MHS Panther Press December 2012

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DECEMBER 12, 2012

The Panther Press The Holiday Issue Maysville Concert Band Gearing Up For Winter Concert Markie Dunn, 12th grade

The Maysville High School Concert Band is sure to make an impact at the combined 5th grade, middle school, and high school concert on Monday the 17th of December. The concert will be held at 7 o'clock with no admission fee.

The Concert Band will be playing a delightful selection of memorable Christmas tunes, including "A Fireside Christmas", a compilation of the famous Christmas songs: "Walking in a Winter Wonderland", "Christmas Lullaby", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". The next song has been nicknamed "Fanfare" by the band and is a modern version of "Hark!

The Herald Angels Sing".

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The band will then close the concert with "O Holy Night" and "The Hallelujah Chorus".

However, this isn't all that the High School band has in store. The Jazz Band will be performing two funky Christmas selections and the music composition class has a special surprise for its audience.

We encourage everyone to come out and experience first class music. Again, the concert will be held Monday, December the 17th at seven o'clock in the auditorium. We wish all three Maysville bands the best of luck and hope to see you there!

Why do so many movies come out near Christmas?

For many people, Christmas is a "special" day to go see a movie.

Many businesses are closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but theaters often aren't.

Academy Award contenders also need to be released before the deadline, December 31.

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DECEMBER 12, 2012

Winter Holidays Worldwide Anonymous, 12th grade !

With winter break fast approaching, many of us have nothing but holidays, presents, and celebration on our minds. But did you know that many dierent cultures around the world have winter holidays? The ever-popular Christmas is only one of the many holidays that fall in December. !

Christmas: celebrated by Christians worldwide and popular among non-Christians too, this holiday is the best-known winter celebration.

It features the birth of Jesus and the exchanging of gifts to represent the three holy gifts given to Jesus by wise men-- gold, frankincense (an aromatic incense), and myrrh (a perfume.) Christmas is celebrated on December 25.

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Hanukkah: also known as the Festival of Lights, this eight-day holiday is celebrated by the Jewish. Its focus is a miracle in which a day's worth of oil lasted for eight days in a menorah, or a holy lamp. A special Hanukkah menorah with nine branches is called a hanukiah. The middle branch is lit every night of Hanukkah and is used to light the other branches, one for each night. Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month Kislev, and took place from December 8 to December 16 this year.

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Kwanzaa: this week-long holiday is celebrated mostly in America by people with African heritage. Celebrants of Kwanzaa light a candleholder called a kinara with seven candles.

Each candle represents one of seven virtues: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Kwanzaa was created in the 1950s as a way for Black Americans to reconnect with their African heritage. Many Black Christians celebrate Christmas and Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa takes place from December 26 to January 1.

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Yule: celebrated by pagans, Wiccans, and Norther European Christians for over 10,000 years, this holiday highlights the Winter Solstice as the rebirth of the sun after the darkness of winter.

The Winter Solstice is the point in the year where days begin to get longer and nights get shorter. It is celebrated on December 21 by Wiccans and pagans and December 25 by Northern European Christians.

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As we reflect on the past year this bleak December, maybe we can draw a little solidarity from the fact that, just like us, people are gearing up to celebrate the coming year all over the world.

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RealTalk: School Attendance Codi Trout, 11th grade granted. We can say goodbye to that and other benefits as well.

We even had an assembly where the teachers and administrators let us know what problems we have are facing, so maybe it is time to step up and show that we can handle our responsibilities.

We a! know attendance matters-- it seems administrators te! us almost every day.

But do we rea!y know why attendance is so important?

It seems as if recently, more and more students are missing school. That is not to say that they don’t have a valid reason (nobody wants you to come to school sick) but what makes a lot of teachers upset is the fact that students miss for trivial reasons such as midnight movie premiers and video game releases, or community events like Sertoma Pancake Day.

Not only are our administrators and peers complaining but so are our teachers.

They make plans and get lessons ready to help us but when we don’t show up, it affects them as well. They have to re-teach the students a lesson that was missed while others either have to sit through something they’ve already learned. Teachers work hard for us; we should respect this.

Students have a responsibility even though they are teenagers. That responsibility is going to school. If students think that they can skip out on something important such as school, what's stopping them from not showing up to more adult responsibilities like work? Right now is a critical time for students. We need to make sure we pick up our responsibilities and get ready for a future.

No one but us can do that for us.

Missing school for trivial reasons impacts not only the students, but also their peers and even teachers. Teachers often have to plan around such things as video game releases when they know several students will be absent. Open lunch at the end of the year is dependent on attendance. If the classes don’t meet their goals, this privilege will not be

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DECEMBER 12, 2012

Christmas With Kyzy and Medina, Our Foreign Exchange Students Amy Smith, 12th grade

Maysville has two junior exchange students this year: Kyzy Nadyr and Medina Bobokhonova. I sat down with them to discuss how they celebrate Christmas at home in Central Asia.

Kyzy and Medina don’t actually celebrate Christmas. In fact, they only celebrate New Years, on December 31st. Several things happen on this day, including visits

by Santa Claus, family dinners, and presents. They enjoy this day because it is a time of joy and celebration.

Kyzy and Medina both said that Christmas is not for teenagers but more for younger children. They go to festivals and spend quality time with their families and friends. They prepare for this special winter day months in advance by planning food and games and activities for the children. The children come together and put up a Christmas tree and decorate it while singing with their families.

Christmas. They are also eager to play new games and listen to Christmas carols.

Some traditions they observe are different than the American custom of gathering around the tree and opening presents one by one. Kyzy and Medina eat dinner, then go watch movies with their families and friends. Later the young children get their small presents and sing and dance.

In Kyzy's and Medina's countries, a neighbor dresses up as Santa Claus and visits neighborhood houses. Everyone sings to Santa and plays along with the illusion. After singing, "Santa Claus" shares his gifts and candy, and then continues on his way to the next house.

When 12 a.m. strikes, family and friends walk outside and look at the Christmas lights. They sit on the curb of the street and watch the fireworks. They hug and celebrate the beginning of the New Year.

This year Kyzy and Medina are looking forward to spending an American Christmastime with their host families.

They are excited to try different foods and learn about the American traditions for !

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DECEMBER 12, 2012

What is Hanukkah?

Chelsy Leach & Mikaela Hamilton, 10th grade The holidays are coming up, but not everyone can say they’ll be getting a visit from jolly old Saint Nick. We sat down with Mrs. Girsh to discuss how she celebrates the holidays. Mrs. Girsh is Jewish and celebrates Hanukkah rather than Christmas. Hanukkah doesn’t always fall during the same month as Christmas. Sometimes it’s celebrated in November. It is dependent on the revolution of the moon. This year, the eight-day holiday was celebrated from December 8 to December 16.

Hanukkah has many traditions, just like any other holiday. If you were celebrating Hanukkah, you would enjoy potato pancakes called latkes, thinly sliced pancakes made with potatoes. Or you might play some dreidel games in an effort to win chocolate coins called gelt in Yiddish and dmei in Hebrew. Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days. On each day, one candle on the menorah is lit to celebrate religious freedom. A menorah is a Jewish symbol much like the Christmas tree is for Christians. The history of the menorah is that after the Jews defeated the Greek Army in 167 B.C., they lit the lamp in the temple as a symbol of rededication. There was only enough oil for it to burn for one day. However, God is said to have caused the lamp to burn for eight days, thus the significance of the eight days of Hanukah.

When Mrs. Girsh was young, her mother also let her celebrate visits from Santa Claus.

Her mother didn’t want her to feel much different from the other children. Mrs. Girsh now carries on this tradition with her children, and hopes they will do the same someday.

Book Review: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Haven Labaki, 11th grade Ebenezer Scrooge doesn’t care for Christmas. He hates anything that wastes his precious money. Scrooge won’t donate to the poor, heat his office, or even light his house.

On Christmas Eve he’s visited by the ghost of his late business partner, Jacob Marley, who tells him about the horrible after life that he has since he was greedy while he was alive.

Marley warns Scrooge that he will be visited by three ghosts that night-- but Scrooge doesn’t believe him. The three ghosts go on

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to show Scrooge what Christmas would be like without him. I won't spoil the end of the story, but Scrooge comes to have some enlightening revelations about what Christmas generosity really means.

A Christmas Carol is a classic story that’s been redone in many movies; such as ‘Scrooged’, ‘Mickeys Christmas Carol’, and ‘A Muppets Christmas Carol’. Even though there have been many adaptations of the book

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the story is always the same. The three ghosts, Past, Present, and Future, always appear in every adaptation.

I love Christmas books and A Christmas Carol was great. This book shows what the true meaning of Christmas is.

Giving to less fortunate people is more important than having a lot of money. This book isn’t for everyone-- Dickens can get wordy sometimes because he was paid by the word-- but I think it’s a great classic novel and I enjoyed reading it.

Two Views: Black Friday In The Eyes of a Shopper Amy Smith, 12th grade Shopping on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is not only a day where shoppers buy items for a fair price; it is also an annual holiday experience for many Americans who are prepared to wake up early, wait in line, and brave the cold weather. This year Black Friday was held on November 23, 2012.

Wal-Mart’s Black Friday started at 8 p.m. on Thursday-- earlier than ever-- and the wait started early, too. Wal-Mart changed their presence by limiting shoppers to a certain amount of items, for example there was a maximum of 10 movies and 5 video games per person; by limiting items, Wal-Mart allowed more shoppers to get things. Wal-Mart also gave shoppers a map of where items would be which helped them have a fair fight for merchandise.

Wal-Mart shoppers were very aggressive; an elderly woman with other shoppers because they were stealing items out of her cart. A young

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DECEMBER 12, 2012 man stole an iPod and was chased out the door and Tasered by police; he was taken away in an ambulance.Several shoppers also claimed pogo sticks before Black Friday officially started; a staff member forced them to return them and wait for 8 p.m.

Kohl’s, on the other hand, started later that night around 11 p.m. Unlike Wal-Mart, which allowed shoppers inside early, Kohl's shoppers had to wait outside until 11p.m. Shoppers in a line that stretched around the building grew angry as 10:30 approached. They were determined to get inside out of the cold.

Kohl’s didn’t have as many toys and games as Wal-Mart, but focusing instead on kitchen supplies and shoes. The rush at Kohl's was calmer until it came time for check-out, where attitudes changed from determined to frustrated. Compared to Wal-Mart having around 25 check-out lines, Kohl’s had fewer than 10 check-out lines. Kohl’s was a very popular store this year; a special bonus gave out Kohl’s Cash, an in-store gift card, after spending $50.00. The downfall about shopping at Kohl’s: they didn’t have a map and some of the staff had no clue where the most popular items even were.

So keep in mind for next year: Wal-Mart shoppers should prepare to fight for merchandise, and Kohl's shoppers to wait in long lines.

Wherever you choose to go, Black Friday is a great way to find great deals and have a memorable holiday experience.

In The Eyes of an Employee Ashley Reed, 12th grade As midnight got closer, more and more people started to line up in front of the Children’s Place waiting eagerly to get in. When it came time to open the doors the store quickly becomes PAGE 6

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DECEMBER 12, 2012

Christmas Foods

crowded. It was elbow to elbow. I was a greeter, so I was in charge of saying hello to everyone that came in and point them in the direction they requested.

Our cashiers were in such a hurry to get the line shortened that the often forgot security systems; it was my job to check bags to make sure no one was shoplifting. On Black Friday, I stopped a woman attempting to steal a full bag of clothes. My boss, Kayla, quickly assessed the situation, and, knowing that the lady hadn't paid, told her she would have to stand in line like everyone else. The shocked customer snarled, “I have to stand in that line?” Kayla explained to her that she had to pay-- Black Friday doesn't mean you get things for free. The woman ran off in a huff and went to stand in the long line.

Finally, 7 a.m. rolled around and my shift ended. I was exhausted beyond belief. I turned around to face the chaotic store and noticed it was still crowded and the line still stretched down the hallway. I quickly started to clean up whatever I could before heading out, when I noticed a large pile of clothes blocking my way. Eyes fighting to stay open and arms feeling like spaghetti, I lunged down dutifully and tidied up. After the mess was taken care of, said goodbye to my colleagues and left without hesitation.

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Ashley Reed, 12th grade Does your family have a Christmas food tradition? In my family, the special thing we make for Christmas is pecan delight. Pecan delight is made from vanilla pudding, graham cracker crumbs, and whipped cream and, last but not least, pecans. My grandma always makes it and it’s my absolute favorite thing to eat every year.

When I asked Mrs. McConnell what she serves for Christmas dinner, she said her favorite dish to prepare was cheesecake. Mrs. Warne agreed that cheesecake is something that she absolutely has to make and it’s the only time she makes it. In an interview with senior Amy Smith, she told me that her mom only makes gingerbread cookies for Christmas dinner. Amy loves decorating them and can’t wait to eat them.

On Christmas Day everyone is preparing Christmas dinner, trying to make things just right for a special holiday. Most Christmas dinners consist of ham or turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, noodles, and so on. But don’t forget about everybody’s favorite part: desserts. Pies, Christmas cookies, cakes and egg nog... Just to name a few.

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Holiday Home Fashions Ashley Ferre!, 10th grade With the holidays fast approaching, people are starting to decorate their houses to get into the holiday spirit. I’ve noticed many different trends as well as some interesting ideas that are personal and unique.

Bright colors such as green, purple, and pink becoming popular for tree decorating. The colors are usually metallic and give a 'modern' feel to the classic Christmas tree. Although I’ve seen many bright colors, which you don’t always see very often among the Christmas staples of red and green. I’ve also noticed a lot of people going back to the old classic decoration ideas, such as stringing popcorn and cranberries to decorate the tree like Grandma and Grandpa used to do when they were younger.

While popular choices are bright colors or maybe classics, I’ve seen a few unique ideas, such as using pictures of loved ones as decorations for their tree. I’ve also noticed a few people getting real trees this year despite the greater popularity of maintenence-free artificial trees. I suppose the real trees tie into the idea of having and old classic Christmas tree.

Decorating for the holidays has become a tradition in many homes; it's fun for all ages and a great way to bond with the family. Many families begin decorating on or slightly after Thanksgiving.

Others save this occasion for December 1st.

Editorial Staff

Politics Dept.

Editor-in-Chief: Nathan Cole Managing/Layout Editor: Mack Folger Production Manager: Sam Grubbs Poetry Editor: Markie Dunn Fashion Editor: Ashley Ferrell Fashion Editor: Chelsy Leach Head Reporter: Amy Smith Food Editor: Ashley Reed Book Editor: Haven Labaki Supervisor: Myra Warne

Alexis Herda Sam Grubbs

Sports Dept.

Tori Himmelspach Kirstynn Kirk

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Photography Dept.

Photo Editor: Chyene Triplett Photographer: Mikaela Hamilton Photographer: Mack Folger

Reporters Codi Trout Alis Compton Kyauna Bailey Erin Hastings Natalie Paugh Brett Potts

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