October 28 Issue

Inklings Oct. 28, 2011

Founded in 1933

inklingsnews.com

The Light Side and

The Dark Side What Lies Beneath Sports Fandom at Staples

63% of Staples students surveyed believe trash-talking is “good-natured.”

This article contains explicit language.

50% of Staples

NĊĉ HĆėĉĞ ’13

students surveyed have “trash-talked” another FCIAC sports team.

Web A&E Editor

“F

**k McMahon.”

“F**k Westport and you golfing ass ho-

mos.”

“Get back to pumping our gas.”

“Go back to playing mini golf in Jew land.”

So began one of many exchanges on the wall of the “Brien McMahon vs. Staples” Facebook event. Racial and ethnic slurs were thrown around carelessly.

Homophobia was widespread, as was anti-semitism and sexually explicit remarks. “____ is gay enough to want a man to **** his ****,” one commenter said.

Sexism was added to the mix, as when, for instance, a

teenage girl began commenting.

“Stay in the kitchen,” one student responded. “____ looks like she sucks a good ****,” added another.

The problem is widespread.

Almost every time that a Staples sports team, usually football or boys’ soccer, participates in an athletic event, a Facebook event page is created.

Sometimes this is done for Continued on pg. 21

PHOTOS BY ERIC ESSAGOF ’12 STATISTICS FROM AN OCT. 19 SURVEY OF 94 STAPLES STUDENTS TALKIN’ SMACK: Staples fans having a good time cheering for their teams. None of the students pictured above were involved in the Facebook vitriol.

Lights, Camera, Education: PBS films Staples classes MĆĉĎĘĔē HĔėēĊ ’12 ƭ AđĎĈĎĆ LĔĚėĊĐĆĘ ’12

Photo Editor & News Editor Teaching a class can be more than just writing on a board. It can be interactive.

It can involve movement throughout the classroom.

This is why Staples is now one of various schools across the country chosen to participate in the Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) newest project: The Teaching Channel.

“The aim of this program is to share great teaching practice,” PBS producer Beth Newell said. “This way,

teachers around the country can access new lesson ideas and teaching styles.”

This program, which is accompanied by a website, is the latest addition to a line of PBS programs praising and sharing the work of teachers across the country.

But why Staples? As the No. 1 high school in the state according to Connecticut Magazine, Staples was an “obvious pick” as a “great school,” Newell said.

The lessons being filmed at Staples will be conducted by teachers from the English, mathematics, and sciContinued on pg. 4

Inside the Issue

Westporter Receives Nobel Prize — 3

OPINION: Staples Spoons Are Too Small — 7 Longboarding: The New Craze — 8 The Pit Orchestra for “West Side Story” — 16 Changing Football Field Lights — 23

PHOTO BY JAMIE WHEELERͳROBERTS ’13 READY FOR ACTION: English teacher Kristin Veenema prepares for her PBS segment with the filming crew.

Snow in October?

For the latest, check out www.InklingsNews.com.

NEWS

2

October 28, 2011

Westporter Receives Nobel Posthumously EđĎğĆ LđĊĜĊđĞē ’14 estport, a small suburban town with a modest population of 25,000, is home to a spectrum of residents, from young families, to businessmen, to retirees. Thanks to its excellent schools, Westport was also the town that Dr. Ralph Steinman, recent recipient of the Nobel Prize for medicine, chose for his family.

“We moved to this town because of Staples,” said Alexis Steinman, his daughter, and a graduate of Staples class of 1994.

This year, the Nobel announcements thrust Westport into the spotlight when the late Steinman, who lived on North Avenue with his wife, received the prestigious award on Oct 3. As the Steinman family and the community celebrated a prestigious honor, it simultaneously mourned a great loss.

Steinman died just three days before receiving the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his 1973 breakthrough in immunology, when he discovered dendritic cells. These cells can be used in therapies and vaccines to combat autoimmune diseases and cancer, the very disease that claimed Steinman’s life.

The family moved to Westport in 1983 from Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., according to Steinman’s other daughter, Lesley ’94. All three of Steinman’s children, the two girls, and Adam, a son, are Staples graduates. Although Dr. Steinman was always on the first train to New York in the morning and at work all day, he still made time for family.

“His life as a scientist and father were very interwoven,” Lesley said.

Steinman’s children described him as a typical Staples parent.

Adam Steinman ’90 was a member

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY ALEXIS STEINMAN ’94

W

Staff Writer

GO FOR GOLD: Steinman stands with his family after receiving the 2007 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. of the Model UN, math team, and marching band; Lesley embraced field hockey and Orphenians, while Alexis was a cheerleader and member of Staples Players. Steinman attended plays, field hockey games, concerts, and parades, despite his busy schedule. The Staples parking lot was where Steinman taught his children to drive.

Steinman could often also be found at local beaches, from Burying Hill to Compo Beach. “We had the tide schedule on our refrigerator,” Alexis said.

Steinman would immerse himself in scientific journals while his children played in the sand. He would also bring colleagues from the lab to Westport, “the country,” for barbeques; in fact, his daughter says he was known as “the grill master.”

There has been an outpour of support for the Steinman family following Dr. Steinman’s passing.

“Our neighbors left bouquets and notes saying, ‘we had no idea a Nobel scientist lived next to us,’” Alexis said.

Steinman was a professor at Rockefeller University in New York City, where he taught and conducted research. Education was why Steinman and his wife moved to Westport; it also was the foundation of his own success. Steinman had always been interested in science, but became driven to do research in his college years at McGill University and later at Harvard Medical School.

“He wanted to solve the problems of mankind,” Lesley said.

Steinman’s discovery of dendritic cells was a major development in the field of immunology.

According to Dr. Joel Kabak, who teaches AP Biology, dendritic cells are surveillance cells that help detect pathogens. These cells attach to the pathogen, engulf it, and display

particles of it, or antigens, on their surface. Their next stop is lymph nodes, where they present the antigens for recognition and destruction by lymphocytes.

Dendritic cells can have a role in preventing and treating cancer.

“The human body is always producing cancer cells,” Kabak said. “Dendritic cell surveillance can recognize these cells and cause them to be destroyed by apoptosis.”

Because cancer cells have certain abnormalities that distinguish them from normal cells, they can be recognized in an immune response.

Cancer became more than just a research topic for Steinman. In a twist of irony, Steinman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2007. Steinman used dendritic cell therapy, a treatment he developed, on himself.

“He was very keen on getting the research out of the lab,” Lesley said. “He wanted to develop vac-

cines to cure the illness, not just keep it at bay.”

The family believes that Steinman’s use of traditional chemotherapy and his own research, in trial form, prolonged his life.

The announcement of Steinman’s prize came only three days after his death on Sept. 30. Although the Nobel Prize cannot be awarded posthumously, the Nobel Assembly had announced the award without knowledge of Steinman’s death. The committee reconvened to discuss the situation, and ultimately decided that Steinman will still receive the award.

In the community, Steinman’s loss will forever be felt. Westport has gained recognition for a Nobelwinning resident, but it has also lost a researcher, beach bum, and family man.

“Not only was he a great scientist,” Alexis said, “but he was a great dad.”

Eggs, Toilet Paper & Silly String

A Look Into the Most Mischievous Night of the Year KĆęĊ BĊĎĘĕĊđ ’13

Web Sports Editor Four dozen eggs, nine rolls of toilet paper, 26 cans of silly string. This is a typical Oct. 30 shopping list for a certain group of mischief-makers.

To some, Oct. 30 is just Hallow’s Eve, a call for hours of costume preparation and plan making. To others, this night provides an excuse to go out and pull pranks around town once the sun has set.

Dubbed “Mischief Night,” the night before Halloween is a tradition amongst teenagers, reserved for pranking houses, vandalizing property, and committing crimes.

While some Staples students admit to taking part in Mischief PHOTO BY JAKE REINER ‘14 Night at one point in their life, they often call pranks on this night “innocent.”

“I used to toilet paper houses with my friends every Mischief Night,” Gabriella Rizack ’13 said.

In the past, pranks have not

PHOTO DRAMATIZATION BY BRYAN SCHIAVONE ’13 LAYING DOWN THE LAW: Westport Police officers try to reduce vandalism and other petty crimes on Mischief been limited to just Westport homes. In fact, Assistant Principal Richard Franzis recalls vandalism at Staples on Mischief Night.

“We used to have a grade level assistant who actually volunteered to spend all night on campus in their car,” Franzis said.

Staples is not alone in the crackdown on security on this particular night; the Westport Police Department also employs extra officers on Mischief Night.

“We have plain-clothed detectives out in parked cars and extra people on the roads, espe-

cially because it’s a holiday weekend,” said Westport Youth Detective Serenity Dobson.

For participating students, Mischief Night is a time of excitement.

“Nobody is going to hear about minor pranks people did with their friends,” Jack Scott ’14 said. “People are going to tell stories about insane things they did on Mischief Night, and then it will spread.”

Although some students choose not to participate in the evening festivities, word of other pranks spreads around school

quickly.

Some students even set a personal goal to pull at least one prank that will be remembered for years to come.

“One time, my friend and I wrapped up and taped two oranges under the Minuteman statue,” an anonymous junior boy said, in describing how he took two piece sof fruit and attached them to the Westport monument’s groin.

It is tradition to wait until darkness falls to begin pulling pranks, but the police department expects teens out even before this time.

“Once it starts getting dark, in the evening hours between nine and 12 are the hours we expect most crimes to be committed,” Dobson said.

If a student does get in trouble with the police department, the school may be informed, depending on the severity of the crime and whether an arrest was made.

This year, Mischief Night falls during Homecoming weekend, worrying certain Staples administrators.

“We are especially concerned when ‘Mischief Night’ falls on the week of our Homecoming Game, which it does this year,” Franzis said.

That said, according to Franzis, Staples will not formally warn students about the consequences of their actions on Mischief Night.

“Informally, we might tell our students to be safe and careful on that particular weekend, but that is more of a pre-Homecoming message than it is a Mischief Night weekend,” Assistant Principal Patrick Micinilio said.

“I definitely know people that have plans for Mischief Night this year,” Scott said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the Monday after, everyone is talking about a stupid thing one kid did. I’m actually kind of expecting it this year.”

News

Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF

Steve J bs SĆĒĎ BĆĚęĎĘęĆ ’13 Web Features Editor

T

he ubiquitous Apple insignia can be found in every corner of Staples, from Macbooks, to iPods to iPads.

In an Oct. 13 Inklings poll of 50 Staples students, 100 percent said they own at least one Apple product and use it on a daily basis for assignments, communication, productivity, games, or music.

On Oct. 5, Steve Jobs, the man behind these popular products, passed away.

“I was saddened by his death,” said Biology teacher Kevin Glass, who works part-time as an Apple programmer. “It certainly was not a surprise, but it still came as a shock. Even though I never actually met the man, I felt like I knew him because of the things he created.”

JOBS THROUGHOUT THE YEARS Steve Jobs was the co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc. Born in San Francisco, Calif. on Feb. 24, 1955, Jobs was adopted

by Clara and Paul Jobs.

He enrolled at Reed College, but dropped out after six months, spending the following 18 months participating in creative classes.

In 1976, he created Apple Computers with Stephen Wozniak from his family’s garage.

According to ABC News, as Apple Computers grew, Jobs hired John Sculley, head of Pepsi-Cola, to help run the company as a chief executive.

In 1984, the Macintosh computer was released, but faced competition with IBM, ultimately producing disappointing sales.

Differences in opinion for the future spurred conflict between

Through the Lens of a Professional: Times Columnist Remembers Jobs RĆĈčĊđ LĆćĆėėĊ ’14 A&E Editor

David Pogue, a Westport resident, is a technology columnist and commentator who has shared his views in various media including newspapers, blogs, television, podcasts, and online videos. He is best known for his technology columns for the New York Times and monthly articles in Scientific American. He appears on CNBC and CBS weekly. Pogue has spoken to Jobs a few times every year to discuss each other’s work and converse about technology.

Q: Could you briefly describe your relationship with Jobs?

A: As a Times writer, I got to meet him once or twice a year, almost always after some product introduction. I’d get about 15 minutes to ask him questions and chat. So it was a professional relationship--but a very unusual one for a CEO. That is, he was always well-informed about stuff I’d written, and just as quick to praise as he was to criticize.

He was not what you’d call a warm person; he was reputed to have a particular distaste for the media, in fact. But I also ran into

InBrief CčĆėđĔęęĊ BėĊĎČ ’12 Business Manager

Jobs and Sculley. Apple’s Board of Directors sided with Sculley, and ultimately decided that Jobs was hurting the company. He was fired in 1985.

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” Jobs said at his acclaimed Stanford University commencement speech in 2005. “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.

It freed me to enter one of my most creative periods of my life.”

He later created a new software company called NeXT, Inc. and collaborated to establish Pixar Animation Studios. In 1997, Apple bought NeXT, Inc., and Jobs returned to his original position as CEO of Apple. His reinstitution helped bring Apple to its current fame.

In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Although his seemingly successful operation removed the pancreatic tumor, his health continued to decline.

In 2009, Jobs received a liver transplant, but his condition worsened.

According to the International Business Times, Jobs resigned as CEO on Aug. 24.

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” wrote Jobs in his resignation letter. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

On Oct. 5, Jobs passed away at the age of 56.

STAPLES RESPONDS In spite of this tragedy, Jobs’ death has not lessened Staples

students’ opinion of his impact.

“Jobs is one of America’s great geniuses,” said Marcus Russi ’13, a member of the Computer Club.

“He’s also a person we can relate to: the failed businessman, the college dropout, the entrepreneur, the cancer patient, who despite such predicaments went on to build a company that changed the world.”

Even though Jobs is gone from this world, he has left an everlasting imprint on our society.

“Digital communication is instant and pervasive,” said Glass, who says he cannot think of a major event in the last 10 years of his life that he has not instantly shared with an Apple product.

“Governments are being toppled with the aid of products like the iPhone, Facebook and Twitter.

Today, a vast majority of my students do their work on an Apple product.”

Although many are thankful for the impact Jobs had on modern-day society, some students have expressed concern of the future of Apple.

“Steve Jobs was a unique innovator. He was someone who could figure out what people wanted before they knew themselves,” said Sasha Podolsky ’13, an Apple fan and technology enthusiast.

“The real question is: will Apple be able to preserve its reputation without Jobs at the helm?”

Russi said Jobs helped Apple build the reputation of a creative and advanced company.

Jobs proved that a combination of technology and excellent design resulted in products with both aesthetic and economic value.

“He was a stickler for the details of the user experience,” Glass

said. “That is what separates Apple products from everything else.”

There is uncertainty about the effect his death may have on new technologies to come. Already, there has been a divide in reception for the newly-released iPhone 4S. According to the International Business Times, fans were underwhelmed by the release due to higher expectations, citing a want for a more significant difference between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S as the primary reason for disappointment.

“The technology industry might not be as innovative without Jobs,” Podolsky said. “However, right now, Apple is stocked with many of Steve Jobs’ pre-planned ideas for the next few years.”

As stated by the LA Times, Apple had prepared for Jobs’ passing. In May, Apple hired Joel Podolny, the dean of the Yale School of Management, to direct a group that would focus on the preparation of employees for work at Apple without Jobs.

In addition, The Telegraph asserts that Jobs left behind at least four years’ worth of ideas in the pipeline, including instructions for engineers to enhance new iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Macbooks.

For now, Staples and the rest of society can only mourn the loss of a significant innovator and wait to see how Apple tackles the task of functioning without their founder.

“Steve’s death meant the loss of an inspiration not to just Staples students or just Americans, but to the entire world,” said Zack Reiser ’14, who programs for the Staples Television Network (STN). “Apple will hopefully maintain its quality standard, and the world will keep on spinning without Steve Jobs.”

A TIMELINE OF JOBS’ LIFE 1976 1955

1983 1984

The Apple Lisa personal computer is introduced, but fails due to its high price.

Steven Paul Jobs is born in San Francisco, Calif. and adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs.

The first Macintosh computer is released to the public.

1974 1972

2001

Jobs begins working as a technician for Atari, Inc.

The first iPod is released to the public.

1980

Apple offers its stock to the investing public.

him at a couple of Apple Store openings, where he was in a good mood, and there, he was always friendly.

Q: How do you think Steve Jobs will be remembered?

A: I’m sure he’ll be remembered primarily for changing the technology landscape. The way he fundamentally changed how people buy music and TV shows, for example, or turned the cellphone into a pocket computer that runs software of our choice.

He was also determined and focused, yes, but so are lots of people. I think it’s his vision that was most remarkable.

Q: What was your reaction

2003

Jobs is diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas.

Jobs and Steve Wozniak create Apple Computers.

Jobs enrolls in Reed College and drops out after a semester.

3

2003

The iTunes Music Store is launched.

when you heard the news that Steve Jobs had died?

A: We all knew that he was very sick. At the end of August, he resigned as CEO. For him, that seemed like a huge step.

Even so, I was stunned to read the headline. There’s a difference between knowing something’s going to happen –and actually experiencing it. I think it’s a huge loss – this one guy basically steered the entire electronics industry, and there’s nobody ready to take his place in that role.

Q: How did Jobs affect your work in regard to the articles you wrote and your view on technology?

A: Over the years, he’d call

2007

The first iPhone is released to the public.

2011

Jobs passes away due to complications from pancreatic cancer.

2010 2011

Jobs The first resigns iPad is released to as CEO of Apple. the public.

2005

Jobs makes his iconic speech at the Stanford University commencement.

me to tell me what he thought of something I wrote. It made for fun next-day conversation, but I can’t say he ever really affected my writing or my judgments.

Q: Which recent technology innovator had the most influence on you?

A: As the biggest technology company with the most frequent innovative product introductions, Apple certainly got the most press – not just from me.

Google and Microsoft are probably close.

To read more of this Q&A, check out inklingsnews.com.

College Visits

10.31

Lynn University Stonehill College Lesley University Davidson College Norwalk Community College Johnson State College Washington University in St. Louis

11.1

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences High Point University

11.2

Nichols College Union College

SAT Testing Available at Staples The SAT will be offered to juniors and seniors on Nov. 5. Staples is a test site.

Remember to bring your admission ticket, photo identification, No. 2 pencils, and a calculator.

“Twelfth Night” Performing at Playhouse The Westport Country Playhouse will perform William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night, or What You Will” through Nov. 5.

Tickets can be purchased from $35 to $65 by calling (203) 227-4177, or visiting westportplayhouse.org.

Junior Parking Lottery to Take Place in Nov. The results of the junior parking lottery will be posted outside of the assistant principals’ offices the first week of November. Juniors with a driver’s license should fill out the online registration form on the Staples homepage by the last week of October.

Players Present “West Side Story” The Staples Players’ fall mainstage production of “West Side Story” will open at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 11. It will also be performed on Nov. 12, 17, 18, and 19 at 7:30, with a matinee on Nov. 13 at 2:00. For information on buying tickets and the cast of each performance, visit www.staplesplayers. com.

School to Take Place on Veterans Day Veterans Day, a federal holiday dedicated to honoring United States military veterans, will be observed on Nov. 11. Staples will have a regular school day, with a special segment on “Good Morning Staples” to honor veterans.

4

News Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

PBS Program Highlights Teacher Innovation at Staples Continued from pg. 1 -ence departments, featured in a series called “Great Lesson Ideas.” This will include five-minute segments showing the lesson plans, as well as a brief interview with the teacher of that class.

This gives insight on how certain teachers teach effectively, as well as offering new lesson plans. “ I t ’ s about teachers being celebrated and refreshing ideas,” Newell said.

Honored to participate, the department chairs sent an e-mail out to all of the teachers within their departments looking for interesting lesson plans, emphasizing the importance of “technique and strategy” within them.

Various teachers then submitted their lesson plans to PBS for later selection to be featured on a program that would help give teachers new and creative ideas to hold students’ interest and could be work in any school.

“They were looking for something that could be easily replicated,” English teacher Kristin Veenema said.

Many schools do not have the advantages in technology and other various resources, but these new lesson clips may help them teach to the best of their abilities no matter the socioeconomic circumstance.

In Veenema’s English 2A class, PBS filmed her “Text Rendering” lesson.

In this activity, Veenema’s students extracted specific words and phrases from the original text and use them to create a new one.

Through this process, she was able to provoke the class to interpret the original text through their rendering, further understanding the piece of literature. “ I t wasn’t necessarily the most fluid lesson,” Veenema said, “but the results were still great.”

Although she tried to get the best results from her lesson, the producer saying, “Wait, can you say that again?” frequently interrupted the flow of the class, says Veenema.

Even with the visible cameras and the choppiness of the class, the students acted “normally,” Veenema said.

Veenema says she felt that the students truly understood the purpose of this exercise, and were very cooperative during filming.

In Veenema’s class, the results were even more surprising than she would find in a regular class.

“Students more quiet in the class really came alive,” Veenema said. “It was an awesome unintended positive.”

“It’s about teachers being celebrated and refreshing ideas.”

— PBS Producer Beth Newell

PHOTO BY ALICIA LOUREKAS ’12 SMILE FOR THE CAMERA: The website for the Teaching Channel, created by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), can be accessed at www.teachingchannel.org.

Mary Elizabeth Fulco, another teacher filmed for the PBS program, conducted a “Silent Tea Party” during her English 2B class.

“It fit just what they were looking for,” Fulco said.

In her class, the sophomore English students had recently started reading the required novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” by author J.D. Salinger.

In Fulco’s lesson plan, the students received a strip of paper with a quote from the novel and, without talking, were required to interact with fellow students to infer characteristics of the main character: Holden Caulfield.

With a small class of just 15 students, the PBS program was able to capture the silent interaction at a more intimate level.

Each and every student was filmed several times, either shak-

ing a classmates’ after switching quotes or providing their own analysis during the full-class discussion.

A key component of the program involved showing how someone could teach a class while incorporating the idea of movement, in Fulco’s case, exploring quotes nonverbally.

The end result was impressive. Fueled by Fulco’s encouragement and praise, the class ultimately figured out what the main point of the quotes was.

Fulco’s innovative teaching is just one example of why Staples is a top school, says Newell.

“This is a great school with fantastic teachers,” Newell said.

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5

OPINIONS October 28, 2011

“Silver Crown Award” for Inklingsnews.com from Columbia Scholastic Press Association 2011 “Crown Newspaper Finalist” Columbia Scholastic Press Association 2011 First Place “All-American” from National Scholastic Press Association 2008-09 All the opinions, news, and features in this paper are those of Staples High School students. Inklings has a circulation of 1,800. The paper is a member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the Natioanal Schoalstic Press Association and supports the Student Press Law Center. All letters to the editor must be signed before they will be published. The editorial board reserves the right not to publish letters and to edit all submissions as it sees fit.

Editors-in-Chief Eric Essagof Stevie Klein GRAPHIC BY NELOISE EGIPTO ‘13

Clean Up the Trash I t’s all fun and games until someone drops the nbomb.

In the past few years students have flocked to event pages on Facebook to talk trash with other schools’ athletic teams. While the

Inklings EDITORIAL

rhetoric can be lighthearted, the conversations have, on the event pages for games against Brien McMahon and Trumbull, devolved into racist tirades and class warfare.

This has created a debate amongst students about the institution of trash talking.

Trash talking not only has the ability to bond stu-

dents together, but it can also hype up the game and encourage a large showing and a lot of energy. Usually, trash talking is in good fun, and can be funny. However, we believe there is a line, and that line has been crossed by Staples students.

In fact, for the first time that we can remember, Inklings had to flag the article on this subject as containing explicit content. Derogatory posts that attack groups of people based on race, ethnicity, wealth, gender, or sexual orientation are, in reality, bullying. For example, posting the median income of residents in Westport versus a poorer town, as was done in the Brien McMahon event page, is not only irrel-

evant, but is also arrogant and mean-spirited.

Even worse than group attacks are individual insults. This is especially relevant when someone has not asked to be a part of the trash talk. If people get insulted on a trash talk thread, it’s an overreaction for them to attack anyone related to or associated with the original offender, like a girlfriend, a dad, or a little sister. Instances such as these may hurt people who just don’t want to be involved. Those who participate in the thread subject themselves to criticism, but targeting innocent bystanders is a form of cyberbullying, a consistent attack on an individual.

Letters to the Editor

INKLINGS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

Inklings Should Help, not Hurt

Dear Editor, I have been in this school awhile and have never had an issue reading anything published in Inklings, but my opinion of the staff and paper has now completely changed. In your last issue, you wrote an article about “cliques.” I saw nothing wrong with the article, because the article itself admits that cliques exist but is opposed them. However, the title read, “Are you in or out?”

This title is wrong and hurtful.

It makes kids think that if they aren’t in a clique, they are alone or “out.”

But the worst part is the graphic that was drawn. You drew an exact replica of the map of the cafeteria in the movie Mean Girls. Why would you copy a movie based on the terrors of high school? This graphic is so wildly wrong, cruel and inappropriate that you should be ashamed of yourselves. You labeled everyone in this school when you obviously don’t personally know everybody.

On top of that, you talk about how bad cliques are, but by labeling these groups in the cafeteria, you are creating cliques. Think about it: Every person that sees this map will now assume that if you sit in that area, you fit that label.

Another issue with the graphic is that you negatively labeled people. What makes you think it’s OK to label kids as “Alternative?” You can’t even say that you were using alternative in reference to a music genre; you labeled those people as outsiders!

You could give everybody else a

Trash talking should be a lighthearted activity, but some students are ruining the fun for everybody. Those who make personal attacks or use racial slurs are giving a bad name to the Staples student body.

However, we do not believe that trash talking should be banned. It fires up the crowd to support the blue-and-white.

Instead, students should be able to moderate their own conversations.

When unsure of whether a post crosses the line, we propose the “face-to-face” rule. If people would not feel comfortable saying their comment out loud to an opposing fan, it is probably going too far.

label besides those people only because they don’t feel the need to conform! Did you know that alternative means a last option out of all the other choices? So you are basically telling people that if they don’t like any of the other labels, there’s always the other choice: “Alternative.”

You also labeled an area “the wild kids.” This is wrong and hurtful because you are calling these kids “wild,” which is usually a negative comment. Take a moment to think of what comes to your mind when you hear the label “wild kids.” I know what I think. I think of trouble makers, drug users and partiers. How is it OK to label people like that?

In conclusion, Inklings insulted the entire school. All of what was written should be taken into great consideration so feelings are not hurt again.

Sincerely, Sage Verneuil

We want your mail! Send us an email at inklingsnews@ gmail.com or drop off a letter in room 2032.

1. 300-word limit 2. Only one letter per writer

Managing Editors Julian Clarke Alix Neenan Web Editor in-Chief Isaac Stein Web Managing Editor Emily Goldberg News Editors Rachel Guetta Alicia Lourekas Ben Reiser Bryan Schiavone Opinions Editors Molly Barreca Hannah Foley Jordan Shenhar Jamie Wheeler-Roberts Features Editors Leah Bitsky Danny Cooper Carlie Schwaeber Nicolette Weinbaum Arts & Entertainment Editors Jackie Kerames Rachel Labarre Deanna Schreiber Sammy Warshaw Sports Editors Ryder Chasin Kelsey Landauer Will McDonald Julia Sharkey Graphics and Photo Editors Madison Horne Nate Rosen Business Manager Charlotte Breig Video Editors Katie Cion Elizabeth Coogan

3.All letters must include the writer’s name, address, and phone number. Only the writer’s name will be published

Advisers Elizabeth Humphrey Julia McNamee Stephen Rexford

4. All letters will be verified by the news staff prior to publication. If the news staff is unable to contact the writer of a letter, the letter will be held until contact is made

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Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

CON

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6

Opinions

Half Empty or Half Full?

Does Staples have school spirit ?

Say Yes to Spirit

Staples Is Full of Vitality !

TE I H

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ace-painted fans swarm the bleachers. Cheerleaders scream in belly shirts and short skirts. Hundreds of parents sport dark blue and bleached white, praying for the home team.

A stereotypical high school movie?

No, it’s Staples High High School. Because Staples has school spirit.

With an avid group of sports fans, strong teams and spirit days, Staples High School’s students do everything they can to be spirited.

Think white. White for white-outs. White with navy block letters, spelling “Staples.”

It’s the Superfans. At the beginning of every year a group of students takes the responsibility of organizing the iconic Superfan T-Shirt. For freshmen new to the school, it’s just a taste of the excitement and energy that Staples brings to sporting events.

Less than a month ago, on Friday, Oct. 1, around 100 students arrived at the Brian McMahon stadium dressed head to toe in white -- the shirts, of course, but also faces, coats,

hats, scarves; everything from the top up -- for a “White-Out” declared by the Facebook group “STAPLES SUPERFANS 11-12,” organized by Stephen Colodny ’13 and Andrew Felman ’14. Dozens, scores, maybe a hundred pictures of a sea of white and up-close shots of screaming fans were uploaded to students’ individual pages the next night.

This is exactly what it means to be spirited.

It’s not just Superfan events.

Pajama day, color war day, decades day, twin day and blue and white day will all come in the Homecoming weekend. Staples High School’s school spirit is shown by every single student and occasionally staff members on at least one of the days in the week leading up to Homecoming.

Students will parade out of their period six classes, last period Friday, and quickly fi ll up the football bleachers in their blue and white to cheer for their favorite sports and for their friends who participate on the teams. It’s like a talent show where you get to enjoy and also

GRAPHICS BY JILLIAN PECORIELLO ‘12 make fun of the very people you walk down the halls with every day. There are emcees who put themselves out there and risk making fools out of themselves, all to heighten Wreckers spirit For all the nay-sayers who think that Staples High School does not have school spirit, I’ll leave them with this.

Walk through the hallways on an average day, and you’ll fi nd students dressed up for

their games that afternoon, students deciding what time to head out to Loeffler Field to watch a varsity soccer game, and more than a handful of kids in SHS logo wear.

Walk around the school this week, and you’ll see countless numbers of student and faculty sporting the navy and white, in honor of Homecoming.

If that’s not school spirit, I don’t know what is.

Spirit Daze

Staples Should Show Its True Colors

We have the Superfans. We have the Talent Show. We have the proms. We even have a fun Pep Rally. But we can do better.

Here are the top three spirited things that Staples High School should do more of: 1. Host more Spirit Weeks. We only have one Spirit Week all year, which is the week of Halloween. That’s it?! As evidenced by multiple sports teams who have different themes every game, Staples students like dressing up to school. We enjoy getting colorful and ridiculous.

Last year, there was a contest among the teachers for who had the ugliest T-Shirt. It was

beautiful; the idea was ingenious and even the teachers got a huge kick out of it. And yet those sorts of fun events are seldom organized by students. Sure, we have the Lunchertainment series, but we only do that on occasional Fridays. We can do BETTER. We should host more costume contests outside of Halloween. It’s time to be creative with what we wear. It’s always funny and enjoyable. Let’s take advantage of our lax dress code.

2. Undervalued Organizations at Staples. While the sports games are usually wellattended, there are other organizations that don’t have – but should earn – the same attention. For example, girls’ sports are always considered inferior to guys’ sports. Why? I’d rather see a bunch of girls get physical than a bunch of guys. They’re just as competitive and just as exciting.

It makes no sense why we don’t

understand that.

We also need to do something about our lack of tailgating.

We never tailgate. Do we even know what that is? Maybe it’s a Southern thing, but we have to start to try and bring it up the coast.

And that’s not all we can do to make our spirit better. From an a capella group to a radio station, a Best Buddies Ball to a debate team, Staples is filled with interesting and exciting activities.

Where’s their spotlight?

Does the occasional announcement from Mr. Dodig over the loudspeaker qualify as congratulations? I think not!

3. Basic Spirit Qualifications. Most people don’t know that Staples has an alma mater, entitled, “Hail Staples.” It’s actually a solid song. Alma maters may be old-fashioned, but they’re a traditional and important com-

ponent of Staples culture.

Additionally, at many other institutions, the teachers and students eat together at lunch and socialize more often. The last time I saw a student join a teacher at the lunch table was last January, and he was relentlessly arguing about his grade in the class. He then proceeded to spill his soup on the teacher’s tie. Where’s the class? Where’s the compassion?

Now, maybe we’re just too busy for it. Maybe we’re too focused on academics and getting into a good college.

Maybe we’re too focused on that report card, or that scholarship. Maybe we prefer to concentrate on ourselves and not our peers. But if we don’t soak in all that this remarkable, diverse high school has to offer, we might miss it entirely.

...we could do better

Opinions

Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

7

How to Survive the Process of Writing a Novel

I

t’s hard to say why, but there’s something about a challenge that gets me excited.

Last November during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) I embarked on a 30-day journey of literary abandon. I did what few had ever thought of doing, and even fewer accomplished.

I wrote a book.

Now, I must concede, this novel, naïvely titled “This Crazy Little Thing Called Life,” belongs in a more suitable place than your bookshelf. You might want to try the garbage can.

If you ask some of my friends, though, they will tell you that it was one of their favorite books.

“I’m sorry,” I tell them. “It appears you haven’t yet met the English department. I’m sure they’d be happy to direct you to some books with literary value.”

Despite how indescribably awful my book is. I can tell you that there is no feeling better than looking at a dimly lit computer screen at 11:47 p.m. on November 30 with a 50,000-word novel you just wrote in front of you. There is also no worse feeling than on December 15 when you realize the novel you just wrote was garbage.

However, NaNoWriMo of-

GRAPHIC BY DAVID GORDON ’14 fers so much more than the opportunity to write an awful book.

Just think of all the times you wished you had written a novel.

Like that time you were trying to impress that artsy girl in your English class. Or when you’re at a table of 20-something-year-olds and the major difference between you and them is a college (or high school) diploma.

A book trumps anything you could possibly fathom.

“Oh, you graduated from Princeton? I’m writing my second novel. Do you want my autograph now or later?”

In the words of the great Bri-

an Fantana, “sixty percent of the time, it works every time.”

As I look back on that month, I can think of no better way to have spent it than sitting in front of my laptop for hours on end, constantly trying to write 1,667 words per day. There was a period of four days where I had given up. Then, on Thanksgiving, I decided I had spent too much time and effort to stop, so I wrote 7,000 words on that one day. And I reached 50,000 a mere 13 minutes before the deadline on the 30th. Who doesn’t want to spend a month like that?

For those of you who are in-

trigued, which I assume is everyone, I have just a few more words to share.

If you’re planning on joining the elite group of people that like to be called authors, I want to give you my congratulations.

You’ve already made it past the hardest part, convincing yourself to write a novel.

Don’t second-guess yourself; you’re totally making the right decision. As far as advice goes, I have only a few suggestions.

Start writing. Start writing a lot.

For people who are going to do this, you’ll want to know your capabilities as a writer going into it, what your strong and weak points are, and how you’ll plan to live a normal life along with this (you won’t).

Get used to late nights and early mornings, and get used to your eyes hurting from large amounts of visible light beaming into your face. I suggest lowering the brightness on the device you write it on. I’m planning on using my iPad, which could be disastrous.

Be ready to take risks, big risks. Your novel could be really good or really bad based on this one criterion, but more often that not, risks make your novel better because the plot becomes more interesting.

And finally, the very best advice I can give you for writing a novel is to start liking the taste of coffee. If you don’t, well, there’s always mocha.

State of the Spoonion Close your eyes. Then open them to keep reading.

We want you to imagine a world without cutlery. A world without a means to obtain one’s nutrients whilst avoiding the disgraceful sullying of one’s fingers.

A world without forks, knives, butter knives, fish knives, small forks for salads, smaller forks for hors d’oeuvres, or even spoons.

Picture this for a moment. Picture sitting down this afternoon with your hot cup of bouillabaisse, compliments of your beloved chef. Now picture being unable to raise your seafood broth to your lips, being incapable of savoring the medley of spices and sea-salt that sous chef Ishinabe has simmered to gustatory perfection.

This is the stark reality for the students of Staples High School, who lunch every day in the school cafeteria (strict security prevents Ishinabe from attending with them).

True, they are not completely without spoons--but the ones with which they are provided lie so far below the standards of utility that the students would be better off without them.

We find this situation morally reprehensible—should not a school that provides such a

GRAPHIC BY CONNIE ZHOU ’12

variety of (admittedly bourgeois) semi-liquid fare also provide its attendees with the tools to enjoy them? From clam chowder to tomato puree, yogurt parfait to pudding au chocolat, students are welcome only to look at or smell many offerings, their gustatory senses prohibited from even a taste of satisfaction by the offensively scanty cutlery offerings.

Yes, there are regular spoons, and, almost as an affront to students’ intelligence, are specially designated “soup spoons.”

These shallow instruments have a small diameter. And they’re made of flimsy plastic.

They are also encased in a wrapping that, in addition to being a waste of plastic in a scarcely resourced world and a major source of unsightly trash in the cafeteria, is hermetically sealed.

The result? Frustration, and broken spoons, for all the denizens of Staples—even Principal John Dodig, who acknowledged that removing the spoons from the wrappers can be “very dif-

ficult.”

Indeed.

If one attempts to open the spoon with the head first, there’s a good chance that the spoon will break, or that the plastic wrapper will adhere to the spoon’s plastic and become irretrievably lodged inside one’s meal. By and large, however, the greatest hazard to an innocent spoon user is that the utensil will catch in the plastic and bend beyond usefulness, becoming nothing more than a warped testament to its own inefficacy.

NaNoWriMo Facts - The novel does not have to be finished as long as the first 50,000 words are written by 11:59:59 on November 30 - On average, 1,667 words have to be typed each day in order to finish by deadline - In 2010, over 200,000 people signed up for the challenge writing a total of 2,872,682,109 words - NaNoWriMo began in July of 1999 with only 21 participants -At the end of the month, “CreateSpace,” a publishing company, offers each writer one paperback copy of their novel, which writers have the option of selling on Amazon.com - In 2005, NaNoWriMo started the Young Writers Program which is tailored to younger sudents by omitting a word count - NaNoWriMo inspired a sister challenge titled “Script Frenzy” in which writers compose a 100-page script during the month of April

Let us turn a sympathetic ear to the cries of our fellow men. “I find these spoons to be too small,” bemoans Kyle Mikesh ’12. “I have trouble getting a mouthful of food.” He, like many, enjoys a cup of steaming chicken noodle soup in the air-conditioned Staples climate, which can be veritably arctic.

But this broth comes laden with hearty extras—al dente noodles, pieces of roasted chicken, even carrots—that evade all efforts of capture.

It might be worth examining the motives of the school—is this some draconian method of increasing concentration by pushing us to the very limits of our existence? Is a regiment of starvation the solution to raising SAT scores?

We think not.

According to Augie Gradoux-Matt ’12, “both choices of spoons are too small.” Rather, Augie, is it the school district’s paltry respect for its students that is undersized?

As Malcolm X once said, “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” Now is the time to take a stand. As students at the number one high school in Connecticut, we should feel a shiver of chagrin down our respective spines at the deplorable condition of our cutlery. A silent monstrosity is being committed in cold blood against those who work and learn in Staples High School, as the uneaten urns of soup grow colder still.

And on that note, the forks aren’t much good either…

8

FEATURES October 28, 2011

Killing Time: The Life of a Staples Slacker RĞĆē PĆēēĞ ’12

Staff Writer taples High School: home to tons of hardworking, overachieving students.

Nationally recognized for its programs in theater, radio and journalism. An enviable record of Ivy League acceptances and notable alumni. The number one high school in Connecticut in 2008.

This superb educational experience doesn’t come easy. The Staples Administration works tirelessly to make sure that no students slip through the cracks.

For students who strive for a bit less, let’s say, their four years here are challenging.

At Staples, slackers are swimming against a tide of excellence.

At Staples, slacking is a precise art form that requires commitment, creativity, critical thinking and perseverance. It’s like AP Calculus.

“A slacker is someone who is willing to do more work to get out of work than the original work that they are assigned,” agreed English teacher Brian Tippy.

The first key piece of the formula is discreetly missing class.

And there is one cardinal rule of skipping that stands above all others.

S

PHOTO DRAMATIZATION BY DANNY COOPER ‘13 “You never cut the same class twice in a row,” advised Grade Level Assistant Alice Addicks, a woman whom slackers said they fear above all others. Addicks was quick to clarify she does not condone the practice.

Methodology. The most effective and most common is the parent note for the beginning of the day. No matter how ridiculous the excuses, they are rarely challenged. Mrs. Addicks recalled the most absurd note she had ever seen from a parent.

“Please excuse my daughter for being late. We had an entomo-

logical opportunity in the driveway we couldn’t pass up”.

So. There was a dead bug in the driveway that they wanted to look at.

The next stop is the Nurse’s office. Fake illnesses to get out of a class.

“The most popular are headaches and stomachaches, because students know that they are very subjective,” explained Libby Russ, a school nurse at Staples.

A deterrent: the nurses have well-honed lie-detectors. So this office is considered unreliable for substantial or frequent relief

from academia. A senior boy who was granted anonymity explained his alternative method.

“I tell my teachers that I need a cough drop. It’s especially effective if the class I’m in is on the third floor.”

In his arsenal of skipping strategies, though, one is especially deadly.

“Tell your teacher that you need to meet with your guidance counselor, and give a specific reason, such as college,” he advised.

“It sounds even more legitimate if you ‘warn’ your teacher a couple days prior.”

But on the occasion that a slacker does step foot into a classroom, a whole new set of rules and strategies comes into play.

First, a certain degree of inattentiveness must be exhibited.

For example, class is a perfect time for slackers to catch up on other homework that was neglected the night before.

“Slackers always sit in the back of the room,” explained Mr. Tippy, “because they need to be working on another class’s work during your class.”

For some, the method of choice is pure unconsciousness.

According to Henry Betar ’12, certain specific positions maximize comfort when sleeping in class.

“Right arm out, right cheekbone down on center bicep,” he explained. “Or there’s always the classic elbow on desk, hand on cheek position. ” Regardless of sleep position preference, from the time they set foot in the school freshman year until the day they graduate, slackers at Staples are slaving tirelessly around the clock to avoid work.

Quota is met as long as they stay out of class as often as possible, meet a minimum standard of inattentiveness when they do attend, and maintain that ever steady B-minus.

An Innovative Change in Scarsdale

One School’s Removal of AP Courses HĆđĊĞ ZĊđĉĊĘ ’13 Web Sports Editor

An out of body experience for Robert Perry ’12 would be a day without traveling miles through the Staples halls to reach each individual classroom that holds his five demanding Advanced Placement classes.

This rigor of APs is what makes students like Perry stand out academically in a competitive graduating class of over 400.

But one school in a town similar in its socioeconomic makeup, Scarsdale High School, has removed the very classes students like Perry want to take to get into college.

In 2005 Scarsdale High School, a top-rated public school system in the tristate area, made a decision to start moving away from the AP classes that they, like many schools, had supported in years past. Over the next couple of years Scarsdale phased out the AP classes out of its system, replacing the APs with ATs or “Advanced Topics.”

According to the New York Times, ATs were put in place so that the school could improve its student’s senior year of high school by going beyond the standard AP curricula.

Although this progressive

change came with good intentions, students and parents were concerned that removing sacred APs would affect the competitiveness of college admissions applications.

With no APs, it can be assumed that AP tests would be eliminated as well, which can be pleasing to some students or upsetting to others.

As a compromise, AP tests were still offered with the corresponding ATs, and many Scarsdale students jumped on the opportunity to take the tests.

The results of their tests are interesting.

Students who took the test in five of the AT subjects, were part of a statistic that showed that scores improved from the years when APs were taught.

These improvements eased the worries of Scarsdale residents. After years of this change the school has gotten the process down so that autonomy is practiced in the AT classes, yet students are still excelling on the tests.

Spencer Serling is a senior at Scarsdale and likes that the school has moved away from APcentric classes.

“The AT classes are very similarly taught to the AP but is not so strictly regimented in or-

der to prepare for the AP exam,” said Serling. An enthusiast of the change, he has done well on the AP tests and has little concern about the lack of APs affecting his transcript.

An admisions representative from Franklin and Marshall, who requested that her name not be used, pointed out that colleges understand that transcripts vary from school to school.

“Colleges cannot judge students based on what their school doesn’t offer,” said the representative. In fact, the representative expressed an interest in the curriculums of the progressive schools.

Guidance counselor Paul Washenko also advocated for students to take full advantage of all the opportunities the school provides.

“Colleges want to see students challenging themselves to their best ability. In addition to this they look for students to be taking advantage of everything their school has to offer, including academics and activities outside of the classroom,” Washenko said.

With the reputation Staples High School has at being one of the best high schools in the nation, it would not be out of character for the progressiveness of

other schools to spread to the Staples community.

But, with 19 APs to choose from, Staples students are happy with their class choices the have.

Perry ’12 has enjoyed the experience he has gotten from the AP system at Staples so far, and thinks acdemic doors have been opened for him due to the variety of APs that he has taken.

“The removal of APs would simply cut down on the opportunity for some students to get ahead on some college credit or cut down on the amount of learning made available to them in Staples,” Perry said.

Similarly, Andrew Cohen ’13 enjoys Staples AP classes purely

PHOTO BY STEVIE KLEIN ’12 because, “they provide me with the opportunity to learn more, and learn more faster,” said Cohen.

Cohen said that he would only support the removal of APs if classes, “maintain the same difficulty in order to be an adequate substitute for the AP class.”

Scarsdale, and a handful of private schools, have followed a diffrent path to authentic learning experiences beyond what they think AP offers, but at Staples High School, APs seem to be the right fit.

The methods, tests and pace that AP courses support, “prepare you for the rigor of top colleges,” said Sarah Ressler ’12.

INKLINATIONS: How would you feel if Staples eliminated AP Courses?

“I think I would be unhappy because there wouldn’t be ways to challenge myself,” -Jacob Chernok ’13

“I think th that’s a bad decision. ..............

Th .......

They’re a good challeng for students who lenge are interested in a p particular subject.”

-Grif in Noyer ’13

“I think that AP’s allow students to challenge themselves, and that’s what Staples’ students should do.”

-Jake Reiser ’14

“I think that would be bad because a lot of colleges want to see them.”

- Devon Foggio ‘14

Features

Inklings / October 28, 2011/ inklingsnews.com

Piling

9

UP

Students decide how many schools can determine their destiny.

PHOTO BY MADISON HORNE ’12 ENVELOPES GALORE: With college application deadlines quickly approaching, the process can become overwhelming for those who are applying to an extreme amount of schools.

SĆėĆ LĚęęĎēČĊė ’13 Staff Writer

T

wenty-four may seem like a lot of college applications, but not for Emerson Lovell ’12.

“The more you apply to the better chance you have to get in somewhere you want,” said Lovell.

However, applying to dozens of colleges can be extremely time-consuming.

“It was excessive, but it wasn’t too bad because the Common App made it so much easier,” Lovell said.

Audrey Stone ’12 had other reasons for multiple applications.

“I applied to schools all over the country because I didn’t know where my destiny would take me. I wanted the application process to choose for me.”

Even though eleven schools

may be just the perfect number for Stone, she still needs to write eleven essays.

“I started filling out the applications and writing the essays in June for the more challenging schools,” Stone said.

Callie Hiner ’12, on the other hand, is only applying to one school. This is because she has committed to a university for field hockey.

But Hiner still has to take her time on the application.

“The application has taken a while because it needs to be thoughtful and well written,” said Hiner.

Besides the extremes, most students have applied anywhere from four to ten colleges.

Jake Smith ’12 is a part of this majority, and in order to narrow down his list, he has a rough checklist that the schools he is applying to must match.

“Qualities such as the size, location, prevalence of Greek life, and academic f lexibility helped me to narrow down my choices a lot,” Smith said.

Another way students have narrowed down the amount of colleges they are applying to is by utilizing Early Decision and Early Action to know earlier whether they’ve been accepted or not, and if they are not accepted, many look to apply to more schools.

Katie Blumenfeld ’12 is an example, applying to two schools.

“I applied early decision somewhere, so I can’t go anywhere else if I get in and I also applied somewhere early action,” said Blumenfeld.

Early decision locks students down to that specific school, so students are advised to only apply Early Decision to schools they could see themselves actually going to.

“Applying Early Decision allows you to be done earlier, and chances are so much higher when you apply early decision,” Blumenfeld stated.

The Staples guidance department hopes to improve the process and relieve students’ stress.

“We generally recommend applying to six to eight schools as a target number, but we know that this may not be right for everybody,” said Guidance Counselor William Plunkett.

The six to eight rule is not a rule that all students are forced to follow, but rather a guideline for the benefit of the students.

Applying to too many schools can provide for a more challenging spring, all agreed.

“Say you apply to fourteen schools and get into twelve. In April it is hard to wrap your head around which one you want to go,” added Plunkett.

Facing the overwhelming

decision of choosing between twelve schools is considered a fantastic place to be, but at the same time extremely difficult.

Balance is also extremely vital. The guidance department feels this concept is essential when applying to colleges.

“If you’re realistic and smart in your approach and apply to balanced schools you don’t need more then eight,” said Plunkett.

Students should have their likely; the schools students could be easily accepted to, targets, and reaches. This ensures that each student is applying to a variety of schools suitable for him or her.

There is no exact formula for applying to college. Every person goes through the process in a wonderfully unique way.

But, no matter the height of the hill traveled, everyone makes it to the other side.

10

Features Inklings /October 28. 2011/ inklingsnews.com

Pressure’s On

The drive for high scores has some cutting corners

R ACHEL GUETTA ’13 News Editor

O

n a few fateful mornings throughout the year, high schoolers nationwide pile into their SAT testing rooms with nerves skyrocketing, hair half brushed, and freshly sharpened No. 2 pencils. But 19-year-old Sam Eshaghoff, of Great Neck North High School in Long Island, N.Y., walked into his room with a different set of pressures than most: not getting caught.

Eshaghoff charged between $1500-$2500 to take the SAT under fraudulent identification. Six students from Great Neck North High School paid for his scores that ranged from 2170 to 2220.

Imagine a room full of high school students slaving away at the nation’s most predominant standardized test.

Now imagine the one college student, breezing through the exam, who would later be charged with “Scheme to Defraud” in the first degree and six counts of “Criminal Impersonation” in the second degree.

Had it not been for the identical handwriting on six different essays, Eshaghoff’s attempts would have been successful.

But how many cases have slipped through the cracks? No one will ever know.

Cheating the System Out of 2.25 million students that take the SAT each year, 1000

scores get cancelled, according to Tom Ewing, spokesman for the test security division of College Board and Educational Testing Service (ETS).

Throughout the 7000 test centers within 170 countries, only .0004 percent of test takers get caught cheating. This verifies the efficacy of the security precautions implemented by ETS, an assessment development and research organization. According to Ewing, it all starts with the printing of the SATs. The tests are printed in select, secure locations. From the printers, the booklets and test sheets are shrink-wrapped and shipped in tamper-proof boxes to the highly guarded ETS facilities in Princeton, NJ. Here, all test booklets are coded and numbered, and are sent to schools along with seating charts for all registered students. Once they arrive in schools, they are kept in locked storage closets. On test day, they are passed out in order, collected

“In Westport, getting a B is

test security cases are copying,” Ewing said.

“A boy literally cheated off of me the entire ACT, he didn’t even look at his own questions, he just waited for all my answers,” said a Staples senior who was granted anonymity due to the nature of the incident. “He knew I’d done well in the past and he figured that since we were friends, I wouldn’t do anything about it—and I didn’t do anything about it.”

Alan Jolley, Staples’ official supervisor for SAT administration, follows all ETS requirements, which include making seating charts and reporting any egregious misconduct. Jolley also collects cell phones prior to testing.

However, Jolley recalls that one student refused to hand in his cell phone. “He conducted the whole test, and just a few minutes before it was over, the phone went off and he lost his score,” Jolley said.

Another incident occurred about eight years ago, when the ETS flagged a group of test scores as suspicious, and requested seating charts.

The cheating wasn’t definitive, but ETS deemed it necessary for the students to be retested.

the students who do not rely on others for academic success.

“There’s a temptation for everything,” Danlei Wang ’14 said, “but [cheating] really isn’t right because people always say ‘when you cheat, you’re only hurting yourself. If you don’t know it, you don’t know it—it’s not going to suddenly make you smarter.”

Following the 2003 incident, former principal John J. Brady started a campaign at Staples to prevent cheating.

The New York Times reported that students were relieved and “eager to help him stamp out behavior that they said was driven by a frenzied competition to get into an Ivy League school.”

According to Lawrence, most students have internal values that they “place on their work being original and their own.”

Still, a 2011 study by the Governor’s Prevention Initiative for Youth found that 28 percent of freshman, 48 percent of sophomores and 50 percent of juniors at Staples have admitted to cheating within the past year—it seems implausible for this cheating epidemic to be put to bed.

“It pisses me off that now [the cheater] can apply to a lot of the schools I am because he got the scores I did when he’d never be able to otherwise. To this day I still get angry whenever I think about it,” the anonymous student said.

“You’re only hurting YOURSELF. If you don’t know it, you don’t know it—it’s NOT going to suddenly make you smarter.”

like getting an F. So if you don’t feel you can achieve it on your own, you find another way.” in order, and coded. Test sheets are shipped back to ETS headquarters overnight through commercial shipping companies.

Despite these measure, there are students who get away with cheating. “99.99 percent of

was caught cheating with an answer key glue to the inside of his water bottle. Students will do anything to keep up: “Expectations are set here, externally and internally,” said former Staples student Aaron Eisman in an interview with the

The Mentality Behind Cheating In an affluent town with a high school ranked among the best in the country and the median family income of $191,308 per year, Westport is a bastion of ceaseless stress and pressure.

In 2003, a Staples student

New York Times. “In Westport, getting a B is like getting an F. So if you don’t feel you can achieve it on your own, you find another way.”

The pressures that existed in 2003 still translate into cheating for some students today. According to Guidance Counselor Micah Lawrence, this inclination to cheat can stem from a myriad of reasons: stress, pressure from parents, or either poor preparation or time management.

Other students don’t see the value in taking a test that degrades individualism amongst students. “It’s ridiculous that they tell us to be unique, to be individuals, then they give us a standardized test that makes us all one faceless herd,” the same character from the movie said.

Academic Integrity Most students are not comfortable with students cheating, especially on standardized tests, as it is not fair to

Features

Inklings / October 28, 2011/ inklingsnews.com

JĚđĎĆ SčĆėĐĊĞ ’13

Sports Editor hen students get home from school, you can’t expect anything else than your mom asking how their day was. A typical response would be something along the lines of, “all that my teachers do is give out more homework, and more tests, and more papers, and more projects…” However, this is far from true. Believe it or not, teachers have lives too.

W A Dog’s Best Friend: Carol Avery Carol Avery begins her day with a history classroom filled with students, where she comes back home to a new audience: a house full of animals.

Avery has a position as an adjunct at the University of Connecticut. She claims that she “teaches when she isn’t teaching;” however, with little time to think about her accomplishments in the past, she can easily disprove that statement.

Avery has a burning passion for animals, which is why she lives with “a houseful of four legged beasts who always need my attention.” Her corgi, Bernice, is the newest edition to her family.

Keeping her dogs company, are two two cats that she lives and breathes for. Avery would love to come home to spend time with her pets and sit down on the couch with her new Steven Pinkers book, which is 800 pages, but should be a breeze for her.

Along with her passion

for reading and animals, Avery has visited more countries than most individuals. Some locations include, Ghana, Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Aruba, Argentina, Spain, and her absolute favorite, Italy, where she has visited three times.

“The plane just keeps ending up in Italy,” said Avery.

To many a surprise, Avery began her world wide traveling experience with a fear of flying. She realized that if she wanted to continue her adventures and fulfill her goals her fear had to be taken out of the picture.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY CAROL AVERY

Kristin Simonsen: The Teacher With an Athlete’s Heart

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY KRISTIN SIMONSEN

Science teacher, Kristin Simonsen refuses to eat anything blue, is afraid of clowns, birds and un inished wood.

Even greater than this is the fact that when it comes to athletic training, Simonsen is a superhero.

Simonsen bike rides 25 to 30 miles every Sunday, runs around 10 miles on the weekend and participates in indoor rock climbing every Thursday night.

And as if this wasn’t enough already, she plans on starting swim training so she can participate in a triathlon. And she’s also the Girls Cross Country Coach.

Previously, Simonsen committed to coach all three track seasons; however she soon realized she had to pick the best

one because there was no room for all of this on top of teaching Chemistry.

“Cross country, in my opinion, is the best season. Everyone runs the same distance, the team is small and very close, it’s a more pure sport where every race brings its unique terrain and weather. It’s where I feel I have the most impact,” said Simonsen.

Simonsen and her husband plan to run a half marathon relay in Disney in January. She and her husband both train together for this. Other than her passion for running, her impetus towards this race is that the race is in honor of Simonsen’s sisterin-law who passed.

One may wonder how even a superhero has this much time

for everything, but Simonsen manages.

“As my kids get older, I can do more.” she said.

To calm her down and counterbalance everything, she adds a yoga class to her plate.

To anyone not superherolike, this may seem preposterous; but with Simonsen’s superpowers, running, biking, swimming, climbing, grading papers, and coaching, she still manages to stay sane.

“If I wasn’t competing regularly, I’d probably be impossible to deal with in other areas of my life. I’d be cutting people off while walking in the hallways and challenging random people to races in the mall. It’s a necessary healthy outlet for me,” said Simonsen.

Christine Radler: Staples’ own Horse Whisperer Christine Radler is one of the few English teachers who spends her day at the barn, not on her comfy couch reading “War and Peace”.

After intensely grading numerous AP Language Memoir Papers, Radler makes daily trips up to Hidden Acres Farm located in Naugatuck, Conn. There, she passionately practices her riding skills and studies natural horsemanship, which includes trying to detect the language of the horses and what they are doing.

Radler interacts with the horses by paying close attention to their ears, head, neck and tail movements and showing of teeth and hip movements because those are indicators of fear, submission, threats and companionship to members of the herd.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY CHRSTINE RADLER Radler mentions that the goal of natural horsemanship is to become the “leader of the herd of two,” or in other words, the human and the horse.

“Some refer to me as a horse

whisperer,” said Radler.

Even though Radler has been doing this for years, she still considers herself a beginner because there is so much to learn.

There is no question that Radler describes herself as fearless, as she is able to ride and take care of horses worry-free, and is still not afraid of the pile of papers sitting at home.

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12 12Features

Inklings /October 28, 2011/ Inklingsnews.com

HANNAH FOLEY ’13 & ELLIE GAVIN ’14 Opinions Editor & Staff Writer

Around this time of year, ghosts and their stories become as clichéd as your little bedsheet ghost costume. But if the over-portrayed image of the translucent white f window at night satisfies you, you clearly need to read on. Inklings has gone on a gh to bring you real ghost stories of Fairfield County- and let us tell you, we’ve seen i found inner city ghosts, slutty ghosts, Chinese fortune tellers, screeching rooster capitated chickens. Enjoy: something wicked this way comes...

The Factory

Once an arms and munitions manufacturing facility, Remington Arms Factory in Bridgeport is famous as one of the most haunted locations in Connecticut.

Just across the street from St. Augustine Cemetery, Remington Arms has been the site of 10 deaths- seven in an explosion, one electrocution, and one beating by a security guard. The factory has long since shut down, but the mystery of Remington has lived on since the doors closed in 1986.

“Things move. You see figures,” says Lorrain Laurren, psychic and longtime Bridgeport resident. “There is a very swift change in temperature.” Laurren,

who claims to have begun developing psychic ability at the age of 9, has visited the Remington property. “The energy is almost drained right out of you.”

If the mystical fortune teller, with four pet roosters screeching in her home (it’s a long story), doesn’t have you sold on Remington’s spooky aura, there’s still more to the tale. The phenomena at Remington doesn’t stop just at spirits and energies—there are documented accounts supporting these unbelievable claims.

These accounts say that in addition to the unsettling number of deaths, Remington is home to many freaky occurrences. Sergeant Meyers of the Bridgeport Police reveals that dead, decapi-

tated birds can often be found lying on the factory floor, the culprit gone without a trace of evidence linking them back to the scary scene.

Due to rumors about the factory, it’s become a curiosity and the scene of regular break-ins, and therefore is continuously patrolled by the police. On one of these routine patrols, Meyers himself claims to have seen ‘misty ghost-like legs’ in the distance.

In addition, it is said that one can usually hear a young female voice screaming in the night. Despite constant searches of the factory, the police have never been able to locate such a girl.

Why is this factory subject to spiritual inhabitance? Laurren

believes that such presences stem from the occurrence of “many tragedies,” As she put it. “The haunting phenomena is brought on by old buildings—things of the past.”

The Chinese Psychic

Eight years ago, a dilapidated house in Westport was the cause of worry for the superstitious.

According to a Westport real estate agent—she asked that her name not be printed--this house was the home of evil spirits and ghosts.

The story begins with a young woman, who in 2004 had a brother that was searching for a local house to fi x up as a project. She went to this agent looking for an old house that her brother could renovate.

The agent took the woman to see a fi xer upper that was on the way to Compo Beach. She said that the woman loved the house and was going to bring her brother and the rest of their family to see it that Sunday.

That Sunday, the family, 25 people strong, came to look at the house. As the relatives split up

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brother’s face in the host chase it all. We rs and de-

The Man With The Hat

On the border of Westport and Norwalk, there is a very old house. Built in the mid 1800’s, it’s the quintessential setting for a scary story.

“How do you feel about ghosts?” a young bachelor and the home owner asked his realtor, Margret Lebedis.

“Hmm. The jury’s still out,” replied a skeptical Lebedis.

As a realtor, Lebedis has heard it all when it comes to haunted houses. According to her, some people are so convinced of paranormal activity in their home that they have pursued and won lawsuits on account of being sold a haunted house. But Lebedis says she still isn’t quite convinced.

The young man goes on to

tell his story.

The man had had a girlfriend. After sleeping over one night, she told him she had seen a tall, thin, pale, old man in a black top hat standing at the foot of the bed and watching her as she slept.

At first the young man scoffed at the warning. But girlfriends came and went, and, and as each of them told him the same terrified tale about the same tall, thin, pale man in a black top hat, it got harder for him to dismiss their impossible story.

One cold winter afternoon, around 4 o’clock, Lebedis was locking up the old home after an open house. As it was winter, it was already dark and cold outside.

As she was getting ready to leave, an old woman, probably in her late 80s according to Lebedis, came to the door. She told Lebedis she had been born in the house, and her great grandfather had built it himself.

“I want these pictures to stay with the house,” she said, handing Lebedis a pile of black and white photographs depicting her childhood in the home.

Lebedis sifted through the pile of old photos, but there was one in particular that caught her eye. It was a scene of the whole family outside on the front porch together. And there was a one particular man who interested Lebedis.

“That was my great grandfather” said the woman. “The one who built the house.”

She was pointing to a tall, thin, pale man in a black top hat standing in the back.

ably due to her less than virtuous reputation around town, but upon dying he left her his home, currently the Westport Historical Society, and all of its belongings, where she spent the rest of her life, and where she reportedly spends her afterlife.

Years later, David Quigley, a florist from Miss Plums’ Particulars, was commissioned by the Westport Historical Society to work on an arrangement for an exhibit opening. Faced with some inclement weather, Quigley was worried about safely making his way home and opted to spend the night in the one of the old bedrooms in the Historical Society, just to be safe.

Quigley claims his attempts at remaining safe landed him in a paranormal encounter with none other than the ghost of Ms. Darby herself. However, despite being spooked, Ms. Darby never threatened Quigley. “Not all ghosts are supposed to be malevolent. Some stories say that ghosts want to be around very happy people, so they will be found in the houses of happy families with children,” says Lebedis, the local realtor and ghost story guru. “They say that

ghosts are just left on earth when they have something unfinished,” she said.

What might Ms. Darby’s unfinished business on earth be?

No one knows for sure, but the Historical Society has a guess.

“There is this old Victorian love seat that we saved. It was original to the house,” says Lebedis, “It’s a joke that that’s why she’s still here.”

The Doctor and the Tramp

They say true love never dies, and that may be exactly the case with the Wheeler house ghost.

According to Margaret Lebedis, a local real estate agent, Doctor Wheeler, an old widower in the 1700’s, spent almost 30 years in a clandestine love affair with his housekeeper and lover, Ms. Darby. The two never married, prob-

PHOTO FROM THE CONNECTICUT POST

and went to explore the property, the grandmother of the family remained in the kitchen with the realtor.

She motioned for the grandmother, who was a famous Chinese psychic and spoke very little English, to see the basement.

After two minutes, the realtor heard a “high-pitched squealing.” She described it as a chirping noise. “Within two seconds everyone rushed out of the house,” she said.

She was given no explanation as to what had happened.

The next day, the daughter called the realtor and told her that her mother had said “there were bad spirits in the house.”

According to the realtor, the mother “had seen an enclave of ghosts, and they were bad ghosts, not good spirits.” The chirping was a cultural signal to warn people that there were bad spirits present.

Eventually the house was rebuilt and sold to a buyer who was unaware of this account and claimed that after moving in, “her life had been turned around in such a positive way,” the realtor said.

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?: The Remington Factory can be seen from the railroad tracks in Bridgeport.

GRAPHIC BY CONNIE ZHOU ’12

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Inklings /October 28, 2011/ Inklingsnews.com

Longboarders

PHOTOS BY CHEYENNE HASLETT ‘13

Tearin’ Up The Streets of Westport

F

rom graphics of psychedelic sunflowers in all hues of the rainbow to racy women, draped suggestively over the bottom of boards, the colors and statements of long boards have brought new excitement to the streets of Westport. Whether it is a weekend or after school, if the sun is out, so are the boarders. Cruising, dancing, and carving up the southeast region of Westport, l o n g b o a r d e r s have made their mark on the town by taking a new trend to the next level.

CčĊĞĊēēĊ HĆĘđĊęę ’13

Web News Editor Longboarding is a form of skateboarding, but ask any longboarder and they’ll tell you it’s a more advanced form.

“Longboarding is a lot smoother than skateboarding because the board is bigger and the wheels are bigger,” said Alec Wrubel ’13, adding that the whole point of long boarding is that it’s supposed to be “like sur ing, but on land.”

Grif in Noyer ’13 has been longboarding ever since an old friend brought out the longboarder in him by showing him that this sport was easy but could always be improved on, thus providing a fun challenge.

Alex Zuckerman ’13 also chooses longboarding.

“Long boarding is a smoother ride than skateboarding.

You just cruise. It’s not frustrating like learning skateboard tricks.”

Another reason Zuckerman would choose his New York-made longboard over a skate board is the stereo types associated with skate boarding. “There isn’t really a reputation with long boarders. Anyone can really be a long boarder. You don’t have to dress the part or do any of that stupid stuff.”

Zuckerman also appreciates the group aspect of longboarding. “It’s almost like a sports team,” he said, adding that, “de initely, going longboarding with people, you get to know them better.”

Alec Wrubel ’13 added that longboarding, to him, m,, is just as much of a sport as anything else.

“Longboarding is Staples football,” Wrubel said.

Noyer appreciates what a group dynamic can add to a session.

“It’s always a great group of kids,” said Noyer, “and that makes skatingg a lot more fun.”

Fellow longboarder Jake Shore ’13 sums up his passion for long boarding in simple terms. “I love it and it relieves my stress.”

Taking it to the next level The nonexistence of unhealthy competition and an aura of relaxation lure many longboarders back to the smoothly paved

roads and lexed boards they have come to love, time and time again. Anyone can glance at a sport and pick out the best players, but longboarding is calmer, in that everyone has their strengths in different categories, athletes say.

Noyer described the different areas of longboarding, stating that some people are simply “better at certain things than others.”

There is “sliding” or “drifting,” which, according to Wrubel, is when “you turn really hard and get the wheels to turn horizontally and slide down the hill, similar to drifting in a car.” The intensity of this trick creates a feeling that “the whole board is just going to go sliding out from under you and you’re going to hit the pavement— which is what happens if you don’t do it right,” said Wrubel.

In addition, there is “dancing,” which entails fancy cross-stepping footwork up and down the board similar to dancing—hence the name. There is also “downhill long boarding,” where speed comes into play, “cruising and carving,” which is where the similarities of long boarding and sur ing can be seen, and last but not least, are the board tricks. Some examples of board tricks are kick lips, which, according to Wrubel, are as dif icult to do as they are to describe. “Basically you get the board up in the air, then you kick it so it does a barrel roll and you land on it,” said Wrubel.

Noyer himself takes pride in downhill, but gives Zuckerman credit for board tricks and Shore credit for dancing.

Shore has been cultivating his longboarding talent for years, and has taken it to the next level.

He is currently the recipient of a sponsorship through Original Skateboards and Dope Skateboard Shop. He earned this longboarding status through his You Tube videos, posted under “theracoono jake.” The owner of Original Skateboards saw his videos and contacted him.

Shore dreamily recalls the conversation that began his sponsored longboarding career. “The owner said ‘sup, I like your videos a lot. Can you ride for the team?’ I said fook yah.”

“Longboarding is a lot of fun, and if you haven’t yet, ind a friend and try it,” —Grif in Noyer’13 His job on the Original Skateboards team is to represent them wherever he goes, including competitions.

Shore competed in a competition on Sat., Oct. 8, called Slide Jam, where he and the other contestants did tricks and participated in races in front of a panel of judges.

Noyer has also taken his interest in longboarding to a higher degree. He recently participated in an event called the “Broadway Bomb,” where thousands of long boarders skate down one of the busiest streets in New York (Broadway) and take it over for the day, or as long as needec for everyone to reach their inal destination.

The Price They Pay for a Passion While the hobby may seem harmless, groups of longboarders have been taking some heat from the public lately. They have been seen on the Post Road, and the activity of long boarding tends to take up the better part of most roads.

While Zuckerman says the longboarders try to stay off the Post Road and other main roads for the safety of themselves and the drivers, and Noyer added that it’s nerveracking to longboard with cars around, they can recall countless times where drivers have been unhappy with their presence.

As the hobby has gained popularity, and groups of longboarders have risen to up to nine members at a time, there have been a lurry of complaints regarding the run- in with a police of ofblocking of roads and even one run icer.

“A nice citizen once reported that we may or may no not have been blocking the intersection, and the police just jus asked that we not block the intersection or block traf ic. ic We politely obliged,” said Noyer, recalling the incident.

While there has been a minimal amount of fuss sur surrounding the hobby, there have been no particularly seriseri ous outcomes. “We’re not causing a major traf ic disrupdisrup tion,” said Zuckerman.

Noyer encourages the hobby, whether it includes include some complaints by citizens every now and again or not.

“Longboarding is a lot of fun, and if you haven’t yet, yet ind a friend and try it,” said Noyer.

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Westport Residents Go All-Out with Their Halloween Decorations CALLIE AHLGRIM ’13 Social Media Specialist

B

y Oct. 1, some families are dusting off their decorations that sit in the basement all year: the blood skulls, the flying witches, the glowing ghosts, and the enormous spiders. While some families simply place a single pumpkin on their porch, other have a bigger agenda for Halloween.

Amy Miers ’13 and her family run a popular attraction on the 31st. “It usually takes a month to set up, plus coming up with new ideas,” Miers said. “Every year we try to add on and change it up.”

She recalls that the whole ordeal began while she was at the ripe old age of 3. Every year it gets bigger and bigger – and every year it gets better and better.

Miers attributes most of the elaborate decorations to her father, Fred, who comes up with and builds most of the ornaments. Fred says that he loves to see his new ideas come to life every year.

“When you’re a kid and you have an imagination, you can make anything you want. It’s the same now, just with a little hard work and elbow grease,” Miers said.

If you go to Juniper Road on Halloween, make sure you walk.

The street is packed with cars, people, and excited kids, anxious to see what the Miers family has created.

“It gets more and more crowded on our street every year,” said neighbor Steven Greenberg, father of Ben ’12 and Daniel ’14. “There are actual traffic jams on Halloween. People drive from all over to see it.”

Currently, the construction features a maze in front of the house, with live actors dressed in costumes and ready to terrify.

There are multiple different aspects to the mini haunted house, including werewolves, vampires, mad scientists, and a ten-foot-tall zombie.

Maddy Seidman ’13 is one of these actors every year. She’s covered everything from swinging in a cage to posing as a decapitated head on a plate.

She says that it’s incredibly fun to scare kids once they realize that she’s not a doll, but a live person.

All Halloween night, the delighted screams of children – and even some adults – will be echoing through the neighborhood.

“You don’t remember the first day you lost a tooth or stopped sucking your thumb, but you’ll remember the day that Mr. Miers chased you down the street,” Fred Miers said.

He said that his favorite part is giving kids memories and knowing that they’re having fun. “If they go home with nightmares, then I’ve done my job,” he said.

PHOTOS BY MADISON HORNE SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET: Westport families prepare for Halloween by embellishing their lawns and houses with scary and spooky decorations

However, adorning your house with scary supplies isn’t just fun for neighbors and trickor-treaters. Decorating houses for Halloween is like setting up the Christmas tree for some families, people said.

Jack McFarland, the head basketball coach at Staples, loves working on decorations with his four kids. “They really enjoy decorating the house,” he says.

“It makes them really invested in Halloween.”

He says that carving the jack-o-lanterns is his favorite activity; others, such as Gabriella Rizack ’13, opt for less traditional ornaments. Her family also enjoys a multitude of Halloween decorations, but she says that her favorite is a light-up train, fi lled to the brim with ghosts and skeletons.

“My mom goes to Halloween stores every year and buys new decorations to put up,” she says.

Rizack agrees with Miers that the effect on the kids makes all of the time and effort pay off.

“When kids come to our house, they usually think it is really cool,” she says. “It can sometimes scare little kids and make them cry.” But she believes that this adds to the fun and excitement of the night.

Her favorite part of the prpcess is transforming her home into a “haunted” place. She says that her whole family loves it, especially since all the decorations really add to the “spirit of Halloween.”

For various decorated houses around Westport, Oct. 31 is constantly a busy night. Year after year, kids seem to be coming back in the masses.

Both the Miers family and various neighbors have noticed that the number of trick-or-treaters is constantly growing.

“There is a different exhibit around each corner,” Seidman said.

“People always come back each year to see what new ideas

[Fred] has come up with. It’s always bigger and scarier.”

Seidman says that each year, the family is able to produce very “realistic” and “spooky” decorations. What started out as a simple homemade graveyard has grown into an enormous production.

Fred Miers has become somewhat of legend in Westport. He says that even though it is weeks of work just for one night, it’s all worth it.

“It gives him joy to give a thrill to all these kids,” said Greenberg.

Ha lloween is a night of scary fun for people everywhere, but in this town it’s a little bit more than that.

“There aren’t a lot of opportunities for a sense of community,” said Greenberg. “But I think that’s what Halloween is in Westport, because of people like Fred that make it special.”

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Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

Students Start Local Jazz Group BAILEY VALENTE ’13 STAFF WRITER

I

n high school years, many students begin searching for their niche or passion. Many turn to sports, others choose acting. However, for these five students, it’s all that jazz.

Austin Alianiello ’12, tenor saxaphone player, Mike Ljungberg ’12, drummer, Olivia Kapell ’14, bassist, Brian Hershey ’12, saxaphone player, and Danny Pravder ’12, pianist, aren’t only members of the Staples jazz band. Driven by their love of music, they came together to form their own small jazz group, “Chops,” in which they use each other’s talents to strengthen their own in a fun, leisurely way.

“Chops,” a slang term for the way you play an instrument, began sophomore year for Alianiello, the tenor saxophone player, Pravder, the pianist, Hershey, and Ljungberg. During band practice, when Mr. Mariconda gave breaks, these boys chose to spend their time playing songs together.

“We jammed and had good chemistry, so we decided to start a group,” said Pravder.

There’s no doubt that these musicians are completely infatuated with their instruments and the music they produce.

“I have always had this thing, I call it a condition, where I just can’t sit still with an instrument in my hands,” explains

PHOTO BY BAILEY VALENTE ’13 JUST JAZZIN’ AROUND: From left, Danny Pravder ‘12 , Olivia Kapell ‘14, Austin Alianiello ‘12, Mike Ljungberg ‘12, and Brian Hershey ‘12, share some laughs before practice.

Alianiello.

The students came together and agreed that they wanted to play together more often, starting by meeting after school occasionally. They grew not only as musicians, but as close friends, as well.

“We thought it would be a good way to build our ‘chops’ outside of jazz band so that we could try to make the jazz ensemble the best it could be,” said Alianiello.

As the group got more serious, there was a need for a bassist who would share

the same focus and determination the rest of the boys. That’s where Kapell came in.

Kapell is an extremely talented bass player who was accepted into the Staples jazz band as a freshman – a rare occurrence.

Alianiello immediately noticed her love for music and motivation to improve, and asked her to join.

“When they asked me to play with them, it was a pretty casual offer, nothing I thought would be permanent,” Kapell said. “We had a great time, and they kept

PHOTOS BY MADISON HORNE ’12

asking me to play. We became a close knit group, and Chops just formed.”

Chops has played together at various events, including school fundraisers, ECOfest, and live from the Staples Media Lab. Separately, they have done various gigs around the Fairfield County area.

Unlike other styles of music where everything is planned and learned ahead of time, jazz performances are improvisational. Rehearsing only requires planning what pieces will be played and who is going to have a solo, explains Kapell.

“Performances are exciting because I never know what sick lick Austin or Danny is going to pull, or what fi ll Mike is going to put in,” she said, adding that each performance is even more fun than the last.

The players have high aspirations for the future of the group, including writing some original material and playing more gigs, suggests Pravder. However, Alianiell oenforces that enjoyment is everyone’s main goal for Chops.

All four boys are graduating seniors, and each of them has future aspirations that revolve around music. Kapell plans to continue her studies of music throughout her next two high school years and hopes to become more comfortable experimenting with her instrument.

“The guys in Chops are my favorite people in the world. I’m really going to miss them next year when they all graduate.”

Out of the Spotlight, Pit Orchestra Still Shines EMILY GOLDGERG ’12 Web Managing Editor When Staples’ fall production of “West Side Story” opens on Nov. 11, student actors, actresses, singers, and dancers will have their chance to shine. However, the audience will still only see half the story.

In fact, the 26 students who sit beneath the stage as members of the pit orchestra hope to go unnoticed during the performance.

“The thing about pit is if we do our job right, nobody should even notice we are there,” said Austin Alianiello ’12. “Some acknowledgement would be nice, but our main reason for doing what we do isn’t to get noticed.

We work hard so that the play can be as good as it can be.”

The students have been presented with complex and intense music composed by Leonard Bernstein.

Pit Conductor Adele Valovich selected only the most qualified musicians.

“Much of the audition, especially for the brass players, is determined by range, or how high students can play. We call the trumpets the screamers because their part is so high,” Valovich said. “Ninety-nine percent of high

PHOTOS BY EMILY GOLDBERG ‘12 PHOTOS BY EMILY GOLDBERG ’12 NOW PLAYING: Orchestra members practice for their upcoming performance of “West Side Story.” school students don’t have that type of range or endurance.”

Jason Lustbader ’12 and Jackson Ullmann ’14 will take on the difficult trumpet selection with the help of two professional trumpet players.

“Staples Players is relying on the pit to back them up, and if the pit messes up or gets lost, then the whole song will be off track, so that does put a tiny bit of pressure on us,” Ullmann said.

Each year Players hires pro-

fessional musicians to assist students in the pit. According to professional horn player Renee Redman, who has been playing with Staples’ pit orchestra since 2005, the adults get just as much out of the experience as the students do.

“It’s fun to play with the students at Staples,” Redman said.

“I’m always happy to see how accomplished the students are and how they always want to do their best.”

Members of the pit orchestra are pushing themselves to new heights for the upcoming production, and in the case of Alianiello, even learning new instruments.

“Because we are using the original Broadway books, some of the [selections] call for multiple instruments, but I’ve never had a student, before Austin, jump in with both feet to learn a new instrument,” Valovich said.

Alianiello will be playing tenor saxophone, baritone saxo-

phone, and clarinet. He began with Staples’ orchestra playing the alto sax, which he has been playing for the past seven years.

However, Alianiello said he “found his voice” with the tenor saxophone during his sophomore year. He then picked up the clarinet at the end of last year after noticing the principal clarinetist in the Symphonic and Pit Orchestras, Gabe Block’ 11, would be graduating.

“Naturally I felt obligated to fill that void,” Alianiello said.

“Playing the clarinet is not the same as playing the sax and it has been very tough adjusting. However, I really enjoyed the challenge.”

The ambition Alianiello exemplifies is a commonality among all members of the pit orchestra.

Pit Manager Chelsea Steinberg ’12 is continually impressed with the musicians’ skill and dedication.

“In many instances I’ve found that the pit musicians are amongst the most eager to be involved with the production,” Steinberg said.

“There are so many other places for musicians to play, so if a musician chooses to be in the pit, it’s because they really want to be apart of the theater experience.”

A&E Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

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ALEXANDRA O’KANE ’13 Social Media Specialist GRAPHIC BY NATE ROSEN ’14

P

resented with the option of reading a long, detailed, descriptive novel or watching a short, comical, plot-based movie, students find it difficult to choose which to start first.

“People who like the movies without reading the books just don’t know what they’re missing,” said Staples English teacher Christina Richardson.

However, Jake Shore ’13 doesn’t quite agree.

He is a reader, but truly a movie fanatic. While he does acknowledge that the book is sometimes better than the movie, he does not think that this is always the case. “‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ was one of my favorite movies from the past decade, but I thought the book was horrendous and gruesomely abhorrent,” Shore said.

He thinks that a good movie adaptation should be “creative and different from the book,” while not changing the plot too much.

Shore has read only two books after seeing the movie adaptations: “Fight Club” and “Into the Wild.”

“It was weird and seemed messed up, but it was groovy being able to read knowing what the characters and settings looked like,” he said.

While he likes the book version of “Fight Club” better than the movie, he thought that the book “Into the Wild” did not match the “overwhelming, gooey greatness” of actors Emile Hirsch and Sean Penn in the movie.

Even movie lover Caroline Perry ’12 usually likes books better than fi lm adaptations. However, she enjoyed the movie of “Jane Eyre” more than the book because “the novel was written

Weighing the pros and cons of adaptations of books to movies such a long time ago that it was more difficult for me to relate to, and the novel itself was so long that it was almost hard to hold my interest,” Perry said.

In this case, fewer details were more beneficial because it kept the length of the movie more manageable.

“[The movie] was weird and seemed messed up, but it was groovy being able to read knowing what the characters and settings looked like.”

–Jake Shore ’13 Still, the movie “kept the themes and important aspects of the novel, but it was an updated, modern take that not only

GRAPHIC BY JACKIE KERAMES ’12 AND RACHEL LABARRE ’14

was easier for me to relate to, but helped me understand details that I hadn’t when reading the book,” Perry said.

Many are firm believers that in every case the book is better.

“In a book, each little part, which may take all of two or three seconds in a movie, is described in great detail. These descriptions are what make books so good, so relatable, so engaging,” said Tory Scordato ‘13.

The emotions of the characters, the descriptions of the setting, the build-up of the plot, all of these aspects are what make books so interesting, Richardson said.

“Sometimes the small parts are my favorite things about the book. I feel like movies are like reading the summary to a book,” said Maddie Saveliff ‘13. “Books have more detail that you can really dive into. Movies are hundreds of pages squeezed into a few hours,” Saveliff said.

Still, many people who firm-

ly believe that the books are always better say that they enjoy watching the movie after.

Saveliff is anxiously awaiting the release of the movie “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” after reading the book and loving it. “Salendar’s personality won’t be captured the same way, but the crazy plot will still make it an intriguing movie,” she said.

Similarly, Lea Bradley ’13 is very excited for the final “Twilight” installment, “Breaking Dawn,” to come out. “I can’t wait to see the marriage of Edward and Bella,” she said.

She explained that she enjoyed reading the books because they were detailed and suspenseful, but she is excited to see the actions of the book on the big screen. She seems to be more in the mindset of Shore, loving the movies and the books.

Film analysis teacher Werner Liepolt cannot quite choose between liking books or movies more. “Generally speaking I like

books when they’re great books and movies when they’re great movies,” he said.

Liepolt explained that sometimes it’s hard to title books and movies as better or worse because many works are adaptations. He said that Shakespeare didn’t even create all of his stories but rather adapted established stories and made them into his plays.

“So what is interesting and important about Shakespeare’s plays is what details and nuances he chose to emphasize and how different actors, scholars, directors, fi lm makers, chose to adapt what he defined,” Liepolt said.

Both books and movies provide different benefits for various people. So, before new movies like “Breaking Dawn” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” come out in theaters, there may be some die-hard reading fans sprawled out on their couch rushing to finish before they grab popcorn and hit the premiere.

18

A&E

Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

Evolution of the Halloween Costume

’02 ’94 A

Toddlers

s a toddler, I didn’t give a heck as to what I would be for Halloween, een, just as long as my night ended d with a pillowcase full of king-sized snickers and jumbo-sized mbo-sized bubble-tape. (To those of you who give out Sweet Tarts and Nerds, you know who you are, and nd you should be ashamed med of yourself. Chocolate ate is always the way to go.)

A toddler’s Halloween costume iss enrents, tirely up to the parents, who I think all share d in the same method costume selection:: arOne, the parents must choosee a kes costume that makes dortheir child look adorn their able and cuter than friends’ children. Why compete oween costume in your own Halloween contest when you have a willing h illi and unable-to-argue-with-you child to do it for you?

Two, the parents must select a costume that is very uncomfortable and itchy because it looks cute at a cheaper price, and well, it’s not their chins getting a rash from that cute bonnet that looks soft but actually feels like sandpaper.

But above all, at number three, the parents must select a costume that is both embarrassing and equally degrading.

Though many parents attempt to fulfill such standards, few have reached the degradation levels that my own parents succeeded in bestowing upon myself.

When I was a toddler, my parents decided that I would trick-or-treat dressed as a clown.

Job well done Mom and Dad…Job well done.

Toddlers can be seen year after year, flying around on fake broomsticks in their black witch frocks, tripping over their toilet-paper mummy ensembles, or sweating through their one-piece zip-up zoo animal disguise. (Ears attached to a furry hood are always a plus.)

Even though it was embarrassing and shameful, and even though dressing me up as a loon or a fruitcake would equal the humility of that colorfully-spotted clown suit, I cannot deny that in photographs I do look pretty flippin’ adorable.

’07 Middle School

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY LEAH BITSKY ‘12

Middle school is notorious for being the awkward transition time where you aren’t a child anymore, but not yet an adult. So what is there to be said about middle-schoolers on Halloween?

To start, its the night that thirteenyear olds try to show off hips they don’t quite have yet by showing up from door to door on Halloween night wearing

Elementary School With the wide age-range nge in middle school, it’s a little surprising thatt the costume ideas fail to vary. Kindergartners rs are often seen in the same getups as their older, superior 5th graders.

Elementary students nts are mature ma atu ture r enough to dress themselves es in the morning, so they are surely mature re enough to choose their own costume. e.

The regular choices? A princess, a pop star, or a pop starr princess, (belly-shirt and tiara not optional.)

Other children mightt go for the typical witch, the retro decades girl, or the movie/ vie/ TV show character costume. me.

Now, for the average age elementary student, Hallloween isn’t just about candy and haunted

OCTOBER

houses. One of their main concerns is the Halloween parade, which occurs at all the Westport elementary schools.

For me, marching across that baseball field at Greens Farms Elementary School, the one with the hill that seemed like the biggest hill in the world until I grew up and realized I could barely sled down it, was the proudest moment in my elementary school career.

My strut in my Britney Spears costume, blonde wig, sparkly blue outfit, and headset microphone, trumps the first time I completed a long division problem correctly.

Yes, for elementar y s t u dents, their H a l lowe en costume is one of the most important decisions of their lives, and they never fail to impress.

31

costumes designed for women of a more mature age.

The regular costume choices for these ready-to-be-slutty middle school girls include the winged creature costumes, (fairy, butterfly, angel) the cutesy costumes, (cup-cake girl, rag doll, cheerleader) the any-animal-seen-in-TheLion-King costume, (Zebra, Flamingo, Wildcat) and the career costume, (Cop, firewoman, soldier.)

Considering I wore the same pink stretchy-pants every other day through 6th grade, I was clearly unaware of what was “In,” and I chose to dress as a mouse.

Long gray pants, a long-sleeved gray turtleneck, ears I bought from a Nutcracker performance, and painted on whiskers, made up the final look.

Can we say nerd alert?

But as I reached 8th grade, I finally understood the Halloween middle school expectation, and dressed as a rag doll with a few of my friends, striped stockings knee-high and bonnet left at home.

I look back at myself in pure embarrassment. Why did I want to look older than I was? And why hadn’t I at least selected something with a bit more class?

A friend recently asked me why middle-schoolers don’t dress up scary.

Well, these girls definitely aren’t wearing monster costumes or fake blood on their face, but I think that a 12 year old girl in a Fifi the Sexy French Maid costume is scary enough.

’11

High School Halloween Costumes reach a whole other ther level when it comes mes to high schoolers.

With trick-ortreating out, t, and Halloween parties arties in, many high school girlss choose to dress the far more pr o v o c a tively.

A s Cady Heron wisely puts it, “In the regular world, Halloween is when children dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In girl world, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.”

The costumes selected by high school students are usually just slutty versions of things people wouldn’t ordinarily think of as risqué. A student, a police woman, and a referee all seem like dignified professions, but on Halloween, they become far from respectable.

It seems to me that girls can take any

random profession, tv/movie character, animal, or object, and twist it to seem promiscuous, maybe even titling the costume a supposedly “creative” name to give it a raunchy spin.

Really, the names sound like they were written by the people that think up fortunes inside Chinese fortune cookies.

Some interesting examples include the “Tackle Me Sexy” football player costume, the “Officer Rita Dem Rights” police costume, the “Sedusa Medusa Costume Elite”, and the “Babe-ALonian Warrior Queen” costume.

But for High Schoolers, it seems it doesn’t matter how ridiculous the actual costume is, just as long as the hemline is far above their fingertips.

Now obviously there are high schoolers who choose to actually dress up scary (I know, crazy right?) but for the majority of high school girls, Halloween is about dressing up seductively, and maybe just a little about scoring some left-over Snickers bars on the way home from the party.

A&E

Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

19 GRAPHIC BY CHIARA PUCCI ’11

As the temperature begins to descend, it’s time to hang up those vintage shorts and put away your gladiators. Fall has arrived. Pull out the sweaters and boots from the back of your closet because this season there are plenty of hot new trends to look out for.

DĊĆēēĆ SĈčėĎĊćĊė ’13 AƭE EĉĎęĔė

Big Sweaters The fashion trends of the ‘80’s have returned. Leggings made ha their reappearance last season th and an now there is a revival of the oversized sweater. Comfortable ov and an oversized make for the perfect trend.

Purchase a cute oversized tr sweater in beige, black, olive, or sw any warm color and pair it with a your most comfortable leggings y and a pair of boots. The look will a be b complete.

In Westport, these sweaters e can be purchased at Wishlist, Winged Monkey, and many other W stores.

For a cheaper find, try digs ging into the back of your mom’s closet and find it for free.

Colorful Scarves Fur Vests Fur vests are the perfect piece to carry your outfits into the fall. These fur vests come in many forms. There are cropped, sleek, and silky fur vests and longer vests with shaggy materials. All of these vests can be paired with anything, including jeans and leggings. Just put them over any outfit to make your outfit complete.

This season, stores are carrying patterned scarves that can be added to any outfit. The lightweight fabrics make these scarves just the right fit for the fall. The thin silky or cotton scarves have vibrant prints and details that will make your outfit pop. There are a many patterns and designs that you can choose from; you just need to find out which pattern will complement your outfit.

These scarves are not meant to keep you warm during the next snowstorm, but they will be the perfect decoration for your neck. The scarves are also relatively inexpensive – they range from twenty dollars to forty. So, a little money will buy something that can be worn all the time.

Animal Prints This fall animal prints are roaring in fashion. This timeless trend is overflowing stores in all forms of clothing and accessories. However, it is no surprise, given that the Kardashians are all over magazines with adorned in leopard print.

Animal prints are a way to spice up any outfit on accessories, or as seen in many popular stores right now, such as Forever 21, on animal print tees, blouses, skirts, dresses, and leggings.

Short Boots Combat boots are no longer restricted to military footwear, they have become mainstream. They were the hot trend at the beginning of this year, and continue to be popular throughout the fall season.

This fall, all short boots will be transitioning to be the perfect shoe to pair with your favorite skinny jeans. These boots are also comfortable with leggings or skirts. Boot socks are a musthave to pair with your favorite short boots. They add a burst of color or a pop of texture to the top of the boot. Whether they’re ankle grazing or hit mid-calf, adorned with studs or buckles, these heavy-duty leather boots are the perfect transitional footwear option.

PHOTOS BY DEANNA SCHREIBER ’13

20

Hit the Lights

SPORTS October 28, 2011

A dark situation not to be taken lightly JĚđĎĆē CđĆėĐĊ ’12 ƭ WĎđđ MĈDĔēĆđĉ ’14

Managing Editor & Sports Editor

I

t’s a beautiful Autumn Friday night.

Across the country, students are filing into row after row of metal bleachers, ready to channel their excitement and relief at the arrival of the weekend into cheering for their school’s football team.

It’s an event that most students base their precious weekend night around: their Friday Night Lights.

However, this isn’t the case at Staples Stadium. On Friday nights, the football field is instead quiet, desolate, and most importantly, dark.

Due to Staples being one of the only fields in the FCIAC that lacks field lighting, fans are relegated to attending games that take place at the less-festive time of two o’clock on Saturday afternoons.

Earlier this year, hope emerged for those in favor of lights with the news that Saugatuck Elementary’s P.J. Romano Field would be receiving portable lights for the fall season, despite the objections from those who live near by.

Laurence Bradley, Westport’s Planning and Zoning Director, said that while the Planning and Zoning commission had given the go-ahead for lights at Staples in 2009, that process has been blocked by an ongoing lawsuit filed by nearby residents.

The reason for the darkness at the moment is the opposition of the neighbors, who view the noise and brightness that comes with night games as unwanted.

“When Staples was winning years ago, they rented lights to play a night game. I felt like I was on a Broadway stage,” Elizabeth Stillinger-Guthman, a 38-year-resident of High Point Road, directly behind the football field, said. “It lit up my entire backyard, into my house and onto the road below. It felt very invasive.”

Staples’ Athletic Director Marty Lisevick clarified that a tentative settlement to that lawsuit is being reviewed by the Board of Education.

“If everything were to be agreed upon, then we would have a fundraiser and hopefully have the lights by the fall of 2012,” Lisevick said.

He added that under the current proposal, a certain number of games and activities would be allowed to begin at six or seven at night, which ensures that any potential disturbances to neighbors would cease by the time they would be trying to sleep.

However, according to Ann Gill, another resident of High Point Road, several families have young children that are going to bed around the time these events are just beginning. “It isn’t fair to them,” Gill said. “It gets hairy.”

In addition to the invasiveness of the light, residents say the noise is another incredible nuisance. “I was invited to go to a game a few years ago, and I said ‘Why? I can tell you who threw the touchdown and who caught the pass right from my living room sofa,’” said Gill, who has lived in her home since 1955–before Staples was built.

But in promoting the erection of lights, Gill said, the school system is actually breaking a commitment made long ago.

“There was a gentlemen’s agreement between residents of the street and the previous superintendant that ‘there would never be lights at Staples.’ But everything needs to be black and white now, and nothing was ever written down,” Gill said.

Staples fans and players are mostly ignorant of any history. And this season, Staples played a night game at Brien McMahon high school, coming back from a 21-7 deficit and winning 24-21 with a game-clinching field goal.

Many fans felt that the evening atmosphere was completely different from that of a day game.

“Everything just seemed way more in-

PHOTO BY JAKE REINER ’14 tense and electrifying,” Chris Wilk ’14 said.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off the glowing, nighttime field.”

Many players and fans felt that the attendance to the game was higher due to the timing. Stephen Colodny ’13, a head of the Superfans organization, said more people would attend night games because they would think of it “as an event to spend their night at compared to something that is mid-day.”

Tri-captain Bo Gibson ’11 and wide receiver James Frusciante ’13 concurred with Colodny. Gibson said that he actually enjoys playing under the lights more than he does under the sun because of the intense atmosphere, and he thinks that if Staples were to get lights they would see a rise in their fanbase, with people scrambling to get in on the excitement.

Despite general agreement among players and fans that the lights would be a great addition to the football spectating experience, Staples Stadium remains pitchdark.

Due to a CIAC regulation that mandates that all state playoff games be played at night, in the past Staples has previously imported temporary lights so they could still play at home. However, Lisevick noted that the cost up to $15,000-$20,000 per game.

Thus, in 2009, Staples actually forfeited the well-earned advantage of playing at home, instead being forced to play Xavier at the nuetral site of Wilton, which has lights.

According to Lisevick, if Staples gets lights, which he made clear is still uncertain, then they would take the time to do a mini-renovation. In all, there are plans for a new concession stand and scoreboard, in addition to the lights, the cost of which Lisevick estimated at $600,000.

While football is the most prominent sport pressing for lighting, it would not be the only one to utilize it.

“It is our hope that football, field hockey, lacrosse, and multiple other teams would be able to take advantage of the lighting if we are to obtain it,” Lisevick said.

Stillinger-Guthman, the Staples neighbor, said she was sorry the whole issue has become such a large controversy.

“It’s always nice to feel a community and fellowship around something like high school athletics,” Stillinger-Guthman said, “but since it’s made such a difference in the quality of our lives, we’ve taken this stand.”

Upon being asked if the greater atmosphere created by lights has any effect on the football team’s performance, kicker Robbie Wolf ’12, who drilled home the game-winner under the lights at McMahon, said he ultimately doesn’t see a difference.

“No matter what time it is, we play our game.”

THE DARK NIGHT: As the Wreckers play under the lights in Trumbull (above), Staples Stadium (left) remains vacant. A decision regarding the installation of lights is still in the process of approval.

For up-to-date info on ield lighting, visit www.InklingsNews.com

GRAPHIC BY NATE ROSEN ’14

Sports Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com Continued from pg. 1 what are defended as genuine reasons, such as discussing the attire of the game (“Whiteout this Thursday”) or fi nding out how many people will be in attendance. However, the good intentions often vanish in mere minutes.

The event pages are public and open to anyone with an Internet connection and the ability to search “Brien McMahon vs.

Staples” on Facebook. Maybe the people posting and commenting do not understand that the pages are public. Maybe they do. Whatever the case may be, some would argue that it is time to expose what truly lies beneath what they would depict as the sparkling veneer of fandom at

Staples.

“Be a Fan, Not a Fanatic.”

Staples High School: home of the Wreckers, yes, but also home of the SuperFans, an organization which, by name alone, would be expected to be comprised of respectful and funloving individuals. SuperFans co-president Andrew Felman ’14 believes that this is the case.

“All we are looking to do is get good fan support for the Staples community,” Felman said.

It may come as a surprise to some, however, to learn that many Staples students are not, in fact, quite so “super” when it comes to athletic sportsmanship, or so some in the community would argue.

Trashtalk itself is not a new problem. Varsity boys’ soccer coach Dan Woog believes that it is a function of society, and that what happens at college and university sports games around the country has always managed to trickle down to the high school level. Woog has personally seen all types of trashtalk during his time at Staples.

“Whether it’s yelling ‘You suck’ at football teams as they walk past at halftime, or wheth-

er it’s, as we’ve seen, engaging in class warfare on Facebook,” Woog said, “from time to time, the fans do cross the line, as they do in college stadiums across the country.”

However, online trashtalk is a relatively recent phenomenon, experts say. With the advent of Facebook, it is easier than ever to trashtalk. Why start heckling the other team on the day of the game when one can heckle the other team weeks before the game even occurs?

Why merely “heckle” (a word with particularly safe and playful connotations) the other team at the game with teachers and principals both listening and watching, when one can verbally attack the other team on Facebook?

The Fairfield County

PHOTOS BY ERIC ESSAGOF ’12 Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) is made up of 19 schools. According to FCIAC’s website, around 62,000 fans attend conference games annually.

Some of these fans are parents, while some are students. A small percentage of the latter fi nds its way onto Facebook events to write things like, “Go spend your parents’ money,” and “Wtf are u trying to say, retard?”

While a relatively modest selection of Staples students choose to post on the event pages, many other students say they are divided on the issue, torn between laughing at the absurdity of some of the more playful posts and cringing at the cruelness of the less endearing ones.

“I think it’s hilarious to read, but some kids can take it too far,” James Hines ’13 said.

Katie Platt ’13 believes that while the original intentions may be to make others laugh, many students are far too hurtful in the process.

“I think people try too hard to be funny and to put the other team down that they end up looking bad in the end,” Katie Platt ’13 said.

There are, of course, outliers who attempt to control

the chaos that erupts on these pages. “This is ridiculous. Stop trashing each other. There’s no need for it. You just make yourself look ignorant and dumb by [making] false assumptions and stereotypes about people,” said one commenter. “Can whoever created this page just delete it?

This is ridiculous and goes way beyond showing school spirit,” pleaded another. Not many people listened. The next post?

“Norwalk girls take it in the ***.”

The Violence Escalates.

At the Oct. 1 football game between Brien McMahon and Staples, students said, the situation took a turn for the worse.

What had previously been an Internet-only situation, thus somewhat intangible, became all too real when Colleen McCarthy ’12 was punched in the face by a McMahon student.

“I was at the football game and a few McMahon girls came over. I was standing in the front row, and they were pushing their way through, but everyone was kind of pushing them back out,” McCarthy said. “One of my friends said something, trashtalking, and they turned around and thought it was me. One of the girls looked at me and then punched me in the face.”

McCarthy, an innocent bystander, had done nothing on Facebook to rile up the girls.

“We were just cheering at the football game. I wasn’t involved in anything before the game,” McCarthy explained.

In shock, McCarthy turned to a friend to verify that she had just been punched in the face by a student from McMahon. Having no intentions of fighting at a high school football game, McCarthy literally, and maybe figuratively, turned the other cheek and continued to watch the game.

McCarthy did not suffer any injuries as a result of the attack. However, she does feel that what happened to her should not have occurred.

“I think the trash-talking gets out of hand. I never thought I would actually get punched, especially because I didn’t trashtalk before the game,” McCarthy said. “But it ended up getting violent. Usually it doesn’t escalate to anything like that.”

It is no shock, some said, that the event occurred. With posts ranging from “Norwalk soccer is as bad as your graduation rate” to “I love them Norwalk girls… nice and beefy with a side of STDs,” students said they knew someone was bound to get hurt at some point.

Friendly Rivalry vs. Violent Trashtalk

Athletic director Marty Lisevick believes that because the line between friendly rivalry and violent trashtalk is so thin, kids often break it without fully realizing the implications of their actions.

For the Oct. 6 soccer game between Trumbull and Staples, a Facebook event page was created by two soccer players.

Things began in a relatively calm fashion before exploding into an insult-fueled engine of racist, homophobic, and generally

pejorative comments.

“What should have been a pretty benign soccer game ballooned up into this, just because of a Facebook page,” Lisevick said. “That’s not what sports are about. We try to remind our fans that they’re there to support our kids and cheer for our kids.”

On the morning of the Trumbull soccer game, Principal Dodig and Vice Principal Farnen received an email from a student at Trumbull High School. The student, involved with the student government at his school, described the Facebook event page and said that what was being written in it was highly offensive on both school’s parts. The student went on to say that he would be sharing the page with his school principal as well, but he wanted the Staples administration to be aware of what was going on.

Farnen, who often deals with online and computer-based issues at Staples, looked into the page and was shocked by what he saw.

“I took a brief look at it. I didn’t spend much time on it. It took literally thirty seconds for me to say, ‘There’s nothing good going on here,’” Farnen said.

While he had no issues with the fact that two soccer players

had created the page to advertise and garner support for their game, he was not a fan of the vitriol that followed.

“The problem with the page is that after they announced the event, it became really nasty,” Farnen explained. “We had former graduates chiming in, they had comments about people’s mothers. There were racial undertones in some of the comments. It was clearly inappropriate stuff.”

Farnen forwarded the email to Athletic Director Lisevick and Coach Woog. The soccer players who created the event were spoken to and the page was taken down. However, the situation was far from over.

“The issue now is that because this ballooned up, we’ve got to go get some police officers for the game, make sure we pull

21

out all the vice principals, and make sure the event is supervised appropriately,” Lisevick said.

Many wonder whether or not the administration had the right to ask the players to take the page down. According to Vice Principal Farnen, the school is allowed to get involved with offcampus misconduct, including the use of computers to bully or to harass others, especially if the conduct is deemed “disruptive of the educational process.” That being said, the school did not force the players to take it down.

“Could we technically make the page owners take the event down? I don’t believe so. Because there wasn’t a formal alle-

gation of bullying from a student to student,” Farnen said.

Lisevick is still uncertain as to what schools should be doing to monitor this type of online behavior. He cites that at a high school athletic convention earlier this year, the topic of online trashtalk was popular and highly controversial.

“Does one monitor this stuff, or do kids just say whatever they want to say? Because it can get pretty nasty, and that’s when you get an issue at a game,” said Lisevick.

Still, Lisevick feels that both online and game-time trashtalk should not be occurring, especially with high schoolers.

“That may be the norm at NFL games, UCONN games, major league baseball games, or major league soccer games,” said Lisevick. “That is not the norm for high school sports.”

22 Sports

Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

Solo Water Polo Fan JĚđĎĆē CđĆėĐĊ ’12 Managing Editor

Position: Middle hitter Number: 8 Years on Varsity: 3

J

oosje Grevers ’12 lives for the big game.

In her play, it shows; Grevers has dominated the court for Staples this fall. She leads the girls’ volleyball team in aces (30), kills (82) and blocks (14.5).

She’s also put up 47 digs, which puts her at third on the team.

“I just want to get better and keep learning, be the best I can be for my team, my teammates and most importantly myself. I need to be true to myself and not let myself down,” Grevers said.

Joosje has been on the varsity since her sophomore year.

She made a big impact last year, garnering ALL-FCIAC third team honors.

She’s led this year’s team to a 14-2 record through Tues. Oct 25, its best start in years.

The team’s only loss was a tough five-set heartbreaker against Darien, the defending FCIAC champion.

“Joosje has a lot of experience; she knows what it takes to be on the team,” Head Coach John Shepro said. “This start is due in large part to Joosje and her ability to motivate her teammates and be a critical leader in tough situations.”

Joosje Grevers ’12 That motivation and leadership carries itself through her training, practices and games.

Her teammates all see the effort put into her game.

“Joosje is an incredibly enthusiastic captain,” said Katie Glick ’13, a first year member on the varsity squad.

“She knows how to lift up a team. She’s a great leader to follow because she works so hard.”

Along with motivating and leadership, Joosje has assumed a position that few high school athletes ever have experience with.

“It’s only me in here,” Shepro said,“ so Joosje takes on the role of assistant coach. She’s eager to pass her talent and work ethic on to the younger players on the team.”

Nick Kelly ’13

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY APRIL BOOK ’13

JĚđĎĆē CđĆėĐĊ ’12 Managing Editor

Position: Running back Number: 5 Years on Varsity: 2 In 2009, ““Melly” I M ll ” was a chant every Wrecker football fan knew; it was audible throughout every game. That was for Matt Kelly ’10.

Saturdays in Fairfield County this year have been plagued with “Nelly,” a similar exclamation for a similar player, Nick Kelly ’13, the brother of the graduated fan-favorite Matt. However, Nick isn’t lingering about in his brother’s shadow—anything but.

“Matt defi nitely influenced me to be a hard worker during practice. Having him as a mentor

GRAPHIC BY BRYAN SCHIAVONE ’13

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY SUZANNE KALB

on the football field is something I am grateful for,” Kelly said in an e-mail interview. “Every practice I go out with a mindset to get better each and every day.

Kelly has been making his own name for himself, racking up six touchdowns in the fi rst four games of the season, three alone in the Wreckers’ 48-8 rout against Bridgeport Central. His touchdown runs solely from that game tally up to 118 yards. “That game was all about Jack Massie executing the option offense perfectly,” Kelly said. “The line made every block, and Massie made every correct read. Their defense just couldn’t stop our offense.”

On the season, he’s averaging more than eight yards per carry, with 225 yards on 27 touches.

He’s been a force in the re-

Despite Grever’s multitude of individual accolades and talents, her goals are all team-oriented, yet she remains modest.

“I really wanted to go undefeated, or close, which is still in reach, win FCIACS and states and get better,” Grevers said.

“I can’t really make myself the one person that’s carrying the team, but I try as hard as I can every game.”

While Grevers isn’t the only cog in the fine tuned clock that is S.G.V.B., she is probably the largest. In the end, coach Shepro knows the deal.

“Joosje’s clearly one of the elite players in the FCIAC,” Shepro said. “We could not be where we are now without her; she is the piece of the puzzle that makes it all work.”

ceiving game, too, lining up in the slot when one of the other two running backs is in the game. The first play from scrimmage of the Wreckers’ game against Danbury was a 30-yard bomb to Kelly, who lined up in the backfield. It’s a testament to his versatility that a running back is able to catch the ball like that.

On special teams, Kelly averages 15.75 yards on his kickoff returns, and, though he only has one, 47 yards on punt returns.

Despite his incredible performance, he gives credit to those who seem to make it all happen in the trenches.

“Our offensive line is an extremely talented group of players, probably one of the best units in the state,” Kelly said.

“All of the offense’s production is because of them.”

Along with Kelly, the Staples offense has been something of a juggernaut this year. Some are going as far as calling the backfield and receiving corps “The Fab Five.” Jon Heil ’12, Joey Zelkowitz ’13, James Frusciante ’13 and Zach Mitchell ’12 make up the rest of that daunting offensive foundation.

“Having the depth we have at running back is a huge advantage for our team. It gives the opponent’s defense a really tough time since they can’t just key in on one guy,” Kelly said. “It really opens things up in the passing game for our extremely talented wide outs Frusciante and Mitchell. I defi nitely wouldn’t say I’m the premier back—our offense doesn’t have one.”

In the third quarter of Staples water polo’s home opener, Rory Siegel ’13, the Staples goalie, makes an incredible diving save against The Hudson Valley water polo team. With no time to spare, Siegel throws the ball to Captain David Katter ’12, who is already deep in opposing territory. After a quick fake, Katter drills the ball past the defender and into the goal, bringing Staples back into the game. And what response does the team receive from the crowd?

Soft clapping.

We Stapleites pride ourselves on our Superfans, a group of students dedicated to cheering on all our athletes. But our sports fans consistently ignore many of the less popular sports, most noticeably water polo.

As I walked over to the pool bleachers at 5:30 on a Tuesday night, I noticed the stands were devoid of any Staples students.

I felt quite uncomfortable and alone. As time passed by, four of the JV water polo players showed up to watch, as well as the team managers. But, other than those required to watch, no other Staples fans showed up.

This is unfortunate, considering that water polo is very similar to sports that Superfans show up in droves for.

Like football, water polo features a lot of contact. Since most of the attacks occur underwater, it is more difficult for referees to call fouls, so players have free reign to kick, grab and wrestle with each other.

Like soccer, the game is constantly moving. The object of the game is to pass the ball from player to player, until they can throw it into a goal, much like a soccer player tries to move the ball downfield and score a goal.

Players are constantly swimming up and down the pool, pulling fast breaks that are just as exciting in the water as they are on the court.

However, what is really fascinating about the sport is the amount of physical activity involved. As someone who worked out with the team for a week during his freshman year, I can assure you that it is one of the most

demanding sports in the sports world. Not only must the player tread water for the entire game, which is made up of seven minute quarters, but they also are unable to use both hands to hold the ball or stay afloat. Then, they need to swim across the pool multiple times throughout the game, while they are fighting off other angry, swim-capped athletes.

This is exactly the kind of sport that fans should be excited about. Yet, Staples students never voluntarily show up to the games.

That is not to say that nobody showed up to support the team. There were, of course, the parents. The water polo moms and dads came out in full force to watch their children thrash in the pool, but they did not exactly have the same energy as your average whiteout. Instead of cheers, the common reaction to a goal was muted applause, which is to be expected from adults. The loudest roar came from one of the players dragging a bench across the floor, and the most consistent screams came from the opposing coach.

The closest thing Staples water polo has to a Superfan is Rick Yu, the father of Nick Yu ’12. Nick has been playing on the team for four years, and his dad has matched him in dedication.

Rick keeps a detailed box score of every game, and he is constantly doling out positive reinforcement, like “let’s get a good shot,” or “nice job defense!”

Unfortunately, these parents cannot motivate the team the same way Staples students could.

“It is kind of a downer,” Sam Reiner ’12, a member of the team, said. “The parents cheer, but they don’t get the team inspired.”

Daniel Ciotoli ’13 believes that the lack of fans even has an effect on the team’s ability to succeed.

“Without fans to support you, the morale of the team goes down,” Ciotoli said.

It is the responsibility of the Superfans to pump up Staples teams to boost their morale and help them win. It is disappointing that Staples sports fans continue to ignore water polo, as well as other forgotten sports, like field hockey, diving and rugby.

The next home game takes place on November 9, when Staples will be taking on the Brunswick water polo team. I expect to see the Superfans in full force.

Rick Yu cannot do it on his own.

Sports

Inklings / October 28, 2011 / inklingsnews.com

23

Behind the Pom-Poms What it takes to be a cheerleader

PHOTO BY NICOLETTE WEINBAUM ’12 IN UNISON: The cheer squad rehearses its routine for the upcoming pep rally and Homecoming game.

NĎĈĔđĊęęĊ WĊĎēćĆĚĒ ’12 Features Editor

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eing thrown up to 20 feet in the air, mastering back handsprings and flips, balancing on a couple of hands– these are just some of the skills a cheerleader must possess.

As Captain Jacquelyn Fritz ’12 steps onto the blue felt mat , the music starts and her feet immediately snap into position. As she thrusts her body forward, her hands pound on the mat and she throws her legs over her body.

When she pops back up, she catches her breath, slaps her hands together and starts to chant.

“I’d like to ask anyone who thinks we’re just girls in skirts to try it themselves,” Fritz said playfully. “Anyone can go outside

and kick a soccer ball, but not just anyone can throw up a stunt when they feel like it.”

One of the most challenging yet common stunts cheerleaders must perform is the pyramid formation. Arranging this stunt requires a lot of practice and concentration.

“We start out with two side groups and a middle group, and their job is to aid the two main flyers to get mobility and height in the air,” cheerleader Julianna Lametta ’12 said. “The flyers in the three stunt groups are used to support the top girls in the main stunt, acting as bracers. They use their muscles to assist the main flyer.”

Zoe Googe ’13, who has participated on the varsity cheerleading team for three consecutive

years, feels that balance and unity is the key to their success. Googe says that if one girl is an inch out of place, she could drastically endanger the person standing on the cheerleaders’ hands.

“We have had our fair share of concussions and bruises from stunting, but so far our worst has been an ankle fracture from last year,” Googe said. “We were coming down from a liberty, and Ilana Bernstein ’12 landed on it wrong,.It fractured somehow.”

According to CBS News, cheerleading has recently been named the most dangerous female sport in America, alerting cheerleaders everywhere about the major dangers and physical risks that this sport poses.

Throughout the dangerous stunts, Staples cheerleaders work

very hard not only to produce great entertainment and animate the crowd, but to enter in competitions as well.

“I’d like to ask anyone who thinks we’re just girls in skirts to try it themselves.”

- Jacquelyn Fritz ’12 The new Staples cheer coach, Avery Watson, says that the cheerleading team’s biggest challenge is that unlike other sports that can last up to two hours, cheerleading competition routines last two minutes and 30

seconds. This leaves a very limited time frame to show the judges what the team has been working towards all season.

“If we make a mistake or have a fumble, there is no second half of the game to make up for it,” Avery said. “We get one shot.”

Avery is very hopeful for the year to come and is excited to be working with such a talented group. If they work hard enough, she believes they have a lot of potential.

“To me, cheerleading is fundamentally about three things: athleticism, hard work and dedication, and coming together as a team,” Avery said. “I know in my heart that we have both the talent and good work ethic to place very high at both FCIACs and states.”

Senior Day Tribute Trashed EđđĎĊ MĆēē ’13 Staff Writer

It is obvious when there is a senior day at Staples High School.

Colorful posters and banners cover the walls (and sometimes the floors). Streamers dangle from the ceilings. School spirit fills the hallways.

This year’s series of senior days started the same way it always does. Teammates of the senior athletes arrived at school early to adorn the building. The decorating was followed by an extravagant breakfast held in the cafeteria.

Teammates took pictures together, shared hugs and were very excited for their seniors to see all the work they had done for them.

However, on Thursday, Oct. 20, only some of the seniors got to see decorations and posters that were dedicated to them.

Principal John Dodig described what happened on that day as a misunderstanding. “The custodians went overboard,” Dodig said.

Just before second period, the majority of the streamers, balloons and posters had been disposed of. Many athletes believe that this was done disrespectfully.

Volleyball player, Jen Dimitrief ’13, said, “I think it was really unfair that they tore down the posters because this is the one day we have to give our seniors

PHOTO BY MOLLY BARRECA ’13 TAKIN’ OUT THE TRASH: Field hockey players Misha Strage ’12 and Shelby Phares ’13 were dismayed to find their decorations in the trash before the day had come to a close. the respect they deserve. It took us hours to put everything up and we didn’t do it just so it could be taken down by the administration.”

According to Dodig, the administrators were at an all-day conference on the day of field hockey and soccer senior day.

Dodig only learned about the disposal of the decorations through an e-mail sent from a student.

When Marty Lisevick, the Staples High School athletic director, walked into the cafeteria after the senior day breakfast, there was junk everywhere.

Lisevick asked Horace Lewis, the head custodian, to have the custodians clean up the mess left from the Senior Day festivities. These directions were misinterpereted somewhere between Lisevick and the custodial staff.

Instead of only cleaning up the cafeteria, all of the decorations around the school were cleaned up.

Numerous students were unaware of why their decorations were being thrown away without any notification.

However, aside from the students who were upset about

the removal of their decorations, there are also students who think that the decorations put up on senior day are excessive and unnecessary.

“It’s a space we all have to share, so it’s a little rude that on the windows of all places it’s telling me to love some girl I’ve never talked to before, even though I’m a senior,” said Chelsea Steinberg ’12.

The custodians refused to comment based on the nature of the topic. However, Dodig said, “The custodians didn’t mean to do anything mean or nasty to the

girls. But, we all live here and need to be respectful of the space we share.”

The senior day decorations did cause some minor damages to the building. For example, ink bled through posters onto pillars, scotch tape peeled off paint on walls, etc. Although the damage was unintentional, this is another problem that the custodians will have to deal with.

Aside from the damage, field hockey player, Emily Ashken ’12, was upset because she believes that her team abided by the poster regulations, was respectful and kept everything neat.

Ashken said, “There is a huge discrepancy between boys sports and girl sports. One example being football puts up posters every single week. No questions are asked, and everything is fine.

The particular space they put their posters is okay, but for some reason we were not allowed to use the windows.”

Despite the fact that the removal of these senior day decorations was a disappointment to numerous soccer, field hockey and volleyball players, Dodig believes that “something good will come out of this.”

“I am aware that this event is important. It is good for the school and for the girls. It is definitely something they will remember for decades, and I support it 100 percent.”

24

ports The Wreckers

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C A RS A P H IC BY

O N E IN A

RS E N’12

What is Fantasy?

Act as general manager and coach of your team

Acquire a roster of NFL players through a draft and free agent pick-ups Set your lineup for each week and watch as your players make touchdowns, ield goals, and interceptions SęĊěĎĊ KđĊĎē ’12 Editor-in-Chief

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hile high-school girls may be seen fantasizing about Robert Pattinson or Justin Bieber, the Staples male population can be heard babbling about their fantasies. From September to the Super Bowl, their minds are constantly occupied by touchdowns, tackles, and trivial statistics. This isn’t just fantasy, this is fantasy football.

An online fantasy football craze has been engulfing the time of many boys this fall. Fantasy football is played online. A “league” is created with usually around 10-12 teams (players).

There is then a draft, and each team drafts players from the NFL to be on their team for each position.

During the NFL season, the players drafted get points or lose points depending on what happens in the real games. They usually obtain points for yards and touchdowns and lose points for turnovers.

Every fantasy week is a surprise for the diehards, and this leads to competitiveness paralleled to that of live football, or

one might even go so far as to call it more competitive than recreational basketball.

“I have a league with a bunch of my family members,” said Scott Cohen ’12. “My dad was kicking my butt last week, and the entire day while we were watching the games, I could barely talk to him I was so annoyed.”

Chris Chu ’12 explains that it’s not just a game, but a lifestyle.

“We get together at someone’s house on Sundays to watch the games together and root for our players,” he said. “It gets really intense, especially when players who are supposed to do well don’t and when sleeper picks end up blowing up the scoreboard and getting 30 points.”

A bad fantasy week can be one of the biggest blows to these high school boys.

For example, Danny Leskin ’12 had a week where half of his selected players were injured. Cohen had players that turned out to be

Accrue points and compete with family, friends, and other fantasy leaguers Katter’s league, ’ fantasy f l the highest point scorer every week has to write a message to the rest of the league explaining why he was so good.

Marc Himmel ’12 wrote a recent post: “In a few days from now, an article will probably surface about how sexxy Rexxy Ryan paid off the refs to give his team a chance. As for the high points, McFadden creamed the Jets, and I got a 100 on my accounting test. Yet through all the uncertainty of our everyday lives, there is one constant we can all rely on week in and week out: Marc (Too much Flow) Himmel putting up dank fantasy numbers.”

In addition to the thrill of beating out friends, many teams play for money. Cohen’s league prize is $2,500, while other leagues play for $180 or less.

Fantasy football also encour-

“I think I spend more time doing this than doing schoolwork,” -Sam Weiser ’12 huge busts, like Chris Johnson, Jamal Charles and Rashard Mendenhall.

To tread even harder on fallen spirits, trash talk has arrived.

“The only funny thing about fantasy is the trash talk,” said David Katter ’12. “The rest is way too important to joke about.” In

ages participants to watch i i h all ll NFL games, rather than just the games that feature their favorite teams.

“It makes you less of a team fan and more of a football fan,” said Sam Weiser ’12. “On Sundays, I sit and watch football even when it’s the teams I don’t care about.”

However, for many boys, this can make schoolwork fall behind, as most focus on the football schedule.

“Even Mondays are totally devoted to football. During football season, school is secondary,” said Weiser. “I think I spend more time doing this than doing schoolwork, and I’d like to think everyone else in my league does the same.”

Chu agrees. “If you lose, it really deflates your week and makes school even longer.”

But they don’t seem to mind, as fantasy football is as customary to fall as the leaves changing color.

“For some reason,” said Katter, “it’s awesome.”