Folio 2014

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Dr. Patrick Widhalm, Executive Director The Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts 715 University Parkway Natchitoches, LA 71457 Phone: (318) 357-3167

Folio is a journal of creative works by students of the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts. A public residential high school created by the State Legislature in 1983, the Louisiana School provides accelerated education for the state’s highly motivated, gifted students. Admission is competitive.

Cover Art Flushed Revenge - Nataliya Uhrynchuk Title Page LSMSA Mural - Catherine Broussard, Terra Allen, Saolam Nguyen, & Brandy Ledet

Table of Contents Poetry 2 3 9 21 28 28 35 42 49 61 67 77 78

Prose

11 38 39 47 54 63 73

Essays 4 29 69

Plays

25

Brain Chemicals - Carlie Procell Youth - Ann Stolzle Adaptation - Gabriel Chappell I Got Boosebumps - S.P. Sedated - Warren J. Yeekes Escaped Convicts - Carlie Procell Mom - Ann Stolzle Approaching Night - Sarah Bonvillain Diet Girl’s Cake Song - Ann Stolzle Questions About Life - Jordan Chauncy seatbelts cause metaphysical accidents - Collin Jenkins Ex Libris - Jordan Thibodeaux Firetrucks Don’t Stop for Red Lights - Sarah Bonvillain

Mickey Mouse Is Dead - Jordan Chauncy Concert Review - Marika Buchholz Kickin’ It Old School - Carlie Procell Grilled Cheese - Darby Breaux Some People Aren’t Worth It - Glenn Underwood I Pug You - Gabriel Chappell The List - Christine Savoie

Chile’s Road v. El Ladrillo - Garrett Callender Emily Dickinson as an Emersonian Poet - Jack Sweeney U.S. Cyber Defense Capabilities - Carlie Procell

Bob and Mary - Nilupul Bulathsinhala

Computer Science 8 33 58

Math 23 51

Science 15 43

Chaos Experiment 16.5 - Neel Reddy Visual Schedule - Connor Elsea Monte Carlo - Alex Fontenot

Four Fours - William Ganucheau Out Here Tryin’ To (Γ) Function - Carlie Procell

Morphogenesis and Kin Selection in Tiger Salamander Larvae Allison Boudreaux Seasonal Variation in Prey of the Barn Owl - Allison Boudreaux

Artwork/Photographs 1 3 7

10 14 20 22 24 27 32 36 37 40 41 46 48 50

Still Life - Gabriel Chappell Wink - Rhiannan Berry Artistic Representation of Spring Semester, Senior Year - Devin Olivier Turtle - Travis Landriault African Wild Dogs - Catherine Broussard Je sais les Alligators - Laila Din Boosie Badazz - Allison Boudreaux Mz. Gleason on a Tangent - Hunter Bouillion Parasol Sunlight - Molly Fontenot Heart Rose - Saolam Nguyen Sunglasses - Brandy Ledet Bubble - Brandy Ledet Bootsy in Black - Jack Sweeney The Stones - Nataliya Uhrynchuk Sleeping Bat- Catherine Broussard Ombre Love - Molly Fontenot Butterfly Contraption 1 - Dale Campo

Artwork/Photographs (cont.) 50 53 57 62 66 68 72 77

Other 80 81 84

Butterfly Contraption 2 - Dale Campo Mural - Laila Din, Travis Landriault, and Gabriel Chappell Serenity - Charlie Bordelon Leah - Catherine Broussard One ROCKING Bench - Terra Allen Indigo - Terra Allen Bioshock - Brandy Ledet Spider - Allison Boudreaux

Contributors Contributor Biographies Acknowledgements

Staff

General Editor: Carlie Procell Humanities Editors: Kyle Welch & Cosette Zacarias Arts Editor: Khalilah Al-Amin Science Editor: Annalise Labatut Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Lincoln Hall General Staff: Catherine Evans, Ethan Guerra, Desire Johnson, Claire Marshall, Christine Savoie, Philip Swede, Kate Wheeler Name Grade Hometown Khalilah Al-Amin 12 Convent Catherine Evans 11 Houma Ethan Guerra 12 Lutcher Desire Johnson 10 Thibodaux Annalise Labatut 12 Batchelor Claire Marshall 11 Bastrop Carlie Procell 12 Bossier City Christine Savoie 12 Crowley Philip Swede 12 Hammond Kyle Welch 12 Florien Kate Wheeler 10 Denham Springs Cosette Zacarias 12 Natchitoches

Preface

"With great power comes great responsibility," as Gandalf once stated in the seventh Star Wars movie. As General Editor of Folio, I've been given lots of power. Most notably, I've been given the power to send crazy mass emails out to the entire LSMSA student body and hang up ridiculous flyers all around campus. Along with that power, I also held the responsibility of obtaining as many submissions from as many students as possible to make a literary magazine worth publishing. Maybe I had to bribe people with cupcakes and threaten a few lives, but it worked, and the proof is in your hands right now. This object you're holding is the product of fourteen enduring hours of sifting through a seemingly endless database of over 300 submissions ranging from artistic selfies to creative fan-fictions. The Folio gods (more commonly known as the Folio staff ) handpicked a select few from those to be published for your viewing pleasure. Folio can commonly be mistaken for an ancient religious text because of the mystical aura surrounding it. Mere mortals cannot see nor comprehend the aura; only one living being has been able to. Dr. Link Hall is thought to be the true link between our world and the beyond. While reading Folio, you may or may not reach full Folio (a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self ), so grab a drink and get comfortable. Let the sheer awesomeness blow your mind. I recommend reading Folio with one hand while holding a taco in the other to achieve maximum effect. Much love,

Carlie Procell, General Editor

Still Life

1

Gabriel Chappell

Brain Chemicals Carlie Procell

I’ve seen more spine in invertebrates And more balls in a hockey game. There’s more grace in a cow fart Than in a single syllable of your name. Your subtlety is comparable With construction in the street. I hope that next time you drive, You crash because of sleet. You’re the crick that’s in my neck And you’re the gum under my shoe. I hope you hate me right now, Because I really can’t stand you.

2

Youth

Ann Stolzle

Wink

3

Fresh-faced, calm, cool kid Without a care in the world Living with great ease.

Rhiannan Berry

Chile’s Road v. El Ladrillo

Garrett Callender

Chile experienced two radically different leaders in the 1970’s: Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet. Both led the country through drastic change, but in different directions. Allende was elected to the presidency on November 4, 1970, running as the candidate for the Socialist Party of Chile, whereas Augusto Pinochet took power in a coup d’etat backed by the American CIA, on September 11, 1973. Pinochet was a general in the Chilean armed forces at the time of the coup and, like most of the military, he was conservative. Pinochet’s conservatism starkly contrasted the recently deposed Allende’s progressiveness. Allende wished to nationalize Chilean industry, redistribute the wealth, and loosen foreign relations with the U.S., while Pinochet wanted to convert the Chilean economy to a free-market and increase ties with the U.S.. Both of these men changed the country substantially. But the U.S. dramatically affected the economic outcome of each regime, the marker of true success in a revolution. Through a strictly monetary perspective the revolution could be considered successful, with a stronger economy under Pinochet. In 1969, Allende, as part of the Socialist Party of Chile, published an ideologue book titled Chile’s Road to Socialism, which laid out his and the party’s plans for Chile. The book stated that they wanted to nationalize the copper industry and the banks, move people into rural estates, restrict ties with the U.S., and increase relations with communist Cuba. If all of these goals were accomplished, then it would result ultimately in “The Dictatorship of the Proletariat.” After he became president, Allende was successful in nationalizing the copper trade as well as the banks and closing ties with the U.S., while simultaneously opening them with Cuba. However, Allende faced similar problems that Eduardo Frei, the previous president of Chile and member of the Christian Democratic Party, did, which was that neither leader could stop people from moving out of the rural countryside and into the cities. The majority of the Chilean population lived in the cities, which prevented the country from ever being self sustaining, forcing Chile to rely heavily on imported food, especially Argentinian beef. The Chilean economy also fell under Allende, since the U.S. and its allies cut down on the amount of Chilean goods they imported, because of Allende’s anti-American rhetoric. Chile also saw inflationary problems under Allende when the Chilean Escudo reached 600% inflation. Once Pinochet seized power as part of a coup, he halted all of the efforts that Allende’s administration made and started working against it almost immediately in order to convert Chile into a capitalistic society and save its economy. Pinochet detested Allende’s Marxist philosophy and had a different vision for Chile-“to make Chile not a nation of proletarians, but a nation of proprietors.” 4

Pinochet saw the free-market system as a way to stop the inflation from increasing and stop the Chilean GDP from its free fall state. Most of Pinochet’s economic advising came from two sources: the Chicago Boys and El Ladrillo. The Chicago Boys were a group of Chilean and American economists who generally studied under Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago’s Department of Economics, an authority of laissez-faire philosophy. El Ladrillo was written by the economic and finance minister of Chile during the reign of the military junta, Sergio de Castro, which outlined the basic conservative economic ideas during the dictatorship of Pinochet. The book was written six months before the coup, but it was only allowed to be publically printed for wholesale in 1992 after the fall of Pinochet. While Castro did not attend University of Chicago nor hail from the U.S., he was considered to be a patriarchal figure to the Chicago Boys. El Ladrillo was the conservative response to the leftist Chile’s Road to Socialism. Both seemed to govern the economic thinking behind each of these respective regimes. Allende nationalized over 600 companies in Chile. However, Pinochet began efforts to privatize these industries after taking power. The influence of the U.S. could be seen in the Chilean economy, especially with the sales of copper increasing once Pinochet took power. Pinochet also had to deal with the inflation problem left to him by Allende. He determined that replacing the Chilean Escudo was the best plan. Pinochet replaced the escudo with the Chilean Peso which returned Chile’s currency to its original value prior to Allende. The Chilean GDP also experienced a steady incline under the leadership of Pinochet. Allende claimed to have brought the global Marxist revolution home to Chile, as seen by the support of his comrades, Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, in Latin America. Although he was unable to lead his country into its next great economic boom, he was successful in keeping true to the majority of his promises in that he did nationalize industry, centralize the banking system, redistribute wealth, and restrict U.S.’s influence on Chile. However, he was unable to reach his goal of complete independence from foreign nations, since his administration was never able to move people out of the cities and into the rural areas of Chile for agricultural purposes. This was an embarrassment for Socialist leader Allende, since the perception that a leftist philosophy could not provide for its people developed. The failure of the economy could not be so easily pinned on Allende. Since he was a proud socialist, the U.S. targeted him as an enemy and inflicted economically-based attacks such as the sharp decline in the importation of Chilean copper. The U.S. became an enemy of Allende after he announced his intent to seek the presidency. The U.S., under the leadership of President Richard Nixon, attempted and sometimes succeeded in undermining Chile under Allende’s rule. The three largest attacks against Allende by the U.S. included the authorization to use $10 million to prevent him from acquiring the presidency, support of a 5

failed coup d’etat in 1970, and finally involvement in a successful coup d’etat in 1973. The U.S.’s attacks were not always just to affect Allende, as most plots affected the Chilean nation as a whole. When the U.S., along with its allies, forewent the purchasing of copper, it greatly affected the Chilean economy, since at this time copper made up over 50% of the Chilean economy. The U.S.’s involvement tainted the leftist experiment that was occurring in Chile, while subsidizing the conservative one to follow. But the actual success experienced in Chile during the presidency of Allende was minimal to none, in an economic perspective. While under Pinochet the economy experienced a large growth. Chile experienced institutionalization of his ideas with the privatization of industry, the stabilization of the Chilean currency, the steady growth of the Chilean GDP, and use of the military to enforce governmental decrees. However, it lacked consolidation, which is associated with a successful revolution, according to historian Eric Selbin. This was due to the military torturing and killing suspected dissidents during his reign. The involvement of the U.S. was mainly due to the Cold War mentality. Nixon especially could not work with Allende without the notion of him being soft on communism. While he could not denounce the inhumane practices of Pinochet without it seeming as though he turned his back on his capitalistic allies. With this outside influence it propelled Chile into economic success. Bibliography Brinton, Crane. The Anatomy of Revolution. New York: Vintage Books, 1960. Davis, Nathaniel. The Last Two Years of Salvador Allende. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985. Evans, Les. Disaster in Chile. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1974. Gossens, Salvador Allende. Chile’s Road to Socialism. Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books, 1973. Moss, Robert. Chile’s Marxist Experiment. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1973. Skidmore, Thomas E., and Peter Smith H. Modern Latin America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Verdugo, Patricia. Chile, Pinochet, and the Caravan of Death. Coral Gables, FL: North-South Center Press, 2001.

6

Artistic Representation of Spring Semester, Senior Year 7

Devin Olivier

Chaos Experiment 16.5 Neel Reddy

/*This program tests whether a user-inputted initial condition will cause an equation to escape to infinite or not after many iterations.*/ #include <iostream> using namespace std; int main() { char a; float c1, c2, x, y, r, temp; int i, maxiter; bool escape; cout<<”Enter the real part => “; cin >> c1; cout<<”Enter imaginary part => “; cin >> c2; cout<<”Max number of iterations => “; cin>>maxiter; x = 0.0; y = 0.0; i = 1; escape = false;

while ((i < maxiter) && (escape == false)){ r = x*x + y*y; if ( r > 4) { escape = true; cout<< “Infinity and beyond!”<<‘\t’<<“r= “<<r<<endl; } else { cout<<x<<“ + “<<y<<“i”<<‘\t’<<“r= “<<endl; temp = x*x - y*y + c1; y = 2*x*y + c2; x = temp; i++; } } if ( i == maxiter) { cout << “Captured!!” << endl; } cin>>a; return 0; }

8

Adaptation

Gabriel Chappell

Once I was a barnacle, sessile and reserved. Filter-feeding mindlessly, instinctively. The currents could not would not - move me. My hard shell could only be breached by one. Now I am a sea star, a regenerative predator. I exploit the weaknesses of my prey the barnacle. I am now mobile and independent. No one can stop this celebrity of the sea.

9

Turtle

Travis Landriault

10

Mickey Mouse Is Dead Jordan Chauncy

Walter E. Disney is a household name. You didn’t need me to tell you that though, because a trip to the deepest corner of your DVD shelf will reveal a couple of old, thick VHS tapes covered in dust with Walt Disney’s signature printed across the spine. Of course, you don’t even need to check your VHS collection to find Disney. He’s infiltrated every household in America one way or another—from the Disney Channel (which in 2012 took the title of highest rated cable channel from Nickelodeon) to The Avengers, Disney’s got its thumbs in everyone’s pie. Which kind of makes you think. Remember that thing Walt Disney said when he was designing Disneyland? You know, the theme park in California that he opened in 1955? The one that now has a staggering 16 million visitors a year? “I only hope we don’t lose sight of one thing—it all started with a mouse.” That, ladies and gentleman, is straight from the lips of Walt Disney. And oh, what a wonderful sentiment that the Disney corporation took, stomped into the ground, set on fire, and buried. Mickey Mouse is dead. Replacing the whistling, cheery mouse of my youth and the chipper steamboat captain that came before him is a cold, dead eyed mascot who lost his soul. “Impossible,” you say, dear reader? “Mickey Mouse is just as happy as he’s ever been!” you say? Sure, sure. So is Disney’s animation studio, if that’s the case. Fun fact: Disney cut their 2-D animation studio earlier this year. Not all of it, sure, but they laid off nine of their top animators and admitted they don’t have plans for any more 2-D movies. Disney’s hand-drawn, full-length pictures had a good run, though. The first was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937, which was the first fulllength animated feature ever released. The apparently final 2-D animated film released by Disney was The Princess and the Frog in 2009. That’s not so bad, right? It’s 72 years of animation. 72 years of animation that corporate Disney doesn’t care about anymore, since it’s not as profitable as High School Musical sequels. Let’s do a little experiment. Go home later and turn on Disney Channel. Tell me what you see. Here’s my prediction: it isn’t anything Walt Disney would be proud of. It is probably white preteens, mostly female, struggling with fantastic circumstances (being a witch/wizard, owning a talking dog, being teen pop sensation Hannah Montana), making at least one joke about sex per half hour episode, disrespecting other people and their property for laughs, and learning no moral at the end of the day. 11

I was right. I’m going to tell you right now that I was right because that’s what’s on Disney Channel, because that’s what sells. No longer does Mickey Mouse sell movies, and no longer do his lovable antics fill our TV screens. What Mickey Mouse sells now are sweatshirts, signatures, and false dreams. The latter of which are dished out in healthy doses by corporate Disney, which wants as much money and as many quiet customers as it can get its grubby hands on, regardless of whether or not this is in the spirit of Walt Disney. Disney used to be synonymous with wholesome family fun. Walt Disney World was the epitome of good times, and if a child wasn’t overjoyed in “The Happiest Place on Earth,” there was something wrong with them. But those were the days when Disney put effort into keeping their consumers happy. If you will notice now, though, the sound of Walt Disney World is automated, plastic-sounding music and the crying of children. The last time I was in Disney World in Orlando, I was fifteen. My brother, who was then seventeen, and I caught Alice (of “In Wonderland” fame) creeping into the bushes behind Epcot England. He called out to her, saying, “Hey, Alice!” She looked us over for half a second before concluding that we no longer needed to believe in hope, God, or happiness, and said, “F--k off, kids, I need a smoke.” Now, being a mature, teenage boy, I took the shock of a cartoon character dropping the fuck-word at me in the best way I possibly could: I cried my eyes out. Of course, I was fifteen. Alice might have assumed I was too old to believe honestly in Disney magic. I can find it in my heart to forgive her, but I still hold a grudge against Aladdin for an incident that occurred when I was eight. I told Prince Aladdin that I wanted to be just like him when I grew up, and he stared at me for a long time before saying, “Sure, kid. Lose some weight and get a little browner.” Please note, for this story to make sense, you must know that I am a chubby white kid, and three inches too short to be a Disney prince. At no point in my life could getting a little browner help me to achieve my dreams. Still, I was eight, and didn’t need to hear that no effort on my part could ever make me a prince. So thank you, Alice and Aladdin for ruining everything about my life. The Disney parks were meant to be utopias. Walt himself supposedly designed Disney Land as a perfect, self-sustained city in the middle of nowhere that could exist in a perfect bubble of childhood innocence. Unfortunately, sometimes things like Alice or Aladdin happen. Other times, things like pubic lice and hippie revolts happen. In 2001, Disney employees got the right to their own underwear. No, I am not kidding at all in any way. That sentence you just read is the truth. See, when you wear a princess dress or a Donald Duck costume, boxers and granny panties tend to ride up and become visible under the costume. To prevent this from happening, Disney provided their actors with company underwear, which the actors would put on every morning under their costumes and return every night 12

at quitting time. Reportedly, three cases of pubic lice can be traced back to this kind of disgusting practice. So, in 2001, a union for Disney workers officially complained. After two months of negotiations, Snow White got the right to her own tighty-whiteys, instead of having to share with Belle and Daisy Duck. As for hippie revolts, Disney has seen its fair share of action. Disneyland has been the site of deaths (most of which are workers or guests with preexisting medical conditions), impromptu funerals (a number of people have been caught emptying urns of ashes around the Haunted Mansion attraction, on the request of their deceased and probably mentally-unstable loved ones), and, yes, hippie riots. In 1970, 300 hippies invaded Disneyland California. They crashed the gates, charged to Tom Sawyer Island, and wasted no time in hoisting the Viet Cong flag above the attraction. That’s right. Something cool actually happened at Tom Sawyer Island. Disney Security (yes, they have badges, and yes, the badges are shaped like mouse ears) called in backup, and the local police showed up with a riot squad. So this is what the Disney brothers’ legacy has boiled down to: Walt and his lesser known brother Roy started off Disney Productions by creating a film studio to make people happy. They took a risk by creating films meant for children that could still appeal to adults, and they ended up with one of the best-known film studios in the world. As I write this, Disney’s Frozen is in theaters across America. It was supposed to be based on the story of the Ice Queen, with a couple of strong female leads and a serious moral. It was going to be the first film in four years to be animated in the same 2-D animation style that made Disney famous in the first place. Unfortunately, no one would pay to see it. So now the heroine of the story is a girl with the same face as the last Disney princess, slightly awkward and “in love with the wrong guy.” And just in case this steaming pile of horse shit needed to be worse, someone said “let’s throw in a singing snowman that looks like the thing children have nightmares about.” Apparently, the graceful elegance of an ice castle wouldn’t sell to modern seven year olds--nor would a powerful female villain and a strong-willed heroine to dethrone her. According to The Walt Disney Company, the only thing people want to see is a malformed snowman singing about how much he wants to see summer. Really, if Walt Disney wasn’t cryogenically frozen in the 25 miles of tunnels hidden under Disneyland, he would be rolling in his grave.

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African Wild Dogs

Catherine Broussard

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Morphogenesis & Kin Selection in Tiger Salamander Larvae Allison Boudreaux

Resource polyphenism is defined as “the occurrence within a single population of environmentally triggered alternative phenotypes showing differential resource use,” (Pfennig and McGee, 2010). These alternative phenotypes, which are derived from developmental plasticity, can be morphological or behavioral, and provide the animal with a fitness benefit during certain circumstances (Giuseppe and Minelli, 2011). Evolutionary biologists often consider these polyphenisms to be steps toward speciation (Denöel et al., 2006), but the plasticity found in amphibians suggests that the two morphotypes may simply exist simultaneously, without elimination, as conditional strategies. In several types of amphibians, a certain resource polyphenism has been observed which allows some larvae of the population to successfully become predominantly cannibalistic during times of concentrated population and resulting diminished resource availability. Cannibalism is a ubiquitous behavior among many species in the animal kingdom which provides individuals with fitness benefits in certain environmental situations (Denöel et al., 2006). However, in certain amphibians, the larvae which exhibit the phenotype during environmental circumstances undergo a behavioral and subsequent morphological change. The larvae which exhibit the phenotype are often called “cannibalmorphs.” Though the other morphotype can display some cannibalistic behaviors during periods of low resource availability, it is generally uncommon because the larvae develop at a much slower pace than the cannibal-morphs and are unable to consume other larvae because of their relative size (Reilly et al., 1992). The typical omnivorous morphotype of the amphibians more often become the victims of the cannibalistic attacks than cannibals themselves (Pfennig et al., 1990). Developmental plasticity provides species with alternative phenotypes which provide large fitness benefits during certain environmental situations. Beyond biological changes in young amphibians which permit the larvae to become cannibalistic, several other animals display developmental plasticity. For example, the gobiid fish will often change from one sex to another and reproduce when it is among a group of only one sex in order to increase its own individual fitness while increasing the fitness of other members of the population as well (Giuseppe and Minelli, 2011). These types of changes can be reversible or permanent and have several different types of environmental cues which elicit them. 15

The tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, is one of the most thoroughly studied species which exhibits the polyphenism for cannibal-morph larvae. In nature, the cannibalistic morphotype of this species has been observed in many populations whose environments are geographically diverse and relatively widespread for the type of polyphenism that they exhibit (Larson et al., 1999). During lab tests, J. H. Powers was able to elicit the morphological and behavioral features of cannibal-morph tiger salamanders by changing the type of food that he fed the salamanders. With larger prey, the features which are expected of cannibal-morphs began to emerge and Powers was able to cause the cannibalistic morphological developments to stop and even reverse themselves behaviorally by changing the diet of the salamanders to small pieces of liver that did not demand any of the morphological or behavioral developments that were previously elicited by the large prey in order to consume it (Reilly et al., 1992). When salamanders are regularly around large prey or food sources are very limited in the habitat of a population, some develop the morphological and behavioral traits of a cannibal-morph in order to successfully develop into adulthood and consequent sexual maturity. More salamanders tend to develop as cannibal-morphs during periods of high population density in a certain area. The environment of that area is unable to produce sufficient sustainable resources for the large population of salamanders. When inadequate heterospecific prey is available, some members of the population begin to exhibit the behaviors and morphological changes of cannibal-morphs. Therefore, the cannibalistic phenotype provides the salamander with a large fitness gain because it allows the salamander to feed more easily (Pfennig & Collins, 1993.) In addition to resource abundance, the cannibal-morphs generally metamorphose more quickly than the other larvae of the same age which provides an advantage for the salamanders that dwell in wetlands. When the wetlands become dry during certain seasons, the larvae that have yet to metamorphose are left unequipped to handle their environment, and consequently perish. This provides a very significant fitness benefit for the cannibal-morphs which helps to explain the abundance of the phenotype in various populations (Larson et al., 1999; Reilly et al., 1992). The tiger salamander cannibal-morphs are the only true possessors of fully developed cannibalistic morphological features (Lannoo et al., 2011). The cannibal-morphs tend to have the same coloration and patterns that are typical of their specific populations, but the cannibalistic tiger salamanders are easily recognized based on their head morphology and atypical size. Upon closer examination, the hypertrophied teeth of the larvae are clearly developed, as opposed to those of the non-cannibalistic morphotype (Pfennig et al., 1993). The teeth are larger, more advanced in structure, and very efficient for feeding on the type of prey which they prefer: conspecifics of the same species, as can be seen in Figure 1 (Larson et al., 1999). 16

When the stomach contents of the cannibalistic morphotype of the tiger salamanders are studied, it is not uncommon to find remnants of small fish along with the remnants of other larval salamanders (Larson, 1999). In nature, Figure 1:

(Pfennig and McGee, 2010) In Figure 1, picture A is a diagram of a cannibal-morph tiger salamander consuming the typical omnivorous morphotype and picture B is the comparison of spadefoot toad tadpole morphotypes.

the extent to which cannibal-morphs actually prey on conspecifics is related to the availability of heterospecific prey (DenĂśel et al., 2006). The salamanders appear to be opportunistic carnivores, rather than purely cannibalistic, but the cannibal-morphs do show a significant preference for other salamanders and are fairly indiscriminant about size. The cannibal-morphs have been known to consume conspecifics which are as large as the predators themselves or larger (Reilly et al., 1992). The tiger salamander also displays kin recognition in nature. Kin recognition is “the differential treatment of conspecifics in varying genetic relatedness,â€? (Pfennig et al., 1999). In lab experiments and in the wild, tiger salamanders tend to eat other members of the population before they eat their close relatives (Pfennig et al., 1999). In groups of tiger salamander larvae composed solely of siblings that were reared in a lab, cannibal-morphs were extremely unlikely to develop. In fact, none or one cannibal was produced in the aquaria filled with only siblings, as can be seen in Figure 2. As the number of sibships per aquarium increases, the probability of the development of a cannibalistic morphotype decreases. In those tanks where a cannibal-morph did develop, it was less likely to eat its siblings than the other unrelated or more distantly related individuals. Within the tanks with only two sibships, cannibal-morphs developed at a much younger age when the other members in the tank were completely unrelated or distantly related, as opposed to close cousins (Pfennig and Collins, 1993). The overt discrimination against kin as prey in mot cannibal-morph sala17

manders and the reduced development of cannibalistic morphotype larvae in closely related populations suggests that kin avoidance has been naturally seFigure 2:

(Pfennig et al., 1999) Figure 2 shows a graph of the probability of cannibal-morph production and conspecifics in relation to the number of sibships.

lected as beneficial for overall fitness of the organisms. Inclusive fitness theory suggests that by aiding relatives in survival, an organism raises its own fitness because genes very similar to its own are propagated through kin (Pfennig et al., 1999). Therefore, the cannibalistic salamanders are ultimately benefitting from the avoidance of kin—despite the extra effort required to look for another potential conspecific. Kin selection has also been observed in other amphibians which have a polyphenism for a carnivorous morphotype for the same reason as the phenomenon in tiger salamanders. In spadefoot toads (Spea bombifrons and S. multiplicata), cannibalistic, carnivorous morphotype larvae have also developed a type of kin avoidance. These toads were less likely to develop the proper morphological traits to become successfully cannibalistic in environments of highly concentrated, closely related potential conspecifics as well (Pfennig, 1999). In other lab experiments, the toads were successfully developed as cannibal-morphs. When the larvae were reverted, through diet change, to their omnivorous morphotype behavior, those who continued to prey on conspecifics because of resource scarcity were far less likely to discriminate kin than when they exhibited the carnivorous phenotype (Pfennig, 1999). The obtained results suggest that kin recognition and subsequent avoidance could be a product of the transition into the cannibalistic morphotype during favorable environmental conditions. This plasticity of kin recognition development may be a result of inclusive fitness. When a carnivorous larva avoids kin as prey, it increases its inclusive fitness benefit and is, therefore, benevolent to that individual. However, an omnivorous larva may not need this type of inclusive fitness benefit because it 18

is highly unlikely that it will prey on other larvae under normal circumstances. Consequently, it is unnecessary and even maladaptive for such a trait to develop because the omnivorous larvae may gain more from preying on its relatives than feeding on nothing at all. The fitness payoff of developing the morphological and behavioral traits of a cannibal-morph, for tiger salamanders, comes primarily from the rapid development of the larvae that allows them to develop the necessary traits to be terrestrial earlier than the typical, slow-developing larvae in order to avoid becoming victims of the habitat depletion that comes along with the dry season. However, there is a large risk associated with developing as a cannibal-morph. The larvae run the risk of injury from failed attacks, the contraction of pathogens, and reducing their inclusive fitness by eating kin (Pfennig, 1993). Certain additional behaviors such as kin avoidance lessen some of the possible costs, but the cannibalistic morphotype larvae do experience a large fitness decrease as a result which is counteracted by the benefits of quick development and sufficient sustenance—even in periods of low resource availability for the average omnivorous morphotype larvae (Denöel et al., 2006). Bibliography Denöel M, Whiteman HH, Wissinger SA (2006) Temporal shift of diet in alternative cannibalistic morphs of the tiger salamander. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 89: 373-382. Giuseppe F, Minelli A (2011) Phenotypic plasticity in development and evolution: facts and concepts. Via U Bassi 58. Lannoo MJ (2011) No retreat, baby, no surrender. Herpetological Review 42: 142-145. Larson KL, Duffy W, Johnson E, Donovan MF, Lannoo MJ (1999) Salamanders (physiological aspects). American Midland Naturalist Publisher 141. Pfennig DW (1990) The adaptive significance of an environmentally-cued developmental switch in an anuran tadpole. Oecologia 85: 101-107 Pfennig DW (1999) Cannibalistic tadpoles that pose the greatest threat to kin are most likely to discriminate kin. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 266, 57–61. Pfennig DW, Collins JP (1993) Kinship affects morphogenesis in cannibalistic salamanders. Nature 362: 836-838. 19

Pfennig DW, Collins JP, Ziemba RE (1999) A test of alternative hypothesis for kin recognition in cannibalistic tiger salamanders. Behavioral Ecology Vol. 10 No. 4: 436-443. Pfennig DW, McGee M (2010) Resource polyphenism increases species richness: a test of the hypothesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 365: 577–591. Reilly SM, Lauder GV, Collins JP (1992) Performance consequences of a trophic polymorphism: feeding behavior in typical and cannibal phenotypes of Ambystoma tigrinum. Copeia 3: 672-679.

Je sais les Alligators

Laila Din

20

I Got Boosebumps S.P.

First Tyrone and Shameka You could say the perfect match No one even had a clue A prodigy was to Hatch, Torrence. The boy got older The streets got colder Not a hair on his chin Committed to sin He had a sharp voice A subtle pain in his eyes He kept an easy beat And his heart in disguise Torrence was all grown And off on his own Hustling everyday, the streets Women in his sheets He had a lotta fans But someone’s gotta hate Had to keep his back against the wall As he gave a new name to the state Boosieana, Boosieana The king from Rattin’ Rouge With suited, slick serpents in our midst Yet the trillest thugs gotta lose Made it, hated, incarcerated Thrown into the dark abyss Where reality becomes a myth Waiting for his moment to rise On holy Ca$h Wednesday, March 5th At last the chains stripped from his feet At last the cuffs on his wrists taken After all this time burning holiday trees He never smelled the bacon.

21

Boosie Badazz

Allison Boudreaux

22

Four Fours

William Ganucheau

Ever get bored? Of course you do. Ever play mental math games when you’re bored? Of course you do. One of my favorites is to take an integer n and try to form an expression using exactly four fours along with various mathematical operations that evaluates to n. For example, if n = 8, I’d use the expression

Fun, right? Now let’s define this game a little more thoroughly. Choose an integer x. Next, using exactly four fours and the allowed mathematical operations, form an expression to arrive at x. The allowed mathematical operations will be: adding four, subtracting four, multiplying by four, dividing by four, taking the fourth root, & raising something to the fourth power. Easy enough, right? But how many integers is this possible for? Well I’m much too lazy figure this out by hand, so let’s write a program instead. Here’s some pseudo code for my “Four Fours Expression Generator”: boolean search (val, foursUsed, goal) { if (val == goal && foursUsed = 4) return true; if (foursUsed >= 4) return false; for (operation in operations[]) { newVal = operation.evaluate (val); if (search (newVal, foursUsed+1, goal)) return true; } return false;

} void main () { for (x = -100; x <= 100; x++) { if (search (4, 1, x)) { print “success”; } } }

This plays our game for integers in the set [-100,100]. Here are the results.

The highest computed value was 81 while the lowest was -16. Now for the real question: Can you figure them all out? 23

Mz. Gleason on a Tangent

Hunter Bouillion

24

Bob & Mary

Nilupul Bulathsinhala

Scene opens in the living room of an apartment. Mary is reading through mail that arrived earlier that day. Bob is standing across from her. MARY: I don’t see what the big deal is, Bobby. BOB: Big deal? You don’t see what the big deal is? Mary, your little shopping spree last weekend cost us 3,000 dollars. MARY: You’re making it sound worse than it really is. BOB: 3,000 dollars! MARY: I only bought the necessities, Bob. Just like you told me to. BOB: Necessities? We don’t need a canoe! We live in New York for goodness sake. (BOB points to a canoe covered tightly in a large tarp.) MARY: You never know. What if a hurricane hits? You’ll be thanking me then. BOB: That will never happen! MARY: Anything can happen in New York. BOB: This thing barely fits in our apartment! MARY: Oh please. It’ll look nice next to the jet ski that I just bought online. BOB: Jet ski? You bought a jet ski? MARY: Hurricanes, Bob! BOB: You need to cancel that order right now. Jet skis and canoes aren’t going to help us, Mary. MARY: I think you’re right. We’re going to need paddles. I’ll look for some right away. (Heads to the computer, but BOB gets in her way) BOB: No, you have to stop this right now. I think you have a serious problem. You need to see a therapist. MARY: Oh, this is a serious problem. I don’t think they sell therapists online! BOB: I can’t argue with you anymore. I’m going out for a drink. (BOB gets his jacket and proceeds to head out when there’s a knock at the door) This better not be what I think it is. (BOB opens the door) DELIVERY MAN: Is this the Campbell residence? BOB: That depends. DELIVERY MAN: Well I have a package for, uhh, Mary Campbell? BOB: Nope. You got the wrong apartment. Sorry. MARY: He’s lying! (MARY runs to the door and shoves Bob out of the way) That’s us. That’s my jet ski. Where do I sign? DELIVERY MAN: Umm, right here. MARY: (signs the paper) Okay. DELIVERY MAN: Where do I put this box? 25

MARY: Over here. Next to the canoe. DELIVERY MAN: (Drags the box next to the canoe) Wow. Looks like you guys are preparing for a hurricane. BOB: Oh, not you too. MARY: Yes. Yes we are. DELIVERY MAN: Well, you can never be too sure. You might need some paddles though. Have a good day. (DELIVERY MAN leaves) MARY: See, Bob? Some people understand. BOB: That man has obviously lost his mind. How are we going to pay for all these things? MARY: Don’t worry. I can handle it. BOB: Please get rid of all this, Mary. MARY: I will if you really want me to. BOB: Good. I’m going out with the guys. I’ll be back in an hour or two. MARY: Okay, Bobby. Don’t stay out too late. (BOB heads out the door shutting it behind him. MARY goes over to the box and proceeds to open it. She takes off the Styrofoam and pulls out a large scale and dozen small packs of what seems to be marijuana. She proceeds to weigh out the individual packs when there’s a knock at the door.) MARY: Who is it? JANICE: It’s me. Janice. (MARY opens the door for JANICE) JANICE: Did you get the stuff ? MARY: Oh yeah. I got it alright. (MARY takes her to the packs) JANICE: Wow. You have close to ten grand here. You’re a life saver. MARY: I’m just doing my job. JANICE: I need an ounce. It’ll get me though the week. MARY: No problem. I’ll give it to you for 350. (MARY hands over a bag and JANICE gives her the money.) JANICE: What’s up with the canoe? MARY: Hurricanes. JANICE: Really? MARY: (laughs) No. Come take a look. (MARY leads JANICE over to the canoe and takes of the tarp revealing stacks of money piled up underneath.) JANICE: My God! You made this much selling weed? Why’s it in a canoe? Does your family know about this? MARY: (laughs) Settle down! JANICE: I’m so confused. MARY: Nah, my husband doesn’t know about this. I made a private account at the bank, but I can’t take all the money at once. Till then, I’m using this canoe to hide it. JANICE: I see.

26

MARY: He’s not too happy about the canoe…and it’s really hard to lie to him all the time. JANICE: I bet it is. The underground business is hard work. Trust me, I know. MARY: So, how’s work? JANICE: The boss is a real jerk. And the clients are a pain in the ass. If you know what I mean. MARY: (laughs) Who’s your boss again? JANICE: Big Daddy Bobo. He’s a nice guy, but he’s a real dick when it comes to money. I guess a pimp’s gotta make a living too. MARY: Do you make a lot of money? JANICE: Enough to get by. Even though Bobo takes 60 percent. MARY: 60 percent? JANICE: Yeah. Well apparently he has a gambling problem…and probably the shittiest luck. Are you doing it for the money? MARY: Yeah. I quit my job at the office, but my husband doesn’t know about that. I was bored and dealing is fun. JANICE: (laughs) So I had this client the other day, and you wouldn’t belive… (The door opens and BOB walks through) BOB: Mary, I forgot my…(BOB looks at the canoe and the packs of marijuana speechless) MARY: Bob! BOB: Mary! JANICE: Big Daddy Bobo! BOB: Janice? MARY: Big Daddy Bobo?

27

Parasol Sunlight

Molly Fontenot

Sedated

I witness abuse I’m too sedated to care The pills are working

Warren J. Yeekes

Escaped Convicts Carlie Procell

Words are convicts who escaped right out from an asylum of our thoughts, who by nature aren’t meant to be behind bars; a forced silence yearning to be heard.

28

Emily Dickinson As An Emersonian Poet Jack Sweeney

Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the first transcendentalist writers and was a huge influence on the movement as well as many writers that came after him. He pioneered his radical ideas on individuality - academic and otherwise and what it meant to be a writer. Emily Dickinson began writing many poems when Emerson was at the height of his popularity. A large majority of Dickinson’s poems were hidden away until her death, but the few that she did have published while she was alive were published anonymously. Interestingly, Dickinson’s Poem 112, one of her few published poems, was mistaken for an Emerson piece by readers and reviewers of A Masque of Poets, a collection of poetry. This is significant in that Emerson has a strict definition of what made a true poet, as he explains in his essay “The Poet.” In the essay, Emerson calls for a poet to stand as a representative for “the complete man” in a world where all other people only represent a portion of the capabilities of mankind. One of the points most stressed in “The Poet,” is how closely an Emersonian poet is tied to beauty, specifically the beauty of nature. Emerson wrote that the poet, always a “sayer,” loves beauty, creates what is beautiful, and represents what is beautiful. “The Poet,” states that language is beautiful and a part of nature, and that it is the poet’s job to interpret nature through language. Finally, Emerson believed that the poet should be a formidable creative force, in the same vein as a self-reliant person as defined in his essay “Self-Reliance.” Emerson’s poets ”[were] men of talent who [sang], not the children of music,” meaning the poet should be the primary creator, not the product of a creation. In “The Poet,” Emerson describes the poet not as a writer, but more as an artist whose medium is language. If being an interpreter of nature, representative of man, a creative person, and a sort of artist can be taken as criteria for what makes an Emersonian poet, then Dickinson’s poetry shows that she meets Emerson’s specifications for what makes a true poet. Emerson also calls for a poet to be self-reliant, imaginative, and creative. Dickinson’s poetry was creative, and she wrote her poetry completely independently. It was truly and completely her own; she was not writing to impress anybody, as evidenced by the lack of works published during her lifetime and the secrecy she held over her work. Dickinson was, without a doubt, a creative force. Her poetry came from within herself, deeply personal and human. In “The Poet,” Emerson described the poet as being “isolated among his 29

contemporaries, by truth and by his art,” which reflects the individualist attitudes also expressed in his essay “Self-Reliance.” Dickinson was “isolated by truth” in that she remained at her home a majority of the time, separate from society, and “isolated by art” in that her work was not drawn from any foreign idea, it was derived from her own thought and experience. Dickinson is famous for her unique punctuation, grammar, and syntax style that she employs in her poems, most notably her frequent use of dashes and capitalization habits. Her manipulation of the rules of the English language is clearly creative by Emerson’s definition, being unique to and developed solely by Dickinson. Her poems also fit Emerson’s definition of creativity, since they are the product of her own private, isolated thought and emotion, not that of anyone else - a very Emersonian trait. “The Poet,” calls for an interpreter of nature and beauty. Dickinson’s work is tied to nature in a number of ways. One way is through her basic subject matter, such as in poems 122, 347, 359, along with several others, which focus on natural features such as plant and animal life, natural scenery, and the seasons. In terms of natural subject matter, however, Dickinson is most well known for her use of death as a recurring theme for her poems. Death, while a completely natural process, is also philosophically and artistically intriguing, in the sense that it is internal and personal in the same way that Dickinson’s poetry is. Dickinson’s focus on the subject is likely a result of both the natural and philosophical implications of death. If subject matter alone is the requirement to fit Emerson’s belief in the poet as an interpreter of nature, Dickinson satisfies it in that she often times writes about natural subjects, most notably death. If Emerson’s definition of an interpreter goes deeper than that, Dickinson still matches it in that the inward and philosophical qualities of her work match those of the nature of death, which is a natural process that poses a philosophical question to be answered. One of Emerson’s most important criteria for a true poet is that the poet must represent man in a full and complete way, in which any other man cannot. This qualification of what makes a poet an Emersonian one is difficult to place, and many other poets would be eliminated for failing to meet this expectation set forth by Emerson. Dickinson is one of the few poets who can meet this expectation. She undoubtedly represents more than the “partial man,” as Emerson calls them, because her poetry depicts human nature in a broader, more complete sense. While it is difficult to determine an answer to a question as complex as “Does a poet reflect a ‘complete man?’” it is safe to argue that she does manage to do so as Emerson defines it. Once again, one way Dickinson represents “the complete man” is through her common theme of death because death is something that is shared by all of mankind. Another way is by addressing not only those who make themselves known, but those who remain unknown. She acknowledges this often ignored portion of humanity in one of 30

her most popular poems, Poem 260, in which she refers to and identifies with “Nobody,” or those who remain unknown. Despite how personal and unique her work tends to be, her reflections on her own nature can be transfixed onto human nature as a whole. Dickinson is not only writing about herself in her more internal poems, she is writing about her humanity and what it means to be human. However, one can interpret Emerson’s description of a representative of the “complete man” is as a sort of ideal template that “partial men,” should aspire to match. It is somewhat of a stretch to fit Emily Dickinson into this definition, but it does not detract from the other ways Dickinson represents the “complete man.” Therefore, it is through her internal ponderings, acknowledgement of the often-ignored unknown, and recognition of death that Dickinson manages to represent “the complete man.” Emerson’s final qualification for what makes an Emersonian poet is not explicitly stated in “The Poet,” but is more so implied when he discusses the poet’s ties with nature. He makes it clear that he sees the poet as more of an artist than a writer. He sees language as a product of nature, as beauty. It is the Emersonian poet’s duty not only to represent and interpret that beauty, but also to reflect it with language, in much the same way as a painter would reflect the beauty of nature in a painting. In a way that cannot be measured or accurately defined, Dickinson is such an artist. Just as a painting in a gallery is interpreted and analyzed by art critics and art aficionados, Dickinson’s complex and personal poetry must be interpreted and analyzed by literary critics, readers, teachers, and authors. Her poetry is not simple writing, it is a form of art that requires the same intellectual analysis as any other form of art, which is what Emerson implies is the goal of a poet. While “The Poet,” establishes many separate criteria for what it means to be and how to be a true poet by Emerson’s definition, they can be grouped together into larger criteria. An Emersonian poet must be creative and individualistic. Dickinson portrays these qualities through her inward writing style, themes, and her unique punctuation, grammar, and syntax habits, satisfying Emerson’s request for a “meter-making argument.” Emerson also calls for a poet to be an interpreter of nature, and Dickinson is able to meet this expectation by means of her subject matter and her deeply personal writing style. She also truly represents mankind, through her writings on the nature of death, her embrace of men and women who remained unknown, and the internal nature of her writing that creates an accurate portrayal of human nature. While Emerson never explicitly says so, his poet is not just an author, but an artist, and Dickinson is quite clearly an artist who uses language as her medium. Dickinson’s deeply personal and internal attitude and style in her poems, while some not intended for any readership at all, are what make her a truly Emersonian poet. 31

32

Heart Rose

Saolam Nguyen

LSMSA Visual Schedule Connor Elsea

As a new student getting my schedule for the first time, I felt that the way times were displayed for classes was unnecessarily complicated, and decided to create a program that would convert the information that the schedules gave us from “8(A,C,E)” to “4:00 PM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.” Once it did the conversion, it also created a visualized version of your schedule that you could print. I submitted a photo of this program, and since the code of the entire program was too long I also submitted one of the most important snippets of code from the program; the code that converted the schedule’s string of letters and numbers to something that could be read. This program was called Visual Schedule and was downloaded 155 times.

package elsealabs.eutil.schedule; import java.util.ArrayList; public class InputParser { private String STRING; private ArrayList<Character> STRING_ARRAY; private TimeDayHolder TD_HOLDER; private int CURRENT_TIME_VAL; private boolean TRACKING_CTV; private boolean CTV_INTERRUPTION; private String CURRENT_LETTER; private boolean TRACKING_LETTER; private Day DAY; private Time TIME; public TimeDayHolder parseInput(String input) throws Exception

33

{

STRING = input; STRING_ARRAY = new ArrayList<Character>(); for (char a : STRING.toCharArray()) STRING_ARRAY.add(a); TD_HOLDER = new TimeDayHolder(); for (char s : STRING_ARRAY) { if (Character.isDigit(s)) { if (TRACKING_CTV == true) { if (CTV_INTERRUPTION == true) { CURRENT_TIME_VAL = Integer.parseInt(s + “”); } else { String ctv = CURRENT_TIME_VAL + s + “”; CURRENT_TIME_VAL = Integer.parseInt(ctv); } } else { TRACKING_CTV = true; CURRENT_TIME_VAL = Integer.parseInt(s + “”); } } else if (Character.isWhitespace(s)) { if (TRACKING_CTV == true) CTV_INTERRUPTION = true; } else if (Character.isAlphabetic(s)) { if (TRACKING_CTV == true) { TRACKING_CTV = false; TRACKING_LETTER = true; } if (TRACKING_CTV == false && TRACKING_LETTER == true) { CURRENT_LETTER = s + “”; try { DAY = new Day(CURRENT_LETTER.toCharArray()[0]); TIME = (Time) DAY.getTime(CURRENT_TIME_VAL).clone(); TD_HOLDER.addSet(DAY, TIME); } catch (Exception ex) { ex.printStackTrace(); throw new Exception(“Letter \”” + CURRENT_LETTER + “\” is incorrect”); } } else if (TRACKING_CTV==false && TRACKING_LETTER==false) { throw new Exception(“No time to assign day to”); } } } return TD_HOLDER; } }

34

Mom

Ann Stolzle

It is late in the night. I watch as she steadily Cleans the house, fluttering Around the kitchen like a butterfly Jumping from tree to tree. Even with her work clothes on, Dirty and sweaty from a day’s work, She looks elegant. This daily routine is her performance, Graceful, Not so different than a skilled ballerina, Both perfect at their jobs. Even though her day was tough, and Her chores even more laborious, She manages to break from her work To give me a smile, Then continues on her busy way. In her smile is mostly bright, But has some lingering darknessThe wrinkles formed by the smile show me. The deep creases above the brows show divorce. The ones around the lips, those are from the bills. And for those hanging below the eyes, Well those might be from me. Even through our struggles, Her smile always gleams.

35

Sunglasses

Brandy Ledet

36

Bubble

37

Brandy Ledet

Concert Review

Marika Buchholz

I took a seat in the recital hall, eager for a break from calculus. The LSMSA alumnus walked onstage and bowed to the audience. Thirty minutes of glory interrupted only by the student next to me who played Candy Crush and clapped between movements, the Brahms piano sonata left everyone in the audience breathless. Everyone, that is, except for another student who threw his program at me and said, “I have a history test to study for. I don’t have time for this [expletive].” I returned to the hall after the intermission disappointed to see so many empty seats but eager to hear pieces by Chopin and Kapustin. During Chopin’s Ballade No. 3, I noticed a growing dampness on my shoulder caused by the tears of the Vietnamese girl sitting beside me. She whispered to me that she’d never heard anything more heart-wrenching in her entire life. I promised her a bowl of pho in return for a manicure. The refreshingly short Etude No. 7 by Kapustin lightened the mood and reminded me of Dr. Benner’s bad, albeit interesting, jokes. Although I barely noticed the performer’s flawless execution of the jazz etude, I snapped back into reality after the audience began to cheer. Ives’ Piano Sonata was the perfect piece to wind down the energy of the room. The performer barely pressed the keys, creating a pianissimo softer than any sound I believed a piano to be capable of producing. About halfway into the sonata, two women began chatting behind me about slaughtering goats. However, my disdain for mutton kept my ears focused on the piano. After his rendition of Ives’ work, the pianist segued into the first movement of Scriabin’s Sonata. No. 4, which was the final work of the afternoon. Although the piece was interrupted by a fly that buzzed onstage, the unwelcome guest did not deter the performer from playing the movement with careful precision. The last movement, Prestissimo volando, sounded exactly like its title would suggest. Abundant with fiery trills and deep bass chords, the second portion of the piece met its end with a standing ovation. Curious to learn more about the goat-slaughtering women, I turned around. Much to my surprise, one of them reached into her purse, grabbed a flyer that read “MEAT FOR SALE,” and gave it to me. I assured her I would visit her butchering shop only if she would tell me why she came to hear the pianist when she could have spent the night listening to goats bleating instead. She replied that attending the concert was mandatory for her music appreciation class, noting that she would have brought her baby goat, had the occasion been appropriate. I wished her luck on her veterinary endeavors but wished she had “appreciated” the music more. Certainly, the Candy Crush kid, the history kid, and the (actual) kid missed out on a stellar performance. 38

Kickin’ It Old School Carlie Procell

It started out as a normal day at Oakton High School. I glanced at the clock during my fifth period, mentally preparing myself for the agonizing two hours that lay ahead in my “World Civilizations” class. The room may have been crammed, the air conditioner may have been dysfunctional, but it was an enjoyable class. Fresh out of college, our teacher Ms. O’Malley was enthusiastic about her job. She had read many books on teaching and thought she knew the perfect way to engage us in the world of world history: she would rearrange the seating chart! Except she wasn’t just going to change the people in each seat. She had a special method that screamed “classroom participation.” Ms. O’Malley arranged approximately seventy desks into groups of four spread across the classroom. She was enthralled with the idea of being able to play team games with us, having groups already set up for projects, and allowing us to engage in discussions with our fellow classmates at a manageable level. She even placed us in alphabetical order so we could meet new people and hear different ideas. I sat down at my new table with the other O’s and P’s in the class. I didn’t really know any of them, but I was slightly infatuated with the boy across from me: Raphael Ortiz. He was a lacrosse and football player who was super tall, dark, and handsome. I was excited with the fact that I now had an excuse to stare at him during class without being creepy, since he was right across from me. As Ms. O’Malley introduced the new seating chart in a vivid Powerpoint, Raphael started passing notes with another girl at my table. They glanced at me every few seconds, so I was slightly on edge. I had to know what they were writing about. As I pondered this thought, Raphael whispered to me, “I like your shirt.” I was wearing a Def Leppard shirt that day, and didn’t know many other people who listened to classic rock. I smiled and looked at it lovingly while trying to think of something witty to say back. I could only muster out, “Haha, thanks.” Meanwhile, Raphael stopped passing notes with the other girl. He had crumpled up the piece of paper and apathetically dropped it on the ground. I duly noted that I would retrieve it as soon as we let out for lunch. When the lunch bell rang at 12:35, I lagged behind and slowly put away my books, waiting for Raphael to leave. For some reason, he stuck around a bit late too. I finally finished and decided to pull an ingenious stunt. I put on my best “exasperated hippie” expression and shook my head as I grabbed the piece of paper and angrily tossed it in the recycling bin while walking out of the room. 39

Then, as soon as Raphael walked out, I put on my “I forgot my pencil!” face and walked back in the room to get the paper out of the recycling bin. I uncrumpled the paper only to find a mundane conversation between the two of them. It mentioned some irrelevant information, but finally got to a part about me. Raphael mentioned that he thought I was cute, and I almost died. I thought about it all throughout lunch and couldn’t wait to get back to class to see him. I cleverly hid my excitement as I walked back into the room and sat across from Raphael. The room had gotten cooler without the heat of seventy adolescents. As Raphael sunk down into his seat across from me, his legs stretched over to my side of the desk since he was so tall. His leg casually brushed against the side of mine, and I just froze. It was comfortable and warm as it rubbed against mine, and before I could think, my instincts literally kicked in as I kicked Raphael’s leg as hard as I could. He let out a little yelp and his face turned white. Needless to say, he never talked to me again.

Bootsy in Black

Jack Sweeney 40

The Stones

41

Nataliya Uhrynchuk

Approaching Night Who will lay me down to my rest When my time comes to sleep? Who will survive all of time’s tests? Who will be mine to keep? When I breathe my last dying breath, Who will be by my side? Will anyone even be left, Surviving each high tide? As I come up with some last words, Careful, concise, complete Will somebody make sure I’m heard Down every mournful street? “Never,” I whisper to myself, No one will ever hear. I’ll die with secrets left to tell. I’ll sleep with no one near.

Sarah Bonvillain

42

Seasonal Variation in Prey of the Barn Owl Allison Boudreaux

Introduction The Common Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is known to consume mostly small vertebrates. Rodents, shrews, and moles are common prey of the Barn Owl. It has the widest geographic range of any owl and several studies have been done on its dietary-habits (Miller, 1994). The digestive system of owls is limited in that components such as hair and bone cannot be broken down; therefore, the owls regurgitate large pellets which are filled with bones that can be used to identify the prey which they consume (Hager and Consentino, 2006). Using a key and measurements taken from the easily extracted lower incisors, one can identify the genus of rodent found in the pellet. The results can be analyzed to indicate the far-reaching ecological impacts of the Barn Owl as a predator. The data can also be used to infer the prevalence and diversity of the small mammal community as its members are the primary component of the diet of the Barn Owl. In this study, the objective was to compare my data with other data that have been collected in the southeast U.S. in order to not only add useful information to the collection of information as a whole, but also to compare my results to the typical findings of such a study. I studied the seasonal variation in contents of the pellets to observe any correlation that could be attributed to the life histories of the prey found. Methods The owl pellets were obtained from a barn at the Yates tract of the Red River National Wildlife Refuge, in Natchitoches. Two samples from August and May were sterilized using an autoclave to rid them of any microorganisms that could be harmful. The contents were dried overnight after being heated in the autoclave. After the samples were dried, the solid pellets were separated from the broken down matter. Each pellet was bagged separately. The mass and length of the pellets at the longest point were measured. Each pellet was carefully broken apart using forceps. The skulls and jaws were separated from fur and other components of the pellets. The excess matter was discarded after being pulled away from the bone. A key was used to determine the nature of the skulls using the shape of the molars and length of the lower incisor arc diameter. The lower incisors were extracted from the jaw and a reference circle was drawn along the arc of the incisor. Using the circle, the diameter was measured to compare genera (Hager and Constentino, 2006). 43

Figure 1:

Figure 1 shows the relationship between pellet mass and average number of skulls. For those categories without a column, there were no data for the selected mass category for that month. May had more skulls per pellet on average across the board.

Figures 2 and 3:

Figures 2 and 3 feature the relative frequency of the number of skulls per pellet. It shows that May’s pellets were much more substantial in that they contained more skulls in each pellet, typically.

Figures 4 and 5:

Figures 5 and 6 display the number of skulls of each genus found in the pellets. There were several more genera found in May than August.

44

Figure 7:

Figure 7 shows the length of the diameter of the arc of the lower incisors. Each of the rodent genera are displayed.

Discussion The pellets collected during May were not only more abundant, but also contained more skulls per pellet on average. In addition, the pellets from August contained fewer types of prey. The cotton rat was most the most prevalent prey in August. While the cotton rat made up a substantial amount of the prey in May, it is clear that other prey were notably less abundant than the cotton rat in late summer. This is probably a result of their mating season which occurs during this time (Dunaway and Kaye, 1964). Also, during the hot summer few Shrews were found in the pellets. The shrews could not be displayed in the graph because they are insectivores which do not have the same type of incisors that continue to grow throughout the life of the animal and are consequently shaped like an arc of a circle (Hager and Constentino, 2006). The incisor arc lengths found were very similar to those found in other studies which is indicative of no abnormalities within the region (Hager and Constentino, 2006). Several genera were found in the pellets which suggests that the area has a diverse community of small mammals. Comparing this data with future years in the same location would provide a more holistic look at the community interactions and seasonal variation within the diet of the Barn Owl. It would also allow for a more regulated and accurate incisor comparison because there would be a larger sample size. Literature Cited Miller, K. E. 1994. Prey selection of the Common Barn Owl in a northern Florida wet land. Florida Field Naturalist. 22: 11-13. 45

P. B. Dunaway and S. V. Kaye. 1964. Weights of Cotton Rats in relation to season, breeding, and environmental radioactive contamination. American Midland Naturalist. 71: 141-155. S. B. Hager and B. J. Consentino. 2006. An identification key to rodent prey in owl pellets from the northwestern and southeastern United States: employing incisor size to distinguish among genera. The American Biology Teacher Online Publication. B. A. Colvin and E. B. McLean. 1986. Food habits and prey specificity of the Common Barn Owl in Ohio. The Ohio Journal of Science. 86: 76-80.

Sleeping Bat

Catherine Broussard 46

Grilled Cheese Darby Breaux

I sit on the familiar bench. Our table was in the corner with windows on both sides. The patio table, plastic colored to look like tile, doesn’t know what is happening. I’m facing out the window towards the street. My friend faces me, but looks down at her phone. She has a drink in front of her, but no idea what is in my mind. In front of me is a white paper tray I’ve seen filled with French fries in millions of times before. I used to come to this restaurant all the time with my best friend. We ate ice cream and French fries, and we always shared. But she left school. So I haven’t been here in a long time. But yesterday, I had a craving. I wanted a grilled cheese. Simple. Yet not at all. I’m recovering from a restrictive eating disorder. And cheese was one of those pesky items – off-limits according to my demons. Grilled cheeses were my favorite freshmen year. But that was a long time ago. So I sit, staring down at the crispy white bread, melty American cheese, shiny yellow butter. I breathe in. I breathe out. My hands move from my lap toward the tray. My fingers freeze two inches from the bread. Don’t. It’ll make you fat. My hands fall back to my lap. I can’t do it. I know it’s okay. I know one sandwich can’t ruin my life. So just do it. I pick my hands up again. Look how greasy it is. That’ll come out in your pores. The cheese will make you fat. My hands drop. I feel like I’m failing. I know this shouldn’t be that hard. I know the first bite is always the hardest. Once I get started, it’ll be great. But how can I take a bite if I can’t even touch the sandwich? We’ve been here for over an hour. We’ve watched classmates come and go, and we’ve watched the sun set behind the bank next door. I try again. My fingers rounded, ready to grasp the sandwich. My breathing stops. I’m terrified. I breathe in. It’s stuck. My chest is tense. My arms hurt from squeezing the muscles. I manage to push the air back out. My shoulders are stiff. My legs, bouncing anxiously moments ago, are now frozen. With each breath out, I feel my torso fall into my lap. My spine pushes upwards. I can do it. It’s going t- shut up. I can do this. My pinky reaches the bread first, and my thumb and forefinger clasp onto the sandwich, slowly lifting it. No. Drop. I can’t. The first bite is always the hardest, I remind myself. It’ll be worth it. Sweet, cheesy, crunchy. It’ll taste like victory. My body repeats the process of reaching for the sandwich. My back aches from the work. I am exhausted. This fighting is hard work, but I hold the sandwich with both hands. My mouth is afraid to open. My tongue is afraid to taste 47

the cheese. My teeth are afraid to chew it. My throat is afraid to swallow it, delivering it to the stomach, which will make that voice very angry. But I force my lips apart, and let a nibble in. I can’t even taste it. But it melts in my mouth, and my tongue pushes it downward. One bite down, who knows how many to go. But I hold my sandwich fearlessly because I am a warrior. I don’t give up. I am more. And fifteen minutes later, a plate of crusts sit before me. I am a warrior. I will not back down. This is Recovery win #1, and there are many more to come.

Ombre Love

Molly Fontenot

48

Diet Girl’s Cake Song Ann Stolzle

Parody of “Mad Girl’s Love Song” by Sylvia Plath

I shut my eyes and you’re still there; I lift my eyes, but you’re not there. (oh cake... I think I made you up inside my head) Your smooth, rich frosting lingers in my head, the moistness of your batter can not compare. I shut my eyes and you ‘re still there. I dreamed you would be with me wherever, And your taste would follow my tongue . (Oh cake... I think I made you up inside my head.) I tell myself to let go, But my appetite wants you so: I shut my eyes and you’re still there! I hoped you would return to me, I want to eat you so desperately. (Oh cake... I think I made you up inside my head) I should have had you when I could, Now you are gone that’s for sure. All I want is more, more, more! I shut my eyes and you’re still there! (Oh cake... I think I made you up inside my head)

49

Butterfly Contraption 1

Dale Campo

Butterfly Contraption 2

Dale Campo 50

Out Here Tryin’ To (Γ) Function Carlie Procell

Is there anything better to do with your time than sit and read about the gamma function? The answer is no. Whatever you were doing before this has suddenly become irrelevant. For those of you who aren't familiar with the gamma function Γ(��), it's a

function that's used in combinatorics, among other math fields. It's hella rad. It's kind of like a factorial! What makes Γ(đ?‘§đ?‘§) special is that you can use it with complex numbers, rather than just non-negative integers. So you can compute things like đ?œ‹đ?œ‹!

So here's a way of writing đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ! đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ! =

đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ! =

(đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ)! (đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ)(đ?‘›đ?‘› − 1 + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ) ‌ (1 + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ)

(đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ)(đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ − 1)(đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ − 2) ‌ (đ?‘›đ?‘› + 1)đ?‘›đ?‘›! (đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ)(đ?‘›đ?‘› − 1 + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ) ‌ (1 + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ)

In case you didn't catch that, you're subtracting from �� until �� goes away in the numerator. In the denominator, you're subtracting from �� until �� goes away.

Now, let ��  ��, so that the expression equals:

đ?‘›đ?‘› đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ đ?‘›đ?‘›! đ?‘›đ?‘›â†’∞ (đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ)(đ?‘›đ?‘› − 1 + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ) ‌ (1 + đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ) lim

Now you've got an expression which can compute a non-integer that is defined as đ?‘Ľđ?‘Ľ. So you can define the gamma function as

đ?‘›đ?‘› đ?‘§đ?‘§ đ?‘›đ?‘›! đ?‘›đ?‘›â†’∞ (đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘§đ?‘§)(đ?‘›đ?‘› − 1 + đ?‘§đ?‘§) ‌ (1 + đ?‘§đ?‘§)đ?‘§đ?‘§

Γ(đ?‘§đ?‘§) = (đ?‘§đ?‘§ − 1)! = lim

51

With that in mind, you can now obtain Γ(�� + 1):

đ?‘›đ?‘› đ?‘§đ?‘§+1 đ?‘›đ?‘›! đ?‘›đ?‘›â†’∞ (đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘§đ?‘§ + 1)(đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘§đ?‘§) ‌ (1 + đ?‘§đ?‘§)

′Γ(�� + 1) = lim

đ?‘›đ?‘›đ?‘›đ?‘› đ?‘›đ?‘› đ?‘§đ?‘§ đ?‘›đ?‘›! đ?‘›đ?‘›â†’∞ đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘§đ?‘§ + 1 (đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘§đ?‘§) ‌ (1 + đ?‘§đ?‘§)đ?‘§đ?‘§

Γ(�� + 1) = lim

Γ(�� + 1) = ��Γ(��)

And Γ(�� + 1) = ��Γ(��) is also something really cool known as the recurrence relation for the gamma function.

There are lots of other fun things about the beautiful gamma function. One involves

1

Γ(��)

Remember the definition of Γ(đ?‘§đ?‘§) in limit form? Use it to find that: đ?‘›đ?‘›âˆ’đ?‘§đ?‘§ (đ?‘›đ?‘› + đ?‘§đ?‘§)(đ?‘›đ?‘› − 1 + đ?‘§đ?‘§) ‌ (1 + đ?‘§đ?‘§)đ?‘§đ?‘§ 1 = lim 1 ∙ 2 ∙ 3 ‌ đ?‘›đ?‘› Γ(đ?‘§đ?‘§) đ?‘›đ?‘›â†’∞

Now you can see that

1

Γ(��)

is defined for all complex numbers, so there are no

poles (unlike a strip club.) Then you can deduce that Γ(��) is never equal to zero. Cool, right?

Well, it gets even cooler when you realize that its reciprocal can absolutely be equal to zero. In fact, it has zeroes at all the non-positive integers! If

1

Γ(��)

= 0, then its reciprocal Γ(��) has a pole at that point, no?

Thus, Γ(��) is undefined for all non-positive integers, and defined for all other complex numbers.

52

Mural

Gabriel Chappell, Laila Din, & Travis Landriault

53

Some People Aren’t Worth It Glenn Underwood

There are certain times in a man’s life where he has got to sit down and think about what he has become. For many, this revolves around a natural human phenomenon called a “mid-life crisis.” Others need a catalyst: some significant event that rocks the very foundations of what the individual stands for. For Mark, this catalyst was me. Mark was a healthy age of 25 when he met me for the first time. He had been drinking again, but I had known that. It was my duty to know. He was also broke and looking to stir up some trouble. Poor Mark, there was no way that he could possibly know what was to happen next. Mark walked into the bar with his arrogant swagger that he has had since high school, junior year. I remember the first time he walked like that. He had just successfully knocked two teeth out of the school’s All-State quarterback. He had been severely reprimanded for that. I did not approve of it. Mark was a fighter, just as I needed him to be. He sat down across the room from me, eyeing up a pretty, young girl across the room. She had a boyfriend there, but Mark did not know that. Mark had an insatiable sexual appetite. The girl caught his gaze and shuffled uncomfortably. She was engaged, and just here to share a few drinks with her fiancé. Mark did not care for relationships. He has not respected them since the day that the girl of his dreams left him at the altar. That was when he started drinking. That was three years prior. Mark no longer wanted anything more than physical to do with the opposite sex. Mark did not care about anything the girl had to offer him other than her body. He did not care that she was in school to become a nurse. Nor did he care that within the next year she would decide that she’d rather become a neurosurgeon. Much less that she would be the one that would perform the life-saving surgery to save the man who would unite the countries of the world under a reign of peace. But Mark did not know about that. The young girl did not know about that. Only I know. However, I do not blame Mark for his sad ignorance. It is a long and arduous process, creating a human. There is a very careful chemistry that must be considered when synthesizing the brain. One misplaced amino-acid and you could end up with a complete invalid. I know, it happened to me time and time again. Mark approached the young girl, the alcohol was making his head throb now. Mark hated that. The young girl was understandably uncomfortable. Mark was a find physical specimen. He stood at six-foot three and weighed about two-hundred and thirty-eight pounds, mostly muscle. He had short-cropped brown hair from when he had joined the Army. He had been dishonorably discharged for his 54

infamous brawls. He had joined the Army to forget about the girl that had abandoned him. Poor, sad Mark. Mark did not try for a conversation, as there was only one thing that he wanted from this girl. Mark grabbed her wrist. The girl attempted to pull away, but she wouldn’t be able to. Mark had a grip that helped win him the gold medal in the Judo tournament that he attended during his senior year of high school. It was a grip that was only ever soft for the ones that he loved. Mark loved no one now. The girl screamed, but it was understandable. Mark had this tricky little vein that would always appear on his forehead when he was in a drunken rage, and he hated it. He thought it made him look unattractive, and I pitied him for it. The boyfriend spotted Mark. Mark spotted the boyfriend. The boyfriend punched Mark. Mark took the punch. Mark had gotten punched before. The life of a bred fighter was always rough on a man Mark also knew how to punch, as he was all too happy to do now. The boyfriend, unlike Mark, had not ever been much of a fighter. Like all men, he had been in his fair share of lunchroom brawls back in his younger years, but now he felt the need to settle down and protect his soon-to-be family. Mark did not have this need. The punch was solid, I would expect nothing less of Mark considering his origins. The girl was amazed by the hit, and astonished when she saw her boyfriend go down. She became terrified when Mark did not stop hitting her boyfriend, even though he was no longer conscious. Mark hit the poor boy, who had once dreamed of becoming an architect, and was in his last year of schooling for it, until his brain was so bruised and battered that it could no longer process the information required to perform the arithmetic necessary to pursue this career. In fact, his brain could no longer perform much of any task. Mark was indeed a fighter. The bartender had called the police at this point, but was too afraid to act on his wishes. He wanted to be the one to subdue this hulk of a man, if not only to be hailed as a hero by this pretty young girl that was now cowering in the corner of his establishment; the bartender wished for her to bestow a “favor� on him for his act of valor. The bartender was not a very virtuous man. The bartender would not survive to the end of the year. I smiled. I knew what would happen if he tried to act on his impulses. I have seen every single way that this encounter could have gone. The bartender did not move. I had to smile. Everything was going according to plan. Mark now towered over the young girl, who was crying very passionately and in excess. Mark grabbed her with hands bloodied from battered knuckles, the only wounded he got from his one-sided brawl. The girl cried until her mascara ran down her face. Mark had that vein showing again. If he knew that, he would have been even angrier since he wanted this girl to want him. That 55

thought didn’t cross Mark’s min at this moment. I shot Mark. I did not use a bullet, as it was messy and inhumane. My gun was more elegant than the primitive weapons used in this time. I won’t explain how it works, but the autopsy performed on Mark confirmed that he had suffered from a massive aneurism, one that may have caused this sudden burst of rage. I knew better than that. It was in the split second before he died that Mark reconsidered what he let himself become. Of course, he could not have helped himself in any way, he had done everything that I needed him to do. The girl found her boyfriend where he lay, in a puddle of his own blood and with no face left that she could have recognized. He was still alive, but he was no longer able to think or feel. He was no longer her boyfriend. The young girl tried to save him. The doctors that she took him to tried to save him as well. No one succeeded. It was at the point when she pulled the plug for him that she decided to be a neurosurgeon, just like she was meant to. I was genuinely upset that I had to kill Mark. It was almost like putting down a good dog. He had served his master loyally at every step in his life, even if he hadn’t known it. He was a lost child in a chaotic world, one that had yet to be united, or maybe a toy that had outlived its use and had to be thrown away. There is a certain alienation that applies to a creator destroying his creation. He was made to do exactly as he had done. He was made to be sad and broken. He was made to meet his end at my hands. Ashes to ashes. However, Mark had done more than he ever could have realized. He had saved the world and was a martyr for peace. The young girl would have become a nurse had Mark not impaired her fiancé. Had Mark not hesitated just long enough for me to shoot him, he would have had his way with her, which would have delayed her studies and provided an inconvenience to me later down the road. Most importantly, if Mark had not lived that sad and lonely life that I had led him to live, then I could never have created him in the first place. With no one with the skill to perform the necessary surgery, the tumor in my brain would have killed me long ago. Or perhaps long into the future, as it may be. Of course, I know exactly how all of these situations would have played out. I have witnessed them all before. From the very beginning, the situation of me incorrectly synthesizing my fighter of peace, to Mark having lived a happy, normal life. Most of them were just playing sessions for me. There was a lot of time to have fun in a world without conflict. However, I know that this is the only way that this situation could have worked. I know how the girl would have acted. I knew that the bartender would not act against Mark. I know exactly to what degree the fiancé’s brain had to be broken for the girl to still believe that there was hope for him. I know humans all too well; it takes a perfect understanding of a creation in order to reconstruct it. It was my duty to know. 56

Serenity

57

Charlie Bordelon

Monte Carlo

Alex Fontenot

Ever since I was around 7, I’ve played a game called Ultima Online. Despite having played it for over half my life, I never knew the answer to something. The game is an MMORPG and one of the things you can do is craft items. More specifically, one of the “crafting skills” is Blacksmithing. Every character in the world can have a maximum of 700 skill points, and each skill can attain a maximum value of 100 skill points. Basically, you can max out 7 skills, out of the huge selection. It takes a long time to max out Blacksmithing and it is very expensive. This, after so many years, has lead me to ask, “How can I max out Blacksmithing as cheap and as fast as possible?” I used what’s called a “Monte Carlo Simulation”. To put it simply, you simulate something many times with random inputs. This gives you an empirical probability curve that is often used for risk assessment at huge companies, among other things. The canonical example is to evaluate Pi. Take a square centered at the origin with side lengths of 2. Inscribe a circle in the square. Only look at the first quadrant. Throw a lot of darts inside the square and see where they land. The ratio of the darts in the circle quarter and the total number of darts is a fourth of Pi (Because we’re only looking at one quadrant!). If you can throw an infinite number of darts then you get the value of Pi, but in a Monte Carlo simulation, it’s only an approximation. Now that you understand Monte Carlo simulations, lets efficiently max out Blacksmithing! So let’s figure out how we actually gain skill in the game, because it certainly doesn’t happen every time. I dug through the source code of Ultima Online and found these lines of code (C#): bool success = ( chance >= Utility.RandomDouble() ); double gc = (double)(from.Skills.Cap - from.Skills.Total) / from.Skills.Cap; gc += ( skill.Cap - skill.Base ) / skill.Cap; gc /= 2; gc += ( 1.0 - chance ) * ( success ? 0.5 : 0.2 ); gc /= 2;

Well, this is certainly helpful, but there was still more digging to do before I could get to the bottom of it! It seems that the gc (which I assume stands for “Gain Chance”) is based 25% on the total amount of skills you have, 25% is based on how high your current skill is (In this case, in Blacksmithy), and 50% is based on if you managed to successfully perform the skill (in this case, craft it) and what your chance was. That’s great! Except, uh oh, that’s based on chance! Later on in the code, it tests the gc against another random double. There’s still a problem. That “chance” variable is passed into the function! So after more digging I find some more code: 58

chance = craftSystem.GetChanceAtMin( this ) + ((valMainSkill - minMainSkill) / (maxMainSkill - minMainSkill) * (1.0 - craftSystem.GetChanceAtMin( this )));

Wow, that’s a lot. Well it turns out that in the Blacksmithing class returns a constant 0 so that simplifies it down to:

ChanceAtMin()

Get-

chance = ((valMainSkill - minMainSkill) / (maxMainSkill – minMainSkill));

Turns out every object actually has a minimum skill level and maximum skill level associated with it. Conveniently, these were also listed in the source code, so I went ahead and parsed out the names, min skill, max skill, and ingot cost associated with each of them. This little formula is going to be really useful for calculating the gc, or Gain Chance. So let’s look at the relevant Python I have typed up so far: craft_chance = get_success_chance(cur_skill, item[1], item[2]) gc = (700-total_skills)/700 gc += (100-cur_skill)/100 gc /= 2 gc += (1.0 - craft_chance) success = 0.2 if craft_chance > random.random(): success = 0.5

With the item data that I parsed out in a file, I read in the item values and store them in tuples and use the values as such. In this case, item[1] is the min skill for the item and item[2] is the max skill for the item. The get_success_chance() is simply a Python version of the chance formula earlier with the chance value clamped between 0 and 1, if you have below or above the min and max skills respectively. With the success chance formula and the gain chance formula, we’re ready to run some simulations! Well, not yet. We still need to figure out how to do it more efficiently. Let’s look more closely at the part that makes up 50% of our chance. Since we want to maximize our chance to increase skill, we focus on this part of the code, because really we cannot control the other factors. The other factors are simply constants, where as this part is affected by the item that we want to create. gc += ( 1.0 - chance ) * ( success ? 0.5 :

0.2 );

Let’s call 1 – chance our “fail chance”. This is the chance that we fail at crafting the item. If we succeed at crafting the item, we get half of our fail chance to add to the total gain chance. If we fail, we only get a fifth of the fail chance to add. For example, if we had an 80% chance to craft the item, and we do craft it, then we get 40%. However, this portion of the code only contributes to 50% of the final gain chance. So the gain chance increases by 20%. Since the gain chance is based on whether the item was successfully crafted or not, I apply a weighted average to get the expected value of the increased gain 59

chance. The amount we gain from crafting an item for this part (say, an infinite number of times) is (1-chance)*(0.2) + (chance)*(0.5). This usually comes out to ~20 when the item is around its “sweet spot” for increasing skill. This actually makes a nice parabola when graphed. We won’t use this for the actual simulation, but this does help us analyze the items better. To get the fastest way to increase the skill,the item with the highest expected value at the current skill level would be the best to use. There is a better way, though. If we take the expected value at each skill level and divide it by the number of ingots we use, then we have the cheapest way of maximizing the skill. I called this new unit Richards, because the creator of Ultima is Richard Garriott. So the item with the highest amount of Richards at the current skill level will be the most efficient item to craft, with respect to economy instead of time. Now we’re ready to simulate crafting thousands of items! Using our poor blacksmith character imagined earlier, I simulated him crafting items until he maxes out Blacksmithing. I keep track of how many ingots he used on each run. Except this is a Monte Carlo simulation, so I max out Blacksmithing 10,000 times. Each value is the number of ingots used to get Blacksmithing to 100. The standard deviation is just ingots. Average: 15066 Range: 13534 to 16703 Standard Deviation: 122.743635273 84% (Likely) Resource Count: 15188 95% (Very Likely) Resource Count: 15311 99.7% (Certainly) Resource Count: 15434 These last percentage figures are the chance that you can get to 100 skill in Blacksmithing with that many ingots. Now let’s look at the same data, except this time we will use time efficiency instead of economic efficiency (That is, don’t divide the expected value by the ingot cost!). Here it is: Average: 39740 Range: 35597 to 43639 Standard Deviation: 199.348940303 84% (Likely) Resource Count: 39939 95% (Very Likely) Resource Count: 40138 99.7% (Certainly) Resource Count: 40338 Wow! That’s about three times as many resources! That would take a much longer time to harvest! In the context of the game, it is very clear that the economic solution is a far better solution. My brothers found that their results in game mirror this solution closely, and their crafting skills have increased much quicker using these results instead of community published guides. In fact, this solution works for all of the crafting skills with minor changes (Because of that GetChanceAtMin()). 60

Questions About Life Jordan Chauncy

I want to know Where the faeries live, What the monsters eat, If pirates are friendly, How giraffes bathe.

I want to know Why the girls are whispering, Why they get taller, Why they change shape, Why I am still the same. I want to know Why the world turns, The anatomy of man, How neurons fire, The depth of the sea.

I want to know What she looks like naked, If she’s still dating Nate, If I have a chance in hell, If she will marry me.

I want to know How long a star lives, If we can exceed the speed of light, Where life began and where it ends, If this was worth forty grand a year. I want to know If I can support a child, If I am an adult, If she still loves me, If I should stop asking questions. I want to know Why my joints hurt, Why the grey hairs scare her, If our kids will ever call. When I will die.

61

Leah

Catherine Broussard

62

I Pug You

Gabriel Chappell

From the wheezing to the snorting to the panting and the snoring, pugs are my favorite breed of dog despite the canine having a mushed face and a plethora of health risks. The AKC uses the Latin phrase “multum in parvo” to describe a pug, which means “much in little” or “a lot of dog in a small space.” Pugs are so compact and thick that there are images of pugs lying down with the caption “pugloaf ” or “puggerpillar.” The pug has been around since 400 BCE; they originated from Asia, and were pets of the Buddhist monasteries in Tibet. The pug was brought to Europe from China in 16th century by the Dutch East India Company, probably because the dog snuck aboard the ship for a snack because who else would willingly take the pug back to royalty? It is said that in 1572 the pug had become the official dog of the House of Orange (owners of Orange Houses) after a pug named Pompey saved the Prince of Orange by alerting him about the approach of his assassins, most likely by the dog snorting very loudly. A little known fact is that the pug had its own Masonic society founded by Roman Catholics. The group was called the Order of the Pug and it even allowed women to join, if they were Catholic. The pug was chosen for its symbol of loyalty, trustworthiness, and steadiness. The first two traits are standard in most dogs, but pugs are indeed steady, sturdy, and stocky. The members called themselves Mops, the German word for pug, hopefully they did not use pugs as mops. The initiation for the Order of the Pug will show you why it only lasted from 1740 to 1748: to be allowed inside, the novices had to wear a dog collar and scratch at the door. They were then blindfolded and led around a carpet with symbols nine times while the Pugs of the Order barked loudly to test the “steadiness” of the initiates. Then the poor bastard had to kiss a pug’s (porcelain) backside under its tail. News of the Order was exposed in 1745 and membership declined, causing lodge fees to increase and current members to join cooler groups. Pugs weren’t always my favorite; I loved Retrievers, Mastiffs, French Bull Dogs, and Boston Terriers – just to name a few. Pugs were originally my sister’s favorite, and the lineage of pugs in my family wasn’t always the happiest, either. My sister got a pug and named it Toby from the TV miniseries Roots. She would sometimes say “Your name is Toby,” and my seven year old self would say “Kunta. Kunta Kinte.” She loved that dog, and I thought nothing of him because he wasn’t mine. She would spend hours outside teaching Toby how to sit, play dead, speak, and “zombie crawl.” On my sister’s thirteenth birthday, we had come home from school and were watching The Adventures of Milo and Otis on the television. Once she 63

saw the pug Otis on screen, my sister asked “Where is Toby?” She looked outside the window and saw the dogs playing on the highway. Toby was getting closer and closer to the asphalt that by the time my sister ran to the middle of our drive-way, he was on the yellow median. She cried out his name to come to her, but a semi-truck screamed past and honked a long warning. That fawn covered fur ball was struck six times, each with a different “k-thunk thunk.” My sister fell to her knees on the graveled road. I started to walk towards our gate to scope out the damage. A van zoomed over our street and while trying to swerve to avoid the fresh road kill hit the dog again. Following shortly behind was a concrete mixing truck that slowly rolled over the corpse. I looked back, hoping my sister didn’t see the past two vehicles. She did. She yelled at me to grab a shovel and wheel-barrow and I hurried myself as fast as I could. Once we scooped the remains and pieces from the hot black tar, my sister returned to the house to grab a shoe box and old clothes that she found sentimental. She wrapped her dog with a red sweater and a Hawaiian aloha shirt. We buried Toby under our favorite oak tree behind the barn. After Toby, my sister’s best friend found her a recently born runt. This dog was so small that she fit in my palm when I was eight. My sister asked our mom what to name the dog. My mother is Hawaiian and a racist. My mom said “Let’s name her Pake (pah-kay).” Pake means Chinese person or someone who is frugal with money. The name seemed fitting because pugs are Chinese and Pake wouldn’t be handling any of our finances. Pake soon learned every trick that Toby knew, and hopefully would not have to “zombie crawl” for real. My father was going through one of his identity crises, and he was currently in his football stage. His favorite NFL team was the Tennessee Titans. My brother, sister, and I were tired of watching Sunday games so our dad went out to find himself a football-watching-buddy. His name was Titan. On the way back from the veterinarian, Titan was sitting on our dad’s lap drinking Budweiser from a can. Titan and Pake brought the pug count to two, and Toby’s spirit was watching over them. The exponential growth of pugs in our lives happened suddenly. Pake and Titan became a strange arranged marriage that led to Pake giving birth twice. That brought the pug count to twenty (nine in both litters). We were surrounded and needed to get rid of them as soon as they were “winged.” We kept one from the last batch. My parents gave away most of the puppies like politicallycorrect-holiday cards. Our pug count was a measly three, but soon the same friend who brought us Pake now came over with an obese pug named Bella Swan. We always described her as an udder with tiny twigs for legs; turns out she was pregnant. My family had bets on how many puppies she was carrying because that’s what we do for fun instead of watching NFL games. We had another explosion of baby pugs, selling each for 100 dollars a pup. Titan must have been feeling particu64

larly fertile that following year because he mounted Pake, Janet, and Bella. My sister, realizing that we couldn’t handle purchasing that much soft dog food, gave Janet and Bella away like a re-gift. I was upset to see my dog leave, but glad that not all of the pugs had to leave. Pake was soon spayed after the third and final batch. Titan was never neutered. Titan was a victim of snake bites because he liked to instigate anything that seemed edible and also happened to be poisonous. The first time he was bitten, his entire throat and face swelled like a frog. My dad was frightened and rushed him to the emergency vet center in Alexandria, an hour and a half drive that only took him thirty minutes. The doctor gave Titan anti-venom and antibiotics, as well as a cocktail of pain-killers. The swelling went down in a few days, but now the giant sphere deflated to a weird pancake addition on his wrinkled face. The strange stretched skin reached to the ground and gently brushed the surface, I always thought he’d trip on his own face. If a dog could be embarrassed I hope he was. We went through this process two more times with the same outcome and lecture. Eventually, Titan’s face went back to normal. My siblings both got married to different people and left the nest. I was left with Titan and Pake. Pake misses my sister and they are both alive as I write this paper. Titan, on the other hand... It could have been a final snake bite, an eighteen wheeler followed by a van and concrete mixer, or just being picked up on the side of the road. What I do know is that this breed has remained one of the goofiest and constant animals that have stayed in our house. I want to carry on the story by having a pug when I’m an adult.

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One ROCKING Bench

Terra Allen

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seatbelts cause metaphysical accidents Collin Jenkins

we should all drive faster more dangerously the risk of living has been proven to be worse than the risk of dying the old are kept alive so that hospitals can make their money and grandchildren won’t cry so in similar fashion i propose that we all drive faster but call our loved ones more often being afraid of death is natural. i’m scared of dying but the truth is if death were waiting just around the corner i’d give a bigger tip to the pregnant waitress working two jobs who would kill to be dying i’d be more contented with the small things because whatever is beyond might not have the small things i’d recognize the individual tap-taps of raindrops hitting the roof and the small change that someone’s voice undergoes when they start smiling mid-sentence

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there’s a truth underneath all that we do and say: we fear death but know life is riskier business drive faster crashing, even a symphony of brass percussion and tragedy

Indigo

Terra Allen

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U.S. Cyber Defense Capabilities Carlie Procell

Last summer, I enrolled in a course at American University entitled “Diplomacy and Dictators.” Along with learning about international relations through lectures, our class also performed a simulation of the National Security Council (NSC). Each student chose a position in the NSC based on his/her interests, so I chose to be the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator because of my interest in cybersecurity. Along with speaking in our roles during meetings, we also had to write memorandums to give to other members of the council. This is one of the memos I wrote to the President of the United States (POTUS) on the subject of “U.S. Cyber Defense Capabilities.” SUMMARY: Being “one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation,”1 the emphasis on national cybersecurity is growing each day. Along with keeping our classified networks and government domains safe and secure, it is integral to safeguard networks in private and business sectors across the nation. The Chinese are our biggest threat on the battlefield of cyber-warfare, as they have been the main instigator in attacks on U.S. computer networks. Their intrusions pose a serious threat to Sino-American relations, which are of the utmost importance as their military grows larger and our economy grows weaker. ISSUE: Recently, there has been a massive exfiltration of information from businesses and universities across the U.S.2 Much of this intellectual property theft can be attributed directly to the Chinese government and military. “Security specialists say China is using theft as a national development strategy, pilfering software for wind turbines, fiber-optic cable technology, and blueprints for weapons systems like the Joint Strike Fighter.”3 The Chinese have enormous computer network exploitation capabilities, and they intend to use them to their advantage. As their cyber-espionage ability increases, they’ll soon take a step up from merely breaching into civilian networks to attacking and compromising government computer systems.4 1. “ The Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative” http://www.whitehouse.gov/cybersecurity/comprehensive-national-cybersecurity-initiative 2. “U.S. Charges Chinese Company with IP Theft” http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202608965718&US_Charges_Chinese_Company_with_IP_ Theft&slreturn=20130621144101 3. “US Government, Industry Fed up with Chinese Cyber Theft; What’s Being Done?” http:// www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec13/cybercrime_07-08.html 4. “DoD Annual Report to Congress 2013” http://www.defense.gov/pubs/2013_China_Report_ FINAL.pdf

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With these issues in mind, it is essential to examine the cyber-defense capabilities that are already put in place and to build upon them. Cybersecurity at the government level is becoming more and more adept. The U.S. Cyber Command is increasing its numbers by adding 4,000 cyber operators in the next four years, along with investing $23 billion into cybersecurity alone.5 The U.S. Cyber Command has been doing a wonderful job of deterring and mitigating attacks and intrusions on networks located in the Department of Defense and the .mil domain. The National Security Agency and Central Security Service have also been doing a great job of securing the .gov domain, as successful attacks are at a minimum.6 “Although the Defense Department has made significant progress in embracing cyber, the nation’s effort to protect critical civilian infrastructure is lagging -- a worrisome vulnerability.”7 Protecting the civilian infrastructure is the main issue that needs to be expeditiously resolved. INTEREST: China’s stealing of private businesses’ and universities’ intellectual property is an issue of national security, because it breaches the trust between the U.S. and China, thereby making mending relations unattainable. Not only is this damaging relations, but it is costing the U.S. an estimated $300 billion dollars each year.8 It also questions U.S. hegemony by showcasing the vulnerabilities in network security, may it be in the government sector or not. Lastly, them gaining more experience in infiltrating networks is potentially hazardous to the security of our government networks, which house countless classified documents that, if placed in the wrong hands, would be lethal. BACKGROUND: The ongoing cyberwar between the U.S. and China came to light when Edward Snowden, a former NSA employee, revealed the extent to which the U.S. was spying on China (among other things.)9 This further amplified the flames that were ignited when the U.S. began taking legal action against China for their theft of intellectual property. Snowden’s disclosure of such sensitive information on the U.S.’s spying on China allowed for a distraction between the fight for intellectual property rights. Along with being a distraction, it provided 5. “DoD Must Stay Ahead of Threats, Dempsey says” http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle. aspx?id=120379 6. “DoD Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace” http://www.defense.gov/news/d20110714cyber. pdf 7. “DoD Must Stay Ahead of Threats, Dempsey says” http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle. aspx?id=120379 8. “U.S. Report Warns on China IP Theft” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22634685 9. “Leak of NSA Program Tests US, China Relations” “ http://bigstory.ap.org/article/whistleblower-tests-us-china-leaders-new-ties

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fuel for China to accuse the U.S. of being hypocritical. CONCLUSION: The solution to this is to extend the cyber defense capabilities used within the government sector to the civilian sector. A solution I propose is to begin providing job training programs taught by U.S. Cyber Command on how to better secure networks and protect against outside threats to civilians. Then, to ensure that the civilians trained by the program were hired, tax breaks could be provided to businesses and universities that hired them. This is a solution that provides jobs, increases public awareness, and ultimately solves the main issue—protecting the civilian infrastructure from outside threats, namely China.

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Bioshock

Brandy Ledet

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The List

Christine Savoie

I left the office with smile on my face and tears in my eyes. My therapist gave me a list of things I should do before I speak with her again in two weeks. I smiled because this was a step forward in recovering, but crying because the tasks listed were going to be nearly impossible for me. Before I could finish reading the list, my mother called me to let me know she was here. I walked out to the parking lot and hopped in the car with the list tucked safely in my pocket. “How was it this time?” she asked. I shrugged my shoulders, “It was okay. Nothing really happened. I still think she hates me.” “I’m sure she doesn’t hate you. She sees you every two weeks!” “Yeah, because you guys pay her to listen to my problems. She probably doesn’t want to hear it.” “Then she shouldn’t have become a therapist if she didn’t want to hear people’s problems,” she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. We go through this argument almost every two weeks when I leave Dr. Rockwell’s office. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a nice lady, but she gives me all these exercises to do to make me improve, and it’s just too much for me to handle. It’s like she pulled all my fears and expected me to do them on the daily. I think about the most recent list she gave me. This time she gave me ten things to do, unlike last time when she gave me fifteen. I think she knew I wasn’t trying to do all of them so she made the list shorter. I remember the first time I got a list: I made the mistake of showing my mom, and because she’s a perfectionist, she followed me around until I did every task perfectly. It was a nightmare. After that experience, I haven’t showed her the other lists I’ve gotten. She inquires sometimes about them, but I just shrug it off like I have no clue. As soon as we reach home, I hurried off to my bedroom to burn the latest list. Before I could find my lighter, I caught sight of the words “speak” and “opinion”, so I decided to give the list a skim. 1)Join a drama club and try for a speaking role. 2)Address a crowd people you have never met before. 3)Don’t try to mind read others during a conversation. 4)Ask people a random question. 5)Voice your opinion to someone. I stopped after the fifth one. This list was already impossible for me. I mean, before she had listed things like, “Order something at a restaurant”, but now these were actual social interactions. And with random strangers! I can barely talk to my own friends much less to strangers! Instead of thinking about it more, I put the list away and fell asleep. 73

Throughout the night, I kept waking up and random items from the list would hit me like a brick. I decided that I would at least do the first five so I could report on something next time I was back. I decided to stay awake because I would start getting ready for school soon anyways. I pulled out the list again and stared at it. Well, I kind of already completed number one because I’ve been a member of the drama club for several years; although now I have to actually audition. The second one wanted me to address a crowd of people I had never met before. Where was I supposed to get a crowd of people at for this? Like do I just go to store and ask the clerk for a crowd of people? Maybe I could skip number two for now. She never said I had to do them in order anyways. Number three was going to be a challenge because I don’t talk to people, or I try not to anyways. I guess I could talk to like a teacher or something. Dr. Rockwell says I have a problem with reading people’s minds. It’s not my problem if I know someone well enough that I can accurately predict what they’re going to do. Before I can think further, my alarm rings throughout my room to awaken me. I climbed out of bed to turn it off and get ready for school. Just as I finished, I saw my bus waiting outside. Right on time, like usual. I climbed onto the bus and put on my headphones when I remembered number two. I looked around and realized that I didn’t really know anyone on the bus. Sure, I knew their names, but other than that I couldn’t tell you a thing about them. Feeling the need to recover, I stood up. A few people looked at me curiously, but I tried to push them out of my mind. I took off my headphones and walked to the front of the bus, turning to face the passengers and ignoring the bus driver when he told me to sit down. With my hands raised, I shouted, “Attention everyone! My name is Maria and I am not a stoner!” Crap. That was stupid. First my real name isn’t Maria, and second I would never be a stoner. Reality hit me about two seconds later when I saw another kid stand and announce, “Hello everybody! My name is George and I am an alcoholic!” I smiled when more people started to catch on. Well, I guess announcing things to random people could go well sometimes. Feeling awkward at the front of the bus, I walked back to my seat with my headphones on. As I was riding along, I noticed that I was shaking, but it wasn’t the bad shake like before. This shake was a kind of excitement, I think. The last time I shook like this, I had just found out that I was going to Disney World. If doing things on this list made me feel like this, I don’t know whether I liked doing them or not. Sure, getting up there was an adventure, but it gave me such a rush I didn’t expect. I guess doing one a day wouldn’t be too bad. If I did another one today, I might pass out from the rush of excitement I was getting. We finally arrived at school a few minutes after my announcement. All throughout first block, I sat and thought about what the people on the bus must’ve thought about what I said. The more I thought about it, the more I 74

realized I was mind reading them, and I didn’t even know them, so it was silly of me to do so. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn’t even hear the question my teacher asked me. “I’m sorry, what was that?” I asked her. “If you would’ve been paying attention, you would know that I asked what you thought of the story from last night,” she replied with a tone of annoyance. Crap, I didn’t read it. Also she always hates my opinions so I don’t know why she’s asking me. But anyways I never read this story, or even heard of it before she assigned it to us. I could either tell her I didn’t read it, or I can bull shit my way through it. Saving myself from the embarrassment of saying I didn’t read it, I decided to bull shit my answer. “Well, I think that the author could’ve put more effort into the story he was writing. I like the idea he presented, but I feel like he got lazy or was pressed for time so he didn’t spend much time on it so it resulted in a crappy story. Also I think he knew what he was talking about, but he had a difficult time expressing his thoughts on the subject matter,” I answered with confidence. I don’t know where the confident tone came from, but I was glad for it. “I’m going to agree with you on that one. I think his story idea is nice, but he just presents it in the wrong way, and – “ I stopped listening right there, mainly out of shock. She just agreed with me. That never happens. Normally I never talk since the first test when we had an opinion question, and she pulled me aside to tell me she didn’t think I was right. With that in mind, I never chose the opinion question on a test if given the option. The rest of the blocks drudged on until the final bell rang. I hopped on the bus and put my headphones on again. As I was waiting for the bus to drop me off at home, I saw George get on the bus with his friends, and then I remembered the announcement I made this morning. Wait, the list! I pulled it out of my book bag and checked off the second one. Also, I expressed my opinion in first block, so I guess I can check that one off as well. That one didn’t give me as much as a rush, but it still made me feel happy. Maybe these lists weren’t such a bad thing. I got home from school and looked at my list again. I have been trying to not mind read, but it’s a gradual process to not do since I’ve been doing it for years. After today, I think asking a random person a question won’t be as bad as what I think it will be. Neglecting my homework and dinner, I slump on my bed and fall asleep. I woke the next morning with the same routine. I hopped on the bus and put my headphones on like usual. We made numerous stops on the way to school like always, when at one stop a girl decided to sit next to me. She noticed my headphones, so she tapped me on the shoulder. “Excuse me, what music are you listening to?” she asked me. “Uhh, right now I’m listening to Weezer. Why?” 75

“I just like hearing people’s music taste,” she replied. “Umm, okay. Also, who are you?” I asked her because I had no idea who she was. “Sorry, I’m Rachael, and I just moved here. My dad’s in the military, so we move around a lot,” she replied like she got that question all the time. She probably did. That’s when I realized that I was talking to a random person, and more importantly, I wasn’t mind reading them. Feeling brave, I asked another question, “Where did you move from?” “Los Angeles,” she answered. “Oh wow, that’s quite far. I’m sure you’ll like it here, even though we’re a bit smaller than L.A. I can show you around sometime if you want.” I don’t know what made me want to say that, but I wasn’t afraid when saying it. As I said this, I realized I had completed half of my tasks in only two days. Maybe Dr. Rockwell didn’t hate me and wanted me to get better after all.

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Ex Libris

Jordan Thibodeaux

No one sees me here. Digging through booksSmelling pages, Like a sweet spice Of a distant land, Or the deep despair Of unloved pages. Â I sneak them awayI pile themI run my feeble, Aged fingers Along the glowing spine. Â Too old to learn. Too stubborn to try. I settle for their silent company.

Spider 77

Allison Boudreaux

Firetrucks Don’t Stop For Red Lights Sarah Bonvillain

It was on a bus when he touched me On a field trip in the seventh grade It was a game, he said. His hands were firetrucks and if I wanted him to stop I just had to say, “red light” Well, I had given my red light about eight times before he told me, “Firetrucks don’t stop for red lights.” And so, my “no” meant nothing And I swallowed my string of red light -- red light -- red light -- red light Because he said I was pretty And fire trucks don’t stop for red lights Our class drudged on, pushed like cattle from exhibit to dusty exhibit Sweat and irritability forming under the Louisiana sun And as I peered past my big pink glasses At bayonettes and confederate uniforms I felt the firetrucks running over my skin So I closed my eyes and kept my voice from rising up in my throat Giving my words the red lights he ignored.

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Contributors

Name Grade Hometown Terra Allen 12 Pineville Rhiannan Berry 11 Albany Charlie Bordelon 10 Monroe Sarah Bonvillain 11 Lake Charles Allison Boudreaux 12 Baton Rouge Hunter Bouillion 12 Lafayette Darby Breaux 12 Lafayette Catherine Broussard 12 Saint Gabriel Marika Buchholz 11 Baton Rouge Nilupul Bulathsinhala Grad. Cypress, TX Garrett Callendar 11 Baton Rouge Dale Campo 10 Haughton Gabriel Chappell 12 Pitkin Jordan Chauncy 11 Benton Laila Din 12 Lafayette Connor Elsea 10 Denham Springs Alex Fontenot 12 Ville Platte Molly Fontenot 10 Port Barre William Ganucheau 12 Lafayette Collin Jenkins 11 Shongaloo Travis Landriault 12 DeRidder Brandy Ledet 12 Ft. Polk Saolam Nguyen 12 Lacombe Devin Olivier 12 Lafayette Carlie Procell 12 Bossier City Neel Reddy 11 Destrehan Christine Savoie 12 Crowley Ann Stolzle 12 Baton Rouge Jack Sweeney 11 Baton Rouge Jordan Thibodeaux 11 Sulphur Nataliya Uhrynchuk 12 Leesville Glenn Underwood 12 Natchitoches

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Contributor Biographies

Terra Allen is super real and never sugar coats it. People are intimidated by her for no good reason. Rhiannan Berry has mastered the art of photosynthesis and wishes to be referred to by the name "Treebeard." Charlie Bordelon enjoys watching romantic Netflix comedies with her cats. She hopes to one day break the world record for most articles of clothing fit into one dorm closet. Sarah Bonvillain is a big dork

that likes to write poetry when she should be doing math homework (sorry, Mr. Andersen!). When Sarah grows up, she either wants to be a fairy princess, or major in English and join the Peace Corps, or both.

Allison Boudreaux, a profes-

Catherine Broussard loves

rap music, and her favorite subject is science. Her main goal in life is to become a doctor and own a lot of dogs.

Marika Buchholz likes gerbils, Cheeto dust, and Urethra Franklin.

Nilupul Bulathsinhala graduated from LSMSA in 2013 and is finishing up his freshman year at Baylor University.

Garrett Callendar "When

you're a Georgia peach, what you're worth is everything and I'm priceless."

Dale Campo is not a race car driver or a chipmunk, but he likes palindromes, animals, and gets easily distrac

Hunter Bouillion spends his

Gabriel Chappell enjoys pugs, Robert Downey Jr, and Robert Downey Jr. with pugs. Sometimes Gabriel just wants to give it all up and become a handsome billionaire.

Darby Breaux likes warm hugs...

Jordan Chauncy likes writing and once made the giant mistake of eating an entire box of doughnut holes in four minutes.

sional badass, didn't know the Panic of 1857 existed.

free time drinking tea and listening to the Arctic Monkeys. He absolutely loves schnitzels.

and Disney.

Laila Din has Eric Clapton on his knees begging, darling please.

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Connor Elsea enjoys listening to music, programming, and sleeping.

Alex Fontenot grew up around computers and developed a huge fascination for them. He began programming in 5th grade. Molly Fontenot is a Grammar Nazi and obsessed with all music ever (yes, even some country). William Ganucheau finds it awkward to write about himself in the third person because he never knows what to say. Collin Jenkins's physical form

consists of intergalactic space nanobots. His spiritual form consists of some sort of ectoplasmic astral goo.

Travis Landriault is really good

at replying to emails.

Brandy Ledet thinks that you look great in those jeans and would really love to hang out with you because you're probably rad.

Carlie Procell wants to get baked (potatoes) right now. When she's not getting potaturnt, she's laughing about Grover Cleveland being the 22nd and 24th president. Neel Reddy is ready to graduate. Christine Savoie will win the Hunger Games with her deck of cards, pocket knives, and Rice Krispie Treats. Her plan is to not kill anyone unless they touch her Rice Krispie Treats. Ann Stolzle Not many people

know that Ann Stolzle exists. But she does. And she submitted to folio. Have a nice day.

Jack Sweeney is da intergalactic defenda of da funk. Jordan Thibodeaux likes long walks on the beach, the color purple, and peanut butter. He aspires to not fail at life and marry a Brazilian man. (To T.S. ~ schรถne bauchnabel)

Saolam Nguyen's life force

consists of K-pop and eggrolls.

Nataliya Uhrynchuk loves to golf and is trilingual. She also does not have a middle name.

Devin Olivier found Ms. Annie

Glenn Underwood often brags

during school hours once.

about having slain a kraken. In reality, he merely ate raw calimari at his local deli.

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Acknowledgements

It has now been three decades since the first edition of Folio was published, and the high standards of that now-vintage issue (it has become a collector’s item for the Class of 1985) continue to be met by today’s Louisiana School students. Just as important, the magazine gets participation from an unusually high number of students. In this issue alone, thirty-three people have published their works—many for the very first time. Some will go on to become professional writers: journalists, teachers, novelists, and poets. LSMSA’s teachers have always supported this magazine by encouraging students to submit works. We would like to thank Dr. Clayton Delery, teacher of creative writing, for encouraging his pupils to submit their poems and fiction. Likewise, we owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Brad Bankston, who taught a writing class in science fiction, and asked his students to submit. Without the support of these two teachers, Folio would be a much thinner and less interesting magazine. Each year at publication time, we seldom have enough money in our Folio club account to publish the magazine. More times than not, Dr. Pat Widhalm will come to our aid by finding additional funds to complete the project. This year was no exception, and we want to give Dr. Pat the kudos he deserves. After the editors worked so assiduously to design and format the magazine, it is good for them to know that Folio will be published and distributed before the graduation deadline. For more than twenty years this writer has been the faculty adviser to Folio, and in that time he has worked with some splendid editors and staff members. However, in that time he doesn’t think he has ever worked with an editor-inchief as efficient and productive as this year’s. Carlie Procell has done a truly magnificent job. Her skillful use of the InDesign software program has created a magazine different from any we have had before. Well-done, Carlie! Thank you for dedicating so much time and energy to this 2014 edition of Folio.

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