Mccallum Shield Volume 63, Issue 1 by The Shield

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McCallum High School / 5600 Sunshine / Austin, TX 78756 / Oct. 23. 2015 Issue 1 / Volume 63

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSIDE Director casts cisgender female for movie about transgender male page 24

South Carolina shooting ignites debate over Confederate flag page 25

Teacher Tim Bjerke, husband finally able to wed in USA

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FROM SEPARATE TO EQUAL

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Teachers Daniel Myers, Dave Winter, among others, left old jobs to teach at McCallum. New law decriminalizes truancy due to back-up of cases in the court.

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‘Sondheim on Sondheim,’ the fall theater production, celebrates Sondheim’s influence on musical theater. With shootings become an everyday occurence, what are schools, like McCallum, doing to prevent them?

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‘Sondheim on Sondheim’ @ 7PM in the MAC

Regional cross-country meet @ TAMU Corpus Christi track

Orchestra and Guitar concert @ 7PM in the MAC

Halloween!

Disney Princess Tea Party Fundraiser @ 11am in cafeteria

Fall dance show, ‘connect: experimental works from the studio’ @ 7pm in the MAC

Above: (Left to right) Sophomore Tristan Tierney, seniors Ezra Hankin, Kendrick Knight, Arturo Hernandez, and junior Max Corney perform in fall musical, ‘Sondheim on Sondheim.’ Right: Senior Benjamin Hernandez flinches from the threat of an upcoming water balloon during PALS’ fundraiser ‘Peg-A-Pal.’ Cover: As the U.S. Supreme Court establishes a federal right to gay marriage and Americans protest the casting of cisgender actor in a transgender role, state officials across the nation are reconsidering the appopriateness of allowing state-sponsored display of the Confederate battle flag. Cover illustration by Haley Hegefeld.

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Sophomore Will Loewen plays on the varsity football team, while also majoring in dance at the school. Athletes discuss the strange things they do to get ready, pumped for their games.

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Starting a new chapter

Myers, Winter among the eight teachers joining the 2015-16 faculty LAUREN CROSBY staff reporter

he couldn’t give homework out very often at Eastside due to many students having jobs or not having places where they could really work on it, Myers felt odd giving out homework on his first day at McCallum. Despite being new to things and a stranger to students, everyone stayed well-behaved and acted nicely. “[The students] know how to treat peo-

This year a few new teachers have joined the faculty. Daniel Myers is one of those new faces. He teachers the new debate class here at McCallum, as well as English 4. Before moving here, Myers taught at Eastside Memorial High School in Austin ISD for three years. “I’m a new teacher,” Myers I think everybody should have this life said. “This is my second career. I experience at one time where you just was doing other say, ‘We’re gonna move, we’re gonna go stuff and got to the for it. We have nothing in place, we’re just point where I was like, ‘You know, I gonna do it. That’s [my family’s] great should do someadventure: Come to Austin and live. thing else.’ There are people that -journalism teacher Dave Winter go and do something like their career, and they get to the point where they’re like, ‘You know what? What’s next?’” Before he began his teaching career at ple,” Myers said, “Everyone’s just so nice, Eastside, Myers worked as a deejay and and they’re easy to get along with.” waiter in restaurants such as Justine’s here Of course, Myers felt a bit of sadness in in Austin. It was during his career as a deejay leaving behind his students at Eastside. that he realized he needed a change in his “I miss the kids. I think about them all life, and teaching was a perfect option. the time,” Myers said. “I’m still having a hard Although Myers liked working at East- time calling [McCallum] ‘us’ and [Eastside] side, McCallum was where Myers had really ‘them,’ I still sort of consider [Eastside] ‘us’ wanted to work since becoming a teacher, so and [McCallum] ‘them.’ I’m still trying to after three years, he transferred. adapt to that. So yes, I definitely miss the “This is where I wanted to be, coming out kids. I miss some of the teachers, too, but I of school to be a teacher,” Myers said, “Mc- wouldn’t go back. I like it here. It is weird [at Callum’s the best school to be at. It has the McCallum], but it’s a good weird.” coolest people; it’s diverse, and it’s the fine Another new face at this school is David arts school. It’s where I would have come as Winter, who teaches journalism and phoa student if I had grown up in Austin. This is tojournalism and advises the yearbook and where I would have gone to school, where I’d newspaper classes. Winter has taught for 23 be most comfortable. People get hired here, years, most recently at Henry W. Grady High and they don’t leave because they like it. [At School in Atlanta. Eastside] we’d have teachers quit halfway “I would say it’s really very interesting to through the year, every year. That’s a bad me how the two schools compare because sign.” there’s a lot of similarities and a few differThe first day at a new school is an adjust- ences, but in a lot of the really important ment for everyone, teachers too. Because ways, what was good about my old school is

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just as good about McCallum, and it’s kind of neat,” Winter said. “I recognized things about my old school that are true here, too.” Something that Winter felt was more of a similarity than a difference was the fine arts academy. Although here it’s a bigger deal and a bit more developed and larger, his old school had excellent drama and visual arts programs. Something he did notice was that here at McCallum and not his old school was that janitors come to clean the room everyday and even though students are allowed to eat anywhere, they typically keep the school clean. Winter moved to Austin with his wife and kids before the school year started and while searching for a place to teach, he found McCallum. Principal Mike Garrison convinced him to work at the school. Although it’s only been a month since the first day of school, it feels like a long time for Winter. He felt grateful to have the seniors, who knew how to run things, there to take charge of his yearbook and newspaper classes. “It felt like the summer lasted forever,” Winter said, “I just wanted to get on with

it. I also just felt relief. There’s relief but also dread that there’s school starting.” Leaving his former students was also hard for Winter. When interviewing the rising senior journalists for editorial positions, he realized how great they would be and that he wouldn’t be there to see it. “When you are leaving a school and you’re with the seniors in charge, it’s easy because you’re all leaving together,” Winter said. “When I did the interviews and they’re all just like the seniors here who are transitioning into being in charge and they were all excited and I had all these ideas for what they could do that I was wanting to implement with them, but then you have that point-of-view shift and that was painful.” Before deciding that he wanted to be a teacher, Winter attended the University of Texas at Austin and worked on The Daily Texan. Because of the great professors who taught him, he came to the realization that he wanted to be for someone what they’d been for him. “This is a tough place to really establish yourself I think,” Winter said. “It’s a real challenge.”

English teacher Daniel Myers assigns students “the responsibility to essentially write the test” on Siddhartha, a novel by Herman Hesse.

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Caught in the act

Truancy laws lighten, but questions about the effects still linger PAUL GOLD staff reporter One of the largest stories coming out of the Texas legislation this summer has been the change in the truancy law. With the law has come endless speculation from the media on how it would affect Texas schools, but that’s all it is-speculation. What students really want to know is, how will this affect McCallum? “When I read about it in the paper over the summer, my initial reaction was that it would just eliminate some paperwork on our part,” principal Michael Garrison said. “[Under the old system] we accumulate the information and then we give it to our classified staff, who fills out the information and then implements the process whereby the letters go out, and then they’re charged with violation of compulsory attendance laws.” What Garrison is speaking of is the change in how truancy cases are handled in Texas. Under the old law, public school students who had unexcused absences at least 10 times in a six-month period could be taken to court, getting up to a $500 fine

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for their truancy. Of course, if that fine wasn’t paid, then it was possible for the high school kids to end up in jail for failure to pay the fine. In addition, almost anybody could be charged for truancy, regardless of circumstances. Under the new law, all that’s been changed. However, according to Mr. Garrison, this won’t affect McCallum as much compared to some other schools. “We’ve always considered circumstances, you know. We never did just file on students once they hit the magic number,” Garrison said. There’s lots of students that get three unexcused absences in a four week period, because, [for example], my daughter forgets to take her note, so she’ll get unexcused absences, and I wouldn’t want her to get that.” Even as menacing as those previous court dates may have seemed, they ended up being less a punishment and more of a nuisance, Garrison said. “I never felt that the court consequences were consistent and were followed up on, with the punishment they gave the student,” Garrison said. “For example, a lot of times

I never felt that the court consequences were consistent and were followed up on, with the punishment they gave the student - Principal Mike Garrison

they come in and they fine them $500, and then they defer it if they don’t miss any days for the next six weeks and pass their classes. And all that sounds really good, but the court doesn’t have time to monitor those things, so then they require the student to bring in proof of their attendance and their grades, but if the students don’t show, [then] it’s really hard for the court to follow up.” Indeed, the sheer number of court cases filed on truancy before the law change was staggering, and they must have clogged up the courts enough to have these types of problems. In 2013 alone, 115,782 truancy cases were filed. Texas was one of the last states to decriminalize truancy. “I’m sure that they [the government] just wanted to hold the students accountable and let them know how important it was, so they wanted them to make sure they had a severe consequence,” Principal Garrison said. “With the threat of something like that, then hopefully that will deter the behavior of skipping school.”

Students discuss truancy and its effect on McCallum. Photo by Sabrina Mejorado-Ugarte.

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A rundown of some of the changes to the law that will affect McCallum students: •Students who have

three unexcused absences in four weeks can no longer be taken to criminal court. •All schools must have some type of “truancy prevention program”, usually in the form of counseling. •If the student gets 10 unexcused absences in six months, then the school must first determine if the student is homeless, pregnant, orphaned, or are supporting a family through income. If so, then the school will have counseling for the student. •If not, then students can be taken to court, where they can get up to a $100 fine and a loss of driving privileges.

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Backstage pass

Custodians give behind the scenes look at their daily routine ZOE HOCKER staff reporter

It’s 6 a.m. Unlock the doors, turn on the lights, walk through the halls, and make sure nothing is out of the ordinary. Head custodian Daniel Sena follows this morning routine every day. He makes sure the school is ready for the students and teachers. “An ideal day is one where I come in and I do my normal walk through the school, and there aren’t any major issues like I have to pick up rain water or fix a ceiling tile or something like that,” Sena said. Rainwater is a tedious task for custodian Telisa Lee as well. When it rains, custodians not only have to mop the hallways because of mud, but sometimes something Custodians spend more than eight hours together each day to keep the building running. else can happen. Photo by Ashley Chamberland. “In the MAC building, we have ready when students return floods underneath, and we have to because I love each and every one some classrooms more than othin late August. They are pull buckets and buckets of water of these teachers, and all the stu- ers. Each custodian has 11 classhere 24/7, custodian rooms to clean, and out from Yolanda Zertuche Sena thinks every cusunder the todian has a few very theater,” I’m going to retire in December, and clean rooms. Lee said. “I think it’s “That’s the I’m going to leave bawling because Coach Fuenworst.” I love each and every one of these tes; his F o r teachers, and all the students are room is custodian always Yolanda good. spotless, Zertuche, -custodian Yolanda Zertuche it stays clean the next all the time,” Lee t h r e e said about her cleanmonths est classroom. are her last During the school ones at Mcsaid. year isn’t the only time the cusCallum; she has been a custodian dents are good.” Zertuche said. “ W e Some things can make a custodians are cleaning the school for 16 years and loves every part do the floors todian’s job easier, one of those either. They get two weeks off in of her job. and scrub them, the summer time, and then they “I’m going to retire in Decem- things is a clean classroom. we clean furniture, and we have a Custodians enjoy entering are here making sure the school is ber, and I’m going to leave bawling lady that waxes [the floors],” she

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said. Sena and Lee also do similar things in the summer time such as detail cleaning the classrooms. “We move the furniture out of each classroom, we strip the floors down and clean the entire room top to bottom.” Lee said. Sometimes things don’t go as planned while on the job. Sena had an out-of-the-ordinary experience a few years ago while doing his normal walk through the halls. “Two raccoons fell out of the ceiling in the morning, one o f t h e m went walki n g t h e hallways and we chased him outside, then the other one, we couldn’t find. He had hid and when we found him he had torn up the classroom. That’s how we found out that the raccoons can take off the ceiling tiles and get into the ceiling.” Though some things are uncontrollable, students can help by doing small things around the school to make the custodian’s jobs easier. “Especially when they are having lunch, if they could put their trash in the trash can in would be helpful, vey helpful.” Lee said. However, custodians love their jobs and keep a positive attitude towards them. “Everyday is a good day! We just have to deal with it and smile and go home, life goes on,” Lee said.

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News in a FLASH Student wins top prize at Austin Film Festival MARA VANDEGRIFT assistant editor

Senior Elisabetta Diorio won first place in the Youth Division of the Austin Film Festival for her short film It’s Really Odd. This is her first time winning the contest and the second time to be named one of the top seven finalists. Diorio submitted the film to the festival earlier this year, and it made it to the final seven. She learned of her victory in an unusual way. “I went in yesterday [Oct. 7] to drop off some DVDs, and I met the programmer for the first time,” Diorio said. “He was like, ‘Hey I was actually gonna email you tonight. The judges met and you won.’ Then everyone started clapping around me, and it was like a movie moment.” Austin Film Festival is a festival that the AV Club goes to every year, and club sponsor Ken Rogers encourages his students to submit their films to it. Last year, Diorio’s film, Plastic Bag was one of the seven films chosen as a finalist. “The inspiration for this film was just my experiences as a girl and all the anxiety around your first kiss or your first romantic encounter,” Diorio said. “I wanted to capture the comedy of that moment as well as the excitement and youth that you’ll never really have again.” She also said fellow filmmaker and former McCallum student Josh Leftwich inspired her to join AV Club when she came to McCallum. “I had the choice between choir and AV and Josh actually was like, ‘No, do AV. It’s great!’” Diorio said. “And so I just fell into the class and then as a product of trying to get assignments in, I fell in love with film. I think the first film I made was Escape from Gray and it was a hot mess of course but by the end of it, I was like, ‘Wow! I have

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A still from Diorio’s short film, ‘It’s Really Odd’. this product and I want to do this again.’ I really just fell into it trying to complete assignments and just fell in love with it.” According to Diorio a filmmaker has its challenges. Directing can be stressful, but completing a film is rewarding to Diorio. “I think the hardest part of making a film is having a specific vision and thinking about all the choices that you make in the context of that vision,” Diorio said. “There’s so much background noise when you’re filmmaking; there’s all these insane technical aspects of it and also social aspects of it. You’re interacting with 15 different people at once, and so in that process, you can make an entire film and realize your vision was completely lost, so really organization and preparation come into play so that when you’re on set, you can focus on making choices around your vision and not patching up all these holes everywhere.” Diorio said that directing and editing are very different. “When I want to get out there, I direct; when I want to relax, I edit,” Diorio said. “Editing is a lot less stressful because you have all the time in the world, and it’s just by yourself. You’re not having to mediate between all of these peo-

ple or communicate; you can really be inside your own mind.” Diorio is currently putting her filmmaking on hold while she applies to colleges. “The plan for me right now is to apply for schools that have really great academic programs as well as film programs because I want to study the story and the different kinds of forms of a story and functions of a story before I make my own stories,” Diorio said. “I want to make sure that I have a good academic pool to draw from to create stories; I think it will help me become a better filmmaker, and so I’m trying to find a way that I can marry my love for academia and also my passion for filmmaking.” Once Diorio is done with college applications, she is going to start making more films. She has three films planned as of right now. “After I finish [college applications] I want to make at least two or three films this year,” Diorio said. “I have one planned that will hopefully come to fruition. That’s a movie based on a memoir piece Ms. Mota wrote, so I want to get that into gear. I have a kind of scifi, abstract, weird film I want to make, and then another romantic high school film planned. I have three projects I want to make and hopefully I’ll get them done.”

McDonalds to serve all-day breakfast “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is something everyone hears at least once in our lives. Breakfast provides us with much-needed energy to survive the day. “Being a football player requires focus and energy,” varsity player Joseph Weathersby said. “Without breakfast I wouldn’t be able to perform to the best of my ability”. As of Sept. 29 McDonald’s, even the one just a block from the school, offers breakfast all day and night. The coveted hash browns and delectable Eggs McMuffin are now available 24/7. “Personally, I prefer the breakfast menu at Mcdonald’s over the lunch menu so this news made me happy,” junior Erika Flores said. Time management and convenience are important to high school students. You can miss breakfast before school, and easily walk to Mcdonald’s at any time during the day to recharge your energy supply. “I eat McDonald’s pretty often during the week,” sophomore Makenna Mabon said. “The fact that it’s literally a minute away from McCallum makes it easy.” Weathersby said he could not eat the lunch menu at McDonald’s very often because he would get tired of it, so the new menu gives him more options. For Flores the breakfast menu has healthier alternatives than the lunch menu. “Some of the choices at McDonald’s aren’t all for me, but

the fruit oatmeal they offer for breakfast is not only healthy but really good,” Flores said. If students ever find themselves craving breakfast at 10 o’clock at night McDonald’s has become an option. -by Mya Najomo

Film teacher produces TV show Film teacher Ken Rogers is producing a TV show Professor Isles Laboratory. He is the producer and director of photography. “It’s about a professor who’s stuck teaching fifth grade and he wants to change the world,” Rogers said. “He has all kinds of really weird neighbors and relatives and everything else to the picture.” The script was written by Lance Burnett and some McCallum film students work on the set. While working can be difficult, Rogers said that they enjoy it. “It’s been a challenge in some places but I think most of them have had fun,” Rogers said. A typical day on set is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Rogers said that dealing with kids on set can be very difficult. “We had some shoots with a bunch of kids in the classroom and just keeping the kids from getting wild between takes and keeping them entertained was really hard work,” Rogers said. The TV show has not been picked up by a network but Rogers is hoping it will be sold. -by Mara Vandegrift (assistant

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“What can you even eat?” Students struggle with food restrictions, try to avoid judgement from peers MADDIE DORAN SOPHIE RYLAND staff reporters

Someone has to go to the ER every three minutes after an allergic reaction to food, according to the nonprofit organization Food and Allergy Research and Education. Ninety percent of food allergy sufferers are allergic to are gluten, dairy, eggs, tree nuts, shellfish, soy, fish, peanuts or wheat. Allergic reactions vary from the mild, such as watery eyes, to something as severe as anaphylaxis. “I went to Chuy’s one time, and I had a tortilla; it was flour, I ate it, and for a whole three weeks I had excruciating pain,” sophomore Tryston Davis said. “My mom wouldn’t take me to the hospital, so finally the last day of three weeks I was screaming in pain at the dinner t a b l e , and then she took me to the hospital, and they gave me this medicine, but it only helped just a little bit, but it just went away after three months.” The second an allergy sufferer ingests an allergen, they are at a risk of a possible reaction. Their stomach could react violently, they could break out in hives, or their throat could close up, inhibiting or preventing breathing altogether. Some never have the same reaction twice. “When I was 3, I ate my first nut,” sophomore Sam Stone said. “After, I was

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like, ‘Mom, Dad, my throat’s “There’s a lot of those selfclosing!’ and they were like, serve yogurt places that ‘Just eat a piece of bread,’ and have dairy-free options,” it got stuck in my throat. So sophomore Aubrey we got the bread out, and I Rowan said. “They’re start to sneeze… and then I always really good have a major throw-up fest.” because they’re Some people have ways to really fruity, [which] deal with bad reactions. The I like.” EpiPen, a life-saving device that Senior Alexia reverses allergic responses, Heinrich, who has 44 is possibly the most welldietary and seasonal known of these. It injects allergies, said that you epinephrine, also known as always have to ask for adrenaline, through a needle, alternatives to allergens which allows the person to breathe whenever you eat out, and until he or she can receive medical check that it is certain that attention. there is no cross-contamination. “After I [have] the EpiPen, P. Terry’s is a collective local everything that comes with my favorite among people with allergies. The reaction to the nuts starts to go away, chain uses soy-free and nut-free cooking and I start to oils and shake because of alternatives the epinephrine,” to a Stone said. t rad i t i o n a l You just kind of have to For many bun such as learn to live with [my o t h e r lettuce allow allergies, such a l m o s t allergies]. as gluten, everyone -senior Alexia Heinrich having an to enjoy EpiPen isn’t a burger as common, and fries. b u t This is s u f fe re r s just one still must ex ample adapt to what they cannot eat. of the many alternative “It doesn’t affect options for people my daily life much,” suffering food said junior Nicholas allergies. Ryland, who is allergic to “A lot of people gluten. “What it does is give make lactose-free me alternative options for me milk, cheese and to choose from local grocers, yogurt, and there’s a so instead of buying something million substitutions for ice with gluten, either my mom cream,” Rowan said. makes it, or I find something that Restaurants may appeal is gluten-free.” to their customers who need Many Austin restaurants have to avoid certain foods, and recently become conscious of people substitutions for foods such as with allergies and provide other bread and milk may increasingly options to accommodate them. be made available. Living with an

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allergy, however, is never easy as there are many things sufferers wish to eat but can’t . “I really wish I could have rice, because basically everything that you buy at grocery, your favorite cereals… that has rice, [and] that really takes a toll,” Ryland said It’s difficult when food that everyone else takes for granted is completely off limits for you. “Peanut butter. I wish I could eat that,” Stone said. “Nutella; everybody says that that’s good.” People may learn how to deal with their restrictions, but others around may be oblivious to how serious the situation is. “I think sometimes [people] might get a little annoyed when we are trying to find a place to eat,” Heinrich said. These students may deal with having to check the label on everything, r i s k annoying friends when eating out, and need to miss out on foods everyone else can have. Despite these obstacles, those with allergies try to maintain a positive outlook. As Heinrich says, “You just kind of learn to live with it.”

Illustrations by Sophie Ryland.

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A more perfect union

Technology teacher Tim Bjerke, husband one of first male married couples in Travis County JOSEPHINE CLARKE staff reporter

On June 26, 2015, the day the Supreme Court ruled that same - sex marriage in the United States is legal, graphic design teacher and Spectrum supervisor Tim Bjerke and his partner Peter Garcia were waiting in the Travis County courthouse with no thoughts of marriage on their minds. But when the person behind the desk told them that if they were there for marriage, they must go to a different room, they seized the opportunity. “We knew the decision would be handed down, on that day, but we figured it would take a while for everybody to get in gear,” Bjerke said. “Travis County did it as soon as they possibly could.” Mr. Bjerke and his partner were led into a special waiting room where they waited for hours as Travis County lawyers went over the ruling, making sure everything was ready to go. Once everything was cleared, they were brought in to get their license. “Usually, as the clerk types stuff in, they share it with you so you see what’s going in, but, with all the cameras, they just had to turn the screen,” Bjerke said. “They couldn’t show it towards the press.” The press was everywhere during this

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whole process, Bjerke said. Cameras were ‘Whatever, you’re married, bye!’” The couple had already been married in pressed up to the glass window on the door. They were watching as Bjerke and Garcia re- Vancouver in 2003, but once they could, ceived their license. Any free moment they they immediately married again because had was filled with reporters pressing up to they wanted their marriage, and their marthem, firing questions from every angle, and riage rights, recognized in America. Now that they are married in the States, they don’t trying to get a good shot of them. have to Bjerke carry proof and Garcia of their were moved p r e v i ous to a differEven if it’s just a statement of marriage ent location your love, it doesn’t have to be wherever to see the they go, and judges. The religious, just two people saythey don’t first judge ing, ‘We love each other and we have to fill they went out many want to stay together.’” to simply legal docuexcused -Teacher Tim Bjerke ments when them to trying to get get married marriage right away, benefits. waiving the “ We ’re typical 72 -hour waiting period. Next, they were shep- not just their ‘friend,’ we’re their spouse, so herded to to Judge Eric Sheppard, who mar- we have full rights to help and that’s a big thing,” Bjerke said, “I get to participate in evried them. “He had a poem he reads during mar- ery decision, health or whatever else.” It’s a big step for the LGBT community, riages and some other sheets of things, really nice and supportive,” Bjerke said, “And with one of McCallum’s teachers leading the he puts the certificate in there and delivers charge. And he feels very strongly about it. He treated us like human beings and that the progress. “It’s such an important thing to so was just so good. He was a judge, he didn’t have to do anything, he could have just said many people, and even if it’s just a state-

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ment of your love, it doesn’t have to be religious,” Bjerke said, “just two people saying, ‘We love each other and we want to stay together.’” And he’s been supported strongly. Not only by his friends and family, but people he doesn’t know. He has received congrats from people who recognize him from the news and love what he’s done. “I don’t think that happens everywhere in the district,” Bjerke said. “I don’t think other schools are like that, where kids actually care about the teachers. I thought that was really cool, it made me feel really good.” Mr. Bjerke teaches graphic design at McCallum, and sponsors Spectrum, McCallum’s gay- straight alliance. He also runs a group for Social Anxiety and another for gender identification issues. So it’s completely in character that he and his husband became the first male same-sex couple to be married in Travis County. It’s possible, Bjerke said that they were the first male same-sex couple married in Texas. Bjerke embraces the message that his experience sends to other people. “I hope it’s like It Gets Bettervideos,” he said, “You can do this too! You can find someone and you can marry them and be together forever and nobody can pull you apart.”

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Everybody make a scene Students at McCallum prepare for Halloween MEENA ANDERSON staff reporter

In mid-September, big stores like WalMart and Target start to sell Halloween merchandise, Starbucks brings back the seasonal pumpkin spice latte, and many kids at McCallum start preparing for Halloween. Every autumn, places like Halloween Express, Spirit and Halloween Costume Warehouse have their Halloween merchandise and costumes ready for the public eye. Some McCallum students, like sophomore Io Hickman, enjoy making their own costumes. “Last year I was Beck the musician,” Hickman said. “Nobody really got it, but I made it, and it was based on his music video for ‘Loser’ and I liked it a lot. It was exactly the outfit he wore, and I was so proud of myself.” Others, however, prefer to buy their costumes. 2014 National Retail Federation surveys show that 67.4 percent of Americans bought their costumes, the most in the 11 years that the group has conducted the survey. Americans spent an average of $77.52 on Halloween in the calendar

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year; the total money spent on Halloween was $7.4 billion. Sophomore Franki Alvarez contributed to that total by purchasing the exact costume for the character she wished to be. “I was Scooby Doo when I was, like, 6. He’s my main homie: why wouldn’t he get the bid? I was pretty much set on Scooby Doo,” Alvarez said. “My mom wanted me to be a cat, or a cheetah or

something, and I was like ‘No I want to be Scooby Doo.’” The most popular Halloween costumes for all ages in 2014 covered a wide range of genres. From movie, book, and video game characters, to costumes based off of real people and objects, the boundaries for costumes were endless. “When people dress up as movie characters, I really like that,” Hickman said. “When people can actually do face makeup, that’s impressive to me.” Costumes aren’t the only Halloween fundamental; Some have annual Halloween parties and go all out to get into the holiday spirit. “I used to have this friend in elementary school who had these really big Halloween parties,” Hickman said. “They had this field that went down into like a little cove thing; they would have all of our older siblings down there, and they would try to scare us, and there was like a little maze; they bought one of those

projectors that you put in your yard, and we all sat on the trampoline and watched Poltergeist, and it freaked me out. But that was one of my best memories.” One of the main elements of Halloween is to scare people and to be scared. One of the ways to do that is watching horror movies and going to haunted houses. “I can handle all sorts of horror. I don’t really care for jump scares that much because I feel like I could easily get an anxiety attack from it,” Alvarez said. “But if I know that there’s a slight trigger saying: ‘There’s going to be jump scares in it’ then I’m ready. I won’t be ready when it happens, but at least I know.” Even though some kids love Halloween, they love to be treated not tricked. The House of Torment is one of the better known haunted houses in Texas, attracting tens of thousands of fans every year from all around the country. Not everyone, however can handle the Austin attraction. “I haven’t ever gone to a big one, because I’m a chick-

last minute. “For costumes, think of the year, think about what was popular, you know?” Hickman said. “I know a lot of people want to be the left shark or whatever, and a lot of people want to do memes and stuff, but it doesn’t have to be super popular. I think it’s a good time to express what you love, so be something you love; it doesn’t have to be scary.”

en. I couldn’t do House of Torment, but I applaud the people who do,” Hickman said. “I went to a haunted house that my friend was working at, and it wasn’t as well known, but it was still really scary, because what you had to do was get down and crawl to get through, and people would grab you and stuff.” Just like there are people who prepare for Halloween two months early, there are those who procrastinate choosing costumes and decorations until the last minute, or those who just don’t participate in Halloween. Hickman has advice for the people who like to prepare for Halloween

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HANNAH ILAN design editor

Walking into a school in a new city where you don’t know anyone can be any teenager’s nightmare. Despite the frightening aspect of completely immersing oneself in a new language, however, some courageous students dare to confront that fear. Junior French twins Liam and Vincent McKenna said that coming from countries around the globe forces students to go outside of their comfort zones so that they can experience new cultures head on. “[Leaving home] is generally hard,” Liam said. “You know 17, 16, leaving all your friends is kind of hard, but that’s life; it’s an experience of life. You need to live your life, not other people’s.” It is no easy transition moving from a high school in one’s home country to one in a new country that is almost three times bigger than the old one. Yet all of the international students agreed that McCallum is by far the most eccentric school they have attended, but in a good way. Junior Elin Campana-Wadman from Sweden claimed that McCallum, and Austin’s, welcoming quirkiness is something she would never find in her hometown. She found that teachers and classmate’s willingness to introduce themselves and people’s unique self-expression reassured her when arriving in Austin. Junior Jacopo Bechaz, an exchange student from Italy, also marveled at the individuality expressed by McCallum students. “I don’t think that if a teenager has green or blue hair that means that society is facing a moral problem,” Bechaz said. “I just think that it’s really good for teenagers to be free to express themselves as who they think they are, which is not so common in Italy. Actually, McCallum has such a diversity of people; it really surprised me because for some reason in Italy we have more similar ideas than what happens in America. Because in my school there is no diversity so big, so important, and also so beautiful I would say.”

school is being outgoing enough to make new friends. “At the beginning, [making friends] was really hard because I felt really insecure about my language,” Bechaz said. “I didn’t know what people thought about me. So having lunch with something like friends, during the first week and the second week I always had lunch with my host sister. I mean I was really glad she was there, but I didn’t want to have her same friends. I wanted to make my own friends, my own American friends for my experience. So it was difficult.” Despite the culture shock of arriving at McCallum and the daily struggles each of the students have to face, trying new things, is still the students’ number one objective. Whether it’s having fun while becoming independent l i k e C a m p a n a - Wa d m a n wants to do, or gaining a better understanding of the meaning of being a global citizen like Bechaz hopes to achieve, each of the students’ goals drive them to try their best at school and come to McCallum everyday with a smile on their faces. “I want to test my limits [through this experience], to discover more than myself,” Vincent said. “Like I know myself, but I want to try to discover a new part of me. Like what are my limits? How can I improve myself? I didn’t think [I could] leave my comfort zone in France and go where we don’t know everything. [Liam and I] don’t know anything about Austin, except for my aunt, and we were kind of worried. But I think so far we have pushed our limits. I never thought to myself that I could do this so young. I mean, 17 is quite young, but I’m already an adult. [So doing this can show me that] all limits can change.”

Austin city limitless

European students aim to discover themselves as they learn more about McCallum and America culture

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Despite the openness of McCallum’s staff and students, each of the juniors mentioned at least one aspect of their lives that made living in Austin difficult. While Campana says she struggles with speaking in English and fully comprehending lectures and assignments in class, the McK-

enna twins both said that getting out of their comfort zones and overcoming their homesickness is the most difficult part so far. Even though those personal struggles are a lot for teenagers to deal with in a new setting, all of them concluded that one of the most difficult parts of a new high

Photo and graphic by Hannah Ilan.

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Caught between two contrasting cultures Students discuss the difficulty of reconciling American values with traditions in their home MYA NAJOMO

staff reporter

Time can tick by for what seems like hours when explaining American culture to adults who have lived their entire lives in a different country and culture. The experience can be exasperating and at times annoying. It makes it more problematic when those adults happen to be your parents. Having two significant but very different cultures have a place in your life is something not everybody experiences. “Having been born in America and not Iran where my parents are originally from has proven to be difficult in the sense that I have to go home to a completely contrasting culture from the one I live in on a daily basis,” junior Parinaz Hemmat said. The expectations and traditions of the Persian culture are vastly different from the American culture when it comes to clothing, interaction with boys and education. “A lot of Middle Eastern parents want their children to end up being either a doctor or lawyer, and it’s taken me a long time to push the idea of me being remotely interested in the arts,” Hemmat said. Parts of American culture especially youth culture are strange and out of the ordinary for people foreign to it. “My parents don’t understand American profanity or slang my sister and I use when we communicate. I texted my mom ‘LOL’ and spent over 10 minutes explaining what it meant, and how it was used,” Hemmat said. Traditional and conservative cultures have a thing in common when it comes to boys, dating and expressing affection. Many girls in parts of Africa never get a chance to date and experiment because they are already arranged to be married. The idea of a physical relationship before marriage

11 oct. 2015

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“My mom freaked out when she first found out I was dating. She assumed I wasn’t being safe and didn’t understand the point of a teenage relationship until I sat down and talked to her about it.”

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-junior Mikiela Dozier

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“A lot of Middle Eastern parents want their children to end up being either a doctor or lawyer, and it’s taken me a long time to push the idea of me being remotely interested in the arts,”

-junior Parinaz Hemmat

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can be horrifying to someone who has different values. “My mom freaked out when she first found out I was dating. She assumed I wasn’t being safe and didn’t understand the point of a teenage relationship until I sat down and talked to her about it,” junior Mikiela Dozier said. Having a foreign parent/s is like having a child. You have to prepare them for what society is like and how the different generations act. Not only do they have to understand a generation opposite of them but a whole entire culture which takes patience Hemmat’s parents are Middle Eastern, making it difficult for them to and consideration. understand American norms and expressions. Photo by Mya Najomo.

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TS: Do you plan on going to art school? SM: I plan on studying art in college, probably not majorphoto editor ing, but taking art classes. I really want to learn how to paint and just strengthen my abilities in different media. The Shield: What do you I’m considering applying to Brown RISD thing, so I would major in? be art and something else, but if not, I’m probably not goSofia Mock: I don’t major ing to go to just an art school. But I definitely want to take in anything, but I’m also in art classes. marching band. I love to play TS: Tell me about your Etsy store: music, but I appreciate how art is SM: I have been making earrings for a really long time, not as competitive. Everyone has their own and I’ve been meaning to sell them for a long time, but individual style, and so it is less about meeting a certain I just now started doing that. I have started making my standard and more about expressing yourself in whichever own method of making them. I cut shapes out of wood, media and style that you choose. It is hard to balance my and I paint over them. I love making earrings. It hasn’t time between music and art, but I love both of them. really been successful so far because I’m not that great at TS: How did you become interested in art? marketing myself, but I hope to get some money for colSM: I have been interested in art since I was little. I don’t lege out of it. remember one specifically, but I have an aunt who makes TS: What do the earrings look like? art out of everyday things things that others would conSM: They are all blue. They are small circles or teardrops sider trash. And she makes art that makes a statement, or long rectangles. They all so she is involved in lots of political have dark blue in the backstuff. That’s her way of making stuff. ground. Then I would paint TS: What awards have you won? I really like art because over them in light blue SM: In VASE my freshman year, I got it’s not competitive evwith little designs that are a gold seal which means I was in the eryone’s style is so differmostly triangles. top 1 percent in the competition. ent. TS: What do you do difAnd I have gotten top scores at VASE -Senior Sofia Mock ferently when making so far. art for yourself verse TS: What is one of your greatest for other people? accomplishments? SM: I’ve never made actual SM: At the end of my sophomore year art pieces to sell but for jewelry, I’m a lot more of a perfecI co-founded a small student-run nonprofit called Impart, tionist because if someone’s going to buy it, I want them an idea that was suggested by my friend Elisabetta. We sell to like it. I make sure everything is completely perfect and student-made artwork, sculpture, ceramics and jewelry, that the quality is high and everything. Making it for myand the proceeds go to charity. This has been a great way self, I’m still definitely a perfectionist and really hard on to share some of the fantastic McCallum artwork with the myself. I work on it until it is as good as I think I can make community. Collecting the art and organizing the sales has it, but it’s not as much pressure but if I mess it up it’s not been a lot of fun, and we plan to have more sales this year. as big of a deal. TS: Why do you enjoy art? TS: Do you plan on expanding what you are selling? SM: I really like art because it’s not competitive; everyone’s SM: I would love to, I’ve been trying to sell my earrings style is so different, but in band it’s all about competing in local shops on consignment. Also there are lots of art against each other. With art, everyone has such a different festivals that I could sell them at, so I’m working on that. style, so you can’t really compare people.

MAYA COPLIN

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Sofia’s Gallery photos provided by Sofia Mock Earings from Etsy

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Mock’s artwork

Artistically Speaking: Sofia Mock

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Sondheim is ‘Opening Doors’ McCallum theatre puts on first show, Sondheim on Sondheim.

thing Just Broke in the gun song in particular,” said Willimont. “Also, the tech for staff reporter the show and the set are amazing so I think that is really going to stand out this time.” Freshmen Mira French is in the scenic Singing, dancing, acting and practicing, crew for Sondheim on Sondheim and feels lots of practicing. These are the main elethe audience is going to be very entertained ments of McCallum’s first show of the year, by the show. Sondheim on Sondheim. Since August the “I think the set has a lot of different elcast and crew have been working on this ements that are really interesting and the show. It opened on Thursday Oct. 15th cast members are all very talented, which with three shows on opening weekend and makes it very entertaining,” French said. a showing yesterday. If you haven’t seen it Sondheim on Sondheim debuted on yet, three shows remain: 7 p.m. shows on Thursday October 15th. Willimont was nerFriday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee vous about the show but at the same time on Sunday. had high hopes. “ W e ’ v e “Opening night is a little worked almost concerning because allergies everyday of and people are getting kind the week after of sick, and it’s is happenschool, excluding ing right around the time a few days,” Said opening night is supposed senior and MAC to happen,” said Willimont. theatre veteran “Hopefully everything goes Meg Willimont ok but at the same time, you who is playing a never know.” principal role in Thursday was the first both casts. run of the first show of the “We finally year. Opening night can got into our bring nerves, excitement, space like two and can show how the next weeks ago and performances of the show we have been are going to go. But the fears just working on proved to be unfounded cleaning and as the cast was pleased learning the muwith opening shows for sic because it’s both casts. a really music “The shows went really heavy show.” well,” said sophomore Anna Willimont McGuire who plays a princiwas excited for ple. “We were all really tired the audience to from rehearsing all week but see what they the excitement from the auhave been workdience gave us adrenaline,” in g for a ll The firsts shows gave the Senior Arturo Hernandez sings t h is t ime. “I am excited during the Sunday matnee cast an idea of what to imfor them to see the show. Photo by Zoe Hocker. prove on and what went well. “There are always ways reactions to Some-

ZOE HOCKER

23 oct. 2015

to make the show better and if we apply everything our director told us to improve, the show will keep getting better and better,” McGuire said. Though the stress of the show, the actors try to keep a positive fun attitude. Sophomore Alex Escobar, who is in the ensemble, loves being apart of a big group of people working together. “My favorite part [of being in a show] is honestly the people, getting to know others better and having fun doing something I love with my friends.” Being together so many hours of the week for so long can cause some silliness. “During a dress rehearsal, a few friend’s and I wrote a friends nickname that he hated on 2,400 Post-it notes and stuck them all inside his car and while putting them in his car, he came outside. We were inside his car,” said Escobar. S o n d heim on Sondheim will be at seven p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and

Seniors Ezra Hankin and Kendrick Knight sing with junior Riley Simpson during the song ‘Opening Doors’. Photo by Zoe Hocker. on Sunday at two p.m. “My favorite part of doing a show is hearing the audience,” McGuire said. “It’s a relationship that you can really feed off as a performer. I’ve done three shows at McCallum so far and I’ve loved every one in a different way.”

Sophomore Anna McGuire and senior Ezra Hankin sing together during the song ‘Happiness’. Photo by Zoe Hocker.

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Easier said than done JULIA ROBERTSON

photo editor

“This is only a drill.” Students have heard this many times in their school careers. Everyone has done fire drills, tornado drills and the big elephant in the room: intruder drills. It is necessary to talk about the issue; school shootings are becoming a disturbingly common occurrence. Sophomore Genevieve Temple can tell you exactly where she was when she heard about Sandy Hook Elementary shooting three years ago. “The Sandy Hook shooting really scared me,” Temple said. “I remember hearing about it when I was in seventh grade in art class.” Senior Jack Vela said that Sandy Hook shook him up as well. “When I heard about Sandy Hook, I didn’t really process it at the time,” Vela said. “But then that winter break, I was in New Haven, Conn.; we were visiting family. I think once I was there that it really sunk in.” To Temple, it wasn’t just another news headline that passes and goes; she was worried that if it happened in

Timeline of the first shooting of every month in 2015. Graphic by Julia Robertson 14 in-depth

Sandy Hook, then it could happend to her. “I remember thinking, ‘What if this is going to happen to me next?’” Temple said. “What if they came into my classroom right now and shot us.” AISD chief Police officer Eric Mendez explained that the district has a procedure if an intruder were to come into any school. “Austin ISD and the Austin ISD Police Department do have a plan which addresses campus safety,” Mendez said. “Included in the plans, are events such as an active shooter on campus.” Vela says that the intensity of performing a drill depends on the teacher. “During drills it depends on who the teacher is to see how much the teachers enforce them,” Vela said. “Most teachers just go about their business, and some just don’t take it that seriously.” Temple said teachers are pretty calm for her drills as well. “The teachers are usually pretty calm about drills,” Temple said. “The teacher’s classes that I’ve been in during drills for lockdown, basically just turn off the lights and lock the doors, but they say we can keep working. They didn’t make us do anything in the way of ‘hiding.’” In the case of a real intruder coming into McCallum, Temple says she wouldn’t feel

#1 Jan. 1 5 injured, Memphis Tenn.

safe at all. “If the real thing were to happen,” Temple said. “I wouldn’t feel very safe at all. But on the contrary I feel like if the real thing were to happen, it would be more safe, and the teacher’s would be more prepared, even

“Certainly in the event of a school shooting, it wouldn’t be safe for us to keep the doors unlocked,” Vela said. “I don’t think that keeping the doors locked at all times, specifically during school hours is not as important as leaving them unlocked for people getting into school late and so on.” Temple thinks there I would definitely say no to open are other ways to keep the school safer. carry laws. I don’t care if they “I don’t think that it is want to prove their right as an very safe that the doors American. It’s dangerous and at school are unlocked all shouldn’t be allowed. the time,” Temple said. “It seems like the most safe and efficient way to -Genevieve Temple, sophomore be safe is that we use our student ID and scan to get into school.” Such security doesn’t come cheap. One interior security camera can cost though they aren’t exercising that caution in $500 to $700. An exterior camera can run up to $1,300. Those are on the lower end of the the drills.” Mendez said that every campus’ security scale as well: the nicer the camera, the higher needs are evaluated. The security procedures the price. Mendez explains that whether a school are evaluated regularly. Vela says he does not approve of keeping is located in a rural or urban neighborhood, the doors unlocked if a school shooting were everyone should be equally prepared for a shooting to occur. to occur.

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#44 March 1 1 dead, 5 injured, Detroit

#25 Feb. 1 6 injured, Syracuse, N.Y.

School shootings and public shootings are becoming an everyday occurrence

“All schools, regardless of where they are located, should take precautions to ensure the safety of the student,” Mendez said. “It is a recommendation from the Austin ISD Police Department that all exterior doors be locked during the school day to limit access to the campus by unauthorized persons.” Vela says he would rather have everyone know exactly what to do, rather than panic. “I think it is very important for students to know what to do in the case of a lockdown,” Vela said, “because we need to know what to do in the case of an emergency, rather than everything being really hectic.” Temple said that the threat of a school shooting makes her reject proposed opencarry gun laws. “I would definitely say no to high school open-carry,” Temple said. “It’s so stupid that people are even thinking of that becoming a possibility. I don’t care if they want to prove their right as an American. It’s dangerous and should not be allowed.” A new law in Texas for open-carry allows licensed Texans to carry handguns in plain view in belt or shoulder holsters. A provision was added that would prohibit police from stopping someone to check for a gun license simply if that person was carrying a handgun openly. Police groups demanded, however, that Gov. Greg Abbott veto the entire bill if

#91 May 1 2 dead, 3 injured, Milwaukee, Wisc.

the provision wasn’t removed. Vela said that there was a lot of commentary about the problem of gun control especially in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre. “Having open-carry laws allowing people to carry guns in schools was a hot topic,” Vela said. “I know in Texas we recently passed SP1, which allows people to carry guns openly on college campuses.” He said that there was a lot of argument about the certain bill because it would be “easier” to tell who was a threat and who isn’t in a crowd of people. But Vela does not agree completely with the logic behind that idea. “I don’t think that is necessarily true because if there is one gun in a true shooting then it is tragic,” Vela said. “But if there are two guns, then it would be hard to track the actual shooter.” Vela figures there will probably not be a serious school shooting at McCallum, at least while he’s not here. He thinks, however, that everyone should be aware of what to do during a school shooting. He also said that society has to be careful not to become numb to mass shootings. “You know what they say, the death of one human is a tragedy,” Vela said. “And the death of 1,000 is a statistic.”

23 oct.2015

Gun control and shootings

Photo by Julia Robertson

1. A shooting occurs nearly every day in America. 2. Nearly a third of all U.S. households own a least one firearm. 3. Active shooter events have become more common recently. 4. All of the deadliest shootings have happened in the past eight years. 5. America is unusually violent, but has improved in the past few years.

#172 July 1 1 dead, 4 injured Newark, N.J.

#130 June 2 4 injured, Anniston, Ala.

#73 April 2 5 injured, Baltimore

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6. The South is the most violent region in the country. 7. States with more guns tend to have more homicides. 8. States with stricter gun control tend to experience less gun violence. 9. Playing politics with gun control is becoming increasingly unpopular. 10. Americans want stricter guncontrol policies.

#216 Sept. 1 4 dead, Long Beach, Calif.

#216 Aug. 1 4 injured, Orlando, Fla.

#296 Oct. 1 10 dead, 9 injured, Roseburg, Ore.

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Easier said than done JULIA ROBERTSON

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Timeline of the first shooting of every month in 2015. Graphic by Julia Robertson 14 in-depth

#1 Jan. 1 5 injured, Memphis Tenn.

“Certainly in the event of a school shooting, it wouldn’t be safe for us to keep the doors unlocked,” Vela said. “I don’t think that keeping the doors locked at all times, specifically during school hours is not as important as leaving them unlocked for people getting into school late and so on.” Temple thinks there I would definitely say no to open are other ways to keep the school safer. carry laws. I don’t care if they “I don’t think that it is want to prove their right as an very safe that the doors American. It’s dangerous and at school are unlocked all shouldn’t be allowed. the time,” Temple said. “It seems like the most safe and efficient way to -Genevieve Temple, sophomore be safe is that we use our student ID and scan to get into school.” Such security doesn’t come cheap. One interior security camera can cost though they aren’t exercising that caution in $500 to $700. An exterior camera can run up the drills.” to $1,300. Those are on the lower end of the Mendez said that every campus’ security scale as well: the nicer the camera, the higher needs are evaluated. The security procedures the price. are evaluated regularly. Mendez explains that whether a school Vela says he does not approve of keeping is located in a rural or urban neighborhood, the doors unlocked if a school shooting were everyone should be equally prepared for a to occur. shooting to occur.

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#44 March 1 1 dead, 5 injured, Detroit

#25 Feb. 1 6 injured, Syracuse, N.Y.

School shootings and public shootings are becoming an everyday occurrence

#91 May 1 2 dead, 3 injured, Milwaukee, Wisc.

23 oct.2015

Gun control and shootings

Photo by Julia Robertson

#172 July 1 1 dead, 4 injured Newark, N.J.

#130 June 2 4 injured, Anniston, Ala.

#73 April 2 5 injured, Baltimore

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#216 Sept. 1 4 dead, Long Beach, Calif.

#216 Aug. 1 4 injured, Orlando, Fla.

#296 Oct. 1 10 dead, 9 injured, Roseburg, Ore.

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Serving it up

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Lady Knights beat the Ann Richard Stars 3-0. 1. Senior Brittny Claton-Mitchell scores winning point in the first game of the set against Ann Richards. The Kights beat the Stars 3-0. 2. Junior Anaiah Green blocks set from Ann Richards. The game against Ann Richards is the biggest volleyball rivally of the year. 3. Junior Andrea Janss serves the ball in the first set. Janss scored 15 kills throughout the game.

4. Lady Knights huddle before the game. Because the game was during Pink Week , players wore pink ribbons in their hair and pink socks to support breast cancer research. 5. Libero junior Greta Colombo prepares to set the ball while teammates watch. It is Colomboâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first year on varstiy.

5. 16 photo essay

Photos by Maya Coplin

23 oct. 2015

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Livin’ the double life Sophomore Will Loewen balances a busy schedule of football & dance practices HANNAH ILAN design editor

The Shield: Is it hard balancing both those sports on top of school? Will Loewen: Oh yeah. They’re both really time-consuming, so it takes a lot. They’re equally physically demanding so it takes a lot of physical, athletic ability to do it. By the end of the day, I’m worn out from doing both of them all day. I usually just go one step at a time though. So after dance class I do my homework, and after football practice I do my homework. So I try to focus on one thing, whether it’s football, homework or dance. TS: What’s your normal week like? WL: Well, in the mornings I have to go to football to work out and watch film. Then on B-days I have dance class sixth period. Then I have football every day after lunch. Then I have football practice after school every day. Then on every Tuesday I have dance class at Tapestry Dance Studio with Diverse Space Dance Theatre and then I go home, and do my homework around 9 or 10. Then every weekend, every Saturday and Sunday, I have dance rehearsals at Tapestry. TS: Do you ever have to make sacrifices? WL: Yeah, right now the dance majors at McCallum are starting to perform during halftime shows. Since I’m on varsity, that’s like physically impossible for me to do. So it’s really hard, and we’re still learning all the halftime show dances during classes even though I won’t be able to perform them. Then sometimes I have rehearsals later in the year. Like last year during football practice I would have to leave early and go to dance rehearsals for shows and stuff, so that was very hard. But my teachers and peers totally understand.

23 oct. 2015

TS:What’s the most demanding part of each sport? WL: Honestly, it’s just keeping going. Like even when you’re tired, and it’s the fourth quarter or you still have five more minutes of practice and then dance class, you have to do it one more time; you have to do the phrase one more time. You just have to keep on going. Even when you’ve already done football and you have to go dance, or you’ve already done dance and you have to go to football, you just have to mentally and physically prepare yourself to keep going.

TS: Is one mo re ner verac king than the o ther ? WL: A lot of times in dance I’m usually one of the only guys, so I feel more pressure. More people and parents are looking at me and noticing me. With my football teammates, I feel like we are more together. So dance can be very individual sometimes. But football you have to work more as a team.

TS: How does the feeling of waiting for a game to start compare to the feeling of waiting for a show to start? WL: They’re actually pretty similar because you can’t forget any of your assignments for football, and in dance you can’t forget any of the movements you’re supposed to do. You know there are tons of people watching you, and if you mess up, people will know. In football if you miss a tackle, people will see that. In dance if you fall down or drop the person you’re lifting, people will notice. So it’s kind of nerve-racking but also super exciting. TS: Are there any lessons you learned from dance that you can apply to football or vice versa? WL: Well in dance there’s a lot of doing positions very spot on and super correctly. In football you also have to do certain plays correctly. So they are both very [focused on accuracy], and you have to be very sharp about what you have to do. In dance you have to be pretty flexible, so compared to all the football players, I’m more flexible. Then in football you have to be pretty strong because of all the working out we do, so compared to all the dancers, I’m stronger. TS: So does that help you at all? WL: Oh yeah because when I have to lift girls, or even other guys, it’s easier for me because I know how to lift them. Then in football when you have to do stretches, or just keeping my body right and healthy and not getting hurt, all the dancing really helps. After football practice, it feels really good to go to dance class or rehearsal. TS: If you had to choose between football and dance, what would it be? WL: I know all the football coaches are gonna get mad at me but honestly, dance. It’s more unique, and I like the whole idea of expressing an art form through your body through space. I just think that’s really cool. But that’s IF I ever had to choose.

Photos by Maya Coplin Illustration by Hannah Ilan

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Keeping with tradition Athletes explain their pre-competion rituals

MADDIE DORAN staff reporter

Most athletes and performers have some ritual they practice to prepare for their event. It can be anything from a team chant, to a pair of lucky socks or even a group dinner. Some are so set in their rituals that they can’t live without them, whereas others do them just for fun. “I eat peanut butter; OK that’s not a good one,” sophomore volleyball player Amanda Biscoe said. “I wear the same scrunchie every game. I just do it because it’s cool to have a constant, but it doesn’t really matter. I’d be fine without it.” They always yell and play Little Sally walker to get pumped up before the set. Biscoe explains that before playing, she and her started their pregame ritual last year. “It was actually at a tournament,” Biscoe said. “It was really early in the morning I think, and we were not feeling it. We were tired; we all didn’t want to be there,

it was Saturday; no one wants to be there on a Saturday.” A pregame ritual often serves to put the team and the athlete in a good mood before playing or performing. Every athlete has a different way of reaching this goal. “I tend to switch between bouncing and jumping around a lot and getting really excited, but then I will also go sit down and be really quiet in a corner,” sophomore dance major Ruby Dietz said. “Then I’ll stretch and just be by myself. So I get really into it, but I also try to relax.” Before going on stage, Dietz likes to make sure she gets some positive energy backstage before performing. “We all gather to-

gether and hold hands, or we put our hands on each others shoulders and tell each other that it is going to be OK and [that we] can do it,” Dietz said. Rituals can be right before the game or performance, but some even start the night before. “We always have a pasta dinner the night before,” junior swimmer Gillian McDonald said. ”It is really good for the team to connect.” Some rituals are traditions that occur before the game or event; others are spontaneous. “It was the first race of the year,” McDonald said. “This was my freshman year, one of the seniors was trying to hype up our relay team. He gave this really emotional speech that was really not expected from him.”

Some pre-event happenings are truly unexplained, yet still help the athletes or performers relax. “In the spring show last year, we had a flamenco dance, and we had to walk out doing these flamenco arms,” Dietz said. “I’m not going to say who the person was, but as we were walking out, someone farted really loud, and we were all laughing during the performance. We composed ourselves, but later on in the dance, we were all in a circle and we all started laughing on stage, and we got in trouble, but it was just a rehearsal.” For Dietz and other student performers and athletes, rituals can be serious business. “When I did gymnastics, I had a lucky bra,” Dietz said. “It was my last meet, state, and I didn’t wear it, I fell twice on beam, so you never know.”

The JV volleyball team huddles before the next set. Photo by Halli Neff.

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District 26-5A roundup Fall sports highlights and previews

Knights Cross Country The Cross Country team competed at the district meet held Oct. 16th at Decker Lake .Junior Noah Savage and Freshman Lily Myers both advanced to the regional Cross Country meet after finishing in the top ten of their catagories. Savage finished eighth in the boys race with a time of 17:55.5, which is a pace of 5:45 mile. Myers finished sixth in the girls with a time of 20:46.6, which is a pace of 6:39 per mile. Both will compete at the regional meet on Monday Oct. 26th. Savage says he was in disbelief at his time for the meet. “Qualifying for region at the district meet made me feel accomplished. I was in disbelief at the time because I’ve never run a 5k that fast,” Savage said. Savage says his goals are always the same no matter what kind of race he is running. “My goal for the regional and every meet in general is to beat my best time,” Savage said. The regional Cross Country meet will be held on Monday Oct. 26th in Corpus Christi.

Junior Noah Savage races towards the finishline in root to a top ten finish at the district meet Photo by Sarah Lightfoot

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BENJAMIN BROWN sports editor

Knights football Four games into district play McCallum is off to a record of 2-2. The Knights started 2-0 with wins over Crockett and Lanier. But have stumbled as of late with loses to rival LBJ and Bastrop, by scores of 27-6 and 4016. The Knights are now tied for fourth in district with Bastrop. Although they are not seeing the success they have in years past, the players are still staying positive. Junior Linebacker Luke Whitefield says the team is determined to bounce back and make a playoff run. “Coming back after two losses is hard but we haven’t quit. The Bastrop loss has only motivated us more. We will continue to work hard and prepare for the rest of the season,” Whitefield said. Whitefield said even though a fourth straight district championship maybe out of reach they won’t quit. “We are determined to make the playoffs. We obviously want to try our hardest to win the rest of our season matchups against Reagan, Travis, and Cedar Creek. If we win out we will be in good shape,” Whitefield said. The Knights will take on the 3rd place Reagan Raiders Friday, Oct 23rd at Nelson Field.

Senior Jojo Hardaway races towards the endzone as Sophomore Jack Switzer blocks an oncoming defender against Crockett. Photo by Cristina Beck

Lady Knights volleyball The Lady Knights have a playoff spot in their sights as the sit third atop district 26-5A. Through 15 district games the Lady Knights have encompassed an eleven and four record, with two of those losses coming to district leader Bastrop. Senior Defensive Specialist Ana Marrero says this team is very different than last years. “We’re a lot smaller size wise, which means we have to work harder and be a scrappier team. A majority of our team is new to varsity this year, so there have been a lot of learning moments. New members have had to work through tough games, but they’ve all proven themselves,” Marrero said. The Knights accomplished something they haven’t done in two years in beating rival Ann Richards. “It was awesome to beat them. Last year they beat us twice, which was really discouraging. But this year having beaten them in 3 straight sets was a really great feeling,” Marrero said. Marrero said the team is ready for the playoffs and they want to make a deeper run than in years past. “We want to make it past the first round of the playoffs this year, I know we’re good enough to do it,” Marrero said. The Knights next game will be at McCallum Friday Oct. 23rd against Lanier

Junior Margeaux Brown tries to finess the ball over the net against Cedar Creek. Photo by Haruka Gerald

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Poppin’

shield Out With the Old, in With the—Well, Old “Thrift Shop” by the hip-hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis is so three years ago, but thrift shopping isn’t. If you’re looking to save more than a few bucks on name-brand clothes, head over to one of Austin’s many thrift-shopping locations. Sometimes buying things second hand can get a bit sticky (literally), so bring your hand sanitizer and an open mind. Here are some stylin’ outfits I’ve found at Savers for less than $20, because that’s all I had in my pocket.

Models from left to right: Sara Neel, Charlie Holden, Caki Rebeiz.

CHARLIE HOLDEN staff reporter

BOHO OUTFIT

Blouse: $5.99 Pattern skirt: $3.99 Red heels: $5.99 Headband: $.99 TOTAL: $16.96

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DAPPER OUTFIT

Black shirt: $2.99 Black jeans: $5.99 Dress shoes: $7.99 Flower vest: $2.99 TOTAL: $19.96

GRANNY OUTFIT

Tank top: $1.99 Green pants: $4.99 Pink slippers: $2.99 Ugly sweater: $3.99 TOTAL: $13.96

PINK LADY OUTFIT

DUDE OUTFIT

Pink dress: $5.99 Pink wedges: $7.99 Pink purse: $2.99

Shirt: $2.99 Jeans: $7.99 Nike Air shoes: $6.99 Sunglasses: $1.99 TOTAL: $19.96

TOTAL: $16.97

FARM GIRL OUTFIT

Yellow blouse: $5.99 Overalls: $2.99 Straw hat: $4.99 TOTAL: $13.97 23 oct. 2015

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A new taste for fiction

Staffer recommends novels for book lovers searching a good read Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Try this if you like: sci-fi

The first book I chose to review is Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. In this book Barnes manages to mix fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian all in one novel. The book begins with Kali D’Angelo as a SYDNEY AMELL normal human: she gets hungry, feels pain staff reporter and has frequent headaches from pep rallies at her school. Other days she is something entirely different. She has no idea what she is; all she knows is that she needs to hunt and kill the supernatural (called preternatural in the book).She is also perfectly capable of doing so. Within the first few pages she has her arm almost completely ripped off by a hellhound, then goes to school with two perfectly functioning arms a few hours later. Things then take a turn for the worse when a girl in school is marked for death by a mindsucking parasite. Kali sees an easy solution to this dilemma: lure it, trap it, and wait for tomorrow to kill it. But when this parasite doesn’t weaken her, but rather makes her stronger, things take another turn. This parasite, Zev, starts to tell her about a facility that is genetically altering preternatural beings. He also explains why she got stronger, people like her benefit from this parasite. Her job of killing these creatures is already hard enough, but now they’re making more advanced creatures! Then Zev lets it slip that he has Fiction is like ice cream. been trapped there for two years. To There are lots flavors and save her friend and find out who or what they are all delicious. she is, she has to take this otherworldly Three recent releasorganization down. es are there own In this novel Barnes mixes fantasy with hellhounds and dragons, the dystopifictional flavor: an world with the big bad corrupted govcontemporary, ernment and an alternate reality (only in sic- fi/fanthis novel the alternate reality is present tasy, and time), and sci-fi with all of the scientists, historistudies, experiments and weapons scarier than guns. cal. Want to find out what she is? Read the book.

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Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram

Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers

Try this if you like: romance

Try this if you like: historical fiction

Another piece of fiction I chose is a contemporary fiction by Kelly Oram, Cinder & Ella. From the title you can assume it is a Cinderella story, but before you dismiss it, let me tell you what it has to offer. The story focuses on Ellamara, a blog writer who is still in high school. Eight months before the beginning of the novel, Ella suffers a terrible car accident. The right side of her torso and both of her legs are burned when the car catches fire. To make matters worse, she has to move in with her dad who abandoned her for his new “perfect” family. The silver lining to her difficult life is her old friend Cinder, who chose Cinder as a screen name to represent the main character in his favorite book The Druid Prince. His real name is Brian Oliver, the up-and-coming movie star. The two of them met three years before the beginning of the book when he commented on her blog. They got in an argument over the plot and the cast list for the movie adaptation. It was love at first comment. Their meeting was accidental at the convention for the movie. Cinder/Brian was the star, and Ella attended to meet the author. Both Cinder/Brian and Ella realize they’re talking to each other after getting into their classic argument about the ending the book. For both of them, it is the surprise of a lifetime, and it blows up in their faces. I typically only read fantasy novels, but Oram is such an amazing writer that I want to finish, then start over again and again. She had amazing character development, especially when Ella’s new family goes from disliking her to loving and accepting her. What I loved most about this book was the fact that even with Ella’s scars, she is not a victim to be saved by her prince. The book focuses more on her personality, her intelligence, her sharp tongue and her selflessness than her appearance. The first time I read this book I didn’t eat for eight hours because I couldn’t put it down. She puts so much genuine emotion into her books you will laugh and cry along with her. I highly suggest this book but only if you have tissues next to you.

For my third and final book I chose the historical fiction novel Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers based in the late 1400s. While this is a work of fiction, most of the events that occur actually happened. The only things that are made up are the two main characters, Duval and Ismae, and the convent of St. Mortain. Everything else is completely true, even the 12-year-old duchess, which is why this book is so amazing. After Ismae is recued from her abusive husband, she is sent to the convent of St. Mortain, the patron saint of death. The nuns welcome her with open arms. Their lifelong mission to aid His work by killing those who have been marked for death by Mortian. For the next three years Ismae is trained in poisons, hand-to-hand combat, and with various weapons. Because of her training, and her being of proper age, she has been assigned to be personal bodyguard to a very important person. Anne is the daughter of Duke Francis II of Brittany, though the ongoing struggle with France and her many suitors prevent her from taking the title of duchess herself. But because of the Treaty of Vergers, which gave all marriage rights over Anne to France, France has control of her marriage. During Ismae’s stay in court Anne is almost assaulted, killed, and comes very close to losing her crown and country forever. While fighting various enemies she also has to fight her growing attraction to Duval, Anne’s half-brother and most trusted ally. She knows most of the threats but doesn’t know who wants to kill Anne and Duval. Take a trip through history, and try to see if she can figure out who the real enemy is before it’s too late. LeFevers is wonderful writer because she puts in so much detail without slowing down the story. She also took her time to make this mostly historically accurate. To read this you have to have some interest in history, but even if you don’t you will still like this book, if only for the nun assassins who almost steal the story.

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Do you fall for fall or savor summer? Summer withdrawls felt by staff member

Love for Fall is in the air for staff member

JULIA ROBERTSON

HALEY HEGEFELD

photo editor

editor in-chief

Fall, to me really doesn’t mean cooler weather, falling trees and pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. I don’t even like the pumpkin spice lattes! I just don’t see the appeal, which so many others see. The weather doesn’t even become “let’s go for a walk”-like until now, if we are lucky. Plus it is always associated with going, “back to school”, which just, butchers fall’s name. During the summer, you can do anything you want. You aren’t restricted with homework or sporting events or even projects that stress you out. Summer is also the season for vacations. Julia Robertson snorkeling in I went to the Florida Keys, which I definitely the Florida Keys. Photo by Julia associate more with summer than fall. Plusyou simply cannot fit a week of swimming, Robertson snorkeling and sunbathing into the small freezer shelf.” In the fall, it is not as appealing five-day break as during the we get for summer. During Thanksgiving fall, my desire During the summer, you can break. for a delicious do anything you want. You Summer is cup of chocolate aren’t restricted with homealso the season ice cream melts. for reconnecting work or sporting events.” It’s so much and reuniting more rewarding -Julia Robetson with family. I got when you eat to be with the something so, so entire side of my cold in summer dad’s family for during a blazing a week in North hot day. Carolina, which we only get to do about once The first few days of summer will always a year. We made homemade ice cream and had barbeques nearly every night. Not to be superior to any other time of the year. In mention the delicious ice cream we made a those first few days of summer you wake up in the morning and say, “Great. I don’t have lot of at the beach. Ice cream just isn’t as “grab that off the school today. I’m going to go back to bed.”

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With boots on my feet, a sweater in my bag and a chai latte in my hand, I am one of the many Texans who count down the days to fall. I check the weather every day, just waiting for the high to fall below 90 degrees once in a week while New York and Connecticut are enjoying 60 degree days. But for me, the love of fall runs much deeper than just the cooler weather. All of my most treasured memories come from the fall. There are football games and pep rallies to go to, honored events to any Texan. There are hay rides and trunk or treat booths. There are fires to sit around and talk. And most importantly of all, holidays are Haley Hegefeld picking a Halin the fall. Despite what corporate America loween Pumpkin. Photo by Amy has done to most of our holidays, my love Hegefeld.. for them is not held in the consumer parts of the holiday, but in my family traditions. every single year. On Thanksgiving Day, I Every year since I was 4, I have gone to Ballet wake up and watch the Macy’s Day Parade Austin’s production of the Nutcracker with with my family, then I make my family’s my grandmother. I have seen it so many pumpkin muffin recipe. During December, I go to the Zilker times I Christmas Tree c o u l d and spin beneath probably All my most treasured memothe lights. My do some of ries come from fall. There are family chops the dances down their own r i g h t football games and pep rallies tree at the Elgin along with to go to, honored events to any Christmas Tree the cast Texan.” Farm and then (but don’t -Haley Hegefeld gets barbecue. hold me to The three months that). of fall hold so This is many of my just the most precious tip of the memor ies, iceberg for my traditions though. When I used to something that I look forward to the entire trick or treat, I went with the same friend year.

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How old is too old?

Students should put away their costumes when they turn eighteen

JOSEPHINE CLARKE staff reporter

A favored tradition of the Halloween holiday is trick-or-treating. While often considered childish, there remain many teens and even adults who still wish to take part in

this annual collection of candy. High school is a gray area, with some people who have given up on the fun festivity and others who continue to partake in the spooky sport. Child is a loose term that is up for interpretation. It can mean people under the age of 10, since 10 is the technical age of a pre-teen. It can mean people under the age of 13, which is when you are a teen. It can also mean anyone under the age of 18, which is when you are legally considered an adult, because that is when you begin fending for yourself. Let’s focus on the third definition. When you go off to college at age 18, you are an adult since you are now providing for yourself. But, if you are still under 18, if you’re still in high school, you are being provided for. Even if you have a job, you aren’t living off of your paycheck. You are still, technically, a kid, a youth, a minor. So, YOU, can trick-or-treat!

DID YOU KNOW? Trick-or-Treating started as an ancient Celtic tradition, where people would dress up in disguise to ward away evil spirits.

Students at McCallum, especially seniors, take advantage of trick-or-treating now, before you go off to college. Get an awesome costume (I mean awesome, don’t throw a sheet over your head and say you’re a ghost) get some friends, and go get some candy! That being said, you actually need to trick-or-treat. Put time into a costume and get into it. Don’t walk around as a toilet paper mummy, or some other five-minute costume. And DON’T walk around in your everyday clothes. The point of trick-ortreating is getting treats FOR your trick (costume), not just getting free treats. Once you reach 18, or if you are against trick-or-treating at your current age, there are other ways you can show your spooky spirit. Go to Halloween parties, decorate your home, carve pumpkins and get a costume. No one is too old for the holiday itself, so get out there and get spooky!

The “treat” portion came into play in the Middle Ages when children and poor people would dress up and sing and pray in exchange for sweets. Americans purchase approxiamately 600 million pounds of Halloween candy per year.

Healing a broken heart

8-step process guides friends on what to do after another friend’s breakup

HALEY HEGEFELD co-editor-in-chief

Every girl has been there. Your best friend thought things were going amazing with her new boyfriend. Only problem- he didn’t think so. It can be difficult to know what to do for your friend to mend her

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heart. The last thing you want to do is make it worse, but how do you even know when you are making it worse? I could’ve used some guidance the first (or second) time I went through this, so I decided to offer some advice for you out there going through this. My tried and true method: Step 1. Drop everything. When you see the text “He broke up with me” from your best friend, prepare to stop everything you were doing and everything you were planning on doing. Every second of the next few days or weeks or months or however long it takes, you are going to devote to rehashing the minute details of their conversations. Step 2. Listen. In the first few hours after a break-up, no girl wants to hear the “he probably just…” or the “maybe it was because…” She just wants someone to sit and hear her perspective, with lots of nods and “mhmmm’s” thrown in. Sure, you might have thought they were a bad fit all along, but now is not the time for your sharing.

Step 3. Comfort and probably watch lots of television. Once she has given the whole, long, tearful version of their break-up, she probably won’t want to think about it for a while. You should give her a few words of encouragement and remind her how amazing she is with or without a man. Then settle in, because it’s time to watch John Tucker Must Die. Step 4. Give your opinion. Yes, it is finally time for you to tell what you think. Help give some logical feedback, while always staying on your girlfriend’s side. Your job is to help her understand, because she probably doesn’t yet. She just doesn’t see how the artistic hipster who only likes underground jazz and her didn’t work out. Gently point her in the right direction. Step 5. Make her un-friend him on all social media. This one’s self explanatory, right? Step 6. Laugh at his new haircut. Or nose ring. Or tattoo. Or, most fun of all, new girl-

friend. This one is my personal favorite. Now is the time you get to say all of the things you have been keeping in the back of your mind for the past 6 months. It’s a cathartic exercise for you and her. Note: You may have to repeat steps 2-4 many times before you get to this step. Step 7. Remind her it’s okay not to be okay. By now, most of the school has probably forgotten this ever happened, but your friend is still upset. You have to be there to remind her it’s okay if she still thinks about him or misses him sometimes. More importantly, you have to be there whenever she still needs to talk, regardless of whether it’s the thousandth time. Step 8. Let her heal. She has to work things out on her own sometimes. The final closure is something she has to reach on her own, not on anyone else’s time. Just be there for her when she needs you to scoff at his new girlfriend’s most recent Instagram post or to lend her a shoulder to cry on.

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About Ray isn’t really about Ray

By casting a cisgender actress in a transgender role, director, film misrepresents minorities CHARLIE HOLDEN staff reporter

Helen Keller said, “the highest result of education is tolerance.” Tolerance must be taught because people can’t be accepting of a person they don’t understand. This goes for nearly any minority community, and the transgender community is no exception. When I first saw the trailer for About Ray, a movie featuring a transgender (a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person’s sex at birth. Usually refers to individuals who are female to male or male to female but may refer to nonbinary individuals.) teenager as the main character, I was ecstatic. This was going to mean representation! Representation would lead to education, and from there tolerance would blossom. This was going to be a huge step forward for the community. My enthusiasm turned to disappointment, though, when I saw that Elle Fanning was playing Ray, a teen transitioning from female to male. It’s not only that Fanning is the very picture of femininity, it’s that she is cisgendered. A cisgendered (a person whose self-identity conforms with the gender that corresponds to their biological sex; not transgender) actress playing a trans character gets complicated fast, as does the conversations surrounding such miscastings. Fanning isn’t to blame for accepting this role, at least not entirely. After all, if it wasn’t her, it would be another young woman. Why? Because auditions for the part of Ray were not open to transgendered actors. An interview with the director of the movie, Gaby Dellal (who is cis) revealed that casting a cis actress was her intention because, “this isn’t what my story is about.” Wait. Hold up. A film about a trans person isn’t about a trans person? Where did our representation go? Jugding by the interview, which was published by Refinery29 in August, it’s obvious that Dellal is still ignorant about transgender issues, and therefore was probably not the best choice for the director of a movie about the struggles of a trans boy. After all, she refers to Ray as “she” instead of his preferred pronouns “he” and “him.” Del-

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Elle Fanning stars as Ray in About Ray. No trans actors were considered for the role. Photo from the Weinstein Co. film trailer. lal also not only called her main character the wrong pronouns, but the wrong gender as well: “The part is a girl, and she is a girl who is presenting in a very ineffectual way as a boy.” No! That’s so wrong! Let me say it loud and clear: a trans boy does not have to present as a boy, dress like a boy or have medical procedures to be a boy. A trans girl does not have to dress like a girl, wear makeup or have any medical procedures to be a girl. No matter what a person looks like on the outside, do not tell them that who they feel they are on the inside is invalid. Explaining the sensation of being in a body that is not yours is so difficult because according to a study by the Williams Institute, nearly 99 percent of America has never felt it. Even if Dellal’s intentions as a trans ally were good, she has unintentionally done harm by misunderstanding and misrepresenting what it means to be transgender. Now, don’t misunderstand, allies are not just important, they are essential to the LGBTQA+ movement. Being an ally is a wonderful, brave thing to be, but it does

not in any way mean you may speak on behalf of those who can speak for themselves. Many people in the LBGTQA+ community aren’t in a safe place to advocate for rights, to boycott problematic views in movies, or even to come out as who they are without being physically or emotionally attacked, but when they are in a position to speak out, to write, to act, to advocate, to demonstrate, they are often pushed into the background while cisgender allies take the spotlight. When it comes to promoting the transgender media, producing it and siding with it, cis people are welcome and within their right to participate. Cisgender people cross a line, however, when they don wigs and makeup to make a movie successful at the box office, trying to become the people they are claiming to defend. This crossdressing perpetuates the idea that trans women are just men in dresses (wrong) and that trans men are just women who don’t shave and wear baggy clothes (wrong). Some casting directors argue that there aren’t established trans actors who will bring in revenue. There are holes in this logic, especially in the case

of About Ray. Susan Sarandon and Naomi Watts—who have a combined net worth of $70 million— are Fanning’s costars. Even if the role of Ray was filled with an actor who had never played a legitimate role in their life, the movie would still be star-studded. My advice to you is simple: just don’t see the movie. If your family would like to see it, if your friends invite you, tell them you don’t feel like it. Or even better—explain your reasons for skipping out, and educate them. We have to ensure that by boycotting About Ray and other movies like it we don’t send the wrong message to Hollywood. Some may say that beggars can’t be choosers because after all, this movie was born from good intentions, but when it comes to representation, transgender people deserve to be portrayed positively, dynamically and accurately. We must speak up and make it clear that we’re skipping out on the theaters not because we aren’t interested in LGBTQA+ stories, but because we can’t settle for halfhearted representation. Cisgender people are the clear majority in all parts of the world, so much so that many people don’t know any transgender people personally. They may start to wonder, how does this affect me? Why do I care? For a time, it may not affect you. You may not see the struggles of a trans person up close for many years; it may be a fight that is pushed in the dusty bits of the back of your mind. But one day someone you know, someone you care about dearly, might tell you that they feel like they’re in the wrong body. Transgender people have always existed, and they will never cease to exist. Transgender people come from all walks of life, all races and all social classes. You can’t tell someone’s gender identity and pronouns by looking at them; for all you know your bus driver, the kid next to you in history class, or your friend’s parent could be transgender. And that’s OK. You don’t have to know, and for God’s sake you shouldn’t ask rude (yes, rude) questions like, “Are you a boy are a girl?” or, “Have you had any surgeries?” Ask about pronouns, but don’t pry about gender. Associate with people because of their hearts, not because of their genitals or the name they would like you to call them by. Spread tolerance wherever you go.

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Confederacy of dunces

It shouldn’t take a mass killing to reject the rebel flag and the racism it represents MEENA ANDERSON staff reporter

My mom is a 5-foot-2 130-pound, white woman, and my dad is a 6-foot, 225-pound black man. That leaves my brother, sister and I in difficult situations at times. We’ve been to restaurants as a family, and we’ve had people look at us strangely when my parents pay for something together. People have asked me on some occasions if I’m my sister’s mother even though our actual mom is with us. When I go out somewhere with just my mother, a lot of people think we’re not related. We’ve had people ask my parents if they were together, even though it’s clear that my siblings and I are related to both of them. Ever since moving to Austin a year ago from London, many Americans label me as black, just because my skin isn’t “all the way” white. Since coming to America a year ago, I’ve been struggling with issues involving racism. Why do people think it’s OK to discriminate against others because of the color of their skin? People have yelled things at me on the street about how I’m an idiot because I’m black. I feel fear when I see certain police officers in public, and sadness and anger when people yell ignorant comments about the color of my skin. I feel silenced when there’s a lack of representation for part of my heritage in the media and in the cinematic world; theyse feelings are a weight on my shoulders, and that weight is put there by the remnants of systematic racism in America. One manifestation of that racism is the persistence of Confederate symbols in American culture. I’ve seen people on the freeway with Confederate flag bumper stickers. I’ve seen seen people flying flags with the “heritage, not hate” slogan and a picture of the Confederate flag. The argument that these symbols have to do with heritage and

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not hatred rang hollow last June when a white man murdered nine black people during their prayer meeting at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C. The killer had a website where he posted pictures of himself burning the American flag and of the Confederate battle flag, along with a manifesto declaring that he wanted the killings to ignite a racial civil war in America. In the wake of this tragedy, many public officials have taken down or are considering removing Confederate symbols or memorials. The tragedy may have caused politicians and school officials to take action, but these symbols don’t just suddenly appear when a racist event happens. The symbols have been a problem from the beginning. Slavery was abolished in the U.S. on Dec. 6, 1865, only after a prolonged civil war, which was fought between North and South precisely over the question of whether or not slavery should be abolished. The Confederate battle flag is direct representation the South during the Civil War, a white South that opted to secede from the county in order to “protect” their right to own slaves. Let’s stop right there; the Confederate states did not want to be a part of America. They left the United States so they could still have slavery. This is the first reason the “heritage not hate” argument is invalid. I’ve heard multiple people drone on about how proud they are to be American, celebrating their American history and heritage by flying the Confederate flag. If the Confederate states didn’t want to be American, then that heritage isn’t even American: it’s Confederate, and by definition anti-American. And, guess what? The Confederate states were racist. They were pro-slavery. Slavery was a racist thing that happened. Glad we cleared that up. Another reason the “heritage, not hate” argument is invalid is because that heritage was hateful. The Confederate states wanted

to continue the dehumanization of black people. Beating, overworking and commodifying people because of the color of their skin is racist. Racism is a form of hate. This means the Confederate heritage that people are defending is rooted in hostility. It’s a hateful heritage. Maybe that’s why Confederate symbols always resurface when racism does. Many state flags incorporated Confederate symbols into their design in the 1950s as a symbolic opposition to school integration. Some of the states removed the Confederate symbol from their flags, and others have kept it. Voters in Mississippi voted on Tuesday to keep the Confederate flag in the upper lefthand corner of the state flag. Another argument I’ve heard is that people are trying to “erase history” by taking down Confederate memorials, like the statue of Jefferson Davis in the South UT Mall and or by renaming schools that honor Confederates like AISD’s own Robert E. Lee Elementary

School. I don’t think we should have things dedicated to honoring people who were pro-slavery. I don’t think we should consider Confederates to be heroes. I don’t think we should have good things named after people with bad intentions, who had no motivation to change those intentions. Taking down monuments dedicated to people who were racist is not “erasing history.” What I would define as erasing Confederate history would be not teaching people about it in school, just pretending like the Civil War never happened. Everyone should know about what the South stood for in the Civil War, and how that’s affected racism in our society today. I want people to learn about why, even though the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, we still have news of unarmed people of color being brutally killed by white police officers, why minorities only have slightly less that 25 percent of representation in Hollywood movies, even though only around 15 percent of the world population is white. A lot of the problems in society stem from ignorance, and if people could be educated, by school, by their parents, by the environment they’re in, then I really think that we could help put an end to the killing of innocent people, to the lack of representation, to the fear in the face of oppression. But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take education. But first, everyone needs to be willing to make changes that are way past overdue.

25 opinion

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More beef from the media

News coverage of racial conflicts between celebrities needs to incoporate equal representation Nicki Minaj accepted the Best Hip-Hop Video award at the annual MTV Video Music Awards, or VMAs, on Aug. 30, and gave a speech with a conclusion she felt was much-needed. After thanking her pastor and encouraging independence among young girls from “snotty-nosed boys,” the rap artist unhappily handed the stage back to the ceremony’s host Miley Cyrus. But before leaving the stage she took a jab at comments Cyrus made about her to the press, ending with the taunting phrase, “Miley, what’s good?” One can imagine the media’s reaction. Hundreds of articles and broadcast pieces have been released detailing the incident, and so many of them invoke the “angry black woman” or “catfight” stereotypes as a way to grab viewers, placing subtle blame for the “fight” on Minaj. Yet very few recognize Cyrus’ forced moral superiority at the VMAs, showing that the deeply rooted problems of our news and entertainment media have not left us. Most articles covering the incident went fairly in-depth on its cause. This July Minaj posted a series of tweets expressing her frustration when her music video “Anaconda” was overlooked for a VMAs’ Video of the Year nomination. She attributedher assence to the fact that she was not white and skinny like the performers who were nominees. Fellow pop artist Taylor Swift quickly took the comment personally and sparked a small feud with Minaj. Just days before the VMAs, Cyrus con-

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ducted an interview with The New York Times and was asked for a reaction on the feud. She responded by criticizing Minaj’ for bringing up the issue of race, and even her character, calling Minaj “not too polite”. Today if you search “Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus” on Google, almost every article for the first, I don’t know, 100 pages feature some sort of headline describing Minaj’s “beef with Miley,” “explosion on stage,” “insult,” “blast,” or “outburst.” And many of these articles will feature a paired image of Minaj

assistant editors

MARA VANDEGRIFT RACHEL WOLLEBEN

sports editor

BEN BROWN

and Cyrus, typically showcasing Cyrus with an amused or victimized expression, and an angry Minaj to her side. The not-sosubtle blame that these articles put on Minaj turns the image of a young woman of color standing up for herself and her right to address issues of race in front of millions of viewers into some catfight sparked when a crazy black girl started stirring up trouble again. One particularly horrible article came from Hollywood Life, which featured the headline: “Nicki Minaj: Miley Cyrus’ Parents Fear For Her Safety After Nasty VMAs Outburst.” Instead of focusing on the wrath of angry black women stepping over their boundaries, the media needs to address the causes of these conflicts. The right questions need to be asked. Why was Minaj frustrated that her video wasn’t nominated for Video of the Year? Could it be that there are some racial and body-type biases that go into the decisions for MTV’s VMAs nominations? Did Cyrus try to claim moral superiority in a conflict about race that she wasn’t originally involved in? Not only does this questioning need to happen, but the media needs to exercise balance in covering this argument and others like it. The job of news articles and broadcasts, whether over celebrity gossip or politics, is to share stories with the public as well as to present all sides to those stories. If the media wants to capture the trends of events in this information age, it needs to stop dismissing racial conflicts as nothing more than moody women of color lashing out against poor, scared white girls.

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photo editors MAYA COPLIN JULIA ROBERTSON

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SYDNEY AMELL, MEENA ANDERSON, JOSEPHINE CLARKE, LAUREN CROSBY, MADDIE DORAN, PAUL GOLD, MILES HANSEN, ZOE HOCKER, BRYNACH HOGAN, CHARLIE HOLDEN, MYA NAJOMO, SOPHIE RYLAND The Shield is published by journalism students in the Newspaper production class. Although students work under the guidance of a professional faculty member, the student staff ultimitely determines the content. Students may not publish material that is obscene, libelous, or that which

26 opinion

will cause a “substantial disruption to the educational process.” Content that may stimulate heated debate is not included in this definition. The Shield operates as an open forum for exchange of ideas. Opinions expressed in editorials are the ideas of the staff. Opinions expressed in the columns are that of the writer’s alone.

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Gallery: Pink week festivities

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1. 1. On duty: Sargent Pickford creates a video to share on the Austin Police Department Facebook page to raise money for breast cancer research. The video explained the project and showed Officer Andrew being hit by water ballons.

PALS celebrate annual Pink Week with weeklong festivities, raise over $1,200 for Cancer research.

2. Take your aim: Senior Andrea Lopez Garcia fills ballons with water to prepare for the Shooting Pallery the next day. 3. Friendly fueds: Seniors Dominic Curry and Maddy Ghazi fill water ballons. Three ballons could be purchased for $1. Students could throw ballons at PALS. 4. Duck and cover: Ghazi gets hit by water ballon on the final day of Pink Week. 5. Stepping up to the plate: Freshman Charlie Dover throws water ballon at PALS. 6. True colors: Alex Donavan paints a pink ribbon on sophomore Ruby Dietzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face. Students could pay $1 for facepaint and stickers.

7. Brain freeze: Seniors Ezra Hankin and David Ruwwe make and sell pink snow cones that were sold for $1 each.

Photos by Maya Coplin

7. 6. 28 photo essay

23 oct. 2015