Oct. 2011 Globe

83.2

GLOBE

NEWSMAGAZINE OCTOBER 2011

THE DIGITAL MIND

RESURGENCE OF HEROIN | 19

RAIME COHEN & THE MAKING OF A SOFTBALL STAR | 32

THE SEVEN FOOT SCIENCE TEACHER | 46

GLOBE Volume 83 . Issue 2

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LOOKING BACK: 9/11 TEN YEARS ON

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KEEPING IT PEPPY

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MEETING THE NEW STAFF

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THE DIGITAL MIND

Technology isn’t necessarily making us dumber, but it is making us different.

BY NOAH EBY

HIT THE BEACH: HOMECOMING 2011

42

UNDER ARMOUR UNDER FIRE

46

THE BIG MAN ON CAMPUS

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2011-2012 STAFF Editor in Chief Noah Eby Senior Managing Editors Laura Bleeke Jackie Leong Zach Praiss Section Editors Jake Bernstein Caitlin Kropp Jocelyn Lee Meredith McMahon Sarah Tait Editors David Androphy

Lauren Friedman Caroline Greenberg Jack Holds Jake Lee Shuyang Li Eudora Olsen Katherine Ren Parker Schultz Shiori Tomatsu Anna Williams Web Editors Appi Sharma Dan Zheng Sri Panth Distribution Editor Jonathan Shumway

Advertising Editor Dylan Schultz Copy Editor Maria Massad Graphics Editor Dee Luo Photo Editor Paul Lisker Reporters Peter Baugh Abraham Bluestone Rachel Bluestone Chris Cho

Neil Docherty Emma Ehll-Welply Isaac Fish Jeffrey Friedman Aidan Hayward Jessica Jancose Jon Knohl Nina Murov Steven Paster Charlotte Reed Adam Schultz Peter Shumway Richard Simon Christopher Sleckman Steven Zou

The Globe Newsmagazine exists to inform, entertain, persuade, and represent the student voice at CHS. All content decisions are made by the student editorial staff, and the Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. Not every story that our reporters write is published in the print newsmagazine. Visit www.chsglobe.com for additional stories and photos, and for more information about the Globe itself. For more information about advertising and subscriptions, please contact our office.

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MASTHEAD

Photographers Claire Bliss Madeleine Fleming Lewis Grant Kate Harrison Lauren Indivino Noah Jacus Meredith Joseph Christa Kopp Laura Kratcha Allison Peipert Regine Rosas Thalia Sass Dana Schwartz Andrea Stiffelman Rebecca Stiffelman Emma Veirod

Artists Taylor Gold Nicole Indivino Jasmine Raskas Business Manager David Behrend Adviser Erin Castellano

Clayton High School Globe 1 Mark Twain Circle Clayton, MO 63105 (314) 854-6668 Fax: 854-6734 globe@clayton.k12.mo.us

EDITOR’S LETTER

INCOMING: AUTUMN [GET EXCITED]

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nsert something clichéd and sentimental about autumn here. And scratch it out.

There are hundreds of ways for us to demonstrate our love for the current season. We could describe the crisp air, the cool mornings, the shifting colors of the leaves and sky. Without a doubt, autumn is setting in, and fast. But rather than wax poetic about it all, we at the Globe would prefer to give you our own take on a dynamic start to the season.

And what with this October release being our first full issue of the Globe Newsmagazine ever, isn’t that reason enough to be excited right now?

But enough with that. In all seriousness, we’ve been feeling the onset of autumn this year coming at a wilder pace than ever before.

Perhaps it’s the earlier date of Homecoming, or the rapid-fire pulse of the political arena. Maybe it’s simply the Indian summer and the erratic

cool snaps. Whatever the reason, we’re surely feeling a shift in the atmosphere. And the Globe is here to tell you all about it.

For those of you who do fancy the usual fall fare, we’re not one to leave you empty-handed.

Flip to our feature breakdown of Homecoming and relive the festivities that happen just once a year. There’s a bit of the upcoming fall play, “The Taming of the Shrew,” in here, too, and, as always, the scoop on the fall sports season.

But, just as autumn signals the shift to winter, so other changes are making their way to the surface as well. The iPhone 5 is on the horizon, so we’ve gotten a few words in on how exactly those wonderful multitasking devices are shaping our generation, as well as a peek into the political world as it stands now, from an update on the much-hyped “Facebook law” that made its appearance back in August, to the progress as the 2012 presidential candidacy

race revs up.

So grab a copy of this month’s issue. As wonderful as our August release was (we hope, of course), we’re stepping up our game for the real deal. We’ve got 48 pages, a full spectrum of opinions and news, from local to national, and as many colors as we can manage.

Read. Marvel. Enjoy the autumn weather while it lasts. We can’t tell you exactly how, but hopefully you’ll find a reason to do so somewhere between these two covers.

Savor the ride.

JACKIE LEONG SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR EDITOR’S LETTER

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PANORAMA

LOOKING BACK Nearly 3,000 flags adorned Art Hill in Forest Park as America marked the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The nation remembered the innocent people who lost their lives that day and paid tribute to the men and women who fought – and continue to fight – in Iraq and Afghanistan. Weeks later, most Americans have gone back to their normal lives.

Photograph by Paul Lisker

GEORGIA

The Supreme Court’s ruling to allow the execution of Troy Davis has sparked protests worldwide and raised many questions about the death penalty system.

CUBA

A new oil rig off the northwest coast of Cuba is expected to begin drilling exploratory wells.

There is concern that an oil spill could be carried into Florida waters.

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UPFRONT

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ZAMBIA Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata was sworn-in as the country’s new president.

GERMANY

Approximately 9,000 protesters gathered near Germany’s parliament to protest Pope Benedict XVI’s official visit to the country.

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MCT Campus

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, top left, and other delegates request statehood at the United Nations General Assembly.

UPFRONT

President Mahmoud Abbas pushed for the U.N. to recognize the country as a sovereign state and as a full member of the U.N.

AFGHANISTAN

Burhanuddin Rabbani, leader of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council and a key player in peace discussions with the Taliban, was assassinated.

“My main viewpoint on the viability of the solution to pursue U.N. action to create a state for Palestine is that ultimately it will not resolve many of the long-standing problems between the two parties.”

Paul Lisker, senior

SPOTLIGHT ON: PALESTINE

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PALESTINE

“I think that the proposal by the Palestinians is a valuable step forward in the peace process. However, I would be wary of consequences or opinions in the Arab world that would result from a U.S. veto, and also of the negative feelings that it would probably engender from the Israeli government. But overall I think that it has the potential to be a positive thing.”

Noam Kantor, junior

TAKEN TOO FAR

Missouri’s infamous Facebook law is being revised.

JESSICA JANCOSE

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or the means that they choose to communicate with,” AP environmental science teacher Chuck Collis said. Collis has also been interviewed by CBS on the topic.

He also aided in the passing of a preliminary injunction against the original law by Cole County judge Jon E. Beetem. The injunction, which went into effect on Aug. 28, will prevent the bill from passing for another 180 days.

In the injunction, Beetem wrote that the bill was an imposition on the teacher’s First Amendment rights to free speech and that, “social networking is extensively used by educators. It is often the primary, if not sole manner, of communications between [teachers] and their students.”

The Facebook law says that school districts must create their own policy regarding student and that teacher communication that is no less strict than the rules that have been outlined in the bill.

JANUARY 5:

The Amy Hestir Student Protection Act gets its first reading in the Missouri Senate.

senate.mo.gov

APRIL 7:

SB 54 passes the Senate by a unanimous vote.

MAY 12:

SB 54 passes the House .

David Eulitt/Kansas City Star/MCT

ew rules regarding communication between students and faculty are eliciting mixed reactions from students and educators alike. The subsection outlining these rules, commonly referred to as the Facebook law, is part of a much larger bill titled Senate Bill 54 which is focused on making school safer for students.

The Facebook law states that school employees are not allowed to have any sort of exclusive communication with students through social networking sites and that there should be, “appropriate use of electronic media such as text messaging and Internet sites.”

“The writing of the bill was prompted by a study released by the Associated Press,” writer of the bill Senator Jane Cunningham said. The study she referred to revealed that from 20012005, 2,570 educators had their teaching creThey’re squashing 99.9 percent of what’s being dentials revoked, denied, used as productive and appropriate to stop the susurrendered, or sancper, super small number of people who are making tioned following accusations of sexual misconreally poor choices. duct. In at least 1,801 of the cases, young people Robert Laux were the victims.

Physics Teacher However, following an onslaught of public scrutiny, both statewide and nationally, the “[The] Clayton School District does not yet Facebook law was repealed and rewritten. know what they are going to make their policy,” The revised version gives exceptions for in- Chief Communications Officer Chris Tennill stances in which teachers may email or message said. “They are waiting to see if they get a final students. Additionally, communication is al- message from the legislature.” lowed, provided the teacher has received prior But this was before the revised version of consent from parents or guardians of the stu- the bill was created. If this revised version passdents. es in both the Senate and the House, the school This is vastly different from the original bill, district will begin crafting the policy. which forbade any sort of private communicaSo far, the main problem with the revised tion between students and educators – even if version is a section which states that there the teacher was the student’s parent. must be, “proper communication, including apMany have made the argument that the propriate use of electronic media such as text vast majority of teachers use social networking messaging, emailing, social networking, and Insites, such as Facebook, for purely educational ternet use for both instructional and personal reasons. purposes.”

“They’re squashing 99.9 percent of what’s “[I am] not sure how districts are supposed being used as productive and appropriate to to police and enforce employees’ personal use of stop the super, super small number of people electronic media,” Tennill said. who are making really poor choices,” physics Clearly, this subsection of Senate Bill 54 has teacher Robert Laux said. a long way to go before it gains public approval.

It has also been pointed out that the law is a “The overall intent of the bill and what it violation of educators’ First Amendment rights does for students and teachers and school disto free speech. tricts are all very good things,” said Tennill.

“The government has no business telling any “This is just kind of a misguided piece in there; citizen with whom they can communicate with they tried a little bit too hard.” 

DOOMED FROM THE START

AUGUST 14:

MO Governor Jay Nixon signs SB 54 into law.

AUGUST 28:

Cole County judge Jon Beetmem issues a 180-day injunction on the law.

UPFRONT

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LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION GNN receives a much needed facelift and completely transforms the school’s network.

LAURA BLEEKE

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UPFRONT

ing the studio so they can get to feel that real, live pressure and know how to use all the equipment.”

The hope is that the school will be able to reach out to community through the new studio and past just the high school.

“We’re also partnering with the city and encouraging the city to come and use the studio whenever they like,” Stricker said. “And they’ve actually said that if we ever want to do interviews with the mayor, we should just encourage the mayor to come here, and set-up a sit down interview here in the studio.”

The new equipment allows for a lot of improvement for the class and a lot of room to grow and expand.

“There is so much new equipment that it is hard to explain it all,” Grayson said. “In addition to the ridiculously expensive cameras we now have, we have an actual anchor desk, overhead lighting, microphones, teleprompters, and a whole lot of computers. We are very gracious that the school has put all of this together. It’s just awesome.”

The hope is that the changes to the class will bring more opportunities to the students and will allow them to create more in-depth stories.

“There are a lot of things we want to add,” Stricker said. “But, at the same time, our goal is that we want to increase the quality of the story-telling of our feature pieces, as well as making news accessible to the high school students. We want to bring in more community aspects and not just cover what’s going on in our high school.”

There are a lot of changes being made to the class and to how GNN will run, but the overall objective—to create something that students will enjoy—stays the same.

“We hope to make the news program more enjoyable for everyone to watch,” Grayson said.

“It must be enjoyable because the students are putting in a lot of effort to make the best show possible.”  Staff Photo

he massive face-lift for the school came with a lot of new gadgets. Along with the modern science wing and a stateof-the-art culinary arts room, the video studio production class has received much more than just a few video cameras.

The class has been given a new studio and a lot of new technology, and it hopes to improve their productions as much as the school has improved their workspace.

However, the weekly Greyhound News Network (GNN) show has been absent since the start of the school year.

“There are three factors for the delays,” Principal Louise Losos said. “One, we still have to get the studio completely ready to go. Number two, we still have to get the rest of the building ready to receive [the broadcasts]. And number three, the students still have to be trained to be able to use the equipment.”

Once the technology for the broadcasting out to the school is fixed, though, there still won’t be the weekly GNN show that students and faculty are used to from previous years.

For at least this year, the class will now have a 20-minute show every month. Video studio production teacher Christine Stricker believes that this will increase the quality of the stories.

“We felt like we were struggling to improve our weekly show,” Stricker said. “We were trying to figure out a way to improve our show, and we just didn’t think a week turnaround gave our students enough time to create really great projects.”

Senior Peter Grayson, a student in the video production class, agrees that the decision to make the productions monthly was a good one.

“The decision to do a monthly show was made by the teachers,” Grayson said. “Due to the increase in equipment and technology quality, a weekly show would only be possible for

professionals, and we are not professionals... yet.”

The 20-minute video will not be showed during class time, though. It will, however be put on the Internet and be played on TVs throughout the building.

“We will put [the show] on the TVs that will installed in the common areas of the new wing,

as well as in the commons,” Losos said.

Also, the plan is to eventually have daily video announcements instead of announcements over the PA system.

“Our goal is to keep [the daily announcements] the same length and keep the teachers happy,” Stricker said. “We don’t want to cut into class time, but we want to use the studio and we want to give students real life experience us-

MCTcampus/Susanna Frohman

TAMING OF THE SHREW Sophomore Claire Lisker also believes that the selection of a play has an impact on the cast members, especially for those who do not like very year, Clayton produces a wonderful Shakespearean plays. fall play; it is professionally done and all “Perhaps some are afraid that they will feel around raved about. As was decided at less comfortable in a Shakespeare play,” Lisker the end of last year, this year’s fall play is Wil- said. “However, I think that high school plays liam Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.” are the perfect place for students to try someDirector Kelley Ryan believes her choice for thing new.” the play was a good one.

Additionally, this particular play can attract “I saw an amazing production of this play at a certain audience.

The Royal Shakespeare “With “Taming of Company in England I think that the play can certainly the Shrew,” because it with a group of stube played up as very misogy- is a Shakespeare play, dents a number of students who are innistic...But I also think it can be terested in classic plays years ago,” Ryan said.

“Ever since then I’ve about what it means for two and have read Shakewanted to direct it. It people to love each other so speare may choose to is funny and romantic audition,” Yap said. much that sacrifice and selfless- “Students who absoand asks really great ness are normal states. lutely hated reading questions.”

For those audition“Romeo and Juliet” ing for the play. The Kelley Ryan freshman year may selection of a Shakeopt out of auditioning CHS Fall Play Director because of the literary speare play makes a difference. nature.”

“The play selection definitely affects the This year the fall play has been changed into number of people who audition,” Senior Cor- one for all grades. Last year there was a separate rine Yap said. “Familiar plays draw from larger freshman/sophomore play. Lisker seems to be crowds, and depending on the subject area, peo- in support of this change as well. ple from different interests are drawn as well.”

“Integrating all grades into the fall play this

ARYA YADAMA

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year was a good idea,” Lisker said. “It creates a more varied cast and allows actors of different ages to get to know each other and learn from each other.”

Even though “Taming of the Shrew” is a classic Shakespearean play, there are some complaints against it that it sends a sexist message about how women are inferior to men.

While it can be argued that this play sends a negative message, Yap does not believe that this work should be changed or censored in any way.

“Although it may touch a nerve with some extreme feminists out there, in understanding the true nature of the play, one realizes that it’s not meant to be sexist at all but that, in the end, it’s about love,” Yap said. “I don’t think that’s something that should offend anyone.”

Director Kelley Ryan shares a similar point of view to Yap, “I think that the play can certainly be played up as very misogynistic,” Ryan said.

“But I also think it can be about what it means for two people to love each other so much that sacrifice and selflessness are normal states.”

Despite this possible criticism, Ryan doesn’t believe that it will affect the attendance of the performance.

“Shakespeare plays have historically been very well attended and received here at Clayton,” Ryan said. “It is rare to get an opportunity to see a Shakespeare play done really well and we do them pretty well.”  UPFRONT

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The pep band makes changes to foster school spirit.

SHIORI TOMATSU

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he love-hate relationship between the band students and playing pep band for games has raised the idea of changing pep band traditions to improve the overall game experience.

For the past two years, the band students were given a survey and the one issue that came up was the issue of pep band.

“Some students really loved playing pep band for games; some students absolutely hated playing pep band for games,” band director Charles Blackmore said. “It was kind of both extremes.”

In response to this, the band directors got together and met with the athletic department.

From there, a group of band members known as the Youth Leadership group met during band to brainstorm ideas for making pep band a better experience.

“We try to involve them in decisions,” Blackmore said. “They’re not only helping us make decisions, but also to help convey to the rest of the organization, the rest of the band, why those decisions were made.”

Senior floutist Taylor Kloha was part of this group that worked to change pep band.

“We are working to promote school spirit

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UPFRONT

and cooperation among the groups involved ball games.” in making each football game a success,” Kloha Another change is staying through full said. games.

According to different members of the “Every Friday night game, the band stays the group, there are different reasons to why these whole game to entertain and to provoke school changes were made. spirit,” baritonist Peter Grayson said. “We also “From the survey last year we had mixed want to spice things up for the audience, so responses on pep band,” junior floutist Mag- we’re going to open each game differently.” gie Charity said. “We are trying to improve it to However, the members in the Youth Leadermake it more enjoyable.” ship group do know that this change can be a Trombonist Jason Riss has another reason. disadvantage. “[CHS is] “It takes more time known for our We are changing the way students out of our schedule to academics, but are involved with the sports team. go participate at sportnot our sports, ing events and other especially stuspirit activities,” Riss Jason Riss said. dent attitude Trombonist towards them,” Blackmore also realRiss said. “We izes that it is a commitare changing the way students are involved with ment for the students. the sports team.”

“We recognize that it’s time consuming, and In order to make pep band enjoyable and to we want to be able to help address that as best increase school spirit, the group has had the we can,” Blackmore said. “We want to make sure football team, the cheerleaders, and the pep that the students know that their time is being band work together. spent well.”

“The changes that we plan to install are a Even with this slight problem, the Youth band and cheerleader tunnel for the football Leadership group is hoping for the best. players to run through,” floutist Abbie Kohm“Some band members disapprove of the etscher said. “The football team will now be changes, but the majority is in favor,” Grayson singing the school song at the end of the foot- said. “It’s just fun.” 

Olivia MacDougal

KEEPING IT PEPPY

PREPARE TO BE WOWED New CHS speaker series brings the community together.

JOCELYN LEE

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ords of Wisdom (WOW) is a new speaker series at CHS with the mission to enlighten both the student body and community with lectures from the Clayton School District staff.

“This speaker series will provide students with the unique opportunity to hear faculty members including teachers, who have been mentors and inspirations in their lives, talk about what they are most passionate about,” said the founder of WOW, senior Zach Praiss.

Set to begin in late October and open to the entire Clayton community, the series will host one speaker each month for a total of eight speakers during this school year.

The eight individuals invited to speak will be chosen in three ways: two to three speakers will be selected through a student Facebook poll, Last Lecture” in middle school, watching TED two to three more will be nominated by staff, talks last year in biology, and this year, realizand the final speakers will be staff members ing that I, as a senior, will be leaving CHS and who plan to retire at the end of the school year. this wonderful community of teachers and facThe last speaker of the year will likely be a retir- ulty in less than a year,” Praiss said. “In many respects, WOW serves as a tribute to the increding staff member.

Each speaker will be given a podium, the op- ible faculty of CHS.” Principal Louis Losos and Interim Superintion of a slideshow, and approximately 30 mintendent Sharmon Wilkinson will serve as the utes for his or her presentation.

Lectures will take place in the Black Box sponsors of the WOW series.

“We wanted a sponsor from the administraTheater, but may move to the auditorium once tion who would renovations are be familiar with complete.

Clayton High School is about more than the faculty at the “We believe that it’s essential just the grades and classes you attend. high school and that the speakIt is about building a community that in the School District, and, ers have comrespects each other and cares thus, helpful in plete freedom in about all the individuals within. It is promoting a balchoosing what to talk about in about who we are as a family. anced selection process for the their presentation whether it Louise Losos speakers,” Praiss said. “As a rebe their greatest CHS Principal sult, we reached inspiration, pasout to Dr. Losos sion, or lesson learned in life so long as they share some mean- and Dr. Wilkinson as this would not only be a ingful insight, their words of wisdom, with the unique way for them to interact with the stuaudience,” Praiss said. “Thus, Words of Wisdom dent body and faculty, but it would also foster a is the perfect name for this new speaker series sense of community at the high school.”

In addition, a WOW student committee of at CHS.” Praiss said the idea to create the lecture se- about ten students will be formed to organize, publicize, and guide the direction of the series. ries came from several aspects of his life.

Comprising the committee will be two soph“My inspiration for WOW came from the culmination of reading Randy Pausch’s “The omores, three juniors, and four seniors.

Each spring, two freshmen, one sophomore, and one junior will be added to the group to begin planning for the following school year.

These students will be selected through an application process.

Losos said she is not aware of anything like WOW ever existing at CHS in past years. “I think this is a special idea and could quickly become part of the fabric of CHS,” she said. “I love the concept, to have a teacher, or administrator, or anyone that works for Clayton talk about what is important to them, to impart their wisdom and truth. I can hardly wait to attend.”

Losos also said that WOW is important to her because it expands the idea of what a school is.

“Clayton High School is about more than just the grades and classes you attend,” she said.

“It is about building a community that respects each other and cares about all the individuals within. It is about who we are as a family. To have folks share a piece of themselves only adds depth and layers to the community we have built.”

To students, the speaker series could be valuable simply because it provides them with an opportunity to hear their teachers speak on subjects outside of the class curriculum.

“I hope that students will be excited to go the WOW Speaker Series to see a different, more personal side of the faculty that cannot be fully seen in the classroom setting,” Praiss said.

“It will be a powerful experience to hear their stories and their words of wisdom.”  UPFRONT

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NATIONAL TREASURE Artist Joachim Knill’s unique exhibit at the St. Louis Art Fair.

KATHERINE REN

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UPFRONT

“

People end up with things from these cultures and they don’t even know where they’re from. Cultures become objectified and turned into commodities, divorced from their original context and valued for their parts regardless of origin, history, or cultural value.

Courtesy of Joachim Knill

mong the uniform rows of white tents aligning the streets of downtown Clayton, there lies a shipping crate. At first glance, the crate is simply a confinement offering shelter to a dozen paintings portraying stuffed toy animals. But Joachim Knill has something much more to say.

The name of the exhibit is cleverly titled “National Treasure”. It is a shipping crate containing treasures from Anilife, a place inhabited by stuffed toy animals.

“The room has been forcefully taken in a regional dispute, acquired by a kingdom, seized in a revolution, captured by a military authority, and now dropped onto the streets of cities to be shared, viewed, and consumed by humans unfamiliar with this foreign cultural artifact,” creator Joachim Knill said.

But behind this playful story, there lies a message.

“Cultural artifacts get taken out of countries and sold off in pieces,” Knill said. “People end up with things from these cultures and they don’t even know where they’re from. Cultures become objectified and turned into commodities, divorced from their original context and valued for their parts regardless of origin, history, or cultural value.”

So how does stuff toy animals aid the communication of this message?

“I thought of stuff toy animals because it’s something we all relate to,” Knill said. “We relate to them personally but also objectively, which is how we often relate to other cultures—seeing them as something different from us.”

However, with the subject of the paintings set aside, viewers may find that there is something hauntingly familiar about the paintings.

“The stuff toy animals are all in European settings,” Knill said. “Since stuff toy animals are not real, the paintings enable us to view our own culture, Western culture, as if it were something foreign.”

As the individual paintings get scattered through the process of getting sold, the process becomes actualized. “Individual pieces find homes in new, unrelated settings and, in time, their origins are ultimately forgotten,” Knill said. “Art is removed from one culture and taken into another. This assimilation is the culture that emerges.” 

TAKE A BOW The community gathers for an annual children’s musical at Meramec.

JONATHAN SHUMWAY

Courtesy of Sonia Beard

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s students shelved their school backpacks, and prepared for summer vacation, some community members were pulling out notebooks and keyboards.

They were planning a musical production that CHS Senior and composer Colagiovanni dewould be performed later in the summer in the amphitheater of Meramec Elementary School. scribes the music-writing as exciting, but the Clayton resident, Amy Gage, and CHS student, inspiration coming in spurts.

“I literally was putting music to lyrics. I Ben Colagiovanni, were directing their energies in making an original musical, “Beyond the Riv- broke up the composing into parts, and tried er’s Edge,” with the assistance of other Clayton to finish around two songs a day,” Colagiovanni said. “I sometimes would get around three to community members.

The musicals are done through Meramec four songs done in one day, while on other days Community Cooperative, an organization dedi- I did not finish anything. It depended on my cated to providing theater experience to young creative energy.”

Three weeks later, Colagiovanni completed people in the community. It started 11 years ago through several different community mem- the music-writing, and then met with Gage for bers including Gage and has since raised thou- final decisions. Different youth in the community offered their help in this production, by sands of dollars for charities.

Gage says that she began thinking of a then learning the songs, and in the making of theme for “Beyond the River’s Edge” the night the practice CD. Participants got after last year’s musiPutting on a musical production the practice CDs in cal.

“I just couldn’t get is a wonderful community builder the month of July, so the idea of a cool hippo because it involves so many the future actors could start learning the muout of my head,” Gage people of all different ages, all sic. said. “I kept fighting with unique strengths and talents The “Beyond the it, and tried to write River’s Edge” cast a show about dancing shoes and socks, but Amy Gage only practices for four days before the first somehow, the “hip” Musical Organizer performance at Sunhippo kept returning.

Thus, Zulu, the hippo, on an adolescent journey rise in Clayton, a Clayton nursing home. They performed on Aug. 12 at Sunrise in Clayton along the river’s edge, was born.”

Gage worked long hours to write the script and that evening in the Meramec Elementary and lyrics; she constructs a story every year for School amphitheater.

Gage says that one of the most critical comthe Meramec Community Cooperative.

“I usually work out the plot and storyline ponents of actually putting the musical is the for the show in my head (and with any friend help of volunteers.

“High school and middle school students who will listen) over long walks down Wydown,” Gage said. “In April, I commit to my idea, and sing on our learning CD, assist in directing the we begin producing flyers so kids can sign up. I show, build props, signs, and sets, take photos, write the script and lyrics over about six or sev- choreograph songs, and work with small groups en weeks in May and June, often late at night, of kids each day during practice to help them on napkins, in the car, and over dinner conver- learn lines and dances,” Gage said.

One such youth volunteer was Senior Ansations.”

drea Stiffelman.

“I have been able to learn about connecting with younger people and relating to them,” Stiffelman said. “Now older, I can also learn about the work that is behind the scenes such as the script and the song-writing.”

She feels that these musicals provide a unique opportunity for youngsters.

“It allows 4-year-olds to connect with each other, in something that overcomes age and attention-spans,” Stiffelman said. “Children are always a good way to bring adults together while in an environment that is non-stressful, or competitive, but simply to have fun. It is a good way to end the summer.”

The process of making a musical is an arduous road, but is also very rewarding.

“I am always proud to see the great turn-out we get each year for our final performance,” Colagiovanni said. “The neighborhood really supports the show in every respect, from parents volunteering to help make costumes, to grandparents helping their kids learn their lines, to uncles and aunts volunteering to bring snacks for after rehearsals, to local middle and high school students helping choreograph dances, and of course the kids putting their whole hearts into making the show great. It’s really a wonderful thing to see.”

Gage and Colagiovanni have copyrighted “Beyond the River’s Edge,” and plan to continue to draw upon their skills in the making of musicals that promote theater experience and community unity.

“Putting on a musical production is a wonderful community builder because it involves so many people of all different ages, all with unique strengths and talents,” Gage said. “We come together to create something really special that everyone can be proud of—all born from a simple idea.”  UPFRONT

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HOW THE NEW S

Carroll Lehnhoff-Bell Content Area: Reading Specialist and lab classroom coach.

Years teaching: 14 Interests: I am definitely a sports nut. I have season tickets to the Rams and Mizzou football because football is kind of my bag. I love the outdoors, preferably on a bike, but anything outdoors I would do, even rock climbing.

Random Fact: I was born in Lima, Peru. Even though I don’t look Hispanic, I am. I am 50% Hispanic and 50% Peruvian.

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UPFRONT

Matthew Husky Department: Math Interests: I have done a lot of community theater back when I was in Illinois. I participated in lots of plays at various theater centers.

Random Facts: Well, on Lincoln’s 200th birthday, which was a big deal in my hometown of Springfield, Illinois, I actually got to portray Abraham Lincoln in a play. They even splashed a big picture of me in the Springfield newspaper.

Justin Seiwell Department: English Content Area: I am an English teacher, but I mostly do speech and debate or the forensics class.

Random Fact: A random fact about me that most people don’t know is that I am a motoring enthusiast.

I enjoy working on cars, and I enjoy driving different types of cars. I will work on pretty much everything, but my favorite car company in the world would be Volkswagen.

Previous Jobs: I worked for three years at Ladue Horton Watkins High School.

Darby Hogan Content area: Campus Supervisor, in charge of the freshman class Unique Characteristic: I’m working on my teaching certificate now. The reason why I wanted to go back and get certified in teaching is because I miss the whole atmosphere of schools. I just love the community.

Clubs: I coach field hockey and might be helping out with lacrosse.

Lauren Battram Content Area: Family and Consumer Science Random fact: I got engaged two days before school started so not only this is my first year teaching, but I am also planning my wedding.

Clubs: I sponsor fashion club and cooking club.

Fashion club gives students an outlet since we don’t have a wardrobe class this year. Cooking club meets at 7:30 in the morning on Thursdays.

We talk about food and we get to make some recipes.

STAFF STACKS UP

by STEVEN ZOU

Steve Beauchamp Content Area: Industrial arts (Material Science, Civil Engineering and Architecture, Digital Electronics, Introduction to Engineering Design) and Managing your Financial Future.

Interests: I like to spend time with my family. I like to play sports. I love skeet shooting, and I like being outdoors.

Random Fact: I am an adventurous person. I have climbed four mountains that were 14,000 feet, and I have gone rappelling. The mountains I have climbed were all in the Rocky Mountains.

Katie Cooper Department: Learning Center English Interests: I love to read. I constantly read any books I can. I also like cooking.

My mother and I are taking cooking classes.

Random Facts: I come from a family of teachers; both of my parents are teachers and my sister is a teacher. Everyone is an English teacher.

Gene Gladstone Department: Technology Years Teaching: 30 Interests: I love sports, I love football, and I coached football for 30 years. I like waterskiing and weight training. I like renovating the 100-year-old house I live in.

Random Fact: I once weighed 300 pounds, and I lost those pounds by just not eating.

Previous Jobs: I was at Lindbergh for 15 years and then at Vianney for 15 years.

Erin Castellano Content Area: Globe, Broadcast and Video Studio Productions.

Favorite Courses: Anything with Globe is great, but I enjoy all my classes.

Random Facts: I am training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon, and it’ll be my seventh.

Previous Jobs: I taught at Bayless High School for two years before coming back to CHS. I did my student teaching here.

Clubs: The Globe.

UPFRONT

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BABY BACKSTROKE

JAKE BERNSTEIN

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raditionally, lifeguards are taught to jump into action when an infant is struggling in the pool. This, however, is not the protocol at an infant survival swimming program offered at the Center of Clayton, which teaches infants as young as six-months-old to swim.

The goal of the program, according to Master Instructor Chuck Teasley, “is to prepare children to survive an unseen accident in the water.”

“We want them to have the self-rescue skills necessary to save themselves,” Teasley said.

Not like your conventional swim class, the basis for the Infant Swimming Resource curriculum is a behavioral learning theory known as operant conditioning, a method where tasks are presented in an order from least to most difficult. Teasley called it the “most child-friendly affirmative approach to shaping swimming behavior.”

“A lot of those diaper dip teach those kids that the water is a warm friendly place to play,” Teasley said. “I don’t want my kids thinking that the water is a fun place when they don’t have any skills, because that’s how they’d end up at the bottom of the pool.”

Danielle Stahl, a parent with two kids enrolled in the program, praised the lessons.

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UPFRONT

Photos Courtesy of Chuck Teasley

For more photos visit: CHSGLOBE.COM

“I used to be a nurse in the pediatric ICU, in the water and then watching the kids strugso I’ve seen what can happen to a kid who is in gle to turn themselves over,” Wartman said that the water without these lessons,” Stahl said. the lessons were a “good safety precaution.”

“Especially with two little boys who just run Teasley echoed Wartman’s comments. towards the water the minute they see it, it’s “When the lifeguards first see it, they are comforting to know that if they were to fall in jumping out of the chairs and getting ready to and I wasn’t there, they would be okay.” jump in the water, but, after a couple minutes of According to Teasley, 80 percent of the seeing what the kids are capable of doing, they kids that drown are within a foot from the think the program rocks,” Teasley said. wall. Thus, a central goal of his curriculum is While some lifeguards are apprehensive to teach the infant to be able to swim those about the program, parents are rarely flustered. few extra feet to “When they first safety. At least six of start, I guess there is Some of these kids can’t even some anxiety from the the over 5000 infants Teasley has instructed walk, and yet they are being parents, but I have givhave used their newtaught to float. en them an opportunity ly-learned skills to to understand what I save their own lives. am going to do,” Teasley Haley Wartman said.

CHS students have experienced the proStahl agreed that the Lifeguard gram firsthand while lessons did not bother working as lifeguards. her, because she knew Senior lifeguard Haley Wartman has spent they were in the best interest of her kids. many mornings on duty watching Teasley in The program lasts 10 minutes per day, five the water. days a week for around six weeks, depending “It scares me,” Wartman said. “I constantly on the success of the child in learning survival feel on edge like I might have to jump in at any skills. second. Some of these kids can’t even walk, “I definitely recommend the swim instrucand yet they are being taught to float.” tion to other parents,” Stahl said. “Every kid However, despite the stress of watching should have to go through this - it should be a Teasley “flip the kids over so they are face first requirement.” 

HEROIN RISING

By Caitlin Kropp

Cheaper, purer, and more available than ever before, heroin has moved on from the cities.

Now, with St. Louis County under siege, officials are taking action.

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Statistics don’t lie: Heroin use is on the rise, a fact that is putting the denizens of St. Louis County on edge. Mirroring national trends, heroin usage has soared in the past couple of years, particularly among teen groups. Increasing availability, coupled with less understanding of its effects, has made heroin a strong force on the teen drug circuit.

A Dangerous Obsession For CHS student John Smith*, the goal was once to get some heroin. The first time that he finally snorted some, the results were not encouraging.

“I took much more than I should have,” Smith said. “I was pretty much incapacitated, lying on my bed. I was afraid I was going to die.

I tried not to go to sleep, because I knew that if I did I wouldn’t wake up.”

The next morning, when he woke up, Smith did heroin again.

Smith’s use continued, starting with just a couple times a week. Several months later, he

was snorting heroin several times a day. Reality became a dream.

“It’s not like I’ve forgotten things: I can remember everything, except all my memories are really dreamy,” Smith said. “They’re clear, but very weird.”

This lasted until his arrest for possession, which resulted in his admission into rehab.

Now, looking back, Smith recalls the feelings that pervaded his months-long stint with heroin.

“I felt really dirty the whole time,” Smith said. “I would compare it to pulling an all-nighter: the next day, you just feel really dirty.”

However, Smith does not actually regret his usage. In fact, he views it as a turning point in his life, a tipping towards his road to recovery.

“I don’t regret it,” Smith said. “I feel like it was an important part of my life, and I value it just as much as my other experiences.”

As for others using heroin, or any other drug, recreationally, Smith has no qualms. The only problem, he says, is when a pastime turns into an obsession.

“When it becomes addictive is when it becomes a problem, especially when it becomes a part of you.”

Troubling Reports

COVER PAGE: Among teens, heroin is becoming more prevalent because it is readily available in powder form, which holds less stigma than the injected version available in earlier decades (Andrea Stiffleman). ABOVE: A poppy field is seen in El Durazno, Guerrero state, Mexico, June 16, 2011 (Marcelo A Salinas/MCT).

Similar to morphine, heroin is derived from opiate poppies. Prices for one “button,” or onetwentieth of a gram, of heroin tend to range from $10 to $25, making recreational use all the more appealing for its relative cheapness. The euphoric high typically associated with the drug lasts about three to four hours, and one dose tends to run cheaper than a six-pack of beer.

“For someone who wants to experience a high, and who’s underage, they can’t go out and buy a six-pack,” CHS SRO John Zlatic said. “But maybe they can find someone who can get them a couple of buttons.”

Heroin use is most commonly associated with prescription pain killer abuse. Drugs such as oxycontin, oxycodone, and vicodin are also opiate based, and so often serve as “gateway drugs” to heroin usage. According to Zlatic, users of prescription drugs who no longer want to pay the high costs of maintaining their addiction turn to heroin for a comparable, but cheaper, high.

Recent usage statistics report these rises.

Although still less common than more mainstream substances, such as marijuana or alcohol, heroin use has still increased over the past few years. According to a recent study compiled by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1.6 percent of high school seniors have reported using heroin at least once, a jump from the previous year’s 1.2 percent.

Local statistics, however, are far more sobering. Instead of dealing with usage, however,

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*Name has been changed.

FEATURES

In 2008, Mexican heroin was collected in an Anchorage Police Department investigation in Alaska (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News/MCT).

County statistics tend to deal with death rates.

In 2001, 10 people in the area died from a heroin overdose. That number jumped to 60 in 2010, and estimates for 2011 put the new number still higher.

The tendency, though, is to disbelieve these statistics, as St. Louis County is generally regarded as safer than the city. Director of Community Services for the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NCADA) Dan Duncan attributes this disbelief to one simple concept: separation.

“The enemy is ourselves: our own family, friends, neighbors,” Duncan said. “We like to think that people who use drugs are over tbere, but they’re really right here in our community.”

Captain Chuck Boschert of the West County Precinct went on to confirm this opinion: The drug is no longer just for the city.

“Heroin is moving out into the suburbs,” Boschert said. “And that is a big concern for us.”

And why the sudden jump? It can be boiled down to three main categories: methods of use, purity, and relative cost. Straying from the older, solely injected style of use, heroin can now be ingested orally or through snorting, which adds to the allure.

However, as Executive Director of the St. Louis County Children’s Service Fund Kate Tansey explains, heroin usage rarely stops at just snorting.

“Even if they do start out smoking and snorting it, they will eventually inject it, because of the tolerance problems,” Tansey said.

Additionally, heroin is easier to procure than ever before. What was once accomplished through long, convoluted chains of contact can now be achieved by just a conversation.

“Unless you’re so socially inept to the point where you can’t talk to three different people, then you can get it,” Smith said.

Not Even Once With these statistics and facts in hand, many local law enforcement and medical officials are taking a stand to help reduce the rise in heroin use. The St. Louis County Police Department, the NCADA, and other organizations are partnering to address the problem.

Together, the organizations have come up with a three-pronged plan to deal with heroinrelated crimes, based on the principles of education, treatment, and prevention. As well as presenting vital information online, the site has also organized several town hall meetings to inform the public.

The most recent meeting took place on Sep. 21 at Marquette High School, and it featured a blend of police officers, doctors, treatment specialists and personal stories. Starting out the night, Duncan explained why such meetings are

necessary for proper prevention.

“The truth is, if you look at what Missouri is spending on drug education, it’s about a couple of million dollars,” Duncan said. “It’s one-tenth of what we should be spending.”

Thus, the burden of education has been taken up by the coalition, with the hopes that getting the word out will help decrease the overdose statistics currently seen. Education, for some, can be a defining point in the decision to use.

“I think that the more knowledge you have about anything before getting into it, the better off you are,” Smith said.

Concluding the meeting was Tom Heard, who shared the story of his son, Michael, who died about a year ago from a heroin overdose.

With quiet strength and dignity, he shared how opiates slowly consumed his son’s life.

Drug use reduced the happy, playful son to the depressed individual he was at the time of his death.

These true accounts add a rawer, more emotional aspect to what may have otherwise been simply another drug prevention meeting. And that, for Zlatic, may be just what is needed.

“Maybe that kind of impact is what needs to happen for kids to realize, ‘Wow, this isn’t really about the freedom to do what I want. I really need to look at the bigger picture, with other people and their lives.’”  FEATURES

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7 DAYS OF BLUE AND B

each boardwalk. Ski resort. Camping. Outer space. With the theme of vacation destinations as a jumping-off point for this year’s homecoming, CHS students kicked off the beginning of autumn with vigor. And with class prestige and the Golden Greyhound at stake, it meant war. Or at least stiff, if not good-natured, competition.

They fought with pennies, paint and pride. From the first coin dropped in the class penny jars to the last swipe of paint on the floats, it was a busy time for all.

If you’re a CHS student or teacher, take this time to relive the highlights of the week. If you’re a parent, perhaps you’ll recall your own homecoming days, possibly even at CHS. Regardless of your age, occupation, or interest, take a peek for a glimpse into what what is very probably the most spirited week of the year. 

PROJECT SPIRIT WEEK, INITIATE. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 [7:30 a.m.]

As always, Homecoming week officially began with the Penny War, the proceeds of which went to Pedal the Cause, and which lasted the whole week through. The senior class ultimately came out victorious, although the freshman class had taken an early lead the first day.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 [3:01 p.m.]

Commons decorating kicked off at the end of classes. The freshman and junior classes competed in the first round, the juniors with the theme “camping” and the freshmen with “outer space”--otherwise known as the “vacation destination of the future.”

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 [7:30 a.m.]

Students arrived to find the Commons almost unrecognizeable, transformed into a dual fantasyland consisting of a campsite, impressively enhanced with a semicircle of tents and a kayak, and the inside of a flying saucer. Scores of Martians and happy campers wandered the hallways and classrooms for the duration of the school day.

SEPTEMBER 21 cont.

[3:01 p.m.]

The seniors and sophomores responded to the challenge, working well into the night to produce a miniature beach boardwalk, complete with a Ferris wheel, and a ski resort, featuring a ski lift strung overhead.

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FEATURES

ORANGE rewind homecoming

2011

BY JACKIE LEONG

FROM TOP RIGHT, CLOCKWISE: RIGHT PAGE: In order to make the most of their beach theme, the senior class gathered piles of beach balls, as well as flip flops. Fergus Inder (12) dons lifeguard wear and keeps pesky students off the boardwalk. Sophomores sell hot chocolate, an integral part of the ski resort experience.

The junior class adorned their half of the Commons with a multitude of tents and a mock campfire at the center. Much of the decorations were homemade, including the seniors’ Ferris wheel, and the major props used, from snowy trees to life-preservers, were reused on the class floats in the Saturday parade.

LEFT PAGE: Arya Yadama (10) shows off her blue and orange on Spirit Day. Maria Massad (12) puts some soul into the national anthem at the beginning of the pep rally. Before, the senior class waited outside Stuber gym to enter with spirit, armed with whistles and pool noodles.

FEATURES

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 The final day of Commons deco chocolate stands. At the end of

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 [7:3 Spirt Day arrived. Students fro reserve an hour at the end of th

SEPTEMBER 23 [2:00 p.m.]

While juniors and underclassm the quad and spiritedly entered the mic to biology teacher Doug boys’ swimming to cross countr up with an energetic performan song. Honored as well were Jak took state titles last year in boy

GREYHOUNDS,

SEPTEMBER 23 [8:00 p.m.]

Students, parents, and teachers few hours of fun, festivities, an balloon toss to the hula hoop p night grew, ending in an epic tu niors ultimately prevailed. The b and CHS students departed to jam-packed morning.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 [11:00 p.m.]

The parade began bright and early, featuring the CHS Pep Band, the c Gay Straight Alliance. From CHS alumni to a few young representativ march from the Greyhound Entrance to Gay Field, where the Homeco

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 [12:00 p.m The Greyhounds faced off against Jennings match, marking Clayton’s first game of the s Though the student turnout cheered long a good fight, the game ended in Clayton’s lo Homecoming Court candidates were introd the Golden Greyhound as the winning class top off the week, students met at CHS for th

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FEATURES

2 [7:30 a.m.] orating arrived. Students were greeted with a slew of amusements, such as sno-cone and hot f the day, the verdicts rolled in, declaring the senior class the winners.

30 a.m.] om all classes donned as much orange and blue as possible. Classes were shortened in order to he day for the fall pep rally.

men filed to the Stuber gym for the pep rally at the signal of the bell, the senior class gathered in d the pep rally en masse. Maria Massad (12) performed the national anthem, and then passed g Verby, who introduced the pair of MCs, Freddy Barnes (12) and Margaret Mulligan (12). From ry to football, the steady parade of honored fall sports was staggering. The cheer squad followed nce; ending the rally with a bang, the Captain’s Council led the student body in the school fight ke Lee (12), Joey Dulle (10), Mac Rechan (10), Jack Holds (12) and Dylan Schultz (12), who all ys’ tennis.

FIGHT!

s alike gathered at Gay Field for a nd wacky games. From the water pass, the points racked up as the ug-of-war match in which the sebonfire itself ended the festivities, prepare themselves for the next

FROM TOP LEFT, COUTNERCLOCKWISE: Biology teacher Doug Verby jump-starts the Friday pep rally. The boys’ swim team pulled a daring stunt during their moment of glory at the rally. MCs Margaret Mulligan (12) and Freddy Barnes (12) stir up the crowd. The cheer team takes a collective leap. The CHS pep band marches in formation. The girls of the Homecoming court line up to be recognized. Students rejoice after throwing their class log presentation in Friday’s bonfire. The senior class takes a victory lap after recieving the Golden Greyhound.

Principal Louise Losos poses with the Greyhound himself.

Losos and CHS Alumnus Carl Rogge ride together in the parade. The freshmen make their CHS debut with a spaceship-themed float.

class floats, and various student organizations such as DECA and the ves of the class of 2018, the Clayton community in full witnessed the coming game promptly began.

m.] gs for the long-awaited Homecoming season. and hard, and the Hounds put up a oss of 18-42. On a lighter note, the duced and the seniors were awarded s of spirit week during halfttime. To he Homecoming dance at 8:00 p.m.

All photos by Paul Lisker and Olivia MacDougal

FEATURES

25

THE DIGITAL MIND TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

STORY BY NOAH EBY | ILLUSTRATIONS BY DEE LUO

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The kids these days have everything all wrong. The lives of the youth are so backwards. At least, that’s what the adults say. And they may very well have a point.

Times are changing, and technology is leading the charge. New gadgets with new capabilities roll off the assembly line as our lives become more and more plugged in.

First it was a single bulky computer per house – now it’s an iPhone for everyone and a laptop or TV in every room. The change has been rapid and relentless.

And it is undoubtedly the youth that have spearheaded the technological revolution. We have become walking computers – the world is quite literally a click away. Yet despite the unique times we live in, it seems few in the digital generation have begun asking the all-important question: How is technology changing the way we think?

This article seeks to answer that question in more ways than one, for there is no single response. No, technology is not making us dumber – such blanket generalizations are rarely true – but it is, without a doubt, making us different.

DO YOU SPEAK TEENAGER?

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he adult world – the real world – is centered around communication. Strong communication is the foundation for career and interpersonal success, and the digital generation is struggling to keep up.

“I think technology is changing our ability to communicate effectively with one another, because so much of our ability to communicate with others hinges on non-verbal communication,” Washington University in St. Louis psychology lecturer Dr. Timothy Bono said. “And all of that is lost in an email.”

The vocal intonations, facial expressions and gestures that add to the semantic meaning of words in a conversation are imperceptible online or in a text. Most have had

TECHNOLOGY IS USHERING IN A NEW AGE OF COMMUNICATION AMONG THE YOUTH, ONE THAT FAVORS THE BREVITY AND SUPERFICIALITY OF ONLINE MESSAGING. BUT THE ADULT WORLD IS NOT NECESSARILY FOLLOWING SUIT.

the experience of a sarcastic or joking message being interpreted the wrong way, sometimes with unfortunate consequences. Clearly, email or texting is not a substitute for personal interaction.

The result is that young people – and even some adults – though very adept at texting and chatting, have difficulty with physical conversation.

“People are not as good at face-to-face communication with one another because they haven’t practiced as much, because they’ve relied on the quick, easy abbreviations – ‘LOL,’ ‘cya tonite’ – without having to worry about how it’s spelled or anything,” Bono said. “And I think that’s sort of the unfortunate thing: that people aren’t practicing eye contact and the social cues that come with actual physical interaction.”

A weak handshake, poor eye contact, uncomfortable body language and the like can all be serious taboos in the adult world, especially in professional situations such as a job interview. In this way, lack of communication skills can be costly.

One might argue that social media, though

not face-to-face, are just as effective a method of communication as personal conversation.

But it is not so simple. Though efficient, social networking has its downsides.

Two years ago, Bono did a study of incoming freshmen at Washington University that examined their transition into the university in relation to their use of social media sites, and the results were counter intuitive.

“In particular, [students] reported lower self-esteem, they felt less optimistic about the week ahead; they got less sleep during the weeks when they spent more time on social networking sites. They were more homesick, less motivated to do well in school, and, most ironically of all, they reported feeling less connected to others,” Bono said.

Though the study demonstrated a correlation and not a direct cause and effect, it is still powerful. Bono said that sites like Facebook and Twitter allow for “social comparison” – you can see what others are doing and, in many cases, become jealous or develop a sense of inadequacy.

In short, technology is ushering in a new age of communication among the youth, one that

favors the brevity and superficiality of online messaging and texting over the complexity of face-to-face interaction. But the adult world is not necessarily following suit, and the digital generation’s inability to communicate effectively may prove problematic.

POPCORN BRAIN

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ere’s another problem with the kids these days: They can’t pay attention. And how could they? Is it really possible to accomplish anything while texting, watching TV, doing homework, checking Facebook, messaging someone, and having a conversation at the same time? The answer, according to Stanford University psychologist Dr. Clifford Nass, is no.

“It turns out multitaskers are terrible at every aspect of multitasking,” Nass told PBS’s Frontline. “They get distracted constantly. Their memory is very disorganized. Recent work we’ve done suggests they’re worse at analytic reasoning. We worry that it may be creating people who are unable to think well and clearly.”

The appeal of multitasking is not new – it stems from the primitive human desire to re-

spond to new threats and opportunities. The dopamine spike in response to the excitement of receiving a text or a Facebook notification can be addicting. Researchers say that the lure of technological stimulation can be compared to the attraction to food and sex, which are unhealthy in excess.

Bono said that attention can be thought of as something finite – the more you divide your attention, the less attention each activity will receive.

“We know that [multitasking] inhibits the ability to focus on the task at hand,” Bono said.

“People think that they can handle many different tasks all at the same time, but by doing that you’re necessarily compromising your ability to focus on what’s most important.”

Numerous studies have demonstrated the inefficacy of multitasking. One investigation showed college students a news program with and without blurbs crawling at the bottom of the screen. The results showed that the students remembered significantly less from the news broadcast when their attention was diverted to the news crawls.

“Under multitasking conditions, cognitive processing [is] less mindful and more automatic,” UCLA professor of psychology Dr. Patricia Greenfield wrote in Science Magazine.

CHS teachers are already seeing the effects.

English teacher Emily Grady said she’s seen a decline in students’ ability to sustain reading, and history teacher Sam Harned agreed that students have changed in that they struggle more with in-depth, thorough analysis.

“More and more students, I think, have a

hard time with material that involves sustained attention, because so much in their culture works against that,” Harned said.

High school, with its 46-minute classes that tend to be varied and interactive, accommodates this short attention span. But Harned, who teaches once a week at Wash. U., predicted a “culture shock” for students when they go to college and classes consist only of a professor talking for an hour and fifteen minutes.

Although attention may be suffering, technology has augmented visual skills such as iconic representation, spatial reasoning, and spatial visualization. But this comes at a cost.

“No real-time medium – including film, television, radio – permits time to reflect,” Greenfield said. “The one communication technology that does provide time to reflect is the written word.”

Reflection, she noted, is associated with inductive critical thinking, while television is associated with impulsivity. One study showed that recreational reading levels in college students were a statistically significant predictor of critical thinking skills.

“Although the visual capabilities of television, video games, and the Internet may develop impressive visual intelligence, the cost seems to be deep processing: mindful knowledge acquisition, inductive analysis, critical thinking, imagination, and reflection,” Greenfield said.

Indeed, electronic media have also impacted our ability to imagine. While studies show that more information can be retained when a story is portrayed audiovisually, the creative response is stronger when the story is presented in print.

TEACH ME HOW TO GOOGLE

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ot only is technology affecting the way that we think – it’s changing the way we learn. In some ways, it has made education more efficient and more meaningful, but it has also provided shortcuts and easy answers that only hamper true learning.

According to CHS Educational Technologist David Hoffman, technologies like the Smart Board have made classrooms more interactive and, studies show, more effective.

Greenfield suggested that there may be a “mismatch” between the oral and print media used to teach and test students and the visual nature of students’ knowledge. She also said that the developing mind “still needs a balanced media diet,” one that incorporate visual learning and reading to cultivate various cognitive skills.

Knowledge iteslf is becoming more and more accessible, and the importance of memorization versus process learning is changing.

“Technology makes learning so much more efficient,” Hoffman said. “You don’t have to spend so much time memorizing; you really spend time on learning and how to learn and problem solving.”

For example, Math Department Chair Stacy Felps described the graphing calculator as a fundamental change, but not in the sense that it allows students to forgo understanding the math.

In fact, she said it actually allows for greater comprehension by making computation and experimentation so easy.

“MORE AND MORE STUDENTS, I THINK, HAVE A HARD TIME WITH MATERIAL THAT INVOLVES SUSTAINED ATTENTION, BECAUSE SO MUCH IN THEIR CULTURE WORKS AGAINST THAT.” SAM HARNED

“Instead of thinking less, appropriate use of the calculator really should be letting us think more deeply about situations beyond computation,” Felps said.

In a sense, finding information has become more important than actually learning it. And the ability to find an answer to most questions immediately – rather than going to a library and looking something up – has changed the conception of knowledge. To know facts has become almost insignificant, since anyone with an iPhone can know the same facts in five seconds.

“The amount of time that is saved is really phenomenal,” Spanish teacher Teresa Schafer said.

But, at the same time, she expressed concern that the learning that goes on while searching for an answer may be lost in the age of Google.

Technology’s shortcuts also provide endless opportunity to avoid learning like the plague.

Google Translate can make foreign language homework mindless, graphing calculators and computer algebra systems can make math a series of buttons to press instead of a conceptual understanding, and Spark Notes can make English essays a matter of careful rephrasing rather than thoughtful analysis.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

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echnology, in itself, is no demon. Like anything, the key is moderation and balance.

While a Chinese study showed that people with Internet addictions lose some of their brain’s gray matter – the thinking part – the key is that they grossly overused the Internet. Sure, there are significant changes that technology has effected, like the way we communicate and our ability to sustain attention, but there is also so much opportunity.

This is a truly revolutionary age. The world is more open than it ever has been, information is everywhere, and communication is constant.

We are learning more in high school than our parents ever could have dreamed of, and it is largely due to technology. And although Google is not the answer to everything, it is certainly the answer to a whole lot of things.

Speed is the nature of technology. It allows us to operate faster and more efficiently, and it develops and changes rapidly. In such an environment, it is impossible to know what the world will look like in five, 10, or 20 years. It’s even hard to know what the next day will bring.

We stand at a crossroads, and, as Grady said, “any time you’re at a crossroads there’s always this regret for what you’re losing, but maybe something better is coming.” 

Note: Research sources for this article include The New York Times, Science Magazine CNN, PBS Frontline, and Business Week.

PLAY BY PLAY

STATISTICIAN 10 complete games 6 earned runs

Photos by Emma Vierod

89 strikeouts

STRIKING OUT THE COMPETITION

Freshman Raime Cohen is leading the softball team to its best season in years.

SARAH TAIT

E

ighty-nine strike outs, 43 innings pitched, 10 complete games and only 6 earned runs; these aren’t statistics to be expected of any high school softball player, much less a freshman. But, to be fair, freshman Raime Cohen does anything but fail to surpass expectations.

In her first year on the CHS softball team, Cohen has been vital to pulling the team out of a several season long slump.

“She’s really young and we haven’t had anything like her before,” senior catcher Taylor Gold said. “It’s been an eye-opener. She’s really helped us this year and it was so unexpected after having the past three losing seasons. It’s made a complete turn around.”

Cohen’s pitching has proved to be a strong point on the dominating team, helping to decimate the offense of any opponent.

“Pitching is 80 percent of the game, and when she’s in the circle, she’s a dominant pitcher,” head softball coach Bill Schmalz said.

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This level of talent at such a young age does whelming success, Cohen is an automatic team not come on its own, however. Cohen has put in leader. Though some might crumble under the years of work both in and out of season at the weight of this role, especially as the youngest on select level to cultivate her skills. the team, Cohen picks it up with ease.

“Select experience in any sport allows an “She leads by her actions,” Gold said. “She’s athlete to play more games and play more always trying her best, working as hard as she games under pressure so it becomes a natural can, and playing well. She never slacks. She’s evolution to play a always pitching her She leads by her actions. She’s best.” regular game without getting nervous,” As demonstrated always trying her best, working Schmalz said. time and again this as hard as she can, and playing Besides her outseason, Cohen’s best is well. She never slacks. She’s more than enough to side work, Cohen atalways pitching her best. secure the team a wintributes her success to the level of support ning record. The team she has received from Taylor Gold isn’t settling for that her coaches and teamsmall victory, howevCatcher er, when a much bigger mates.

“Practicing a lot and having Coach Schmalz prize lays in sight. as a coach has really helped us to be successful,” “Raime’s main job right now is to help us get Cohen said. “Coach Schmalz and the girls are so to state,” sophomore player Stephanie Langensupportive to me. It’s easy to do well with peo- doerfer said. ple who support you and when you’re having a If Cohen’s impressive pitching and the molot of fun.” mentum of the season continues, the team will As a key contributor to the team’s over- surely give state a run for its money. 

RUN, CLAYTON, RUN

Once again, the cross country team is racking up top five finishes and trophies.

DAVID ANDROPHY

C

oming off a great season last year, the CHS boys’ and girls’ cross country teams seem well on their way to repeating success.

Led by a large group of returning runners, both teams have aspirations of making it to state and in the process are finishing in the top three in meets during the regular season.

Fifth-year coach Kurtis Werner has built the program from the ground up and has helped CHS earn the reputation as one of the top schools in Class 3. Both his coaching technique and ability to push his team to perform their best have been key reasons why the team has seen outstanding results from meets.

“His philosophy is that if we work as one solid unit, which helps each other move up in the races, a result will be that our times and places will go up dramatically,” sophomore runner Lauren Indovino said.

And they sure have. The first meet of the year at Forest Park witnessed the boys finishing second and the girls third out of a field of 25 and 19 schools -- not to mention a first and third place finish at Spanish Lake on Sept. 15 in a field of 14 schools.

In addition to focusing on the team, Werner strives to help individual runners and help take time off their personal records.

“He is very active in each individual runner and is generally concerned about each of us,”

junior Derrick Stone said.

Along with the upperclassman experience of Derrick Stone and senior Nicole Indovino, there have been big improvements from other runners on the team.

“Just off an injury, Matt Millet has really established himself as the lead runner, and Matthew Garrett has also made great improvements,” Werner said.

When asked about what he enjoys most about being the cross-country coach, Werner said, “it’s fun to see success and to runners start to better understand the sport and get better.”

Despite losing two seniors, Tyler Markham and Joseph Dillon, who were top-five runners, Werner and the cross-country team expect to not lose a step. The talent found in the sophomores, in particular, Parker Schultz and Lauren Indovino, help give reassurance behind the large group of juniors and seniors when the team will be in the rebuilding process in the later future.

A key factor that isn’t found in personal best times or in the Class 3 standings is the great chemistry that the players share with their coach.

“He’s fun to be around and to talk to, which makes practices fun,” Stone said. 

Photos by Dana Schwartz

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WELCOME TO THE NEW DOG HOUSE In a matter of months, all CHS athletics apparel could be sponsored by Under Armour, giving the District a budget break but possibly changing the Clayton image. athletics take on this contract.

“I think that having the aked. That is what the same brand would make us athletes at Clayton look like an advertisement,” High School would be sophomore Sophia Rotman without uniforms. And Under said.

Armour is hoping to be the Bone instead recognizes brand that clothes CHS. the fact that whether the “Basically [Under Armour] brand on athletes’ uniforms proposed that we would be an Under Armour logo or become an Under Armour some other sports apparel school,” CHS Athletic Direcsymbol, the clothing will altor Bob Bone said. “We would ways promote some sports get 40 to 45 percent off retail equipment company. price and they would also al“We are an advertiselow us to sell their products ment if we all wear Under to our students at that same Armour, but we are anyway,” price.”

Bone said. “If we wear Nike, This contract with Under that swoosh doesn’t actually Armour would last somehelp with anything.” where between three to five There is also some conyears. cern among coaches that “We’ve been doing some the company does not have stuff with Under Armour, and an extensive or developed I think that they wanted us [to product line within certain be an Under Armour school]. sport categories.

And, also, for our reputation, “[Under Armour] doesn’t which is awfully good,” Bone have much of a reputation said. with soccer kits,” girls’ varAccording to Bone, besity soccer coach Paul Hoeling an Under Armour school scher said. would not only benefit Under Kurtis Werner also reArmour, but it would also be marked on the limited good for CHS. breadth of Under Armour “They would give us ten athletic products. percent of whatever we sell,” “Under Armour isn’t We’re still negotiating, but we would have to Bone said. “Missouri is part of the pronecessarily known for their athletic have all our teams, within a two to three year gram that they’re starting this year. It is shoes, but maybe that will change,” period, in Under Armour. Werner said. kind of neat that we’d be one of the first schools that they’d offer this to.”

Others do not mind the brand of Some CHS coaches have high opinBob Bone athletic wear. ions of Under Armour.

“I am more concerned about the CHS Athletic Director “Under Armour makes a high quality quality, longevity, and price value of the uniform that will satisfy both the boys uniform material than the brand name,” tract. and girls,” cross-country and track and field “We’re still negotiating, but we would have boys’ golf coach Chris Moody said. coach Kurtis Werner said.

Athlete and coach support and opposition to have all our teams, within a two to three year Students are also excited about the prospect period, in Under Armour. So, there is going to considered, Under Armour and CHS expect to of an Under Armour contract. be a big initial expense for us,” Bone said. “Also, have the final decision about the contract made “I think that one brand would make all the they do not have swimming or wrestling suits, before the end of 2011. However, before then teams look unified, which is nice,” varsity soft- but they are constantly expanding.” they will still have to negotiate the length of ball captain Lauren Hill said.

Additionally, some students worry that the contract, the discount, and how soon all the But there are some downsides to the con- CHS student athlete image will suffer if CHS sports have to get into Under Armour. 

CHARLOTTE REED

N

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MAKING UP THE DIFFERENCE

The Globe examines the discrepancy, or lack thereof, between boys’ and girls’ sports funding.

DYLAN SCHULTZ

G

ender discrimination has been a large issue throughout American history.

Despite several advances, the topic of inequality between men and women persists in daily conversation, and CHS is not immune to the problem.

Complaints have arisen out of the realm of gender discrimination as people question the equality of the budgets between boys’ and girls’ athletics.

Athletics Director Bob Bone said that no intentional budget discrepancies exist. The process for determining each individual sport’s budget stems from the overall athletics budget.

“Our coaches, in January, will be asked to submit a budget request for the coming year,” Bone said. “They will turn that in to us. We’ll take a look at it, and we will try and allocate the funds.”

However, problems could potentially arise if Clayton’s athletics budget were too small for the needs of the coaches.

“I would think that our school’s budget compares very well to most places,” Bone said. His old school was much larger than CHS, yet had a smaller budget. Clayton usually has no problem fulfilling the needs of the coaches, he said.

“Most of the time, our expenditures aren’t great,” Bone said. “We will set up our budgets based on their requests. We don’t have to say no a lot.”

Usually, coaches only need basic equipment: balls, protective gear, uniforms. The athletics department tries to spread out the major expenses to different teams over several years.

For example, boys’ soccer might receive new uniforms one year when girls’ soccer gets nothing, but, in the long run, the budget evens out and girls’ soccer will get their turn to have new uniforms.

“We try to make things as equal as possible,” Bone said. “Is everything completely equal? If you look over a several year period, I think it would be very close to that.”

Senior female athletes Haley Wartman and Margaret Mulligan may be victims of the short term inequity of the budgets. Playing for the softball team, Wartman and Mulligan feel that the football team receives most of the funds while they don’t even have sliding pants.

“We don’t really have a lot of fundraising opportunities,” Mulligan said. “I’m not sure how most teams do it – if they have enough money to buy stuff – but we have to pay for [new uni-

THE BREAKDOWN

forms] if we want them.”

Mulligan also said she feels that even if the budgets were equal, football steals the spotlight away from other girls’ sports.

“It’s always about football games,” Mulligan said. “They have pep rallies surrounding football, and homecoming is around football. I feel like they advertise them a lot more.”

Wartman agreed with Mulligan’s sentiments.

“It’s not really about the money,” Wartman said. “Maybe they do support the [girls’] team with money, but it doesn’t seem like they do because there’s no interest.”

It’s no secret that certain boys’ sports are better attended than girls’. Football and boys’ basketball are the two best attended sports at Clayton, even when girls’ teams such as tennis and soccer are equally or even more successful.

Football also has the popularity aspect in its favor for raising money. Because football is one of the most popular sports in terms of the number of people who go out for the team, there are more parents to participate in booster clubs. This money usually goes towards flashy expenses such as new facilities or special uniforms and shoes.

No matter the reason, Bone hopes to dispel all doubts about the fairness of the athletics department.

“It bothers me that there are rumors out there that we spend more on boys’ sports than we do girls’, because we try to make the programs as equal as possible,” Bone said. “We try to set schedules that are equal. We try to make it equal as possible because that is, I think, the right thing to do.” 

1

The CHS Athletic Department’s 2011-2012 equipment budget. The funding is determined in 2 large part by coaches’ requests.

FOOTBALL $11000 3 BOYS’ BASKETBALL $2200 4 GIRLS’ BASKETBALL $2200 BASEBALL $2200 5 SOFTBALL $1764 6 BOYS’ SOCCER $1200 GIRLS’ SOCCER $12007 BOYS’ GOLF $1200 VOLLEYBALL $1000 8 BOYS’ SWIMMING $1000 9 GIRLS’ SWIMMING $1000 BOYS’ TRACK $1000 10

GIRLS’ TRACK $1000 CROSS COUNTRY $1000 WRESTLING $1000 WATER POLO $1000 FIELD HOCKEY $1000 GIRLS’ LACROSSE $1000 CHEER $1000 BOYS’ TENNIS $900 GIRLS’ TENNIS $900 POMS $700 GIRLS’ GOLF $500

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FALL SPORTS UPDATE Girls’ Softball

Girls’ Tennis

The Outlook

Players to Watch

Record: 11-4 6th for area in small schools.

Goal: Win districts.

To make a state run: The team needs to take the season one game at a time, stay focused, not get overconfident, and work on hitting and making plays in the field.

Home game to watch: 10/3 vs.

Valley Park at 4:15

Raime Cohen, freshman: Leader on the mound and at bat. She is batting .636 with 3 HR. Taylor Gold, senior: Great hitter and team leader. She has an on base percentage of .660.

Claire Bliss, senior: Solid hitter and second on the team with 22 runs.

Laura Markham, junior: The team’s second pitcher who they will count on in the postseason.

Record: 11-2 They are the District favorite because they beat John Burroughs.

Goal: Move into the postseason and bring home a state title.

What they need to do: They need to concentrate on doubles play and working out the problems.

Home matches to watch: 10/4 District Semi Finals at 3:30 10/5 District Finals at 3:30.

Carley Cassity, junior: #1 player for second straight year, looking to make another appearance in the state tournament.

Caroline Greenberg, junior: The #2 player, known for her great top spin shot, solid serves and great volleys.

Melissa Shapiro, senior: An allaround consistent athlete with great endurance.

Record: 2nd place at Forest Park Invitational, 1st place at Lutheran North Invitational Goal: Win Districts and finish in top 5 at state meet.

To make a state run: Work on keeping the #1-#7 runners in a tight pack, and also work on running both up and down hills.

Home race to watch: 10/11 Surburban East Invite at Shaw at 4:30.

Matthew Millett, senior: Injured last season but hard work over the offseason has pushed him to the #1 spot.

Parker Schultz, sophomore: Up and coming runner with great form and will to compete.

Derrick Stone and Matthew Garrett, juniors: Both runners have years of experience and bring a racing mentality every day.

Boys’ Cross Country

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6 teams who look to continue their season deep into October Boys’ Soccer

Boys’ Swimming

The Outlook

Players to Watch

Record: 7-5 Goal: Surpass last year’s 3rd place finish and win state.

To make a state run: Continue to work hard in practice and keep everyone healthy.

Home Games to watch: 10/6 3:30 vs. McCluer 10/11 5:30 vs. Lutheran North 10/12 5:45 vs. Kirkwood 10/24 5:30 vs. Whitfield

Charlie Harned, senior: A 4-year varsity player and captain, has 10 goals and 6 assists, accounting for 1/2 of the team’s goals.

Gabe Jacus, senior: A captain and second in scoring on the team with 3 goals, 2 assists.

Maamoun Hossayrami, senior: 4-year varsity player and captain, third in scoring on the team with 2 goals, 3 assists.

Record: 5-2 Goal: Continue streak of over .500 seasons, send a swimmer to the state meet.

To make a state run: Competiton is very difficult with lack of class divisions, but team needs to stay focused and consistent.

Home meets to watch: 10/25 4:15 vs. Kirkwood 10/28 4:00 vs. Ritenour

Zach Praiss, senior: 4-year varsity swimmer and captain, feared across St. Louis for freestyle abilities.

Noah Youkilis, sophomore: A rising star, he specializes and leads the team in both the backstroke and butterfly.

Jack Layden, junior: Team leader in breaststroke and also strong in freestyle.

Record: 3rd place at Forest Park Invitational, 3rd place at Lutheran North Invitational Goal: Finish in top 2 at Districts and advance onward to state meet To make a state run: The team needs to stay healthy and continue to improve, and to keep a tighter pack during the races.

Home race to watch: 10/11 at 4pm Surburban East Invite at Shaw

Nicole Indovino, senior: #1 Clayton runner for 4 years, looks to finish career with great District and state performances.

Lauren Indovino, sophomore: Consistent #2 runner who looks to keep dropping times in hopes of a first appearance at state meet.

Lily Niswonger, sophomore: Her improvement can help lead the team to a state appearance.

Girls’ Cross Country

PLAY BY PLAY

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REVIEW

MCT Campus

JUDGE JUDY

JUSTICE WITH ATTITUDE ANNA WILLIAMS

MCT Campus

For nearly 15 years, the popular reality courtroom show Judge Judy has been airing in American households with the slogan ‘Real cases! Real people! Judge Judy!’ playing in every episode. Though Judge Judith Sheindlin is very convincing, the show’s validity altogether is questionable.

From afar, the show appears to be a small claims court held by one extremely sassy judge.

However, upon looking closer one will find that it is a reality TV show with paid plaintiffs and defendants.

According to The Consumerist’s website, “The power the judge has over the parties is granted by the contract of adhesion they sign to appear. If the defendant loses, the TV product team pays the plaintiff the judgment fee. If the judge finds for the defendant, both parties receive an appearance fee. The judges are not bound by real rules of procedure, evidence, or even behavior.”

It is quite obvious that Judge Judy is not restricted behaviorally as her show has gained the tagline ‘‘Justice with an Attitude”, which is a big reason why she is so popular.

Another surprising twist to the show is the fact that the claimants must sign and adhere to an arbitration agreement before going on the show. According to an essay called “Syndi-Court Justice: Judge Judy and the Exploitation of Arbitration” by Kimberly Podras, “In order for the syndi-court ‘judges’ to have power, the parties in each case sign agreements to arbitrate. By gaining jurisdiction over the parties through

the contract, the judges are not bound by rules of procedure, evidence, or even proper decorum, which allows them to behave as they do.”

At first this may seem like Judge Judy is being a bit dictatorial, but she has been a judge for almost 30 years and has a great deal of experience with handling cases.

In other words, Judge Judy knows what she is talking about.

Even though her say is final, the claimants have little reason to complain. According to an interview Larry King conducted with Judge Judith Sheindlin in 2000, “We bring them to Los Angeles. We pay for their airfare and they pay for their hotel… If there is a money judgment, then the producer’s fund covers that money judgment. If the case is dismissed, it’s dismissed for all purposes: can’t appeal that. If there’s an exchange of property I sign an order and a sheriff or marshal will see to it that that property is exchanged.”

The viewers are indifferent to this fact, however, as the show has been running for 15 years and is reportedly watched by 10 million people every day.

As long as justice is served and viewers are entertained, the world moves on. 

JERSEY SHORE

FINDING ROOTS IN ITALY NINA MUROV “Cabs are here!”

The “Jersey Shore” gang is back—spraytanned and all. But this season, the crew takes Florence, Italy, by storm. The past couple of years have been wild rides for the eight roommates and each of them have gained instant

fame because of the show. As one might guess, it isn’t their intelligence or their talent that makes them mega stars; it’s the fact that they barely have either of those qualities.

The premiere for season four opened with a whopping 8.8 million viewers, the best season opener ever for MTV. Since 2009, the show has received a lot of controversy, because many think that it portrays Italian-Americans in a negative light. Before the show even aired, the UNICO National (an Italian-American service organization) requested that MTV cancel the show. When MTV announced that the “Jersey Shore” cast members and crew were going to Italy to film season four, there was a lot of outrage.

“They embody the worst stereotypes of Italians, multiplied by thousands and Americanized,” columnist Roberto Del Bove wrote in the Rome newspaper New Notzie, according to the New York Post.

But insults from others didn’t stop them before, and they didn’t stop them now. According to MTV, the premiere for season four opened with a whopping 8.8 million viewers, the best season opener ever for MTV. Ratings continued to soar with a 7.8 million average in the third week.

The first episode of “Jersey Shore” season four starts out like any other, when the four boys (Ronnie, Mike a.k.a. “The Situation,” Pauly-D and Vinny) arrive to their destination without any trouble. The four girls, on the other hand, (Snookie, Deena, Sammi and J-WOWW) run into some problems, like a can of exploding bronzer and landing in Milan, instead of Florence. The next couple of episodes aren’t anything special. The roommates try out all of the different nightclubs, and get into a couple of fights in each of them. They do GTL (gym, tan, laundry), and Ronnie and Sammie get into a fight yet again. Although the cast being in Italy is sometimes hilarious, the show hasn’t given its viewers any surprises.

Obviously, the same old chaos of “Jersey Shore” hasn’t hurt the show. But will the millions of viewers get sick of watching the same thing every week? That remains to be seen. But for now, the roommates are still fist-pumping their way to the top, and not even an exploded can of bronzer is going to stop them.  REVIEW

39

MCT Campus

MCT Campus

MCT Campus

MONEYBALL

THE HELP

ONE DAY

HITS THE JACKPOT

RICHARD SIMON

The year is 2002. You have $40 million to spend on a baseball team and your goal is to win the World Series. The average payroll in for a team in Major League Baseball is about $60 million and some teams, like the Yankees, have payrolls over $100 million. How do you accomplish your goal? By finding bargains.

The book now turned into a movie, “Moneyball,” written by Michael Lewis, tells the story of Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, and how his strategy redefined the baseball draft.

Expertly portrayed by Brad Pitt, Beane is a manager with a real mind for the money.

Since the Athletics were a small market team, Beane didn’t have the advantage of liberally spending money on players. Instead, he had to find players who were overlooked by other teams.

Beane and his front office decided to use what was then an unorthodox way of evaluating players, sabermetrics.

Beane also looks for players in the MLB Draft who wouldn’t ask for money above slot value. MLB, unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, doesn’t have any sort of draft cap for how much a player would make in his first contract after being drafted. Beane drafts players that are viewed to be taken later in the draft and picks them earlier than most experts guessed and, as a result, gets a great deal.

Beane and Jonah Hill have an interesting, witty back and forth dialogue. Hill portrays Paul DePodesta as a nerdy baseball assistant to Beane. The film has good comedic value as well as a family oriented point of view.

Overall, if you like sports movies that are realistic, you’re going to love “Moneyball”. 

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REVIEW

CAPTURES HEARTS A BEAUTIFUL SIMPLE STORY

CAROLINE GREENBERG The film “The Help” is based on the critically acclaimed novel by Kathryn Stockett. Fortunately, the movie lives up to the riveting book.

The character Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) decides to write a book from the perspective of African American maids that work for white families in the 1960s, during the Civil Rights movement. The maids that Skeeter interviews show their perspectives on the hardships they endure on a day-to-day basis.

Skeeter begins the interviews with two different maids. They talk about their lives in the present as well as in the past. Inspired by the initial two’s courageousness, twelve other maids decide to tell their stories.

The movie has laughable moments, as well as moments that make you cry. A specific funny moment is when the spunky Minnie (Octavia Spencer) tells the overbearing and very racist Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) to “eat her shit” after baking it in a pie, while a tear jerking moment is when Abilene (Viola Davis) is unable to use the bathroom in her masters house because of the “germs” that African Americans carry.

How could this have happened only 50 years ago?

Stone, who plays the character Skeeter Phelan, plays a dynamic character that you can’t help but to respect. With great cunning and skill, Stone emanates an air of authority and ingenuity.

This movie never has a dry moment and leaves the viewer wondering, “Did this actually happen only 50 years ago?” 

MEREDITH MCMAHON “One Day” is not your average, mindless chick flick. This complex film centers on themes such as romance, loss and friendship in a brutally honest way. The film is based on the novel “One Day” by David Nicholls, and, although the story is not infested with typical happy endings and ridiculously unrealistic success, it is better atuned to the smaller, less perfect events of life—except, of course, for the unrealistically attractive faces of the costars, Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway.

The movie begins when Dexter (Sturgess) and Emma (Hathaway) have a somewhat failed one night stand after graduating college, then spend a day together and promise to keep in touch. Over the next 20 years, the movie plays out like a series of vignettes, in which the viewer is able to see a glimpse of their one day anniversary, July 15, whether they are together or apart. In a long, evenly paced way the movie allows the viewer to take breaths and not only explore the complexities of Emma and Dexter’s relationship, but also Dexter’s parents, played

by Ken Stott and Patricia Clarkson, and Dexter and Emma’s would be lovers, played by Rafe Spall and Romola Garai.

Overall, the witty and British dialogue between Hathaway and Sturgess is very well done.

It is easy for the viewer to develop an emotional investment in the character Emma, who is a quirky bookworm who wants to be a writer and comes from a modest family, as well as Dexter, a flirtacious, fun loving partier from a rich family who has a side that also wants to be good. Coupled with the wonderful, artistically wrought cinematography, this film (even with its surprise ending!) captures the hearts of viewers in a British, artistic and emotional way. 

COMMENTARY

CONTENDERS VOICE OUT Quotes from the Republican Frontrunners

RON PAUL

“We could not maintain the gold standard nor the silver standard. We could not maintain the copper standard, and now we cannot even maintain the zinc standard. Paper money inevitably breeds inflation and destroys the value of the currency.”

To the Financial Services Committee July 20, 2010

MICHELE BACHMANN “It’s gangster when you have the federal government deciding which car dealerships can stay in business and which can’t — when they literally pull the rug out from people and they have family-owned businesses for 70 years or more. ...what our federal government should be doing is trying to help and enable the private sector so we can have greater job growth.”

Michele Bachmann Speaks To NPR 29 June 2011

RICK PERRY

“I still believe [the Obama administration is] socialist. Their policies prove that almost daily. Look, when all the answers emanate from Washington D.C., one size fits all, whether it’s education policy or whether it’s healthcare policy, that is, on its face, socialism.”

Times Magazine Interview September 15, 2011

MITT ROMNEY

“Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”

GOP debate, NH 13 June 2011

Jasmine Raskas

COMMENTARY

41

Zoe Curry

ALL FOR ONE

ONE FOR ALL

The discount provided for CHS in the new Under Armour contract offers financial benefits too good to pass up for the school, students, and alumni.

JON KNOHL

T

he Under Armour brand is currently a growing fad. While it does not have the reputation that Nike has, Under Armour is still the third most popular sporting apparel brand in the world.

The potential contract between Under Armour and CHS would not only affect current students, but alumni as well. A discount on Under Armour apparel will be offered to all alumni through the athletic office. Yes, that’s right, a discount. Isn’t just that enough to say yes to this deal?

The Under Armour contract would be great in an economic standpoint because of all the money that students, alumni, and the school district would save. Thousands of tax dollars that are now funneled into funding for sports uniforms could be put towards educational programs, which is what Clayton is all about.

42

COMMENTARY

Some criticize the deal because they feel it will turn Clayton into a walking advertisement.

As of now, all of our teams’ jerseys are manufactured by major sporting companies such as Nike.

Why does it make a difference if our teams advertise one company versus three or four?

Almost everything that Clayton kids wear are walking advertisements. Under Armour would only bring a new image to Clayton, not an increase in label awareness.

Besides being a financially beneficial deal, the contract has a fair amount of commerical appeal. Throughout the world, Under Armour is known as a hip and new sporting goods brand.

Our competition wouldn’t just know us as the school that will probably beat them; they’ll know us as the school that looks good doing it.

For those who are concerned that the Under Armour monopoly on uniforms will limit certain teams to second rate goods, there is no need for such concern. The deal does not in-

clude a binding contract on footwear, meaning athletes will have the same degree of freedom in such performance necessities as shoes.

Some teams such as boys’ and girls’ swimming, water polo, and girls’ tennis criticize the deal because Under Armour currently does not make any uniforms for those sports. The teams have managed to get uniforms in the past without being a part of any major deals with big time sporting apparel companies, so what’s stopping them from going out and doing it again?

The swim team is especially critical of the deal because they are not included in the contract. What is there to be upset about? Speedo is the top brand for swim gear so their exclusion is ultimately to their own benefit.

Though a few in the Clayton community may have reservations, the upcoming Under Armour contract can only benefit those involved. With any luck, the slogan “Protect This House” will hold great significance for the CHS community in the near future. 

Dee Luo

UNDER ARMOUR, UNDER FIRE By binding athletes to wear only Under Armour sports attire, CHS is crossing the line in condoning corporate sponsorship and suppressing individual freedom of expression.

ZACHARY PRAISS

I

magine CHS as an Under Armour school.

Sports team would be decked out in Under Armour’s high quality and arguably fashionable athletic uniforms. For the first time, all the sports teams would have equal access to new uniforms offered at a significantly discounted price. Coaches would even get in on the action with their own Under Armour outfits.

If this sounds too good to be true, that would be correct. There are reasons to think twice about the proposed Under Armour school agreement.

The current agreement that the Athletic Department is pursuing with Under Armour raises questions of where we draw the line in terms of corporation sponsorship at public schools.

Before we sign a three-to-five-year agreement with Under Armour, we need to recognize that as a public school funded by taxpayers, CHS of-

fers complete freedom to its student to express school agreement was to level the playing field their opinion by choosing what they wear to in terms of all teams having equal access to new school. Yet, how does this principle apply to uniforms, the agreement ultimately benefits athletic teams? some sports while limiting others from not havAlthough an athletic team is composed of ing the opportunity to purchase the top-notch many students, all the brands for their sports. team members work Moreover, our Our teams are not for showcasing together to create a sports teams are not the fact that we are an Under cohesive unit that for showcasing the fact Armour school, but rather, for that we are an Under pulses in the compeshowcasing our Greyhound pride. Armour school, but tition to achieve success. As a result, each rather, showcasing our team should have the Greyhound pride. right to choose their uniform. Due to the fact By receiving the discounted uniforms by that every sport is different, each team requires Under Armour, we would be selling ourselves different uniforms, materials, and equipment. short on our strong school identity. Over time, In some situations, Under Armour may not other schools and members of the community be the best brand for sports like tennis, cross might come to recognize us as an Under Arcountry, or swimming. Entering into an agree- mour school in conjunction with our fighting ment that would not allow for each team the Greyhound spirit. flexibility to pick the best brand for its sport is Our sports teams should not all be unified as not advisable. walking advertisements for Under Armour, but Although the purpose of the Under Armour instead, unified as a sea of blue and orange. ďƒź COMMENTARY

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Steven M. Falk/Philadelphia Daily News/MCT

BLOWN OUT OF PROPORTION

Fearful of another Katrina, politicians caused unnecessary panic over Hurricane Irene.

MARIA MASSAD

I

would not want to be around when a hurricane hits.

I’m sure you wouldn’t, either.

If you, say, live near the Eastern seaboard, I’m fairly certain that the governor of your state would want you to move away from the coast as soon as possible with a hurricane on the horizon.

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Irene clobbered the East Coast with high winds and heavy rain.

At least that was what the media was promising New England residents.

I had been watching the storm very closely, since I have family living on the East Coast.

From what the media was telling me, Irene was going to hit the coast – hard. It was expected to be a Category 3 hurricane. The politicians began advising everyone to be safe and move away from the storm at all costs. As a result, I became

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COMMENTARY

very worried for my family. stance, from the scientific perspective.)

Hurricane Irene came and passed through It struck me as odd that so much hype was the East Coast. built up around what seemed to be merely a When I checked back with my family in New heavy rainstorm in most of the Eastern states.

Jersey, I learned Then, I realized that the that they had last thing politicians would It struck me as odd that so much want to be responsible driven through the rainy mess hype was built up around what for is a huge hurricane dion the highway, seemed to be merely a heavy rain- saster, especially with the pausing only to Hurricane Katrina tragedy storm in most of the Eastern states. still etched clearly in their visit a college campus midminds. No one in his or her storm. My famright mind would want to ily in New York City was only frustrated that be at fault for a tragedy like that. the subway was shut down temporarily for the Although I hope that people of influence storm. continue to caution civilians each time a hurI was caught off-guard. What about the poli- ricane passes through the mainland, I fear that ticians’ warnings? What about the floodings people near the coastlines will disregard these in Vermont? My family seemed totally uncon- warnings after some time, especially since it cerned. (Of course, one could always take the seems that most warnings and precautions point of view that my family is either senseless were (to some degree) heeded but not needed to the extreme or merely an unusual circum- for Hurricane Irene. 

Karl Mondon/MCT Campus

SAYING GOODBYE TO THE iMAN Faced with the retirement of an ailing Steve Jobs, we remember his contributions to the modern world of technology.

STAFF EDITORIAL

W

e are the “I” generation. Ever since our childhood and early days in kindergarten, we have been taught that we are all unique individuals. Each of us is different in our interests, ideas, passions, and preferences.

Steve Jobs capitalized on this ideology engrained in our society by providing us with the ability to customize technology to fit our precise individual wants and needs. The individual – the “I” – is at the forefront of each of his revolutionary technological marvels: the iPod, the iMac, the iPhone, and the iPad. Each of these technological innovations has in some way changed how we communicate, interact, learn, read, and listen. Although Jobs recently announced his resignation as the longtime CEO of Apple, his ideas and technology have impacted and continue to impact our way of life.

35 years ago, Jobs was busy working away in his garage to create the personal computer.

With a friend and funds pooled from their sale of an old Volkswagen and scientific calculator, Jobs created a computer logic board called the Apple I. With the success of the revised version of the computer, Apple II, their new company quickly took flight.

Since then, Apple technology has most cer-

tainly advanced and evolved. Jobs has repeatedly pushed the limits of computer technology beginning with the first all-in-one Macintosh desktop computer. Today, the iMac and MacBook continue to set the standard for desktop and laptop computers.

However, one of the greatest transformations we have witnessed over the course of the past ten years is the dramatic shift in how we listen to music. In 2001, Jobs unveiled the iPod with its signature click wheel for efficiently scrolling through playlists and selecting music.

The iPod was an immediate sensation in the marketplace along with its online music store, iTunes.

Today, due to the success and growth of MP3 players and iTunes, the music industry is no longer predominately focused on albums, but rather, the online sale of single hits. Furthermore, iTunes is a part of our culture – it’s our sanctuary of limitless music, videos, and television shows, which can all be downloaded in a matter of seconds.

Jobs redefined the direction of technology yet again with the release of the iPhone in 2007. Although it was released only four years ago, the iPhone has one of the largest consumer bases in the smart phone market. As a fusion between an iPod and cell phone, the iPhone offers tremendous opportunity for personalization through the purchase of applications in the

App Store.

The iPhone is an integral part of the technology that defines our generation. We cannot keep our fingers off Job’s groundbreaking iPhone touch screens. Everywhere you go in the high school’s hallways, you’re bound to run into someone busily texting on their iPhone.

The most recent addition to Job’s chain of success stories is the iPad. Although it has been seen as simply a large iPod, the iPad has had huge consumer popularity and catalyzed a new market of tablets. In many respects, Jobs sees the iPad as the future of the laptop with its attractive, glossy large touch screen.

Jobs is the technological innovator of our time. He has pushed technology on an accelerated path of rapid improvement. In Jobs’ contagious mindset, something can always be faster, lighter, and thinner. Thanks to the growth of Apple and its influence in the global marketplace, we live in a world of technology, surrounded by screens. We carry our cell phones everywhere, the Internet fits in our pocket, and, although each iPod, iPhone, and iPad is the same, each is tailored to fit our personal interests and preferences.

No one knows precisely where Apple will be headed without Jobs as CEO. However, there is no denying Job’s incredible legacy in revolutionizing the technological market and changing the way we live.  COMMENTARY

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CURTAIN CALL

TEACHER & FORMER NBA PRO

T

his year many people have seen a new man walking around the building.

You can’t miss him. His name is Rich Niemann, and he spent his younger days in the NBA. The Detroit Pistons drafted him in 1968.

He played in the NBA for three seasons before going to the Americans Basketball Association and hitting his peak with the Carolina Cougars.

He then retired and has been working with chemistry ever since. The Globe’s Christopher Sleckman sat down with Niemann to discuss his former basketball career.

WHO WAS THE TOUGHEST PLAYER YOU EVER PLAYED AGAINST?

HOW TALL ARE YOU?

WHY DID YOU RETIRE?

7 feet.

I had an injury and was released from Dallas, and by then I had a wife and child. I had to start looking at my future.

WERE YOU ONE OF THE TALLEST GUYS IN THE NBA AT 7 FEET? Yes, one of the tallest. In high school I was about 6 feet 10 and there were only about three guys in the whole area who were my height. In college every team had one 7 foot guy. Then in the pros every team had two or three 7 footers. And now every NBA team has somebody who is 7 foot 3 or so. Times have changed since when I played. Most of us really tall guys weren’t amazing athletes, but now the 7 foot plus guys are not only tall, but amazing athletes also.

WHAT WAS YOUR SALARY WHEN YOU WERE IN THE NBA? The minimum when I was in the NBA was around $10,000 a year. I got signed my first year with the Pistons for $16,000. Top draft picks were getting signed for around $33,000 a year, clearly not even close to as much as it is now.

Courtesy of Rich Niemann

WAS IT AS PHYSICAL OF A GAME WHEN YOU PLAYED?

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It is much more physical today. We weren’t as good of athletes as they are now. I never lifted weights during my basketball career.

CURTAIN CALL

It would be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I played with him during training camp for the Bucks before I was cut. He was the new generation player. When I played, it was set up and get as strong as you can in the post and then catch the ball and do your move. Kareem could dribble, run, jump, and he could shoot from long range. He was the beginning of the next level of basketball.

WHAT IS YOUR BEST MEMORY FROM YOUR BASKETBALL CAREER? When I played in the American Basketball Association for the Carolina Cougars, it just felt good. I was in the best shape of my life, and I got a lot of playing time. The people in Carolina really appreciated what we were doing, so that made it really enjoyable.

DO YOU HAVE ANY REGRETS ABOUT YOUR TIME IN THE NBA? Not at all, I feel very lucky. All of us can say that I could have worked harder. But no. I feel very fortunate to have gotten a chance to play.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO KIDS WHO ASPIRE TO BE IN THE NBA? I think a lot of people on the CHS team think that is where they want to go, but my answer to the question is, first of all, get a good education because you may end up ruining your chance if you don’t score well enough on the ACT. Unless you are just unbelievable like Kevin Durant or LeBron James you really need to have a good education to support you if you don’t make it. 