 2007-2008 school year. During
this process, students have the opportunity to
take classes, not already offered at Northside,
online with the Illinois Virtual High School
(IVHS) program.
The IVHS program was introduced by the
Board of Education and has since been implemented in 350 high schools in Illinois. The
purpose of IVHS “is to use new and emerging
technologies that expand the boundaries of
space and time to provide Illinois students and
their teachers with increased equity and access
to the highest quality educational opportunities.” (www.ivhs.org)
IVHS provides a wide-variety of classes in
eleven subjects: Computer Science, Language
Arts, Social Studies, Business and Economics, Fine Arts, Mathematics, Study Skill and
Review, Career Planning, Health, Science,
and World Languages. Both honors and AP
level classes are offered. Students earn half of
a credit for one semester and a full credit for a
year of an IVHS class.
Aral Johnson, Adv. 904, signed up to take
Astronomy for the full-year term in the coming
school year.
“I took IVHS because I thought it would
be easier to learn at my own speed,” Johnson
said.
However, not all students like the fact that
they are allowed to work at their own speeds
and would prefer more teacher attention.
Syeda Haider, Adv. 707, is currently
enrolled in Advanced Placement Human Geography for the full term.
“My teacher rarely replies to my
emails and rarely checks my assignments.
Most of the teachers on IVHS teach at
actual schools and do IVHS on the side, so
it gets hard for them to keep up with the
workload,” said Haider. “It is hard enough
to keep up with all of Northside’s classes
but on top of that, now I have to be the
student and the teacher for IVHS.”
If students wish to apply to one IVHS
course, the fee is covered by the school.
If they plan to take more, however, fees
range from $175 to $300 depending on the
amount of classes. There are scholarships
available for students based on federal aid
and reduced lunch.
Sophomores and juniors with a GPA
of 3.0 and a 90 % attendance rate qualify
to take IVHS courses. Students also need
approval from Ms. Medina, Director of
Counseling. Northsiders can choose to take
one or two classes simultaneously in addition to regular Northside courses.
Students interested in signing up for the
Spring 2007 semester submitted applications as early as April 4th, 2006 up until
February 13th. Students may also sign up for
IVHS classes in the summer in addition to
taking them during the school year. The
summer term lasts from June 18th until
August 10th, equating to the duration of a
semester. Registration has been open since
February 15th and closes on June 15th.
Potential students and parents are encouraged to visit the Illinois Virtual High
School website, www.ivhs.org, to learn more
about the classes and download applications
to participate.
AP recommendations
Are they really necessary?
by Zainab Bilfaqi
Every Northside student took a placement test to prove
their level of intelligence before entering the school, yet students are still required to receive recommendations for many
Advance Placement College courses, a procedure which seems
to question student capability.
Although some students do not take AP courses because
they consider them too challenging, others take them to
strengthen their college applications. Many of these students
want to take an AP course, but are not recommended because
they did not do well enough in the prerequisite course.
To be recommended for an AP Mathematics course, the
student needs to receive an A or B in the prerequisite course,
unless they are going from Pre-Calculus to AP BC Calculus.
In that case, the student must receive an A in Pre-Calculus.
“With classes like math you need to do well to receive a
recommendation because if you slacked off in another math
class, you probably don’t know some concepts that you’re
going to need to know to take the AP,” Amanda Perez, Adv.
801, said.
Some students do not believe that AP recommendations
are necessary for certain classes because the prerequisite class
and the class they wish to take the following year are unrelated.
“I don’t think AP recommendations should be required
for certain classes,” Arteshia Walker, Adv. 809, said. “For
example, if someone doesn’t do well in US History, that
shouldn’t determine whether they should be able to take AP
Psychology because those classes aren’t related.”
The Social Science department has a wide variety of
courses offered to students, and many of those courses are
AP classes. Although there is not an exact grade that students
must have to take the AP classes, there are certain characteristics a student needs to portray “through their overall
performance,” Timothy Devine, Head of the Social Science
Department,said.
“We are looking for students who consistently show
analytical writing, thinking, reading comprehension, and a
general interest in the subject matter,” Mr.Devine, said.
According to Devine, the goal of the Social Science Department is for the right student to be in the right class at the
right time. If a student does not get recommended for a course
they wish to take, he or she should go and speak to the teacher
who did not provide the recommendation. There is an appeals
process in which Devine would speak to the student and the
parents to establish a curriculum suited for the student.
“Two years ago I wrote the Magnum Opus intended for
students and parents to liberally educate themselves,” Devine
said. “There are numerous ways for students to develop themselves, and at Northside there are a plethora of opportunities.”
The English Department has a different way to determine
whether a student is eligible to take the AP course. To be
qualified to take an AP English course, students must submit
an essay that demonstrates their current level of analytical
thinking and writing. Submitting an essay guarantees students
a recommendation.
“The English Department believes that any Northside student who seriously wants to take an AP English course can be
successful,” John Hahm, English, said. “We prepare our AP
students extremely well. But nationwide studies have shown
that even students who don’t pass the AP exam do better in
college classes than their peers who did not take this class, so
we accept all who complete our application process.”
The Science Department, similar to the Mathematics
Department, requires that prospective students receive at least
a B in the prerequisite course. The grade still does not ensure a
student’s admission into the class, though. Based on previous
years’ grades and overall effort in science courses, teachers
can deny students the opportunity of taking and AP science
course. The Foreign Language Department says each student
must receive at least a B in a prerequisite course and some
courses, like Spanish, require the student to take a written and
oral exam to make sure they are prepared to take the course.
The Fine Arts Department also requires the student to receive
a B or higher in a prerequisite course and show consistency as
well as effort in previous Fine Arts courses.
“I honestly think that AP recommendations are here to
help us,” Nimrah Haque, Adv. 806, said. “AP recommendations are necessary because they reflect what teachers think
the students are capable of managing. After all, these teachers
are trained professionals and for the most part they know what
they’re doing, so I think we should trust their instinct.”
March 2007
always good?
Centerfold
Page 9
Registering for disaster
Scheduling system has apparent
blunders
by Molly McAndrew
A large concern for Northside students
this year was the new scheduling system and
the process of signing up twice this year.
However, what came as a surprise to many
was that problems arose in the first round of
scheduling, which is a system that has been
used at the school for many years.
“I thought it would be easier because of
last year,” Elizabeth Cairns, Adv. 904, said.
For instance, problems occurred for
many student while signing up for Advanced
Placement English courses. Only the AP
courses that had been pre-approved by their
current teachers in the subject showed up
in student accounts this year, as a way to
prevent students from registering for classes
they could not take. Students planning to
take an AP English course next year had to
fulfill certain requirements for the class they
planned to take. They were then surprised
to find the other option available to them
instead of the class for which they had applied. Student who had this problem had
to talk to the school programmer, Mr. Lim,
and resolve the issue individually before
programming ended. This did not work well
for those students who waited until the last
day to register.
Another problem with the scheduling
was that students were not informed that the
anatomy course will not be offered next year
due to a lack of CPS funds. The announcement came after students had finished
registering for classes.
“We all had to go back and completely
re-work our schedules,” Stephanie Levine,
Adv. 805, said.
Levine says cutting the class has left
many students with few appealing science
course options.
“It was the only science class that really
gives us a better understanding of ourselves
and our immediate environment,” Levine
said.
The news hit hardest for students who
need science courses to better prepare themselves for college.
“It’s hard to find something to replace
it and work into my schedule now, and it’s
especially difficult since four years of science
is really important to most of the colleges
that I’m going to apply to,” Levine said.
Some students also struggled because
they did not realize that they had to sign up
with their first and second choices in respective order. Counselors visited advisories only
after registration closed to remind students
of the rule.
“I was really confused when I began to
register,” Caroline Mills, Adv. 012, said.
This posed a potential problem for
freshmen who did not have experience with
registration in the past.
A potential problem for the school is that
some students may change their minds by
the second round of registration. Although
this is highly discouraged, so far there is
nothing that could stop a student from
choosing a class in April that they had not
chosen back in January. Not only will this
affect the school, but some students may be
locked out of a class in which they thought
they had secured a spot.
“I think it’s expected that there will be
problems when you first create a new system,” Levine said. “But the problem is, the
whole point of a new system was to eliminate all the scheduling issues. Now, I guess,
it’s just that students and the Counseling
Department just have to deal with it instead
of a single person programming.”
High school vs. college, Northside in-between
Comparison of college and high school scheduling
by Vasiliki Mitrakos
Expectations for a college preparatory school are usually
high. Northside’s curriculum aims to prepare students for
education beyond high school. To accelerate this preparatory
process, the administration has introduced a new system for
scheduling where students can construct their own schedules
similar to how college or university students do.
In comparison to the selection of classes in college, this
new system will better fulfill the students’ preference. The only
difference between high school and college scheduling is the
timing and array of courses. Although Northside does offer
a multitude of
challenging courses from which the students can choose, the
timing of the classes revolves solely upon the lunch desired.
College students can choose their classes based on what time
they wish to begin the day, and have the freedom of deciding
when to bring the day to an end based on their classes. All university schedules follow a variation of the block system where
the classes would be around one hundred minutes, but without
a colloquium. Although the high school block system is seen
as a major positive change to the traditional teaching, it does
present a few problems when it comes to scheduling.
“The block schedule is always difficult to program and
find available classes,” Mr. Leon Lim, Northside’s scheduling
programmer, said. “We offer more electives than other high
schools which create programming difficulties.”
The different levels at which freshmen enter due to credits
is another factor that makes the process more difficult. This
new program was implemented in order to reduce these issues
and make scheduling easier.
“The new program has many benefits; it gives the schedule
more flexibility to offer more challenging courses for the
whole school. It helps reduce program conflicts better than
before. Students can select classes based off college scheduling, and helps prepare the students for a similar college
procedure,” Mr. Lim said.
No other CPS high school has adopted this new program so far. As for the block system, only a few selective
high schools follow this system, including Walter Payton
and Lindblom. Walter Payton has a combination of modified
and block scheduling. Their advisory takes place after period
one and the students are dismissed by 2:54. Their equivalent
to Colloquium takes place on Thursdays and is called “Restructured Thursdays.”
Most other Chicago public schools follow the traditional
schedule of eight periods a day. In comparison to the block
schedule, some students from other high schools explain how
the eight-period-day can prove to be inconvenient.
“I love having eight periods a day, but having eighth period lunch and a ninth period after becomes very bothersome,”
Anna Salapatas, sophomore from Lincoln Park Magnet High
School, said.
An added bonus to the new system is the ability for
students to choose the lunch period they prefer. Prior to this
new system, students would have one week in the beginning
of the year to fix any problems, but only if they had a legitimate reason. At Niles West, schedule changes can be made
based off of the desired lunch period. At the same time,
students whose classes do not fit into their schedule must attend “early bird” classes every morning at seven twenty before
school starts. The capacity and the availability of the classes
for an eight period schedule in a large high school like Lincoln
Park may also pose many problems.
“Some students are forced to take a language like Arabic
because of scheduling conflicts and limited classroom space,”
Nick Salapatas, sophomore from Lincoln Park High School,
said.
This new system has yet to be tested, but promises improvement in the scheduling of new courses.
Page 10 Arts & Entertainment The Hoof Beat
2XL, too true
They should have stayed neighborhood rappers
by Molly McAndrew
It seems like everyone who
lives in LA believes that he has
the talent to become famous. LA’s
newest creation, or disaster waiting
to happen, is 2XL. 2XL, two twin
brothers, think that they could
quite possibly be the next “big
thing.” They are sadly mistaken.
2XL is made up of Bennet “Laze” and Justin “Royal”
Talmadge Armstrong. According to the duo’s website, http://
www.2xlonline.com, their father
abandoned them during early childhood. When their mother became
sick in 1996 they were “forced
to essentially raise themselves.”
Perhaps they would shed this common image of the “underprivileged
gangster” turned rap star if they
were, by some miracle, able to
make a name for themselves.
So far the team has had some
success in smaller media like the
internet and mix tape circuits.
Their song “Kissing Game” has
also found some radio time in a
couple of cities, i.e. Detroit and
Minneapolis. On their demo, 2XL
talked all about their nice lifestyle
partying in LA, and even dedicated
a song to their car. It is easy to see
that 2XL is probably in it more for
the money than the music since it
seems to be the only thing on their
mind.
2XL’s featured track on
their debut CD “Neighborhood
Rapstar” is “Magic City.” The
only decent part of the song is the
female vocal accompaniment for
the refrain performed by Cherish.
Had it been the boys alone, with
faulty lyrics and awkward beats, it
probably would have been dropped
from the CD.
Fortunately for 2XL, they have
one thing working for them: they
truly think they are larger than life.
On their demo track, they constantly refer to themselves as if they
were the next big thing. And maybe
they are. After
all, America has
gotten a lot less
picky when it
comes to rappers.
A giant ego appears more in rap
than criminal records and actual
talent.
For instance,
the lyrics for
“Bedrock” are
not only perverse,
but completely
expected and typical. The verses
look like they
have been taken
from Three 6
Mafia, filled with
graphic descriptions and crude
imagery. It has
been said before,
but rap depends
too keenly on
using women for
sex. Even worse,
women are supporting them by
purchasing and
downloading
these songs.
Surprisingly, however,
there is a hidden
diamond on the
CD. “Mama of
Mine” was written as a tribute
to their mother.
The song has
received recognition from many DJ’s “2XL” CD cover.
Courtesy of www.amazon.com.
who feel that 2XL
showed courage by
talking about cancer.
of one song, however.
The duo has gained a lot of fans
Overall, 2XL is nothing to brag
through this song, mainly because
about. With the quality of their
many Americans can relate to losCD, they may get radio time for
ing family members from illnesses.
some tracks, but they are likely to
Not many people buy CDs because vanish before becoming anything
big. It’s not that Hollywood isn’t
ready for 2XL; it’s more like Hollywood has had too much 2XL. Rap
is a booming industry, but there
doesn’t seem to be anything new
coming out of it. Laze and Royal
are both only sixteen years old.
They have time to fix their bigger
errors. If the 2XL brothers want
to be more than neighborhood rap
stars, they need to invent their own
image and drop the 50 Cent act.
Falling out of the trend
Is Fall Out Boy another one hit wonder?
by Molly McAndrew
The biggest downfall
for a successful teenage
band today is not drugs,
not alcohol, but, instead, a
terrible follow-up album. It
is the same old story: a band
produces the CD of their
life and is rocketed to fame
and fortune. The problem
occurs when the follow-up
album is released and it is
so “last year.” One question
has haunted fans of many
Fall Out Boy’s new CD.
Courtesy of www.amazon.com.
bands. Should a group stick
to their old music as a tactic
to keep their fame, or should
they change their style for
the sake of originality?
What usually seems to happen is a band will take the
safety route and stick with
the themes and beats that
were popular in their first
album, with unfortunate
consequences. Fall Out Boy
(FOB) has set out to prove
that this is not always true.
FOB became an overnight sensation with their
album “From Under The
Cork Tree,” released May
3rd, 2005. The album included songs such as “Sugar,
We’re Going Down” and
“Dance, Dance,” which
were instant hits with the
teenage public. Now, almost
two years later, they have
released a new CD, “Infinity
on High.”
Many FOB fans wondered if they would have a
new sound for their latest
CD. Fortunately, fans can
sleep peacefully at night:
FOB seems to have found a
middle ground.
“Infinity on High” has
some great prospects for
new, soon-to-be-overplayed,
radio hits. Already MTV
has publicized their song,
“This Ain’t a Scene, It’s
an Arms Race” and has
predicted awards for the
song in the future. The lyrics
are relatively easy; anyone
who can repeat “this ain’t
a scene it’s goddamn arms
race” over and over can sing
along. But since when has
MTV known anything about
music, anyway?
For better songs, skip to
numbers five (“Hum Hallelujah”) and seven (“Thnks
fr th Mmrs”). “Hum Hallelujah” sarcastically, but
accurately, depicts teenage
love and everything it really
is. “Thnks fr th Mmrs,” has
a good beat and an unusual
beginning, which starts in a
round.
For another unusual
sound, listen to FOB’s number ten, “The Carpal Tunnel
of Love.” The group seems
to have experimented with
the combination of punk
rock and heavy metal to get
a disaster of a song. Their
true calling is obviously not
hard-core rock and roll.
Sure, the themes of the
songs are generally the same,
but that’s hardly unexpected
as most bands like FOB are
dedicated to singing about
sex, drugs, and heartbreak.
Those looking for something
different should probably
gear away from the punk
rock genre. What is surprising in their new CD is
that there is a small hint
of deeper topics. The song
“Golden,” for example, has
some religious references in
it, which is risky since that’s
not what people think of
when they think of Fall Out
Boy. Other songs also touch
upon ideas outside the normal topics of partying and
falling in love scenarios that
are common among bands
like Panic! At the Disco and
All American Rejects.
FOB’s music is generally
the same. They have their
fast paced songs and their
intended rock ballads. The
problem with FOB is that
when it comes to dancing, their songs are very
unpredictable. For instance,
“Dance, Dance” from their
last album was projected
for just that and there are
plenty of songs in “Infinity
on High” that have the same
rhythm and tempo. The only
things one can really do for
songs like “Sugar, We’re Going Down” are to listen and
sing along. The tempo may
be fast, but there is no dance
beat to it.
A band should produce
one of two things (if it can’t
do both): dance songs, or
songs with some kind of
meaning behind them. Otherwise, musicians shouldn’t
be paid the amount that they
make. FOB’s last album was
mediocre at best. This time
they’ve done something
right. The songs are better
and there are hints of deeper
themes. If FOB continues
putting out albums like
“Infinity on High,” they
shouldn’t have to worry
about being the kind of
band that has only one good
album followed by a line of
disappointments.
March 2007
Arts & Entertainment
Everlife is anything but
everlasting
by Andrea Ljevar
The sisters that make
up the Everlife trio are
yet another rock/pop
ensemble trying to appeal to the pre-pubescent
crowd and the mainstream market. Sadly, the
girls who opened up for
“The Cheetah Girls” and
have been featured on
the “Hannah Montana”
soundtrack aren’t going
to make fans out of the
older siblings who are
dragged to shows by their
10-year old sisters.
Everlife’s first video
is a mellow song about
falling in love called,
“I Could Get Used To
This.” The vocalist, Julia
Ross, has a raspy voice
like Michelle Branch.
The fast guitar riffs in the
chorus create a sweet,
addictive song. Another song on the album,
“Where You Are” is so
similar to “I Could Get
Used To This,” however,
that the two could be
easily confused with
each other. Yet the same
Everlife, a new pop music group that is not quite up and coming.
addictiveness is found in
Courtesy of www.amazon.com.
this song as well. This is
where the trio loses their
annoying, reminder to ‘be true
wild, even though their torn jeans,
appeal, as the songs begin to mesh
to yourself ’ isn’t so bad. In “Find
choppy black hair, and mounds of
together and the sweetness leads to a
Yourself in You,” the girls sing,
eye shadow may suggest otherwise.
toothache.
“Don't let anybody tell you who
Their last cover song is a misplaced
The Everlife CD opens with
you are/It's okay to let go, you're
rendition of Phil Collins’s, “Look
“Faded,” a song about losing onethat shooting star.” Now if that
Through My Eyes.” Collins is an
self in a relationship. In this song,
isn’t enough incentive to go take
odd artist to cover, especially by a
Julia resembles Avril Lavigne in
the world by storm, Everlife then
group that gets most of their airplay
her 2003 hit-song,“Complicated.”
continues repeating the message
on Radio Disney and the Disney
Though her voice lacks the edge that
through multiple other tracks with
Channel. Parents might gain some
Lavigne has, it has Mandy Moore’s
the same theme.
quality time with their children and
sugar-coated vocals which places its
The girls promote individualmaybe their tweens will open themlabel as a “rock/pop” CD in quesism, yet their debut contains three
selves up to a fascinating new genre
tion. If it weren’t for strategically
covers. The first being the incesof music by the likes of Collins,
placed guitar riffs at the beginning
santly recycled and reused “What
Michael Bolton, and the Bee Gees
of their songs, the group would
I Like About You,” originally by
- adult contemporary. Maybe not.
sound like “The Cheetah Girls.”
The Romantics. Though not quite
Everlife even dabbles in ChrisEverlife stresses female emas good as the version by Lillix,
tian contemporary on the last track,
powerment in numerous songs,
Everlife still manages to perform a
“Angels Cry.” “When you break
including “Daring to be Different”
decent version with an odd country
and you yell and there's no one left
and “Find Yourself in You.” Both
twang. This country influence may
to tell/ you have the tears of heaven
of these songs clearly indicate that
be explained by the fact that Everlife and his grace will come to you.”
one should be happy within one’s
relocated to Nashville, the center
The song begins like a lullaby with
skin. The song “Faded” spews a
of the country music industry, to
soft vocals and acoustic guitar cords
similar message, but because of
jumpstart their career. This twang
and then leads into a crescendo of
the judgmental nature of modern
is more present in the Josie and the
guitars, drums, and vocals imitating
society, maybe the constant, yet
Pussycats cover, “Real Wild Child.”
the Dixie Chicks. “Angels Cry” is a
ballad likely found
at the end of a television movie just
short of making it
to the big screen. In
the same way, the
song falls short of
leaving you with an
ever-lasting impression of Everlife.
Everlife may
lack in originality
and their lyrics may
resemble seventh
grade poetry, but
their catchy melodies and choruses
overshadow their
mediocrity. Everlife
may make a splash
with preteens who
are hoping for
something a little
more “alternative”
that the “High
School Musical
Soundtrack.”
Everlife may be
lucky enough to be
a one-hit-wonder,
soon to be forgotten amidst the
Jesse McCartney’s
and Hilary Duff ’s
vying for the same
spotlight.
The cover of Everlife’s their new self-titled CD.
Courtesy of www.amazon.com.
It’s hard to picture these girls as
Page 11
Radtrocity
Tapping into your
storage of storge*
by Patricia Radkowski
Teens are adept at spending time with their peers, yet they are
equally skilled at excluding their parents. It’s perplexing that so
few students engage in substantive conversations with the folks
that created them. Cliché after-school conversations between
parents and children are a reality for too many people. “How was
school?” “Fine.” The end.
Don’t assume that you are the fruit of some wild night of
passion. When your parents look at you, they are probably not reminded of the good times that manufactured you. A lot of boring
planning and preparation might have enabled your conception.
You could even be a product of chance, an expensive accident.
Regardless of how you came into being, your parents love you.
Some teenagers claim that they simply cannot find a common
tongue with their parents and wouldn’t know what to discuss if
they did. You don’t have to labor through an awkward discussion
of your life if it truly makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes, parents are perfectly content with talking at you instead of with you.
A lot can be learned from their past mistakes and successes. Who
knows, you might even meet the individuals who are your parents,
or get a glimpse of who they used to be.
If you think that your parents know what they are doing with
you: you’re wrong. You didn’t come with an instruction manual.
They’re just guessing what good parenting should be. Parents have
no clue if they are making some huge mistakes in your upbringing
or if you are indeed turning out as the good child they hoped for.
Cut them some slack and show them some love. It really won’t
hurt you.
Did you know that your parents used to be young and free?
It’s true. They had (and many still have) dreams, aspirations, and
hopes; that is, until you came along and devoured their life. Your
parents likely sacrifice a lot of their life for the betterment of your
existence. And even if your parents haven’t given up their lives for
you, they still finance your expensive behind. Do you know how
much you cost every year? You’re a risky investment. They watch
you gorge on thousands of their dollars every year and you don’t
even have the consideration to show them a little love. Your parents could spend all of that money on themselves: trips to Mexico,
Armani outfits, a new Ferrari. I’d take the stuff.
If that’s not enough to motivate you to spend some time
with your parents, consider the answers to the following questions: Who wiped your bottom? Who held a tissue in front of
your nose, patiently waiting for you to blow into it? Who cleaned
and bandaged your first boo-boo, assuring you that it wouldn’t
hurt? (Liars.) Who called you Picasso when you colored your sky
purple? Who called you Mozart when you attacked the keys of
the family piano? Who didn’t hear a word of the valedictorian’s
speech (unless it was you) at your junior high graduation because
they were too busy taking pictures? Most likely: your parents. So,
who should you love and adore?
Mother’s Day is on May 13th and Father’s Day is on June
17th. But, you should celebrate your parents all year long. Showing love to your parents is not that difficult.
Go out to lunch with them. Take them to a movie. Get cultured together at a museum. Have a meaningful conversation. Let
them give you a talk about the importance of a good education.
Listen to their childhood stories. Wash the dishes or unload the
groceries without being asked. Give them a hug or a kiss on the
cheek. Tell them you love them.
Even these small expenses pale in comparison to what they
give you. Showing your parents that you care about them is the
easiest type of service learning. You really should be able to get
hours for it. You give a little of yourself to make them smile and
remember why it was that they had you in the first place. The time
has come to go back to the storge.
*ARE YOU NOT GREEK? AN EXPLANATION OF THE
TITLE: Anyone who has taken a course with the mysterious
Mr. Randy Snow, English Department, can recite the three types
of love found in ancient Greek works: agape, eros, and phillia.
Agape refers to love in general. Eros is romantic, sexual love.
Phillia is friendship or brotherly love. Another Greek word for
love is storge, love in the home. It refers to a natural affection, like
one felt between parents and children.
Page 12 Features
The Hoof Beat
Take the initiative!
by Rachel Hautzinger
So many issues occur in the
world today, it is like a breath of
fresh air to see high school students
getting actively involved. Global
Initiative became a new addition to
Northside’s extensive list of clubs
on Monday, January 25, due to the
work of Sophie Guerriero, Adv.
016, and Leah Feiger, Adv. 014,
in collaboration with Mr. Robert Blease, a language teacher at
Northside, as the sponsor. According to the Global Initiative website,
the newest addition to Northside’s
homepage, Global Initiative is all
about thinking globally while acting
locally.
“We [the club leaders] hope that
this club will make people more
aware of important global issues,”
Feiger said. “However, we don’t
want people to just be aware; we
also want them to help out with the
issues.”
“We hope to extend what
Global Initiative has done in colloquium,” Blease said.
Since Global Initiative is a
brand new club and only had two
meetings, members have only discussed what the club is about and
membership. However, they plan
to work on projects regarding the
genocide in Darfur, AIDs awareness in youth, medical facilities in
Zimbabwe that need attention, and
fundraising for possible trips.
“I believe the club will make
me more aware of current world
issues,” Jennie Ceisel, Adv. 800,
said, “which is part of the reason I
joined.”
Global Initiative began as a col-
loquium headed by Mr. Blease. The
The club is actively trying to
club members attempted to start
educate and interest all Northside
things locally when they decided
students in many ways, including
to form a club, which also opened
a new feature on the Northside
it up to more students. Mr. Blease
homepage. The website offers
states the club was formed partially
service projects, information about
to fundraise, for the global initiative
Northside exchange programs,
program is in dire need of money.
“Leah and I decided to form
the club because we were in the
colloquium, and after learning
about some of the major global
issues we became highly interested and felt that there was more
that we could do,” Guerriero said.
“The club needed to be added
to the Northside community
because of the impact knowledge
has on the cause,” Feiger said.
“So many horrible things are
going on in the world right now,
and if many people know about
the cause, they can help spread
awareness, and with awareness
comes empathy, and with empathy comes action.”
So far, club members have
been divided into groups pertaining to which project they are
most interested in. A fundraiser
is in the works to give each group
some money to pursue their
service project. Another bonus of
being a club member besides feeling good about the work is that
members receive service hours for
the projects they do with the club.
“Global Initiative is a cool
way to get service hours,” Jesse
Speth, Adv. 906, said.
“This club really interested
me because it is a fun group of
Members of the Global Initiatives club
people with great ideas for serPhoto Courtesy of Senor Blease
vice,” Ceisel said.
outside organizations one can get
involved in such as Amnesty International, and even just important
community reminders, such as missing person Paul Shuman-Moore.
The website gives more information
for anyone hoping to join the club
or just get more globally involved.
“This club will open student’s
eyes to the world,” Blease said. “It
will show a side of the world the
media doesn’t show, because the
media can be biased.”
pose for a picture.
“Groove Thang”
Northsiders show off their talent in the annual dance showcase
by Elizabeth Jose
Students from other
schools joined Northsiders to display their dance
skills at “Groove Thang.”
Although the dancers
performed advanced routines, only a small number
of people attended the
production. The program
ran smoothly with very few
interruptions besides the
raffling off of T-shirts and
informing the audience of
a couple of cancellations.
Most of the acts simply followed the one before without an MC. Ms. Martha
Mulligan was the director
of the program and has
been for the past few years.
The program lasted from
7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
“I was very surprised
that there were so few
people,” Valentina Angelova, Adv. 804, said.
“Buena Suerte” was
the first performance and
started the night with a
wild bout of applause.
The crowd went wild
with screams of “GO Z!”
and “GO AMANDA!” as
AKA gave their performance. The upbeat music
and quick movements of
the dancers had everyone
cheering. Their performance received a great
deal of applause from the
audience.
Breana Winters, Adv.
010, had a solo performance entitled “Black
Jazz.” Her performance
thrilled the audience and
the lighting effects that
A performer from “Connect Force” break dances.
created a silhouette effect
Photo by Kana Yoo
at times only served to
heighten the excitement
Kamaria Massey, Adv. 802, took
mesmerized. Sabor Latino dancers
throughout the auditorium.
place later in the night when shirts
made up the majority of this group.
Following this there was a slight were given out.
“We’ve been practicing since
pause between the performances
People eagerly applauded and
before Latino Fest,” Jose Choto,
so that the raffle tickets could be
hooted as the program resumed,
Adv. 804, said after the show.
drawn. The three prizes were shirts
after the hula hoop contest, with
“Connect Force” replaced any
designed by Jessica Galang, Adv.
“Latin Flavor.” The quick pace and
sorrows with its upbeat and intricate
708. The hula hoop contest won by
swaying bodies kept the audience
break dancing. The performers
themselves knew how to rile up the
crowd, and encouraged their applause with more break dancing.
“The break dancers were really
good,” Amanda Radcliffe, Adv.
806, said.
Many classical forms of dance
balanced out the number of modern
dances.
Theresa Banaszkiewicz, Adv. 700,
amazed everyone
when she tapdanced with no accompaniment. The
audience became
more invigorated
as she increased the
speed and ended on
a high note.
Almost as
quickly, the crowd
silenced and gazed
in wonder at the
almost regal Jane
Bialek, Adv. 808, as
she stood silhouetted against the
red background in a
black tutu. A young
girl whispered,
“How’d she do it”
in amazement as
Jane flew through
the air. She danced
to Kitri’s Variation
from Don Quixote.
“I was so
nervous and so
excited,” Jane said,
“But I loved it.”
The performance ended with
a bang. “Groove
Thang” executed
their performance
with great care
and after extensive
practice.
“I loved it very,
very much,” Mrs.
Kowar, a Northside
parent, said, “There
is so diverse a group
of performances,
from classical ballet
to modern dance.”
“It [the dance show] was terrific,” Mr. Bob Solomon, LSC
member, said.
Though the length of the program resulted in mixed reactions,
the performances received applause
and resulted in an enthused audience.
March 2007
Features
Page 13
Integrating at Northside
Calculus teacher Mr. Dahlberg gets to know the school
by Muamera Hadzic
Mr. Gregory Dahlberg, Northside’s
newest addition to the Mathematics Department, often jokes with his calculus classes
about what his life might have been like had
he become an engineer instead of a teacher.
However, Dahlberg says that other than a
brief interest in the Marines, he has long
dreamed of becoming a teacher and helping
his community by doing something positive for society. In college, he discovered an
academic passion that correlated with his
desire to serve his community: mathematics.
After attending the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign where he studied pure
mathematics, Dahlberg obtained his Master’s
Degree of Education at DePaul Univeristy in
Chicago. After student teaching and teaching
at a number of schools, Dahlberg was offered
a position this year in Northside’s Mathematics Department to teach AB and Multivariable Calculus.
According to Ms. Martha Mulligan, Math
Department Chair, Mr. Dahlberg’s course
load does not include the traditional Integrated Mathematics Program courses offered
at Northside because he has not undergone
the proper preparation. “New teachers are usually placed to teach
levels and types of classes they feel most
comfortable with, and IMP is something that
requires some preparation,” Mulligan said.
Unlike many new teachers, Dahlberg’s
classes are mainly comprised of Northside’s
upperclassmen. However, this had very little
effect on his teaching and overall adjustment.
“I am still feeling it out day-by-day, but I
really like all of my classes and my students
this year,” Dahlberg said.
According to Emily Hohenstein, Adv.
700, Mr. Dahlberg has added additional
amusement to the Mathematics Department because his quirky behavior adds to
his lesson plans. “He is able to still convey a
deep knowledge of calculus, other fields of
mathematics, and even physics while unintentionally making the class laugh,” Hohenstein
said.
Additionally, because AB and Multivariable Calculus are not IMP courses, the framework is less defined. This leaves room for a
varied lesson plan, as opposed to incorporating mathematical knowledge into a cohesive
story or IMP unit.
“Teaching calculus is actually somewhere
in-between teaching a regular mathematics
course and an IMP course in that, like IMP, I
can fuse together mathematical concepts with
real life situations, as calculus is based on
principles of physics,” Dahlberg said.
“I am in his AB Calculus class and I really like it because of its relation to physics and
Mr. Dahlberg knows both subjects extremely
well,” Andrew Hastings, Adv. 708, said.
“Considering that he teaches one of the
higher levels of math at Northside that isn’t
like IMP, he does a good job of compensating
for what we didn’t know previously,” Patricia
Mazur, Adv. 701, said. “He teaches us some
more advanced principles of algebra and
more difficult concepts.”
Northside differs greatly from the other
schools where Mr. Dahlberg taught. Although he would willingly teach anywhere
where he could make a difference, Dahlberg
enjoys Northside’s math students.
“He is a very bright, talented mathematician and is so enthusiastic about his job of
teaching calculus,” Mulligan said.
“You can really tell that Mr. Dahlberg
enjoys his job because he will spend as long
as he needs to on a single problem, without
getting bored or annoyed, until there are no
questions left,” Charisse Eschmann, Adv.
700, said.
Eschmann says she recalls innovative
attempts on Mr. Dahlberg’s part to teach
calculus. According to Eschmann, the most
popular of these would be the “Math Game,”
an activity that requires the students to compete to solve math problems in preparation
for upcoming exams.
“Well, there’s the ‘Math Game,’ and then
there’s random anecdotal bursts during class
that are all extremely funny but still allow us
to focus on our ‘Do Now,’ the problem we do
at the beginning of class.” Maggie O’Connell,
Adv. 807, said.
“Mr. Dahlberg’s unique teaching style
and classroom personality have made him
the talk of the school,” Benjamin Ortiz, Adv.
702, said.
“I really like teaching here and I’m just
taking it step by step and trying new things
out and definitely hope to continue to do so,”
Dahlberg said.
Dahlberg practices his chess skills after school.
Photo by Aliy Markowski
The Fourteenth Amendment comes closer to home
AP Gov students attend a panel discussion
by Kana Yoo
Students from Mr. Timothy
Devine’s AP Government and Politics course loaded onto a big yellow
bus on Wednesday, March 28th to
travel to the law offices of Mayer,
Brown, Rowe, and Maw, located at
71 S. Wacker Drive. After months
of working with the Supreme Court
case, Parents Involved in Community
Schools (PICS) vs. the Seattle School
District, students were able to meet
Maree Sneed, who drafted the
Supreme Court brief for Seattle.
The case of PICS vs. Seattle
deals with the issue of whether
using race as a factor in noncompetitive, public school enrollment is
a violation of the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In order to win, the Seattle
side would need to convince the
Justices that the Seattle School
District Plan passes strict scrutiny,
meaning that it has a compelling
state interest, and is narrowly
tailored.
Ms. Sneed reviewed with the
students what the general issues
were of the case, and also answered
specific questions, like how the 15
percent range was developed for determining balanced racial composition. She flew in from Washington,
D.C. for the sole reason of meeting
the students.
“Because she was a former
teacher and principal, she was very
interested in schools and considered this event as part of educating
everybody about the importance of
this issue,” said Ms. Pat Sharkey,
attorney, who helped coordinate
the event.
Following Ms. Sneed was a
ing to “racially identifiable” (80%
who defended Harris in the other
Sherri Thornton for the panel
friend of hers, Therese Obringer, a
or more minority) schools. Many
Supreme Court case AP Governdiscussion, and the latter is a friend
former civil rights lawyer. Ms. Obother school districts use race as
ment students worked on, Scott v.
of Ms. Therese Obringer, who then
ringer attended the oral arguments,
well. If the Supreme Court decision Harris.
contacted Ms. Sneed.
which took place on December 4,
were to rule against Seattle, school
This unique experience was
“It was wonderful to be able to
2006. According to her description,
districts across the nation would
made possible through connectalk to someone who was directly
crowds of people, mostly those
need to revise their plans.
tions that Northside parents had.
involved in the case that many
supporting affirmative action, stood
“I knew a few facts about the
Northside parents Melissa Reardon
of us had been studying for four
outside the Supreme Court buildPICS case, but the meeting put
Henry and Maryanne Hayes volunmonths,” Robin Tholin, Adv. 801,
ing. Inside the courtroom, the Justhem into a better context for me.
teered to work with student groups
said.
tices continually fired questions at
I learned how the case affects real
in the Constitutional Law Program.
the attorneys. Ms. Obringer stated
life,” said Alex Poniecki, Adv. 804,
The former, a CPS attorney, invited
that it seemed like the Justices
were using the lawyers to argue
amongst themselves.
“I had always thought of
the Supreme Court Justices
as these towering, majestic
people, but [Ms. Obringer’s] retelling of her experience there
made them into human beings
in my mind,” Andrew Foertsch
Jans, Adv. 707, said. “Like
hearing about Justice Scalia’s
mannerisms with his chair.”
The third speaker was
Sherry Thornton Pierce, former lead counsel for Chicago
Public Schools under the CPS
Federal Desegregation Consent
Order.
“The fact that we got her to
come was great because we got
to see how this affected institutions we are familiar with and
how it’s not just a theoretical
thing,” Tholin said. “It means
a lot to regular people.”
Under the Consent Decree,
CPS uses race-based lotteries for magnet and selective
school admissions, and in
AP Government students volunteer to answer Ms. Sneed’s questions at the “PICS v. Seattle” panel
compensatory program funddiscussion.
Photo by Kana Yoo
Page 14 Sports
The Hoof Beat
Cubbies, Cubbies, they’re our team!
Pep rally preps students for Cubby Walk
by Andrea Ljevar
On March 21st, Northside held its annual
Cubby Walk Pep Rally to get students excited
about fundraising for the school and earning
a free ticket to come watch the Cubs play on
May 4th against the Washington Nationals.
This year the Science Department and the
2007 City Champion Cheerleaders and PomPons teams served as the main attractions for
the rally.
The Science Department, sporting white
lab coats, walked out onto the center of the
gymnasium first. Mr. Michael Coy, Science
Department Chair, felt that it was their time
to “step up” and help the school.
“Last year, the Math Department did a
great little dance skit that the students really
seemed to enjoy,” Coy said. “That got them
off the hook for this year, so somebody else
had to step up. When Mrs. Murray asked us,
we couldn’t say no, could we?”
Coy says that the event is about fundraising for the school.
“We are under-funded by the board, and
at some point, everybody needs to do what
they can to help out,” Coy said. “If making
fools of ourselves for five minutes helps get
the students motivated for a fundraiser, then
it’s a no-brainer. We’re game.”
After getting the students excited, Dr.
Ana-Maria Vites and Mr. Steve Arnam took
the stage, equipped with safety gear, balloons, and a lighter. As Mr. Arnam held the
balloons, Dr. Vites put a lighter to them. The
balloons popped, spraying what appeared
to be water. Students were a bit uncertain of
what was going on.
“At first I was confused because I didn’t
know what they were going to do,” Geoffrey
Gould, Adv. 014, said.
Originally the balloons were
to be filled with hydrogen and
oxygen. When put under the fire,
they would have made a loud
popping noise that would resonate
in the whole gymnasium. Since
the Science Department did not
have hydrogen or oxygen they
used methanol. Under optimum
conditions, flames would have
dripped from the balloon and
quickly disappeared. This did not
happen, leaving students puzzled.
But what followed soon after led to
a gigantic uproar.
Mr. Coy walked out with a bed
of nails and set it on the gymnasium floor. He then proceeded to
lay on the board, and allowed Mr.
Johan Tabora to place another
board loaded with cement bricks
on his abdomen. Mr. Tabora pulled
out an axe shortly after, making the
crowd go wild. The gymnasium
erupted with excitement when
Zachary Rivera, Adv. 708, rushed
out from the stands as soon as
Mr. Coy lays beneath a bed of nails as Mr. Tobora gets ready to strike him with the axe.
volunteers were requested.
Photo by Kana Yoo
“The bed-of-nails was a lot
of fun,” Coy said. “Mr. Tabora
swung pretty hard, and that actually hurt just
of the Computer Science Department with
was hilarious in building the tension. As I
a little bit. But you have to suffer for your art, the next activity. While Mr. Solin beat out
was lying there on the nails, I could hear the
right? No harm done.”
a rhythm on a drum set, each of the classes
students getting very worked up. That was
The 2007 City Championship Cheergot a chance to cheer, “Cubbies, Cubbies,
exactly what we wanted.” leader and Pom-Pons teams performed after
they’re our team, we’re the [class name] hear
Coy says the crowd went crazy when
the Science Department’s display. Each team
us scream!” The class demonstrating the most
Zach Rivera came out to swing at Mr. Coy
performed its own routine, but the two squads volume and spirit was tossed candy or plastic
with the axe.
closed the performance together. They then
balls. As screams echoed the gymnasium, it
“It was perfect,” Coy said. “Except he
spread out to the four different classes, seated
was difficult to tell who had the most class
pride as each class believed
they had the most spirit.
Mr. Solin kept the spirit going with his double-jointed
limbs as he helped the
students spell out Cubs. Mr.
Solin’s MC skills were a
favorite of many, including
himself.
“Based on the unbelievable performance of
the MC, it was a complete
success,” Mr. Solin said
“They should have that guy
MC everything at Northside....like lunch and tardy
swipes.”
Mr. Solin encouraged
students to raise at least
$50, which in term would
earn them a free ticket to
go and watch a Cubs game.
Raising money for the
school comes with many
prizes. For the students who
bring in the most money,
prizes include: the Cubby
Star parking spot, clothing
store certificates, locker priority, first-pick colloquium
and double or triple print
audit.
The Cubby Walk Pep
Rally served as a reminder
that the actual Cubby
Walk is soon approaching.
Students were given manila
envelopes in advisory containing information about
Cubby Walk, the permissions slip and the fundraising form. Cubby Walk
will take place on Friday,
May 4th, when Dr. Lalley
will throw the first pitch at
Wrigley Field.
The senior class is loud and proud during the spirit competition.
Photo by Kana Yoo
Women’s cheerleading
in separate sections, and helped Mr. Jeff Solin
Continued from back page.
“They were alright, but I guess good
enough to win first,” Conor Camp, Adv. 800,
said.
The squad also participated in the Chicago Twister Challenge Competition. Twister
was a private competition with all different
types of squads: Chicago, suburban, all-star,
and private high school squads.
Northside competed in the smallest divi-
sion (20 and under). The two schools that
they were up against were George Washington High School and Mather High School.
Northside finished first, followed by
George Washington, and then Mather.
Senior Captain Jill Swanson also competed in a jump competition at Twister, and
she placed first.
“It was exciting that Jill was able to do
so well in the jump competition because she
was competing against all-star girls,” Barbara
Battaglia, Adv. 805, said.
After finishing this year on top, the squad
is hopeful for next year.
“Next year, we’re not sure if our coach is
coming back. However I think our squad has
definitely improved over the past year, and
we have all learned a lot so hopefully we can
only do better next year, Barbara Battaglia
said. We are losing a lot of important people
next year like our two senior captains and the
four other seniors, but we are hoping for the
best.”
“I have faith in the girls to continue
to succeed next year even after the seniors
graduate,” Co- Senior Captain Jenna Witkowski said.
March 2007
Sports
Page 15
Thrilling victory, humbling defeat
IHSA State Playoffs
by Mohammad Khaleelullah
The IHSA Playoffs kicked off February
26, 2006 and continued through March.
Northside was placed in the Niles North
sectional, ranked at 12.
First up was Sullivan High School,
ranked 21st in the Northside regional.
Northside got off to a good start, taking a
lead into the first half.
“We had great play from our players in
the first half,” Saif Rahman, Adv. 806, said.
“We even came out strong in the third going
up by 17. But our execution began to suffer
and we let them back in the game.”
Northside’s wobbly play in the fourth
quarter allowed the Sullivan Tigers to get
back in the game and tie at the end of regulation, forcing overtime. The teams traded
baskets in overtime, and once again near the
end of regulation the scored tied at 75 with
seconds to go in the game. Northside gave
the ball to sophomore John Kinsler, Adv.
907, who beat his defender off the dribble
and was able to put up a shot before the
buzzer. The basket scored gave the Mustangs
a buzzer-beating victory 77-75.
“It was amazing,” Ikram Khan, Adv.
800, said, talking about the game winning
shot. “You always envision those types of
big game moments. The best part was we
were on the winning side.”
Kinsler scored 17 points and starting
forward Mackenzie Rivers, Adv. 806, added
20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The victory allowed them to advance and play Senn
High School.
Next up was fifth ranked Senn High
School. Northside got off to a terrible start
turning the ball over eight times out of their
first nine possessions. Things only got worse
from there. The Bulldogs were just too much
for the Mustangs as they outscored them in
the first quarter 20-4.
“We just did not hit any of our shots,”
Munir Ahamed, Adv. 709, senior, said. He
also offered a prediction for next year. “It’s
sad, but next year it’s basically the same
team. They should win conference.”
Again in the second quarter
Mustangs get ready to take the rebound at one of their last home games.
Photo by Mohammad Khaleelullah
Northside was outscored 26-15 as Senn went
on a 10-1 run in the middle of the quarter.
6’7 center for the Bulldogs, Byron Pickens,
showed off his skills by dunking four points,
including an alley-oop from teammate
Jeramiah Moore on a breakaway. Pickens
finished with 14 points.
Kinsler came alive in the second half
of the game scoring 28 of his game high
32 points, including 13 straight for the
Mustangs in the third and fourth quarter.
Mackenzie Rivers added 15 points and eight
rebounds in the loss.
“The way Kinsler took over the game in
the second half was amazing,” Joseph Kanikanal, Adv. 807, said. “If he and the rest of
the team just played like that in the first half,
we would have had a chance.”
But the Mustangs could not overcome a
36-point deficit.
With the 86-65 loss, Northside was
eliminated from the tournament.
Mustangs swing for City this year
Men’s Varsity Baseball season begins
by Aliy Markowski
Northside’s Men’s Varsity
Baseball Team started out with a
bang this spring, winning their first
game against Quigley High School
by slaughter rule and defeating
Steinmetz 9-1 in game two.
“The first two games have been
full of success,” Emanuel Rios,
Adv. 701, said. “We won the first
game by a landslide even though it
was basically our first time hitting
outside with live pitching. Our
second game was against a little
better of a team, but we still came
out strong and had a great game
Jorge Saldarriaga, Adv. 811, takes his base to watch the next
pitch.
Photo by Geethi Abraham
defensively and offensively.”
Slaughter rule means the score
stops being recorded if one team
is winning by at least 10 runs after
five innings. The Mustangs beat
Quigley 23-2.
“Our team is comprised of major-league talent, ranging from Peter Paramadilok to Jonathan Rios,”
Elliot Rembert, Adv. 704, said.
Rembert says the Mustangs
have high hopes for the rest of the
season.
“We have not only created
a goal of winning city, but also
whole-heartedly expect to compete
for and a capture a state title,”
Rembert said.
The team has had a hard time
preparing for the opening games
this year because of the poor
weather, Emanuel Rios said.
“We have relied a lot on working on proper mechanics,” Rios
said.
But Rios says this year practices
have been more effective
for varsity players since the
sophomore team is now
coached by Ed Cox, so
coaches Doc Kusch, Eric
Wicklund, and Robert Berry
can focus solely on varsity.
“We are able to get a
lot more done by practicing
separately,” Rios said. “We
still have an issue with not
having a home field, but we
are working on finding a
place closer to Northside.”
Much of Northside’s
success in the second game
was due to the pitching skills
of Tito Garza, Adv. 703,
Rios said.
“Tito threw most of the
game against Steinmetz,”
Rios said. “He has really
improved and is now a dominant
pitcher.”
Garza, who says he’s 90 percent
sure he will be playing baseball
at Concordia University next
year, says he thinks the chemistry
between the players will lead to a
successful season.
“I think as a team we're going
to mesh really well this year,” Garza said. “A lot of us have played
for four years together, and it seems
like this year we can pull something
great together.”
Garza says he wasn’t surprised
the Mustangs won the first two
games so easily.
“The start of the season is
always pretty good,” Garza said.
“We tend to have a weaker schedule to start off with.”
But Garza says he still thinks
the team will increase their number
of wins this season.
“Last year we won over 20
games and this year we definitely
look to improve on that,” Garza
said.
Rios agrees.
“Compared to last year, I
would say the team is much better,” Emanuel Rios said. “We lost
a little power in our lineup but
gained a lot defensively. The team
doesn’t hit the ball as far as we did
last year with seniors like Michael
Burke and Michael Kennedy, but
in the field we’re much better with
Rob ‘Baby K’ Kennedy and Jorge
Saldarriaga.”
Rios seconds Rembert’s claim
that the Mustangs have a shot at
winning city.
“Once everyone is fully healthy
we will have a great team for city,”
Rios said.
The Mustangs take on Northtown High School April 9th and
continue their season throughout
the rest of April and the beginning
of May.
Page 16
Sports
No
Mo’,
Ali or Nothing
Shake things up
by Mohammad Khaleelullah and Shawn Ali
After another early exit in the IHSA
State Tournament, Northside’s Men’s
Basketball Team finds itself again in the
lowly blue division for next season. The
Mustangs always seem to find a way to win
games against a few of the poorer basketball programs but can never compete in
games against high schools that sport even
a somewhat decent team.
Northside is known across the city and
state, and even nationally recognized as
an institute with great academics and high
test scoring achievers. Yes, we came in
first in the state, again beating out Payton and Young high schools. But beyond
this, Northside still lacks a real identity to
outside schools. When Northside is mentioned, most people think, “Oh yeah that
school’s full of nerds.” Are we just a school
full of nerds? How do we change this image? I suggest we change this by building
one of the finest basketball programs in the
city.
We all know Northside hasn’t been
capable of sporting a football team, so why
not put all of our effort in creating a daunting basketball program? Northside does
have some good athletics like our swimming, softball, and baseball teams. But
what sport would most give our school an
identity to outside schools? Basketball.
How do we build this program that I
envision? One word: recruiting. We grant
admission to Northside College Prep to a
few of the top eighth graders in the city.
Two to three athletes can come in, compete, and add some more depth and competitiveness to our program. These players
would help us compete with some of the
best programs in the city and maybe even
make some noise in the state tournament.
Now, you’re probably thinking that this
isn’t fair to the rest of the school or to the
recruited 8th graders, as they would not be
able to compete at Northside academically.
I am sure Northside can afford to grant
two or three spots to these recruits, as it
really won’t take anything from the rest of
the school. Let’s grant admission to a few
students who have a decent academic record and could compete at Northside. This
would in no way take a toll on Northside’s
academic record or even test scores.
For instance, every year New Trier is
able to make quite a bit of noise with their
basketball program, as they beat our girl’s
basketball team in the regional championship (a few years in a row now; sorry girls).
Not only that, New Trier’s Men’s Basketball Team is able to compete and even win
games against some of the best teams in
the city and state. Yet, New Trier is ranked
fourth in the state behind Northside, Payton, and Young. This is a perfect example
of a great basketball program and strong
academia coinciding with each other. If we
can have the best of both worlds, why not
go after it?
Let’s shake things up and have people
talk about us for having the best team in the
city and the smartest students.
Have suggestions or comments? Email
[email protected] and be featured in the Hoofbeat.
The Hoof Beat
Cheer victory
Northside Cheerleading Squad wins City
Swanson said. “We were able
to put together a fairly difficult
routine, but we were not that
coordinated, so we didn’t place
in the top three.”
Despite the squad’s hard
work and intense preparation,
there were still some unexpected drawbacks that the squad
had to work through.
“We had a situation where
one of our Captains, Jenna
Witkowski, Adv. 705, had hurt
her back during the week prior
to competition and so Nikki
Duarte, Adv. 701, had to step
in and serve as an alternate,”
Swanson said. “We were really
nervous as to how well we
would be able to coordinate
with such a major last minute
change, but it all worked out in
the end.”
The Mustang girls were
filled with excitement as the
judges announced them city
champions.
“I cried like a baby!” Junior
Captain Tatiana Karpouzian,
Adv. 801, said. “A lot of the
other schools were rooting
against Northside winning, and
it felt so great when we were
able to prove them all wrong.
Northside’s Varsity Cheerleaders perform to take first place at Chicago Twisters Competition.
We
worked extremely hard,
Photo by Geeth Abraham
and I think all the girls really
onships
last
year.
Their
performance
was
very
by Geethi Abraham
deserved this win.”
clean in terms of coordination and synchronWeeks of preparation finally paid off for
“As a senior having been on the squad
icity,
but
the
difficulty
level
was
not
that
high.
Northside’s cheerleaders when they finished
for four years, I was really happy to end off
Because of that, we tried to make sure that
first at the annual city championship comthis year as city champions. I think overall as
we were very clean this year. The routine was
petition. The squad of twelve competed in
a squad we have definitely improved and are
difficult as well however, so we hoped that,
the smallest division (12 or fewer). The team
starting to slowing gain more respect,” Swanthat
would
give
us
an
advantage,”
cosenior
had held try-outs to select members from the
son, Adv. 702, said.
captain Jill Swanson, Adv. 702, said.
school team that wanted to compete.
Mustang supporters joined in their exciteThe
Mustangs
worked
hard
to
correct
Northside competed against fourteen
ment.
their short falling from last year.
other Chicago Public high schools including
“The girls rocked it out,” former cheer“Last year we had a gap where there was
Mather, Roosevelt, Kelly, Whitney Young,
leader Ben Ortiz, Adv. 702, said. “I am proud
no coach, and the current coach stepped in
and Marie Curie High school. The squad
of them all.”
right before city championships last year. She
was most concerned about competition from
Continued
as “Women’s cheerleading” on pg. 14
did what she could, but she came in late so
Roosevelt.
was
at
a
disadvantage
in
training
the
girls,”
“Roosevelt High School won city champi-
Keeping the tradition alive
Northside Poms Squad takes first again
by Geethi Abraham
For the second year in a
row, the Northside Varsity
Pom Pon Squad secured
the title of city champions.
The squad placed first at
the 2007 City Championship Competition. The girls
competed against nine other
Chicago Public High School
squads. With a squad of 12,
the girls competed in the
smallest division.
“We encouraged all the
girls on the Poms squad
to come out and compete,
but some could not make
it because of other obligations,” Co-Captain Kristina
Mascarenas, Adv. 806, said.
The squad had been
fine-tuning their routine
since December.
“The routine was less
hip-hop than previous
years,” Katherine Rivera,
Adv. 706, said. “The routine
had a lot more traditional
Poms moves.”
Despite the girls’ thorough preparation, they still
ran into some unexpected
Northside’s Pom’s Squad wins City.
drawbacks on competition
Photo by Geethi Abraham
day.
“Our biggest concern
preformed really well.”
before-hand was the music,” said
The Mustang girls were filled
Mascarenas. “When we arrived,
with excitement as the judges
the judges said that tiny single
named them City Champions.
words in the music were not ac“When the judges called
ceptable. We had words like ‘oh’
Northside
Prep for first, I was
and ‘yeah’ in our music so Ms.
completely shocked!” Mary Koh,
Mulligan ended up turning the
Adv. 705, said. “We all thought
volume down every time there
that having to turn the music on
were words like that. This made
and off would totally eliminate
some girls lose count, but even
our chances of winning.”
with that mishap all the girls
“It was so cool!” Katherine
Rivera, Adv. 706, said. “It was
my first and last year on Poms,
and I’m a champ!”
“The girls were great, even
though I didn’t get to see much of
it,” Coach Martha Mulligan said.
Now the girls look forward
to another successful season next
year.
“I’m really sad that it is over,
but we had a great season,” Captain Stephanie Arias, Adv.703,
said. “I’m completely confident
that Kai is well-prepared to do a
great job as Captain next year.”
“I am really proud of all
the girls, and I am really excited
about next year,” Mascarenas
said.