THE
GLOBE Issue 5, Volume 86
profiles IN
leadership CLAYTON HIGH SCHOOL, CLAYTON, MO.
February, 2015
Thank you to our sponsors! The Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. We receive no funding from the school district for printing. Each issue of the Globe costs approximately $2000 to print. We are deeply grateful to our sponsors for their support of our publication. Golden Greyhound Sponsors ($200+ Level): Modestus Bauer Foundation The Clayton Education Foundation Smarthouse Home Improvement Tim Williams Susan Williams Beth Stohr and Charles Brennan Icon Mechanical Jeri Lynn Palmer Just Me Apparel Sweetology Arch Orthodontics Fortels Pizza Den World Traveler Sponsors ($100 Level): Red Key Realtors Jennifer Miller Wen and Esther Lan Aseem Sharma Jane Krasnoff Donn and Beth Rubin Honorary Globie Sponsors ($50 Level): Hollywood Tan Harriet Pepper David Pepper Robyn Klein and Josh Rubin Phil Ebeling Claudia and Mark Krasnoff
CONTENTS NEWS
FEATURE
8 News and Notes 9 Flesh and Blood 10 Pizzino
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10 37 COVER
20 Leadership
12 Life Long Collector 14 Flow Chart 16 The Breakfast Group SPORTS
28 Athlete Profile 29 Hockey Update 30 New Coach COMMENTARY
20 REVIEW
36
32 Athlete Eats 33 Unbroken 34 Insomnia Cookies 35 Big Hero Six 36 The Imitation Game
46
37 Ebola 38 Aspire Testing 39 Resolutions 40 RAMifications 41 Personal Politics 42 Break-ing Backs 44 Pro/Con
38
THE
GLOBE Issue 5, Volume 86
profiles IN
leadership CLAYTON HIGH SCHOOL, CLAYTON, MO.
editors-in-chief
February, 2015
reporters
phoebe yao
ashleigh williams
elise yang
tara williams
sophia barnes nicole beliz mariclare gatter
jeffrey friedman
sophie berstein
peter schmidt
elise levy
alex bernard rebecca polinsky kevin rosenthal max steinbaum
webmaster
Cover design by: Gwyneth Henke
zach bayly
marina henke
copy editors
GLOBE
peter baugh gwyneth henke
senior managing editors
section editors
THE
rachel bluestone jeffrey cheng lemuel lan
distribution editor lawrence hu business manager richard simon
photographers
lily brown patrick butler ashley chung
dima baldauf
matthew coco
bridget boeger
alaina curran
gabrielle boeger
neil docherty
charles brennan
beatrice engel
noah brown
noah engel
daniel cho
andrew erblich
lucy cohen
felix evans
emma ebeling
anna pakrasi
brian gatter
alexis schwartz
peter indovino
leah shaffer
joanne kim
katherine sleckman
nisha klein
katharina spear
nicholas lee
photo editor
noah engel
benjamin litteken
editors
sophie allen
olivia reuter
grace harrison
harry rubin
sierra hieronymus
nikki seraji
audrey holds
mitali sharma
camille respess
micaela stoner
zachary sorensen
amy tishler
helen tomasson
karena tse
albert wang
neel vallurupalli
emily braverman
benjamin tamsky cosima thomas
natalie miller
katie warnusz-steckel
graphics editor
audrey palmer
graphic artists
cherry tomatsu victoria yi
foreign correspondent
peter shumway
adviser
erin castellano
FROM THE EDITOR
I met a really nice guy at an academic program over the summer, and I thought right away that we were going to become great friends. But one day, at the breakfast table, he began to tell jokes about Jewish people that were clearly offensive, although I’m not sure if he directly intended for them to be. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt for the first few minutes. Maybe he’ll come to grow out of it soon enough, I thought. Next, some other friends at the table smiled uncomfortably and told him I was Jewish, but he didn’t stop. Now, I was certain that I didn’t want to be his friend. He might not have intended to offend me in the first place, but he was well aware of what he was doing now, and he continued to do it anyway. This incident involves prejudice in multiple ways. First of all, it takes at least some false judgment to tell a joke so bluntly offensive. The guy at the breakfast table likely had inaccurate ideas about Jewish people, and he failed to recognize that not everyone shared his sense of humor. But he wasn’t the only one exercising his prejudice. I instantly assumed that we could be friends simply because of his demeanor the first time we met, and after breakfast, I steered clear of him for the rest of the three-week program. He might have been a good person, but now it didn’t matter to me. Bluntly prejudiced statements can have an impact on whoever listens, especially when the listener is deep in the process of coming into touch with his or her own identity. Although it might not seem so at first, the topics of prejudice and leadership are intricately related. Just like any movement, the movement away from a society permeated by issues of prejudice is one that requires strong leadership. It’s also a process that requires a person to be his or her own leader, so to speak. Making blanket judgments from specific events or people, or inductive reasoning, is an inherent part of human nature. But it’s clear that jumping to broad conclusions can have drastic consequences, both for one’s own wellbeing and for the overall peace in a community. The concept of the prejudiced joke illustrates this idea well. Sometimes, without even realizing it, many people seek comfort in knowing that others share their prejudices and improperly drawn conclusions. Such remarks might invoke amusement among a select
few, but most of the laughs and smiles are products of habit and discomfort more than anything else. Offensive remarks about a particular group’s history or ways of life almost always serve to damage the self-image of everyone in range of them and beyond. Even if the insults don’t target a given person’s race, religion or economic status directly, that particular person will often still feel uncomfortable and even isolated because of them. Now, he or she experiences the pressure of deciding whether or not to please the speaker by laughing at the joke. This type of small-scale conflict directly influences what takes place on the large scale, when ideas of prejudice and racism appear at the forefront of current events. Incidents like the deaths of Eric Garner and Mike Brown, as well as the public response to Ferguson across the country, awaken individual opinion like none other. But how does leadership come into play? Without strong and responsible leaders that never lose sight of the importance of free thought and speech, the chaos of social conflict would drown out individual voice completely. But also, people must grab hold of their own lives, the only lives that they can control directly, by being true to themselves, during times of conflict more than any others. According to 20th-century American author Saul Bellow, “To know what one thinks and feels is not always a simple matter.” No matter what you believe, take control of your conscious self by remembering that most people are struggling to find what they think and feel, yourself almost undoubtedly included. Even those who seem most deadset on their beliefs still experience inner turmoil on a regular basis. I’m not necessarily claiming that the outcome of recent events has been just, and I’m definitely not suggesting that there is no reason to be upset. Instead, I’m trying to recommend a new way to look at the situation, one that could eventually foster both peace of mind and peace in the community. No one exemplifies such admirable self-leadership better than Anne Frank in her timeless self-reflections. “It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” While always assuming goodwill might seem close to impossible, drastic times call for the most difficult of attempts.
Jeffrey Friedman, Senior Managing Editor
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. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement - for more information about advertising and subscriptions, please contact our office: Clayton High School Globe 1 Mark Twain Circle Clayton, MO 63105 (314) 854-6668 Fax: 854-6734 globe@claytonschools.net
December 1, 2014: Clayton, Missouri
CHS students participate in a national walkout to protest the grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown. Photo by Alaina Curran
NEWS
PARIS SHOOTING
On Jan. 6, Islamic extremists opened fire on a French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Two gunmen entered the Charlie Hebdo editorial offices in Paris and killed 12 people, eight of them journalists. Charlie Hebdo offices were also bombed in 2011, primarily for their publication of critical depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. Additional terrorist attacks occurred after the initial attack. Islamic extremists killed five people in shootings across France; one shooting struck a kosher supermaket in eastern France. It is still unknown whether the attacks were connected. One of the men involved, Mourad Hamyd, turned himself in, while two other men, Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, died after days of police pursuit. Protests have erupted all over the world, with many protesters adopting the common phrase, “Je suis Charlie,” or “I am Charlie,” in solidarity with fallen victims. In the days following the attack, American newspapers struggled with how to handle the situation. The New York Times opted against depicting any of the magazine’s cartoons and the Washington Post did not print cartoons related to the incident.
ELLIOTT EXCELS St. Louis native and Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 230 yards against the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl on January 1. On January 12, he rushed for over 240 yards and four touchdowns against Oregon, leading Buckeyes to the national title. Elliott attended John Burroughs School and graduated with the class of 2013. Elliott’s 230 rushing yards was a Sugar Bowl record and earned him Offensive MVP honors. He was also the Offensive MVP in the National Championship game. Elliott most recently played against CHS in 2012, back when he sported a John Burroughs Bombers uniform. In that game he rushed for 88 yards.
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WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
news and
notes by PETER BAUGH and MARINA HENKE
CONTROVERSIAL MOVIE RELEASED Shortly after deciding not to release “The Interview,” a comedy involving an assassination plot against the leader of North Korea, Sony allowed limited access to the movie. The move was released on Dec. 24 for online rental and was shown at some movie theaters. Sony had been the target of a number of hacks and information releases, presumably due to the movie. Though the country has denied any wrongdoing, North Korea has been accused of heading the attacks. In just four days, the movie brought Sony $15 million from online viewings. The film stars Seth Rogen and James Franco.
During a rally at the Place de la Republique in Paris, protestors hold signs reading “Not Afraid” after an attack on a French satirical magazine (Julien Muguet/Maxppp/Zuma Press/TNS).
GLADSTONE AS HEAD COACH
Educational technologist Gene Gladstone will take over as the new football coach for the Clayton varsity team next season. Gladstone will replace Scott Weissman, who had been the head coach for the past four seasons. Weissman led the team to a District title in 2012. Gladstone has 30 years of coaching experience. Until 2011, he was the head coach with the Vianney Golden Griffins football team. Gladstone won three District titles with Vianney, where he coached for 14 years. He also has coached with Lindbergh as a head coach and prior to that was an assistant with Mehlville. Gladstone was recently inducted into the St. Louis Metro Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame and has been named the Metro Catholic Conference coach of the year.
ON THE CASE
A
by AMY TISHLER photo by Cosi Thomas
Author Patricia Cornwell visits Ethical Society to discuss her most recent work.
t 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell spoke about and signed her latest novel, “Flesh and Blood,” at the Ethical Society in Saint Louis. The event was sponsored by Left Bank Books, Maryville Talks Books, St. Louis Public Radio and hectv.org. The slender, 58-year-old author with cropped blond hair appeared onstage wearing jeans, high tops and a long military-style black coat. She warmed up the audience by telling two stories that made everyone laugh, displaying a sense of humor that is not present in her writing. Cornwell talked briefly about “Flesh and Blood,” the 22nd book in a series that centers around medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. Then she opened the floor to questions. What became apparent from the Q & A is that Cornwell’s fans appreciate how meticulously her books are researched. As part of her research for her books, Cornwell completed The Medicolegal Death Investigation Course at St. Louis University. She told the audience to be proud that St. Louis is the “Mecca” for lay people who want training in forensics. For “Flesh and Blood,” Cornwell spent weeks at a gun ranch in Texas learning about firearms and ballistics. She also went scuba diving to construct her action-packed conclusion, which takes place at the same wreckage sight off the Florida Keys as Cornwell’s own dive. She did this in spite
of the fact that she hates scuba diving in order to make her book more realistic. “Whenever Scarpetta does something, she does tend to drag me along for the ride,” Cornwell said, referring to her main character as though she is a real person. Cornwell explained that “Flesh and Blood” is different from the other books in the Scarpetta series because the killer is a long distance shooter. Scarpetta usually investigates murders where the killer has a lot of personal contact with the victim, such as strangulations and stabbings, and therefore leaves more trace evidence at the crime scene. “[Scarpetta’s] still not speaking to me,” Cornwell said, “because she gets very angry when I do these things to her.” In “Flesh and Blood,” it is Scarpetta’s birthday, and instead of relaxing, she chases a serial shooter who only leaves a fleck of copper behind as evidence. On top of it all, the evidence points to her genius niece, Lucy. There isn’t much background on the characters, but it is easy enough to jump into the novel even without reading the previous books. Cornwell’s books will take a turn on television in a pilot she is creating for CBS. The showed called “Angie Steel” is about a MIT graduate and police investigator whose brother is a serial killer.
news
9
PIZZINO
Jim Zimmerman brings a taste of Italy to the streets of Clayton. by Camille Respess
I
n Forte Dei Marmi, a little town in Tuscany, Italy sits a shop, Pizzino. Vicky Zimmerman visited the shop as a child, and after meeting her husband, Jim Zimmerman, she brought him here during their travels. The couple and their family have always admired Pizzino during their visits to Italy. Jim Zimmerman, former CHS parent and Clayton resident, opened his own Pizzino last November, bringing Italian food culture to Clayton. While Jim Zimmerman was bringing his ideas for Pizzino to fruition, he considered what the ideal addition to restaurants in Clayton would be. “We are a fast, casual restaurant serving high quality, Italian-styled, quick foods,” Zimmerman said. Pizzino serves pizza by the slice, made-to-order pizzas and sandwiches made with focaccia in store daily. “We are a focacceria, a panetteria and a pizzeria,” Zimmerman said. “Right now we just really have two of those pieces really going, we make pizza everyday and we make focaccia everyday to make the paninis.” The restaurant offers two different kinds of crusts for their pizzas. Pizzino’s pizza by the slice is focaccia styled and made on stone. But they have a different approach for their pizza pies. “For this pizza, we start with the shell, a very thin piece of dough, and put it on the grill. We partially bake it on the grill and then we bring those shells inside and we build the pizza from there,” Zimmerman said. Although Pizzino is Zimmerman’s first restaurant, he has been making Italian foods for over 20 years. Zimmerman has shared his foods with friends and family as he worked to craft it. “At [my annual pizza] parties, I would make all these pizza shells ahead of time and then people would just gather around the table and say, ‘I want a little of this, and a little of that,’ and I would just make pizzas as we would go along,” Zimmerman said. “That was part of the genesis of how this might be accomplished.” Pizzino has been a project 15 years in the making. Zimmerman decided at that time that he wanted to have an Italian restaurant of his own, but it took time to bring his plans to reality. Zimmerman has been involved in the food industry and business for his entire career, but Pizzino is his first endeavor started from scratch. “For most of my career I worked in the wholesale food industry serving bakeries,” Zimmerman said. “We sold ingredients: flour, shortening, sugar, to bakeries around the country.” Thus far, Zimmerman has noticed that his favorite item, the Augustus
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pizza, is also popular with his customers. “The Augustus pizza starts with an arugula pesto base and then on top of that we put some roasted tomatoes, tomatoes we have roasted for about an hour and a half in the oven to bring out more flavor,” Zimmerman said. “We also bring out some Italian sausage and then some goat cheese, basil and a little bit of olive oil on top and that bakes for about three and a half minutes because our ovens are pretty hot at 660-70 degrees.” Zimmerman hopes that the patrons of Pizzino take pleasure in the food served there. “My number one hope is that we get enough people in here enjoying what we’re doing so it sustains itself and is profitable because I think that’s the true sign that we’re doing the right thing, if customers come back often enough to support us,” Zimmerman said. Additionally, Zimmerman hopes for people to feel at ease while at his restaurant. “I want [Pizzino] to be comfortable. I don’t want someone to be hesitant to come in because it’s either too formal or too sloppy,” Zimmerman said. “I want people to feel the warmth from the oven and hear a little music.”
Located at 7600 Wydown Blvd., Pizzino features pizza, paninis and other Italian cuisine (photos by Lily Brown).
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Life-long Collector by PETER BAUGH
W
hen Tom Schweich was an 8-year-old in the 1960s, his father came home from work one day with a present - a 1909 penny. Little did Schweich know that this coin would start a lifetime of collecting. “I remember just being fascinated about such an old penny, because even then a 1909 penny was
pretty old,” he said. Schweich, the Missouri State Auditor and a Clayton parent, started a penny book and became friends with Eric Newman, the owner of the finest collection of coins outside of the Smithsonian. Schweich is still friends
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with Newman, who is now 103 years old. Though he started with pennies, Schweich’s collection grew to include ancient coins and other pieces of rare currency. He has coins that date back to 500 BCE, including ones issued by Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. These ancient coins served not only as a form of currency, but also as the main source of news for citizens at the time. “It was the only systematic way to reach everybody in the empire,” Schweich said. Schweich’s collection is not limited to coins. He and his wife have taken great interest in the golden age of Hollywood, the period of movie
making from the 1920s to the 1950s. One attraction that drew Schweich to these films is a sense of national pride. “The 1920s and 30s is where the United States really invented a unique art form, which is film,” he said. “It’s done all over the world but that’s our art form. We didn’t invent impressionism, we didn’t invent a lot of things, but we did invent the idea of the Hollywood film.” Schweich collects signed pictures from famous Hollywood actors and actresses. One of his favorites is a signed picture of Greta Garbo, a star known for being stingy with autograph requests. “It’s the toughest autograph in all of Hollywood,” Schweich said. “It’s harder than Marilyn Monroe, it’s harder than Humphrey Bogart, it’s harder than even the toughest of the tough.” Schweich’s Garbo signature is even more valuable because the photo it is signed on was the original printed picture. The photo is signed to her makeup man. “It’s probably one of the best autographs of Garbo in existence,” he said. He also has signed items of Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan as an actor, John Wayne and countless other stars. “It brings a lot of the history to life. I collect them because it’s so much easier to understand a period of time if you can see the texture of the paper, the writing, what the subject matters are, what they did and I think it brings a lot to it,” Schweich said. “And I get a lot of energy and excitement from it.” Schweich, who keeps the majority of his collection in a safety deposit box at a St. Louis bank, has also amassed a multitude of historical documents. One of his most valuable ones is a letter signed by Napoleon Bonaparte requesting for more troops to be sent to him after a disastrous invasion of Russia. “You can sort of see the whole Napoleonic era falling apart when you read the content of this letter because he’s got so many people to replace,” Schweich said. He also has a document signed by every president of the 20th century. In this set lies one of Schweich’s favorite items: a letter from Lyndon B. Johnson regarding the death of John F. Kennedy. The day Kennedy was killed started with a morning speaking event in Fort Worth, Texas. Shortly after, he and Johnson, the vice president at the time, flew to Dallas, where Kennedy was shot. Johnson’s letter discusses the joy of the morning event followed by the tragedy of the afternoon. The letter, according to Schweich, is “probably one of the only references he ever made in writing to the Kennedy assassination.” His collection also features a George Washington signed envelope, a land grant signed by both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, a John Hancock signature and an Abraham Lincoln pardon. From these historical documents, to coins, to signed photos, the items Schweich collects are large investments. Therefore, he has to be careful with what he buys. There are plenty of forgery artists who specialize in duplicating rare items and selling them. Fake signatures are very common. Though most are easily identifiable by collectors, some fakes are very convincing. “You have to be extremely careful not to get ripped off,” Schweich said. As a precaution, Schweich has multiple parties examine each object that he purchases. Sometimes he even has an independent certification company certify his pieces, as he did with his John Wayne signed photo. Ever since the day in the 1960s when he got his first old coin, collecting has been a part of Tom Schweich’s life. He loves how his collection has been a catalyst for discussion around his household and cherishes the history that he holds in his own home. “Think how much this helps your kids learn about history – about history of film, about history of the United States, about history of coinage and money and Rome and Greece,” he said. “We talk about this all the time.”
Left: Tom Schweich in Clayton home. Top: A poster from a movie in which Ronald Reagan held a leading role. Below: A document containing John Hancock’s signature (all photos by Neil Docherty).
feature
13
Getting Summer Right S TA R T
(Follow the White Lines)
by Phoebe Yao Do you like learning new languages?
Yes.
Cultural Exploration
Immersion camp or travel?
Nothing
The Arts Volunteer projects
Playing Sports
Immersion
Studying
AFS USA Intercultural programs App Deadline: Rolling
Travel
Middlebury Language School App Deadline: Rolling
How about a world famous intensive arts camp in Michigan?
Are you a writer?
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flow chart
Yes.
Getting $$ There are many camps and clinics available nation-wide. For example...
Close to Home
Heck yes!
No.
No. Haha, that’s funny.
Go back to start. Rustic Pathways Summer Programs App Deadline: Rolling
Nothing? Are you sure?
Far away
No.
Great. Let’s get started! What makes you happy?
Interlochen Arts Camp App Deadline: Feb 1. Priority, then Rolling
Kenyon Review, or Iowa Young Writers Workshop App Deadline: c Mar. 15, Feb 13
Actually, I like studying.
OK. Which do you prefer? Far away
Stanford High School Summer College App Deadline: Rolling
Experiences to Change Your Life T
o summer, or not to summer; believe it or not, exercising laziness is neither the best nor only way of spending one’s summer. Better still is planning ahead for an interesting and perhaps life-changing three-month experience. Take it from me, you’re better off doing summer right. By dumb luck and the miracle of procrastination, I ended up spending seven weeks of my summer after sophomore year in the wild woods of northern Michigan on an isolated half-peninsula nestled between two lakes called Interlochen Summer Camp. Every day, I woke up at 6:40 AM to the call of a trum-
pet playing Reveille and spent seven hours of my day immediately afterwards playing viola in historic log cabins, doing what I loved with people who held the same passions and interests as me. That first day, I met people for the first time whom I felt like I had known my entire life. I was Alice in Wonderland. The experience completely changed my perspective on the world. As CHS students, we rarely get the opportunity to do what we truly love, preferring that pristine high school transcript, the struggle to college over our own interests and happiness. However, summer is the time when we
Student Conservation Association National Crew App Deadline: March 2
Oh yeah, I like...
Cross-Cultural Solutions High School Volunteer abroad App Deadline: Rolling
That’s not an option.
No. Yes. Do you like camping, nature and conservation?
Yes.
U of Michigan High School Summer Sports Camps and Clinics Add Deadline: Rolling
No.
Get a summer job! Also, ever thought about interning in Africa?
Nike Summer Sports Camps App Deadline: Rolling
How about volunteering abroad?
Don’t you like $$?
Oops, I forgot. lol.
o ?
can truly shine, when who we are inside takes center stage over the grades we get. Right now, summer may seem a hopelessly long way off. However, the time is ripe to take advantage of the amazing summer opportunities available to high school students worldwide. If you aren’t already planning an Amazonian canoe trip with your uncle or a volunteer visit to a developing country, there are many summer programs out there to help you get the most out of your summer vacation. Many offer scholarships and financial aid. See the flowchart to discover the possibilities for you.
Didn’t Find Anything? T
his flow-chart only skims the surface of the many summer enrichment opportunities available to high school students. Even if nothing here suits your tastes, the perfect program is merely a Google search away. Here is what’s important: if you have the time and money to attend one or more summer programs, by all means take that opportunity; if
Close to Home WUSTL HS Summer Scholars/Institutes App Deadline: March 20/April 1
you don’t, no worries. Ultimately, your summer is what you make of it. A positive and forward-thinking attitude can raise any experience from ordinary to life-changing. If you are interested in what you see here, remember that many of these programs have upcoming application deadlines. So, apply soon and apply to many! Happy second semester, everyone.
Cross Continental Intern or Volunteer Abroad App Deadline: None
flow chart
15
The Breakfast Club
W
by PETER BAUGH and ALEX BERNARD
hat’s the headline, Bake? What’s the headline?” Alex Berger III shouted across the bustling City Coffeehouse & Creperie. His friend Larry Baker, a former CHS history teacher, had just walked in to get his breakfast. For the store’s employees and customers, this sight is not a rare one. Every day, a group of around seven men meet for breakfast and coffee at the Creperie, a tradition that has lasted for nearly a decade. Initially, a group of lawyers met at Straubs for breakfast. When the restaurant in Straubs closed, the men were forced to relocate. Since then, the group has evolved and meets from 6:30 a.m. until mid morning. “Some of us are actually here before the door is open,” Berger, a Clayton Alderman, said. Although the faces in the group are not the same every morning, the dynamic remains consistent. “The group size varies by day of the week, but we’ve had generally about six or seven guys come regularly to talk about whatever, have a cup of coffee,” Berger said. “Half of them still work and half of them are retired.” Groups discussions range from sports to heated political debates, with a variety of witty comments interspersed throughout. A few years into the morning tradition, the Democratic portion of the group convinced management to take Fox News off of the shop’s television. “We got that off the air,” Baker said. “Best thing we ever did.” To Ann Gallardo, the co-owner of City Coffeehouse & Creperie, the men have become a part of her morning routine. “It just kept growing and growing. Monday through Friday I can count on all of these guys,” she said. “They’ll be here, and that’s a great feeling to
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know that, because it’s like my extended family.” Among the men are Senior Olympians and retired teachers, all of whom have some connection to the Clayton community. Baker was recently inducted into the CHS Hall of Fame for his distinguished teaching career, and is infamous within the group for his daily breakfast of red onions and lox. Baker, who arrives to the Coffeehouse at around 8:00 a.m., credits his teaching success to his unorthodox methods and class structure. On the first day of economics class each semester, Baker would tell his students to go into the quad and to look around for 10 minutes. When they returned, he would ask them what they had seen. After hearing their responses, he told each of them that they were wrong, saying that what they really saw was that money doesn’t grow on trees. “I was a legend,” he said. Alex Berger III is one of the two Clayton Aldermen of Ward III. His daily schedule consists of showing up at the Coffeehouse at 6:30 a.m. and staying until 8:00 a.m. He then heads to the Clayton Center with Lee Hanson, also a member of the group. Berger returns to the coffee house by 10:00 a.m. to conduct meetings and do other work. Another friend is Sandy McClain, who recently won first place in his age group at the Senior Olympics preliminary round for the 1500 meter run in Miami, FL. “But there were only three 80-year-olds running,” he laughed. Despite the group members’ diverse political views, strong personalities and various occupations, the local City Coffeehouse & Creperie has become an integral part of each of their lives. The friends have found a sense of community through their daily meetings, and liven up the shop with their presence every morning.
A portion of the group on a Monday morning. Left to right: Alex Berger III, Larry Baker, Phil Klasskin, Lee Hanson (photo by Emily Braverman)
Celebrating 90 years in business
Jon Erblich By appointment only … we buy and sell jewelry 314-‐721-‐3900 7777 Bonhomme, Suite 1504 Clayton, Missouri 63105
PROFILES IN
LEADERSHIP interviews by ALEX BERNARD, GWYNETH HENKE, MARINA HENKE, NOAH BROWN and PETER BAUGH For the past year, the Globe staff has embarked on an in-depth study of leadership. Through the process, we developed our own definition of leadership, largely based on the book by Simon Sinek, “Leaders Eat Last.” Sinek has committed his life to studying what makes good leaders. He has pushed beyond the traditional identifiers of a leader and established a nuanced interpretation of leadership, which embraces the importance of belonging, safety and making others feel valued. The Globe staff drew from many of Sinek’s ideas, and created a unique standard for leadership. Qualities include people that are working to improve those around them, establishing a safe environment, and willing to put themselves on the line to protect others. Ultimately, these people have a vision and want others to follow. Within a school, good leaders are crucial. In Clayton, our administrative team dictates the District’s main mission. But leadership roles do not end there. Teachers set the tone for their classroom. Coaches set the expectations for teams. Students act as role models for their peers. Our District is built from a
foundation of leaders, and the strength of our leaders dictates the strength of our community. This article focuses on a special kind of leadership, and we’ve tried to pick very specific examples of that. We are featuring the people who our community view as leaders among them. We sent out a request for nominations to District faculty and staff and sought student opinions. All of the following profiles have been nominated by faculty members or the student body at CHS. The following 20 profiles showcase individuals in the Clayton community that are committed to making change and progress. They represent the foundation of our community. Here, they share their ideas about their own understanding of leadership and their visions. We have a wide spectrum of individuals, everyone from elementary school art teachers to the District’s assistant superintendent of human resources. Whether they are making District or classroom level decisions, what unifies them is a distinct sense of purpose and a commitment to this special kind of leadership.
sean doherty, administrator Sean Doherty was the principal of Captain Elementary School for four years before taking on the role of assistant superintendent of human resources for the district this year. What do you think is Clayton’s “why?” Bottom line, the why of Clayton comes down to being a learning organization for all. I think the main focus is what we do for our students, but in order to provide the rigor we provide for our students, in order to provide the amazing experiences we provide our students and to learn to be adaptable to our students we have to be learners. I always think our why centers around how everyone as part of this organization is a learner. How does teaching inform administration? When I was principal at Captain, I walked through classrooms every day … I made it a point to make sure that I knew not just about leadership but about pedagogy and content, because if I’m going to be the instructional leader of this school, I also need to know good teaching practices. Being a teacher and then being a leader within the school helped me to keep that perspective of what it means to be a teacher first. What do you think administration offers that you can’t get in the classroom? A wider lens. If I was going to go back into the classroom now, I would be such a better teacher because I’ve had the opportunity to see the most amazing master teachers … So, as a leader I always think that I have to be broadening that lens for the people around me. What made you want to go into in education? I just think it’s the most amazing profession. There’s never a day that I walk away from my job and feel like I didn’t have an impact in some way. It’s a very satisfying job--and it’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, as well. Best qualities of a good leader? I think that a leader is present and visible and--some people would challenge me on this--but I think I make myself vulnerable to the people that I work with, because if I come off as a person who’s a learner, someone who doesn’t know everything, but who’s willing to stand next to you and learn with you, then they’re going to do the same. Anything to add? I’ve found that being direct and honest with people … it’s really going to benefit you as a leader. The only constant about education is change, and you have to be willing to be flexible and be able to deal with that change in a constructive way. - G.H.
carolyn blair, college counselor Carolyn Blair is the director of counseling services; she acts as a college counselor for half of the senior class and manages the counseling department. What made you get into counseling? I’ve known since high school I wanted to be a counselor. I didn’t realize it would be in a high school setting. I actually completed my masters degree training to be a Licensed Professional Counselor but I worked in admission to pay for my tuition. That led to my first counseling job at SLU High. What are your leadership roles? My title is counseling services director. As most folks in education, I wear a lot of hats. I serve on the administrative team and leadership council. I think our the biggest responsibility is to consistently be sure we’re keeping our eye on the big picture of how things come together for students, teachers, parents and community. As a representative of CHS, my leadership roles are many. They include serving on the admissions advisory boards at multiple universities. Do you have any role models for leadership? Mary Crowder, she did my job many years ago when I was first hired here at CHS. She was a great role model. Additionally, I have many colleagues around the country and in my office that inspire me daily. What’s the hardest part about being a leader among the faculty? Counselors are generally the middle man. We listen to students, parents, teachers and administrators and try to assist in whatever the issue at hand happens to be. Our job is to advocate for what is in the best interest of the students. What’s your vision for the CHS/Clayton community? My vision would be to uphold the educational standards and maintain the professional culture that has allowed us to nurture and assist students who go on to become leaders who represent us and come back to appreciate and assist us. What do you think makes a good leader? A good leader is someone clearly committed to excellence and maintaining high standards who realizes that everyone has a role in accomplishing their vision. What things have you been most proud of? I am most proud of the team of counselors we have at CHS. It has been a pleasure to help build a team of folks who are passionate and selfless in ways that no one ever sees. People think that they have one counselor here at CHS, but in fact, every student here actually has six. - N.B.
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1. Sean Doherty (Noah Engel). 2. Carolyn Blair (Gwyneth Henke).
micah johnson, chs and wydown teacher
For me it’s about modeling. Modeling a response to doubt, to struggle, to adversity. -micah johnson
Micah Johnson has been a Spanish teacher at Wydown Middle School and CHS for 13 years, and he coaches boys’ and girls’ JV soccer. What made you go into teaching? You’re taking each step that you feel like you need to take without seeing what it’s leading towards. And yet you find, by the time you get there, that … it was exactly where I had to be, not for my future, but for the present, for where I was at the time … What I didn’t realize was that all of those [experiences] were taking steps towards this career. That’s what we have in life … you can try to imagine what it’s going to be like years from now, or even days or even hours from now, but the fact is that until you’ve been there, it’s hard to know. What do you think are the best qualities of a leader? For me, it’s about modeling. Modeling a response to doubt, to struggle, to adversity, and trying to hold myself to a standard in class that is irreproachable … [It’s] important to provide a model that you yourself are proud of. And if you’re proud of it, then you’ve got to trust that you’re putting something out there that’s worth emulating. That’s something that I think about a lot, both in the classroom and on the soccer field. How does that play out on the field? In sports--as in life--we’re not always going to get dealt a fair hand; we’re not always going to be treated correctly. Sometimes, people are going to get the wrong call, and the question is what do you do then? How do you draw lessons from difficult experiences? It’s the Buddhist teaching, the Jewel in the Lotus! The Lotus rises from muck, right? And it’s perfection, it’s beauty--but it comes up out of a swamp. So imagine that through all of our lives we can think about ... what is it that rises up out of that? What flower will use all of that as its soil to emerge? … Trying daily to be the lotus, that’s how I see leadership. You’re not always going to handle things perfectly. I don’t think anybody should be expected to. I think we all make mistakes, and I will own my mistakes in front of my students as much as I hope that they would be comfortable doing the same with me. Anything to add? Moments make leaders. The moment will come when people are going to look to you--for answers, for leadership, for guidance. And you’ve got to be ready for that. Trust that if they’re looking to you for answers in that moment, it’s because you’re who they want the answers from, and that you absolutely belong there and are worthy of that leadership role … Embrace it--whether you feel like the kind of person who’s born for it or not. - G.H.
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stacy felps, administrator
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Stacy Felps was a math teacher at CHS for 30 years. In 2014 ,she moved into the administrative position of instructional coordinator, giving her the opportunity to mentor teachers and suggest classroom improvements. How did you establish yourself as a leader in the classroom? I want you to know that I love what I’m doing, that I’m excited about what I’m doing and that I love my subject area. But I also want you to love it too. I want you to be inspired and excited by the things that you learn and the connections that are there. I want you to feel it. For me a lot of it is probably sharing that love and hoping that it shines through and just makes you want to come along too. What is your vision as instructional coordinator? We have goals we have to set: building goals, district goals and personal goals. Frequently all of those pieces, the professional development, the evaluation and the goal setting aren’t connected to each other. If they can be more connected it can feel like less. My contribution is to help have that overarching view of the pieces. I hope that we can come together to make a more sense-making map instead of something where there are lots of people doing lots of things, with people working really hard, but not necessarily working in a common direction. - M.H.
april fulstone, wydown teacher April Fulstone is an Literacy teacher at Wydown Middle School and has also been recognized for her abilities as a history teacher. She is the sponsor of the Wydown social justice club. How do you incorporate leadership skills in the classroom? It’s important for me to share leadership with my students, so I like to give them a lot of choice. Obviously, there are curricular restraints that I have to follow, but I’m really interested in hearing students’ points of view as well as my colleagues. I like hearing new ideas, and so I think being open to other people’s perspectives is important. I feel really strongly about social justice and kids treating each other with respect and kindness and so … I make that a big point in the classroom. I try to do that with leading professional development for faculty or just having conversations with colleagues. Didn’t you win an award recently? It was last year. It was from the Gilder Lehrman Institute … they are basically two philanthropists who ... have a collection in New York and so they have all this money--I don’t know where the money comes from--but they give an award to a history teacher K-6 and then 7-12, it’s alternating years. So, last year they gave me the Missouri History Teacher of the Year. What exactly is your position in the literacy department? Literacy subject manager. It’s kind of like the department chair at the high school … and so at the middle school they call the person who is kind of in charge of the department the subject manager. We are the go between who communicate with Ms. Sellenriek [the English department chair] or Mr. Kucharski, who is the curriculum coordinator for K-12. What leadership skills do you use for that job? I think, again, it has to do with listening to the concerns of the literacy teachers that I work with and being an advocate for our department, raising concerns that are important to the middle school teachers when I am talking with administrators or when I am ... thinking about curriculum on a bigger level. Taking into consideration the different perspectives again and trying to be a mediator of sorts, make sure that needs are being met. - P.B.
1. Micah Johnson (Gwyneth Henke). 2. Stacy Felps (Gwyneth Henke). 3. April Fulstone (from April Fulstone). 4. David Blake (Gwyneth Henke).
DAVID BLAKE, SET DESIGNER David Blake is the district theater manager for Clayton as well as the set designer for CHS. What are your leadership roles? My leadership roles are technical direction for all of the productions, and that means finding the students to be involved on the technical side of things, and guiding them through the process of assembling and running all of the shows. What is your vision for the theatre department? The one thing that I’m always hoping will be consistent is that there will always be students who recognize a passion for something they’re interested in, and that this can always be a safe and fun environment for them to come and explore that craft. If I can provide that environment for students, that to me would be the definition of having succeeded as the technical director of the department. What has been your proudest moment as a teacher? Every opening night continues to be a really proud moment for me, mostly because of what I see the kids pulling off. It’s a magical thing to see. I have yet to not be blown away by what the final product is. What makes a good leader? I think the number one thing is being able to recognize an individual’s strengths and interests and nurturing those, providing a place for an individual to practice those, guiding instead of dictating, providing the tools and teaching the skills and then allowing the students to make the mistakes and to discover their own process.” - A.B.
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You have to build a sense of belonging. -diana haydon
bob chapman, ceo Bob Chapman, the CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, considers himself to be a steward of each of his employees. “If there’s 8,000 people around the world who work for our company, as a leader my responsibility is ... not to view them as engineers or receptionists or secretaries or accountants, but to refer to them as somebody’s precious child that we’ve been entrusted with,” Chapman said. Chapman has implemented what he calls Truly Human Leadership into Barry-Wehmiller, a $1.7 billion global supplier of manufacturing technologies and services located in Clayton. Truly Human Leadership incorporates practices that validate the work of every individual. Prior to the economic recession of 2009, Barry-Wehmiller laid off workers like any other company. By the onset of the recession, however, Chapman’s practices had changed. Instead of layoffs, Chapman required every person in his company to take four weeks of unpaid vacation, allowing Barry-Wehmiller to save money and keep every employee during the economic downturn. “Everybody took a little pain so nobody had to take a lot of pain,” he said. Employees could work together. If there was a person who could not afford to take time off, someone else could take their off days instead. “When the economy came back, our company just bounced up because we hadn’t lost the talent; people felt valued, they felt safe,” Chapman said. Studies by Washington University and Georgetown University found that 79 percent of Barry-Wehmiller employees surveyed felt that the company valued them as a person. “When you listen to people you validate their worth,” Chapman said. “And when they feel validated, they feel good. When they feel good, they treat other people with respect.” Chapman has a unique analogy to explain his business and leadership practices - a bus system. “We need a safe bus built with good safety standards,” he said. “And then we need a driver who knows how to drive the bus and knows where he’s going: that’s the leader. I’m the bus driver. If you have a safe bus and a driver who knows where he’s going and how to drive the bus safely, you’ll get your people to a good place.” - P.B.
stephanie roberson, wms teacher Stephanie Roberson is the English Language Learners teacher at Wydown Middle School. Roberson coaches volleyball, basketball and heads a step team. She also helps out with the middle school’s Social Justice Club. What are you involved in? We do a social justice student group ... We are allowing kids to understand that no matter who you are or what you look like everybody is experiencing power and powerlessness. We have a lot of kids in this building that the only narrative that they ever get for a person of color or a person of another sexuality is the boot on your back that society has placed. There is so much more to it than that. For example, the African diaspora: we learn of so many mountain tops. That is important too, but there is so much more to it. Being an ally is identifying places where you can be of service. What is an important quality for a leader? One of the most important things that we can do for our students is listen. We need to listen and be able to put ourselves in situations where we can see ourselves as learners too. Sometimes it’s important for kids to understand that we value them not just as kids, but as people. We have really incredible people at this school: young men and women who I am so excited to know. How do you instill in your own students a sense of leadership? I talk a lot about power and powerlessness. It is never my job to take away your struggle. When somebody is struggling through something or having a hard time with a kid it is so important that instead of taking the struggle away and handling it to ask them “How are you going to handle it? That sounds really hard,” or “Let’s talk about how we can approach this.” I think that it’s so important for students to take ownership of their learning and their concept of social justice and social citizenship. If at any point in my day, whether I’m coaching or teaching, I am doing more talking than listening than it is time to take a step back and rework. - M.H.
CARROLL LEHNHOFF-BELL, CHS TEACHER Carroll Lehnhoff-Bell worked as a reading specialist and instructional coach at CHS for two years. Last year she assumed the role of director of learning support. What is the importance of building cross-curricular relationships? On the administration team, I serve as a voice for students. If I’m going to be that voice, I need to know what that looks like in lots of different spaces and roles… At Clayton teachers are the crème de la crème. They are content experts. What I can bring to the table is my expertise in supporting the struggling students. What is your vision for the learning center? I want to be seen as a support to students and teachers so that students can be their best selves. That is really vague, but I mean for it to be that way, so however it needs to look for whatever student, I can mold it into that. The bottom line is, what can I do to make every student in this building successful? Whatever you think I need to do, I’m willing to do it. I’m a resource for all of those people so that we can see that happen. What is your vision for your students? My quote for kids that I always keep in the back of my head is, “I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning to sail my own ship.” For the kids that I work with, learning in school is sometimes really hard. I think as successful adults, we might have never experienced that. I try to remind our teachers that it is really stormy waters for our kids, so how do we help them steer that ship and not take over, because when they do learn to sail their ship, they will be out of luck. - M.H.
luke davis, junior Junior Luke Davis organized a student walk-out on Nov. 24 attended by over 70 CHS students in response to the failure to indict Darren Wilson and the issues of racial inequality brought to light by the Ferguson protests. What made you get into social activism? When I was in middle school, I did a lot of stuff for equal rights for the LGBTQ community. When everything started happening in Ferguson and in St. Louis, it was sort of like a little speaker went off in my head-- “this is what you’ve got to be doing right now.” What are your leadership roles? Specifically with the movement that’s going on right now in St. Louis, being a white person, it’s my duty to be an ally as opposed to a leader. Who are your role models for leadership? My mom and my grandfather, definitely some strong leaders. Abraham Lincoln has always been an idol in my mind. MLK, James Baldwin, Assada Shakoor. What was it like to organize the walkout? I really did enjoy being able to organize an action and I was comfortable doing it there. We could see our own little community. It was a very diverse crowd that walked out. What’s it like leading students? In our generation, we’re very apt to communication. We have our phones, and they are very, very helpful in getting the word out and getting it spread around. I think it’s a clear advantage that millennials have, that we can communicate so aptly and so quickly. If you could change something about CHS, what would it be? There’s a lot of what I perceive as complacency at Clayton High School when something falls out of media attention. [Students] seem to think that ... because media attention has somewhat gone away, it doesn’t exist anymore. I just don’t want people to forget about what’s going on. - A.B.
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diana haydon, glenridge teacher Once every year, kindergartners at Glenridge Elementary School draw directly on the surface of their art tables. After they finish, art teacher Diana Haydon and her students clean off their drawings and sign the bottom of the tables. Haydon wants them to have a sense of belonging. “We have all kinds of signatures under that table because it’s theirs and they feel that sense of ownership there,” Haydon said. Haydon has students, some of whom are in college, who come back to her room to find their kindergarten signature scrawled under the table. As a leader of Glenridge students, Haydon feels strongly about the importance of belonging in a community. If one student feels included, they will make other students feel included as well. “I think when people feel like they belong, they feel like they’re recognized and they help one another,” Haydon said. Haydon has been teaching art for 30 years, 18 at Glenridge, and she strives to help her students find their own character as an artist and as a person. “I think in the arts, you have to help them find their own voice and get them to believe that their mark is as valid as anybody else’s mark,” Haydon said. She has three key principles of how she runs her classes. “You have to build a sense of belonging, you have to find the strength in every person you work with and you have to be open to multiple viewpoints,” she said. Haydon feels that the leadership she was shown has paved the way for her to be a good leader. “Leaders are created by people who build a sense of community … people who have found strengths in me have allowed me to be a leader.” - P.B.
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1. Luke Davis (Alaina Curran). 2. Diana Haydon (from Diana Haydon). 3. Stephanie Roberson (Marina Henke). 4. Carrol Lehnhoff-Bell (Gwyneth Henke). 5. Bob Chapman (Peter Baugh).
paul hoelscher, chs teacher
I constantly have to create meaning. -paul hoelscher
History teacher Paul Hoelscher has worked at Clayton for 14 years. He is the K-12 social studies coordinator for the school district and runs CHS’s summer school program. Hoelscher is currently working on attaining his PhD in educational leadership. How do you communicate the ‘why’ of your classes to students? I think about those things a lot. I can never come and just say, “Here’s five things to learn about World War II, and now let’s move on.” To myself I constantly have to create meaning. To share something with a class it has got to be meaningful to me, not just in the short term, but it also has to fit into the big picture. What is your role as coordinator? I am the K-12 coordinator for social studies, which oversees the curriculum at the elementary, middle and high schools. Coordinators in a lot of different discipline areas advocate for their discipline in district level budgetary conversations. In light of STEM, I have to be a proponent of the social studies, really the humanities, and make larger curriculum decisions. I do some mentoring for new teachers. My primary responsibility is to make sure that new teachers know the curriculum, and I work to make the content effective in the classroom. What is the importance of your own education that you are pursuing? I have gone back to school to study educational leadership, not to be a principal, instead it’s more about curriculum development … Sadly across the country we probably lack some educational leadership. We lack some people that are trying to take on some problems I’m responsible for this Clayton community, but we are going to get nowhere as a society if we don’t start seeing the broader things. This program is designed for that. - M.H.
kurtis werner, chs teacher Kurtis Werner, a CHS social studies teacher, was all set to start his teaching career in the Oakville School District, when he was informed a spot at Clayton became available. “I was in the right place at the right time,” Werner said. He took the job, and after one year of student teaching, joined the faculty. Werner, currently in his eighth year at CHS, is consistently making an impact around the building. Aside from his teaching role, Werner is the sponsor of STUGO, politics club and is the cross country coach. “I wear many different hats,” Werner said. “I think it’s good that students can see me in other capacities. It helps because I can be even more open than am I in the classroom.” By involving himself in the school community, Werner is able to build enduring relationships with students. “Sometimes, I’ll have 20 faces in the freshman class, and 16 of them will be in my History of St. Louis class a few years later,” Werner said. “It just shows that they trust I’ll lead them the right way.” Werner teaches several periods of World History 1 and also teaches a History of St. Louis elective class. “What I love most about the job is not knowing what each day is going to bring,” Werner said. At the beginning of each class, Werner outlines specific “learning goals” he has for that period. Additionally, he approaches teaching in a fun and energetic way. “I want to see students happy,” Werner said. - N.B.
1. Paul Hoelscher (Gwyneth Henke). 2. Kurtis Werner (Gwyneth Henke). 3. Yorba JohnsonMcQueary (from Yorba Johnson McQueary). 4. Miranda Rubin (from Miranda Rubin).
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yorba johnson mcqueary, meramec teacher “When I was in second grade, I was convinced I was going to be a pediatrician,” Yorba Johnson McQueary, a third grade teacher at Meramec Elementary School, said. “I knew I loved kids, but I thought, ‘I don’t want to see kids when they’re sick! I want to see kids when they’re healthy and happy and having a great time.’ So, I was like, ‘I’ll be a teacher.’” McQueary began working as a fourth grade teacher at Meramec in 2007 and moved to third grade the following year. Aside from teaching her class of 20, McQueary is a member of the professional development committee, although she says her involvement has lessened this year on account of her daughter Moira, born in August. “Any time there needs to be someone that steps up to the plate, I’m always happy to just jump in there,” McQueary said. “I’m never afraid to do that.” McQueary admires her mother, Evelyn Johnson, also a teacher - “she’s a woman I’ll never be” - and her colleagues. “Just watching other teachers with their students is very inspiring to me,” she said. “I think a leader is someone who listens, who has a vision and can share that vision in such a way that other people see the vision and want to follow,”McQueary said. “They also are individuals that can adjust.” Most importantly, she believes, anyone has the potential to be a leader. “I think that everyone is a leader, and I think that it’s hard sometimes to know when you are leading, or identifying, ‘Oh, this is a moment where I’ve stepped into a leadership role,’” McQueary said. “Acknowledge and applaud yourself for the great things you’re doing.” - A.B.
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miranda rubin, senior Senior Miranda Rubin is the religious and cultural vice president of the Midwestern region of NFTY, the North American Federation for Temple Youth, a national Reform Jewish youth organization. When did you decide that you wanted to go for the position? One thing NFTY is really good at is trying to bring younger underclassmen leaders up to the forefront. My freshman year, my temple hosted a regional event and all the freshman of my youth group - about 10 of us - planned a program and ran it for everyone … I enjoyed leading groups of discussions and activities almost more than I enjoyed participating in them, so I thought it would be really cool to join the board. I chose my position specifically because I’ve always connected to the religious aspect. What do you like about being a leader in NFTY? It’s a very inclusive environment. I really like being able to help create that for everyone else there; it’s really rewarding. What is the hardest thing you have had to learn about leadership? It’s more of a confidence thing. You have to show that you’re confident, and then everyone else will respond to that. If you stand there and look nervous, people aren’t going to respect you as a leader. What’s special about your role? I think it’s great because obviously the Jewish people are outnumbered in the world, but research shows that people who are Jewish as young people are more likely to be Jewish as adults and to raise their children Jewish. I just think it’s a really beautiful culture and tradition. I love it. A lot of people say, “Oh, I’m not really religious,” but it’s not about being religious as much as it’s about being a part of the culture. And I’m really glad that I get to help other people find the happiness and the good parts of being religious as a high schooler. Anything to add? If you can find something that you’re passionate about, participating in it is one thing, but to be able to give back to it and help it grow and flourish is one of the most rewarding things. - G.H.
marybeth sullivan, Library Assistant
mitch elliott, senior Mitch Elliott is the captain of the basketball team and a class officer for the senior class. He is looked at as a student leader in the CHS community. With your activities, what do you do to try to keep a positive atmosphere? I just try to, even if it is a mundane or boring task, you always have to seem like you’re really into it and I think other people kind of follow your lead ... specifically in basketball there have been times where we’ve come to practice knowing that, “this is going to be a hard practice, we are going to run a lot,” and I think if you just go out there with a positive attitude people will follow your example and they’ll work hard and hopefully be happy. So leadership top to bottom makes other people step up? It’s definitely a trickle down effect, that’s for sure. Who are some leaders you have looked up to? Coach Nelke, Coach Luhning and Coach Lofton, all have been great leaders ... this is going to sound cheesy but even my dad, he’s been a great inspiration. He’s always been a very good leader so I try to follow what he does. And then, of course, Charlie Harned who, my freshman year was an amazing leader, and then my sophomore year, Tyler Walker. Although he was mainly just crazy athletic, I truly believe he was the glue that kept that team together. As a class officer, what do you have to do to be a strong presence? The main thing is definitely organization. And Reeves [Oyster], who is the president, definitely helps with that … just making sure that everyone knows what’s happening when and where. What’s the biggest message of leadership that you would like to pass on to the people after you? Just, even as freshmen, sophomores, don’t be afraid to step up and voice your opinion, because even freshmen and sophomores can be leaders. - P.B.
How long have you worked in the Clayton School District? Do you have any favorite memories? It’s been a long time. Well, I started at Clayton High School and worked there for several years, and then I came to Captain Elementary where I’ve worked ever since, for 21 years. As far as favorite memories, there are so many. I’ve built relationships with great students and great teachers and have cherished so many memories, it’s hard to choose just a few. What are some of your responsibilities? I help manage the library, help assist students in getting what they need, whether it be research or a book, etc. I make sure teachers can come into the library with their classes and use the resources we have in the library. How do you make the library a place where students feel comfortable? I think and really hope our students feel safe and comfortable in the library. We do everything we can to accomplish that. The environment, I think, is one that lets students make decisions and learn. I love to pass on my passion for learning with the students and they seem to pick up on that. What is the most fulfilling thing about your job? In general, making an impact in the students’ lives. Many probably don’t realize it as elementary school students, but helping them develop skills or develop the love for learning, things that they can use in their future, is the most fulfilling thing. Knowing I’ve made a difference is the best part. As support staff, you don’t always consider yourself a leader, and I’ve never really thought of myself in that way, but when you’re helping those around you, you’re being a leader. You know, no matter what, we all have places we can lead. -- N.B.
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1. Mitch Elliot (Katie Warnusz-Steckel). 2. Robert Laux (Gwyneth Henke). 3. Marybeth Sullivan (Marybeth Sullivan). 4. Evelyn Cohen (Evelyn Cohen). 5. John Ryan (Gwyneth Henke).
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john ryan, chs teacher John Ryan has been an English teacher at CHS for 19 years and sponsors the student-run WORKS literary/arts magazine. He is also the high school’s National Education Association representative and a member of the Personal Relations Council, which brings together administrators and teachers for discussion and collaboration. What made you interested in teaching? I come from teachers, actually. Both my parents taught in the 1960’s … I kind of had it in the blood. It’s always been part of the culture of our family. What is your vision for CHS? We’re always going to be in changing times, but I believe in certain traditions that are timeless, and one of those is scholarship. I really think that thinking deeply and carefully about your subjects, about your life--that’s always valuable. As much as I can foster that in my interactions with people, that’s what I strive for. What is the hardest part about being a leader within the classroom? I know everybody comes in every day with different preoccupations, not always about the subject at hand. My role every day
and in every class is to try to find the point of interest with every student. I want them to be in that moment, even if it’s just for a couple of minutes. That’s very challenging. What is the hardest part about being a leader among the faculty? It’s not that different, actually. Because we tend to be very isolated from one another on a day to day basis, that can breed misunderstanding, sometimes mistrust. When we step back, we have to realize that we’re all here for a common purpose, and that is to educate students … I hope in my interactions, especially with people outside our department, I make it clear that I value them and their contribution, and I hope they feel the same. There’s a shared vision. Who is your role model for leadership? Abraham Lincoln. I love that he was this ferocious intellect and was largely self-taught. I’ve had opportunities for good formal education, but some of the best opportunities for learning have come through my own experiences and my own reading. And I also admire that he was very pragmatic and moderate in his thinking. I think, especially in these times, we need that kind of leadership. - G.H.
There’s a shared vision.
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-john ryan
robert laux, SWIM COACH From Olympic Trial finalists to beginners, coach Rob Laux has worked with many types of swimmers. Laux swam through college and was a captain at Truman State. He has been coaching since 1987, was the head coach for Clayton’s boys’ swim team the past three years and also works with the club Flyers Aquatic Swim Team (FAST). Through the course of his coaching career, one constant has remained: he is always working to get better. “As programs grew and became more successful, I was constantly looking for ways to continue the improvement,” Laux said. As a coach, leadership is essential for Laux. He sees his role, however, as only one of many elements of a strong team. “In the most successful programs that I have been part of, I considered myself as a coach to be one of several super important cogs in a system that has to work together.” On his teams, Laux tries to foster a welcoming atmosphere. He feels that this type of environment can lead to more growth as a team. “Any competitive swim team, the goal is to get better,” he said. “The goal is to compete. But having that strong sense of team and community can help. Those things can go hand in hand.” In his years as a coach and a leader, Laux has learned countless lessons. He feels that he has grown as a leader and a coach and is continuing to improve to this day. “It’s important to have a clear plan and communicate a clear plan. It’s important to balance tradition and trying new things,” he said. “It’s important to always be learning.” - P.B.
evelyn cohen, volunteer Evelyn Cohen is a proud longtime Clayton resident. Involved is an understatement to describe the role she has had in the Clayton community. Cohen’s involvement in community service stems from following after her mother , a former Red Cross worker. “I was very proud of her work and because of it, I am very involved in community service,” Cohen said. Throughout her childhood living in Clayton, Cohen participated in more than a dozen major community service projects, and was president of a community service organization then known as the National Council of Jewish Women. Cohen’s work around the community has always been driven by service. When the AIDS crises broke out in the 1990’s, Cohen started an organization called Doorways, which provided housing for those affected by the tragic disease. Her work at the organization spans two decades. To this day, the organization still exists and continues to serve thousands of patients each year. “I find something that interests me, and get involved,” Cohen said. Recently, Cohen has been involved in running a Clothing Donation Service throughout the Ferguson School District. “We have 12 closets around the city. Once a year, children that qualify can come and pick out a whole new wardrobe,” Cohen said. “I’m very lucky to have passion for things,” Cohen said. “My biggest passion is to help make the world a better place.” Cohen, her husband and children all went to Clayton High School. “We have a long history at Clayton. I think it’s the best school,” Cohen said. “Clayton has always been on the cutting edge, and I hope it stays there.” - N.B.
SKATING AHEAD
(Photo from Globe archives)
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The hockey team has started strong in 2014-2015. by PETER BAUGH fter an early season game against a strong Whitfield squad, senior Ben Tamsky knew that he was on a special hockey team. Going into the second period, the Greyhounds were down two goals before rallying for a 7-3 win. “I was really impressed with the way that we handled ourselves and came back with the resilience that we did,”
Tamsky said. Tamsky has been one of the team leaders on the 12-3-3 hockey team, a great rebound from a rough 2013-2014 season. He feels that the main difference between this year’s team and last year’s is depth. “Everyone this year is doing their role and doing it successfully,” he said. Sophomore Max Hunter has had a breakout season, leading the Suburban Central with 32 goals and 51 points. Hunter is fourth in the entire St. Louis area in goals. Additionally, Hunter and Tamsky feel that senior Clayton Harris has really stepped up as the team’s goalie this season. “This year he’s been working hard, and he’s gotten a lot better. He’s been playing really good, and its a big part of why we are winning so many games,” Hunter said. Senior Cooper Durham has also been a huge part of the team’s success. He is one of Clayton’s top defenders and has ten assists this year. Juniors Ethan Alter, Billy Heil and Blake Trivundza have also put together impressive seasons. Since hockey is not technically a school sponsored sport, players from other schools have been able to play with Clayton. Strong seasons from senior defenseman Joe Martin (University City), senior defenseman Ryan
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Boatright (Parkway North) and junior forward Derek Stoehner (Parkway North) have given the Greyhounds much more depth as a team. “They’re all upperclassmen and they’ve all played hockey for a long time, so it just brings more experience,” Tamsky said. One of the season’s most exciting moments was a 2-1 victory over the Ladue Rams. Hunter and Alter scored in the win. “It was close the whole way through and we worked hard and grinded it out in the last few minutes to hold on to our 2-1 lead. It was very exciting to finally beat them after losing to them twice last year,” Hunter said. Another fun element of the season for Tamsky has been playing with David, his freshman brother. Despite long careers in hockey, this is the first time both Tamskys have been on the same team. “It’s been really special,” Ben Tamsky said. “He and I have both played hockey for most of our lives.” David Tamsky and Jack Hollocher are the two freshmen on the team, and both have made strong contributions. “Both my brother and Jack have gotten respectable playing time for freshmen. They’ve contributed well for their roles,” Tamsky said. “I’ve been impressed with both of them. In stressful situations they have come through with the rest of our team and don’t freak out like some freshmen would.” Going forward, the Clayton team hopes to make a run at the Wickenheiser Cup. The Wickenheiser Cup is the second highest playoff bracket, and Tamsky feels that the team is up for the challenge. “I think as a team,” he said, “we could really surprise a lot of people in the playoffs if we play our game and don’t get too wrapped up in the stress of playoffs.”
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SHOOTING FOR STATE
AT H
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PROF
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Senior Ralph Bellamy has turned heads on the basketball court and has big goals for the Clayton team.
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by BRIAN GATTER
t’s hard to miss 6-foot-5, 205-pound CHS senior Ralph Bellamy both on and off the court. Off the court he is an obvious leader with a contagious smile. On the court he is one of the most athletic and explosive players in CHS basketball history. Bellamy, however, tries to stay humble and focuses on his team goals this season. “My goals are for the team to come together as one and really make it far in Districts,” he said. “I try and focus on that one goal and that’s getting to Columbia: to state.” Bellamy also has some personal goals that he hopes to achieve this season, “I feel like I’ve been trying to improve on my outside game, handles, my speed up and down the court, court vision and assists.” The 6-foot-5 senior also talked about the leaders on the team as well as who he personally looks up to. “On the team I look up to Mitch [Elliott], because he is actually a leader. He is someone that I would like to be like on and off the court.” Bellamy also recounts his favorite memory that came from earlier this season during a game against Miller Career Academy in the MICDS holiday tournament. “The best memory would have to be this year when Armaan [Watkins] hit the buzzer beater to win us the game,” Bellamy said. “That just really took it over the edge for us as a team.” Bellamy is looking forward to playing basketball after this year in college, possibly on a Division One team. “My recruiting process is going well. I haven’t committed to anyone yet, but I’m trying to wait and see what offers I can get and what I can do before signing day,” he said. Although Bellamy has not committed to any school yet, he has caught the attention of local big names in the St. Louis basketball world. Saint Louis University basketball radio broadcaster Earl Austin Jr. had high praise for Bellamy during a game with Timberland. Austin Jr. tweeted, “Clayton has one of the area’s most impressive athletes in SR southpaw Ralph Bellamy. Explosive.”
16.7
points per game
184 points
73
rebounds (as of Jan. 11)
photo by Katherine Sleckman sports
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GIRLS’ BASKETBALL UPDATE by PETER BAUGH
Senior Reeves Oyster stood on the free throw line during a game against Whitfield. She looked at the basket before nailing a free throw to give Clayton the lead with less than a minute remaining. Clayton held on to win 41-39. Oyster is one of the team’s captains and has had a strong season with the Greyhounds. The team earned a second place plaque in Clayton’s early season tournament. The team record is 5-6, but the Hounds have had to play a tough schedule against area powerhouses such as MICDS and Westminster. Oyster and senior Ashley Johnson are co-captains for the team, under the leadership of Coach Steve McFall. Sophomore Brooke Jones leads the team with 117 points, averaging 13 points per game. Jones was injured for the majority of last season, but has bounced back strong for the Greyhounds. Sophomore Tyra Edwards currently leads the Greyhounds in assists. Johnson and Oyster each have 16 steals, tying for the team lead. Other strong performances have come from sophomores Erin Elliott and Claire Millet. Both are newcomers to the varsity team and have played well. Some key remaining games are those against Villa Duchesne, Ladue and John Burroughs. “We’re coming out of the toughest part of our season,” Oyster said. “All of our upcoming games should be close until the end.”
Reeves Oyster in a 41-39 Greyhound win over Whitfield. (Photo by Katie Warnusz-Steckel)
A NEW BEGINNING by NOAH BROWN
James Abshier at wrestling practice. (Photo by Katherine Sleckman)
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James Abshier has found himself a coaching gig at Clayton. He took the helm as CHS’s new head wrestling coach earlier this school year. Abshier doesn’t lack experience. Not only is he a past wrestler, but he also spent seven years as the head coach at Miller Career Academy, along with one year as an assistant coach at Brentwood. Abshier’s many years of experience have led him to where he is now. “I’ve been known as a guy who can do a lot with little resources,” he said. Abshier is proud of what he’s accomplished so far in his coaching career. The team, despite its small roster size, has started to show results. “Parker Ross has gotten on the medal stand for the first time. Michael Painter has one first place and two silver place medals. Jared Garrett has gold, silver and bronze medals,” Abshier said. “Our novices are showing some promise, too.” Abshier already has high expectations for the team. In the near future, he would like to advance to Columbia: the state tournament. “It’s going to be tough. We’re going to compete in Districts at a higher class level,” Abshier said. “We’re okay with that.” In the long term, the team looks to “build up numbers and expand the culture of the team,” Abshier said.
As the new coach, Abshier notices and looks to build upon Clayton’s great wrestling history. “My good friend Jack Durham won his state championship at Clayton. Clayton was one of the great wrestling programs in the ‘90s,” Abshier said. “My goal is to have the same type of reputation.” Abshier believes that the sport of wrestling does a lot for those participating in it. “There is no sport that holds you more accountable for your actions as much as wrestling does,” he said. “In football, if you miss a block, someone can pick you up. In basketball, if you miss the shot, someone can get the rebound. In wrestling, it’s totally different.” Abshier plans to stick around and has enjoyed his time at Clayton thus far. “I’m having a great time,” he said. “The ceiling is really high for this program. We just need some time to develop it.” However, Abshier realizes that a talented team is only one part of the puzzle. He noted that the team dynamic is still adjusting, and that nothing would be possible without the help of Joe Day, the team’s assistant coach. The new coach couldn’t possibly be more hopeful for the team’s future. “Keep an eye out,” Abshier said. “These guys are going to do some great things.”
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THE
CRAZY SPORTS MOMENT
OF THE MONTH by KEVIN ROSENTHAL
Armon Watkins dribbles the ball during a game. (Lee Laskowski) It was absolute bedlam. The entire CHS boys’ basketball team stormed the court at the MICDS Invitational Basketball tournament after watching the shot every basketball player dreams of making: the buzzer beater. The Hounds battled against Miller Career in a tightly contested game filled with excitement and many lead changes. With four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Hounds trailed by 2 points with possession of the ball. Senior Mitch Elliott passed the ball out to sophomore Armon Watkins, and with time expiring, Watkins drilled a three point shot for the win. “I immediately got excited,” Watkins said. “It felt great. My whole team and all the fans ran onto the court.” Not everyone was initially sure, however, that Watkins released the ball before time expired. “First, I was worried that he did not get the shot off in time...that’s what instantly went through my mind,” head coach Mike Nelke said. But the Hounds’ worries were quickly alleviated when it became clear that the shot counted. Everyone on the team was exhilarated. The win did not come easily to the Hounds, and although the game was tied at half and after three quarters, the Hounds trailed by nine points with 1:29 remaining. “We battled back, and Armon making a game winner was the cherry on top of the win,” Elliott said. Nelke did not lose faith in his team, and urged the Hounds to maintain tenacity and to fight for the win,
even though the Greyhounds were trailing late into the game. “I think [the win] showed great resiliency for our program,” Nelke said. Watkins, even though he didn’t have any points in the game before the buzzer beater, was optimistic that he could make a game-winning shot under pressure. He stood poised as he held the ball, ready to shoot the three that would propel his team to victory. “The fact that the coach had me on the court and that Mitch had the trust and confidence in me gave me the green light,” Watkins said. Not only did Watkins’ buzzer beater secure a victory against Miller Career, but the shot also provided monumental momentum and inflated morale to the team going forward. “After the shot went in and we got the win, we felt we could have more big wins in our future,” Watkins said. The Hounds lost their following two games at the MICDS tournament, but followed those losses with a huge win at John Burroughs. The Hounds record is currently a respectable 6-4. The buzzer beater signifies a tremendous stride for the Hounds as a whole. Watkins’ shot exemplifies how basketball is truly a team effort, and that in order to win games, all players on the team play invaluable parts. Nelke and Elliott trusted Watkins to take the shot for the win, and in return, Watkins proved his dependability. “All season, we have been talking about trust,” Elliott said. “After that shot, I think the team realized we can trust anyone in high pressure situations.”
Photos by Emily Braverman
Athlete Eats
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by ELISE YANG and KEVIN ROSENTHAL
thlete Eats, a lively, health-conscious restaurant located on historic Cherokee Street, allows everyone to “feel like a pro” by offering customers fresh and hardy options. The menu features organic brunch and lunch choices, as well as a variety of natural juices and smoothies. The restaurant is sure to appeal to any type of health nut, as the menu offers Glutenfree and Paleo-friendly selections. We were first drawn to the restaurant because of its name, and we were curious to find out if the name truly encapsulated the ambiance of the eatery. When we approached Athlete Eats, we were stupefied by our surroundings. A sense of unfamiliarity encompassed the area as we took in the sights of Benton Park, where Athlete Eats is located. Cherokee Street is heavily influenced by the people who live nearby, and an array of flea markets, stores and ethnic restaurants border the restaurant. When we entered, we were greeted by an unwelcoming hostess who asked us what we wanted to eat. Our first impression of the amiability of the restaurant was not positive, but we were impressed by the decor. It gave off a rustic feel--the shelves around us held wheat grass and mason jars containing bee pollen. The only seating was about twenty lustrous stools at a bar made out of rich mahogany wood. The menu was underwhelming in the sense that there were only a few options, but each meal choice was very original and featured food combinations that we had never before encountered. Our taste buds were ambitious to discover a unique flare of organic food in several specific fusions. We ordered the Naan-wich, a wholesome sandwich with arugula, goat cheese, tofu and tomato jam in between two pieces of plush Indian naan bread. We also tried the Bibimbap bowl, which has a cauliflower rice base, shiitake mushrooms, pickled carrots and pork tenderloin. It’s topped with a fried egg. To drink, we indulged in the “Hugo’s Jugo,” a fresh juice consisting of pineapple, green apple, watermelon and orange. The Jugo, while delicious, took a long time to make, and we had to remind the unfriendly employee multiple times that we had ordered the drink. Finally, halfway
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through our meal, we watched the preparation of the juice. It was refreshing to drink a juice that only consisted of natural ingredients. Overall, we were satisfied by our meal, and the food lived up to the premise of the restaurant. The Naan-wich was a savory blend of flavors that provided protein from the zesty tofu, and the crunchy arugula created an edible juxtaposition with the creamy goat cheese. The Bibimbap bowl was an earthy balance of carefully cultivated ingredients with a spicy burst of chili sauce. All of the food was fresh and nutritious, but rather pricey. All entrees cost 10-13 dollars. Although the employees were discourteous, the vibe of the restaurant was invigorating, and eating at Athlete Eats is a great way to indulge yourself in guilt-free fresh food.
(Photo by Universal Pictures/TNS/MCT)
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Unbroken
by HARRY RUBIN
he book is usually better than the movie. “Unbroken” is no exception. “Unbroken,” based off Laura Hillenbrand’s nonfiction book, tells the story of Louie Zamperini. Zamperini, played by British actor Jack O’Connell, was an Olympic runner and World War II veteran. The film opens with Louie flying in a B-24 over Japanese land. In the middle of the battle, the scene flashes back to Louie’s delinquent behavior as a child. More periodic flashbacks show how Louie became a track star and Olympic athlete. Once Louie takes off on his final flight, the flashbacks inexplicably end. While on a military base, after running his fastest mile ever, Louie is immediately called on to fly on a search and rescue mission. His plane crashes into the ocean and he is left stranded on a raft with Phil (Domhnall Gleeson) and Mac (Finn Wittrock). During this lengthy portion of the film, the three men fight sharks, catch food and rainwater and try to get rescued. Mac dies as the men have food and water. Phil and Louie are eventually found by a Japanese ship. While in a series of POW camps, Louie faces off against a prison guard known as “The Bird” (Japanese musician Miyavi) and gets beaten intensely multiple times. In a much advertised scene, Louie is forced to hold a wooden beam at gunpoint. This scene differs from the book, where Louie was not threatened with death for dropping the beam, only beaten. Overall, “Unbroken” is a pretty dull film. Whenever Louie is feeling downtrodden, whoever he is sitting next to happens to have the perfect inspirational saying. For example, Louie’s brother, Pete (Alex Russell), advises, “If you can take it, you can make it.” These cliched inspirational quotes are surprising, considering the film was co-written by the Coen
brothers, who are known for writing such great lines as “that rug really tied the room together.” The film lacks real moments of tension or a climax. In the aforementioned beam scene, the closest thing to a climax, all the prisoners stop and watch Louie hold the beam for hours and chant, “Do it, Louie,” while in actuality, there was nothing he could do that he wasn’t already doing. The only thing that keeps a viewer from dismissing “Unbroken” as a muddle of formulaic Hollywood cliches is the fact that the story is true. While many incredible RELEASED December 25 aspects of the true story are inRATING PG-13 cluded in the film, some of the DIRECTOR Angelina Jolie best parts are left out, such as CAST Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Louie’s personal meeting with Gleeson, Miyavi Hitler, and his postwar fall into RUNNING TIME 137 Minutes alcoholism and obsession with “The Bird.” Other parts of interest that are left out are an encounter with a Japanese spy who Louie knew back in California and “The Bird’s” years spent in hiding. Angelina Jolie, who directed the film, spends too much time on some topics and breezes through others too quickly as a way to move the story along. In one scene, a Japanese official tells the men of Roosevelt’s death, and almost immediately, without any context, a new day is shown. Despite its many flaws, “Unbroken” could have been much worse. While the film is visually interesting, it isn’t as engaging as a story that incredible should have been.
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Big Eyes by TARA WILLIAMS
“Big Eyes” is a biopic regarding the “kitsch” artist Margaret Keane, and her infamous husband Walter. The film was directed and produced by Tim Burton. Burton has produced and directed several classically spooky films, his most famous include “The Nightmare before Christmas” and “Beetlejuice.” Burton strays away from his typical dark humor in this film, which exposes a more personal style of directing and producing. Amy Adams stars as Margaret Keane, the protagonist of the story. Adams is fantastic as Keane, and it is clear that she felt a connection with Keane through her emotional and evocative performance. Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz plays the charming, villainous character of Walter Keane. The central plot concerns Walter Keane and the fame that arose out of “his” famous paintings of children with haunting, large eyes. Walter takes the credit for all of Margaret’s paintings, justifying his plagiarism by saying “people won’t buy lady art.” Tim Burton cleverly uses irony and hyperbole to ensure that Margaret Keane has the last laugh. Some scenes in the film, however, are a little drawn out. The first half of the movie has a grim, haunting mood, and the real reasoning behind Margaret Keane’s paintings is glossed over. Two original Lana Del Rey songs are featured in the film during critical parts. Rey’s haunting vocals match the tone of the scenes perfectly. Overall, “Big Eyes” is brilliantly cast, has a stellar sound track and an interesting plot. Adam’s performance is outstanding, but the immense manipulation that Walter has over her character is frustrating for audience members. Also, be sure to keep your eyes peeled during the film, as the original artist Margaret Keane makes a cameo appearance in a critical scene.
Official Movie Poster
Insomnia Cookies by LUCY COHEN Insomnia Cookies is a nationwide cookie bakery with its first St. Louis location in the Central West End on North Euclid Avenue. The store, which is designed for the late night cookie craving, opened in October. An additional location is scheduled to open in the Loop mid-January. Insomnia Cookies is not just an ordinary cookie bakery. What makes this place unique is that, in addition to its storefront operation, it also makes late night deliveries of cookies to its customers. As I walked in, I was immediately greeted by the sweet smell of freshly baked cookies. There was no one else in the shop, so I was helped right away. Immediately, I noticed the container of cookies behind the glass. There were the traditional types of cookies like sugar cookie and chocolate chunk, but there were also some unusual types like S’mores Deluxe and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup. I tried the Double Chocolate Mint Cookie, Sugar Cookie and the M&M Cookie. The cookies were still warm as if they had just come out of the
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oven when they were handed to me. The favorite cookie was by far the Sugar Cookie. The cookie itself seemed a bit under cooked, which was perfect. There was still a doughy after-taste. The flavor was spot on with the right amount of sweetness. The Sugar Cookie even smelled fresh. The Double Chocolate Mint Cookie was very chocolatey, and wasn’t as minty as I would have liked. To my surprise, the cookie was a bit crunchy compared to the doughy sugar cookie. In addition to cookies, Insomnia Cookies also sells ice cream. After I tried the cookies, I sampled the birthday cake ice cream, which had a lot of sprinkles. Insomnia Cookies has only a three mile delivery radius. The deliveries don’t start until later in the afternoon and run until 3 a.m., but the store opens before noon. Next time I don’t want to leave my house and want a late night cookie, I know who to call.
Wild
by GRACE HARRISON
When I hear the name Reese Witherspoon, I think of pink, a yapping chiwawa dog and the legendary blond hair from the 2001 film, “Legally Blonde.” And with this image of Witherspoon in my head, the film “Wild,” directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and produced by Witherspoon herself, left me in complete shock. To say the least, Witherspoon was definitely not bending and snapping in this film. “Wild” is derived from the true story of Cheryl Strayed through her memoir, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.” Written in 2012, the novel inspired Vallée to create an emotionally intense film that was released on Dec. 5. Reese Witherspoon stars in the film as Strayed herself, accompanied by the exceptional Laura Dern as Strayed’s mother, Bobbi. The film opens with a gut wrenching scene of Strayed (Witherspoon) injured and hopelessly alone on the thousand mile Pacific Crest Trail. The story jumps from the hike to previous years to reveal important details of Strayed’s broken life. These flashbacks slowly reveal the purpose behind
Big Hero 6
the painful and grueling hike Strayed decided to take. Through flashbacks, the audience follows Strayed’s heartbreaking struggle of dealing with an abusive father figure, her mother’s cancer, heroin use and a divorce that all contribute to Strayed’s downward spiral to a life she can no longer bear to live. It was at her lowest point that Strayed decides to take the long and grueling hike to rediscover herself and to discover how to forgive. In the film, Witherspoon takes her acting to a dark and painful level she had not yet really discovered yet. Despite the hesitancy of many critiques, Witherspoon pulled through and told Strayed’s story in the most authentic and spiritual way. Ultimately, I was impressed by Witherspoon’s success in such an intense movie. The beautiful and yet heartbreaking story was told perfectly through Vallée’s direction, and allowed the audience to have a spiritual and emotional experience that certainly gave me a new appreciation for forgiveness.
by ALBERT WANG
It’s already been a whole year since Disney’s release of the ever-popular “Frozen.” Once again, Disney takes a different approach by using the Japanese-inspired “Big Hero 6” comics from the Marvel Universe. Compared to the original comics, many of the characters have been changed, and some are even removed. Nevertheless, the movie creates a cast of unique characters with interesting and different personalities. The story centers around a child genius named Hiro, who prefers to make miniature robots to battle with instead of using his intelligence for science.
Official Movie Poster
Hiro’s world turns upside down once again when the building is suddenly on fire and kills his brother Tadashi. Afterwards, Hiro discovers that a masked man has been secretly mass producing his magnetic pieces and using them to fight. In order to catch the masked man and stop his evil use of Hiro’s invention, Hiro designs unique battle suits for all of Tadashi’s friends and even for Baymax, Tadashi’s robot invention. Together the gang fight against the masked man and even reveal many secrets along the way. Being a Disney movie, the animation is phenomenal. All of Hiro’s battle suit designs for all of Tadashi’s friends look futuristic and creative in the way that they incorporates each friend’s research into the suit. The most creative aspect of the movie is how even though Hiro, Tadashi’s friends and the masked man all have “superpowers,” all of those superpowers originates from scientific research, as opposed to many other superheroes who miraculously gain their superpowers. The story is simple enough to follow with spots of humor all along the way, and yet it still manages to be quite emotional at times, especially when showing the effects of Tadashi’s death on all of Hiro’s decisions throughout the movie. It is not easy to place humor and sorrow at just the right places in a movie to have those emotions not feel awkward or out of place, but “Big Hero 6” manages those emotions well. Even the cheerful and carefree group of Tadashi’s friends show that they too can have a sad and caring side as well. All of the characters’ sadness after Tadashi’s death, Hiro’s anger at the man who started the fire, and Hiro’s mistakes made because of his anger, all come to show how human these characters are. Other than Tadashi’s friends, Baymax becomes a well-developed character as well. At first, Baymax is only a huggable and clumsy machine that does whatever he is programmed to do. But as the story progresses, even he starts to become more human, with his motivation to help people and his growing bond with Hiro. Combining a gang of creative personalities with a story filled with surprises and a lot of emotions, “Big Hero 6” can be a friendly film for both younger and older viewers. review 35
Mockingjay Part I
(Official movie poster)
by ZACHARY SORENSEN
In 6th grade literacy class, we learned about the general arc of a story with the exposition, leading to a conflict, then to the climax and finally the resolution. This is what we expect from most stories, and indeed what we received from the past two “Hunger Games” movies. However, the movie executives, in their infinite wisdom, decided to divide up the third book into two films. As a result, I went into the movie pessimistically, with the butchered three-part “Hobbit” series in mind. Fortunately, I was not vindicated. I really liked the movie despite what many would view as an unnecessary story division, given that most people know the ending anyway. This movie continued the trend of its predecessors by becoming even darker than the previous films, as gritty as they were. It also had a greater political focus by showing the propaganda arms race between the Capital and the rebel District 13. After the destruction of District 12 and the kidnapping of Peta and Annie, which occur after the Games, director Francis Lawrence focuses on developing the characters of Katniss, Gale and Finnick. But this time it isn’t a circus. There were no Hunger Games, flaming dresses or fake smiles. However, more lives are on the line than ever before.
In the film, we are also introduced to a number of new characters such as the president of District 13 (Julianne Moore) and her propaganda advisor (the now deceased Philip Seymour Hoffman), both of which made excellent additions. Another standout difference was the lack of fight sequences. Only one really comes to mind, and it appears in the trailer, when Katniss shoots down a plane with a single explosive arrow. Even so, I felt no real dissatisfaction. The tension of somewhat tense and uncomfortable scenes filled the need for action. Of course, the special effects and set craft for the movie were excellent as one would expect, considering not only the franchise but also from the 125 million dollar budget. Ultimately, my main complaint was that a few details seemed to be unnecessary, like the epic cat rescue during the bomb raid with the cliche lastminute escape through closing blast doors. Nevertheless, I think this film was an excellent lead up to the final part of the story. Even if he added a bit of artificial fluff to certain parts, Lawrence ultimately succeeded in directing the movie. The new actors added a degree of class to the movie and certainly filled their respective roles well. Furthermore, minor imperfections in the story were only slightly annoying, not egregious. I give it eight out of ten stars.
The Imitation Game
(Official movie poster)
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The title of “The Imitation Game” is just as perplexing as the movie itself. The film, based on a true story, takes the viewer through the life of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), a British math prodigy. Cumberbatch portrays Turing’s character brilliantly, as the protagonist attempts to crack the “unbreakable” German Enigma. Turing’s life as a code breaker takes place at Bletchley Park, where he works alongside the famous code breaker Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode) as well as the gifted Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley). Rather than taking a more traditional approach, Turing designs an unorthodox machine that can counter every code emitted by the Enigma. The film pushes the boundaries of the traditional World War II drama to create a fresh new insight on the other aspects of the War. The film takes place in the past, present and future. We see bits of Turing’s childhood. A small and unusually smart kid, he is a victim of school bullies.
by NEEL VALLURUPALLI
But then, Turing discovers Christopher. The two create a strong, everlasting bond that greatly affects the rest of Turing’s actions throughout his life. In the flashbacks of Turing’s childhood, Turing’s secret homosexual life is revealed as well. In the scenes that take place during the War, the focus is on the challenges of being a genius. Turing’s exceptional brilliance creates interesting encounters with the people around him. The film also demonstrates the challenges of being a woman in this era. Joan Clarke is a brilliant and charming woman who is perfect for Turing as he deals with his loneliness during his creation of “Christopher,” the Enigma cracker. This film, a wonderful adaptation of the book “Alan Turing: The Enigma” by Andrew Hodges, is a must-see, and will likely make a big scene at the Oscars in 2015. “The Imitation Game” leaves your mind wizzing as you exit the theater. It is easily one of the best movies of the year.
Eek! Ebola!
Commentary
by MITALI SHARMA Fear decapitates us. I remember discussing this idea with a friend as a joke, but when I look back, I realize that the statement is very true. Fear does indeed decapitate us, and it does a good job of it, too. When in fear, people can begin to lose their minds. Often times, the most prominent fears are fed by the unknown. People only know that something is bad, but not why it is bad. They know that it kills people, but not why it kills people. They know that something is spreading, but not how it is spreading. The craze surrounding the Ebola outbreak is the most recent wave of fear to strike the nation. Without a doubt, it should have been handled differently. Ebola is a virus. It is spread only through contact with bodily fluids. You cannot get the virus through a cough or a sneeze. It is much more likely you would get a cold than you would contract this deadly virus. But, most U.S. citizens did not have the proper expertise in infectious disease to understand Ebola properly. People knew that it was a terrible disease and that an infected person had entered our country. Knowing that the epidemic destroyed nations in West Africa, people were frightened for the United States. They were scared that the virus would spread through the U.S., infect great numbers of people and kill American citizens in a massive epidemic. When the news first started blaring reports of Ebola, most people thought that it was a major risk to our society. Now that they have been informed on what it takes to catch the virus, most have a more realistic view of the risks that the virus poses. Yet still, experts would rate the risk of Ebola becoming an epidemic in the U.S. as nil. Because they have experience with viruses like Ebola, they realize, unlike the media-frenzied public, that this epidemic will most likely not affect our country in the ways that it affected West African countries. In Africa, Ebola spread through bodily fluid contact more than a year ago. The initial outbreak was exacerbated by the fact that many traditional burial rituals of Ebola victims involve living people coming into direct contact with dead bodies. To continue following the tradition, many people attended many burials. Also, when the Ebola patients went to the poorly funded clinics that were available to them, there were not enough resources to care for these patients properly and to treat them in isolation. American media sources played a significant role in exacerbating the fear of Ebola. After the virus hit hard in West Africa and once the first patient was transported to the States, news channels, journalists and other media outlets went wild. This outrageous coverage amplified the problem, not giving the public reassuring facts on the disease but only new information on patients entering the U.S. However, the biggest problem was with the way our government officials handled it. Of course, precautions needed to be taken, but some unnecessarily infringed on the freedom of American citizens, even when they posed no risk to the community. A nurse who took care of Ebola patients, Kaci Hickox, was forcibly quarantined in New Jersey after returning from Africa because of a new policy. She reported to CNN that she was treated inhumanely during this
(Michael McAndrews/Hartford Courant/TNS.) process. Upon her return to the U.S., instead of being praised for helping end the outbreak in Africa, she was forced into fear and confusion and, worst of all, isolated. The New Jersey governor in charge of the policy, Chris Christie, had no second thoughts even after he heard her complaints. Even the Obama administration disagreed with the quarantine policy, but it did nothing to change it. Hickox showed no signs of Ebola and tested negative. She did not have Ebola, yet she was treated this way because of a policy created by politicians who were more interested in catering to public opinion than to science. Officials in New York also overreacted when Craig Spencer, a doctor with Doctors Without Borders, was diagnosed with Ebola after riding the subway. Workers were sent to clean the stations and trains of any bodily fluids but found none. Afterwards, officials announced that the subway was free of Ebola and safe for the public. Free of Ebola? One ride on the subway would not have spread any body secretions or have infected the trains with the virus. If someone riding the subway were to find an Ebola patient’s human waste and eat it regularly then sure, he or she would get the virus. But causing public fear for a danger so small does not make sense. Ebola is certainly a horrible epidemic. It is, of course, important to try to help those infected by it. But overreacting is not the answer to this problem. We should try to help those in the infected African nations. Also, we should encourage the health care workers who have played a huge part in this process, not frighten them and the public. Fear decapitates us. This epidemic decapitated us. But losing our heads over what we do not know is pointless, and it is ridiculous for the media and public officials to encourage this decapitation. If we, as a society, ever encounter a situation like this again, we should handle it differently. Let’s not lose our heads again.
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RE CT IONS
TO THE ASPIRE TEST
In June of 2014, ACT stopped supporting the ACT Plan, a test taken by sophomores in September. They replaced it with the ACT Aspire, but reactions to it were less than welcome.
C
by NICHOLAS LEE
HS sophomore Ben Schneider stared helplessly at his computer as he watched the clock in the corner of the screen count down his remaining time. Schneider was in the middle of the ASPIRE test, an ACT pretest, and was waiting as his next question loaded at a sluggish pace. “Between questions the computer would freeze up and the clock would keep counting,” Schneider said. “Most if not all of the other people in my room were facing similar problems, and we all ran out of time before we were able to finish all of the questions.” Counselor Joyce Bell explained that the new online ASPIRE test replaced the former paper and pencil PLAN and EXPLORE tests in a decision made by the ACT. “They developed an online option, which was really the only option they were offering for a while,” Bell said. “Some schools pushed back and said we need a paper and pencil version, but by then the cost was too much.” Schneider was not the only sophomore became frustrated with the online format of the ASPIRE. In some cases, technical difficulties delayed the start of the tests as much as 30 minutes, forcing some students to forego their breaks. Aside from technical difficulties, many students became frustrated at the online nature of the test. Students complained of headaches and dry eyes from staring at a computer screen, as well as finding it more difficult
Photo by Felix Evans
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to type answers than handwrite them. Some of the new features of the ASPIRE, including questions with drag-and-drop answers, created confusion and annoyance among students. “I’ve spent three or four years having a paper and circling answers that I like. The ASPIRE, was abnormal and the muscle memory wasn’t there,” Schneider said. Other features meant to be helpful, like the countdown clock, agitated students into a state of panic. Even students that did not feel more stressed did feel that the unfamiliar nature of the test impacted their scores. “Maybe it’s just in my head, but I feel like I perform worse on an online test than I would in a handwritten test,” Schneider said With so many difficulties, it seems doubtful that the ASPIRE is a positive step in standardized testing, yet the ACT website claims that the ASPIRE is “an affordable system that can be configured and integrated with school districts today and in the future.” However, Bell says that while the ASPIRE is cheaper for the ACT company, it is unclear whether it is any cheaper for schools to administer. Although purchase of test booklets and rentals of tables were not necessary with the ASPIRE, CHS had to hire additional proctors as well as count out individual tickets that went with every test. Although the overall cost of the ASPIRE is unclear, it is apparent that the ASPIRE is more difficult to administer. While the PLAN test had always been done in one day, the ASPIRE test took up two days, creating a larger disruption in classes. Bell explained that the reason for disruption was because the testing had to take place in two separate shifts, as the bandwidth of Clayton’s computer system could not handle all students at once. However, CHS is lucky to have its current computer system, and many schools are less fortunate.“I’ve talked to other school districts who have even fewer computers than we do, and they have really struggled with figuring out how to make some of these online options available,” Bell said. Also, students at lower income schools have had less experience working with computers. “In other places where they don’t have the same advantages, what does that do?” Bell said. “I’m not sure but I would think that it would give an unfair advantage to students who’ve had more access to the technology.” Despite the many flaws with the ASPIRE, standardized tests moving to an online format seems inevitable. Rumors have surfaced that the ACT test is planning to transition to an online format, with other tests soon to follow. “I think that within the next five years, online will be the way of the future,” Bell said.
Graphic by Audrey Palmer
NEW YEAR, SAME OLD DREAMS
A
by DANIEL CHO
s another new year has begun, many people have set their new resolutions in hopes of fulfilling them. However, the common resolutions now weren’t the same as in the past. Nowadays, many people tend to focus on their appearance and set goals based on that. What the general trend seems to be is that these resolutions reflect lifestyle as a person and contemporary social issues. The most common resolutions as of 2014 were as follows: lose weight, get organized, spend less, save more, enjoy life to the fullest and staying fit and healthy. As we look into the Diary of a 1950’s Housewife, the goals and dreams in the mid-20th century show a few differences to that of the 21st century. Here are the resolutions: peace, in my thoughts through prayer and calmness; patience, with my family, myself and our illnesses; pardon, of others and myself; pause, before action or speech, pause to see and participate in beauty; and prudence, in my finances, diet and time management. Although these were the goals of one housewife, these could be common ones during this time period. In contrasting the two different eras, there is more of a focus towards one’s inner self during the “olden days.” But, in the present, the focus is geared more towards physicality and a more selfish mentality. Interestingly, 1950’s resolutions showed an interest towards the wellbeing of families and of one’s personality. Some similar resolutions that both ages share are that of outer appearance and saving money. These resolutions are often the hardest ones to keep throughout the year, and thus people say them year after year. It makes sense for people to re-use old resolutions if they fail the first time. For example, the most common resolution is to lose weight. We see
a huge spike in gym goers for the first week of the new year. Then what happens? The number of participants plummets as more and more people stop working out. They fail the first year but try again the next. When we look at the differences, there is a substantial amount of resolutions that have changed. So why is there such a huge difference? Well, with the increasing number of things being created, the tendency is to want it. Back in the 20th century, life was simple. There was no worrying about your iPhone cracking, getting the new latest game or stressing out on what filter to use on your photo. Even now we refer to the 1950’s as the “Golden Age.” Since then we’ve gotten more selfish. The fact is that resolutions are hard to achieve. The majority of people that set these goals won’t succeed in any one of them. So why even bother with setting new year’s resolutions? When we set these goals, they drive us towards the direction of success. Although we may not meet these goals the first time through, we live a healthy life of 80 years. We have many chances to meet these goals. What people make the mistake of doing when they set these resolutions is that they don’t take action. Without a mentality of “doing,” there won’t be any success. When we fail our goals after the first week, the majority of us will neglect them and go on. However, that’s not what we should be doing. The people who have the most chances of succeeding are those who try and try again. We might be better off by setting these resolutions more than once a year. So, the lesson learned? Don’t just set new year’s resolutions on Jan. 1st. Set them every month, or, even better, every day.
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Realizing the Ramifications by KEVIN ROSENTHAL
Photo by John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/MCT
O
ne of my favorite parts of St. Louis Rams home football games are the pre-game introductions. A flaring inferno is ignited as 56,000 fans stand to cheer for their favorite players, who run through the tunnel and onto the turf of the Edward Jones Dome. The Dome begins to shake as the sonorous voice of public address announcer Andy Banker fills the stadium. Seemingly, the Rams game on Nov. 30, 2014 would have little to no meaning. The Rams, who were 4-7 and all but eliminated from playoff contention were taking on the Oakland Raiders, who sported an embarrassing 1-10 record entering the contest. Anyone at this Rams game was aware of the little meaning this game held, and most fans only took the trip to the Dome because this could be an opportunity for the Rams to show off against one of the NFL’s worst teams. However, the implications of the contest heightened quickly. Banker’s voice boomed as he broadcast the names of the starting wide receivers for the Rams, Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt. Instead of sprinting through the tunnel as the Rams players usually do, Austin and Britt paused just after appearing on the turf, and raised their hands. Austin and Britt were joined by fellow wide receivers Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens, and tight end Jared Cook. The five Rams players stood near the tunnel with unwavering confidence. The Rams players were aware of the attention that could be caused by their actions, but were surprised at the uproar of anger that arose after the players undertook the simple action of raising their hands. In raising their hands, these Rams players displayed their public support for the protestors of the shooting of Michael Brown, an African American teenager who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. The “Hands Up” action has a deeper meaning besides support of Michael Brown, however. Jared Cook, who spoke in a press conference shortly after his protest, talked about the many constituents of the message the Rams players were attempting to convey. “Hands up, don’t shoot’ is not just a Ferguson thing,” Cook said. “It’s a worldwide thing. It’s a message worldwide that for young adults that you can protest and you can do things peacefully without getting out of line.” Cook was surprised about the backlash from what he and his teammates had considered peaceful protesting. The aspect of the event that baffled Cook the most was how the St. Louis Police Department reacted to the protest by the Rams. In the eyes of Cook, the Rams players simply strove to peacefully prove their point, and were in no way trying to belittle police. “It’s something that we wanted to do for the people in Ferguson and around the world that are protesting peacefully and doing
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things in the community right to help bring Ferguson back and the communities around the world to help raise awareness and help build their communities up,” Cook said. Cook believes the attempted message of the Rams protesters was utterly misinterpreted by the Police. Cook asserts that the actions of the Rams players was not out of line at all, and that he and his teammates were trying to encourage peaceful protests, and in no way intended for their message to come across as disrespectful. Unfortunately for Cook, not everyone was convinced. Two days after the Rams vs Raiders game, which the Rams won 52-0, about 23,000 people joined a Facebook page called “Boycott the St. Louis Rams.” The Facebook page features commentary from people expressing their disgust for the entire St. Louis Rams organization, and even posting photos of their Rams gear which they decided to burn. As a die-hard Rams fan, the “Boycott the St. Louis Rams” Facebook page nauseated me. How, I wondered, could people end their loyalty to an entire franchise just for disagreeing with a protest executed by a few of its players? What I have the most trouble wrapping my head around is the lack of logic in the comments some people made on the Facebook page. Many people who chose to publicly express their desire to boycott the St. Louis Rams did so with the mindset that officer Darren Wilson did not step out of line in his actions against Michael Brown. If one is to argue that the Michael Brown shooting can be justified by our country’s Constitutional approval of guns, then how can one not also support people peacefully exercising their right to free speech? The issue I have with the “Boycott the St. Louis Rams” Facebook page is the inconsistency of the people who participate. The very people who passionately justify Darren Wilson’s actions because of his personal freedom of the Right to Bear Arms are willing to publicly ridicule Rams players for utilizing another personal freedom, their Right to Free Speech. There is a fine line between sports and politics, and when the two topics become interwoven, controversy usually ensues. I can understand the frustration people felt at the Rams players for the protest’s distraction from the football, but to not support the actions of the Rams players would be to not support the basic premise on which our country functions, the Right of Free Speech. The players of the St. Louis Rams who put their hands up when entering the tunnel in no way violated their right to free speech, and therefore, it is unfair to condemn the players for expressing their feelings in an nonviolent, peaceful manner. The protest by the Rams players was an honest plea to stop unnecessary violence and brutality. There was nothing harmful about the actions the Rams players underwent to express their opinion. The Rams players protested with unity and valor, and persisted to prove a point, no matter what the ramifications.
Pride &
Politics by PETER SCHMIDT
I
n the 2012-2013 school year, Peter Shumway, a sophomore at the time, wrote and published a commentary in the Globe defending the legal precedent for banning gay marriage. I recall seeing Shumway in the Globe office nearly every day for two weeks, meticulously revising his article with the help of Globe advisor Erin Castellano. Shumway’s diligence was partly motivated by social pressure: he admitted to me that he knew the story would offend the majority of students, and he wanted to be as sensitive as possible. When the Globe came out in the following week, I saw several students claiming that Shumway was a terrible person and that he hated gay people. Anyone familiar with Peter Shumway will realize the absurdity of those accusations. This anecdote is just one of many situations I’ve seen at CHS. All too often, students outside of the extremely liberal Clayton majority become targets of judgment or resentment for their beliefs. In other words the popularization of a specific political identity at CHS has created a different kind of judgment entirely: many students at CHS confuse political orientation with personal integrity. As a community, we pride ourselves on open-mindedness and tolerance. CHS’ Nondiscrimination policy prohibits any type of harassment or discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age… [or] sexual orientation.” In 2012, the CHS Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) gained so much attention that it prompted a protest from the Westboro Baptist Church. The subsequent counter protest—drawing a crowd of nearly 400 students and CHS alumni—was yet another demonstration of the way our community supports people of various sexual orientations. More recently, our Social Justice Club’s “Think Before You Speak” campaign has used candid student and staff confessions to bring awareness to micro-aggressions—the implicit racial, gender or identity-based judgments that we unknowingly make in everyday conversation. In most ways, our high school community is exceptionally open-minded. Sometimes, however, we bend our political values of inclusion into another more subtle method of exclusion. Peter Shumway was one of the students who experienced this politically biased judgment. But there are many more students who chose not to share their beliefs so publically.
Art by Victoria Yi In a survey conducted by the Globe before the 2012 presidential elections, 20.1 percent of students said they would vote for Republican Mitt Romney and 12 percent identified as Republicans. Politically conservative students are certainly a minority at Clayton. However, that is no reason to discount their beliefs, and even less reason to label them as “ignorant” or “old-fashioned.” In her article ‘Meeting Ann Romney’ from the 2012 November Globe, reporter Audrey Holds said it best. “I don’t speak up often about my political beliefs in school, because the world ‘Republican’ often has judgments and accusations attached to it,” Holds wrote. “Not everyone who identifies with the Republican party identifies with every belief the party has.” Of course, the political division of Democrat and Republican is only one way to look at it. Students at Clayton represent a spectrum of beliefs on racial, political and social issues. All too often, we resent the students who identify with anything but the most extreme liberal beliefs. This issue has become considerably more visible in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown. The killing’s racial undertones and dubious circumstances prompted reactions from nearly every political perspective. The Social Justice Club organized a respectful and admirable protest in mid-November to call attention to the systematic racial oppression that made the shooting so relevant. The protest was, as it should be, widely supported. However, when students posted flyers saying, “Protect our Officers,” they were torn down and vandalized. It seems, therefore, that certain students were too close-minded to accept even the most modest and innocent expression of beliefs. The crisis in Ferguson, for better or for worse, revealed a fundamental hypocrisy in our community. I think it’s time to re-examine our definitions of tolerance. Some of the most intelligent and thoughtful people I know oppose abortion. Some of the kindest people I’ve ever met believe that gay marriage should be illegal. Peter Shumway was one of the first to demonstrate the irony of Clayton’s open-mindedness. Hopefully there will be many more. Only once we learn to separate the personal from the political can CHS become the tolerant community we need it to be.
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Break-ing Backs Many students taking high-level courses have large amounts of homework over winter break. A time designated for relaxation can become a period of stress for students.
by BRIAN GATTER Winter break is a time for family, a time to take vacations and a time for, nominally, a break from the stress of school life. For junior David Brake, it is merely a prolonged homework assignment. Brake is taking two AP level courses along with an honors English class as well as playing basketball on the varsity team. He commented on the stress that comes with trying to balance work with his plans over break, “Just basketball and family life is tough enough to balance by itself, but with homework, it is just too much.” Brake, along with a plethora of other juniors throughout CHS, will have to try and pack in the infamous author project into the two weeks they have for vacation. Although this project is spanned over three and a half months, with the amount of homework in other classes, along with sports, the feat to begin the project during the regular schedule is almost impossible to accomplish. Brake, for example, gets home every weekday with the exception of finals week, at around seven o’clock from basketball practice, he proceeds to do all of his homework, which, on average, takes him about four hours to do. If he doesn’t take any breaks to eat or rest, which is obviously unrealistic, he will be finished by 11 o’clock. Based on data from WebMD, the least number of hours that a teenager should get is eight and already Brake is up an hour
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too late for that. So, on an average night for Brake, how would he possible afford time to do homework not due until after winter break is over? Another student slammed by this overload of homework is junior Gabby Boeger. Just over winter break, she explains her load of homework, “Let’s see, I have to read two history books, write an essay on those books, read three more books for English and finish three critical analyses [of the books].” These are teenage kids. It may sound crazy, but they need time to relax, time to be with their families and friends. They are not machines and if book atop book atop book is piled on them, they can and will break. A teacher may be able to justify the homework they have given with a simple “they chose to take a challenging class” or a “you could crank it out in two or three days,” but it lights a fuse inside of me when I picture a student locked in their room doing homework as their punishment for challenging themselves. There is nothing wrong with giving homework over a long break, but I believe I am speaking for much of the student body when I say, there needs to be some sort of limit.
The Greyhound Race Students at CHS are becoming increasingly motivated by competition. Such a competitive atmosphere can change student’s own approach to their classes.
by MARICLARE GATTER In the rush of a school day there is an impending sense of nervousness and anxiety in the air. In my first semester at CHS, I have come to understand that this feeling originates in our academic competition with one another. In a survey distributed to a diverse group of 30 freshman at CHS, it was clear that competition between students is now the driving factor that motivates students instead of passion for a subject. Some of the most powerful evidence of the survey is this statistic: 87 percent of students say that they compare themselves and their accomplishments to those of their peers. Learning is not about reaching personal goals anymore. Learning is not about being the best that you can be anymore. Learning has become a competition. Learning has come to be about being better than the person sitting next to you at all times. Being the best that you can be or striving to reach your own personal goals are things that sound good. Those are phrases that look good stitched on the pillow that your mom sewed for you, but does the meaning ever really sink in? Based on the 83 percent of students that said they judge their success in school based on their grades, I think it is
safe to assume that personal goals are indeed no longer what most students aim to achieve. Instead, the A has become the goal. 83 percent of students think that a letter on a page represents their time, their effort, their work and their intelligence better than goals that they set for themselves, the amount of time they put into something, or how interested they are about what they are studying. 83 percent of students think that a letter is what defines them. But why? It’s because every day is a race. Every day is a competition, and grades are the way to win. The highest grade or GPA is the way to be smarter than the student sitting next to you. Grades are what defines students because grades are what places us in rank. Grades are what count, so that is how we judge ourselves. We could compare ourselves to our peers based on effort or grit, but instead we have chosen letters, because they are the easiest way to compare our success to that of others. 100 percent of students said that they are asked about the grade that they got on an exam by their peers often. Why are we so insistent on knowing how our peers scored on an exam? Why must we peek at the letters that are circled on each student’s page? The answer is that it is because of comparison and competition. We must know how others did because that is how we are driven. In the end, competition is what is driving students, and passion has taken a back seat.
Photo by Phoebe Yao
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THE TWO S
PRO
tort
by ZACHARY SORENSON
Enhanced interrogation methods are important to our national security and should not be taken off the table when dealing with nonAmerican known threats. In the past, enhanced interrogation has been used to coerce information that otherwise could not have been extracted. This has helped lead to the capture of Osama Bin Laden and a number of other less infamous terrorists. Ethically, it is justifiable in that these terrorists have committed far greater atrocities than torture, indeed killing innocent civilians in the thousands. First and foremost, enhanced interrogation techniques are not torture in the traditional sense. The tactics used by the CIA typically involve wearing down a person primarily psychologically through sleep deprivation, loud music, social isolation, and other similar techniques. Whether or not this is torture is subjective, As Rob O’Neill, the member of Seal Team 6 that shot Osama, argued during a Fox interview, “Torture, if you can walk away from it as soon as it ends, (is) not torture.”. Waterboarding, the main article of contention, is also somewhat of a grey territory. The emotional trauma is apparent, but the physical damage is debatable--at least with healthy people not prone to heart attacks. Furthermore, waterboarding is not widely used, according to both current and former intelligence officials it has only been used on a handful of people. Ethically, it is argued that it is simply not moral to inflict such dramatic and brutal punishments of this nature even on criminals, as if that would cause us to stoop to their level.
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However, these criminals commit far greater atrocities each day than a night of waterboarding. Just recently a school in Pakistan was targeted as members of the Taliban killed 132 children. This was far from the first time the Taliban and other terrorist groups went after unarmed children; 838 attacks on schools were reported between 2009 and 2012 in Pakistan alone. Coming after these terrorists and using whatever tactics are available can save innocent lives both nationally and internationally. If the capture of one can lead to the capture of many potential terrorists then it is well worth the price. Some questions have been raised as to the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation methods in coercing accurate information. However, the use of enhanced interrogation played a large part in the tracking of Bin Laden. The use of these methods against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed lead to the courier that ultimately lead to Bin Laden. These methods were implemented in a time of panic and pain within our country, so it is excellent that we are reviewing their uses in a calmer and less frenzied time. However, although the methods do have merit and are an effective tactic in the war on terror, it is not to say that they should ever be used against suspects who may not know anything at all. To do so would be paramount to forcing a confession of guilt. However, against known terrorists that threaten innocent lives any and all means should be utilized to fight them including enhanced interrogation techniques.
O SIDES OF
ture
CON
by ELLIE TOMASSON
A half naked prisoner, chained to the floor died reportedly of hypothermia in a U.S. detention facility called “Cobalt.” What exactly went on in this prison? It is called “enhanced interrogation,” also known as torture. On December 9, 2014, a Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture, commonly referred to as “The Torture Report,” was released. The 525 page abridged volume of the report which was released to the public was derived from a 6,000 page expanded version that took five years and $40 million to compile. The report details the mistreatment of detainees and questionable interrogation techniques in the detention facility, “Cobalt”, also known as “The Salt Pit” between 2001 and 2006 following 9-11. The CIA used methods such as “rectal rehydration,” forced nudity, stress positions, sleep deprivation, sensory overload, ice water baths and waterboarding, to name a few, in order to extract information. One detainee, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was reportedly waterboarded at least 183 times. Defenders of enhanced interrogation argue that the methods employed by the U.S. government were integral to protecting national security and providing intelligence to prevent future terrorist attacks. According to the torture report, enhanced interrogation techniques were not effective in eliciting information from detainees. The report states that, according to CIA records, 39 prisoners who underwent enhanced interrogation did not provide any intelligence. In addition, a significant amount of the intelligence that was extracted from detainees through enhanced interrogation was fabricated and hindered
(Shane T. McCoy/ZUMA/TNS)
CIA operations. Conversely, a great number of detainees provided valuable intelligence without the influence of enhanced interrogation. This lack of correlation between enhanced interrogation and viable intelligence brings the efficacy of the CIA program into question. Based on the information disclosed in the report, enhanced interrogation is simply not a reliable method of obtaining intelligence from detainees. Even putting all moral reservations aside, enhanced interrogation did not yield significant results and much of the information derived actually impeded CIA investigations. It is absurd for the CIA to use the dehumanizing techniques they did, especially when the results are fruitless. 26 out of the 119 prisoners, 22 percent, were falsely detained. While the CIA’s methods seem tame compared to more radical practices, there is no definitive line to warn the U.S. how far is too far. During the interrogations, many officials were not properly disciplined when they crossed lines, so they could get away with methods not approved by the CIA. This behavior on the part of the American government is unacceptable. The use of torture goes against the central tenets of our country. The U.S. strives to be a defender of good in the world and the CIA’s actions have tainted our reputation. America sets a precedent that other countries follow. With the power of being prominent global force comes the responsibility to be a role model for the rest of the world. By using torture as a method of interrogation, the U.S. runs the risk of setting a standard for other countries to follow and projecting an image that does not reflect the foundations of America.
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Staff Ed
Forgetting Ferguson
As the events of Ferguson fade in time, we must not forget.
C
onstant whispers traveled around the halls of Clayton just a few months ago. “Will we get off of school?” “Will he be indicted?” “Stop speculating, no one knows.” Lately though, there has not been much talk about Ferguson in the halls of CHS. Many students have gone back to their daily lives after the decision not to indict Darren Wilson, fallen back into their repetitive patterns of academics and stress. It does not feel like we are connected to the Ferguson situation anymore. It is not a topic of conversation among students. In barely any classes have their been discussions over the controversy and the ensuing events. As a community, we have not grown from what has happened. As we return back to life as it was before, the underlying issues that sparked this movement have not gone
anywhere. People in Clayton can turn off the news and think about less stressful topics, but these issues remain essential to the future of our society. There are people around the country and in our city who cannot simply shut off their TVs or put down their newspapers. For many Americans, no escape exists from the underlying issues of racism or police brutality. Our country’s flawed systems are fed by ignorance. Ignorance that, quite frankly, is prevalent here in Clayton. In this issue of the Globe, we attempt to bring some of the focus back to what has happened in our city these past few months. People may say that we are covering news that is no longer current. But unless we make changes, Ferguson will always be current. We cannot be content with a day off school. We cannot be content until racism is attacked directly. We cannot be content until police brutality is eradicated. In an area like Clayton, it is easy to remove oneself from these issues. Our town does not face issues of police brutality and no violence has erupted. But, as Ferguson no longer paints the daily headlines of national newspapers, the Globe staff urges members of the Clayton community not to remove themselves. We have to realize that there are problems and we have to realize that doing nothing continues to increase them. Staying informed does not mean that you think that Darren Wilson was guilty or innocent. Staying informed means that you are doing your civic duty. We cannot afford to be bystanders. We have to work towards change. It is hard to face these topics. As a community we will have to realize our privilege. There is no clear answer to these problems, and we need every voice from every background to give input. This issue needs to impact us more than just a day off of school. Do not let yourself be silent. Do not let Ferguson slip away.
Photo from Anthony Souffle/Chicago Tribune/TNS. Art by Cherry Tomatsu.
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commentary
Q&A
photo from @bravoandy
With
ANDY COHEN
Interview by SOPHIE ALLEN
What is your favorite part about your job?
I mean, I just love working on television, it’s really fun. And I love writing books. I love hosting my show so much, but besides hosting the show I think it’s just the people that I meet and the situations that I get to find myself in.
Which person, living or deceased, do you most admire and respect?
Wow. God, that’s a really good question. I mean, I guess I would have to say my parents, you know, they’ve put up with me all these years, and I don’t think I’m a walk in the park.
I was expecting Madonna, honestly. Yeah, right, well, I love Madonna.
Favorite Clayton High School memory? Class? Teacher?
Oh my God I have so many, I mean I had the best time at Clayton High School. I would just say my entire senior year was just one big ball of happiness. It was so fun, and it was really just great, it was just a party, I felt so free and easy and it was just really fun. I liked English and photography. I don’t think any of my former teachers are there! I mean, Mr. Baker, did he just retire like, the economics teacher? Yeah, he was really cool. I don’t think any of them are really there anymore. I’m really old.
One thing you wish you could bring from St. Louis to New York?
Which authors inspired you to write The Andy Cohen Diaries? Were people asking for you to write a diary?
I was really inspired by the Andy Warhol diaries, which is like 11 years of the artist’s life in diary form, and I just thought it would be fun to publish a diary, and that’s what inspired me. I have had people ask me to… well, I wrote another book, “Most Talkative,” in which I talk about growing up in Clayton and there’s probably Clayton High School stuff in there, too. So my publisher wanted me to write another book and I was trying to figure out, you know, what that would be and so I just kind of was like ‘Wait a minute, I love the Andy Warhol diaries, this would be great, you know, let me see if I can do my own.’ So, you know, it wasn’t that they wanted me to do diaries per se--I think they just wanted me to write another book.
Favorite part about writing a book?
I just love to write. I think there’s a great freedom in it; you can say and do anything. And I like being funny on paper. You know, I just think it’s fun and it exercises a different muscle for me.
Which qualities do you value most in a leader?
I value people who can make good decisions. The ability to make a quick decision, and a smart decision, and lead and be confident in that decision. I think being decisive and not always doing the popular thing is a really important quality in a leader. You know, you have to do the right thing. Business is not camp. Being a leader you have to do what is best for the business not for, you know, fun.
The Cardinals. Companion Bakehouse bagels. And provel cheese pizzas.
Which word or phrase right now do you most overuse? A hundred percent.
Catch up with Andy on Instagram: @bravoandy Follow him on Twitter: @Andy His dog, Wacha, is also on Instagram: @therealwacha
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