Wasat (February 2019)

Volume 3, Issue 4

12 February 2019

The Middle School Newspaper at King’s Academy To Board or Not to Board?

by Faris Lahham

too. Read through the pros and cons and think about what you want to do.

To board or not to board, as William Shakespeare once said. Many middle schoolers ponder this question. “Are you going to board when you’re in the upper school?” one middle schooler asks another. “I guess so,” he replies. One of our reporters recently overheard this conversation on campus. You may have thought about whether to board or not before, and today we answer the age-old question: Should you board in the Upper School in King’s Academy?

There are many reasons to board, but the most significant of them for most people is the issue of transportation. King’s is in the middle of Madaba. It’s far, it’s out of the way, we know. So why not live on campus, like 420 others? You don’t have to take the bus (or ride in a car) for 45 minutes to get to school every day. You can wake up later and sleep more, and your classes are just a stroll away. Moreover, if you choose to board, you have access to all campus facilities, such as the Athletic Center and the library.

If you are a week boarder, you get the best of both worlds. You can access King’s during the week, and Amman on the weekends.

For many people, not being a boarder is a better option. It means seeing your family more often and being able to go to places in Amman or wherever it is that you live. Maybe you have an extracurricular after school that you have to leave campus for. Or maybe your orthodontic clinic is in Abdoun and it closes at 6:30 (and they’re open for only five hours on the weekend!). If you board, you won’t be able to commit to activities like those. Who’d want to live in a dorm anyway? They’re crowded buildings with rooms that are too small, so why not live at home where you have your whole bedroom to yourself?

There are many advantages and disadvantages to boarding at King’s. You can decide whether you want to board or not, and it depends on what your priorities are. You could consult a boarder for firsthand advice,

by Lara Abuali

Should You Become a Vegetarian?

by Zahra Al Sulaiman vegetarian /vɛdʒɪˈtɛːrɪən/ noun 1. a person who does not eat meat or fish, and sometimes other animal products, especially for moral, religious, or health reasons.

There are many reasons why a person may decide to become a vegetarian: health, religion or concerns about animals or the environment. Becoming a vegetarian can come with many advantages, but does that mean that you should become vegetarian?

Relating to health, studies have shown that cutting meat out of your diet can lower the risk of both heart diseases and diabetes. Money saving experts have claimed that vegetarians spend less on their weekly shopping, as meat is an expensive commodity.

However other controversial studies have shown that vegetarians are at a greater risk of mental illness despite leading a healthier lifestyle. This is due to the lack of protein in many vegetarian diets. However, there are many options to include protein, but this may be more time consuming as it should be carefully planned. Finally, for those of you who love the taste

Volume 3, Issue 4 of meat, the quality of vegetarian meat substitutes are now so good that in a blindfolded experiment even professional chefs could not taste the difference between genuine meat and vegetarian meat substitute.

Religion can also play a role in someone's choice of food, in Jainism, it is expected to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle, as it is inhumane to kill or harm any living beings for food. However, this religion is only made up of 1% of India's population. In other religions, such as Hinduism, cows are believed to be sacred animals and therefore cannot be harmed.

There is also a strong belief that eating beef will cause negative karma and impact on a Hindus reincarnation. Other religions that advise against eating meat include Judaism, in which the Torah (Hebrew scripture) describes vegetarianism as ideal; Taoism, which states that all nature is sacred; and Buddhism, as Buddha prohibited meat eating of any kind (including animals which were already dead when found).

With the increase in pollution and the ever-present threat of global warming, many people chose to be vegetarian as a method of “going green”. Cows and sheep contribute to 37% of the world's methane production, which causes 23 times more warming than carbon dioxide. The livestock industry, in general, generates ammonia which is a significant factor in producing acid rain. The consensus among vegetarian activists is that the production of meat and byproducts of animals are energy inefficient. It requires more calories to feed and maintain livestock that you get in return from meat, milk and eggs.

The Enigmatic World of YouTube’s “Kids Videos”

by Faris Kassisieh In recent years, a new epidemic has risen. It goes by the name “kids videos.” I say “kids videos” in quotes because, in reality, they are not suitable for any person of any age. In recent months, this rose to the surface and became popular among older people, but for a wildly different reason. People have realized how disturbing these “kids videos” are and have begun ridiculing them in the form of memes. The

“Johnny Johnny Yes Papa” meme was one that trended a few months ago, but what is more disturbing than this specific video are the channels that produce these videos.

BillionSurpriseToys - Nursery Rhymes & Songs are the culprits behind the “Johnny Johnny Yes Papa” video. All their videos are awkwardly animated.

Their channel is full of confusing videos with nursery rhymes trying to teach children colors and numbers in English when the content creators of these videos barely have a grasp of the English language. Most of their videos have millions of views, if not hundreds of millions. One example of their videos, “Ice Cream Song,” is a perfect example of their awkward style of animation, awkward lyrics, and strange subject matter.

Another genre of these videos is surprise toy videos.

These usually are not animated and mostly include people unboxing or unwrapping things in complete silence. One example is a video of two omniscient hands unwrapping a set of candies shaped like a plunger and toilet. One would think that such a video would only have a couple hundred views due to its strange subject matter, but said video is an hour and ten minutes long and has 11M views, most of which being kids.

Most of these videos are here for the purpose of teaching kids about colors, words, and numbers, but in reality, the value of these videos is very questionable. What ends up happening is children start to watch these videos for hours, watching video after video, and becoming addicted to them, in a sense. As children start using things like YouTube at a very young age, they become subject to brand loyalty and are more likely to use platforms like it when they are older.

These videos are enigmatic. They definitely do not do what they are supposed to. The issue here is that parents are completely unaware of these disturbing videos that their children are watching, but thankfully, this issue has come to light.

Technology has given the newer generations a big advantage over their predecessors, but these kids videos have surely not been one of those advantages.

It is very easy to criticize something that you do not know the effects of, so maybe in the future, these

Volume 3, Issue 4 videos will actually be beneficial. We need to keep in mind that these videos have sprung up only a few years ago at most, so there is no way to know whether these “kids videos” are our saviors or not. This could be very similar to other peoples’ views on the cartoons we used to watch when we were young, but many of them have not been extremely damaging.

Are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Mackenzie calling it quits?

by Yasmeen Abuelezam

Firstly, music can make people comfortable by its lyrics. There are many songs which make people feel relaxed and comforted because many people think that they can relate to the lyrics.

Secondly, we can improve our memorizing skills. If we find a song which we like, we want to memorize the lyrics and sing them with the music. Starting to memorize something we like can help our memorizing skills to improve, as well as our understanding and listening skills.

Lastly, you can concentrate more on studying. Music will make you relaxed and it will give you less stress.

Of course, listening to songs which have lyrics is not good when you study, but there are advantages if you listen to music which have no lyrics.

Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, is getting a divorce. His wife Mackenzie is going to become a very rich woman. After 25 years of marriage, they decided it would be better for both of them to get a divorce. However, they will stay friends. He confirmed that by tweeting, “As our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends.” If you think this is sad and tragic, here comes the crazy part. Because they are getting divorced, his wife Mackenzie will receive up to half of their $130 billion fortune! If that is not crazy, I don’t know what is.

Music

by Hyeyoon Cho These days, there are many people who listen to music. In the bus, car, or subways, everyone has their headphones plugged into their ears and spend their free time with music. Music has become an important part of our daily lives. But why do people think that music is part of their life? Let’s find some of the reasons why people love and listen to music.

Because of these reasons, music is something useful and helpful for humans. You can spend your free time economically. To those who don’t listen to music, I would like to recommend to quickly start to listen. It will help you a lot in your life and it might be your new best friend.

The Lost Boy

by Zaid Jumean and Ahmad Awamleh This story talks about a lost boy in a different country.

A young boy named Ahmad decided to travel with his friend Hashem to Dubai. He spent hours trying to convince his parents, but in the end, they finally let Ahmad travel. The next day he woke up happy, ready to go to school and tell his friend Hashem that his parent agreed. They both got excited to go. Ahmad told everyone that he is traveling, and everyone wished him and Hashem a safe trip.

The day finally came. He packed his bags and got his passport ready to go after school. Ahmad and Hashem left early from school and went straight to the airport. Hashem told Ahmad he forgot something in the car. Ahmad said, “OK” and went inside.

Hashem never came back. Ahmad waited on the plane, but suddenly the plane took off. Hashem could see his plane in the air. He started shouting but realized that the plane was too high.

Ahmad started to stress out. He couldn’t do anything at this point. He decided to call Hashem, but Ahmad

Volume 3, Issue 4 realized he left his phone with him. He couldn’t call anyone -- he was going to Dubai alone. His plane reached the ground and he had to get out. Ahmad wanted to stay in the airport, but they wouldn’t let him. He had to get of the airport. He needed money, he wanted to eat but he couldn’t. He had to try and live in Dubai with no money.

Back at Jordan where Ahmad lives, Hashem and Ahmad’s parents were thinking of a solution. Hashem said, “what are we waiting for? We have to go get Ahmad.” Ahmad’s parents replied, “how are we going to get him? We don’t know where he is.”

Hashem said, “We have to try.” Ahmad’s parents agreed and they went to Dubai to go get Ahmad.

Ahmad was trying to find food in Dubai. He looked everywhere, but he couldn’t find any food. He went to a hotel and asked for a phone. The hotel receptionist gave him a phone to use to call his parents. He called them and, in the end, they finally answered. They told Ahmad they were in Dubai and coming to get him.

Part 2 to be published at a later date.

Wintery Nights

by Selina AlHalaseh The sky is dark, and the ground is white.

The world is peaceful on a wintery night.

No one around, not a sound to be heard.

Not a laugh, not a car, not even a bird.

Night had fallen fast upon the land.

The Super Bowl

by Samir Tawasha The New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams recently played for all the glory in Super Bowl 53.

The game was played on Monday, 2/4 at 1:30 am (EET time). The Patriots made it through the season with eleven wins and five losses. The Rams made it through the season with thirteen wins and three losses.

Before the game, I predicted that it would be a close game because the Rams did better than the Patriots, but almost every time, for the past fifteen years the Patriots won almost won every Super Bowl (with the exception of three). That is what makes this game very close through my point of view. I think that the favor in this game will be with the Patriots due to the fact that they have Tom Brady throwing the ball for them. For my point prediction, I think that it will be 35 to 21 for the Patriots. That is all for my predictions and pre-game report on the Super Bowl.

Now, flashing to the future when this part was written, the Patriots indeed did win it all, but to me it wasn’t a really satisfying win: only 13-3. That score is nowhere near my predictions, but a win is a win.

Adam Levine and Travis Scott played the half time show during the Super Bowl. While some people might have enjoyed it, everyone was waiting for “Sweet Victory,” a song sang by SpongeBob in one of his episodes. This might be a weird request; everyone wanted it because the creator of SpongeBob passed away about a year ago and everyone wanted a “memorial.” To most people, this Super Bowl was a disappointment.

It was not planned neither a command.

Is it warm when snow piles high and wide?

AFC Jordan vs Vietnam

It is if you’re bundled up inside.

by Younha Jeong

When it’s snowing, when it’s raining.

In Sunday, January 20 in Al Maktoum Stadium, Jordan lost against Vietnam. The score was 1-1, so they went to penalty kicks. In the end, Vietnam beat Jordan (2-4). Vietnam had the better possession, which was 59%. Also, they had more passes and their pass accuracy was higher. They had more shots on target. Vietnam lost to Japan on Thursday, January 24.

I stay inside without complaining.

Other people like to ski Or slide down a hill, but not me.

I don’t mind summer, I’ll make it clear.

But winter’s my favorite time of the year.