kelly celebrates 36th year at ghs

S I N C E
An upbeat paper
for a downtown school
BODIES EXHIBIT
Anatomy exhibit
at the Civic Center
inspires healthy lifestyle
p. 13
HENRY W. GRADY HIGH SCHOOL, ATLANTA
New Georgia bills
strive to regulate
divorce practices
uc
FASHION SHOW
URBAN
COUTURE
[sneak preview]
Recent immigration
bill initiates protests
Millions nationwide have protested an immigration bill now being debated in the Senate. Although
the bill allows for naturalization of
more than 9 million of the estimated
11 million illegal immigrants in the
U.S., it would also fortify the border
between Mexico and the U.S., verify
legality of all employees and make illegal-immigrant status a felony.
Film series celebrates
disabled individuals
The Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities is sponsoring
a film series focusing on living with
and overcoming disabilities. The second of four films, 39 Pounds of Love,
will be shown at the Woodruff Arts
Center on May 7 at 3 p.m.
VOLUME LIX, NUMBER 7, APRIL 21, 2006
KELLY CELEBRATES
36TH YEAR AT GHS
M
BY MATT WESTMORELAND
to take the Grady position, she was
arian Kelly didn’t want hooked soon after she arrived.
to win the lottery in the
“Grady was a very different place
spring of 1970. But she than my other schools,” she said. “It
did.
was much more relaxed.”
“I didn’t want to come to
Ms. Kelly fondly
I A N P. K E L
Grady, but they picked
remembers her first
R
L
A
my number,” Ms.
few years under
Kelly said.
long-time principal
But, more than
Roger
Derthick,
three decades and four
who presided over
principals later, she has
the desegregation of
a different opinion.
the school.
AWARD
“It turned out to be the
“Derthick
trusted
best thing in the world,” she
people to do what they
said.
For this year’s Kelly needed to do,” she said.
The young English Award nominees, “He treated people as
teacher was one of 1,500
professionals.”
see page 10.
Atlanta Public Schools
After growing up in
employees transferred to a new Connecticut, Ms. Kelly left New
school when the Atlanta Board of England for North Carolina, where
Education enacted an integration she attended Bennett College, a
policy for teachers aimed at balancing small, all-girls school in Greensboro.
the racial makeup of each staff.
Though Ms. Kelly was reluctant
see KELLY page 10
MATT WESTMORELAND
SOCCER TEAMS ANTICIPATE PLAYOFFS
Although both teams lost their final region games against Paideia April 18,
they hope to improve their fortunes in the state playoffs. Above, freshman
Polly Zintak faces off against a Paideia forward. See related stories, page 16.
Morningside to top 1K
Elementary school looking for annex
BY CHELSEA SPENCER
orningside Elementary School
administrators expect enrollment
for the 2006-2007 school year to
approach 1,000 students, 350 more than
the school’s planning allows. The Atlanta
Public Schools Board of Education and
Morningside parents are currently
looking for possible solutions, including
the addition on an off-campus annex, to
solve overcrowding problems.
“One-thousand kids on campus create
a lot of strain to the current facilities,
especially the cafeteria and playgrounds
M
space,” said Sue Payne, PTA Executive
Committee president.
This year’s fifth-grade class includes 96
students, while the school is anticipating
up to 175 incoming kindergartner next
fall. The kindergarten class size has grown
to 21 students per classroom, exceeding
the state average of 17 students.
During arrival and dismissal, traffic in
and around the school has increased,
causing safety issues for students.
One of the largest problems for the
see MORNINGSIDE page 6
REBECCA GITTELSON
NEWS BRIEFS
p. 7
M
T
see CHILD page 6
www.gradyhighschool.org/
southerner
Y
BY REBECCA GITTELSON
ension over divorce and child
support in Georgia has spread
from individual families all the way
up to the state
For more on the
legislature.
Two
hotly changing face of
debated
bills the family, see
dealing
with “Faculty dads
divorce and child deal with double
support
issues role,” page 12.
were proposed in
the Georgia General Assembly this
legislative session, which ended
in March. Both Senate Bill 25,
which proposed a 120-day waiting
period for divorcing couples
who have children, and Senate
Bill 382, which changed the way
child support is calculated, were
sponsored by Republicans. While
an amended version of the latter
bill passed both houses of the state
legislature, the former bill will have
to be re-introduced in the next
session, which begins in January.
Senate Bill 382 includes the
proposed economic tables for the
1 9 4 7
THIS SCHOOLHOUSE ROCKS: Students at Morningside Elementary wait for
their bus after school on April 18. Concerned parents are worried about the
dangers of additional traffic during the school’s arrival and dismissal times.
Drama department to perform Tartuffe 20th-century style
BY LILY FEINBERG
et ready, Grady. The drama department is
about to take you on a blast from the past.
In this year’s spring production, which runs May
4-6, the Grady drama department will recreate
a 17th-century theater experience through their
performance of Moliere’s Tartuffe.
“Because we’re trying to give a suggestion of
what the original play Tartuffe was like, we’re
producing it much in the same way that they did
G
in the 17th century,” director and drama teacher
Lisa Willoughby said.
One element of the performance, common in
the 1600s, is the inclusion of various interludes
between acts of the play.
“We’re doing some entertainments that
would have been typical during that time,” Ms.
Willoughby said. These interludes will include
music, dance and burlesque comedy (commedia)
performances. “You’ll kind of get the sense of the
sort of rollicking, free-form theater that a French
17th-century theater would be like,” she said.
The production staff will also convey the
17th-century atmosphere of the play by staging
a repetition of one scene in the original French.
Though the Grady performance stays
true to the original atmosphere, and
one scene is the original french version, the
see TARTUFFE page 12
c o m m e n t
2
THE SOUTHERNER
EDITORIAL BOARD
SINCE 1947
CHELSEA COOK
REBECCA GITTELSON
HANNA GRIFFITHS
SARAH MARRINER
ELIZABETH SCHENCK
CHELSEA SPENCER
MATT WESTMORELAND
Locked gate hazardous
Grady students have the jailhouse blues. Since students returned from
spring break, Grady administrators have begun locking the parking lot
gates, making it extremely difficult for students to both leave and return
to campus.
The administration hopes that the new policy will dissuade students from
skipping class and illicitly going off-campus during school hours. The locked
gates, however, are also an obstacle for those students trying to leave school
for legitimate reasons.
Students who need to leave campus for educational programming, jointenrollment classes, extracurricular errands and important appointments face
a long delay between getting out of class and out of school. These students
must check out in the attendance office and then wander around school until
they can find an administrator who has a key to the gate. When students
return to school, they must park on Charles Allen Drive, which is already
full with staff members’ cars.
The locked gates present not only a logistical problem for students but
also a safety hazard. If emergency vehicles need to enter campus, they will be
barred from the student parking lot by the gates. During emergency drills,
students congregate in the parking lot. In the case of fire, students would
not be able to expediently leave the parking lot, and fire trucks would not
be able to enter.
The gates must be left unlocked to protect students’ safety and allow for an
appropriate amount of freedom. The policy does not fulfill its goal of stopping
skippers, but it does inhibit the actions of responsible students. ❐
APS policy douses trip
On the recent fine arts trip to New York City, students planned on
visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for an educational adventure.
They were also scheduled to take a dinner cruise complete with DJ and
dance floor on their second night in the city. But just weeks before they
left, Atlanta Public Schools administrators pulled the plug on all activities
that involved water travel.
Many of the students were rightfully upset that they had been denied
a trip to the Statue of Liberty, one of our nation’s most notable and
meaningful monuments. Not surprisingly, however, the vast majority of
the frustration from students and parents arose from the cancellation of
the nonrefundable dinner cruise.
The reasoning that APS officials offered for the cancellation was an old
policy. The rule, which was written after an APS student drowned on a
field trip several years ago, states that no student is permitted to board any
mode of water transportation, or go into a pool or an ocean.
This policy not only encroached on the students’ cultural and educational
experience, but it needlessly wasted thousands of nonrefundable dollars.
Although the students were not allowed to travel on boats, they
were allowed to fly across the country, walk around on a pier, converse
with street vendors and explore the city on New York’s subway system.
The students were given the responsibility of practically taking care of
themselves in one of the world’s largest cities, but still could not be trusted
to behave themselves on a boat.
The APS mission statement says that it has one goal: student success. In
order to produce intelligent and successful members of society, APS must
put students in a situation where they may both comply with basic rules
and exercise common sense. ❐
C
April 21, 2006
O
R
R
E
C
T
I
O
N
Columnist overlooks
Archibong’s efforts
Dear editors,
In the Feb. 10 article entitled,
“Grady vegetarian lunch line
unworthy of mention in the
news,” the columnist asserts that
many national news outlets have
mismanaged their content by
covering stories about vegetarian
lunch lines in high schools as
opposed to covering important
governmental policy. While I
believe the article’s intent was
to call attention to the fact
that the media coverage of the
triumphs of young adults is not
sufficient, the way the columnist
conveys this message is simply
disrespectful. Former executive
president Miriam Archibong was
a phenomenal student leader—
one who, unlike those who came
before her, took office to make a
difference in her school and in
her community.
She attained this goal by
getting her vegetarian meals
program implemented in spite
of the rigorous process involved,
a fact that the columnist
conveniently fails to report.
Additionally, the article not
only unfairly marginalizes the
accomplishments of Archibong’s
administration but also denigrates
Archibong’s personal legacy.
Had the columnist bothered
to investigate the reasons why
the vegetarian lunch line was
garnering national attention, she
would have been able to write
a more respectable piece. The
reason that Archibong and Grady
got national attention earlier this
year is due to the fact that Miriam
Archibong sponsored, lobbied for
and ensured the implementation
of an alternative meals program
across an entire school system, a
feat that is rarely accompliished
by adults let alone college-bound
high school seniors. Additionally,
Archibong received praise for
her counseling of other students
across the nation on how to pass
initiatives.
In short, CNN.com, USA
Today and the Associated Press
were fulfilling their mission
statements by reporting national
trends, a trend that began with
Miriam Archibong at 929
Charles Allen Drive.
So to answer the question posed
by the columnist, “Is that really
what people want to read about
when they go to CNN.com?”
I have to say yes. What better
place exists for members of the
press to report a new student
movement? In a post-Columbine
society, stories depicting students
fighting for a cause as opposed to
fighting one another is exactly
what the chef ordered.
Wesley Myrick
Class of 2005
former SGA cabinet chairman
U.S. race issues far
from being resolved
Dear editors,
Hannah Rosembaum’s article
on France’s riots (“France’s
Dirty Little Secrets,” Nexus,
December 2005-January 2006)
and her assertion that the United
States has solved its problems is
uninformed and unfounded.
As a white female, she isn’t
subjected to police beatings
and shootings at traffic stops,
“random” searches at the airport
and derogatory racial slurs.
But, as you know, racial
relations in the U.S. are good.
That’s if you aren’t my Afghani
friend who gets called “Osama”
on a regular basis or my African
teammate who gets called a
“nigger” on the soccer field.
That’s if you aren’t my brother,
with his tan skin, scraggly beard
and dreadlocks, who has been
“randomly” searched at almost
every airport he’s been to since
9/11.
That’s if you aren’t a black
teenaged boy, automatically
dismissed as a thug.
The truth is the U.S. has not
solved its racial problems. One
of the biggest problems we face is
self-segregation.
This is illustrated in our
school’s self-imposed segregation
at lunch. Another example is
Grady’s own magnet program.
Students from middle schools
around Atlanta have a perception
that the magnet is a white
program, a perception that Ms.
MacBrien and Dr. Murray are
trying to dispel.
These examples are just
microcosms for our city and our
country. If we want to “solve” the
race problems in our country, we
need to start here at home.
Gabe Klein-Kuhn
junior
S
In our March 17 issue, we inadvertently cut out part of the story “Black
History play a family affair” in the jump from the front page to page 10. The
jump should have read, “These changes ranged from rebellion, deception
and blasphemy to lying, promiscuity and pregnancy.
‘I wanted to make the African-American community aware that we’re
losing sight of what the black family is,’ Ms. Milton said. ‘Family is the
broad-based foundation for children. If we lose that foundation, we as a
people crumble.’”
We also misprinted a sentence in the page 11 story “Fight for Right.” The
sentence should have read, “Although Lawson’s mother, Nannie Washburn,
only had three months of formal education and could not read or write,
she was determined to communicate her desire for equality.”
Staff
Managing editors: Chelsea Cook, Matt Westmoreland
Design editors: Alex Daniels, Duy Lam
Copy editor: Chelsea Spencer
News editors: Allana Neely, Robert Sanders
Comment editors: Sarah Marriner, Elizabeth Schenck
People editors: Allison Farnham, Shearlon White
Sports editors: Patrick McGlynn, Woody Morgan
Special section editor: William VanDerKloot
Photo editor: Chelsea Spencer
Nexus managing editor: Micah Weiss
An upbeat paper for a downtown school
Staff: Lee Allen, Curry Andrews, Jessica Baer, Asa
Beal, Max Beeching, Erik Belgum, Leah Bishop,
Chloe Blalock, Andrew Bracken, Lena Brodsky, Jeffrey
Carpenter, Alastair Carter-Boff, George Demeglio,
Emma Din, Lily Feinberg, Rebecca Gittelson, Ramika
Gourdine, Hanna Griffiths, Carson Hale, Sean
Harrington, Stone Irvin, Sam Johnson, Travis Jones,
Kenny Jones, Robinson Levin, Sarah Beth McKay,
Greg O’Donnell, Julia Oliver, Carson Phillips-Spotts,
Brandon Sheats, Madeleine Webb, Sally Zintak
Photo adviser: Dawn Wadsworth
Adviser: Dave Winter
Print staff: Alvin Hambrick, Harlon Heard,
Michael Jackson, Adlai McClure, Charlotte
Napper, Benjamin Shaw
The Southerner, a member of GSPA, SIPA, CSPA
and NSPA, is a monthly student publication of:
Henry W. Grady High School
929 Charles Allen Drive NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
The Southerner welcomes submissions, which
may be edited for grammar, inappropriate language and length. Please place submissions in
Mr. Winter's box in the main office. Subscriptions are also available. For more information,
please contact Mr. Winter or a member of the
staff.
We can be reached at [email protected].
ga.us
THE SOUTHERNER
c o m m e n t
April 21, 2006
3
Funerals a time to be respectful, not to demonstrate
During the war
in Iraq thousands of
soldiers have lost their
lives on the battlefield.
When someone dies,
especially a soldier,
who gave his or her life
SALLY ZINTAK
to protect our rights
and lifestyles, our obligation is to honor their memory. We don’t
have to support the reasons for war or even
the soldier personally, but the fact that they
were willing to die for our country, should
outweigh any other consideration.
Lately, however, this has not been the
case. Soldiers’ funerals have become the site
of political protest. And, according to Rev.
Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church in
Kansas, the soldiers deserve to die, and it’s
God’s punishment to them that they die,
for “defending a country that harbors gays.”
He defends his actions by stating, “our attitude toward what’s happening with the war
is the Lord punishing this evil nation for
abandoning all moral imperatives that are
worth a dime.”
Phelps and his church members, made
up largely of his 13 children, 54 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, have
traveled across the country and protested
at more than 100 funerals since last June.
Phelps also protested at the 1998 funeral
of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student
who was beaten to death in Wyoming. The
members have carried signs to the funerals
expressing all sorts of horrible things such
as “God hates you” and “God hates fags.”
The church has also been involved in many
other anti-gay efforts, including trying
to build an anti-gay monument in Boise
Public Park, where city officials quickly
removed any other religious references in
public places to preempt controversy with
the group.
The problem with the Westboro Church’s
argument is that they give no real connec-
tion between the soldiers dying and gay
people living in the United States. Yes, in a
long line of twisted logic, you could come
to the conclusion that soldiers support gay
people by fighting for America, but there
are too many reasons why people join the
Army for Westboro Church members to
think that these people are fighting solely to
support gays and that God is killing them
as a punishment.
Besides the fact that Phelps’ church is
hypocritically disrupting a Christian service to try and get their point across, it
is morally and ethically wrong to disrupt
someone’s funeral in the first place. What
would make a person tell a mother that her
son or daughter deserved to die because
they fought for a country that allows gays
to live peacefully within its borders? If
these people think that what they are doing
is Christian, then I’d like to see where in
the Bible it says that it’s God’s will for the
people who support homosexuals to die or
where God calls for such a protest to take
place. If Rev. Phelps were to put himself
in the shoes of the mother or father of the
deceased, he would never be able to say that
God killed their child intentionally and
that we as a country are better off without
them. I think that even if their child wasn’t
a soldier, you could never bear anyone telling you how horrible they are, especially in
a time of grief. It’s just sick.
Rev. Phelp’s actions are not the right way
to fight for the ideas in which he believes.
A funeral is a time for a family to reflect
on the life of a lost loved one, not to have
to worry about the awful comments of
unknown outsiders. It’s a time for closure
not a time to spew anger and frustration
toward the people denigrating the dignity
and pride of your loved one. I’m all for
passionately protesting for a cause, but we
must adhere to limits of decency, especially
limits that laws can’t enforce. Enough is
enough. ❐
Available citizenship
key to immigration
What do
landscaping,
construction
work
and
farming
all have in
common?
Em p l oye r s
these
JEFFREY CARPENTER in
industries all
rely on low-wage immigrant workers
to do the most labor-intensive jobs.
In recent weeks, the debate over
illegal immigration has reached a
peak. March 25, in Los Angeles and
Denver, hundreds of thousands of
people protested for protection of
illegal immigrants. The United States
Congress is drafting a sweeping bill
that deals with illegal immigrants
and their work status.
So what is the biggest concern
regarding illegal immigration? Some
say it’s national security—that these
immigrants could be terrorists or
just criminals in general. Others say
the 12 million illegal immigrants in
this country take away jobs from
Americans because the illegal aliens
accept low wages.
During the Senate Judicial
Committee hearings, many of the
senators discussed and agreed that
some sort of temporary worker
program similar to the one offered
by President Bush needs to be
included in the immigration policy.
I agree. These workers will be in this
country one way or another. If we
allow easier access to our country
by making it easier to attain visas,
we can start fixing the problem of
having millions of undocumented
workers roaming around the
country.
This country cannot function
without the labor that foreign
workers provide. It is not the federal
government’s job to meddle in who
gets what job around the country. Its
obligation is to document everyone
who comes into this country for work
or school. In surveys conducted by
the Pew Research Center, 70 percent
of illegal immigrants say they are
not immigrating to become U.S.
citizens, but to send money back
to their families living in their home
countries. As part of the plan drawn
up by the Judicial Committee,
workers would work here for six
years before being required to return
to their home countries. A majority
of workers who responded to the
Pew survey said they would only
need to work in the country for five
years.
So this brings up another problem
that is not entirely American. There
are thousands of workers moving to
the United States from developing
countries in Central and South
America, who leave their families
and cultures behind. They come to
the United States out of economic
necessity. But as these workers leave
their countries, they leave their
home country without the workers
they need to get the job done. Illegal
immigration puts too many workers
into our society and too few in the
societies from which they come.
But a complication comes into
play when discussing what to do
with undocumented workers.
Some already in America give birth
to children while in the country,
automatically making the children
U.S. citizens. So what to do we
do with all of these immigrants
who say they don’t want to stay
here, but become citizens through
their children and then enjoy the
benefits of citizenship? We should
start these families down the road
to citizenship, give them green cards
and let them stay in the country, if
they choose to.
We can’t ignore that people
want to come to this country for
economic reasons. But according to
Pew, 1.2 million people immigrate
to this country legally and illegally
every year. Our society cannot make
an effective policy if these workers
remain undocumented. Before
there can be limits, there must be
documentation. With complete
information, the U.S. government
can set realistic controls that will
solve our population crisis. It is
unacceptable to have 12 million
undocumented people living in our
society. This country cannot support
it, and eventually, this system will
collapse with disastrous effect. ❐
Caffeine craze overtakes sleepy youth
Just
say
no...to coffee?
With the
number of
hours
of
sleep teens
get nightly
SARAH MARRINER d e c r e a s i n g
because
of
cell phones, late-night television
programs and the new, highly addictive Facebook, teens are turning
to the unhealthy, yet trendy, choice
of using caffeine to compensate for
lost sleep. More and more teens
who don’t get the recommended
eight hours of sleep a night are
drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks, like tea or Coke, to
keep themselves from dozing off
in class.
Though it seems rather harmless, too much caffeine can be very
detrimental, especially to a growing
person’s health. In a recent article
in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
on the new craze of teen hangouts,
it was reported that teens should
not have more than one cup of coffee a day, and that preteens should
avoid coffee altogether. Consuming more than the advised one cup
a day interferes with the body’s
calcium absorption, which could
lead to diminished bone health
later in life.
Though I would definitely not
consider Starbucks to be the new
hangout for teens, I do believe
that the caffeine craze is growing.
As I walk down the hallway every
morning, I always see at least a few
students gripping their steaming
cups o’ joe or sipping from travel
mugs. But I never thought of caffeine as a growing problem among
today’s youth. Now, however, I am
beginning to realize my own addiction to coffee. I have to drink
one cup every morning if I want to
function properly throughout the
day. But my daily need for coffee
does not stem from lack of sleep,
as I generally get about seven or
eight hours of sleep a night. My
need for coffee, like many of my
peers, comes from my addiction
to caffeine.
But even coffee, though it still
contains high levels of caffeine,
seems to be becoming outdated.
New, even more-caffeinated drinks,
like Red Bull and Monster Energy,
are becoming popular with teens as
well as adults because of the energy
boost they give. Medical News Today recently stated that Red Bull
was “Britain’s best-selling energy
drink, with 213 million cans consumed [in 2003].” Though the
caffeine high these drinks produce
may be stronger and helpful for
the short term, the daily consumption and increasing dependence on
these drinks is not healthy.
Unfortunately, the need for caffeine to wake us up every morning will prevail. As more and
more highly caffeinated drinks
are created and targeted to sleepdeprived youth, we will carelessly
become increasingly dependent
on the drug. We will unashamedly
state, “Hello, my name is [insert
your name here], and I am a caffeineaholic.” ❐
c o m m e n t
4
Nazi-like China threatens world order
D u r i n g becoming more and more techthe 1930s nologically advanced, no longer
in Europe, relying on aging tanks and planes
Nazi Ger- from the Cold War era. A fullmany paid scale invasion of any part of the
lip service world is not that much of a stretch
to the re- for a Chinese army millions of
SEAN HARRINGTON s t r i c t i o n s soldiers strong. Their navy has
imposed on aircraft carriers, a staple of only
it after its defeat in World War the most powerful navies. Only a
I. Meanwhile, not so secretly, world-leading nation could hope
Germany rearmed its military to take China on in battle.
and rebuilt its national economy.
On par with their military
Great Britain and France could readiness, China’s economy is
have intervened at any time, but one of the largest in the world
instead took a soft
and has seemIf China remains strong ingly unlimited
line and ignored
Germany’s growwell into the century, we potential. Since
ing threat. As a
may just have a fight on our the early 1980s
result,
France’s
China has conhands.
enormous army
centrated on exwas routed by the
panding its ecoGermans early on
nomic strength
in World War II, and the Nazi and has succeeded admirably.
nation overwhelmed Europe soon This, more so than its military
after.
might, has given the country the
In today’s world, a similar situ- growing influence it has today.
ation is in the making. This time Signs of China’s emergence are
the threat comes not from Ger- plentiful. Everyone knows how
many, or any country in Europe, U.S. consumer goods are
but from China. With more than made in China, but that’s
1.2 billion people, it has the larg- just the beginning. China
est population in the world. Like is the world’s largest producer
post-WWI Germany, China has of cement, accounting for 37
risen from the ashes of warfare, percent of the global supply.
both the terror of Japanese inva- This economic might is why so
sion and a vicious civil war. Like many countries turn the other
post-WWI Germany, China is cheek on the military
striving to become a world power, threat they pose. Why
and it is succeeding.
worry about any threat
China is a military colossus, when we can make
with more than 1.2 million sol- more money?
diers currently serving within in
Another
way
its branches. There are more males China rein China available for military ser- s e m b l e s
vice (343 million) than there are the old
people in the United States (298
million). Beneath the numbers
is an army that is
“
Nazi regime is internally. Despite
decades of growth and exposure
to worldwide trade, China’s communist government has kept its
domestic affairs rigidly controlled.
This control still extends to the
media, which puts a strong damper on any anti-government news.
A frightening example
comes from a recent
survey of Beijing University students. They
were shown the infamous
picture of the student in front of
the tank in Tiananmen Square.
None of them recognized it.
If China remains strong well
into this century, we may just
have a fight on our hands. Let’s
just hope mutual interest in
trade can keep the lid on the
situation. Otherwise, it’s
just a matter of time
before they unleash
their own blitzkrieg
attack. ❐
SLACKER disease strikes; achievers beware
A year away from
going into the “back”
part of the store. A year
from the vote, a year
from no legal curfews.
A year from getting tattoos without parental
MADELINE WEBB permission and calling
1-800 numbers to order
stuff. A year from going wherever we want,
but still not old enough to party once we get
there. Weeks away from the three most formative months of every teenager’s year – summer
vacation.
You are 17.
Your second semester has been nothing short
of the type of overwhelming chaos that causes
early grays. Lately you haven’t had a single day
that you have been allowed to escape schlepping yourself through the melee of self-bettering obligations that include any combination
and multitude of extracurriculars, work, community service, college trips and SAT review
classes — not to mention the actual monstrous
four-hour test itself, the very one on which
your future unmercifully hinges. Throw in the
looming pressure to identify the next four-year
learning institution to which you’ll be selling
your soul while also having to answer to nuisances like curfews, chores and parents.
Perhaps, like the swarm of other fine specimens of the modern-day teenager bumping
into you in the halls at your school, you log and what I like to call the Foliage Syndrome,
in more hours of homework in one night than in which high schoolers become “plants,” ruthhours of sleep in a week. Perhaps this lack of lessly striving to spend every waking minute
sleep prohibits you from focusing your fleet- under the sun tanning and dilly-dalling their
ing brainpower on class; instead, you sleep days away. Unfortunately, these dangerous
in a slump on your desk with Piedmont Park cycles can go undetected and are often conbeckoning out your classroom window like sidered by parents and teachers to be relatively
some sort of obsessed grass stalker. Or perhaps, typical qualities of no-good, know-nothin’,
like me, you’ve been marking off the days in pants-saggin’ teenaged ne’er-do-wells.
every calendar in your house (as well as your
The truth is that the sunny weather of the
grandma’s calendars, your friends’ calendars, last springy months of second semester drain
and your grandma’s friends’
energy levels faster than SubThe truth is that the sunny urbans gobble gas. Schools also
calendars) the agonizingly
weather of the last springy choose this convenient season
slowly passing days until the
months of second semester of daydreaming to unmercifulend of school.
If any of this describes
drain energy levels faster ly administer the GGT, EOCT,
you, than you, my friend,
than Suburbans gobble gas. and AP tests (No, these are not
have caught an unfortunate
instant messaging slang words.
case of the adolescent-afflicting epidemic These are as real a part of high school as zits
called Stress Levels Above-average Count in and awkward dates). Unfortunately this culmiKids due to Education-related Reasons, or the nation creates an easy and dangerous setup for
SLACKER disease.
early symptoms of SLACKER.
SLACKER isn’t difficult for parents to idenParents, don’t let your teenager fall through
tify in their high schoolers. This is because the the cracks of school-related unmotivation and
symptoms associated with SLACKER are eas- put their grades, sleep cycles, and moral obligaily identified; they include laziness, lack of mo- tions at risk.
tivation, shortened attention span and severe
If you have caught your teenager shirking
addictions to popular generational distractions and wistfully referring to this month’s spring
such as Facebook, text messaging, and Xbox break as “S.B.’06!!!”, pull them back in to
360. In the worst cases of SLACKER, teens bay before their slacking turns them into a
commonly fall into vicious cycles of excessive fullfledged SLACKER. Don’t let your child be
school skipping, severe neglect of homework another statistic.❐
“
THE SOUTHERNER
April 21, 2006
British PC
agenda fails
nation’s aim
M i l lions upon
millions
in
Great
Britain are
in
grave
danger. All
ELIZABETH SCHENCK i n f a n t s ,
toddlers
and young
children alike should find a means
to vacate the country immediately.
If Britain’s “Political Correctness”
campaign is allowed, all children
will be dreaming of “rainbow
sheep.”
Let me explain. As a part of Britain’s PC campaign, politically correct fanatics throughout the U.K.
have argued that using the color
“black” to describe sheep in the
childhood rhyme “Baa Baa Black
Sheep” is politically incorrect.
They have requested that nurseries and daycare centers throughout
England instead teach children to
sing “baa baa rainbow sheep” instead of “baa baa black sheep.”
I guess the pro-rainbow sheep faction, who think that “black sheep”
has a racist connotation, live in a
world where rainbow sheep exist
and where alliteration doesn’t.
Unless these politically correct enthusiasts are referring to an
entirely different “Baa Baa Black
Sheep,” this tune has nothing to
do with race. It refers to a tax imposed on wool in the mid-1700s,
which placed a much lower tax on
black wool than on white. It was
less expensive and therefore more
appealing to purchase. It did not
then nor does it now have any racist
connotations.
Unfortunately, this is not the first
time Great Britain’s PC campaign
has wreaked havoc to heralded nursery rhymes. In 2003, a British store
chain called “Mothercare” sold cassettes featuring an alternate version
of the famous “Humpty Dumpty”
song that said that Humpty Dumpty “counted to 10” and then “got up
again.”
The fantastical victims of this
campaign are innumerable and the
changes are equally ridiculous. In
October of last year proponents
of the PC campaign semi-successfully changed “Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs” to “Snow White and
the Seven Gnomes.” In Norfolk,
snowball fights are banned at all
schools. Calderdale Royal Hospital
in Halifax has banned visitors from
cooing at newborn babies and has
put up signs around the hospital
that read: “What makes you think I
want to be looked at?”
Although this campaign has little,
if any, direct affect on America, we
shouldn’t ignore it. It has affected
the lives of millions of British citizens and, in some cases, has forced
them to rethink and alter their heritage. This ongoing campaign has
clearly gotten out of hand. Bringing
international attention to the matter
might help to accelerate its muchneeded end.
If it continues, an entire nation’s
history and culture will be sanitized
beyond recognition. ❐
THE SOUTHERNER
c o m m e n t
April 21, 2006
5
SAT exposes meritocracy myth
SAT prep
class at 9
a.m.
on
Saturday
mornings:
$300. The
SAT testing process:
LEAH BISHOP
$41.50.
Retrying the SAT twice after doing poorly on your first attempt:
$83. Having a huge part of your
future based on one standardized
test: priceless yes, but also unfair.
With prom, spring break and
warm weather, what’s not to like
about spring? The SAT.
For the past two months, three
hours of my beloved Saturdays
have been spent at Grady, preparing for the SAT. Anyone will
tell you that there are few things
more discouraging than being at
school on your weekends.
While all of my friends were
at home still sleeping and I was
struggling to stay awake in SAT
class, I took a mental break from
the practice problems and started
thinking about the SAT and how
much weight rests on your scores
for this one test.
Your scores on the SAT often
determine whether or not you get
into the college of your choice,
which ultimately determines
your career and future. That’s an
enormous consequence to have
riding on the result of one test.
A Scantron machine and the
arbitrary standards of random
graders can’t accurately measure
one’s ability and aptitude. In fact,
the machine can’t even calculate
the test score reliability: 4,000 of
last fall’s tests were scored incorrectly by the Educational Testing
Service.
The Scantron machine shows
no mercy for students with learning disabilities. Even though the
College Board allots extra time
to test-takers with learning disabilities, how fairly are these accommodations actually granted?
In order to receive a couple extra
hours to take the SAT, a student
must have their learning disability documented by a psychologist,
which requires time and money,
something that not all students
have equally.
Like in so many other aspects
of life, money can be an important part of the outcome of your
scores. Several people I know have
taken the SAT three or four times
until they were finally satisfied
with their grade. Other students,
however, don’t have the means
to take the SAT as many times
as they’d like to. They only get
one make-or-break opportunity
to blaze a path towards a better
future.
At the expense of my Saturday
mornings and of my parent’s
money, I’ll be better prepared
for the SAT. The test-taking tips
that tutors have taught me will
be useful.
Sure I’ve picked up a few new
vocabulary words and learned
how to solve a couple equations.
But the main things I’ve learned
have been test-taking strategies,
which are all that the SAT essentially measures. How quickly you
can skim reading comprehension
passages and how well you can
apply shortcuts to math problems
become significant parts in your
final score. Some people, like
myself, simply aren’t good testtakers, which make it impossible
for the SAT to determine how I
will perform in college and in life.
According to The College Board,
the SAT was designed with questions that show your reasoning
abilities, but thorough reasoning
and logic usually require time,
something that you don’t have a
lot of while taking the SAT.
My cousin didn’t get into her
first choice, UNC-Chapel Hill
because of her SAT score. She
now has a 4.0 as a pre-med student at Wake Forest, proving that
she is quite capable of collegelevel work despite her SAT score.
One’s intelligence can’t be determined in 3 hour and 45 minutes.
And it shouldn’t be. ❐
Occupying nations: as
American as apple pie
In
100
years
the
U n i t e d
States hasn’t
changed
much about
its foreign
policy.
STONE IRVIN
W h e n
the United
States declared an end to the
Spanish-American War, during
which it gained control of the
Philippines about 400 U.S. servicemen had been lost.
By the time the U.S. pulled
out of the Philippines, four years
later, the U.S. had sustained 10
times that number of casualties.
Similarly at the end of major
operations in Iraq, 140 American lives had been lost. Since
that time, more than 2,200 U.S.
soldiers have died in action. The
U.S. has more than just a tendency to declare an end to combat while still sustaining heavy
casualties. It also likes to push its
own moral compass upon other
nations. After the Spanish-American War, the U.S. had no reason
to occupy the Philippines except
to secure a launching point for
its navy and thus maintain a
presence in the Pacific.
The American people were told
otherwise, being led to believe
that the Filipinos needed American values and Christianity. In
fact, the majority of Filipinos
were Catholic and revolutionaries such as Emilio Aguinaldo had
begun to push for and organize a
Filipino democracy.
A century later the United
States has no real reason to stay
in Iraq other than the vague idea
of giving freedom to its citizens.
It has nothing to do with oil
of course, just freedom. But in
reality oil is the lifeblood of the
American machine. At the turn
of the 20th century, naval power
seemed likely to change life for
the better by increasing America’s
bargaining power abroad. Now
with American oil production
waning rapidly, control of an
oil-rich Middle-Eastern nation
controlled by the U.S. could be
very advantageous.
The only problem faced by
the U.S. both at the dawn of the
20th century and now is the will
of a people to govern their own
nation.
Aguinaldo organized guerilla
resistance in 1898 to combat oppressive U.S. forces. The humanitarian hopes for Philippine
occupation were dashed as U.S.
troops killed around 20,000
Filipinos.
The just implementation of
American freedom similarly rings
hollow now that the people of
Iraq are coming together to end
American occupation.
Whether America likes it or
not, Iraqis, like Filipinos, will not
lie down and let the U.S. make
rules for them. America settled
on its government through trial
and error. By suggesting that a
form of government be forced on
another nation, America violates
the precepts it holds dear in the
Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution.
Before we make other nations
American, we should try it ourselves. ❐
Cloning advances allow for ‘essential’ fatty acid production
Americans
are
getting too fat.
Heart disease is the
No. 1 killer in the
United States, and
it afflicts more than
one in five people.
Sixteen percent of
CHLOE BLALOCK
the U.S. population suffers from depression, and suicide is
the third-leading cause of death in young
adults and the sixth-leading cause of death
in teenagers. Every two minutes a woman
in the U.S. is diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Cloning May Lead to Healthy Pork”
read a New York Times headline on March
27, and a solution to all the above problems and more was found. A group of pigs
have been genetically modified so that they
produce their own omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3 is an “essential” acid, meaning
the body cannot make it on its own; you
have to get it from food.
Its benefits include preventing heart
disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and
psoriasis. It helps insulin effectiveness,
stabilizes irregular heartbeats and reduces
blood pressure and cholesterol. It increases
survival rates among people with autoim-
mune diseases like lupus and Raynaud’s
disease.
Because the brain is 60 percent fat,
omega-3 helps regulate mental health
problems by enhancing the ability of the
brain receptors to comprehend mood-related signals from other neurons.
Omega-3 also helps maintain healthy
breast tissue and prevents breast cancer
and keeps the body from producing carcinogens linked to colon cancer.
So where can you find this miracle fatty
acid? It is found mostly in fish, especially
tuna, which ironically, you can’t eat too often without risking mercury poisoning.
Overfished lakes and rivers, particularly
the Great Lakes, represent “a neglected
crisis,” according to National Geographic’s
December 2001 issue. On top of that,
some people can’t afford fish or can’t eat
it.
But the biggest concern with this project is the public’s response. Cloning has
its dangers, and many religious groups
strongly oppose it.
But the benefits of this particular genetic modification far outweigh the costs.
Not allowing further research on this
topic would just be yet another example of
American self-sabotage. ❐
n e w s
6
April 21, 2006
THE SOUTHERNER
MORNINGSIDE braces for 1K students in 2007-2008
LILY FEINBERG
REBECCA GITTELSON
from page 1
school is managing the lunch
schedule. The cafeteria only holds
150 students at a time and lunch
periods range from 10 a.m. to
1:30 p.m.
In an effort to solve the problem,
Atlanta Public Schools conducted a
demographic study last fall to show
if and where new schools are needed.
The board is scheduled to release the
study’s findings in late April.
“[The study will decide] PAST AND PROJECTED MORNINGSIDE ENROLLMENT
whether it’s just a blip or if the 1000
1,000
•
970
population is truly growing,”
•
Harsch-Kinnane said. “It will also 900
865
look at the nearby schools. It’s not
•
a good use of money [to build a
800
758
766
new school] if there is space in 753 752
749
743
•
•
•
•
•
•
713
HOP ON THE BUS: Morningside students flood the bus lane after
classrooms nearby.”
706
•
700
•
school. Overcrowding at the school has strained the bus system.
One popular idea proposed by
the board last November was an
‘97- ‘98 ‘98- ‘99 ‘99- ‘00 ‘00- ‘01 ‘01- ‘02 ‘02- ‘03 ‘03- ‘04 ‘04- ‘05 ‘05- ‘06 ‘06- ‘07* ‘07- ‘08*
annex. The site would be used for SOURCE:
supermarket in
APS has approved the option of
MORNINGSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
*projected enrollment
kindergartners, first graders and
the
Midtown using the Winn-Dixie site and says it
second graders. An annex building and food service and playground Promenade shopping center.
could be made school-ready, but the
must be within a two-mile radius facilities.
“Now it’s the question of deciding cost and timing are factors.
of the main campus, within the city
Two possible locations for an whether they’re worth the amount
The space is partitioned for a
of Atlanta, able to hold at least 200 annex have surfaced: the preschool of money that would be put into grocery store layout and would need
students and able to accommodate building of All Saints’ Episcopal them,” Harsch-Kinnane said. “The major changes to divide the space
10 classrooms, a common area Church and the former Winn-Dixie lease would be quite costly.”
into 10 classrooms. Even if APS
SGA, PTSA join
forces to show
outdoor movie
BY CHELSEA COOK
On Saturday, May 13, the Grady
parking lot will be packed once again.
Several people will have to be creative
and find parking spaces along the
perimeter. Some will take the risk of
getting towed from the handicapped
spots. Faculty will bring their families
and friends. Parents will come out with
their children. The athletic boosters
will be selling popcorn and sodas. And
Grady will be charging admission.
But this time, organizers hope, the
stadium will be empty, and the field
will be full. Full of picnic baskets,
blankets, family members and lawn
chairs….and a 20-by-20-foot screen.
Under the funding from the Parent
Teacher Student Association and the
Student Government Association,
Grady will host its first annual “Film
on the Field” event.
“I got the idea from ‘Screen on the
Green’ [in Piedmont Park],” junior
vice president Leah Bishop said. “I
went a couple of times last summer,
and just thought it would be a really
cool activity for Grady.”
Bishop suggested the idea at an
SGA meeting in late February and
slowly but surely, the idea has become
a reality.
“To be honest, [SGA President]
Matt [Westmoreland] has done all of
the leg work,” said Kaye Myles, the
SGA adviser. “He went to the PTSA to
request funding and they agreed. We
have a great PTSA, thank you Jesus!”
PTSA President Jane Modica is
enthusiastic about the event.
“The PTSA agreed to use money
from our school-spirit budget to cover
part of the down payment,” she said.
“By bringing students and families
together for a fun evening, I think it
could become an annual event.”
Because the SGA didn’t have
enough funds to rent the screen on
FILM ON THE FIELD
. MOVIE: Friday Night Lights
. WHEN: Saturday, May 13
. TIME: 7-10 p.m.
. WHERE: Grady Stadium
. ADMISSION: students- $2
adults- $4
. TICKETS: on sale during A and
B lunch in the cafeteria May
8-12 or at the door.
. FOOD: popcorn, soft drinks
and water on sale by the
athletic boosters for $1 each.
. PARKING: free in the Eighth
and 10th Street parking lots.
. ENTRANCE: in 10th Street
parking lot
its own, the approval and financial
support from the PTSA was crucial.
“This event wouldn’t have been
possible without Ms. Modica
providing the contact information
and the PTSA making their
contribution,” Westmoreland said. “I
am very grateful for her help.”
Although the “Film on the Field”
is a small step towards school unity
and enjoyment, Westmoreland and
others are optimistic about the event’s
potential outcome.
“I don’t pretend that one movie
night will go miles, but I hope this
event and others like it will go a long
way in bringing together a very diverse
Grady community,” Westmoreland
said. “People are looking forward
to this. And anything that gets
students excited about their school is
something that excites me.”
Adult admission will be $4 while
student admission is only $2. The
event will feature the 2005 film Friday
Night Lights, and all family and friends
are welcome.
“You’ll definitely see me there,”
Mrs. Myles said. “Me and my little
grand-daughter, too.” ❐
chooses the site, it would not be
ready for the upcoming school year.
The All Saints’ preschool building
has problems of its own, mainly with
proximity. It would need very little
reconstruction, but the location
is much farther away from the
main campus than the Midtown
Promenade location.
“This week, [APS] is looking
at deciding on one of these two
possibilities,” Harsch-Kinnane said.
“Now [APS is] looking at how
feasible they could be—financially
for the Winn-Dixie site and
geographically for All Saints.’”
For next year, the school plans to
acquire two additional on-campus
trailers, which would add space for
four classrooms. Planners have also
looked for space within the school
for additional cafeteria space.
But these are all short-term
solutions.
“The annex is a short-term
solution, but we’re going to be back
to the same number of kids here
[on campus], even with the annex,”
Payne said. “So it really can only be
short-term.” ❐
CHILD support law passes
while divorce bill sidetracked
from page 1
the new child support law that was passed last year.
Last year’s law, which will go into effect July 1, bases
child support payments on both parents’ income,
instead of the current method of basing payments
solely on the non-custodial parent’s income.
The bill included the actual calculations for
determining how much child support noncustodial parents will pay under the new law.
Many of the non-custodial parents, mostly
fathers, who fought for both last year’s law and
the proposed child support bill hope that the
legislation will lower child support payments.
“[The law] will be a drastic reduction of support
to the parent who takes care of the children,” said
Howard Gold, an Atlanta family law attorney. “It
benefits the people who pay child support a lot
because it’s also based on the custodial parent’s
[income] and percentage [of income].”
Now, however, those non-custodial parents
who fought for the legislation are angered over
an amendment to the bill that would allow the
new law to be applied only to those couples who
divorce after January 2007, excluding many of the
bill’s proponents.
Others believe, however, that the amendment
should have been excluded from the bill because
the July deadline poses a legal, rather than solely
a financial issue.
“[The amendment] could be unconstitutional
because you are treating two parts of the same
group of people differently… [by] instating an
arbitrary deadline,” said Stephen Andrews, an
Atlanta family law attorney.
Others, especially mothers, take issue not only
with the amendment but also with the bill as a
whole because they feel it benefits only the noncustodial parent, who is usually the father.
“Women are not going to like it because they
will get a lower standard of living,” Andrews said.
“[But] men will probably like it because they will
be paying less.”
Dr. Carol Drummond, Georgia Psychological
Association president and a divorced mother of
two, disagrees “with the law in any part” because
she feels it hurts divorced women who have legal
custody of their children.
“I think [the bill] really penalizes women,”
Drummond said. “The cost of raising a child goes
on no matter how much time they spend with
their fathers. It is harmful to women who are the
primary parent.”
But Andrews, like many supporters of the bill,
believes that the current child support laws are
“outdated” and in need of change to catch up
with the times.
“It is generally perceived that the man pays
support and the woman receives the support and
takes care of the kids,” Andrews said. “But over the
past few years, women have been working more,
and fathers are getting more time with kids.”
The child support bill was not the only
legislation proposed this session that may change
how the state regulates family life.
A proposed divorce bill that would have imposed
a 120-day waiting period before separated couples
with children could get divorced and no waiting
time for couples without children had also been
discussed in the legislature.
The divorce bill included a mandatory, threehour class for divorcing couples that focuses on
the impact of divorce on children.
Because the bill has been watered down from
the original 180-day waiting period, it faced
criticism as an ineffective measure.
“The law wouldn’t have a lot of effect because it
already takes about 120 days for a divorce [to go
through],” Gold said.
The bill’s sponsors wanted to extend the current
30-day waiting period to 120 days based on the
belief that the additional time would benefit
feuding couples. But opponents of the bill
believed that a longer waiting time only makes
matters worse.
“There is no research to show that waiting time
is helpful,” Drummond said. “In many cases,
[waiting time] is harmful because it prolongs the
process.”
Gold agrees that the bill, which is intended
to shield children from the trauma of divorce,
actually hurts them.
“[The waiting time] keeps the children up in
the air; the quicker they know what’s going on,
the quicker they can get back to their lives,” he
said.
Andrews also believes that divorces should be as
expedient as possible.
“The bill is ridiculous,” he said. “People
who want to get divorced should be able to get
divorced as quick as they can.” ❐
uc
F a s h i o n
April 21, 2006
S h o w
7
URBAN COUTURE
[sneak preview]
CLAIRE MONSON
Gracie Cunningham Sam Williams Zoie Johnson Chelsea Cook
Senior Project
RUNWAY
CLAIRE MONSON
CLAIRE MONSON
Chloe Blalock
CLAIRE MONSON
CARSON HALE
CARSON HALE
PASSION FOR FASHION. TOP LEFT: Clothes
are sorted carefully in the fashion room.
RIGHT: Fashion teacher Vincent Martinez
prepares for his class’ third annual fashion
show. LEFT: Senior Chloe Blalock adjusts
her piece on senior Anne Marie Drolet.
FEATURED LINES
THAI DRESS: modernized traditional Thai dresses
HARAJUKU: builds on distinct Japanese street style
TROW AND REVAMP BY UC: inspired by designers
Susan Voelker and Shannon Mulkey’s label
AFRICA: features bold patterns and prints
SILHOUTTE: sophisticated and chic European style
SENIOR LINES: independently created individual
collections
COWBOYS AND ANGELS: a twist on traditional
country and western style
PRETTY KIDS IN AMERICA: free design based on
personal inspirations
FINALE, OZ: unique Wizard of Oz costumes as a
collaboration with graphic artist Paul Wolski
CLAIRE MONSON
2
3
CLAIRE MONSON
CLAIRE
MONSON
CAR
SON
HAL
E
CARSON HALE
1
CARSON HALE
Students in Mr.Martinez’s fashion class work
on their creations throughout the year to
be presented during the fashion shows.
Each designer’s fashions were inspired by
international cultures as well as traditional
American trends. (1) sophomore Matt
Jordan (2) and (3) senior Vivi Chavez (4)
dress by senior Sam Williams (5) senior
Vivi Chavez (6) senior Emily Burke
6
CHELSEA COOK
Meimi Simon
CARSON HALE
Rhanatah Griffith
4
URBAN COUTURE
CHELSEA COOK
Kai Woods
5
Senior Line
Designers
How to catch the action:
The Grady fashion classes will host two “Urban Couture“
events:
• The debut will be on Thursday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at Club
Eleven50,which is located at 1150b Peachtree Road. General
admission is $15.
• There is an encore performance in the Grady Theater on
Friday, May 12, at 7 p.m. Admission is $8.
CLAIRE MONSON
THE SOUTHERNER
CLAIRE MONSON
Grady to Greatness
grey
KNIGHTS
FROM JOCK TO JUSTICE: Throughout his four years as a student at Grady, Harris Hines was a member of
numerous athletic teams, including track and baseball. Hines wore No. 23 as a halfback on the varsity
football team his senior year (left) and as a valuable member of the basketball team (below).
Elliot Levitas, Class of 1948
former U.S. Congressman
THE ORATOR, 1961
THE ORATOR,1961
Grady community, academics earn
favorable ruling from Justice Hines
H
in the band and committed himself to County by then-Gov. Jimmy Carter.
football. As the starting halfback on the He was elected to the Superior Court of
junior varsity team, Hines, was voted most Cobb County without opposition eight
valuable player. That year Hines also took years later.
on varsity baseball. During his junior and
On July 26, 1995, Hines received his
senior years, Hines continued to play varsity highest honor yet, an appointment to the
football, basketball and baseball.
Georgia Supreme Court by then-Gov. Zell
Even though Hines was
Miller, a position he still
clearly dedicated to sports, the
holds today.
thing that he remembers most
Even after all his
is the teachers.
accomplishments, Hines
“The teachers were the tops
is still grounded.
in their fields, and there was
“I married a fine lady,
great stability in the faculty,”
Helen, in 1969,” said
said Hines, who noted that an
Hines when asked of his
English teacher of his also taught
greatest accomplishment.
his father at Sumner High School
“She’s been the light
Justice Harris Hines
before coming to Grady.
of my life. My loving
“There was a sense of
family has been my greatest
community, and parents were supportive achievement.” With two children and two
of the school and the faculty. It was a grandchildren, Hines is enjoying family and
supportive and nurturing environment. diligently serving the people of Georgia.
The teachers loved the students, and the
As a man who took full advantage of life,
students loved the teachers.”
Hines has two things to leave the graduating
After graduating from Grady in 1961, class of 2006.
Hines attended Emory University and then
“It’s an exciting time to be a young
Emory Law School. He joined the Marietta person,” Hines said. “First, don’t be
law firm of Edwards, Bentley, Awtrey & afraid to try [new] things. Have a
Parker in 1969 and was named a partner parachute mentality: jump into things
in 1973. In 1974, with only five years of and participate. Secondly, hard work,
law experience under his belt, Hines was discipline and diligence will put you in
appointed to the State Court of Cobb good standing.” ❐
Hilton Fuller, Class of 1961
judge, DeKalb County Superior Court
Harris Hines, Class of 1961
justice, Ga. Supreme Court
Jerry Baxter, Class of 1967
judge, Fulton County Superior Court
Richard Lenny, Class of 1970
CEO, Hershey Corporation
Yolanda King, Class of 1972
daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.
Zac Pasmanick, Class of 1972
realtor, REMAX Atlanta
Angela Robinson, Class of 1974
local journalist, former WSB Anchor
Eric Roberts, Class of 1974
actor
Earthwind Moreland, Class of 1995
professional football player
Post-graduation opportunities enabled CEO Lenny’s sweet future
BY RAMIKA GOURDINE
Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew, cover it in
chocolate and a miracle or two? The candy man. The
candy man can.
No, not Willy Wonka or even Johnny Depp. This
candy man is not just an eccentric inventor or the actor
who recently played him. This candy king is Richard Lenny,
president, CEO and chairman of the Hershey Corporation.
Lenny and Wonka have one thing in common: they both
love their chocolate. But unlike his kooky counterpart, Rick
Lenny isn’t quite as secretive about his upbringing.
“Grady, being a public school, gave me enough of a
foundation,” Lenny said about his five years at his alma
mater.
Although it may not have started out on the best foot with
his days as a subfreshman, Lenny hung in there awaiting his
graduation day. Until 1972 Grady was not just home to grades,
nine through 12 but also eighth. “They called us subfreshmen
and we had lunch at 10:30 in the morning,” Lenny said. Even
before entering the food industry, eating already had a firm
stake in his mind.
With some effort, he pushed through this inauspicious
beginning to more pleasant times. He admits he wasn’t the
best student and spent much of his time in sports and Boy
Scouts.
“When applied myself I did OK,” Lenny said. “I guess math
was better than other [subjects].”
When not in classes or other clubs, Lenny worked after-school
and summer jobs starting his sophomore year. He drove a
delivery truck for a florist shop was at the corner of Virginia and
North Highland avenues.
Summers were occupied
with light construction,
and Lenny also began
satisfying his sweet tooth
by working at Baskin
Robbins.
“My favorite memory
of Grady was graduation,”
Lenny said.
Describing
himself
as
“not the best
student” in
high school,
GOLDEN TICKET: Rick Lenny
Lenny set out
serves as CEO of Hershey
to start over
(above). Lenny pictured in
in
college.
his sophomore yearbook.
He headed to
Georgia State University, where he
now serves as a trustee. College provides the ability to start
over with a blank slate, he advises seniors.
“Use college as an opportunity to fix things,” Lenny said.
“It is the equivalent of a do-over.”
Georgia State sparked an interest in marketing and advertising
where a passion for business already existed. Exploring these
options, Lenny received his master’s degree in business from
Northwestern. Much like he predicted, he was well suited for
this field and was offered a job straight out of school.
“I went to work for Kraft and stayed,” Lenny said. “It was
THE ORATOR , 1968
BY CURRY ANDREWS
enry W. Grady High School didn’t
always host only grades nine through
12. When eventual Georgia Supreme Court
Justice Harris Hines attended Grady, high
school was also a place for eighth graders,
or “sub-freshmen” as they were then called.
Sub-freshmen were the lowest of the low,
on the bottom rung, and upperclassman
never forgot it.
“Because you were in the eighth grade,
the seniors would try to tease you and mess
with you,” Hines laughed. For Hines it was
all in good fun and from sub-freshman to
Supreme Court justice he’s never forgotten
his alma mater.
“[Grady offered] an amazing education,”
Hines said.
Today Georgians know Justice Hines as
a devoted, fair and charismatic person who
has served in Georgia courts since 1969.
But if you were at Grady in 1957, you
would have known him as the popular
jock who excelled on the field and in the
classroom.
Hines’ list of high school activities is
impressive, even by today’s standards.
During his sub-freshman year at Grady,
Hines played trumpet, basketball and track.
In ninth grade it was more band, varsity
football and JV basketball and baseball. In
10th grade Hines stopped participating
Stuart Eizenstat, Class of 1960
policy adviser, Carter and Clinton
presidential administrations
its 10th-Street entrance.
“When you pull into Grady, you will
see the arch that was provided by the
members of Boys High that preceded
Grady,” Levitas said. “We wanted to
show the continuation of the quality of
education that Grady embodies.”
Levitas even went on to marry his high
school sweetheart and Grady student
body president Barbara Hillman.
“She was voted the prettiest for the
senior superlatives,” Levitas bragged.
“Everyone at school called her ‘Babs.’”
Levitas is currently practicing law at
Kilpatrick Stockton, an Atlanta-based
firm. He currently represents more
than 500,000 Native Americans in a
class-action case against the federal
government. The group alleges the
government owes them millions or
potentially billions of dollars that it has
collected but failed to pay out.
“A huge injustice has been done to
these people,” said Levitas, who has
been working on the case for the last 10
years.
Since leaving Grady more than half
a century ago, Levitas has made it his life’s
work to improve the policies of the state
and federal government and ensure a better
quality of life for all citizens. And he still
remains fond of his high school from so
many years ago and the work it continues
to do.
“The quality of the student body and the
graduates at Grady after me is so outstanding
that it makes me look good,” he joked. ❐
COURTESY OF KILPATRICKSTOCKTON.COM
Liane Levetan, Class of 1953
former CEO, DeKalb County
BY CURRY ANDREWS
The year was 1947. The place was 929
Charles Allen Drive. Henry W.. Grady
High School was founded, joining
together the former Boys High, Tech
High and Girls High. This new coeducational, neighborhood school was
revolutionary for Atlanta high schools,
but it was still missing a few things.
“[Grady was] a blank tablet on which
to write,” said Elliot Levitas, a
member of the class of 1948. And
write on it he did. As a member
of Grady’s first graduating class,
Levitas is credited for choosing
Grady’s colors and mascot as well as the
names for its yearbook and newspaper,
of which he was the first editor.
“We tried to choose something that
reflected Henry W. Grady, and he
was both an orator and a southerner,”
Levitas said. “We selected things through
conversations and submissions. I guess
you could say it was a kind of vote.” FIRST TIMERS: Former U.S. Congressman Elliott Levitas (front row, fourth from left) stands with the
Whether he was managing publications inaugural staff of The Southerner in their 1948 yearbook picture. Levitas served as their editor.
or presiding over these monumental
decisions, Levitas left a lasting mark
“The outstanding teachers made all the managed legislation that formed Georgia’s
on Grady, a school he says provided an difference,” he said.
Department of Natural Resources. He
unmatched education. He was particularly
After graduating from Grady, Levitas went was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1974,
fond of a favorite teacher.
on to receive his bachelor’s degree from a position he held until 1984. While in
“There was a Mr. Hitchew who taught Emory University and then his law degree Congress, Levitas’ largest contributions came
chemistry,” Levitas said. “He was so good from Emory Law School. In 1958, Levitas in the area of the environment, where his was
that the [seniors] who took his course were studied at Oxford University in England a key player in drafting the Clean Air and
already performing at a college level.”
as a Rhodes Scholar. He has also served for Water Act.
But Mr.. Hitchew wasn’t the only person three years in the United States Air Force.
With all his success, Levitas still remembers
who made Levitas’ time at Grady so Levitas served in the Georgia House of his alma maters, both Boys High and Grady
memorable.
Representatives from 1965-1974, where he High, through the arch that now hangs over
COURTESY OF RICHARD LENNY
FAMOUS
As member of founding class, Levitas left lasting mark on Grady
THE ORATOR, 1948
I
n 1947, Grady High School was born out of the merger of two white boys schools
and one white girls school. Grady’s storied history includes its peaceful integration
in 1961. Over the span of 59 years, tens of thousands have called Grady home. The
Southerner is proud to chronicle the names and stories of a few of the most notable.
exciting and I learned a lot.”
In the last 30 years, Lenny has worked for Kraft Foods,
Nabisco, Pillsbury and now Hershey. He may be more serious
and disciplined than when he graduated in 1970, but he still
has fun with his job. “It took a lot of hard work and a lot of
luck [to get to where I am today],” Lenny said. “There were
a lot of very smart and energetic people with the opportunity
to learn and advance. I have people who believe [in me] and
[therefore] I can learn, make mistakes, and grow.
Now Lenny goes to work never knowing exactly what to
expect. Responsible for approving advertising campaigns
and new product investments, and presiding over the annual
meeting, he works with many different groups of people.
Working seven days a week is hard and the frequent traveling
is tiresome, but, Lenny insists, it never gets old. It’s always
exciting and challenging.
Some of the most challenging moments are being forced to
make the decisions, being forced to say no to someone with
a good idea.
“No one has unlimited funding,” Lenny said. “And no one
likes to be told no, but I have to make the tough call.”
In between the trips and board meetings, though, Lenny still
keeps in touch with old friends from Grady. They reminisce
about their days hanging out together in high school. They
also hope we’ll all keep in mind to cherish our friendships
into the future.
Rick Lenny spends much of his time on the go, but he’s
enjoying every minute of it.
“We sell chocolate.” Lenny said. “That makes everything
fun.” ❐
k e l l y
10
a w a r d
THE SOUTHERNER
April 21, 2006
KELLY recognized for 36 years of inspiration at Grady
heavily on Ms. Kelly in running the school.
In the sixth issue of the Southerner, we announced
“I had more time to go and talk about
the creation of the Marian P. Kelly Award. It’s an
things,” Dr. Murray said. “She’s also had
opportunity for members of the senior class to nomithe chance to work with new teachers.
nate their favorite teacher. The four semifinalists for
She helps them make the transition and
the inaugural award are below. Seniors will vote on
implement instruction strategies for classroom
their choice for the first recipient in homeroom and
management. She works with them to
the award will be given at Visions of the Future.
keep kids engaged and gives good,
substantive advice.”
students. She knew the way
Dr. Murray added
they learned.”
that Ms. Kelly has
While Ms. Kelly
contributed to the
does miss daily
school in other ways
interaction with
as well.
students in class,
“She’s been very
she’s happy with
focused on the
her
current
instruction,” he
work.
said. “She works
“I’m
still
a lot with the
enjoying what
curriculum
and
I’m doing,” said
with the concept and
Kelly, a two-time
logistics of programs,
Grady Teacher of
AWARD
making sure they’re
the Year and oneimplemented properly.”
time Teacher of the
But above all else, Dr.
Year for APS. “I think
Murray appreciates Ms. Kelly’s
I’m still being productive, still
ability to take part in honest, frank discussion.
contributing.”
“She’s my soundboard,” he said. “I can say
Secretary Katie Ross has no doubt about
things to her I can’t say to anyone else. I can that.
try things out on her. I can say what I need
“She’s a very get-up-and-go person,” Ms.
to say, and she won’t get offended. You have Ross said. “She doesn’t wait around. She just
to have the right chemistry and trust to work does it.”
with someone, to be able to share your vision
When asked about retirement, Ms. Kelly
and your ideas.”
admits that it’s always an option, just one she
Throughout the years, Dr. Murray had isn’t ready to take.
always admired Ms. Kelly’s commitment to
“I make the decision on a year-by-year
the school.
basis,” she said. “I am definitely coming back
“She cares more about Grady than anything next year.”
else, including herself,” he said. “She believes
Ms. Kelly believes Grady’s greatest asset also
not only in Grady, but that Grady has its own requires special effort and dedication.
character. She believes there’s a personality of
“Our great strength and challenge is our
the school, of the school’s mission.”
diversity,” she said. “You can’t get it anywhere
But everything else aside, Dr. Murray will else. It is a complicated place to work, though.
always remember Ms. Kelly as an extraordinary But it’s a wonderful place to work, too.”
teacher.
Ms. Grishman knows that another strength
“She never got annoyed when people of the school can be found walking the halls or
weren’t following tradition,” Dr. Murray said. working in the office every day.
“I went in to observe her once and saw a boy
“Ms. Kelly’s service to Grady is incredible,”
lying on the ground with his feet propped Ms. Grishman said. “She has poured her
up on the desk. She said to me, ‘This is the blood, sweat and tears into this school.” ❐
way he learns, leave him alone.’ She knew her
M
when they put in air conditioning, added the
theater and put on another wing to the old
Eighth Street building. They also took out all
of the woodshops and put in GNN studios.”
Even the makeup of the student body was
different.
“We had eighth graders at Grady when I
arrived,” Ms. Kelly said. “The class of 1976
was the last one to have completed five grades
at Grady.”
Assistant principal Naomi Grishman, who
became chair of the social studies department
in 1986 and later went on to serve as magnet
coordinator, remembers Ms. Kelly’s smiling
face in the classroom across the hall.
“As department chairs, we did a lot together,”
Ms. Grishman said. “We have worked well
together ever since and have become close,
personal friends. We’ve had each other’s back.
When one was down, the other would pick
them up. It’s what friends do.”
One of Ms. Grishman’s clearest memories
of Ms. Kelly is her work with Grady’s student
government association.
“She was always involved with those kids,”
Ms. Grishman said. “For years, she was with
the SGA and she did [that] for as long as I can
remember.”
While teaching has always been dear to
her heart, Ms. Kelly left the classroom four
years ago to focus on chairing the English
department and serving in other administrative
positions.
Principal Vincent Murray said the
move gave him
an opportunity
to rely more
IA
R
A
N P. K E
LL
Y
see page 1
After graduation, Ms. Kelly taught
for two years at a Florida high school
before moving to Atlanta. She then spent
two years teaching English at Atlanta’s
Smith High School, before spending
the last 36 years at Grady.
Ms. Kelly taught English during her first
years at Grady, after which she did graduate
work at Georgia State University and received
a master’s degree as a reading specialist. She
then started working with the school’s reading
program.
“My focus shifted to the reading lab,” Ms.
Kelly said. “All students took part their ninthgrade year.” When the chair of the English
department chair suddenly died in the early
1980s, Ms. Kelly took on that role as well, a
job she holds to this day.
Ms. Kelly’s line of work changed again
when she moved to working with the Title I
program.
“It was very different then than it is now,”
she said. “There were a select few students who
received remediation. Grady wasn’t a schoolwide Title I program like it is now.”
Since arriving at Grady’s campus in 1970,
Ms. Kelly has seen a host of changes during her
time at the school.
“We didn’t have the new gym or the theater
yet,” Ms. Kelly remembered. “The gym was
finished in 1972, and that’s where we had
that year’s graduation ceremony. We had a
renovation [in 1987]
THE NOMINEES
(excerpts from the student nominations)
Ms. Simmons is amazing. She not only puts up with
rowdy freshman and lazy seniors, but cares about
them. If you’re having a bad week, she listens to you
ramble, vent or cry and then gives you real advice.
If you need extra help, or a different approach to
learning, she doesn’t hesitate to give it. She assists
countless seniors with college applications and writes
wonderful recommendations. She gets on your case
when you slack off and gives out her home number
and promises to take you out for a martini when
you’re 21. She’s the teacher you never forget and
wouldn’t ever want to.
Emma Din
Dianne Simmons
John Brandhorst molds not only his clay creations, but also
the minds of his students through his brave, curious and
inspirational perception of life. He opens the minds of his
students to the power of art through a gently stimulating
spirit. We find ourselves applying a theory we learned in
sculpture to physics and describing a character in our
lit class with a word learned in an infamous Brandhorst
discussion. He inspires his students to be open-minded,
creative and genuine. He is caring, knowledgeable, patient
and kind and urges students to find their own intrinsic
motivation, both in art and in life.
Robinson Levin
Mr. Lawrence is more than a teacher. He’s
a mentor and an inspiration. He not only
teaches his students but also encourages
us to strive to be great. He is a true friend
and trusted adviser. He listens, he helps and
he understands. He expects the best from
everyone and accepts no less. He pushes us
to challenge ourselves, to stretch our limits
and to be an example for others. He shows
us how to apply everything we learn to real
life and helps us make decisions for ourselves.
He devotes his entire being to helping his
students. He’s highly appreciated and will
always be cherished.
John Brandhorst
Janet Milton
Ms. Milton is a woman of strong faith
and dedication, serving as a public school
teacher for more than 35 years. She has
advised the Gospel Choir, produced mindblowing Black History productions and
continues to contribute so much to Grady
through many dramatic performances.
Her talent and creativity never cease
to amaze me. She continues to radiate
throughout the halls and in her classroom.
Her commitment to preparing her
students for everything from the GTT to
life is commendable. I have written of her
as one who I revere and aspire to be like.
She epitomizes excellence and the qualities of passion, persistence and sincerity.
Emma Din
Emma Din
Reginald Lawrence
THE SOUTHERNER
n e w s
April 21, 2006
11
BY ALI FARNHAM
the students, changed classes. But the
Have you ever eaten quail eggs, students weren’t in class the whole
cow brains or squid cooked in its on day. They had regular breaks where
own ink? Juniors Anna Alexander they were allowed into the library,
and Jessica Lambert have, while on work room or smoking halls.
their respective excursions to Spain
For fun after school, Lambert and
and France, during the first three her friends went to a café or hung
months of this year. But interesting out in town. But they always caught
foods were not the only things they the last bus at 7:20 p.m. because
encountered.
dinner was always at 8 p.m.
Lambert lived in a suburb of
“My family ate a lot, which was
St. Brieuc, a town in the French usually too much for me,” she said.
province of Brittany, with the same “They had the entrée, which is meats
host family that housed senior Erin and pickles, then the main dish, then
Wert last year.
a salad and cheeses and then yogurt.
“The first
was expected to eat
I wasn’t sure what to expect, Ilarge
day I was
portions.”
nervous
Though Lambert
but it wasn’t hard. Everyone
because I
tried a variety of foods
was so nice and willing to help like escargot and frog
wasn’t sure
what
to
legs, there was one
me.
expect,”
food she couldn’t
junior Jessica Lambert stand.
Lambert
said, “But
“Tripe,” she said.
it wasn’t hard. Everyone was so nice “They had tripe. I think it’s some
and willing to help me.”
kind of fish.” (It’s actually stomach
Lambert’s day would start with tissue from a ruminating animal.) “It
a huge breakfast. After, she would smelled awful. I couldn’t do it.”
take the bus to school. Her school
Although Lambert found that
day lasted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. some students at school spoke
Lambert’s classes were each 50 English, the fact that her host family
minutes and the teachers, rather than didn’t speak her native tongue helped
“
her learn a new language.
“Complete immersion helped so
much,” Lambert said. “Sometimes
the kids around me would speak
English, but it was just shouting out
random phrases in class.”
While Lambert was in France,
Alexander was having a different
experience in Spain.
Alexander lived in El Astillero, a
suburb of the town Santander in the
province Cantabria.
Unlike Lambert, Alexander went
to a less rigorous school and only had
class from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Her school was a block away from
home and she walked everyday.
In the U.S., Alexander has learned
Latin American Spanish, which is
different from Spain’s Spanish.
“[My family] thought I was
speaking gibberish,” Alexander said.
“They were like ‘Anna, why are you
making stuff up?’”
After school, Alexander went
home for lunch and then was free
until dinner time, and from about
2 p.m. to 5 p.m. all schools and
businesses shut down for “siesta
time,” when everyone went home to
eat or take a nap.
One of the things Alexander will
COURTESY OF JESSICA LAMBERT
Exchange juniors learn to ‘cut the cross,’ eat frog legs
OOH-LA-LA: After sightseeing in Paris, junior Jessica Lambert waits for a Saint Brieucbound train with other American students at the train station Gare Mont-Parnasse.
remember most is her host mother’s
cooking.
“My mom made something
different every night,” Alexander
said. “She [had] washed dishes back
when she was single, and she always
watched [the cooks], so she learned
to cook from real chefs.”
There was one disappointment
during Alexander’s stay. Because
she was unable to find any shoes
big enough for her size-11 feet, she
was barred from the discos, which
have an unofficial high-heels-only
policy.
Despite the shoe setback,
Alexander’s trip was enjoyable
although she found one practice
very unlike our common American
one.
“You can’t do pinky promise,”
she joked. “They don’t do it there.
They have [a gesture] instead called
cutting the cross.” ❐
Facebook threatens
the privacy of users
CAROLINE MCGLAMRY
DOWN IN THE PIT: Students make their way through The Pit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on April 18, more than
six weeks after Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drove his jeep through a similar crowd. His attack sent six undergrads to the hospital.
Grady alumni near site of bizarre UNC crime
BY EMMA DIN
Nine counts of attempted
murder. Five counts of assault with
a deadly weapon inflicting serious
injury. Four counts of assault with
the intent to kill. This usually only
happens in video games, movies or
newscasts that never directly affect
our lives.
On
March
3,
however,
Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar
brought terror to life at the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. A graduate of the
school, Taheri-azar floored his jeep
through “The Pit” at UNC, a main
thoroughfare and hub for students.
Of the 10 people hit, six went
to the hospital, although no one
was seriously injured. After turning
himself into authorities, Taheri-azar
said that he attacked because the
United States was killing his people
in the Middle East.
“He was completely crazy,”
said UNC freshman David Suitts,
who graduated from Grady last
spring. “I don’t sympathize with his
motivations at all. It was completely
unjustified.”
None of the Grady graduates at
UNC were involved in the attack.
Freshman Caroline McGlamry saw
and heard all of the ambulances and
sirens rush by on her way to meet a
friend.
“It was scary,” McGlamry said.
“I had a couple of friends in ‘The
Pit’ at the time and for a while there
weren’t names out for who was hit,
and they weren’t definite about how
bad the injuries were.”
At 11:50 a.m., a time when
classes change and “The Pit” is filled
with students, Taheri-azar drove
up slowly through an emergency
vehicle entrance, came up the side
of Lenoir Dining Hall and then
hit the gas through “The Pit.” After
hitting 10 students, he then swerved
and turned out on the other side of
Lenoir.
“A lot of people didn’t know
what was going on,” 2004 Grady
alumni and UNC sophomore
Alex McGlynn said. “It was pretty
bizarre, and I thought it was just a
joke or a prank. But then I heard
people got hit and that he was going
40 mph, which made it serious.”
After Taheri-azar was arrested,
his apartment building near the
campus was evacuated because of
speculation that he had a bomb in
his apartment. The threat, however,
was just a scare as officials didn’t find
anything. Taheri-azar was taken to
the central prison in Raleigh and
is currently being held on a $5.5
million bail.
“It’s unfortunate because it just
continues the stereotype of Middle
Easterners over here, making it
harder for Muslims to break away
from it,” McGlamry said.
Immediately after the attack,
UNC closed “The Pit” and roped
it off for the investigation. For
the next hour, the area was full
of camera crews, reporters and
curious students. The general
consensus has been that the event
was unpreventable. The attack was
a complete surprise, happened too
quickly, and Taheri-azar gave no
warning about his plans.
In the weeks since the attack, the
school administration has increased
both the number of police officers
and their patrol routes. The school
president has sent out several emails,
updating the student body and
offering counseling classes.
According to Suitts, when
prospective students take campus
tours with their parents, they more
often ask about campus safety. The
attack, however, has not negatively
impacted admissions, as applications
are up 4.5 percent from last year.
“I don’t think it was anyone’s
fault on safety,” McGlynn said.
“I’m happy with the way things are.
Don’t blame the university. Blame
the man.” ❐
BY SAM JOHNSON
information about you for other
Facebook
addiction
and sources, such as newspapers and
obsession has hit millions of instant messaging services,” the
students all across the nation.
policy reads. “We may share
Facebook was started in 2004 account or other information
by two Harvard students whose when we believe it is necessary to
ultimate goal was to interconnect comply with law or to protect our
college students with an easy- interests or property. This may
to-use program. It’s a site where include sharing information with
students post personal information other companies, lawyers, agents or
and pictures that can be viewed government agencies.”
by people they designate as their
Recently, Facebook has aided in
friends. To acquire a Facebook some arrests at Pennsylvania State
account, you give your name, University. Some students rushed
email address and birthday. the field after a football game.
Facebook also gives the option of The local authorities went through
showing your instant-messaging their Facebook profiles, which had
screen name, phone number, class pictures and captions stating their
schedule, personal interests, sexual actions. They were later arrested.
orientation, political standpoint
“If you don’t want people to see
and any other
your personal
If you don’t want people to information,”
information
you choose to
see your personal information, junior Britain
divulge.
said,“then
then you shouldn’t put it on Baker
According
you shouldn’t
to ComScore
put it on the
the Internet.
Media Metrix,
Internet.”
junior Britain Baker This news,
Facebook
is the 10thhowever, does
most-visited site in the United not seem to be troubling for
States. With 11 million members, the 20,000 new members that
Facebook grows by 20,000 new click through the privacy policy
members each day. This site has agreement everyday. And while it
recently added a new feature that worries some Grady students, the
allows members to send invitations fear is not enough to scare them
to friends in both high school and away from Facebook altogether.
college.
“I would feel violated, definitely,”
This type of social networking is said junior Max Meinhardt, “But I
like a dream come true for people would still use the program.”
who want to keep in touch with
Despite the lack of privacy on the
old friends. Some believe, however, Internet, people continue to share
that this program is a dream only personal information on the World
for Big Brother. If users open a Wide Web. But there are some who
Facebook account, they agree to are more wary than willing.
a clause allowing the site to share
“I’m worried about my privacy
personal information with a third on the internet,” sophomore Hope
party.
Roberts said. “I have to be careful
“Facebook
also
collects about what I put on there.” ❐
“
p e o p l e
12
THE SOUTHERNER
April 21, 2006
BY LENA BRODSKY
It takes a village to raise a restaurant. Or, at
the very least, it takes a very devoted investor
and owner with a lot of friends. Grady parent
Sarah Rick knows firsthand the challenges of
opening and maintaining a restaurant. She
also has a dependable group of friends that
helped her out one day when she needed it
the most.
“One Saturday morning none of the
employees came to work so I called some
of my girlfriends, and they came and helped
me out,” Rick said. “Good friends of mine
like Polly the Potter and some fellow Grady
parents came.”
Rick’s restaurant Stone Soup opened in
Grant Park in early August 2005. The process
of opening the restaurant was much more
strenuous than she had anticipated.
“[The biggest] challenge about opening
the restaurant was making the time in my
life that it needed,” Rick said. “I used to do a
lot of volunteering at Grady, and I really miss
those experiences.”
The alliance Rick has with Grady plays
a large part in her reliable and supportive
network of friends. Rick’s three children
all attended or currently attend Grady.
Her children have been active in Grady’s
extracurricular opportunities and have
excelled academically. Rick has made lasting
friendships, especially through her sons’
involvement with the boys soccer team.
Not only are some of Grady’s parents and
teachers there for Rick and Stone Soup,
Grady’s students, both current and former,
have provided the majority of the restaurant’s
workforce.
“The first Grady student I hired was Aaron
DeMoss,” Rick said. “I knew him through
[my daughter] Ann Lane, and he brought
LENA BRODSKY
Grady mom opens Stone Soup with rock-solid support
PROOF IS IN THE SOUP: Senior Anna Simonton, employed for eight months, works the counter at Stone Soup.
“All of our food is healthy, fresh and organic, which sets us apart from other restaurants, “ Simonton said.
the other Grady kids. It was mainly his idea come into play in other ways as well. Stone
to employ high school students, and I have Soup’s menu selections are served on Polly
really enjoyed it. Working with high school the Potter’s creative and funky dishes. The
students and twenty-somethings has been artwork currently featured on the restaurant’s
one of the most pleasant aspects of Stone walls is that of Natalie Brandhorst, wife of
Soup.”
Grady art teacher John Brandhorst.
Current Grady students employed by
“In the restaurant we put up work of
Rick include senior Anna Simonton, junior local artists, and it’s cool because the artists
Sean Harrington and sophomore Caitlin are people you know, and they come in
Lemmond.
periodically to see their work,” Simonton
“I like working at Stone Soup because said.
there is a friendly and casual atmosphere,”
The village may have helped Stone Soup get
Harrington said. “And I get along well with on its feet, but the desire to own a restaurant
the other employees.”
dates back to Rick’s college experience.
Stone Soup’s employees all praise Rick’s
“When I was a student at Emory in 1975
flexible, open-minded and innovative I was a member of the co-op Stone Soup
approach to management.
Natural Foods,” Rick said. “Grady [physics]
“Since it’s a new business, Sarah Rick is teacher, Jeff Cramer was a charter member.
really open to any comments,” Simonton When the group folded in 1988, I decided to
said. “She’s really open to making changes. open it as a grocery store on Virginia Avenue.
[At the restaurant] we have meetings where Out of that enterprise grew the restaurant,
we exchange ideas.”
Savage Pizza, which we opened in 1990. I left
The village behind the restaurant has the partnership in 1998 to be home with my
TARTUFFE to enlighten
theater-goers with laughter
REBECCA GITTLESON
Faculty dads deal
with double role
BY JULIA OLIVER
Paternity leave may be less common than
maternity leave, but it has become popular
with a handful of male teachers at Grady.
Dave Winter and Chris Hess both took time
off when their children were born in past
years, and John Brandhorst left after spring
break this year to take the rest of the semester
off to be, as he puts it, “Mr. Mom.” Mr.
Brandhorst will be a stay-at-home dad while
his wife returns to work.
“It’s a huge balancing act between your
family and your career,” Mr. Brandhorst
said. “A lot of extraordinary educators are
unmarried.”
Choosing between work and family has
never been easy, but options like taking
paternity leave make it easier to balance them
both.
The Family and Medical Leave Act of
1993 made it easier for mothers and fathers
to balance home and career. In Georgia, the
FMLA entitles you up to 12 weeks off of paid
leave and full health benefits for both men
and women. Upon his return, a man taking
paternity leave must get his job back, or a
similar job, with the same pay and benefits.
Paternity leave policies within the state
differ in different school systems, according
to Jeff Thomas, head of Human Resources
for Atlantic Public Schools. Thomas said
APS offers two options for its male workers.
Employees can use their accumulated sick
leave and receive full pay for the days missed.
The other option for APS employees is the
FMLA, which is usually 60 days of paid
leave, with the promise that your job will be
available at the end of the leave.
While Thomas has seen men taking time
off, he explains that it is more common with
women employees.
youngest son Gus.”
After being involved in the food business
for more than 20 years before taking a break,
Rick decided after her brief period at home to
get back in the game.
“I had the idea one day and just went and
did it,” Rick said. “I saw the space for Stone
Soup when I was over at Earth & Gardener.
The project had its own momentum and
Martha Stovall, Stone Soup’s chef and I
decided to grab it.”
Rick’s know-how, personal experience
and business acumen have been more than
enough to make Stone Soup successful.
“After we signed the lease for the space
in February, we purchased the restaurant
equipment from the previous owner,” Rick
said. “We open at 6 a.m. and close at 3
p.m. every day. This was one of the smartest
decisions I made because it enables me to be
home before it gets dark each night.”
Stone Soup has attracted new customers,
and they return as regulars because of its
imaginative and atypical style.
“Sandwiches, soups and salads are
available, and since the brunch menu we
offer on weekends has been so successful, in
two weeks we are going to begin offering allday breakfast every day,” Rick said.
The restaurant has taken up more of Rick’s
time that she had thought it would. She
also says that it requires more money than
one would think to open a restaurant. Rick
confidently states that the most important
lesson for aspiring restaurateurs is to have
some kind of grand plan, so you don’t stray
too far from what you really want.
“The most rewarding day with Stone Soup
so far was the day we broke $1,000 in sales,”
Rick said. “It was a target we had, and the day
when it happened was very gratifying.” ❐
GRADY BABY: John Brandhorst shows off his twomonth-old daughter Madeline to his set design class.
“The bulk [of our employees taking time
off ] are moms,” Thomas said. “You see
dads taking days off here and there, but you
usually don’t see them take off the entire 60
days.”
That was the case for Mr. Winter, who
missed two days of school after the birth of
his son in 2002 and a week after the birth of
his daughter in 2004.
At the end of this year, Winter is switching
careers from teaching to freelance writing so
that he can be at home more for his children.
According to Mr. Hess, who is also leaving
Grady, Winter’s decision is becoming more
common.
“The family dynamic is changing,” Hess
said. “When my father was working, it
was different. Fathers had less input and
responsibility at home. The roles of mother
and father were more defined.”
Now, the roles are far more ambiguous.
“My wife and I split [parenting jobs] up,”
Hess said. “She works just as hard at her job
as I do at mine.” ❐
from page 1
setting of the play itself has a slight twist. hardest parts of putting the performance
“What we’re doing is a contemporary together was choosing actors and actresses.
translation by a woman named Freyda Thomas
“For me, personally, probably the biggest
and it is set in the 1980s in a television studio challenge was casting it,” Ms. Willoughby
of a Christian network,” Ms. Willoughby said. “There were so many people who were so
said. “The story line is the same, just updated good, and that resulted in my double-casting
a little bit. The version we’re doing depicts the entire play.”
Tartuffe not as a priest but as a televangelist.”
While the double-casting limits practice
Ms. Willoughby decided to stage the time for each cast, there are benefits to the
updated version of Tartuffe because it was system.
more accessible to modern audiences.
“It’s a lot of work with the two casts and
“The [original] is all in old-speak kind of, just trying to get everybody organized,” said
and it’s hard to have the audience understand junior Luke Pattison, who will play the role of
stuff like that,” said senior Vivi Chavez, who Tartuffe. “But it’s lots of fun, and you get to
will play the role of El Mir. “This one takes spend time with lots of cool people.”
place in the ‘80s and because it’s in regularChavez agrees that the double-casting can be
speak, it’s pretty hilarious.”
fun and entertaining.
Tartuffe was also
“[I love] just watching
There were so many people the other cast perform and
attractive because its
history ties in well
who were so good. And that do what you’re going to
with the censorship
do, watching it their way,”
resulted in my double-casting she said. “To me the most
project AP art students
undertook in the fall.
enjoyable part is watching
the entire play.
In his time, Moliere,
them play out these
Ms. Lisa Willoughby hilarious scenes.”
too, dealt with issues of
censorship relating to
Ms. Willoughby, too, has
his play.
been enjoying the production process.
“Because the play parodies and, to some
“It’s been a lot of fun working with the
extent, skewers religious hypocrisy during the cast, and I’m having fun on all the different
17th century, which was a great age of faith, elements of it,” she said. “We’re getting to learn
it took a long time before [Moliere] could about a whole new genre of performance that’s
get permission to get the play staged,” Ms. a lot of fun.”
Willoughby said.
It seems that the only way to really describe
But she added that the play does not bash Grady’s upcoming performance of Tartuffe is
religion.
“fun.”
“I really want to emphasize that the play
“I’m really excited,” Pattison said. “The play
does not make fun of faith but of hypocrisy,” itself is really funny, and we have a great cast.
she said.
Both of them. It’s going to be a lot of fun to
Because this play has few roles, one of the have a lot of people come.” ❐
“
THE SOUTHERNER
p e o p l e
April 21, 2006
‘Grills’ and
not for your
hamburgers
Art students
make great
impressions,
earn awards
REBECCA GITTELSON
BY HANNA GRIFFITHS
Thirty years ago, gold teeth were strictly
reserved for dental restoration. Today, however,
these dental aids have become such a cosmetic
commonplace that while walking down the
halls at Grady you may see glimmers of gold
in many mouths.
A “grill” is a row of gold caps placed on
teeth. Grills can range from a row of simple
caps to an ornate, diamond-encrusted piece
of jewelry.
The concept of gold teeth is not a new idea.
In 700 B.C. the Etruscans made teeth with gold
bridgework. During the American Revolution,
Americans made gold dentures. During World
War II, Nazis yanked gold teeth from Jews’
mouths and American soldiers removed gold
teeth from dead Japanese soldiers’ mouths.
Hip-hop, however, has always had a close
connection with grills. Gold teeth began to
appear in the 1980s when rapper Flava Flav
got a grill. Since then rappers like Snoop
Dogg have shown off their “priceless” smiles.
Nelly’s recent chart-topping song “Grillz” also
exemplifies how much the hip-hop community
has endorsed gold teeth.
The trend was reborn in New York City
when Edmund Plein, owner of Eddie’s Gold
Teeth, first outfitted Flava Flav with gold caps.
“I like to say there was gold teeth before me,
but I reinvented it in 1983,” Plein told The
Southerner.
In 1992 Plein moved his business to Atlanta
in hopes of finding a new market. He quickly
found his niche and earned a reputation
making grills for Ludacris and OutKast.
13
YEAH, YOUR GRILL: Senior Brian Robbins shows off his $230 grill, which he has worn daily since he had it
made about a month ago. “It hurts when you first get them in, but then you get used to it,” Robbins said.
“I put the grills in their mouths before they
were famous,” Plein boasted.
Hip-hop is not the only sector of the media
promoting grills. The gold standard has also
hit Hollywood. For the promotion of Pirates
of the Caribbean, star Johnny Depp got a
removable grill.
Though both removable and permanent
grills have their downsides, dentist Carol Wolff
recommends removable grills.
“Permanent grills cause irreparable damage
because they require a portion of the tooth to
be extracted,” Wolff said.
Removable grills also have risks. They cannot
be worn while eating or sleeping and must be
removed and cleaned many times a day.
Wolff has made molds for several of her
patients and believes that one of the biggest
problems with grills is how they are made.
“If you get a mold made in a mall you don’t
know how sterilized the equipment they use
is,” she said. “Unsanitary dentistry can spread
pretty disgusting germs.”
Poor sanitation is not her only worry.
“If it doesn’t fit properly, it can cause
problems with your bite and people are
sometimes allergic to the metal,” Wolff said.
Plein believes a large problem lies with
vendors making cheap gold grills.
“[If] it’s jewelry gold, like you would use
on your fingers, it’s not good enough for the
mouth,” Plein said. “I think you should have
to be 16 or 17 years old to get a grill, but kids
want them, and they don’t want to wait around
[to save money] so they gravitate towards the
cheap stuff.”
Junior David Langford believes that he has
gotten quality grills for the past five years.
“It cost me $200, and I get the 14-carat
yellow-gold grills,” Langford said. “After I get
tired of them I take them to the grill shop and
have them melted down into a new grill.”
Although many believe gold teeth are stylish,
some oppose the trend. Junior Devangalo
Crawford is an example.
“I won’t get one because I am very
irresponsible; I would lose it,” Crawford said.
“Plus I think it’s a waste of money and a waste
of time.”
Although many dislike grills, there is little
doubt that the trend will continue.
“It’s a fad gone wild,” Plein said. ❐
BODIES exhibit brings perspective to anatomy
SS KIT
S PRE
ODIE
COURTESY O
FB
BY CARSON HALE
After $5 to park in an empty lot, $20 for admission, and another
$5 for an “audio tour,” I had high expectations for BODIES...The
Exhibition, now on display at the Atlanta Civic Center until Sept. 4.
While the audio tour turned out to be a series of uninformative
introductions, the exhibit itself made up for it with its innovative displays
of the anatomy of actual human bodies. The concept is unsettling at first
but becomes more palatable with each room of the exhibition.
The human skeleton is a familiar sight from classrooms and movies,
but the real ones displayed at BODIES, along with all of the other bodies
and organs in the exhibit, are different because they are treated with
polymer preservation. The process keeps the bodies from decaying and
leaves them dry and hard.
Scientists dissect the desired structures of the body, which are then
treated with acetone to drain the water. A liquid silicone mixture
replaces the acetone, under a vacuum chamber, which
turns the acetone to gas. When the polymer hardens,
the preservation is permanent and becomes
like rubber.
Dr. Roy Glover, of the University of
Michigan Medical School, is the chief
medical advisor for the exhibition. He
oversees a staff of anatomists, who work
on the dissection and preservation of
the bodies. It can take a year to preserve
the bigger, full-body examples. The smaller
specimens, which vary from the tiny auditory
ossicle bones, smaller than the
head of a pin, to the entire
network of nerves laid out like
unraveled string, take as little as one week
to prepare.
For the models used in the exhibition, the muscles
are carefully tinted and given facial features, such as
false eyeballs and nostrils. The most unnerving are the
sparse eyebrows plastered, with small sections of skin,
onto skinless faces. Most of the 260-plus displays are
individual organs or partial specimens in glass cases.
It is easy to get caught up in the displays and the body
factoids posted on the walls, but a running list of organ
donors at the end of the exhibit is a reminder that these
REVIEW
bodies had to come from somewhere. The cadavers used are from the
Dalian Medical University of Plastination Laboratories in China, which
obtains donated or unclaimed bodies from other medical schools.
BODIES...The Exhibition is the best argument for staying healthy
I have ever seen. The juxtaposition of healthy and diseased organs
elicits an eye-opening, visceral reaction. One display shows a normal
respiratory system, then a shriveled and blackened smoker’s lung.
Across one wall, a sign invites viewers to lengthen their lives by quitting
smoking. A transparent receptacle boasting discarded cigarette packs
produces the desired overall impact of the exhibit.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps there
is some equation to calculate how many an actual, unidealized, three-dimensional model is worth. Diseases
such as cancer, tuberculosis and malaria become
concrete, tangible evils. Organs show the effects of
tumors, viruses, aneurisms and obesity.
Even the healthiest have something to gain
from the exhibit. Those with very sharp
memories will go away with unfamiliar
organ, bone, and muscle names in
their active vocabulary. People with
an interest in medicine or science
surely will find
something relevant. Children can listen
to a special commentary that follows the exhibit. Artists will have
a better understanding of the layers of the body, and for everyone,
there is an extent of understanding the body that no amount of
reading, studying or yoga can match.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the exhibit, though, is also the
most graphic. The fetus section comes with a disclaimer, giving visitors
the opportunity to bypass the display. I found myself unconsciously
clenching my teeth as I looked at deformed babies, weeks-old embryos
and a model of fetal bone development. The unique perspective is
disconcserting but amazing.
After an hour and a half of looking at things that are inside of me, I
realized that we take our bodies for granted.
All of these intricacies that operate like clockwork inside of my 5foot-2 inches took up an entire exhibit and included more scientific
names than I can count. The exhibit is a great chance to see human
anatomy in the flesh. ❐
BY ALLANA NEELY
The atmosphere was friendly walking into
the spacious Mason Murer Fine Art building
on April 9. The large, dimly lit room featured a
variety of artistic pieces created by high school
students and professional artists across Atlanta.
The exhibit included art pieces by Grady
students, some of whom were awarded for
their work.
The Second Annual Youth Art Juries and
Exhibit, which was presented by the Greater
Atlanta Chapter of The Society, Inc., featured
dozens of art pieces by high school students
throughout metro Atlanta.
Mark Karelson, the owner of the gallery
and an artist, expressed his opinion about how
young artists can do well in the art industry.
“It’s very difficult to make it in art,”
Karelson said. “[But] when you are creating
art, the more introspective you can be and the
less concerned about the whims of the market,
the more successful you will be.”
Karelson used to own Modern Primitive,
a gallery in Virginia Highlands. The gallery,
which was open for almost 15 years, is now
closed; however, Karelson does own another
Mason Murer gallery in Buckhead.
Karelson also expressed his belief that artists
should stay in school and not rely solely on
their craft as a source of growth and income.
“In order to be an artist today, you have
to have skills in every aspect of college life,”
Karelson said. “If you do not have a basic
knowledge of accounting and bookkeeping, it’s
going to be problematic.”
For many of the artists at the exhibit,
staying in school and going to college is of
profound importance.
Deji Adako, a junior at Tucker High
School, created an art piece entitled “The
Columns at Davidson,” which he created
by using ebony pencil and acrylic paint.
While the 6-foot-4 teen has a passion
for both art and basketball, he plans on
attending the University of Florida and
majoring in commercial and advertising
art. Before the awards were announced,
Adako expressed his desire to place in the
art competition.
“I recently got declined for the Governor’s
Honors Program [in art], so it’d be nice to win
this.”
Although Adako did not place in the
competition, many of Grady’s own students
did. Junior Forrest Aguar won first place,
while seniors Liliana Hudgens and Anna
Simonton were recognized with honorable
mentions. Other Grady students who
created artwork that was displayed at the
exhibit were seniors Jessica Brandon, Anne
Marie Drolet and Dylan Edmondson.
John Brandhorst, Grady’s art teacher, was
surprised about the win.
“I never expect to win,” Brandhorst said.
“Art competitions are extremely subjective
and depend entirely on the tastes of the
judges.”
Although Brandhorst is on paternity
leave for the remainder of the school year,
he is enthusiastic about continuing to help
Grady’s art students.
“The art department here is one of the
strongest in the state,” he said. “Every year
I realize how much potential there is here
to do extraordinary things.” ❐
s p o r t s
14
April 21, 2006
THE SOUTHERNER
BY DUY LAM
As the Knights hit the midpoint of
their track season, the team ran their
biggest meet thus far. The Atlanta
Track Classic was a three-day meet
on March 28-30 where every APS
school competed. There was more
on the line for Knights in this meet
than just another win.
“This meet gives us the
opportunity to have bragging rights
over all the APS schools especially
the 4-A and 5-A schools like Mays
and Douglass,” senior long-distance
runner Collier Johnson said.
Douglass High School won the
meet last year, and Mays won it eight
straight years prior to that.
The Knights entered the classic
with two strong performances in
the Stephenson Invitations on
March 18 and a meet against TriCities and Cross Keys on March
21. Senior long-distance runner
Wes Vernon swept the 1,600-meter
and 3,200-meter races and Johnson
finished third in the 1,600 meters
in the Stephenson Invitations. The
sprinters showed their improvements
in the meet against Tri-Cities and
Cross Keys. Junior Dexter Barnett
won the long jump with a 20-foot11-inch leap and finished second in
the 100-meter race. The relay team
also performed well as they posted
their fastest time in the 4 x 100 relay
race since 2003, 43.3 seconds.
The team entered the ATC
without two of their best sprinters,
seniors Brandon Thurmond and
Isaac Coleman, due to injuries.
The sprinters struggled as they only
accumulated points in four events.
Senior Antonio Lowe finished
second and sixth in the 400-meter
and 200-meter dashes respectively.
Sophomore Kari Kemp finished
fifth in the 400-meter dash and the
relay team also finished fifth in the 4
x 400 meter relay.
With the sprinters only scoring a
total of 13 points, the team had to
rely on the long-distance runners
once again.
The highlight of the meet for the
Knights came in the 1,600-meter
race where seniors Wes Vernon
finished second and Johnson
finished third. The race was close
for the first three laps until Vernon
and Mays High School’s Reginald
Warren Jr. broke away from the
pack in the final lap. By doing so,
both runners lapped Southside High
School’s Troy Bostic. While passing
Bostic, Warren Jr. was able to run
around him, while Vernon ran into
him and slowed himself down. The
SALLY ZINTAK
Boys run into stiff competition at Atlanta Track Classic
WES’ SIDE: Senior Wes Vernon catches his breath after finishing a close second behind B.E. Mays’ Reginald Warren Jr. while senior
Collier Johnson (middle) looks back at Douglass’ Trae Orange as he heads for the finish line in the 1,600-meter race on March 28.
slight obstruction turned out costly
as Warren Jr. ended up beating
Vernon by less than one tenth of a
second, 4:36.66 to 4:36.71.
Vernon, however, did come
back to win the 3,200-meter race.
Max Leonard also earned points
for Grady in that race by finishing
fourth. The long-distance runners
totaled 28 points to give the Knights
a combined 41, which put them in
fourth place overall behind Mays,
Washington and Douglass.
“We did good despite the injuries
to some key players,” Johnson said.
“We would’ve liked to finish in the
top three, but fourth will do.”
The team is looking forward to
the region and state competitions
coming up in May where they
excelled last year. ❐
Mickelson’s Masters win
on par with recent trend
SALLY ZINTAK
BIG FINISH: Sophomore Gabrielle Lopez, in lane 7, falls short to the first-place finisher in the 4 x 400 relay at
the Atlanta City Classic Track Meet. The team finished fourth in the event held on March 28-30 at Lakewood.
Girls team on pace to surprise in ‘06
BY CARSON PHILLIP-SPOTTS
After his team’s strong start in
preliminary meets this spring, girls track
coach Randy Reed kept a level-headed yet
optimistic view of his teams chances to
fare well in future outings.
“The girls are progressing well,” Coach
Reed said of his team’s early fortunes. The
team is focusing on the season meet by
meet, hoping to improve as the season
unfolds. “If the girls keep up their pace,
they should hit their peak by the end of
the season.”
The team has definitely progressed,
performing well in weekly city meets at
Lakewood along with a strong fifth-place
finish at the Stephenson Invitational
on March 18. The team has excelled in
the field events. Senior Tennah Holland
has finished first in her events at the
Lakewood meets and placed second at the
Stephenson event.
Another pleasant surprise for the team is
the 4 x 400 meter relay team, comprised of
four sophomores who have garnered topfive finishes at Lakewood meets.
The team practiced more vigorously
than ever over the past few weeks in
preparation for the prestigious Atlanta
City Track Classic, a three-day event in the
end of March that showcases track talent
throughout the city. The girls took their
momentum into the meet determined
to play spoiler to more established city
squads.
The girls fared well at the Classic
finishing fourth overall in the prestigious
meet.
Freshman Abby Deel threw a coming
out party, finishing third in the 1,600
meters and second in the 3,200 meters.
The team boasted other notable individual
finishes: Quanisha Bridges finished fifth in
the 800 meters and Ebony Arnett finished
eighth in the 400-meter race en route to a
fourth-place team finish.
The following weekend the girls rode
into the Pepperell High track meet with
experience in hand from the previous
week’s success at the Atlanta meet.
The meet, held in Lindale, was a great
success for the girls team. The performance
yielding five first-place finishes. Jamera
Henderson finished first in both the 100meter hurdles and the high jump.
Tennah Holland also grabbed two top
finishes with wins in the shot put and the
discus with distances of 37-12 and 115-3
respectively.
The 4 x 400 meter relay team continued
to shine, winning the event and leading
the team to a first-place finish, the team’s
first win of the season. The team’s success
has pleased their veteran coach.
“We finished first overall; you have to be
happy about that.” ❐
For the past two- failing health. But a funny thing happened:
and-a-half years, Phil for the first time in a major, Mickelson
Mickelson has won didn’t back down. In fact he didn’t just hold
more majors than any on—he extended his lead. On Sunday, a
other player, including day lengthened by rain that delayed play on
Tiger Woods, Vijay Saturday, Mickelson played flawlessly, and
Singh and Ernie Els. Woods never managed to make the clutch putt
Yet his recent record that has typified his play in almost every major
ERIK BELGUM
of three for nine in the tournament.
majors has gone unnoticed
Mickleson not only beat Woods on the
thanks to the re-arrival of Woods.
course, but he beat him with his approach to
Mickelson started off last season hot and the tournament. He ditched his 3 wood in
was one of the favorites going into the 2005 favor of an extra driver. Mickelson decided
Masters, but was overshadowed by the Tiger to carry a draw driver and a fade driver to cut
Woods-Chris DiMarco duel. Last season, the corners on Augusta’s multiple doglegs. He
Mickleson won both the AT&T Pro Am and first experimented with dual drivers at the Bell
the Phoenix Open by blowing out the field.
South with great results. Mickelson maintains
Late March and early April have been good it’s one of the factors that contributed to his
to Mickleson for the past two years. This year, great play.
for the second time in two years, he won
Lefty never backed down to Woods’ charge;
back-to-back tournaments. This year it was instead, it was Woods who faltered, missing
the Bell South Classic in Duluth and the putts for eagle on 13 and 15, bogeying 14 and
Tournament
Players
three-putting from 15
Club at Sugarloaf. An
feet on 17. Phil played
opening-round 63 left
Before 2004 2004-present bogey-free golf on
the field wondering if Masters
Sunday until coming
3
he was playing the same appearances 11
up the 18th where a safe
course as everybody best finish 3rd (96,01,02,03) 1st (04,06)
chip left him a lengthy
else. A second-round 65 PGA
par putt.
appearances 11
2
had people wondering best finish
He didn’t need last1st (2005)
2nd (2001)
whether he could break British
hole birdies like his
the scoring record of appearances 11
previous two major
2
11th (2000)
28 under par. At the best finish
victories. He beat the
3rd (2004)
end of the week he U.S. Open
field handily much like
2
tied the mark, won the appearances 13
Woods has done in
2nd (99,03)
2nd (2004)
tournament and carried best finish
recent years. This may
that momentum into Total Majors 0-46
pose a problem for other
3-9
The Masters.
golfers. They used to
record
The 2006 Masters
just worry about Woods
was supposed to be unfair. The recent course having an “on” week; now Mickelson seems to
changes were supposed to help long hitters, have elevated himself from beyond level of the
not ball strikers like it has in the past. This was “Big Five” to become an intimidator not just a
supposed to be Woods’ Masters, the one that daring player bound to screw up late.
would enable him to match Arnold Palmer’s
Now, having proven himself in the recent
mark of five Masters wins. This was supposed majors, all he has to do is continue his flawless
to be the victory for Woods’ father, who is in play that he’s shown the world for the past two
Majors Results
THE SOUTHERNER
s p o r t s
April 21, 2006
15
Knights try to stay afloat in troubled playoff waters
BY KENNY JONES
Grady started out the baseball season with
an astonishing six wins and only one loss. But
since suffering a defeat to North Atlanta late
in the Atlanta Public Schools Tournament,
the Knights record stands at 8-7, following a
four-game losing streak.
Adding insult to injury, each of those
games were region games, which puts Grady
near the bottom of the region standings, even
though the team boasts a winning record.
Although team members are frustrated,
they take solace in the fact that they lost to
four strong competitors. On March 27, the
team’s 15-0 loss came to Holy Innocents’,
one of the strongest teams in the region with
a region record of 8-2 and an overall record
of 15-3.
They also lost to Decatur 14-4 on March
20. The Bulldogs’ 6-11 record is more a
reflection of their strenuous non-region
schedule, playing mainly higher division
schools, than an indicator of the team’s talent
level.
On March 24, Grady lost to The Paideia
School 7-4. Paideia is also off to a solid
start with an overall record of 6-6. Despite
Paideia’s record, Grady still felt that they let
that game slip away from them.
“That was a very winnable game,” infielder
Travis Jones said. “We just didn’t capitalize.”
The Knights will have another chance to
even the score with Paideia as they travel to
Python Park on April 21. Even though the
boys are 3-6 in their division, the season is
far from over. The rest of the season includes
only region games.
Since their disappointing loss to Paideia,
the Knights have gone 2-4. Grady suffered
a 13-0 loss to the Lovett Lions on March
29. They also lost to Walker 10-8 on April
12, to Pace Academy 19-4 on April 13 and
to Decatur 8-0 on April 19. They snuck past
Carver on March 31 and Cross Keys on April
17, beating both teams by one run.
On April 19, the Knights had a rematch
with Decatur. The game summed up how
the team has been playing in recent weeks.
Grady’s offensive woes were apparent in the
8-0 shutout loss. The team also made critical
mistakes as they commited five errors in the
game, which led to most of the runs allowed
by senior pitcher Ben Brandon.
Although Grady struggled with its region
games this year, the seniors have stepped up in
those games to keep the games competitive.
Senior Nick Lemmond is 1-1 as a pitcher
and hit a long home run against North
Atlanta.
Brandon has gone 2-2 as a pitcher, starting
against some of the most competitive teams
in the league. He also has a phenomenal
batting average of .468 on the season.
Senior Darryl “Boo” Farley has also played
outstanding both as a pitcher and a hitter. He
has won all three of his pitching starts and has
hit three home runs this season.
The team has its work cut out for it to
turn its region record around. To do so,
they must improve their defense. The
team’s efforts to defeat Holy Innocents’ were
sabotaged by fielding errors, which have been
an unfortunate motif the second half of the
season.
“Most of it is due to our lack of an adequate
practicing facility,” senior captain Brandon
said. “There’s no way to time the balls played
at practice because the field is uneven.” ❐
Region 5-AA Standings
Region
Overall
Pace
Holy Innocents’
Walker
Lovett
Paideia
Decatur
Grady
Carver
Cross Keys
W
9
8
8
6
3
3
3
1
0
L
0
2
2
3
5
5
6
7
10
W
12
15
14
12
6
7
8
1
0
L
5
4
4
5
6
11
7
10
18
Future games
April 28: GRADY vs. Carver, 5 p.m.
May 1: Grady at CHAMBLEE, 5 p.m.
May 5: Grady at SOUTHSIDE, 5 p.m.
Notable Performers: (Pitching record)
Darryl Farley: (3-0) 3 HR
Penn Collins: (1-4) 3 saves
Ben Brandon: (2-2) .468 BA
Nick Lemmond: (1-1) 1 HR
Player Profile:
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 185 pounds
Number: 22
Position: outfield, starting pitcher
*All caps denotes HOME TEAM
Golfers exhibit strokes of brilliance
MAX BEECHING
LET IT FLY:Senior Sarah Marriner, girls team captain, finishes her last regular-season match
as a Grady Knight, soundly beating her North Atlanta opponent 8-3 at Piedmont Park.
Boys, girls tennis season ends
with 5-0 region losses to Pace
the tougher teams Grady will face
in match play this year. When
postseason play starts, however,
the road will become much
tougher for the Knights.
The team is looking ahead to
regionals and then to state, where
the squad has realistic goals.
“I expect us to finish in the
bottom half of the region in the
tournament, especially if we will
not have a No. 4 golfer,” Belgum
said. “I think we can have two
solid rounds posted, and I have a
feeling that Dean will step up and
shoot his best round so far. I will
just try and shoot about even par.
That’s usually a strong score for
that course.”
Walker High School has the
advantage of hosting the regional
tournament on its home course.
In many sports, home field is
an advantage, but knowing the
lay of the land in golf is an even
more integral advantage. Though
regionals showcases powerhouse
schools like Lovett, Pace and
Holy Innocents’. Coach Brown
is optimistic about the team’s
chances.
“[Going into regionals] I like
the way Erik is playing, and
David is hitting the ball better,”
Coach Brown said. “He’s my
steady guy, [because he] always
drives pretty well. We just need
to work on his short game.”
The team will prepare for the
competition at Bobby Jones Golf
Club in Buckhead, where they
meet most days after school.
“It’s a great course to practice
at,” Belgum said. “It’s helped
our overall improvement this
season.” ❐
JONES
believe we can beat the private
schools.”
During the regular season, the
Knights were able to rebound from
a losing stretch and finish strong,
winning their three final matches
against Banneker, Mays and North
Atlanta for the Atlanta Public
Schools championship.
In the North Atlanta match April
13, the girls won 5-0 and the boys,
4-1. The only loss was to North
Atlanta’s first singles player, who is
ranked seventh statewide.
“He sure fooled me,” sophomore
Jeremy Goodwin said after the
match. “He is a great player, and he
dominated the game.”
Also against North Atlanta, senior
captain Sarah Marriner played her
last regular-season match as a Knight
and was victorious winning 8-3.
“Sarah is such a strong tennis
player, and we’ve become really close
over the years,” McKay said. “Sarah
is definitely going to be impossible to
replace, and I don’t know of anyone
on the team who would really want
to.” Marriner has played first singles
since her junior year. The boys team
will lose two seniors: Chris Modica
and Jeffrey Thomas.
“It was a pretty emotional win,”
Marriner said of her last match.
“I have been playing with most of
these girls for three years now, and
I’m going to miss playing with them
a lot.” ❐
traveled more than 300 yards
down the middle of the fairway.
The later holes proved tough,
starting with a shot that hooked
right on No. 6. Belgum bogeyed
three of the last four holes,
including a heartbreaking putt
that rimmed out on No. 9,
leaving him 3 over par for the
day, good enough for a secondplace individual finalist.
“My play has gotten better
throughout the season,” said
Belgum, the team’s captain. “And
we played on the same course last
year for regionals, so that helps
our confidence.”
Team veteran David Edgar
also struggled late in his round,
shooting double bogey on each
of the final three holes, resulting
in an overall score of 10 over
through nine. The team finished
ahead of Southside but behind
Mays, leaving them winless thus
far against Mays, but otherwise in
good shape in the region.
Upcoming tournaments will
give Grady more chances to
beat the tough Mays squad that
has thwarted Grady thus far in
competitive play.
Last year’s city champion,
Mays returns two strong players
and looks to be one of
TRAVIS
BY MAX BEECHING
The Knights’ tennis season came
up short this year as both the boys
and girls lost to highly seeded Pace
Academy 5-0 in the first round of
the region tournament on April 18.
The boys, who finished the
season 4-10, showed considerable
improvement from last year’s 1-11
season. The girls ended an even 7-7,
coming up short compared to last
year’s 11-3 season, taking them to
the first round of the state playoffs.
“Even though we lost, we still had
a really good season,” junior Britian
Baker said. “We didn’t go as far as we
would have liked, but we gave it all
we had, and that is all you can ask
for.”
Junior Sarah Beth McKay wasn’t
too disappointed with this year’s
regional tournament results.
“Everything is back to normal,”
she said. “The private schools
dominated the region, and all four
teams going to state are private.
Order has been restored to the
universe.”
In their 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
matches, the Knights won a total
of 12 games against Pace, despite
coming up short on the final
scoreboard.
“The heat was a big factor—tennis
courts are 10 degrees hotter than the
actual temperature outside,” McKay
said. “But I think that our biggest
challenge is mental. We have to
BY TRAVIS JONES
If the Grady golf team is to
realize the promise they’ve shown
recently, it will have to solve
a glaring problem: finding a
reliable fourth.
Regional play requires a
four-man squad in order to be
competitive. Though Grady’s
current golfing trio of juniors
David Edgar and Erik Belgum
and freshman Dean Jackson have
considerable talent, finding a
fourth person has proven to be
tough. The scarcity of players
is a far cry from the surplus of
players the team enjoyed to start
the season.
“A lot of people just didn’t
show up,” Edgar said. “It’s
disappointing.”
It’s a little unusual for Coach
Creed Brown to focus on
recruiting on the eve of the
playoffs.
“I’ll see if I can get my fourth
guy,” Brown said. “But if not
then we’ll just try and do well
individually.”
Belgum hopes to do quite well
in the near future. In a March
22 matchup against Mays and
Douglass at Brown’s Mill Golf
Course, he shot par for the
first five holes, including
a drive on the fourth
hole that
junior David Edgar
s p o r t s
16
April 21, 2006
BY A SA BEAL
Confidence and optimism never
won anyone a state championship.
Wins and losses determine who
goes to and moves through the
state playoffs, not any amount of
spirit, grit or desire. The Knights
are learning this the hard way as
they struggle through a 6-9-1 overall record and only three region
wins on the season.
The boys played W.D. Mohammed on March 21 and came away
with a convincing 8-1 victory.
Seven different players scored, and
junior Tai Cohen had four assists
in the game.
“The guys really got it together,”
Coach Nikolai Curtis said. “A lot
of bench players played well and
scored.”
Grady dominated play from
start to finish, as Mohammed’s
only goal came off a penalty kick.
The Knights came together and
played as a team both on offense
and defense. Senior Woody
Morgan attributes the compelling
win to success on the offensive side
of the ball.
“It was the first game where all of
our goals were on target,“ Morgan
said. “We scored because we
capitalized on our opportunities.”
Defeating the Caliphs was
important because it was one of
Grady’s six region games. Grady
must finish in the top four in
the region to advance to the state
playoffs.
The
Knights
knew
the
importance of region games as
they prepared for another big game
against the Decatur Bulldogs.
“We knew we had to win,”
Morgan said before the game.
The
Knights’
confidence
was high after the win against
Mohammed, and they were geared
up for the important game.
Grady’s good feelings, however,
didn’t last long once they
entered Decatur Stadium. The
Bulldogs won 6-0 in a game that
embarrassed the Knights. Cohen
expressed his frustration with the
team’s effort against Decatur.
“We didn’t play aggressively
enough,” Cohen said. “We got
outhustled to every ball.”
The Knights started strong but
soon lost control of the game.
“For the first 15 minutes we had
them on their heels,” Coach Curtis
said. “Then we broke down.”
This breakdown was triggered by
severe problems. Instead of playing
like a team, each player tried to
take over the game individually.
Coach Curtis saw this as a major
fault of the team throughout the
game.
“The No. 1 thing on offense is to
pass the ball and not try to dribble
through three or four people,”
Coach Curtis said.
Another problem for the team
was a lack of communication.
“The guys stop communicating,
and they get into that tunnel vision
of theirs,” Coach Curtis said.
After losing to Decatur, the team
faced a challenging opponent in
Providence Christian High School.
Providence came into the game
ranked No. 7 in the state. Coach
Curtis thought that he could help
the team remedy the problems they
ASA BEAL
Slumping Knights lack offense, still gain playoff spot
DIGGIN’ DEEP: Sophomore defender Michael Harper chases down Paideia forward Andrew Diggs as he makes a move near the goal.
The Pythons pressured the Grady defense relentlessly throughout Grady’s 2-0 loss. “We lost because of a lack of heart,”Coach Curtis said.
faced when they played Decatur.
Coach
Curtis
commented
on a certain stagnancy and
unwillingness to create a strong
offensive attack against Decatur.
He addressed this problem in
the team’s practices leading up to
the Providence game with short
passing drills that emphasized
ball movement as well as player
movement.
Despite
the
extensive
preparation, the Knights fell short
once again, this time by a score
of 3-1. Like so many games this
season, they came in with high
hopes that they were unable to
realize on the field.
The final score was different, 10, but the result was the same when
Grady fell to Providence in 2005.
Last year, however, Grady was able
to rebound from that loss with five
straight wins. This year’s squad did
not end their season with a similar
performance.
The April 18 match at Paideia
ended in another disappointing
defeat. Coach Curtis’ halftime
speech was not a happy one.
“Remember the fire we
had yesterday?” Coach Curtis
demanded of his team. “None of it
is there: it’s gone.”
Paideia controlled the action for
most of the game and when 80
minutes were up, they had soundly
beaten the Knights 2-0.
After the game, Cohen tried to
explain the unsatisfactory result.
“They’re a defensive team really,”
Cohen said. “We never built up
our attack.”
The Knights must bring a higher
level of play into the state playoffs.
Excluding the W.D. Mohammad
game, Grady has scored only four
goals in its last seven games.
Four teams from the Area 5
region advance to the state playoffs
where teams are seeded according
to the region finish. The Knights
finished the season with a 3-3
record in the region, just enough
to get them a spot against Calhoun
High School on April 28 at 7 p.m.
“We’ve got the talent,” Coach
Curtis said right after the Paideia
game. “We just need to work together
and believe in each other.” ❐
Girls play through injuries in region loss to Decatur
BY WOODY MORGAN
The Grady girls soccer team
was 2-0 in the region going into
the game against region rival
Decatur.
Playoff seeding and bragging
rights were at stake. Decatur
was trying to defend its title in
the grudge match after defeating
Grady 2-1 in 2005. The Grady
girls were not only trying to
avenge their loss last season but
also to topple the No. 3 team in
the state.
“Everyone was intimidated by
them because they have had a
really good season so far,” junior
captain and midfielder Leah
Bishop said. Decatur’s only loss
to date was to the No. 2 team,
Providence Christian.
Decatur came out strong and box and shot from 16 yards out.
pressed the Grady defense for the Lawrence was shielded from the
entire first half. The first goal of ball and could not make a play as
the game came only 10 minutes the shot settled in the back of the
into the half, when Decatur net, giving Decatur a 2-0 lead at
midfielder Jenna Gorbatkin halftime.
chipped the
“I feel like
ball
over
I think we’re going to make we came out
freshman
tentative
some noise in the playoffs. in the first
goalie Sarah
Lawrence,
half,” Coach
Coach Rodney Thomas
who
had
R o d n e y
come out to defend a previous Thomas said. “But we pretty
shot.
much dominated the second half.
Decatur’s offense continued It’s what I’ve been looking for out
to press, anchored by junior of the girls.”
forward Karman Duchon. The
They tightened up their game
Bulldogs put in another goal and never let Decatur regain
with two minutes left when the momentum, but the Lady
Duchon received the ball off a Knights did not truly believe
deflected shot, dribbled into the the game had turned in their
“
favor until Bishop scored with
28 minutes left to make it a 2-1
game. Grady had a chance to tie
the game with 16 minutes left
when freshman midfielder Kala
Marks banged the ball off the
post with a shot off a corner kick,
but the Decatur defense cleared
it quickly.
“After the goal, I think we had
our adrenaline up,” Bishop said.
“If we had five more minutes we
could have probably tied it up.”
Unfortunately, the girls ran out of
time, and the 2-1 loss gave them
their first loss in the region.
Although
Bishop
scored
Grady’s only goal of the game,
she played with an injured ankle.
“I couldn’t really run as fast;
it felt like I was running in slow
motion,” she said.
Injuries have plagued the team
from the start of the season, not
allowing Coach Thomas to play
the team that he wants on the
field.
“At 100 percent I think we
can handle our own,” Thomas
said. “I think we could beat every
team, and play with No. 1 Lovett
at full strength.”
Although the Grady girls will
be entering the playoffs as a
No. 3 seed after their 2-1 loss to
Paideia, they still hope to get past
the Model High School in the
first round on April 29.
“I think we’re going to make
some noise in the playoffs,”
Thomas said. “We’re going to
sneak up on some people.” ❐
Knight Watch
BOYS SOCCER
GRADY 8, W.D. Mohammed 1
DECATUR 6, Grady 0
PROVIDENCE 3, Grady 1
GRADY 3, Hebron Christian 0
Grady 0, HOLY INNOCENTS’ 0
PAIDEIA 2, Grady 0
GRADY 1, Meadowcreek 0
# called due to lightning
Region 5-AA Standings
Region
W
5
X Decatur
5
X Paideia
4
X AIS
3
X Grady
1
Cross Keys
Hebron Christian 0
W.D. Mohammed 0
L
0
0
2
3
4
4
5
Next games
April 28: First round of state playoffs at CALHOUN, 7 p.m.
X denotes teams qualified for state playoffs
*All caps denotes HOME TEAM
Kayla Marks
freshman midfielder
Overall
W
8
8
9
6
9
2
0
L
7
7
2
9
7
7
5
T
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
Player Profile:
Height: 5-foot-1
Weight: 115 pounds
Number: 17
Favorite Pasta:
Fettucini
GIRLS SOCCER
DECATUR 2, Grady 1
GRADY 4, St. Francis 0
PROVIDENCE 6, Grady 2
GRADY 4, North Atlanta 0
GRADY 6, Hebron Christian 0
HOLY INNOCENTS’ 2, Grady 0
PAIDEIA 2, Grady 1
Region 5-AA Standings
Region
L
W
1
X Decatur 3
5
X Paideia 3
5
X Grady 4
4
X St. Francis1
2
AIS
1
7
Hebron Christian
1
7
Cross Keys
1
4
W.D. Mohammed 0
Next games
April 28: First round of state playoffs at MODEL, 7 p.m.
L
0
0
2
3
3
3
5
4
Overall
W
11
8
9
6
2
2
6
0
L
2
5
7
8
6
11
11
5
T
3
2
1
0
0
0
0
0