OG Newspaper 07 by Plesak

OG News & Current Affairs SOL‘s future

The CPP wins at Open Gate

pen Gate students yet again broke the constraining shackles of age limitation and rushed the ballot boxes in the spirit of the 2017 Legislative Elections. Over 72% of OG high school students agreed with the statement “student voting is an integral component of social responsibility that should become regular practice”, clearly contending the age restriction on voting. Although over a hundred students had the unique opportunity to partake in the mock elections, we did not even manage to breach the predicted 60% voter threshold, with only 68 students voting. Nevertheless, out of the 254 schools simulating the Parliamentary Elections, Open Gate placed in the top 8%.

icies, as 79% of those who refrained from voting told the OG Chronicle that people who have a lack of political understanding ought not to vote, for their votes are not representative. Viktor Říha, runnerup in the Open Gate presidential elections, went on to say “I am truly disappointed in the lack of incentive to vote from the OG community, especially after most claimed that students should be legally enabled to vote. It is pivotal for students to become involved during their teens because they are the future generation of voters”. The slender majority that voted were mainly in agreement with the Czech Pirate Party that prides itself on the two core tenets of any liberal democracy – political transparency and accountability. Furthermore, they strongly advocate an abundant anti-corruption checks and balance mechanism, focused on precluding tax avoidance of politicians through a belligerent spike in its persecution. Finally, what swayed 89.2% of their Open Gate sympathizers, were progressive reforms for education, healthcare, and the environment; all highly under subsidized sectors that suffer from inefficient allocation of governmental resources. Although the The underwhelming voter turnout was CPP managed to win the votes of 41.2% predominantly caused by a lack of Open Gate students, they only managed, knowledge concerning specific party pol- according to official documents released

by the Czech government, to win 10.8% electorate, ultimately representing 22 seats and an increase of 22 seats from last year. The remaining forty votes were almost equally distributed amongst Top 09 (9), ANO 2011.(8), ODS (6), the Green Party (5), and the Mayors and the Independent (4). Crucially, this shows an equal dispersion of votes, as was expected with the inclusion of students. The national results were almost identical with the CPP winning, Top 09 as the runner ups, and ANO placing third; a clear indication of a monotonous trend in student political opinions. ALEX CARR

Represent!

ebating — Often perceived as the most rigorous academic discipline amongst high schoolers. Open Gate students continue to amaze with three students becoming part of the Czech National Debating Team. Viktor Říha, Václav Benedikt Loula and, Captain of the team, James Alexandr Carr will be representing not only the Czech Republic, but Open Gate at the World Schools Debating Championship next Summer! ALEX CARR

Reformation as a celebration ?

ll of the German federal republics have officially declared the 31st of October a special State Holiday. You would be very mistaken, if you ascribed it to Halloween. It is the culmination of a year commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. In this year rich in cultural initiatives, for example The German Bible Society has revised the Luther Bible - a translation of the Bible to German by the reformer - to publish it as the Lutherbible 2017 and present it to the parish where Luther used to preach in a festive liturgy. Last year also saw the opening of a trail with stations binding key sites of the reformation in 19 European countries. A team of activists and volunteers travelled through the stations, producing videos with local experts on reformation, and finally ending the pilgrimage in Wittenberg. Prague was one of the 67 stations on this journey. How should the Catholics feel about having a holiday to celebrate the reformation? The Vatican insisted the event was no celebration of Luther's revolt, rather a chance to rejoice that relations had improved in the last five decades. This year indeed marks 50 years of

progressively improving relationship between Catholics and Lutherans. Some of the major achievements in ecumenical relations include the visit of Pope Francis to Sweden at last year’s reformation anniversary, and previously also the signing of a declaration which agreed that some of the centuries old disputes were caused by ascribing different meanings to the same words.

Luther pledged with highest emphasis for the Bible to be accepted as the only true source of Christian teachings, for the abandonment of indulgences’ sales and for acknowledging that grace cannot be earned by human efforts. When the re-

former nailed his 95 Thesis to the doors of a church in Wittenberg; or, according to history.com; ‘’more likely hung the document on the door of the church matter-of-factly to announce the ensuing academic discussion around it that he was organizing ‘‘, he could hardly predict the course of events that was to follow. Instead of a theological debate, his criticism would trigger a social revolution leading the church, politics, culture and society into fractionating and secularization. What would Luther say to his country now? His 50,000 citizen town - Lutherstadt Wittenberg is bursting with reformation related souvenirs, attractions, lectures and exhibitions. According to a reformation expert, Yale professor Dr. Carlos Eire; ‘’Luther would just be shocked about the fact that so few Europeans now attend church.’’ Hopefully, at least this year, churches as well as places of cultural exhibition are fuller, thanks to the legacy of Luther’s reformation. BETH JANEČKOVÁ

Open Press 7 - November 2017

et’s face it, no one is perfect. Every single one of us has several weaknesses – It could be Mathematics or Geography and even English. When struggling, you know that everyone is waiting for you and that is not a good feeling. On the other hand, when you are good at some school subject, you know that you have to wait for others with work and you have nothing to do. To satisfy both groups there is the 21st-century education system Student Organised Learning – SOL. Student Organised Learning is a studying strategy during which a student manages his work at his own pace. By this, he can discover and develop his learning style. The biggest difference between SOL and TOL (Teacher Oriented Learning) is, that every student reaches the same goal but in different ways. Someone learns more by watching videos than reading texts, others learn by listening or by visual memory. The teacher helps the students find their most effective way of studying. TOL does not provide many techniques to reach the goal because it follows a single method with various levels of difficulty, thus more proficient students can work in accordance with a harder curriculum. Ever teacher has their own style, but with SOL it is not the teacher, but the student who is responsible. The benefits of SOL also include students becoming more independent, understanding which learning technique is the most effective for them. The students are responsible for what they do and how they reach the goal. Moreover, the student is expected to keep his materials organised because it is a useful skill for the future. It helps them to prepare for university and in higher classes, they should be professional. In this process, the teacher can support the students by showing them the basic ways of reaching the outcome, furthermore taking into consideration the different types of learners in the classroom. So what does it mean for OG students? They will need to prepare for SOL in their lessons and many teachers already use it. According to Mrs. Kožnarová, who uses it with Sexta students in biology “It is better than a normal class, even for the best students.” A good website for SOL is padlet, which is a clever and simple page where students can attach and compare their work and it is similar to an online notice-board. SOL is the future of education and no one should overlook it. This learning method is for sure going to be further improved to satisfy every type of student, so why not to make school easier and funnier than before. ADAM CHÁRA

Social Commentary & Opinion Editor's Note

Today’s Concept of Morality

e often tend to think that our behaviour corresponds with the concept of morality. Social tolerance, compassion and respect are the key terms we associate with morality. Nonetheless, to define it, we need to dig deeper into the depths of the core of our society to discover the very base upon which it lays. Over the history of mankind, morality has lead our paths of development. Had it not been for morality we would not have been able to cooperate, and therefore come up with all the phenomenal inventions we have discovered. Take the idea of trade for instance – people have to be morally responsible to ensure its flow; one has to depend upon the other to secure the process of giving and getting something in exchange. Therefore, morality relies on the deepest human need, trust. Trustworthiness is a quality we all seek in our companions. We like to think that it is one’s utmost duty to be able to trust and be trusted. Essentially, a human being must trust to act morally. Unfortunately, our society has created a false conception of trust. By trying to seem trustworthy whilst distorting the facts, the media has lost the trust of its audience; and so have some of the most respected political institutions. Generally, as they lose trust, people are losing the primal certainty their nature requires. And that is precisely what leads to one’s amorality. Even though we expect people to act morally, it does not seem to be written in their genes. In fact, it is the en-

vironment that decides upon the negative elements of one’s behaviour. In short, when someone does not see moral actions when he or she is raised, one might have difficulties with understanding the concept of morality in his adult life.

SOURCE: http://www.essay.ws/essay-onmorality/

to be necessitated in inappropriate situations, sometimes. Hence, when an individual is required to act morally, although his instincts are telling him otherwise, one appears in a dead-end situation from which there is no escape. Whether we admit it or not, we lie amid social restrictions that force us to act in contrast to our own personal persuasion, heeding others’ understanding of morality. We stand at the beginning of the creation of a uniform society that has strict norms that disfavour its members. And so, we need to act in accordance to our opinion, as long as we do not cross the border of another’s freedom, to prevent living in a world of apparent liberty, yet obvious oppression. ANNE-MARIA MATEJAS

More importantly, the problem with the concept of morality is that it is required. In situations when one behaves in accordance to his instincts, society may judge his actions amoral. The question is, whether amoral actions can be considered amoral when they derive from basic human needs. When asking what is moral and what is not, one soon finds oneself pondering about an inevitable answer – everything others consider moral. However, this definition directly implies that the understanding of morality differs from one person to another; therefore, it must be considered subjective. Nowadays, however, so-called morality seems

ear Readers,

Fall has already well established itself, and winter is undoubtedly knocking on our doors. As each and every year, seasons are changing. But what almost never changes is one's view on morality.

To reflect on that, the Social Commentary section dedicates this edition's articles to one united theme - morality. Even though being moral seems to be a clearly positive quality to have, its definition is quite blurry.

Our writers touch on the ambiguous word that morality is by discussing the form in which we understand morality today or the different culture's understanding of it. Others wrote about associating morality with democracy or even the Czech parliamentary elections, one even advocated for the fact that morality is simply a wrong concept. So we present to you our stories.

Is Democracy Still Moral?

emocracy is not perfect. Far from it. It is only now that the weaknesses are crystallizing. Radical alt-right sentiment has cracked its lavish glass armour and the gaping holes reveal insecurity and an obsolete concept. Antiestablishment parties quickly stole the show. Its conforming to dismiss voting for them as irrational, anger-fueled or simply stupid. But is that really so? Just how much truth, or rather logic is there in the arguments advocated by the opposition to democracy?

SOURCE: http://www.howardischwartz.com/theproblem-of-stupidity-in-democracy/

Paradoxically, democracy’s strongest aspect is also where most of its problems nest. We cherish democracy, for it gives a voice to the voiceless, power to the weak and hope to the hopeless. Moreover, democracy is blind to race, background or social status. Before the eyes of democracy, we stand naked and equal. Yet, is that necessarily a good thing? Sure, better 2

than dictatorship..but what is not? The question asked by the opposition camp is: ''Should the weak decide for the strong and the dull for the clever''? Such a question, however, is not as selfish as it may seem. The fundamental flaw in democracy is the human factor altogether. People are irrational. Fact. We are emotional beings, and we are easily manipulated. In essence, the entire advertising industry is built around the idea of subconscious control. But that is barely the end; moreover such control is propelled by social media and political campaigns, public events, TV ads and much more. All manipulation, just different packaging. Science chips in too with entire studies devoted to the art of controlling the human brain. It seems like all cards are stacked against the average voter, showered by propaganda. So what is his only defence? Rational and objective argumentation. But lobbyists and PR agents have done an excellent job at eradicating any such concept from mainstream information transmitters. Newspapers, radio stations and TV channels are almost all either privately funded or side with some political view. In 21st century we have abundance of information of which only a small portion is of some use. In the light of the previous analysis it is understandable for some to label democracy outlived and illegitimate. After all, its legitimacy stems from the popularity of ideas; however it presumes the voter

will vote according to HIS conscience not the campaign manager's. Furthermore, democracy can backfire on its very own ideals. That is due to its lack of checks and balances. There is no committee to validate the election result a vote is a vote. So even the most radical, irrational and destructive parties may find themselves leading a country. All that is required is a skilled PR team. Democracy is a fine concept. Yet 300 years in, it needs revitalization. Democracy has succeeded in giving voice to everyone, but fails to protect its sanctity. So, As always, use your creative thinking, democracy brace yourself, or upgrade and be moral - whatever that means to yourself, lest your will perish. you. VIKTOR ŘÍHA TEREZA JAKOUBKOVÁ SENIOR EDITOR

Open Press 6 - June 2017

Did You Know

ccording to reports on FreedomHouse.org: 2016 marked the 11th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. There were setbacks in political rights, civil liberties, or both, in a number of countries rated ‘Free’ by the report, including Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia, and the United States. Of the 195 countries assessed, 87 (45%) were rated Free, 59 (30%) Partly Free, and 49 (25%) Not Free.”

Social Commentary & Opinion Of Populism and Morality

arties, which identify themselves as “anti-system” have been reaping success in every recent election. In fact, these parties also decided the results of recent Czech parliamentary elections, where traditional parties absolutely failed to defend their strong influence from last years. However, experts say the reason for the success of these parties lies in a populist campaigns, whose goal is to address many people through a likable program. Populism is, on one hand, understandable tactics, yet unforgivable from the moral perspective.

Source: http://www.capital-moments.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/06/148370_600-600x375.jpg

In fact, populist politicians pragmatically play on on people's fears and offer an alternative, which they don´t represent. Populism, generally spoken, plays on the strongest human instincts and those who have this kind of campaign are well aware of this. They lie, exaggerate and skew information in order to influence the voters to opt them- the party that can

Dividing Line

fix “all this bad stuff going on”. So how is it possible that people don't realize they are fooled? In fact, people who vote for these political parties are, generally speaking, unaware of the current global situation and affairs, and thus they don´t understand what legitimate parties propose. They don´t see events around them in connections and in their ignorance, they don't see any further than behind the border of their own sphere. In this narrow perception, they don't have a chance to see for instance how crucial sustainability and ecology are and how it affects their life. (But a tax-free beer? Who wouldn't want that!) Populist politicians know that these mindless people create a majority and they misuse it, as they react to the masses´ demand for the type of information that they can grasp and also want to hear. As a result of that, a kind of symbiosis is created. Politicians give the folk information they demand (whatever it is) in order to receive their vote. However, in this symbiosis nobody benefits; mainly those who voted rationally. By this we come to the core of the clash of populism and morality; politicians, for their own benefit, provide misleading information as a part of their campaign. They keep on fooling and manipulating them, blaming the innocent minorities for the voters´ unfulfilled lives (as basically every dictator in history has), or via emotional manipulation exhort them into abhorrence and fear, and the list doesn't end here. Incensing vio-

lence, hatred or xenophobia is not a barrier for any populist to reach their personal profit, proving their moral crookedness and the extent of how rotten they are. The question is, how can the world move forward with a government, whose ultimate goal is, for instance, to make alcohol cheaper? Not only is populism undoubtedly dangerous, but it visibly fails on every moral level possible. Basically, it is caused by people being unconscious, and as we know, evil is an extreme manifestation of human unconsciousness. Praise the value of knowledge- support ethics and morals!

MATYÁŠ BOSÁK

What´s Wrong with Morality?

oday, we put morality on a pedestal and try our hardest to be associated with moral people. But, what exactly does being moral mean? In the past, it simply used to mean doing ‘good’ things. However now, we like to say that we are not judgemental and that we would never classify anyone or his actions because it is ‘wrong’ to do so. But that is not true. Even though we might not be willing to admit it or not be aware of it, our choices are still based on the words ‘good’ and ‘bad’: Words very closely associated with morality. Morality, in short, is a system, which conveys to us how to categorize actions as either right or wrong. However, even this simple explanation carries many flaws. Firstly, there is not and cannot be a general morality which is applicable to all. Morality is a relative idea, which differs in the view of every individual. Our interpretation of the concept can be influenced by our childhood, background or culture. As a result, though we all talk about morality, it means something completely different to each and every one of us. Still, people do not realize this and perceive others and their choices through the lense of their own sense of morality, which leads to flawed or even false assumptions about that particular person. People also use morality to justify their choices, because they are the ‘right things to do’. However, they do not compre-

hend the fact that individuals they deem realize that it is wrong. We should cateevil do the exact same thing to justify gorize actions or choices as neither good their own actions. nor bad. Not only because judging others is bad, but also because we have no idea what someone else’s interpretation of morality might be, and as a result, our conclusion might be completely inaccurate. In reality, there is no ‘good’ and ‘bad’ or ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, there are simply actions and decisions. TEREZA JAKOUBKOVÁ

Source: https://moldinspectionsciences.files. wordpress. com/2012/03/good-and-bad-mold.jpg

In addition, morality is also a guideline only valid to those whose self-growth has terminated – people who are not gaining any knowledge or changing their opinions whatsoever. As mentioned above, one’s understanding of morality can be influenced, but it can also be upgraded or completely transformed throughout an individual’s life; gain, based on one’s own, personal experiences. So what that person viewed as absolutely wrong he can now consider to be right – something that would never be possible with a rigid general morality. Even though we are quite an openminded society, the authority and importance of morality still resides in our minds. It is a lesson we’ve been taught ever since our childhood, but it is time to Open Press 7 - November 2017

hen one thinks of morality, among his or her first thoughts will be the different interpretations of it between cultures. Each culture obviously has some unique aspects to it, yet I believe that they can be categorised into three distinct groups. I have based this on the importance of each individual's personal liberties and limits. These three cultural groups are eastern, western and tribal. First of all, the most common culture is the eastern one, which would include mainly Asian and African cultures. These groups generally emphasise a common goal or purpose, for instance making one´s country great (again). This is mirrored for example in India´s caste system or China's huge manufacturing industry. Morality in these cultures is generally more lax towards the value of human life and an individual's living conditions. It also leads to the establishment of a hierarchical society or order. It is no accident that most of the world's dictatorships exist in Africa and Asia. Essentially, eastern societies generally emphasise a common goal at the expense of the individual. On the other hand, western cultures emphasise the role of the individual and are mainly found in Europe, the Americas and Oceania. Europe used to be no different from the eastern cultures; however that changed when the Black Death hit and drastically reduced population levels, causing an increase in the value of human life. This then spread with European colonisation across the globe. In contrast to other cultures, the western outlook emphasises one’s personal freedoms and living conditions. It also has a more just system of punishment, at least in most cases. Western cultures emphasise individuality and fairness. Yet there are also tribal cultures, which focus on the well-being of the community. As the name implies, this is a common structure of most tribes and small, isolated communities. These groups usually have a harsh lifestyle, and therefore they focus on survival and keeping their group together. This means that they have a set of rules for themselves; however they usually do not apply to other tribes or even humans. Their laws are followed very strictly, for these are often quite old and have been engrained in the people´s minds. As such, tribal groups usually have a rigid set of rules that emphasise the survival of said group. Finally, I believe that morality in cultures can be divided into eastern, western and tribal. Eastern cultures emphasise a common goal, while western ones are all about individuality and tribal cultures are mainly interested in survival. In the end, whilst eastern cultures excel in productivity and western ones focus on progress and cultural advancement, the system of morality in tribal groups seems to have failed when confronted with the fact that more organised cultures want to wipe them out. NICOLAS WICHERT

Special Interests & Interviews Editor‘s Note

Seasons‘ Clash

ummer is over and the new school year has begun. Brace yourselves, for the greatest season of them all has finally come. Winter is here, and we can all look forward to celebrating Christmas with our beloved and wearing winter coats which make us feel cozy all day long.

There’s only one question left: which season is actually better? Winter or summer? Maybe you hate them both or love them equally, but for me winter has to be the winner. Summer is great for one reason only and that is that we, students, finally get some rest. Who doesn't love summer vacation, right? But on the other hand, you have weather that makes you sweat so much that not even a cold shower can save you from your misery. You could argue that it is still better than having cold because of the snowy weather, but in my opinion snow is just so much better than smelly, sweaty t-shirts. Talking about snow, don’t forget that snowy weather is a perfect excuse for not going outside! It gives you a perfect opportunity to turn on the TV and watch all of your favorite shows. Plus, you can look forward to tons of gifts since Christmas is just around the corner. So how about you? Are you a summer or a winter person? LUCKA TRUSINOVÁ

fter the long summer break and a couple of the first, yet exhausting, months of school, I would like to welcome and introduce you to the first OG Chronicle edition of the school year 2017/18. Within our section of Special Interests & Interviews you can expect more common themes, interesting and fun interviews and unusual articles. Even though some of our previous members left we have a lot of new blood, therefore there will be a lot of new content and points of view. In this edition we decided to repeat what we partially tried in our last edition the previous year, and that is a common theme. Therefore, we chose none other than the themes of winter and Christmas.

ot everyone has the opportunity to travel the world, visit other countries, explore diverse cultures and receive insight into different lifestyles and traditions. Every country has its own traditions that they maintain. Every year the majority of families celebrate Christmas the same way they celebrated it the year before. Most people maintain those traditions their whole life and take them for granted. For example nearly every person born in the Czech Republic has eaten carp on Christmas Eve their entire lives and received gifts from ‘Ježíšek’ after dinner on Christmas Eve. But has the idea of how is Christmas celebrated in totally different country and culture ever occurred to you? Open Gate has recently welcomed a new student into the class where students are focusing on the last year of pre IB preparation. Her name is Emmanuela Evgeniou. Emma has recently moved to the Czech Republic with her parents after living her entire life in the city of Athens in Greece. I have had the honour to interview Emma and ask multiple questions about the Greek culture and traditions that take place during Christmas in Greece. Is Christmas the most celebrated holiday of the year in Greece? If yes, then why? Greeks put a much larger emphasis on celebrating Easter compared to Christmas. I am 4

or most brands, December is the most productive month of the year. The reasons are firstly Christmas and secondly the New Year's Eve. It depends on each brand. Let's look a little more inside. We've got technology brands - they're the easiest example. You wouldn't be even able to count how many people take Christmas as a reason for a new phone, notebook or any other technology device. This is truly their top season and time when they can't rest on their laurels. Leading from that, people also often need new SIM cards and other similar stuff, so this is also a productive season for the operators. All over statistics show that the majority of gains of brands like Apple or Samsung is earned in preChristmas season. The same goes with clothing brands such as Nike, Next, Adidas, H&M, C&A, New Yorker and more. In fact, clothing items are one of the most common Christmas gifts. The most productive day from pre-Christmas season (and the whole

Each of our authors tackled the theme in a unique way, and still managed to combine it with a special interest of theirs. Thus, I hope you will enjoy this edition and have a nice read. :) VALERIE PYTJUK SENIOR EDITOR

A Typical Greek Christmas

Gold December

not exactly aware of the exact reason, but I find the fact that preparations for Easter begin one to two months before the actual holiday, whereas Christmas has a bare minimum of preparation. Does Christmas have a specific number of days reserved in every Greek calendar? The Christmas holidays officially begin on the 23rd of December and end on the 6th of January, this includes up to four holidays that are celebrated - Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve and Epiphany day.

What happens on Christmas Eve in Greece? In big cities (such as Athens, Thessaloniki, Corinth, etc.) on Christmas Eve, children go out into the streets and sing Christmas carols. In small towns and villages they go around the neighbourhood and knock on the doors of strangers to sing a Christmas carol for them. If the children sing well, they usually receive a bit of money or some sweet treats as a reward. Did you sing Christmas carols in Greece? Do they have a special meaning? Name a example, please. In Greece every city/village/family has it’s own traditions and therefore different carols. The largest differences occur between the traditions celebrated on the Greek islands and the countryside. Usually, children sing on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The songs that are sung by the children are in most cases with the theme of prosperity for

year) is certainly Black Friday. All the sales attract people in, and they don't know when to stop shopping. Honestly, who has never gotten any 'soft' present?

You may not have expected that, but it's also the best season for food and drink brands. Wine brands have bigger gains at Christmas and New Year's Eve than ever, same as chips or lemonade brands. For fish sellers Christmas is the most vital time of the year, and different types of chocolate are being used as Christmas presents too. The only exception is ice cream, which is best sold on hot summer days. These were just examples of brands whose products are best sold during the Christmas season. It all has to do with the fact that people spend the most money during this time. So if you own any type of brand, make sure you don't fall asleep when December comes. ŠÁRKA NEUMANNOVÁ

the landowner or about the welcoming of baby Jesus. As a matter of a fact, on the 6th of January, therefore on Epiphany day - priests with children go from house to house and sing carols about Jesus's Baptism. After singing the song, the priest sprinkles the house and family living in the house with holy water, so all the ‘bad spirits’ will no longer be present.

from overboard to a bare minimum is a shame due to the festive atmosphere and mood being lost.

Is there any popular tourist attraction during Christmas in Greece? I am not sure whether there is any specific attraction that brings tourists, but all cities have theatrical performances and concerts Are Christmas trees popular in Greece? with the theme of Christmas. Also many Are there any other traditional decora- ‘Santa villages’ for children can be found in almost every city. tions? Besides Christmas trees, the Greeks also have one more traditional decoration - boats. Boats What are the typical Christmas dishes/ are mostly found in the islands, but you can meals served for Christmas in Greece? find them as well in the cities nearby the sea. Due to my family not being a typical Greek For instance, you will always find both a tree family (they are half Czech and half Greek), and a boat in Syntagma Square in Athens they always cook a bit different from the othand in Thessaloniki (the second biggest city of ers. On Christmas Eve they would cook typiGreece). cal Czech food. Due to me having a sweet tooth, I am unaware of the typical Greek main dishes that are served, but I knows lots about the deserts! Desserts, that you simply must taste if you visit Greece, are called baklava, melomakarona and kourabiedes. Personally my favorite part of Christmas in Greece are the amazing desserts. Melomakarona are soft cinnamon cookies dipped in honey or chocolate, sprinkled with nuts. Kourabiedes are

Would you say that Greeks go overboard with Christmas decorations and displays compared to other countries? Personally, my family does not put up many decorations. In the past the streets used to be fully decorated, but nowadays there is a bare minimum of decorations. Only a few families decide to decorate their household. I am unaware of the exact reason why there was such a sudden change, but in my opinion the shift

Open Press 6 - June 2017

Special Interests & Interviews

Do you have all your presents?

Consequences of feeling success

homolungma which in Tibetan means Holy Mother, or better known as Mount Everest, reaches 8 848 meters above sea level, which makes it Earth’s highest mountain. Mount Everest was officially ascended for the first time on may 29th 1953 by two legendary alpinists, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. At that time, the mountain’s summit was almost an unreachable objective, however, these days almost anybody can reach the top if they have enough finances to do so. Since 1978 the number of Everest ascents has grown about 24 times. Logically, this fact also means that even more people died while trying to reach the top. Naturally, the increasing number of tourists is profitable for Nepal’s economy since just the license to enter the mountains itself costs thousands of dollars. Nevertheless, the negatives aren’t considered enough.

An experienced Norwegian alpinist Christian Elde mentioned to The Guardian that: "There were people who didn't have much experience, so they were slow on the harder bits so we had to stand in

queues. If there had been bad weather it could have been very dangerous. It took us a bit over 10 hours to reach the summit and about a quarter of that was spent waiting in a line." Spending a long time above 8 000 meters can cause altitude sickness to untrained people, which is fatal, and the only help is immediate descent. If not so, it’s almost impossible to climb down with dead bodies, therefore all the dead and unfortunate will stay there forever. Another negative consequence with these kinds of tourists is the over average usage of oxygen bombs, leading to pollution of this beautiful landscape.

Isn’t it selfish to risk other people’s lives for your own good feeling of success? Even though the image of climbing Everest sounds appealing to us, we should first think of our abilities rather than the feeling of pride. MICHAELA RENDLOVÁ

sugared cookies with almonds that melt on your tongue. Who do you usually celebrate Christmas in Greece with? How many people are there usually in one household? Greeks mostly celebrate Christmas with their closest family, and relatives come as well. Rarely with friends. A typical household consists of four to five family members, without the relatives. If I would have to count the amount of relatives that I spent Christmas with last year, it would take a very long time! Who brings the presents and when do you receive Christmas presents in Greece? In Greece presents are brought by Agios Vasilis or Saint Basil on the 1st of January. Are there any other holidays, connected to Christmas, celebrated throughout December and January in Greece? As I already mentioned before, Greeks celebrate Epiphany day on the 6th of January, which celebrates Jesus's baptism as a man. Various events take place throughout the country, for example young men dive into the cold sea to catch a cross. The first man to catch a cross will be blessed in the upcoming year. I would like to thank Emma very much for taking the time for this interview and allowing all of us to receive insight into her family traditions and into the culture of her home country Greece. It’s fascinating how each country has so many diverse traditions that take place during Christmas! SARAH MULDOON

hen the smell of the mulled wine starts wafting through the air and the advent market takes up the town’s square, then Christmas is definitely getting close. And with Christmas, there comes the gift shopping. It may be stressful for many people; some do not like the crowds, and some simply do not know what to buy. And for those from the second category, here are a few tips and ideas on what to buy instead of the typical clothes or accessories.

crets at since childhood, and now you can make this dream come true for your friends. It looks like a book, but it is a cleverly masked box to store anything you want. It is even better if you plan to give this to your book-loving friend. “Build your own” set - We all know that one person who is always drawing something on the back of their notebook, building a tower from their pencils or making paper planes out of their worksheets. They just always seem to be building something. For such people, these creative sets would be the perfect gift. Try to choose a theme that fits into the person’s field of interest. In case this short list hasn’t provided the perfect gift you are searching for, do not despair, type “Christmas presents” into your search engine and choose from the zillion results the Internet will provide you with. Or, if you feel confident about it, create something yourself because handmade is always original, and it Scratch map - Do you know anyone warms people’s hearts. who is a keen traveller, or perhaps someJOSEFÍNA DUŠKOVÁ one who is planning their first adventurous journey? Support their dream by gifting them with a scratch map of the world - a record of all their travels and perhaps a motivation to go on another expedition. You can also get a scratch diary, which not only contains smaller scratch maps, but also allows you to plan and write about an entire journey. A book box - Many of us have dreamed of some place to hide our se-

Shovel racing

emember when you were a kid and you used to ride on plastic shovels? Americans decided to take it to a higher level. The idea originated in the 70’s in New Mexico, when ski resort workers used to slide on shovels to move faster from one location to another. Few years later it became a trend, and we can still see Czech kids enjoying this winter activity. But of course in New Mexico, they take it much more seriously. Americans started to make shovel races and competitions. For example in 1997 Shovel racing was for one year one of the disciplines in the winter X games (international competition of extreme winter sports). However the races were banned for a long time due to safety rules and came back in 2010. No wonder when the racer’s speed can reach up to 112 km/ h! Some competitors even put ski wax on the bottom of the shovel to make it even faster. So when you’re on your next winter holidays, instead of ‘boring’ skiing and snowboarding, go ahead and try this! JULIE SCHOLZOVÁ

Christmas Online

fter burying Halloween and Thanksgiving, it’s time to turn our attention to Christmas. This festive season is an important time for the shopping industry and whether you’re a Christmas maniac or a last-minute buyer, you cannot change the fact that you’re absolutely, without a doubt, being controlled by the Illuminati. I mean social media. Thanks to the continuing development of the online world, the end of social networks is definitely not in sight any time soon and even if you might be unaware of it, the internet has a huge impact on what you’re spending on during the holiday. Not only over 60% of shoppers use social media platforms to find and eventually buy gifts, but the ongoing marketing researches show that 67% people would purchase a product they had heard about on social networks. And then there are also those, who will eventually make a purchase with a single tweet. But what strings are social networks pulling? 78% of businesses now have teams specialized on their social media marketing, and these are the people who take care of getting under your skin. It took the John Lewis Christmas advert, a successful advertisers with 10 years tradition, just a single snapchat filter to help his ad climb to the top. Or for example the Marks & Spencer 2016 Christmas ad used a contemporary way of bringing us a funny, loving and empathic Mrs. Claus character. First the advertisers got to the customers’ emotions with an adorable TV

Open Press 7 - November 2017

ad, and then the creation of #LoveMrsClaus hashtag assisted M&S with an admirable achievement of becoming the world’s most popular Christmas ad of 2016. You like a post, tag a friend and marketing people are starting to smile. Nevertheless, it’s not just about sharing a tweet. In fact, YouTube videos are the most popular way to earn engagement. Customers’ trust can be easily obtained by giving them an opportunity to be advised by a peer. For this person, preferably an influencer with at least 500k Instagram followers, it only takes to say for example: “Yes, this snowball maker is very useful, and you should definitely buy it” and believe it or not, the snow-

ball maker will soon be sold out. In the spirit of giving, people are more likely to hand over their cash. That is what today’s advanced internet world works with and is, therefore, undoubtedly able to partially control our minds. So, if someone complains about your Christmas gift, blame the internet. TEREZA CHÁROVÁ 5

Variety Who brings the Christmas gifts?

ell, that is a controversial question. Some people believe that it is Santa Claus, driving his sleigh with reindeers, while others may claim that Baby Jesus is the one who makes sure we receive our well-deserved presents (being good all year round is a tough job, isn’t it?). In Spain, the majority of the people would say that the gifts are distributed by Papa Noel. There are even those who think that their presents are brought to them by their relatives (strange isn’t it?). Nearly every country has its 'presents bringer', emerging from their culture and traditions. Usually the gift distributors are not left to do this hard work all alone, having assistants to help them.This role of helpmates is often attributed to elves. So let’s find out, who the elves are and where they originally come from. The first elves were born from Germanic paganism. Germans were people who inhabited the ancient North Europe. For them, elves were creatures of light living in heaven. Later, by the flow of time, elves changed into tiny, magical, humanlike creatures with pointy ears, inhabiting forests, caves, wells and occasionally human dwellings. These were already much closer to the depiction of elves we know today. The Germanic elf tradition was inherited by their descendants Scandinavians. Scandinavians believed in gnomes, guarding their homes from evil forces. That was one of the number of good reasons, why to stay at good terms with them. If you had behaved well, you received treats and help from them. Because of this, it became a custom to leave

a bowl of pork on the front porch every night, for the elves to take. However, if you didn’t have manners and didn’t treat them right, they used to play all kinds of nasty tricks on you. One of these mischiefs they did was them sitting on your forehead while you were sleeping, by which they gave you a nightmare. From all this you can see that in those times you would have treated them with respect if you had at least a bit of sanity. In the late middle ages, when your homestead prospered, it was a clear sign of you having a good relationship with the elves. It’s true, however, they weren’t always considered helpful. There were folks who thought the elves were trolls or even cannibals, but mostly it was believed they might have been a little choleric but definitely very friendly. But when did the Christmas stuff come? Surprisingly, it’s quite a new invention. It started in the 1840s with author Clement Moore, writing a poem called “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, in which he said that St. Nick was a “right jolly old elf” and he made him master of eight reindeer. Soon there appeared an avalanche of publications from popular Scandinavian writers, describing the elves as helpers of Father Christmas and toy makers from the North Pole. But this idea became more popular between Americans

Hazelnut cookies INGREDIENTS: 5 dkg of crashed hazelnuts 15 dkg of smooth flour 10 dkg of butter 1 egg yolk 1 pack of vanilla sugar 2 dkg of icing sugar marmalade as needed INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Mix egg yolk, vanilla sugar, icing sugar, butter, smooth flour and hazelnuts together, creating a thick dough. 2. Leave the dough for half an hour in the freezer. 3. Use hands to make small balls (approximately 6g each) and place them on a tray with a baking paper. 4. Insert a hole in each ball, which will be later filled with the marmalade. 5. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 195° C for 14 minutes. 6. Remove the cookies from the oven, fill them with whichever kind of marmalade you like. 7. Ready to serve!

than in Scandinavia. Mainly because in Sweden, Norway and Finland, they already had their „Father Christmas“ for centuries. He is called Nisse. It’s important that Nisse wasn’t his original name. First he was called Yola Goat, but then he got influenced by Santa Claus, stopped carrying his goat around and instead he got himself a pig. However, he preserved some of his gnomish features. He looked similar to Santa and liked to have prepared a bowl of pork on the front porch too, but he entered the houses through the front door and didn’t live in the North Pole, but in Finland’s Lapaland. That’s because he too had a reindeer and Finns and Swedes, living by the corner, know, that there are no reindeers on the North Pole. If you did a bit of research by yourself, you would find out, that Americans and Scandinavians aren’t the only ones to have elves in their Christmas tradition. In Spanish cultures, there is Black Jack, serving Papa Noel by giving out punishments for naughty kids. In Austria and Switzerland (as well as in parts of Germany), there is Kramus, a beast-like creature, who searches the streets in the first two weeks of December to torment bad children. In the end, how you celebrate Christmas really depends on where you come from, but majority of the celebrations share the joy and cheerful theme, which makes Christmas largely popular among all kinds of people. So, who will bring presents to you this Christmas? ELIŠKA HAUFEROVÁ

Gift Ideas

face the same dilemma every year. I don't know what to give to my mom, siblings or friends. And because I have always wanted to try DIY gifts, now it is the time. So I have decided to give you some advice and tips on DIY gifts. They are super easy and you are going to need only few things. I have divided them into two groups: For Her and For Him. Let's start with the ladies. GIFTS FOR HER The first gift that came to my mind was the recipe in a jar. Here is the simple procedure just in few steps. 1. Put some flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder into a jar and add some bonbons. 2. Write a little card with brief guidelines, for example add eggs, milk and water and bake at 180°C. 3. And you’ve just made a cake, cupcakes, or a batch of cookies!

The second is a hand scrub. So to the procedure: 1. Combine 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil and 6 drops of vanilla essential oil 2. Stir it well and put it into a jar. 3. Tie a cute ribbon around it and voila, a perfect gift.

GIFTS FOR HIM The first DIY for any important man in your life is a mug with a message. mobile tours, sleep in an igloo hotel and 1. Take a mug and write something nice on it with a marker. go on husky and reindeer rides, but the 2. Bake it for 90 minutes and 160°C 3. Give it to your friend or a family member!

North Pole right around the corner

ave you ever wanted to visit the North Pole where Santa Claus and his elves answer letters and make the dreams of children come true? I have some good news for you because now you can visit the North Pole right in Europe. Santa Claus Village is an amusement park in Rovaniemi, Finland that was dubbed the official hometown of Santa Claus in 2010, where you can talk to Santa year round. It all began when Rovaniemi was almost totally destroyed in the Second World War. In 1950, Eleanor Roosevelt came to Rovaniemi to witness the rebuilding process. Eleanor wanted to visit the Arctic circle, and Rovaniemi officials rushed to build a cabin just for her. This cabin marks the birth of Santa Claus Village, and it still stands next to the Santa Claus Main Post Office. Legend says that Santa’s original home is in a secret location in Finland, so in 1985 Santa and his helpers decided to open up a public office where he would be able to greet children all year round. Every year, over half a million children send Santa letters that are sorted by Santa’s little helpers. The elves later sort them by country of origin, the village has so far gotten mail from 198 countries, and the number is still increasing. If meeting Santa Claus isn't enough for you, you can also visit many amazing Christmas themed stores, restaurants and cafés. Or even better you can go on snow-

The last DIY consists of baking something like Christmas cookies. Here is the recipe: 1. Combine 225 g of softened butter , 1/2 spoon of salt, 2 eggs, 4 spoonfuls of milk, 1 packing of vanilla sugar, 155g of milk chocolate, spoon of cinnamon, 250 g of flour, 50 g cocoa, 1 spoon of soda, 250 g sugar semolina. 2. Heat the oven to 180°C. 3. Combine all the dry ingredients and in the other bowl combine the others. Then mix everything in the separate bowls. 4. Combine the dry ingredients slowly with he other bowl and mix it. 5. Make little balls from the dough and put them on a plate. But make big spaces between the balls because they are going to be larger, and you can make one big tile. 6. Put them in the oven and make them.

flying reindeers are reserved for Santa only. There are also some attractions for the parents of the very excited children. For example, the Snowman World Ice Bar and restaurant, where everything is made of ice. However, obviously the main attraction, is seeing Santa and about 300,000 visitors travel over to the village every year to see him. The village sells a certificate that proves that you have officially met the real Santa Claus, in addition you can also buy your place on the nice list by purchasing a certificate of niceness. If you are a Christmas lover and one of your biggest dreams is to sit on Santa’s lap, go on a reindeer ride, be on the nice list and live in Santa’s village. I think you will love everything about Santa Claus Village and I think it is worth it to release you inner child especially since you can I am going to try all the DIYs this year, so I hope you will try them, too! do it at such a magical place. VIKTORIE HLOŽKOVÁ LAUREN MULDOON

Open Press 6 - June 2017

Variety Fiction: The Christmas Threat

Movie Night

ave you ever wondered about hosting a Christmas party with your friends, but you did not know what movies to pick? I´m here to help you with that problem! I have some tips for both Czech and international movies. First, here is the Czech list. PELÍŠKY It is a Czech classic. Taking place at the end of the sixties. It is a movie full of humor and I really like it because I watch it every year with my family and we have very great time at this movie.

TŘI OŘÍŠKY PRO POPELKU We all know the classic movie about the Cinderella and an evil mom, but the Czech movie is a little bit different. She gets three nuts which turn into beautiful dresses. This romantic fairy tale is shown on TV every year. ANDĚL PÁNĚ It is a movie about an angel and a devil trying to save themselves. The movie is exciting with some really funny scenes. ANDĚL PÁNĚ 2 A big catastrophe comes. The apple of knowing falls on the Earth and Uriáš and Petronel have to find it before the god turns them into a star nebula. I like this one even more than the first movie. There are more funny scenes. Simply hilarious. Now, let´s take a look at movies from other countries.

can´t stay here. I have to leave this house right now. I ran through our village. I ran through the fields which surrounded our village. After a while, I finally entered the forest. Finally, I thought. During this, one of the last nights of December, the forest was quiet, calm and covered in a thick layer of snow. I stood on a small meadow. What was the thing that my mother always reminded me? You should never go to the forest on Christmas night, strange things happen there during that time – the Beast can take you to a different world. I took a deep breath to clear my mind, because these were just words she used to scare a little boy who had lost his father. He had disappeared ten years ago, into the forest on Christmas Eve, never coming back. The forest was very quiet. Normally I would hear a few birds singing, maybe a squirrel scratching or at least the wind blowing – but now all of a sudden everything had stopped. I turned around and scanned the meadow. In one of the corners, I saw a huge shadow that should not have bee n there. I sighed. This was the worst thing that could’ve happen, I thought to myself. However, I was wrong, because the shadow started to circle around me, each circle it got closer to me. Well, this is the worst was my second thought, but I wasn’t even right this time, because the shad-

HOME ALONE A movie about a boy, who stays alone, while his whole family travels to Paris. He thinks it’s cool, but then the raiders s you probably know, different show up and he is in great danger. I love parts of the world celebrate the this movie since there is lot of action and New Year at different times. Firstly, the I definitely recommend it to everyone. bells strike twelve on the islands in the Pacific Ocean, few hours later in AustralLOVE ACTUALLY The story takes place in London, and is ia, Russia and Europe, and after several about love. It is a perfect movie for your more hours, they strike in Brazil and the girls’ night, but get your tissues ready, United States. So let's take a look at some you are going to cry. It is a perfect movie of the most interesting, maybe even the for me and I watch it every year. craziest, New Year’s celebration traditions from all over the world. THE GRINCH In Russian Siberia, for example, one of Everyone thinks that Grinch is just a big the traditions is mainly for people who green monster, who hates everyone and are really used to the cold. They have to everything, but as it turns out, Grinch is dive into frozen lakes with a tree trunk in simply lonely and needs a friend, who their hand, because the goal is to place understands him. this “New Year’s Tree”, which is decoratARTHUR CHRISTMAS ed in the similar way as our Christmas Santa forgot to deliver one last present, so Tree, under the ice. But be careful, you it's up to his son Arthur to deliver joy to might catch something much worse than this kid before dawn. It is a cartoon, but a cold. do not be sad - you can watch it ivery year and still like it.

ow started to whisper: “Come to me, little Andrew, come to me. Andrew, come to me…” Sure I will, you devil, I thought to myself. I was not even considering coming closer to it, but then it said something that defeated me: “Come with me, little Andrew, I will take you to your father. Come with me, little Andrew, and I will let you be with him.” I desperately wanted to see my father. I had ran away from home with nothing and nowhere to go. I took one step closer to the beast and said as loudly as I could: “Take me to him. Take me to the place where he is.” Just as I finished the sentence, the Beast jumped in front of me – and I saw it for the first time. It was a three-headed dog, but three or four times bigger that a normal dog, as big as a bear. I was obviously shocked, but something seemed very strangely familiar about it. What does it remind me of? It approached slowly. Think, Andrew, think – what is it? It was so close to me that I literally felt its breath – but I swear I had seen it somewhere, in some book or---The realization hit me hard and too late. "I will take you to the place where your father is", it said. Of course it will. The place is its home. Dear God, this is Kerberos. This creature in front of me is the guardian of Gates of Hell. I opened my mouth to scream, but then it attacked. JIŘINA PORUBOVÁ

New Year Around the World

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Old Scrooge is a big grouch, and he makes the holidays uncomfortable for everyone. However, then he sees a few ghosts and he is at the threshold of death. I would not play it to the youngest children because it is rough in some scenes. A BAD MOMS’ CHRISTMAS A new movie coming out this year. Three moms are tired of the perfect Christmas. The point of one of the Spanish tradiThey are going to have more fun, and tions is a bit simpler - you just have to fill enjoy it by their rules. your mouth with twelve grapes just when it strikes midnight. If you manage VIKTORIE HLOŽKOVÁ this, it will bring you good luck for the entire year. If you want to make sure you

really got this, you have at least two options. You can practice before, as many people actually do (a year of prosperity is definitely worth it), or you can try to buy the smallest grapes you can find, and this challenge will be much easier for you. When the bells strike twelve in Egypt, people gather in front of thousand-yearold monuments: the pyramids. Many popular artists entertain people under the pyramids during the celebration and so the old welcomes the new. We just have to hope the celebrating crowds won’t damage the statics of the pyramids. In Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, a local tradition, bringing good luck in the upcoming year, dictates people to jump over seven sea waves and wear something white while doing so. To honor Iemanja, the goddess of the seas, you have to bring a bouquet of white flowers, which you’ll throw into the waves. If you want to try out the Columbian tradition, you have to get your suitcase ready, because the custom requires you to carry the suitcase with you the entire day of December 31 st. No, Columbians aren’t crazy, they just hope for a new year to be filled with traveling. This is just a small selection of some of the most interesting traditions. But each country in the world has its own, unique New Year’s celebration traditions. If you are interested in any more of them, just do a quick online search and see for yourself! I can assure you, it’s worth it! KAROLÍNA HRABALOVÁ

Open Press 7 - November 2017

Lighting a Path

ndia is a country know for its extensive culture, festivals and celebrations. But haven't you ever been at least a bit curious as to which one of these is the most celebrated?

This holiday goes by the name of Divali, or Dipawali - the name comes from the row(avali) of clay lamps (deepa), this name already gives you a small hint as to what it may be. Indias light these clay lamps outside of their homes to symbolize the so called inner light that protects them from spiritual darkness.

The story behind the origin slightly differs slightly on the faith and on where they live but is still celebrated by everyone - like Christmas for most atheist. One of them being from western India, where the story of the origin might slightly resemble the creation of the underworld, Diwali marks the day that Lord Vishnu (on of the main Hindi gods) sent the demon King Bali to rule the nether world. In a few other interpretations in marks the nirvana or spiritual awakening. But all of these show the victory of good over evil, regardless the interpretation. So why don’t even we light our paths with a little bit of light to stay protected from the evil around us? VERONIKA BARNHARTOVÁ

Variety Naše Uspěchy; Two Interpretations Již poněkolikáté se delegace studentů za školní trojnoviny OG Chronicle, OG NOTes a Chrognika, vydala na předávání celostátních cen pro nejlepší Školní časopis v republice. Tak jako v minulých ročnících, i tentokrát jsme do soutěže pro „časopisy“ přihlásili naše školní noviny, nicméně tato indispozice nám nebyla ani trochu na obtíž a nezabránila nám zaujmout nejvyšší pozice v mnoha kategoriích. Krom samotného předávání cen proběhl na Fakultě sociálních studií MU i multimediální den obsahující širokou škálu tematických workshopů a přednášek od těch nejdůležitějších osobností mediálního dění. Naše dvojice (Matyáš Bosák a Darina Lisichkina) pod vedením paní Pospíšil měla možnost navštívit workshop a debatu, ve které byly z mnoha úhlů pohledu vykresleny současné trendy českých médií zahrnovat do svého zpravodajství diváky samotné. Zobjektivní se takto média? Nabízí to nové úhly pohledu relevantní pro běžného diváka? Nejde pouze o taktickou tendenci médií se lidem přiblížit a zvýšit tak svoji sledovanost? Neztrácí média kredibilitu a nestává se z nich takto haló zpravodajství; místo popularizace zpráv jejich bagatelizace kvůli zaujatým a nekomplexním pohledům laiků? Otázek, které tyto debaty vznášely, je nespočet. Důležitost témat tkví v tom, že média mají neskutečnou moc a jejich cílem je lidi informovat. Na jednu stranu „zjednodušené“ zpravodajství přiblížilo

For the past two years, our collective school newspapers - The OG Chronicle, OG NOTes and Krognika - have been recognized for top national prizes in the Best School Magazine in the Czech Republic contest. Because there is no alternative at present, we enroll our school newspaper into this "magazine" competition, but this hasn’t prevented us from taking the top positions in many categories. Our newspaper was awared 1st Place in Graphics, 1st Place in the Other Languages category, 2nd place in Content, and 4th Place overall. We couldn’t be prouder of our efforts! In addition to the award ceremony, the MU Faculty of Social Studies also held a multimedia day with a wide range of thematic workshops and lectures from the 8

společnost k povědomí o současnému dění, jenomže za tu cenu, že nevhodné názory lidí, kteří témata nevidí v jejich komplexnosti, mohou značně ovlivnit světonázor a tato témata pak ztrácejí informační relevanci. Koneckonců, zprávy by měli tvořit lidé, reportéři a odborníci, kteří tématům opravdu rozumí a ne ti, kteří mají na celkovou problematiku velmi úzký úhel pohledu. Je značné, že média právě procházejí opravdovou revolucí a ani náš školní časopis nezůstává kvůli principu, na kterém je založen, pozadu. Studenti, kteří píší do novin, pro své články obvykle vybírají pouze taková témata, jímž rozumí, a příhodnou formou pak objektivně informují. Nechybí ani rubrika pro komentáře na společnost a názory autorů. Že naše noviny zůstávají v obraze a zachovávají si svoji objektivitu a zároveň tematickou rozmanitost potvrdila mimo jiné i medailová pozice v kategorii obsah, kde jsou právě tato hlediska zkoumány a hodnoceny. Krom ocenění za hodnotný obsah se nově můžeme pyšnit oceněním za grafiku, kterou si naše noviny zachovávají v hravém a zároveň střídmém a seriózním duchu. Mimo to nás velmi potěšila cena za nejlepší cizojazyčný časopis roku. Pětijazyčný plátek umí vskutku zanechat dojem. Náš latinský konkurent nám byl opravdovým soupeřem, přestože jsme si v jejich výtisku moc nepočetli. Čímpak to asi

most important personalities in media events today. Our student representatives, sexta students Matyáš Bosák and Darina Lisichkina, under the leadership of Mrs. Pospíšil had the opportunity to attend a workshop and a debate in which the current trends of Czech media were discussed from many viewpoints. Some of the guest speakers spoke about the changing role of the media and as publishers they try to include the viewers themselves in their news. Another key issue discussed was the way in which media is portrayed nowadays. Does this view offer new viewing angles relevant to a regular viewer? Is not it just about the tactical tendency of the media to get people closer to raising their audience? The media does not lose credi-

bude? Celkové finální ocenění za čtvrtý nejlepší školní časopis v naší kategorii byl bezpochyby katalyzátorem pro pýchu všech z nás, kteří se na našich novinách podílíme. Celý den na nás zanechal opravdový dojem. Měli jsme šanci nachytat inspiraci od ostatních úspěšných novin a různorodý obsah debat byl pro naše delegáty k zamyšlení a utvrdil nás v přesvědčení, jak vrtkavým jsou média nástrojem a jak důležité je zachovat si objektivitu a relevanci. Co dodat? Těšíme se na příští ročník soutěže! MATYÁŠ BOSÁK

Photos: Above—1st Place Graphics; Far Left—1st Place Category of Other Languages; Middle Left— 2nd Place Category of Content; Left Center—4th Place Overall

bility and does not become a halo of news; instead of popularizing the messages of their misinterpretation due to the biased and uncomplicated views of laymen? These were some of the numerous questions raised in the debate. It gave us a lot to think about regarding the way we treat our newspaper and how we get our news for our classes. The importance of these topics lies in the fact that the media have unreal power and their goal is to inform people. On the one hand, "simplified" news has brought these media companies closer to the events happening in our neighborhoods, but with this comes risks of biased or unbalanced news reporting from local people who may not see issues in their full complexity or how these opinions can greatly influence worldview; therefore, some topics today are losing information relevance. Half of the debate panel argued that the news should be made up of people, reporters and experts who really understand the themes and not those who have very narrow views of the overall issue. We could definitely see both points. It is significant that the media are undergoing a real revolution and that our school magazine does not remain behind,

Open Press 6 - June 2017

due to the principle on which it is founded. Students who write in newspapers usually choose only the topics they understand and attempt to inform objectively about their topics. There is also a section dedicated specifically for comments on society and the opinions of the authors. That our newspapers remain in the picture and preserve their objectivity while confirming the thematic diversity amongst other things the medal position in the category of content where these aspects are examined and evaluated. In addition to appreciating our school newspaper’s valuable content, we received the top prize in the Graphics category for our paper which maintains a playful, yet clever and earnest spirit. On top of that, we were very pleased with the prize for the best foreign language magazine of the year, but it is hard to compete with us as we have a fivelingual newspaper that has something for everyone. Our main competitor in this category was a Latin magazine which also had some interesting content and layout as well, so kudos to them. And finally, to receive an honor as high as fourth Best School Magazine nationwide (when we really have a newspaper) is a feat in itself. It is a prestigious catalyst for all of us who wish to be involved in our school newspapers and have an interest in journalism. So our overall impression of the day was very inspirational. We had a chance to see and be inspired by other successful newspapers, and the diverse content of the debates was a reflection for our delegates and confirmed us in the conviction of how volatile the media is and how important it is to maintain objectivity and relevance. What to add? We are looking forward to the next competition!

Ekologie En clase

En classe

Gut Gemacht

KVARTA: Wir lesen ein Buch. Es heißt Anne Frank - ihr Leben. Das Buch ist von Anne Frank, sie war ein jüdisches Mädchen. Das Buch ist ihr Tagebuch. Wir finden das Buch sehr interessant. SEXTA: Wir finden das Buch Ziemlich beste Freunde interessant. Wir können neue Vokabeln lernen. Die Geschichte ist schön und das Buch ist nicht zu lang.

Open Press 7 - November 2017

Français Enquête

La France après un examen de l'écologiste

out le monde sait que la France est une des puissances européennes, mais un peu de gens sait qu'elle est une des moins respectueuses de l'environnement. La France a été punie plusieurs fois par la Cour européenne de justice, parce qu'elle a violé les règlements publiés par l'Union européenne. Par exemple la protection insuffisante des oiseaux migrateurs ou les problèmes d'azote dans l'eau. Mais la France veut essayer de corriger sa politique environnementale de plusieurs façons. Elle rejette 3 fois moins de CO2 par habitant que les USA: 8 tonnes par habitant! C'est grâce à l'importance (près de 80%) des centrales nucléaires dans la production d'électricité, la consommation de gaz beaucoup plus faible des voitures

européennes et meilleur système de transport public: trains rapides, métro, tramways. La France est le champion des taxes les plus bizzares en matière d'écologie, les taxes sont payées pour les plateaux de papier ou les lunettes en plastique. On dit que la France est un pays de châteaux, mais aujourd'hui c´est plutôt un pays de forêts. La France a la plus grande quantité de forêts en Europe et ces forêts couvrent 30% de la France. C'est incroyable que le nombre de forêts françaises a grandi deux fois depuis 1850. La France protège vraiment ses forêts! Et savez-vous que si vous cherchiez des maisons en bois en France, vous en trouverez probablement très peu? N'est-ce pas étrange quand ils ont autant de bois?

Ce n'est pas seulement pour la protection des forêts, mais aussi pour la plus longue vie de maisons. Les écologistes européens se battent avec les chasseurs françaises. La chasse est un gros problème en France. Le nombre de chasseurs est proche de 2 millions et les Français ont été des chasseurs passionnés depuis la Révolution française. La raison en est qu'après la chute de la monarchie, la chasse n'était plus le privilège de la noblesse et tout le monde a commencé à chasser. Ce passetemps a persisté et maintenant les chasseurs sont les ennemis du règlement de l'Union européenne. La France a un long chemin à parcourir pour obtenir la perfection écologique, mais pourtant elle fait des efforts! JASMÍNA ŠVARCROVÁ

QUEL PHÉNOMÈNE NATUREL VOUS AVEZ VÉCU? j'étais petite, peut-être deux Q uand ans, il y avait une grande catastrophe naturelle à Přerov. Il neigeait et neigeait et la rivière était beaucoup plus grande que d'habitude. Il y avait une inondation gigantesque. Quand l'inondation est arrivée, mon père était chez nous, avec moi et par bonheur il n’y avait pas d’eau dans notre maison. Mais ma mère était à l'hôpital parce-qu'elle était l’infirmière. Les rues était pleins d’eau, donc elle a dû rester dans l'hôpital pendant trente heures tant que mon père l’a sauvé en canoë. VERONIKA VAŘÁKOVÁ

ette année, quand j’étais aux ÉtatsUnis, j’ai vécu le tremblement de terre. C'était la nuit et j’ai dû tenir l’armoire avec la vaisselle. La maison entière, où nous étion logés bougait. C’était une expérience très intéressante. ONDŘEJ ŠMEJC

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/ article/2015/01/06/la-france-est-ellevraiment-exemplaire-en-matiere-decologie_4549174_3244.html https://www.understandfrance.org/ France/Environment.html n 2015, ma famille et moi, nous http://www.lavie.fr/actualite/ecologie/ avons voyagé au Brésil. Là-bas, nous palmares-ecologie-2016/palmares-de-lavons vu les chutes d’Ignazú. Il y a plus ecologie-2016-en-france-24-10-2016de 150 chutes d’eau et c’est le plus grand 77166_855.php système de cascades sur terre. Les chutes sont situées à la frontière entre le Brésil et l’Argentine et ils sont aussi inscrites au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO. C’était une expérience très fantastique et je ne l’oublierai jamais. TEREZA JAKOUBKOVÁ

Reportage de la discussion avec Tereza Boučková

Écologie au Canada: Qu’est-qu'ils font?

anada est un pays très grand avec la nature belle. Il y a une grande diversité de la nature aussi: les régions polaires, les îles, les lacs, les forêts, les montagnes, les vallées, tous propres et pleins de vie. Et les Canadiens sont fiers de leur nature: à voir leur drapeau! Donc la population canadienne doit adopter les habitudes écologiques pour préserver sa nature magnifique.

Le recyclage est l’habitude la plus courante, bien que c’est une habitude plus difficile parce qu’elle demande un engagement à long terme. Mais le 97% ménages canadiens ont accès à “un point propre” et l’utilisent. Pourtant, le compostage est une habitude la moins pratiqué, seulement 30% de ménages font ça. On peut expliquer ça par la complexité du compostage ou l’absence de connaissances de base sur la procédure. L'hygiène est très importante dans nos vies, mais on peut se comporter bien et écologiquement aussi dans ce domaine. Par exemple, les canadiens utilisent les toilettes et les pommes de 10

douche à faible débit. C’est plus facile que le recyclage, parce que il suffit d´installer les toilettes ou les pommes de douche économique. C’est probablement parce que 56% ménages canadiens utilisent la pomme de douche à faible débit et 37% utilisent la toilette à faible débit. Quelques ménages canadiens ont adopté l’habitude de réduction de la température, concrètement 54%. À mon avis, c’est un exemple de grand courage, parce qu’il fait très très froid au Canada en hiver. Finalement, Canada consiste de dix provinces, et les citoyens aux provinces différents font les choses écologiques différentes aussi. La province la plus active est L’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, où presque deux tiers de ménages ont adopté au moins quatre habitudes écologiques. Les provinces les plus actives sont le Québec et le Manitoba, mais L'Île-du-Prince-Édouard a le taux de participation de ménages presque double. KAROLÍNA HRABALOVÁ http://entreprise-environnement.org/ wp-content/uploads/2010/04/drapeau-

undi le 2 octobre, une écrivaine tchèque, qui s’appelle Tereza Boučková est arrivée à notre école pour se présenter et lire un petit extrait de son livre. Tereza Boučková est une femme qui n’avait pas la vie facile. Son père était contre le régime communiste, en Tchécoslovaquie, donc elle n’a pu pas devenir actrice comme elle voulait quand elle était petite. D’abord, elle ne pouvait pas avoir d'enfants, donc elle a adopté

j’étais petite, j’ai vécu un petit Q uand tremblement de terre dans les îles caraïbes. J’ai été logée au dernier étage dans un hôtel. C'était pendant la nuit, donc je me préparais dormir. Tout à coup, l’hôtel a commencé à se secouer, donc des décorations et d'autres trucs ont commencé à tomber. Par chance, ça a duré peu de temps et tout le monde était bien. DARINA LISICHKINA

u Canada, il fait froid, il fait si froid. Nous parlons du pays où il neige d'octobre à mai. Je peux vous dire que sortir à -30 degrés est amusant seulement pour ceux qui sont cachés par trente couches de vêtements. RADIM KURKA j’étais petite, je suis allée en Q uand Grèce avec ma mère, ma sœur et mes grand parents. Nous avons volé en avion pendant la nuit, quand c’était l’orage à l’extérieur. De l’avion, l’orage semblait deux garçons tsiganes. Après, peut-être petit. Aussi, l’orage était bruyant, agité et comme une récompense elle a eu un fils. puissant. C’était super bien. Mais c’était très difficile avec les garçons. NATÁLIE ŽALMANOVÁ Les problèmes à l’école, les vols, ça n’a l y a sept ans, quand ma famille et moi, jamais fini. Après,un garçon a été arrêté nous sommes allés à Dubaï. Là-bas, par police et emprisonné. C’était très intéressant. Madame nous sommes allés au désert. C’était maBoučková est sympathique et les choses gnifique: le soleil, le sable, les dunes, les dont elle a parlé étaient facile à chameaux. Mais le jour suivant, il y avait comprendre mais elle nous a un orage de sable! C’était vraiment désagréable. Nous ne pouvions pas aller fait réfléchir. KAROLÍNA HRABALOVÁ dehors à cause du sable. Et il y avait l’air comme s'il y avait un mur dehors, on ne h t t p s : / / u p l o a d . w i k i m e d i a . o r g / voyait rien! Le sable n’était plus wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/ magnifique! KAROLÍNA HRABALOVÁ Tereza_Boučková_-_portrét.jpg/250px-

Open Press 6 - June 2017

Español Proyecto ecológico necesita ayudantes en Asturias, España

o hay mucha gente que se preocupe por la naturaleza, sin embargo es bueno cuando algunas personas se preocupan. La naturaleza de la Tierra es tan increíble, tan mágica y la matamos sin remordimientos. ¡Qué triste es esto! He encontrado a unas personas que proporcionan un proyecto para ayudar a la Tie-rra. Thomas y Astrid son una pareja de Países Bajos que vive en Asturias, en las montañas en el norte España. Hablan holandés, inglés, español y francés. Viven en condiciones muy extrañas porque ellos usan solo las cosas naturales, comen y duermen en una furgoneta. Viven tan autosuficientemente como es posible. Ellos buscan personas a los que les gustaría unirse con ellos y trabajar para ayudarlos. La ayuda que necesitan es en trabajos como regar y deshierbar el huerto, cuidar a los burros, arrastrar madera, cocinar, quitar helechos y tojos y más. Tienen un perro, dos gatos, dos burros, tres ovejas y seis gallinas. A veces necesitan dos ayudantes. Es necesario que se queden por lo menos cuatro semanas. A Thomas y a Astrid les gusta la cerveza y el vino, pero no fuman. ¿Hay alguien interesado en Open Gate? FILIP HALTMAR

Mañana de Brujas (o Halloween) en Open gate

alloween es una de las tradiciones que más se celebran en Open Gate. Cada año tenemos actividades durante la tarde en los dormitorios y una disco de disfraces en la noche. Este año no fue la excepción y además tuvimos algo totalmente nuevo. Este año hay muchas nuevas cosas en Open Gate. Tenemos una nueva directora, un nuevo centro de terapia, nuevos profesores, etc. En total hay

El regreso de un gran desastre

l martes 19 de septiembre empezó tranquilamente para los mexicanos que recordaban el terremoto de 1985, el cual había ocurrido hacía 32 años exactamente el mismo día. El terremoto de 1985 fue el más significativo y dañino en México. Después de esto todos vieron la importancia de prepararse para los terremotos. El problema fue que el martes en la mañana hubo simulacros para la prevención y cuando a la una de la tarde la alerta sísmica empezó a sonar, nadie podía saber que la alarma sonaba en realidad y no se trataba de un simulacro más.

A las 13:14 ocurrió el terremoto que todos los mexicanos iban a recordar por siempre. Su epicentro fue solo a unas decenas de kilómetros de la Ciudad de México y por eso no hubo suficiente tiempo para alertar y evacuar a la gente. El terremoto de Puebla, que es el nombre oficial de este terremoto, tuvo una

muchas cosas que cambiaron. Halloween en OG también mejoró este año. ¿Y cómo? Por la mañana en la escuela no había alumnos en sus típicos uniformes, sino muchas diferentes criaturas raras: magos, zombies y otros seres que se relacionan con la muerte y el mundo de la fantasía. El jueves 2 de noviembre la mayoría de los estudiantes vinieron a la escuela vistiendo disfraces originales. Sexta B fue la única clase en que todos

fueron a escuela con el mismo disfraz, el de zombie en piyama. El ambiente fue increíble. En la tarde todos fueron invitados a los dormitorios donde los educadores prepararon una competición. La primera actividad fue totalmente típica americana, el famoso apple bobbing. Los competidores tenían que tomar una manzana con la boca de un barril con agua. La segunda actividad consistía en que los estudiantes hacían un disfraz de momia a uno de sus amigos. Después resolvían rompecabezas y al final tallaban las calabazas. Los estudiantes estaban en equipos y los mejores ganaron dulces de premio. Al final del día tuvimos una disco, una actividad única en OG y muy popular entre los estudiantes jóvenes. Jenifer Němcová fue la DJ en la disco por primera vez y a todos les gustó su elección de canciones. Todo esto no podría ser posible sin el trabajo duro de los educadores de los dormitorios y sin el consejo de estudiantes de OG, que preparó todas estas actividades con el objetivo de unir y divertir a los estudiantes. MATEO RENDLA

Encuesta

En clase

magnitud de 7,1 Mw y 39 réplicas. La Ciudad de México fue la más afectada, en total hubo 228 víctimas (de las 369 víctimas en total en toda la región afectada). Además de estas víctimas hubo más de siete mil heridos. Otras ciudades muy afectadas fueron Morelos y Puebla.

¿CUÁL ES EL FENÓMENO NATURAL MÁS INTERESANTE QUE HAS VISTO EN TU VIDA?

e acuerdo de una experiencia en junio, en Canadá. Vi las cataratas del Niágara. Son impresionantes. Lo único es que no esperaba era ver tantos turistas. Es demasiado turístico. Además, es caro y siempre hay colas para ir en barco. SARAH MULDOON

E Nadie puede dudar que el Terremoto de Puebla fue uno de los más grandes desastres de México y una tragedia, pero eventos como este pueden también tener un aspecto positivo. El terremoto provocó una gran solidaridad entre los mexicanos. Todo el país se unió, la gente se ayudaba entre sí. Al final es necesario decir que, si se comparan las consecuencias, el terremoto de Puebla fue menos fatal que el terremoto de 1985, ya que los simulacros y entrenamientos, las nuevas tecnologías para construir edificios y la alerta sísmica a-yudaron a salvar muchas vidas. MATEO RENDLA

Open Press 7 - November 2017

n la televisión he visto un documental sobre la naturaleza del mundo. Uno de los fenómenos más impresionantes es un pájaro pequeñito que vive en los bosques tropicales. Tiene cuatro colores: amarillo, azul, negro y verde. Gracias a los colores atrae a las novias, porque los colores son tan llamativos en contraste con los árboles que permiten ver al pájaro a través de kilómetros. HELENA SEVEROVÁ

l fenómeno más interesante que he visto fue el Uluru y el desierto central de Australia después de la lluvia más fuerte en 50 años. La montaña de Uluru es increíble, por su historia y grandio-sidad. El desierto estaba todo verde y tenemos unas fotos muy buenas. MATEO RENDLA

l fenómeno más interesante que he visto fueron los Alpes en Italia, en verano. Allí pude ver desde Italia hasta Alemania cuando no estaba nublado. La vista fue increíble. La combinación de la blanca nieve con el verde de los árboles me encantó. PEDRO BARTOŠ 11

Deutsch Warum brauchen wir den Umweltschutz?

an kann unsere Umwelt als ein Puzzlespiel wahrnehmen. Man kann jedes Stück unserer Erde, wie zum Beispiel hohe Berge, frisches Wasser oder reiche Felder so ansehen. Aus dieser Perspektive ist es einfacher zu verstehen, wie alles in der Natur verknüpft ist. Nur alle Stücke können ein ganzes Bild hervorbringen. Ökologie ist aber kein Prozess, wo man einzelne Stücke verbindet, sondern es ist eine Ideologie; ihr Kern ist das Verehren der ganzheitlichen Natur. Sowas aber stimmt nicht mit unserer Vorstellung von einem Umweltschützer überein; wenn man nämlich das Wort Umweltschützer sagt, denkt man an Demonstranten, die versuchen einen Bau zu verhindern, nur weil es dort irgendwelche Endemiten gibt, oder die wollen, dass es rundum eine Stadt Wälder gibt (dann kann sich nämlich die Stadt nicht erweitern). Diese Vorstellung kann auf der einen Seite auch richtig sein: diese Leute sind auch Umweltschützer, aber noch mehr wichtige Öko-Aktivisten. Trotzdem, wenn man die Natur mag und sich Umweltschützer nennen will, muss sich nicht unbedingt an die Bäume festbinden. Der Umweltschutz liegt in Sorge, Verstehen und Erkenntnis. Wie

ich schon am Anfang erwähnt habe, die Natur ist in sich verbunden und nur Leute, die das verstehen, sind Umweltschützer. Diese Leute wissen, dass jeder Kilometer mit dem Auto lässt die Zeit früher kommen, wo die Luft so schmutzig ist, dass wir nicht mehr atmen können. Und durch unser ganzes Verhalten auf dem Planeten auch die Zeit, wo wir in Müll schwimmen werden. Die Ozeane so dreckig werden, dass die meisten Lebewesen in den Ozeanen aussterben. Wie hässlich wäre so eine Welt! Muss es aber so sein? Was wichtig ist, man kann diese Folgen verhindern nur durch die Veränderung von ein paar Gewohnheiten. Ökologisches Verhalten ist zweifellos unumgänglich für gesunde und schöne Zukunft. Alles Schlechte, was wir der Natur antun, wird sich an uns rächen. Es ist ein Fakt, dass Ökologie heißt, d i e Natur

und ihre Prozesse zu verstehen. Wenn die Menschheit sowas nicht begreift, spielt sie in der Tat mit der Zukunft. Wenn die Leute in Mittelasien wüssten, dass der zu hohe Wasserverbrauch für die Landwirtschaft den Aralsee austrocknen lässt, würden sie nicht das Business von Tausenden Fischern zerstören. Die gleiche Sache kommt, wenn wir von „The Dust bowl“ in Amerika sprechen, der Desertifikation in Sahara oder den Unterwasser-Ölminen, die den ganzen Golf von Mexiko verschmutzt haben. Diese Katastrophen könnte man verhindern, wenn man die Natur besser verstehen möchte, mit anderen Worten: wenn man ökologisch denken würde. Warum sollen wir Umweltschützer sein/werden? Weil die Natur uns unser Verhalten zurückzahlen kann! Im guten sowie im schlechten Sinne dieses Wortes. MATYÁŠ BOSÁK

Umfrage HABEN SIE EINE NATURERSCHEINUNG MITERLEBT?

2010

habe ich etwas gesehen, was für mich eine Naturerscheinung war. Es war die „Old Faithfull“, der größte Geiser der Welt. Wenn er aktiv ist, kann er 56 Meter hoch sein, das Wasser hat 80°C. Er ist alle 1,5 Stunden für 3 Minuten aktiv. MATĚJ ŠMIDBERSKÝ

ie Sonne geht jeden Tag auf; trotzdem war es für mich ein Erlebnis, als ich den ganzen Sonnenaufgang gesehen habe. Es war in den Ferien, wir mussten nach vier Uhr aufstehen und dann sind wir auf einen Felsen geklettert (ich war mit meinen Freunden in einem Felsengebirge). Das hat uns nicht genügt - wir sind dann Bäume, die in der Nähe waren, hinaufgeklettert, so dass wir als erste die Sonne sehen konnten. BETH JANEČKOVÁ

ls ich in Österreich war, habe ich eine Lawine miterlebt. Es war ganz schrecklich; alle mussten evakuiert werden. Wir sind nach Hause gefahren und ein Tunnel war ganz zugeschüttet. Wir haben etwa zwei Stunden gewartet und erst dann konnten wir unsere Fahrt fortsetzen. HANKA TYBURCOVÁ

Ein Rückblick auf den Schüleraustausch 2017

Die Stromerzeugung in Österreich In der Welt kann man Energie praktisch auf zweierlei Weise gewinnen – aus erneuerbaren und fossilen Energiequellen. Die erneuerbaren Energien sind unbegrenzt und können auf natürlichem Wege regenerieren. Dazu gehören die Energie von Sonne, Wind oder Wasser. Weil erneuerbare Energien den Ausstoß von CO2 reduzieren, sind sie sehr umweltfreundlich. Dagegen sind die fossilen Energiequellen (zum Beispiel Braunkohle, Steinkohle, Erdgas und Erdöl) nicht unbegrenzt. Diese Ressourcen werden aus der Erde gewonnen und sind aus toten Tieren und Pflanzen entstanden. Sie decken fast 80% der gesamten Stromerzeugung und die Wissenschaftler sagen, dass es bis 2050 keine fossilen Energiequellen mehr in der Welt geben wird. Deshalb will Österreich die erneuerbaren Energien am meisten verwenden. Die Verwendung fossiler Energiequellen stellt nur 67,8% der gesamten Stromproduktion in Österreich dar. In der Welt macht das

durchschnittlich 86,2% aus, man kann also sagen, dass Österreich ein sehr umweltfreundliches Land ist. Die Wasserkraft deckt zum Beispiel 60% des österreichischen Stromverbrauchs. Außerdem hat Österreich etwa 1 120 Windkraftanlagen, die Wind- und die Sonnenkraft erreichen einen Anteil von 3% am gesamten Stromverbrauch in Österreich. Daneben spielt die aus Holz oder Ölpflanzen gewonnene Bioenergie auch eine wichtige Rolle. Nicht weniger wichtig ist die Stromerzeugung aus Biomasse (insg. 13,9%). Allerdings ist Österreich nicht das einzige Land, welches sich bemüht die fossilen Energiequellen zu ersetzen. In Deutschland werden fossile Energiequellen zu 71% für die Stromerzeugung genutzt, also kann man Deutschland auch als ein umweltfreundliches Land bezeichnen. MARKÉTA MALCOVÁ

nde September liegt für die Mehrheit von euch schon tief in der Geschichte, aber einige von uns, die Septimaner mit Deutsch als Unterrichtsfach, profitieren noch immer von den Erlebnissen, die wir zwischen dem 18. und 27. September gesammelt haben. In dieser Zeit sind vier von uns Gastgeber geworden. Wir bereiteten Freizeitaktivitäten vor, die die Deutschen interessieren konnten, zum Beispiel Brettspiele oder das Reiten. In der Schulzeit saßen unsere vier Gäste fast immer mit uns in den Schulbänken. Besonders gut fanden sie das Fach ToK (die Erkenntnistheorie). Einige lernten Geschichte und Ökonomie, andere Biologie und Chemie. Das Programm, und natürlich auch die Zeit in der Schule, haben sich nach den Stundenplänen einzelner Septimaner unterschieden. Mit dem Unterricht auf Englisch ist es natürlich schwerer, wenn man die ganze Zeit auf Deutsch sprechen will. Die Regel war aber gleich wie in der Zeit, als wir Deutschland besucht haben; wie viel Deutsch wir gelernt oder geübt haben, war nur unsere Entscheidung. Die Gruppe hat auch viele Ausflüge gemacht, namentlich nach Prag, wo wir während drei Ausflüge die Altstadt, die Kleinseite, die Judenstadt, den Aussichtsturm auf dem Petřín, eine Ausstellung und selbstverständlich auch ein paar Geschäfte besucht haben. Ein Vormittag war für einen Besuch der

Open Press 6 - June 2017

Bierbrauerei in Velké Popovice vorbehalten. Am Wochenende konnten wir endlich einen Teil der Verantwortung für das Programm an unsere Eltern weitergeben. Das hatte unterschiedliche Folgen. Zum Beispiel ein Vater, der Flugzeuge mag, hat natürlich die Gelegenheit genutzt und ein deutsches Mädchen ins Flugzeugmuseum eingeladen. Andere haben ihre deutschen Kameraden zur Ausstellung über die Geschichte der Computerspiele mitgenommen. Insgesamt war die Zeit für mich mehr als nur ein ‘’zweiter Teil des Austauschs‘‘, sondern auch eine wichtige Erfahrung für uns in der Rolle der Gastgeber. Diese Zehn Tage in Tschechien haben mehr als der Ausflug nach Deutschland unsere Organisationsfähigkeiten getestet, und haben uns dann auch gezeigt, wie sich das Leben verändert, wenn man für einen anderen Sorge tragen muss. Man kann die üblichen Aktivitäten machen und an Ort und Stelle bleiben, trotzdem verbringt man die Zeit gar nicht so, wie es normalerweise der Fall ist. Dafür möchte ich zu allen, die diese Möglichkeit in Zukunft bekommen, sagen: die Vorteile des Austauschs für die tschechische Seite enden nicht, wenn man aus Deutschland zurückkommt. Die Qualität des Programms in Tschechien hängt von euch als Gastgeber und von eurer Vorbereitung ab. BETH JANEČKOVÁ

Zábava Deset nejhorších globálních environmentálních problémů

DIE ABHOLZUNG

EL AGOTAMIENTO DE LOS RECURSOS NATURALES

DER VERSCHMUTZUNG

LA DEFORESTACIÓN

DER MEERE UND OZEANE

LA CAZA EXCESIVA

DIE ÜBERMÄßIGE JAGD

LA CONTAMINACIÓN DE OCÉANOS Y MARES

DIE ÜBERVÖLKERUNG DER LUFTVERSCHMUTZUNG

EL AIRE CONTAMINADO

DER ÜBERMÄßIGE ABFALL / ÜBERMÄßIGER ABFALL

EL DESPERDICIO PESADO

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Téma fotosoutěže: Krásy přírody

Vítězem fotosoutěže se stává MARIE GUTOVÁ a čestné druhé místo připadá DAVIDU HULÁKOVI Děkujeme, a těšíme se na další příspěvky!

Open Press 7 - November 2017

Úvodník

nešní literá rní je poněkud monotřídní, jsou zde totiž pouze dílka současných terciánů, i když texty jsou již z konce minulého školního roku. Nejprve motta z žákovské četby dávající zajímavou myšlenkovou reflexi toho, co dětem literatura dává. Druhá literární akce je hra s bagrem, lépe řečeno se starou budovatelskou básní Jana Čarka – Rýpe bagr, rýpe. Žáci měli dva úkoly – zlyrizovat pohled na bagr a dále zkusit napsat bezobsahovou absolutní poezii, avšak při zachování rýmového a rytmického schématu; někdy je snaha trochu přeprala, ale vcelku vznikly dva zajímavé spíše absurdní texty. Pozor text obsahuje neplánovaný product placement! PETR ŠRŮTA

Co nám řekly knihy aneb Motta žáků sekundánů Nikdy nemůžu prohrát.

Jsi nejhezčí, jsi nejlepší, jsi dokonalý.

Můžeš porazit draka i jinak než mečem.

Vítr je nezlomitelný.

I když není v naší moci změnit to, odkud pocházíme, pořád si můžeme vybrat, kam směřujeme.

Hlavní cíl mého života je najít sama sebe.

Právě ty nejjednodušší věci člověk zpravidla nejsnáze přehlédne. Monstra jsou slabší.

Žádnou paniku, mám ručník.

V nouzi poznáš přítele.

Všechno včas a pořádně!

Pozdě možná, ale úplně pozdě není nikdy. Nemysli, jen prostě běž! Jestli shoříme my, vy shoříte s námi. Nerozluštitelný kód je matematicky nemožný.

Nic není nemožné! Doma dobrodružství nenajdeš. Nejseš zločinec, pokud tě nikdo neviděl. Být oblíbená, neznamená všechno. Být jiný nevadí.

Vaše nedostatky můžou být nakonec výhodami. Smradlavě, kamarádsky, bezdomovecky. Nikdy nikomu neublížíš víc než řečmi, že byl nahrazen. Voda tě vždy ochrání. Přežití je jenom otázka zkušeností. Nikdy se nevzdávej a zlu se nepoddávej. Záhadně, rychle, tiše.

Nic nepřehlížej.

Už zase jsem se dneska chtěla zabít.

I když přijde na nejhorší, nevzdávej se.

I mechanička může být princeznou.

Mluviti stříbro, mlčeti zlato.

I věci, které se zdají nemožnými, se mohou stát.

Zastavte stvoření z temna.

Utíkej a přežiješ.

Jedna volba napíše tři knihy.

Když to nebolí, dost se nesnažíš.

Bohatství není vše.

Nevzdávej to!

Nikdy nebudu normální…

Bolest ti dodává sílu a tvá nedokonalost je tvou krásou.

Nikdy se nevzdávej i přesto, že je to těžké!

Jdi za svým snem a nikdy se nevzdávej. Všechno nakonec skončí dobře, pokud to dobře neskončilo, tak ještě není konec.

Časem se vše dozvíš.

Zlo nezná vánočního času. Pravda se ukáže…

Není důležitá škola, nýbrž králík ve vesmírném cylindru.

Vždy musíš vědět, kde máš svůj ručník, a přežiješ.

Rychle, efektivně s lukem.

Krýpe kubr síre Simí válo foh Kukaki fi nóra Tyty fosá voh

Típe bagr típe, Truní tako troch, To hatly ty tabral, Síny to nen toh.

Čípe šagr čípe, muní žalo groch. No člany vi rabral, klíny jo ken hoh.

Pípe jalr, pípe, Huní lačo ploh. So klamy fi blabral slíny, mo sen koh.

Ýpe agr ýpe Uní hao koch O amy i ahal Íhy o en oh

Hýpe lagr hýpe Puní neko bnoch No zlamy ki lebral Síny vo hen zoh.

Býre čurbr býrem, Čatů i jak roch. Id lamy is obral, Kíry goč en soh.

Hyta myer, hyta, tuta laka mot. le raty ki hatrat, riki po hej trot.

Bíde gebe bíde Kubí beko hok Fo megu bi druklal Kyby, mo ple jok

Ýpe agr ýpe, uní ako och. O amy i abral, Íny o en oh.

Ípe ugr ípe Šaní safo šoch Ro flymy i badral Síny fo šen foh

Rpýe gabr, rpýe, fnují kjao chorh. Od talmy is rbanal níhly, oc nej omh.

Fíle parl, kíle, Vumí rako klok. Lo slaky pi saplal, glíny, poh ken zoch.

Erý agr erý, Uní jako och. O atly i abra Íny o eh oh.

Síle malr, síle, rumí kako skoch. Ho slany pi kapral, Flíny, lo fen coh!

Bůte, apr, bůte putí loto koh. No plany di pabral, píty to pen loh.

Zýpe fagr zýpe, luní zako vroch, o vlamy i kabral, líný vo ken voh.

Pýer grba pýer, Ífnu koja horch, Od mylta is rablan, Nýhli oc ejn omh

Hupe hahr hupe, uí gago šloch, o bramy tsi žablal, chníny zco gren foch.

Kóte noto kóte, sutí noho ploh. Ko tlany ti cádral, cíty no keh poh.

Ýpe agr ýpe, Uní jako och. O ámy i abral, Líny o en och.

Emo memo ríno, Miki liki bup, E kom do te koki, Oso miso dup!

mej mej agr hek ak grok hoj hoj tagr ala jo mogr

Ípe abr ípe, luní vako ploch, o flamy wi wabral, glímy čo len kvoh.

Mene tycho, mene, tato opap tron. Ty papyk le tronos šakat, mo nech kon‘.

Ýpe agr ýpe Fuí ako roch Bo kai i abral Límy vo en oh

Rufi jalu kapi, Doko salo kjon. Sy kevo do reklav Měfta, go bel plon.

Grubdé echr hrandá, Bramde ondu broch. De krely vy budrel, Vrehy ko blen doch.

Dýpe pagr, dýpe, luní žako kroch. Lo glamy pi žazral, síny do ren soh

Sýne snag týde, saní tono snoch. Ta trare li taral sílny, ta sed toch.

Dofa voré siga, ukudugé rek, houguda de íris. Loto hoto fek.

Ypa agro, ypa Ouni ok och. O loumy i tubral, Ciny, o en oh

Ýpe agr ýpe, uní jako roch. O lamy i abral, Líny o en oh‘

Dobo brga dobo, ňolí koaj gort, ko mlaty is labran, nýlih oc ej hom.

Absolutní bagr

Open Press 6 - June 2017

Lyrický bagr Vyrobil se bagr, Známé značky CAT. Stojí za garáží, Chtěl by poznat svět.

Vzdychá bagr, vzdychá, Cítí se jak hroch. Má moc rád jen olej, Vypil ho co moh‘.

Hlučný bagr velký, Líbit by se moh. Jak Tony je tučný, Nemá na něj hroch.

Byl tak krásný bagr, Ach funěl jako hroch, Do mohutných úst nabral, Té hlíny co jen moh’

Já chci bagra žlutého, Velkého jak hroch. Hlínu s ním chci nabírat, Všechnu co bych moh.

Nový žlutý bagr, právě vytvořen. Stojí u mě doma, bohužel je to sen.

Stojí pod tou plachtou, Co má přes sto let. Stojí v této básni, Chce jí rozumět.

Bagři mají těžký život, Ryjí pořád do země. Začnou tvrdě pracovat, Jak pán zavolá ke mně.

Žlutý bagr žlutý, vzdychá jako hroch. Tlamu má plnou hlíny, kolem černá noc.

Stojí jako ve snu, Nehybně a sám. Chtěl by jednou kopat, Díru jako chrám.

Krásný býlí bagr Má zajímavý tvar Má však krásnou radlici Pevnější než svár

Bagr jí hlínu lopatou, kterou má chlupatou. Funí při tom jako slon, už vytěžil celý lom.

Stojí ve svém důlku, Nevyjede ven. V dešti, bouři, smutku, Snad je to jen sen!

Velký krásný bagr, Plný vlhké hlíny, Líbí se mi velice, Jak moje savé plíny.

Celý jsem se rozzářil, Když kolem mě projel. Budu s ním už napořád, Já, bagr a olej.

Stojí bagr, stojí, Loupe se mu lak. Nevyužit čeká, Stane se z něj vrak.

Bagr je moc smutný, plakal celou noc. Smutek ho už skolil, už toho má moc.

Čistý bagr čistý, to je krása och. Krutý osud krutý, zemřel hned co moh.

Stojí bagr, stojí, Čeká na svůj soud. Na kapotě hnízdí, Starý Strakapoud.

Rýpe bagr, rýpe, Rýpe jako noc, Ale bagr není šťastný, Má toho až moc.

Žlutý bagr žlutý, Jak krásný bagr je. Já budu velmi šťastný, Až jámu vyhrabe.

Stojí bagr, stojí, Mnoho plánů měl. Objet celou Zemi, To by velmi chtěl.

Veselý bagr veselý Šťastný je jak blecha Jenom se válí v posteli Nikam nepospíchá.

Já budu velmi šťastný, s úsměvem na tváři. Až spoustu hlíny nabere, bagr se rozzáří.

Stojí žlutý bagr, na malém dvoře. Není malý jako hroch, Je podobný hoře.

Kope bagr kope, jámu velikou. Při práci je ovšem, zmítán panikou.

Až jednou budu bagristou, tak splní se mi sen. Pro mě noci budou dlouhé, a krátký s bagrem bude den.

Vyrobil se bagr, Známé značky CAT. Už ho vezou na šrot, Když chtěl objet svět.

Proč je svět tak krutý, vzdychá unaven. V hlouby své duše, má jen prázdný sten.

Každý den si užiji, s mým milovaným bagrem. Budem se spolu radovat, celý rok, den za dnem.

Krásný velký bagr, leskne se na slunci. Voní po květinách, já ho domů chci.

Ach ten bagr rýpe, hloubí krásnou díru. Zatím je však malá, a cítím z ní síru.

Někdy vyhrabeme jámu, občas svezem nóbl dámu. Zajdeme si do kina, tím to teprv začíná.

Můj krásný bagr Miluju ho moc Zdobí ho můj švagr Je černý jako noc

Bagry stále v zemi rýpou, smutný život mívají. Samotou jsou ubíjeny, v noci pláčí potají.

Vyrazíme do divadla nebo třeba na hokej. Všichni na mě divně zíraj, „Jé kluk s bagrem, hej koukej!“

Bagr žlutý jako slunce, tluče do všech před ním. Všichni potlučení říkaj: „Já tu slzy roním!“

Bolest svou se snaží skrýti, leč se jim to nedaří. Smutek najevo nedávat, slzy ukrýt v polštáři.

Mě to ovšem neodradí, já mám bagr přeci rád. Já ho nikdy neopustím, zůstanu s ním napořád.

V dáli stojí bagr, jmenuje se Ben. Nemá co na práci, spí už celý den.

Stíny mdlého slunce, na dno dopadaj. Dochází mu benzin, v dálce vidí ráj.

Mám svůj bagr totiž rád, za nic ho nevyměním. Už vám však přestanu lhát, a skončíme se sněním.

Bagr černý jako noc, vrzal hrozně moc. Umazaný od oleje, Nikdo ho totiž nemyje.

Já miluju bagr, Kopá celý den. Je překrásně žlutý, Donutí jít ven.

Kdyby tohle byla pravda, to bych byl fakt rád. Kéž bych měl svůj vlastní bagr, moh bych si s ním hrát.

Jednou, to až budu velký, budu mít bagrů plný sál. Všechny budou jenom moje, budu mít rád bagry dál. Ten krásný modrý bagr, byl tak velice sám. Je osamělý na kopci, ach jak mu pomoc mám? Žlutý bagr žlutý Září v hnusném lomu Osud on má krutý Chtěl by zase domu Plnou tlamu hlíny Další zas a znova Chtěl by zase k mámě Domů do Benešova Pěkný zlatý bagr, Bohem posvěcen. Stojí na náměstí hned zde za rohem. Bagr má krásnou lopatu, bagr silný to stroj, nemá Achillovu patu, bojí se ho i vosí roj. Starý důlní bagr Už nechtěl hrabat V tom jeho švagr mu vzal jeho kabát

Smutný bagr, smutný, neví, co chce dál. světla konec vidí, chtěl bagrovský bál. Rýpe bagr znaveně, klesá již únavou. Navenek je zničený, s duší utahanou. Jednou se bagrovi v pří výplatě zdálo Že za práci obtížnou platí mu málo A že jestli plat nezvýší, snad zemře hlady Tak snažil se naplno přes rány a pády Kéž by má výplata nebyla nízká Po mé staré práci se mi velmi stýská Šéf všimnul si ale, že bagr se snaží A tak bagra povýšil mávnutím paží

Jednoho rána se bagr probudil S chutí rýpat do měkké země Když ale kopání děr strašně pokonil Řekl si mám talent ve mě Najdu si kamínek Kousíček rampouchu A ze svých vzpomínek Vykutám si sochu 10. 4. 98, narodil se bagr, a byl to asi osud. Tři metry do výšky, Skoro půl tuny, Divím se proč on, Přejel ty tři kuny.

ZPRÁVA PRO VŠECHNY, KTEŘÍ NETRPĚLIVĚ OČEKÁVAJÍ POKRAČOVÁNÍ PŘÍBĚHŮ FEREVINA A ANNY: TŘETÍ DÍL NAJDETE JIŽ V PŘÍŠTÍM ČÍSLE! Open Press 7 - November 2017

WORDS HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD, SO WE‘VE BEEN CHOOSING THEM CAREFULLY FOR ELEVEN YEARS. OG NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS STAFF ADVISOR: MRS. PROCHÁZKOVÁ SENIOR EDITOR: ALEXANDER CARR JUNIOR EDITOR: ALŽBĚTA JANEČKOVÁ WRITING TEAM: ADAM CHÁRA SOCIAL COMMENTARY & OPINION STAFF ADVISOR: MR. WITT SENIOR EDITOR: TEREZA JAKOUBKOVÁ WRITING TEAM: ANNE-MARIA MATEJAS, VIKTOR ŘÍHA, MATYÁŠ BOSÁK, NICHOLAS WICHERT DESIGN & LAYOUT STAFF ADVISOR: MRS. POSPISIL STUDENT EDITORS: TEREZA CHÁROVÁ, MIKULÁŠ PLEŠÁK

VARIETY STAFF ADVISOR: MRS. MACURA SENIOR EDITOR: VERONIKA LEE BARNHARTOVÁ JUNIOR EDITOR: KAROLÍNA HRABALOVÁ WRITING TEAM: ELIŠKA HAUFEROVÁ, VIKTORIE HLOŽKOVÁ, LAUREN MULDOON, JIŘINA PORUBOVÁ SPECIAL INTERESTS & INTERVIEWS STAFF ADVISOR: MS. DRÁBKOVÁ SENIOR EDITOR: VALERIE PYTJUK JUNIOR EDITORS: TEREZA CHÁROVÁ WRITING TEAM: JOSEFÍNA DUŠKOVÁ, SARAH MULDOON, MICHAELA RENDLOVÁ, JULIE SCHOLZOVÁ, ŠÁRKA NEUMANNOVÁ, LUCIE TRUSINOVÁ

CELEBRATING ITS 7TH YEAR OF PRODUCTION FRENCH KAROLÍNA HRABALOVÁ JASMÍNA ŠVARCROVÁ DESIGN & LAYOUT DARINA LISICHKINA THEA KRATOCHVÍLOVÁ MIKULÁŠ PLEŠÁK

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GERMAN MATYÁŠ BOSÁK MARKÉTA MALCOVÁ ILLUSTRATIONS MARKÉTA MALCOVÁ LUCIE MÍŠKOVÁ THEA KRATOCHVÍLOVÁ

CELEBRATING ITS 4TH YEAR OF PRODUCTION STUDENT WORK SUBMITTED BY VARIOUS STUDENTS STAFF ADVISOR: MR. ŠRŮTA STUDENT EDITOR: VÁCLAV KEREKANIČ DESIGN & LAYOUT: MIKULÁŠ PLEŠÁK

INTERESTED IN JOINGING ANY OF THE TEAMS? CONTACT ONE OF THE EDITORS ABOVE AND THEY‘LL GIVE YOU THE DETAILS YOU NEED. 16

Open Press 6 - June 2017