C Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Re-Opens

By Alyssa Riccardi

JACKSON

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Get ready for an exciting summer season at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor as it reopens with a spring preview.

The park will operate several of its signature attractions while debuting new guest enhancements in preparation for summer. Hurricane Harbor will operate weekends through June 11, with daily operation running June 17 through September 4. Operating hours are as follows: • May 27 to 29, June 3 to 4 and 10 to 11: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

New For 2023:

• Enhanced Menus – Guests will see more diverse options featured within the water park. Items include jerk chicken sandwiches, Caribbean salad, bacon wrapped pork kabob, dole soft serve and more.

• VIP Lounges – Guests looking for a premiere experience can upgrade to a private VIP lounging area with access to games and televisions.

• Splash Island – Coming this summer, kids will delight in the brand-new tree house play structure. With more than 50 play features, young families will love the mini slides and curtain waterfalls. But no treehouse is complete without that gigantic water bucket perched high above and always ready to soak the splash-seekers below.

• Seven Brand New Slides – Coming this summer, guests will find seven brand new colorful slides meant for smaller riders. The addition of Cowabunga, Jellyfish Twist (two slides), RipCurl, Shark Attack, Splashin’ Seal, and Stingray Racer bring the perfect number of drops and twists for little ones seeking a gentle thrill. For more information, visit sixflags. com/hurricaneharbornj supremacy group, acting as a reverend of a racial holy war, and performing as the lead singer in a hate metal band.

The Jackson Times welcomes your special announcements! Engagements, Weddings, Births, Birthday Wishes, etc. Please call 732-657-7344 for more details!

From Wisconsin, Michaelis now speaks to groups as an activist for love and compassion.

In a thought-provoking speech, he challenged students to reflect on their role as upstanders or bystanders in society. He said he valued the power of storytelling: the narratives people believe in and share will shape their lives and interactions with the world around them.

Michaelis drew from his own past and shared some of the mistakes he made. He admitted that during his youth, he was not an upstander nor a bystander but rather someone who actively caused problems for himself and others.

However, the former skinhead said he has since dedicated his life to working in the field to counter violent extremism. In doing so, Michaelis said he’d learned a great deal about the often tragic backgrounds that contribute to their radicalization.

Many have experienced childhoods marked by suffering, abuse, and hatred, with some even enduring sexual trauma. He emphasized how such trauma can break a person, leading them to perceive hate as an escape from their pain. He likened the allure of hate to that of a dangerous drug capable of trapping a person in addiction and misery.

Michaelis said his personal story somewhat deviated from the typical narrative associated with former extremists. Despite growing up in a seemingly idyllic household, he revealed that his father’s alcoholism was a significant

Hate: Continued From Page 1 (Hate - See Page 13) source of his own suffering. While his father was not a mean drunk, his excessive drinking and prioritization of leisure activities over work put the burden of providing for the family on Michaelis’s mother, who worked tirelessly to make ends meet.

“I grew up watching my mother suffer,” said Michaelis. “I could see how badly she was hurting, and it hurt me.”

However, Michaelis admitted that he distanced himself rather than offering help to his mom. By the time he was in kindergarten, he was already a bully. Michaelis said as he grew a bit older, he got a big kick out of parents and teachers being afraid of him.

By age 14, Michaelis was already drinking alcohol, which intensified his antisocial tendencies, fueling his desire to shock and repulse others. Michaelis admitted to adopting white nationalist ideologies through exposure to white power music, which glorified a distorted worldview centered on hatred towards marginalized communities.

The room of approximately 400 students was hushed as Michaelis recounted the allure of using symbols like the swastika to provoke and repulse people.

A society driven by hate and violence inevitably produces evil and violence in return, he said. He highlighted the tragic consequences that befell his friends as a result of their involvement in hate-fueled actions. Michaelis’ closest friend ended up in prison for a shooting incident, while another lost his life in a street fight, both victims of the hate and violence they had embraced.

Michaelis emphasized that casting blame on others not only hindered problem-solving, but