December 2012 - Silver Chips Print

Montgomery Blair High School SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

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silverchips In the holiday spirit

December 20, 2012

DREAM Act C2

Winner of the 2012 National Pacemaker Award

VOL 75 NO 3

Football coaches fired

By Michelle Chavez The varsity and JV football coaches were fired on in November

by Athletic director Rita Boule, who is now in the process of selecting the new head coaches.

Boule said the firing was a result of the team failing to meet the expectations the athletic department held. “We’ve decided to go in a different direction with the football program,” she said. “We hope that by bringing in a new coach, it will breathe a new life and energy [to the program].”

Boule said a meeting was held on Dec. 3 to reveal the decision to all incumbent football players.

Varsity Coach Jeff Seals told the players before Thanksgiving that he was getting fired, but Boule held the meeting to formally explain the situation. “I talked to them about what was happening and why,” she said, “that we had a lot of applicants already and that we were going to make sure that we picked the best coach available.”

Boule’s said she feels the players did not take the message well.

“They’re very loyal to the coaching

staff. I don’t think they understand why it happened,” she said.

Sophomore Ruben De’Leon said the coaches were not the problem.

“Some of the stuff they did [at practice] I didn’t understand. But at the games, I understood. It’s like they knew what we needed, and they performed well as coaches,” he said. “On some games, we made mistakes, but it wasn’t the coaches’ faults.”

Junior Alec Fields said varsity coaching lacked professionalism, however. “A lot of the time, we would be on ‘joke time’ and too many times we’d be laughing and joking around, not only between the players, but also with the coaches,” he said. Fields did not see the same situation with the JV team. “With junior varsity, there was a lot more discipline,” he said.

Still, the firing came abruptly, said Fields. He said that the football meeting did not reveal that there was effective communication between Boule and the fired coaches prior to the season, or even during the season, pertaining to their ex-

see COACHES page A4

Video Americain closes ELLIE MUSGRAVE

LIGHTS Garden of Lights, the light display at Brookside Gardens, has everything from revamped disk lights to animal sculptures. The outdoor light show is open to the public through Jan 6.

Local restaurants support closed lunch New lunch policy discourages leaving campus

By Dillon Sebastian Last week, restaurants and shops near Blair, Northwood and Eastern Middle School established that they will no longer serve students during school hours if they do not have an abbreviated schedule ID. Blair’s security team placed flyers in the windows of restaurants, which include Santucci’s Deli, Starbucks and McDonalds.

Principal Renay Johnson and Head of Security Kathleen Greene created the proposal, which they believe has so far proven to be a success. Before the flyers were in place, 52 freshmen were caught at

the Woodmoor Shopping Center during school hours in a week, and after they were placed, only two freshmen were caught the following week. Before the policy came into effect, Greene visited many of the establishments in Woodmoor to gain their support for the safety campaign.

Johnson said that while the reform has reduced the number of offenders, students have found a number of ways to get around the flyers. The manager of Santucci’s Deli, Kevin Sharpe, said that many students call in to order their food and then go to the restaurant to pick it up. “I can’t sit there and

deny them their food after I’ve prepared it,” he admitted.

While this new policy seems to serve as a punishment to the local businesses, many of the Four Corners eateries have expressed enthusiasm for the reform. A group of adults at Starbucks who overheard Greene propose the plan to the employees stood and clapped for the idea. Sharpe shares the enthusiasm of the Starbucks crowd. As a Blair alumnus, Sharpe understands the joys of an open lunch but he sees both sides to the issue.

Sharpe said, “I don’t feel as

By Emma Rose Borzekowski Video Americain, an independent movie store in Takoma Park, stopped rentals on Nov. 11 and will close its doors in late January.

The store will be selling its stock of about 15,000 VHSs and 16,000 DVDs until its closing. Its co-owner, Barry Solan, credited online movie rentals and stores like Netflix and Amazon with the store’s demise. “We’ve been in business about 7 years and had a great run but finally the technology is in place to destroy the video store,” Solan said.

At the height of their career, Solan, with his co-owner and wife Annie, owned six different stores along the Atlantic seaboard, located from Newark, Delaware, his

home town, to Norfolk, Virginia, but after the Takoma Park location closes, the couple will have only one store left in Baltimore.

The Takoma Park store was known for its large inventory, stocking everything from cult classics to obscure French films. “Our differentiation was from brick and mortar stores. We had everything and took our role as a film archive very seriously,” Solan said. One of the store’s unique qualities was its system of organization, which arranged the movies by country and director, differing from the typical alphabetical system most stores employ. “The key is the directors.

It helps to have a little bit of film knowledge to work through our stacks,” Solan said.

see VIDEO page A4

see LUNCH page A3

SAD brings gloom to the winter season

By Langston Cotman and Cindy Monge Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of sources.

It is that time of year again when campy renditions of “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer” blare from car speakers and holiday ornaments litter front lawns. Children flip their pajamas inside out and tuck spoons under their pillows, willing to do anything to conjure up a snow day. The last tint of colorful life fades from the trees and frost coats the now shriveled grass.

For most Blazers, the holiday sea-

son is a time for merriment and celebration. But for Blazers with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), depression sets in like a frost and dampens the holiday spirit.

SAD is a form of depression that occurs during the winter months when days are shorter and it becomes increasingly dark outside.

According to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation 1 percent of Florida residents, 4 percent of Washington, D.C. residents, and nearly 10 percent of Alaska residents suffer from seasonal depression. This also affects many students coming to Blair. Whose symptoms of depression and anxiety interrupt every aspect of their daily lives. The fact

that students with winter depression are part of a low percentage of people that are affected by this disorder can make other people underestimate the symptoms winter depression causes.

With that in mind Blazers find themselves shut into their own world. A Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) John Dende, says that the vulnerability for teens to have any kind of depression is very high.

“Before puberty, boys and girls are equally likely to

see SAD page C1

MELANIE SIM

CLOSED After seven years of successful business, the Takoma Park video rental store will officially close its doors late next month.

NEWS A2 OPINIONS B1 SOAPBOX A7 FEATURES C1 ENTERTAINMENT D1 CHIPS CLIPS D5 LA ESQUINA LATINA E1 SPORTS F1

A2 News

silverchips

F3

December 20, 2012

D1

C4

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SPORTS Ski club

SPECIALS Christmas tree

FEATURES

Dipp’d

News Starr gives county address

By Dillon Sebastian

Blair launches orchlab BSO and MBHS partner to start music program

By Emma Rose Borzekowski

porting our people,” he said, and by investing in employees.

“We are the opportunity for our children,” Starr emphasized, introducing the speech’s ongoing theme, which focused on the importance of working together to build the students’ future. After thanking all MCPS employees and studentsfor their work, Starr proceeded to share a story about his visit with a Gaithersburg High School student, David Hayes, who started off high school at a belowgrade level status, but with the help of MCPS’s helpful employees, is now a successful student. Starr emphasized his hope that the faculty will work to create an environment where students obtain twenty-first century skills. “We need to teach them to be innovative thinkers, good communicators and creative problem solvers,” said Starr.

Starr noted that with the retraction

of No Child Left Behind, MCPS is MCPS Superintendent Joshua now able to take advantage of a Starr delivered his first State of the more open curriculum to encourSchools address to colleagues and age hands-on learning. Among the students on Nov. 12 at the Strathfixes, Starr mentioned MCPS highmore Music Center. Starr shared ranking and well-known students his proposals for the future while and faculty. “Our outstanding staff stressing student achievements was the first thing I noticed when and MCPS successes.

I came to Montgomery County Starr said one of the most pressPublic Schools in July 2011,” said ing problems in the education Starr. system is the achievement gap, Starr believes the staff is reas demonstrated by MCPS consponsible for creating the equally sistently lower test scores among outstanding students who have black and Hispanic students comachieved national recognition for pared to their white and Asian high AP participation and graducounterparts. ation rates, particularly among Starr attributes this gap to the African American students. Starr annual deficit in the economy. noted that MCPS students also “The debt we owe our children excel in national and regional and our families has grown becompetitions and last year earned cause of unfair immigration polimore than $240 million in college cies and tracking practices,” said scholarships.

Starr. The best way to reduce that Proud of MCPS success and dedebt is “by developing and suptermination to accomplish more, Starr expressed that he is thrilled to introduce new projects at a number of schools. The county will begin working with Wheaton High School to create a projectbased learning environment to teach m o d e r n skills.Thomas Edison High School of Technology will also host a financial literacy COURTESY OF GAZETTE program STARR Superintendent Joshua Starr delivered his first state of the schools for middle address on Nov. 12 at Strathmore, where he thanked the current staff for their school stuwork and outlined plans for MCPS’s future. dents.

Blair is not currently participating in OrchLab. The three high schools that are part of the pilot are Wheaton, Einstein and Springbrook. Blair’s music teachers Michelle Roberts and Stevens had limited knowledge about the program, but were aware of the BSO’s reputation for community outreach. “All I know about the BSO is that they do a lot of side-by-side things, partnering with student performers,” said Stevens.

Participants of OrchLab were decided on a need basis, and the BSO is working with mostly Title 1 schools with Free and Reduced Meal (FARM) programs. “We wanted to close the gap the school system can leave between students that are less able to afford

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and MCPS launched OrchLab, a music-in-schools program, in 23 Down County consortium schools at the start of the 2012-2013 school year.

OrchLab has four major components, according to the BSO Community Liaison, Richard Spero. The program will bring BSO musicians into elementary school classrooms to present to the students, as part of an outgrowth of an existing BSO program, BSO-on-the-Go. “Students have a chance to not only to listen to music but talk to the musicians,” said Spero.

On the middle and high school level, the musicians from the BSO will act more as mentors and visit students in musical education about three times a year. They will work with music teachers, ensembles, and potentially even one on one with students to develop their musical talent and interest. “Its fairly flexible because each school COURTESY OF BSOMUSIC.ORG doesn’t have to do the same thing,” said ORCHESTRA BSO and select MCPS schools are participating in a music Spero.

Middle and high education pilot program. school students will also receive free tickets to see the BSO perform at musical instructions and students Strathmore. “They’ll actually be who can,” said Spero.

The BSO has long been interable to see musicians in action, see their mentors perform, and ested in working with Montgommaybe even go back stage for a ery County. “This is our second home,” Spero said. He expects the meet and greet,” Spero said.

The fourth element of OrchLab program to grow and expand in is focused on musical instructors coming years. “Its gotten a wonand teacher training. The BSO derful response and we expect the will be hosting a professional de- thing to catch on. I would expect velopment day. They will instruct that next year we have a 50 pera student ensemble to demon- cent more schools in the program. strate educational methods to an There is a lot of enthusiasm for it,” he said. assembly of teachers.

silverchips

December 20, 2012

News

Athletic department seeks new football coaches from COACHES page A1 pected coaching performance prior to the season, or even during the season.

Boule did not directly state that she made an agreement with the coaches at the beginning of the season that would determine their job status, but she did say that they were aware of expectations.

“I speak to all of the coaches about what I need from them,” she said.

Boule said the firings were not about the team’s record. “The fact that we went 2-8 was not the determining factor of whether [Seals] would return or not. It was a combination of things,” she said.

Fields said he still thinks it was important to let the players know but understands why even his coach may have refrained from informing the team throughout the season. “If there was some sort of deal and they’re not telling us, it would only be to save our feelings because they wouldn’t want us to think that we fired them,” he said.

Boule said she does not intend to disclose any more information than she has during the football meeting. “I

don’t discuss coaching matters with players. I never have, I never will,” she said. She said that she does invite athletes to have conversations, however.

Boule said a panel of six or seven people including Principal Johnson, a football player, a football player’s parent and herself will evaluate the potential coaches before making a final decision.

De’Leon said he last heard that approximately 15 coaches were applying. Boule said many of the coaches have experience coaching either within or outside of the county, and Principal Jonson will ultimately make the final decision. Blair’s former assistant coaches are invited to reapply for their positions, Boule said.

ZEKE WAPNER

While this new policy seems to serve as a punishment to the local businesses, many of the Four Corners eateries have expressed enthusiasm for the reform. A group of adults at Starbucks who overheard Greene propose the plan to the employees stood and clapped for the idea. Sharpe shares the enthusiasm of the Starbucks crowd. As a Blair alumnus, Sharpe understands the joys of an open lunch but he sees both sides to the issue. Sharpe said, “I don’t feel as if our business is being punished. But the real problem is the location of the school.” However, Sharpe does not completely understand why something is not done on the Blair end of the deal.

“The problem should be solved on [the school’s] property,” he said.

Sharpe suggests that the school should pay people to stand on the corners and turn back the eaters. Johnson has a different outlook.

“I look forward to doing positive things with the businesses and extending the partnership with the stores,” she said.

On Oct 31, in Germantown, a student from Seneca Valley High School was killed by a car while crossing the street. To prevent an incident like this happening at Blair, Johnson has made the safety of the students at Blair the number one concern.

Same-sex weddings to begin January 1 Same-sex weddings will officially be able to begin in Maryland on Jan. 1 Lawyers for the state had previously said that Jan. 4 would be the first day same-sex couples could have a marriage ceremony, due to the fact that Jan. 1 is a holiday, and there is a mandatory two-day wait before the marriage license takes effect. Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler ruled on November 29, however, that couples could get a marriage license as soon as Governor Martin O’Malley formally ratifies the law upheld by Maryland voters in last month’s election, which he did soon after, on Dec. 6. According to Wbaltv.com, the marriage licenses will not actually go into effect until Jan. 1.

Mary Washington, a Baltimore representative for the Maryland House of Delegates said that many couples wanted to get married on Jan. 1 because they felt it was symbolic.

Montgomery County Receives Grant for Wheaton Construction

ZEKE WAPNER

ZEKE WAPNER

PLAY BALL This years’ coaches will be replaced for the 2012 season.

Policy combats open lunch County suggests budget from LUNCH page A1

Newsbriefs

A3

“I never want to have to make a call saying that your child got hit by a car,” Johnson said. Rushing back and forth from school to Woodmoor is not encouraged.

But Johnson believes if it weren’t for the heavy, congested traffic on University Boulevard. and Colesville Road, Blair and neighboring schools would be able to have open lunch. Currently, one of the only solutions to decreasing the risk of an accident is to strictly enforce a closed lunch policy.

In the meantime, Johnson said she hopes that the new flyers will encourage students to stay in the building during lunch. By explaining the dangers of crossing busy roads she wants to get her students to ask themselves: “Is a cheeseburger really worth your life?”

Boule reviews potential replacements

By Kaitlen Montgomery MCPS superintendent, Joshua Starr released his budget recommendation for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 last Tuesday, Dec. 11. Starr recommended a 2.2 billion dollar budget, which is a 2.3 percent increase from last year.

The recommendation is 0.4 percent ($10 million) above the minimum funding increase required by the state of Maryland’s Maintenance of Effort (MOE) law. In total the proposal would increase the budget by $48.9 million.

According to a video posted on the MCPS website, Starr aims to create a responsible budget that meets the present needs of students while also considering the county’s future growth and relationships with different community groups. “I create my budget recommendation in partnership with our employees and our parents. They have tremendous insight into what our students need for success,” Starr said.

Starr worked with a variety of groups to gather input on his budget recommendation including unions that represent MCPS employees—MCEA, MCAAP and SEIU-Local 500—and the Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations (MCCPTA).

He also took into consideration the Board of Education’s budget interests and input from the community gathered through a new program called “Neighbor to Neighbor.”

His budget concentrated on three key areas: managing district’s continued growth, reenergizing of efforts to narrow achievement gaps and investing in the future. The recommendation also includes provisions to restore some of the 1,300 positions

that were cut as a result of the economic recession of recent years.

Most of the allotted increase— over 82 percent—will go toward the management and growth category. Because of the rapid increase in student growth including11,000 additional students in the past five years, the 33.2% of students who receive free- and reduced-priced meal (FARMs) and the nearly 20,000 students that receive English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) services, Starr has included $21.2 million to address enrollment changes. If the recommendation is approved, the county will create 250 new positions to serve these students.

The recommended budget also includes provisions for closing the achievement gap specifically through hiring 30 new teachers to help struggling middle school students, hiring 10 elementary school teachers to help students with advanced mathematics education and creating a $94,000 summer program to inspire students to go to college.

To address the third main goal of the budget recommendation— investing in the future— Starr has proposed hiring additional substitute teachers which would create time for MCPS teachers to participate in professional development activities, He also recommends adding four new consulting teachers to work with educators.

The total breakdown of the $48.9 million recommended budget increase allots $21.3 million for enrollment growth, $11.8 million for benefits and other changes, $8.7 million for enhancements and restorations, and $7.1 million for continuing salaries. Still the FY2014 budget is only in its preliminary stages and there is currently uncertainty about the state funding level.

Montgomery County was awarded a $350,000 grant by Maryland’s Department of Housing & Community Development to help with the redevelopment of Wheaton. The grant is an award from Maryland’s Community Legacy program, which gives money to counties around the state in order to fund revitalization projects. One of the main issues the program is focused on, according to Maryland’s Secretary of Housing & Community Development, Raymond Skinner, is improving the outside appearance of buildings that have fallen into disrepair. Under the Wheaton plan, businesses will come up with their own plans to improve the look of their buildings, and the county will choose which of these plans to fund. Some of the money will also be put towards adding solar-powered trash and recyclable compactors in Wheaton. Under the current plan, 25 percent of the compactors in the area will be replaced with solar-powered ones.

Superintendent Releases 2014 Budget Montgomery County Superintendent Joshua P. Starr released his budget proposal for the 2014 fiscal year on December 11. This budget requests $2.22 billion, which would be a 2.3 percent increase from the previous year. Under Maryland Law, each county is required to pay at least the same amount per student every year, but while Montgomery County Public Schools expects to add 2,260 students, Starr’s request is $10 million above the necessary benchmark that this law would require.

County Council president Nancy Navarro of Silver Spring said that the council is worried that alotting this much money to the school system would put stress on other agencies. Some of the things Starr intends to do with the extra money are add 30 “focus” teachers for middle schools with the most need, add 10 elementary math teachers, and increase funding for Curriculum 2.0, the new curriculum Montgomery County is putting in place.

Newsbriefs compiled by Issac Jiffar

A4 News Newsbriefs School Board requests additional funding Superintendent Joshua Starr and the Montgomery County Board of Education have requested that the County Council add $14.2 million to its $1.35 billion capital projects plan. The majority of the money requested would go towards replacing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in schools, according to the school board. By increasing the fund for repairs and upgrades to $18 million, the additional funds would enable the county to engage in another six HVAC projects by 2018, making for a total of eleven such projects. Fixing the heating and cooling systems in schools is one of parents’, students’ and teachers’ top concerns, according to Board President Shirley Brandman. $2.5 million of the requested funds would be used to fix and replace building parts such as fire alarms, public address systems, water and sewer systems, floors, ceilings and windows.

New park created The Maryland National Park and Planning Commission bought the old site of the Maryland College of Art and Design from the Montgomery College Foundation with plans to turn it into a community park. The 2.47 acres of land, located between Wheaton and Forest Glen off Georgia Avenue, was sold for $1.1 million and will become the Carroll Knolls Local Park. The commission has requested that the underdeveloped road rightsof-way be officially abandoned to add another acre to the park.

To prepare the site for the park, a building will have to be torn down, asphalt pulled up and grass planted. Afterward, a temporary park will be set up while the commission works with the local community to draft plans for the final one. According to a commission release, the final park could include play equipment, a sports field and sitting and picnic areas.

School Board opposes changes The Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) stated that it opposes a new bill that would change both the BOE’s numbers and the way BOE members are elected. The bill, proposed on Nov. 11 to the General Assembly, would add two at-large members to the school board and change the election process so that instead of being elected by the entire county, board members would be elected by the specific districts they represent. Maryland State law requires that counties with over 100,000 students must have at least nine members on the board of education. Montgomery County is exempt from that rule, but the two additional members would raise the BOE’s numbers from eight (one student member) to ten. Opponents of the electoral changes stress that they could limit members’ focus from countywide issues to representing only their districts’ interests.

Newsbriefs compiled by Emma Rose Borzekowski

silverchips

December 20, 2012

Capital bikeshare system comes to county Local program expected to open for membership in 2013

By Isaac Jiffar Montgomery County now has plans to join Capital Bikeshare, the municipal bike-sharing program currently operating in D.C., Arlington, and Alexandria by 2013.

With over 175 Capital Bikeshare stations currently set up in the DC area, the purpose is to rent bikes for local transportation, as a rider can rent a bike from one station and return it at a station near his destination.

Capital Bikeshare offers one day, three day, monthly and annual memberships, with rates ranging from $7 for a 24-hour membership to $75 for a one year membership. Then, each time a customer rents a bike, the first half hour is free but they are charged for each half-hour interval after that. The charge depends on their membership plan.

According to greatergreaterwashington.com, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and MoBike recommended that 20 miles of bike paths be built in the DC Area. The new pathes are intended to make roads safer for bikers before the Capital Bikeshare expands to Montgomery Count.

Currently, there are not many bike lanes throughout the county.

Many of the proposed bike lanes are in the Silver Spring and Takoma Park area.

The Capital Bikeshare program has grown substantially since its creation in 2010. “It’s basically doubled in size,” said Chris Eatough, a program manager for BikeArlington.

According to Eatough, there are about two million trips taken every year through Capital Bikeshare. Jim Sebastian, Transportation Planner for the District De-

partment of Transportation, notes that these rides are often very short, usually only a few miles and comparable to Metro travel. “It’s not going on an all-day bike ride; it’s to get from point A to Point B. It’s transit,” Sebastian said.

Sebastian is quick to differentiate bike-sharing from bike renting. “There are private bike rental companies in D.C.,” he said, “but not bike-sharing with the stations.” The motivation for having stations is to prevent a person from having to return the bike to the same place they got it from. This means that people can use bikes for one-way commutes.

This convenience allows for a lot more freedom than Bike rental companies which require all bikes to be returned to one central location.

Eatough is very pleased with how Capital Bikeshare has been operating so far. “I think by all measurements it’s been very successful,” he said.

Sebastian believes that customers are very satisfied with the service. “Some people say it’s even changed their lives,” he said.

Sebastian explained that the idea of creating a bike-sharing program first surfaced in the early 2000s and was based on existing programs in Europe.

While there were other bikesharing programs in the United States, Sebastian notes that they were all very low-tech operations, and bikes would often get stolen “Then in Europe, around 2003 or 2004, Europeans started experimenting with more high-tech ones where you have stations,” Sebastian said.

LEILA BARTHOLET

BIKES Capital Bikeshare has already opened hundreds of stations around the D.C. Metro area. Stations within the county will be opened next year.

Video Americain closes from VIDEO page A1

ing the rent to a third of its original rate. “We stayed about three years longer than we should have,” he said.

Solan said he is also thankful to his staff, which through the years included many Blazers. “I wanted Blair students because I realized they were much smarter than I was. I’ve depended on them, their enthusiasm, their knowledge and their energy,” he said.

Fei said he is also going to miss his time at Video Americain. “Its not just taking home movies, it’s taking home a part of the Takoma Park community,” he said.

His employee, Fei Hou, found the collection of movies and the way that they were organized to be brilliant. He first came to the store as a customer in 2010 and loved it so much that he got a job at Video Americain a year later.

He credits the store’s success to the warm and friendly atmosphere created by the knowledgeable staff and loyal customers. “I didn’t believe there could be a place like that,” said Hou. “You can ask stuff and the staff will know it.”

Solan said the thing he will miss most when Video Americain closes is the community. He has enjoyed working in Takoma Park, despite the long commute from Newark.

“I love the Old Town concept and the sophisticated adults we get coming in. I’ve loved watching kids grow up here,” he said.

He is thankful to his landlord for letting him stay in the space so long, and for re- CLOSING The Video Americain store will leave its cently reduc- location this coming January.

Computer problems fixed County experts repaired server

By Katelin Montgomery After approximately two weeks of school wide problems with the computer network, the county staff was able to diagnose the problem and restore it back to working condition. The errors were initially difficult to diagnose and caused a host of issues for staff and students including frequent freezing, slow processing, and missing files.

According to IT Systems Specialist, Peter Hammond, the problem resided in the main data drive of the servers, specifically the part that holds the h-drives or personal documents.

Hammond described the issue as a confusion with the server regarding how to open files.

It would pause when it tried to find them, which in turn slowed down the system.

E ven tually, the MIMI SIM server exTakoma Park perts were called in

from the county and they were able to diagnose and solve the problem.

Fortunately, Hammond said that there were no issues with the security of people’s documents. “There was no compromised data as far as we know,” he said.

Throughout the difficulties, students and teachers were aggravated. Social Studies teacher, Todd Stephens, explained that the problems interfered with teaching in the classroom. For teachers that planned a lesson that included a warm-up or activities on the Promethean board, the entire lesson plan was delayed.

Even for teachers who do not incorporate technology in their lesson plans, the slow network caused problems taking attendance. “It’s been taking a long time to do attendance and grades.

I’m glad they got it solved,” said Stephens.

Although the computers were frustrating, Stephens noted that Hammond did a good job of working with teachers regarding the issues. “He was always asking what was going on, giving feedback, and keeping people informed,” he said.

Students also felt the effects of the slowed computer systems when it came to turning in assignments on time. Senior Elena Polozova realized that since she couldn’t rely on the computers at school, she had to be more aware of her time management and planning. “I had to actually print things at home instead of using the school printers,” she said.

Photo Essay A5

silverchips

December 20, 2012

What to do...before the end of the world

MAGGIE MCCLAIN

SLIGO CREEK A walk along the creek makes for a great winter afternoon.

ZEKE WAPNER

FESTIVAL DC’s winter festival includes a variety of shopping, food and late night fun.

TATYANA GUBIN

LEAH HAMMOND

CELEBRATE Blair’s international night participants counted down to the holidays with a cross-cultural performance.

ELLIE MUSGRAVE

LIGHTS “Garden of lights” at Brookside gardens is open through Jan. 6.

EVA CHEN

ELLIE MUSGRAVE

A5 ADs

silverchips

December 15, 2012

What is your favorite local restaurant?

SOAPBOX A7

silverchips

December 20, 2012

see page D2

Should MCPS close school for certain Muslim holidays?

see page B1

“My favorite local restaurant is Sergio’s. I have been going there my whole life and it is delicious.”

-freshman Matty Kessler

“Yes, because they close schools during Jewish and Christian holidays. I think every religion should be treated equally.”

-sophomore Jenny Chen

“My favorite local restaurant is The Corner Pub. My god sister and I always go there to celebrate birthdays, graduations, etc. We love eating the cheesy-curly fries!”

-freshman Annie Lee

“It is an issue of fairness. If Muslims get a holiday, then all religions should get days off for their holidays. But there are too many religions to satisfy this, so no religion should have days off and should be all excused.”

-senior Samir Durvasula

“Fractured Prune! Those doughnuts are so good! It blows my mind.”

-junior Bryan Roa

“There is a sizeable Muslim student community and [Islam] is a major religion. No reason why not to.”

-junior Mattan Berner-Kadish @MatBerKad

Chips Index:

Chips Pics:

There are six holidays in Islam There is one day left until the “end of the world”

69 percent of Blazers would not change their relationship status on Facebook About 8.5

million people lost power due to Superstorm Sandy

Four Blair wrestlers have lost weight for the sport this season A Dipp’d shirt costs $20 Around 35

million people update their Facebook status every day

On average, it takes 90

minutes to decorate a Christmas tree

Chips Index complied by Sabrina Bradford with assistance from Dylan Ahunhodjaev, Abel Chanyalew, Alexis Redford Maung-Maung, Blue Keleher, Harini Salgado, Megan Aranas, Elizabeth Pham, Alani Fuji, Aditi Subramaniam, and Sam Popper

When is the right time in a relationship to make it ?

ZEKE WAPNER

LEAH HAMMOND

#localeats

#noopenlunch

Would you ever get a psychic reading?

ZEKE WAPNER

see page C4

“My mom actually gives Tarot card readings and she can read palms. It’s pretty accurate when she gives them. It’s kinda cool.”

- senior Hanan Guzman

see page B3

“No, they are absolute rubbish, and a way to make you spend money for nothing.”

- freshman Mary Yilma

“After a few months, because you never know if the relationship will last if -junior Tatiana Sindass “When you’ve been in a relationship for quite a long time.”

-sophomore Jirah Querubin

Do you think the policy of placing fliers on the doors of local restaurants in order to stop students from leaving campus during lunch is a good idea?

see page A1

Want to be featured in the next Soapbox?

Follow @Silver_Chips on twitter and respond to any of our #soapbox questions in full sentences. If your response is creative, intelligent or interesting your tweet could be picked for the next issue! We will credit you with your full name, your grade and your twitter handle.

“I can see why it’s a good idea in the eyes of Blair, but it’s not going to do much.

Once you start a habit, it’s hard to stop.”

-junior Evany Martinez “No; money is money and small businesses should be more concerned with making money than whether or not teenagers are coming in.”

-senior Allison Goodman

silverchips Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East Silver Spring, MD 20901 Phone: (301) 649-2864 2012 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Finalist Winner of the 2009 and 2010 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown Editors-in-Chief: Emma Bergman and Sarah Wilson Managing Features Editors: Ruth Aitken and Hannah Weintraub Managing News Editors: Michelle Chavez and Katelin Montgomery Managing Sports Editor: Josh Schmidt Managing Op/Eds Editor: Puck Bregstone Managing Entertainment Editor: Peter McNally Production Manager: Puck Bregstone Managing Design Editor: Hannah Weintraub Outreach Coordinator: Katelin Montgomery Ombudsman: Ruth Aitken Distribution Supervisor: Peter McNally Fact Checks Supervisor: Ruth Aitken Extras Editor: Sabrina Bradford Newsbriefs Editor: Josh Schmidt Public Relations Director: Michelle Chavez Executive Business Director: Adrian Craig Executive Commincations Director, Executive Advertising Director: Nick Seidell Executive Fundraising Manager, Executive Communications Director: Mac Keller Business Staff: Jared Collina Aniya Wood-Reynolds Page Editors: Daniel Alger Desiree Aleibar Emma Rose Borzekowski Sabrina Bradford Langston Cotman Kyle Desiderio Maya Habash Isaac Jiffar Jenna Kanner Cindy Monge Evan Morris Alanna Natanson Paris Parker-Loan Mallory Rappaport Dillon Sebastian Kenyetta Whitfield Spanish Page Adviser: Dora Gonzales Spanish Page Editor: Kelly Ventura Claudia Quinonez Spanish Page Writers: Hector Barrera Rolando Alvarenga Jannet Encinas Yessica Somoza Editorial Cartoonist: Julia Bates Managing Photo Editors: Leah Hammond Clare Lefebure Photographers: Leila Bartholet Ellie Musgrave Zeke Wapner Managing Arts Editors: Julia Bates XiXi Chen Artists: Katrina Golladay Tatyana Gubin Maggie McClain Eva Shen Puzzle Editors: Devin Rutan Michael Morganstein Copy Editors: Paul B. Ellis Claudia Gowen Rebecca Naimon Professional Technical Adviser: Peter Hammond Advisor: Joseph Fanning Silver Chips is a public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content decisions. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the editorial board and are not necessarily those of the school. Signed letters to the editor are encouraged. Submit your letter to Joseph Fanning’s mailbox in the main office, to room 158 or to silver.chips.print@ gmail.com. Concerns about Silver Chips’ content should be directed to the Ombudsman, the public’s representative to the paper, at silver.chips.ombudsman@gmail.com.

Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

Silver Chips

December 20, 2012

Opinions

B1

Its time to diversify our commitment to holidays

By Kyle Desiderio An opinion It’s the same every day. Sitting bored in a classroom waiting for the bell to ring to bring you one day closer to that coveted day off.

But for many Blazers, days off can hold more than just a few extra hours to sleep in. A break from school for some students means waking up early to practice their religion without the worry of missing important class work or tests. Muslim students, who make up approximately five percent of the MCPS school system, have no such privilege.

On November 13, the County council voted on a proposal to add two Muslim holidays, Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha, to the 2013-2014 MCPS schedule, a decision which would add an extra two days off in the school year for students and staff. The Board of Education voted nearly unanimously against the proposed schedule change with one lone vote from Michael Durso in favor of the change. The BOE asserted that in order for a holiday to warrant a day off, there has to be a clear increase in student and staff absences.

Maryland state law mandates only four days each year where school releases for religious purposes. Additionally, MCPS has 20 non-religious school days off and added two days off to its calendar for Jewish holidays due to an increase in the Jewish student population. While some nonreligious holidays are necessary, a substantial amount of the days off

come from breaks. Now that the student Muslim population is increasing, it is necessary to review whether or not all those days off from breaks are really necessary.

Just shaving one day off both winter and summer break could satisfy all parties. MCPS administrators don’t have to worry about adding extra days off to the school calendar, students still get the same 26 days off within the school year, and some are able to use those days off for more than putting off summer homework for one more day. If the county truly believes that taking a day off of summer break isn’t possible, surely adding to an already long list of school days off will not cause the school system to crumble.

Montgomery County, like Blair, prides itself on having one of the most diverse student bodies in the entire country. This allows for cultural interactions and exchanges of different viewpoints that are aren’t available in other parts of the country. If the county wants to continue to take pride in its diversity, it needs to treat its students fairly. To not give Muslim students the same freedoms that MCPS students of other religions have long enjoyed isn’t only unfair, it’s discrimination. The single BOE member who voted for the change says he worries not only about the decision itself, but also about “the message it will send to Muslim students and parents.”

The ruling not only sends a bad message to Muslim families, but also forces students to decide on what is more important to them:

their schoolwork or their heritage.

Both holidays celebrate Abraham’s commitment to God and are extremely important events in the Islamic faith. The pressure to do well in school forces students to make a nearly impossible decision. Samira Hussein, an MCPS administrator and a leader of the schedule change proposal believes that this lose-lose situation is unethical. “Students don’t want to miss their tests but then can’t practice their faith,” she says. The Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook that students usually discard within minutes of receiving it each year in August emphasizes that MCPS facilities are supposed to be free of any type of discrimination. It’s impossible for MCPS to hold itself to that standard when it won’t allow Islamic students the same rights as their Jewish and Christian counterparts.

While the board did not rule in favor of the proposed schedule change, it promised to closely monitor attendance rates through leave slips to get an account of how many students miss school for these holidays. But MCPS has no way of monitoring an absence due to a religious holiday. “When I record when I miss a day due to

a Muslim holiday, there is no way to record that it is a religious holiday so it is impossible for them to know,” Hussein says. Changing leave slips to add an additional question is a simple fix to this problem, yet after the ruling the slips remain unaltered.

RUTH AITKEN

MCPS students have six religious holidays off, with a total of 26 days off for students and 10 half-days. Eid-al-Fitir, one of the proposed Islamic holidays, occurs during summer break for the next 10 years, and will not have an impact on the August-June school schedule until 2022. The inclusion of at least one Islamic holiday off on the school calendar is simply an issue of inclusion, fairness and respect.

Batten down the hatches because it will get worse Hurricane Sandy is just another indication of the severity of global warming

By Issac Jiffar What does a polar bear have in common with a climate change denier?

In recent years they’ve both been treading on increasingly thin ice.

Evidence for climate change has only been getting stronger and stronger as more studies come out annually, and Hurricane Sandy is just the latest phenomena to prompt us to take another look at it. It took floods nearly fourteen feet high in the largest city in the United States and a death toll of over one hundred people according to CNN, but it seems climate change has reentered the conversation.

According to the New York Times, articles about climate change dropped 41 percent between 2009 and 2011. Unfortunately, it is just not the hot-button issue it once was. A quick glance at any of the major news outlets in the days after the storm suggest that the flood gates have been reopened—pun intended— at least for now, as writers at the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the LA Times drew connections between Hurricane Sandy and climate change.

There is no way to know whether or not this focus on global warming will last, but even if climate change fades out of people’s minds, the process is just going to keep chugging along until we are forced to pay attention. We either deal with it now, or pay the price later.

Dr. Konstantin Vinnikov, a

senior research scientist with University of Maryland’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, insists that one cannot look at any one storm and blame it on climate change. There is evidence, however, that storms in general can be made more intense by human-induced climate change.

“Even if the events themselves are not directly attributable to climate change, warmer climate gives you these extremes with higher probability. Like a good baseball player hitting better with steroids,” says Dr. Raghu Murtugudde, another professor at University of Maryland’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science.

The biggest impact of Sandy was the storm surges that caused flooding across the East coast.

This kind of

flooding is only exacerbated by rising sea levels. According to Jim Carton, a professor of Oceanography at University of Maryland, sea levels have been steadily rising for a long time and will continue to rise into the future. This can be seen in Battery Park, New York, one of the areas hardest hit

by Sandy. “Since 1900, sea level at the battery gauge has risen by about 40cm,” says Carton.

If sea levels continue to rise like this, then America’s cities are in trouble. When Hurricane Sandy came, the New York subway system was completely flooded. The city got it running again in a few days, not because it was easy; not because it was cheap, but because it had to.

Because there were eight million New Yorkers waiting.

Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, said himself that New York could not handle the bill alone. He requested

$42 billion in federal aid, as reported by the Daily News. The sad part is, this is only a precursor of what’s to come. Unless action is taken expect more of the same.

And a federal government already drowning in debt can’t foot the bill forever.

Rising ocean temperatures are another factor contributing to these natural disasters. “Hurricanes get their energy from the ocean and they die as they go on land because there is no energy anymore. So the hurricane potential, or the heat available for the hurricane increases as the oceans warm up,” says Murtugudde.

Higher temperatures also cause water to expand, so in this way, they contribute to the rise in sea level. The problems compound each other, until one day, you find your street has become a river.

Hurricane Sandy is a wakeup call. It is time to start taking climate change seriously. So we might wantmight want to stop for a second and listen closely before we end up having to trade our cars in for canoes.

XIXI CHEN

silverchips

December 20, 2012

Opinions

voicebox

Should MCPS closely regulate drug culture in schools?

KATRINA GOLLADAY

pro/con

YES Kenyetta Whitfield Between alcoholic celebrities gracing magazines, songs about major drug use and constant news coverage of teen drug and alcohol abuse, it is obvious teenagers have a reputation of substance use and abuse.

The reputation is more fact than fiction as, more than ever, high school students across America are using drugs and creating habits that could cripple them for life. Without any change or reform, drug culture in schools could become an enormous problem for parents and the entire MCPS community.

MCPS is no exception, as drug and alcohol use is common among students, according to data collected by the county each year.

Though all necessary data hasn’t been collected, enough exists for the MCPS Board of Education (BOE) to make a strict commitment to enhancing its punishments for drug and alcohol use and helping students recover from drug problems.

According to the MCPS School Safety & Security at a Glance, there were 17 alcohol- related incidents that resulted in police

NO Puck Bregstone When it comes to preventing a drug culture from permeating within MCPS, there is only red tape, budget issues and a lack of facts. While it is fun to joke (and most students do) about Blair students “blazin” and the smell of weed that lingers in the bathrooms every day after lunch, conclusions that the media or MCPS form by extrapolating on very little data is as good as hearsay. Thanks to this general confusion and controversy surrounding the issue, it is difficult to decide whether or not MCPS is even threatened by a drug culture. While there is definitively drug use in MCPS, the accusation that we are being educated in a drug-permeated culture seems a little extreme.

Former Montgomery County Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg recently wrote an opinion piece for The Gazette calling for increased attention on the “epidemic” of drug abuse in Montgomery County middle and high schools.

Currently, at Blair and around Montgomery County, there is a program called Screening Assessment Services Children Adolescents, which screens children up to age 17 in Montgomery County for drug

involvements and 98 drug-related incidents in the 2011-2012 school year. This does not include the 13 drug and alcohol incidents in which the police were not called. Each MCPS high school had a different number of incidents, but there were still an absurdly high amount.

There is no question of whether or not MCPS has a drug culture. The most important question for the BOE is how to combat the growing problem before it gets worse.

In a recent Gazette article, former Montgomery County Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg wrote, “In order to address the rapid increase of prescription drug abuse by teenagers, county government must get serious about treatment programming. ” Trachtenberg brings up valid points. If MCPS is serious about combating drug use as well

There is no question of whether or not MCPS has a drug culture as alcohol use among its students, there will have to be serious reform, treatment and education.

Blair security guard Kathleen Greene believes a root of the problem is drug education, and explains that educating kids on the risks that drugs possess could be a major improvement to the system.

To start, the school administration, along with the BOE must make a commitment to changing the drug culture within schools by creating harsher punishments, conducting tests and creating a rehabilitation program.

abuse. Students are referred to this program by their schools.

The biggest issue with claiming the existence of a strong drug culture at Blair and in Montgomery County schools is the lack of data. A recent Washington Examiner article lamented the measly amount of data on drug use among teens in Montgomery County. The general lack of facts makes it impossible to discern whether or not any of MCPS’s current initiatives to combat drug use have had any effect, and if so, which are most effective. Silver Spring Councilwoman Valerie Ervin was quoted recently at a committee hearing on drug use in schools asking how the County Council would know which funds were being used wisely and appropriately. “How do we know what is working?

How do we know our money is well spent?”

The conclusions that the media or MCPS form by extrapolating on very little data is as good as hearsay general lack of facts makes it impossible to discern asks Ervgin.

I do not support the position that nothing should be done to address a Montgomery County-wide drug culture, but springing out with a reactionary response to something that we cannot pinpoint and can hardly identify is foolhardy and a waste of precious education funds.

B2

Drug and alcohol screenings must take place to find the percentage of drug and alcohol use throughout the county. MCPS must also implement education and treatment programs to assist students.

Old programs such as D. A. R. E. , which taught kids about the risks of drugs, need to be implemented once again. But, this time, they must be pushed beyond health class.

They also need to include information on the risks of prescription drug abuse because of the growing use of these pills amongst teenagers.

According to the MCPS guidelines for drug and alcohol abuse counseling, “students who distribute, possess or use illegal drugs and alcohol on school premises shall be suspended or expelled, subject to the same review procedures as those used in any other disciplinary action. ” Though the consequences students currently face are appropriate, schools must take steps beyond punishment. In addition to suspension, schools should require students to seek county- provided treatment such as rehabilitation or counseling.

In order to move further with any of these steps, MCPS must set aside the funds needed to pursue drug and alcohol reform programs.

The process could potentially lose support due to the fiscal commitment it would require, but it is a small inconvenience that can help lower drug use among MCPS students.

If MCPS continues to allow its students to use drugs and alcohol freely without receiving proper information, a drug and alcohol culture could become prominent within schools. Though last year’s numbers may seem normal for a county as large as MCPS, they will only continue to grow. Proper education, treatment and detection are truly the keys to lowering and removing drug culture from schools.

Trachtenberg asks that the county designate vast amounts of the budget to address the drug abuse problem plaguing the school system. “ It’s the right time for county government to prioritize substance abuse programming in the HHS budget,” writes Trachtenberg. Although drugs are a problem in schools, it is foolhardy to take funds that are currently going to schools for educational purposes and switch a huge percentage of these funds to new drug initiatives. I do not condone drug use, but I also do not condone funneling taxpayer dollars desperately needed for education into expensive drug prevention programs that have yet to prove their own effectiveness. While I cannot from personal experience cite an example of drug use at school infringing on my education, I cannot speak for the entire Blair community, and really, no one can, as we just do not have the facts to make that type of judgment.

There is even a debate as to whether or not drug abuse is a school issue. Schools should most definitely have a hand in stopping drug abuse on school grounds and providing drug education. Law enforcement, however, should be more concerned with stopping drug use in Montgomery County, not the school system.

Roughly four years ago, each high school in the county was assigned a police liaison that kept a law enforcement presence in the schools. It has been three years since this program was cut due to lack of funding. The least the Montgomery County Police Department could do is reinstate a police liaison at each high school in the district, without charging the school system, even if for only a portion of the day.

Another solution that has been proven to work in school systems across the country is an emphasis on drug education at an early age. Educating students at a younger age about the dangers of drug abuse catches them before they have a chance to get involved.

Sofia Tesfu Junior Most kids are pretty used to people doing it, and it’s not considered such a bad thing which is sad. It’s a trend and there isn’t really anything MCPS can do.

Vincent Ly Senior I would hope that it’s not too dangerous. I think MCPS should maybe just make more regulations.

Jesse Kentworthy Freshman

Everyone loves marijuana here.

MCPS should not do anything about the drug culture.

Kalanzi Kajubi Sophomore A lot of people do [drugs] and it can affect their social groups.

Drug people and non-drug people can come together for a beautiful friendship.

Katherine Granados Senior I did not even know there was a drug culture.

B3 Opinions

silverchips

December 20, 2012

MAGGIE MCCLAIN

By Langston Cotman Humor Being in a relationship used to be so simple. Star-crossed lovers would lock eyes for a few brief seconds while passing each other in the hallways.

Guys would spend weeks preparing to approach the apples of their eye by practicing seductive smiles in the mirror and running through witty conversation starters in their heads.

Finally, the big day would come and he would make his way to her as his buds watched him work his flirty-magic from afar.

They would begin to talk, sparks would fly, and Voila, the beautiful seeds of teenage love were planted.

The news would make its way through school and eventually it would become common knowledge that the two were together. As Joe Biden would say, “That’s a bunch

of malarkey.”It just doesn’t work like that.

Only in a Lifetime movie has starting a relationship been so perfect and without complications.

The early stages of coupledom have always presented its challenges, but the rise of Facebook has only added more.

First, there is the whole issue of deciding when to send the relationship request to your significant other.

Do it too soon, and you may come off as way too desperate and eager. Send it too late and it may seem as if you are uncomfortable with the relationship.

But what is too early and what is too late? It is all a matter of opinion.

There are some people who are like Junior Kevin O’Connor and believe that a relationship should become Facebook official within a day of its commencement.

Others, like sophomore Wesley

Others like O’Connor find the positives in the increased exposure.

“Well you’ll stop being hit on,” he explains.

Then there is the break up. The break up is not fun. Especially when it is all over Facebook. “It’s weird because the people start to ask questions and talk more about it when you really just want it to be over with,” says junior Emanuel Ceron.

Over the next couple of days, members of the now disbanded couple have to relive the unpleasant moments of the breakup each time a friend messages them asking them for all the details.

It’s like “Groundhog Day” from hell.So, with all the issues that being in a Facebook official relationship presents, why do people still choose to post their relationship status on Facebook? Hopkins shared his relationship status so guys at his girlfriend’s high school would stop hitting on her.

Hopkins, believe that a relationship shouldn’t become Facebook official until the couple has been together for at least a month. These contrasting beliefs can be the cause of a little misunderstanding, but backed by the power of love most couples are able to overcome it.

They accept the requests and are officially “Facebook official”.

Once it is official, it spreads like wildfire. Classmates, friends from camp, and even your grandmother who just figured out how to log on, see the big news and soon the comments start coming in.

Your inbox is filled with messages like “ERMERGERD! SO ADORBS” and what was once a little secret between two people becomes the event of the night.

This can be overwhelming for some couples. The increased attention adds additional pressure to the new relationship because “everyone is so aware,” says junior Jamie Matthews.

But, mainly, it is because the rise of social media enables people to share more personal information and updating ones relationship status is another way of keeping friends informed on their relationship status.

This is the case for O’Connor, who is currently in a relationship.

“I feel [the relationship status] is more for other people than for you and whomever you’re dating,” he explains.

Whether or not a person shares their relationship information, it is important to realize that a relationship is not defined by whether or not it happens to be on Facebook.

It is a personal decision to be in a relationship with someone on Facebook, and even if a couple doesn’t exist in cyberspace they can still be found out in the real world.

As for freshman Nathaniel Marshall’s claim that, “It’s not love if it’s not on Facebook”.

Malarkey.

Two viewpoints on the Middle East conflict From a Palestinian perspective...

By Maya Habash A reflection When my family and I heard the news that rockets and bombs were coming down on Gaza, the instant reaction in my household was an overwhelming sense of worry, fear and deep concern. It was a feeling integrated with the anxiety awaiting any news concerning the safety of my family members in Gaza.

While most of my family resides in Bethlehem, much of my mom’s side of the family lives in Gaza. My mother, directly after hearing of the attack, picked up the phone and called her cousin to check on the health of uncles and aunts.

My mom’s cousin did not know whether her family was safe, as power lines and communications were down due to the escalating situation. Her cousin, Nuha, immediately posted a Facebook status saying, “Whoever sees this in Gaza, please update us.

Tell us you’re safe.”

After the ceasefire, my mother learned that her family was alive.

She also learned that 163 Palestinians, including dozens of children and women, lost their lives, and that hundreds of Palestinians were wounded. Hundreds of houses and large numbers of buildings were directly hit by bombs and completely demolished. The pictures of buildings turned into giant black holes in the ground filled with ash and rubble invoke an overwhelming feeling that cannot be put into words.

Imagine if your home was attacked from the East and the West with the most sophisticated weapons in the world. Imagine the long-term damage and psychological impact the sounds of the explosions across the street and the engraved mental images of dead bodies laying on the sidewalk would have on the hundreds of children that endured several days of around-theclock bombing. Children continuously lived in fear, afraid to leave their houses, afraid to be killed. Sadly, for many of these Palestin-

An Israeli experience...

ian children, the mass destruction is not unfamiliar, as they witnessed and lived through a similar reality just four years ago, when 1,417 people in Gaza died, including 313 children.

All my family and I can wish for is peace, but situations like this make the reality of peace seem distant. Since my grandparents were children, Palestine’s fate has been in the hands of the Israeli government and military. In order to see my family every two years, I have to fly through Jordan and cross checkpoints

By Josh Schmidt A reflection

West Bank

Gaza 139 square miles

163 Palestinian casualties 1573 rockets launched

Israel

8,019 square miles 6 Israeli casualties 1500 rockets launched

NAH

HAN

in the scalding heat where hundreds are packed in small areas and constantly maneuvered into the next small space. It creates a four hour trip because the Israeli government does not allow me and my family to fly into the airport in Tel Aviv due to our Palestinian identities. While the newly established statehood of Palestine is a huge step towards progress and freedom from oppression, this does not indicate a solution to the problem. This crisis in Gaza is one rooted in 65 years of occupation. The people of Gaza, the 1.6 million Palestinians, live in an open-air prison—and for 65 years, have been deprived of justice— and that is the underlying reality. True and sustainable peace will come the day the world sees a permanent end to the occupation.

As the rockets rain down closer and closer to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the fear mounts as many wonder how many lives will be lost in the end. The ceasefire has been nice and much needed, but I just find it hard to believe that it will hold for an extended period of time. Blind faith can only hold me for so long. But for me and my family, that fear goes far beyond the fact that Israel is an ally or that Israel is

ing in Jerusalem, my uncle and his family of five all 30 minutes between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and many other cousins in Tel Aviv, I can only hope that the rockets never make it that far.

The feeling of such urgency regarding this war and the danger involved for so many I care about is crazy. The exchanging of missiles between Israel and Gaza has a different feel to it.

All my family and I can wish for is peace, some sort of agreement between the two sides that will end the fighting for long enough to come up with a long term solution. Ownership of land should not be the top priority for either side. Saving innocent lives should be of the utmost priority.

Having family in Israel means that over time, I find myself getting used to and jaded by the fighting that occurs in the region, yet this conflict was different. The endless bombardment of rockets in the land I love has been scarier than all prior turmoil.

The possibility for an escalation of the situation and the initiation of a ground war has become increasingly believable and at points it seems, by some estimations, inevitable.

I knew the situation was different when my dad took my phone early in the morning one day before school in order to read an article about what had happened in Israel while we were asleep. He knew that his siblings and father were possibly in danger and he couldn’t wait to hear the news.

The urgency in which my dad had to see the news revealed e just how dangerous this could become--and this was at the beginning of the fighting. Since the fighting began, the rockets sent over the border have progressively gone farther and farther inland. With the advancements of technology, the constant heightening of tensions and the inability to forge a long term solution, this conflict indicates a dangerous escalation of the conflict far beyond what the Israeli people, my family and I have ever had to grow used to.

WEIN B

U TRA SOU : RCE CNN

one of the only democracies in the Middle East. Instead the fear is that a loved one will be lost.

With my aunt and grandfather resid-

silverchips

December 20, 2012

Editorials

B4

Integrity in the wake of a tragedy

Corrections Junior Simeon Kakpovi’s name was misspelled in November’s Soapbox.

Junior Nigisti Retta was cited as a Senior on the front page of November’s paper.

The high cost of print

By Ruth Aitken Print journalism is dying.

The whisper has circulated for years, as newspapers across the country scratch their paper services and go viral.

As Internet news wires pick up speed, “For Rent” signs propped in vacant windows replace once-bustling newspaper press rooms.

On the high school level, where funding is primarily limited to what expenses the school community can offer, many of the nation’s journalism programs have been slashed in the recent economic downturn. Still others were forced to limit their page count or move all of their content online.

But Silver Chips will maintain both its print and online editions, even in the wake of struggling high school journalism programs nationwide. Despite critics’ dismal forecast for the future of printed news, Silver Chips print strives to uphold its 75-year-old legacy of delivering outstanding news and entertainment to the school body— on paper.

In November, the print edition of Blair’s newspaper was awarded the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pacemaker Award for high school journalism for the 2011/2012 academic year.

Within its category, Silver Chips was selected as one of the four best newspapers in the country by a panel of expert judges.

Following this recognition, Silver Chips is determined to persist in delivering coverage to the student readership. Since the paper’s start in 1937, Silver Chips staffers have hand-delivered the papers straight into the school’s English classrooms.

It is no slight expense to provide papers; each edition of Silver Chips prints approximately 3,300 copies and costs between $1,750 and $2,000 to print.

The stacks of freshly printed Silver Chips editions that line Blair’s classrooms offer an accessibility that the Internet cannot; because of our print format, Silver Chips gives every student a direct connection to ongoing school activity without the computer as a middleman.

However, as global culture and information technology shifts, so must we adapt to the changing nature of communications. Silver Chips’ online counterpart offers students a host of up-to-date sports coverage, supplemental news and a variety of entertainment pieces.

The duality of online and print forums that Silver Chips offers provides Blazers with both thorough coverage LEAH HAMMOND and a wealth of student expression.

This month, Silver Chips Online and Silver Chips Print were jointly named finalists for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Gold Crown Award in the hybrid category, which awards outstanding papers that publish both print and online material.

There will always be some mechanism by which people publicly communicate and share news and human interest stories. Journalism must persist, and Silver Chips’ interest in providing the student body with current information prompts our dedication to delivering quality content through several mediums.

Ombudsman Ruth Aitken

Questions, comments, or suggestions?

Email me at silver.chips.ombudsman@gmail. com

Last Friday, a senseless violent act of unparalleled cruelty left the nation reeling with questions. How could such a monstrous crime happen in the safe haven of an elementary school? Why were such young lives so malevolently cut short? In the midst of the holiday season, brutality claimed the lives of the most innocent among us, and a grieving public cried for an explanation to an evil which no rationale could have justified.

An armed intruder entered Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and carried out the massacre that left 27 dead, 20 of the victims children aged five to ten. At 9:30 a.m., the first shots rang across the building. By 9:50, police had surrounded the scene. Less than three hours later, shoddy coverage of the incident went viral online.

In a blatant attempt to weave a narrative, news outlets began circulating reports that a deranged mid-twenties man by the name of Ryan Lanza was responsible for the attack.

Ryan Lanza, according to early reports, drove to Sandy Hook with the intent to murder his mother, who was a teacher at the school, and her kindergarten class. These hastily compiled and poorly reported claims were in direct contrast to the facts that eventually emerged: Lanza’s mother had never been an employee at the school, and the shooter was not Ryan Lanza but his younger brother Adam.

A barrage of incorrectly reported details enshrouded a grave tragedy in a frustrating jumble of miscommunication. Following the devastation of the attack, heedless reporting only served to aggravate an already tender situation.

Those who died at Sandy Hook last week deserved a testament to their lives, a celebration of who they were before the assassin cut their lives short. Unfortunately, commemoration of the victims was interrupted by a sideshow of press organizations clamoring to report details In a race to report the complete story of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, the media readily made a spectacle out of something serious and sad. The baseless backstory that the shooter arrived at Sandy Hook to exact revenge against his mother seems to have been a product of the media’s eagerness to dramatize even in the most painful situations. Such reckless journalism does not only compromise the integrity of the presses, but muddles facts when many anxious and mourning people are seeking the truth. The news media’s willingness to report hearsay before the police investigation had even been completed reveals a compulsion to add entertainment value to human loss.

The misinformed coverage was not limited to a single network, either. As one news outlet published flawed accounts of the shooting, another exaggerated the first’s report until purported details amalgamated into an entirely fabricated narrative. When Fox News first reported that the shooter had been Ryan Lanza, other stations then claimed that “cops” had confirmed the identity of the shooter as 24-year-old Ryan Lanza. CNN went so far as to interview federal law enforcement officials about Ryan Lanza’s background before the identity of the shooter had been confirmed.

Impulsive reporting not only undermines the press’s credibility and distracts from the gravity of a situation, but also harms individuals. Within hours of the shooting, television anchors and Internet news stations accused an innocent man of mass murder. The elder Lanza was brusquely labeled as a killer, and faced unjustified accusations from both acquaintances and news anchors nationwide. His reputation was briefly but unforgettably marred.

In more subtle ways, however, careless reporting unintentionally furthered the suffering of the events at Sandy Hook. Viewers who tuned their televisions to CNN mid-Friday saw live footage of parents carrying sobbing five- and six-year-olds out of the building, students hugging each other and crying after being evacuated, and reporters thrusting microphones into small bleary-eyed faces. After children had witnessed or heard their schoolmates killed, television anchors were pressing them for details, publicizing their pain and extorting the lasting emotional trauma which the students had already endured. “Were you scared? Were all of the children crying waiting for their parents?” one CNN reporter asked, as first-graders dabbed their eyes and wiped their noses on their sleeves.

The news crews descended upon a school that had already been under attack, and whose students were already wary of intruders. The reporters that flocked to students for interviews gleaned nothing from them that could not be more reliably ascribed to a police report or an interview with an adult present on the scene. There was nothing to gain from interviews with the elementary school students but shock value. Interviewing shaken children following a tragedy is a perverse symptom of the media seeking to captivate audiences, to entertain regarding a subject that is far from entertainment.

The events that transpired at Sandy Hook were something that no one, regardless of age, should have to witness. For the very young, however, such violence is especially incomprehensible. When the children most needed a hug and some comforting words, they were instead offered the opportunity to broadcast their pain on television.

In the aftermath of tragedy, we inevitably speculate as to how such disaster could have been avoided. After each time a shooting incident seemingly repeats itself several months later, we cry for a cease to the violence. But perhaps President Obama is right; it is necessary to mobilize some action to prevent recurrences, and the solution may lie in the manner in which we respond to catastrophes.

The day after Jared Lee Loughner shot 17 people in a parking lot in Tuscon, Arizona, his magnified and color-edited mug shot appeared on the front cover of the New York Post beside the headline “Mad Eyes of a Killer.” The Daily News published a similar image on a black background that bore the words “The Face of Evil.” After the shooting earlier this year in the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, newspapers were eager to uncover the background of the shooter who had booby-trapped his home with explosives. The press turned James Holmes into an enigma, speculating about his failed run as a neuroscience student and publishing rhetoric that portrayed him as a satanic madman.

On Monday of this week, two of the five top stories on WashingtonPost.com aimed to uncover details about Adam Lanza’s history, including one called “Portrait of Adam Lanza and his family begins to emerge” and “Newtown school shooter’s mother collected guns, was loath to let people inside home.”

The public’s obsession with the actor of the crime rather than the victims has the potential to catapult the most depraved among us into infamy. We immortalize mass murderers with unending news coverage of their histories and offenses. We sensationalize events that deserve mourning and make celebrities out of the most detestable of criminals.

Incident after incident, the killer is portrayed as an introspective loner figure who struggles to relate to anyone else. For someone harboring a death wish and yearning to be noticed, the virtual promise of media attention is a sick encouragement to kill. If we are determined to stop killing sprees, we must stop granting criminals the attention they crave and emphasize the horrendous consequences of taking innocent lives.

Though in the case of tragedies, we may seek closure or explanations by attempting to uncover the ill inner psyches of murderers, such attempts will never reveal an answer. The media should not abuse perverse coverage of killers in order to draw readership and news coverage of violent tragedies should not be treated in the same manner as human interest stories.

Instead remember what is important: commemorating the lives of the victims. As a nation, let us set aside gimmicky and poor reporting and have a moment for those who died last week: Charlotte Bacon, age six. Daniel Barden, age seven. Rachel Davino, age 29. Olivia Engel, age six. Josephine Gay, age seven. Ana M. Marquez-Greene, age six. Dylan Hockley, age six. Dawn Hocksprung, age 47. Madeleine F. Hsu, age six. Catherine V. Hubbard, age six.

Chase Kowalski, age seven. Jesse Lewis, age six. James Mattioli, age six. Grace McDonnell, age seven. Anne Marie Murphy, age 52. Emilie Parker, age six. Jack Pinto, age six. Noah Pozner, age six. Caroline Previdi, age six. Jessica Rekos, age six. Avielle Richman, age six.

Lauren Russeau, age 30. Mary Sherlach, age 56. Victoria Soto, age 27. Benjamin Wheeler, age six. Allison N. Wyatt, age six.

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develop depression,” he says. “By age 15, however, girls are twice as likely as boys to have had a major depressive episode.”

Dende adds that during teen years crucial personality evolutions occur, and various forms of depressions like SAD are common.

Still these students are part of a small minority affected by the disorder. Because of the lack of familiarity with SAD, those affected often encounter people who underestimate the severity of its impact and symptoms and write off this lasting depression as being just winter blues. As a result, these Blazers find themselves shut into their own world.

The experience Though scientists are unsure of what exactly causes SAD, most believe that the depression is connected to the decreased amount of sunlight following daylight savings. Doctors attribute an upset in a person’s sleeping cycle to the drastic changes in their exposure to sunlight. This decreased amount of sunlight causes imbalances with serotonin, a brain chemical that affects mood.

This winter, some members of the Blair community will struggle with episodes of seasonal depression. For junior Kenda Tucker, her depression begins as soon as it starts to get dark earlier in the day. During the short period of time when the sun is out on those gloomy winter days, Tucker is stuck inside of a classroom.

“You get up when it’s dark, and when you get home it’s dark,” says Tucker. Her

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depression manifests itself in an unmotivated attitude that generally occurs in the evening. During these nights her depression consumes her and she can only wait for her melancholy feelings to pass.

“You feel very sad and you end up sitting in a chair for a couple of hours,” says Tucker.

For senior Mary, it becomes difficult to interact socially when she is suffering from the symptoms of her seasonal depression. “I don’t even feel like I need to see my friends,” she says. Mary suffers from a bipolar disorder as well and at times her depression is coupled with paranoia and anxiety attacks. Her manic tendencies only heap more pressure onto her busy lifestyle.

“Last year, it was APs and the musical and everything got out of control,” she explains. Her depression and anxiety culminated with her hospitalization last spring.

Senior Meg Lebow has been dealing with SAD since the seventh grade and is very familiar with the telltale signs of her oncoming depression. She summarizes the feeling as a chronic lower level of mood which in turn causes exhaustion and shorter periods of sleep. She feels tired more often and sleeps for longer periods of time. When with friends, she is less animated and has a difficult time dealing with stressful situations.

Still, Lebow finds solace in knowing that there is a medical reason for her feelings. “When you have any sort of problem, it is comfortable to know the reason why so you don’t end up blaming yourself,” explains Lebow.

Meds, therapy and support When coping with SAD some students have found a simple formula to end their symptoms while for others, battling the depression can feel like solving an endless, multivariable calculus problem. Sometimes it’s an easy fix and a student can feel better after a conversation with a close friend.

They may not stop the depression from occurring in the first place, but these conversations can make those with the disorder capable of handling rough patches.

Junior Barbara’s ex-boyfriend is affected with the disorder. When they began their relationship in October of last year, she noticed that he was often upset. “He would get very quiet,” says Barbara. “A lot of times he just looked sad, depressed.” She adds that most of the time he would simply shut down, bite his nails or twist his hair, all signs of the anxiety he felt. In order to alleviate his sadness, he would get into his hobby of listening to music.

Besides music, Barbara explains, her boyfriend confessed that having her companionship and support made him feel better. “Having someone in his life he could share stuff [with] really helped him. He had someone to lean on.” Barbara feels her support for him was crucial in combating his day-to-day bad feelings.

Still, other Blazers turn more to modern medicines to correct their chemical imbalance. Many use medication to control symptoms of anxiety and bipolar disorders that are also caused by winter depression. For Mary, medication did help her stabilize her mood and anxiety, but she feels that the medicaments are not as effective. Besides using medicaments, she has

found comfort through Buddhism. Chanting and meditating once a week has helped her not only deal with SAD but accept her sometimes challenging life condition.

Other than mood and anxiety stabilizers, the dark winter days can be brightened by a little light box therapy. Lebow uses a lamp-like white square box that emits bright fluorescent lights. However, the glow of this particular box, however, mimics sunlight and when Lebow spends time basking in its shine it helps make up for her Vitamin D deficiency. This helps to balance the levels of serotonin and combats the depressive feelings. Mary also takes medicine to supplement her burst of artificial sunrays.

For some students, medication and light therapy are ineffective, but for others the treatments have been a huge help in facing their depression. “SAD may be effectively treated with light therapy, but nearly half of those with winter depression do not get better with light therapy alone,” says Dende. “Antidepressant medication and psychotherapy can reduce SAD symptoms, either alone or in combination with light therapy,” he says.

The two primary psychotherapies that help patients are both talk therapies. “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), helps people with depression restructure negative thought patterns,” Dende says. Additionally, Dende finds that talk therapy helps the patients embrace a positive approach to their situation. Interpersonal therapy also has an impressive record in helping patients focus on bettering conflicted relationships that could worsen their depressive condition.

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stuck for days in a rut that makes it difficult for her to interact socially.

Lebow has spent years coping with her depression, and is frustrated when she hears people diagnosing themselves with SAD just because they occasionally feel sad during the winter. “It is unfortunate that [the disorder] is called SAD because people just think it means ‘Oh, sad. I feel sad’,” says Lebow. She hopes people will realize that it is an actual medical issue that has to do with chemical imbalances from lack of sunlight and not just an emotional issue.

Talking about their seasonal depression can be difficult for those whose friends have no insight into the experience themselves. Mary has two close friends that she talks to, but refrains from telling her Buddhist youth group about her disorder. “People will judge you,” she explains.

Lebow feels that educating Blazers on SAD would get rid of the negative connotation and the judgment that often come along with it, as well as help undiagnosed students with SAD be more willing to talk about their disorder and seek help. “It is important for people to know that if they have [SAD] something isn’t wrong with them,” says Lebow.

For many, like Tucker, what helps the most is having friends to talk to about their depression. “It doesn’t matter if they can relate,” says Tucker. “It just matters that they are willing to listen.”

Socially sad As the sun begins to recede and wintertime approaches, many people with SAD have similar withdrawal from their friends.

Blazers who have SAD often isolate themselves from their peers during their depression. Dende says that this is an effect of SAD symptoms. “People suffering from depression may simply lack the energy to associate with friends, feel worthless or unlovable, feel helpless and feel hopeless,” he says.

During the long winter, Mary feels tired with no energy to do activities she typically enjoys during other seasons. “I [don’t] need friends. I don’t want them having to see me a certain way,” she says. For most students dealing with SAD, social life simply freezes in the winter months as they try to get through their gray days in solitude.

Dealing with SAD while in school is a challenge within itself. Sudden feelings of sadness can strike at any time and often catch Tucker off guard. While she may feel fine one moment a sudden change in mood will have her

insidefeatures “Our name is Publik Theory, and we’re going to be famous!”

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Undocumented yet allowed to live the DREAM The Maryland DREAM Act gives students access to higer education

By Hannah Wientraub Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of sources.

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or many students, the relative freedom of senior year is interrupted by the incessant questions about their college applications. Parents’ names? Siblings? Talents? Most Blazers answer these factoids with glazed-over eyes, but for some, one question causes more problems than just trying to remember minute personal details: Are you a citizen of the United States?

Undocumented immigrants’ futures once hinged on the answer to this one question.

Marking “no” meant they would have to pay out-of-state tuition to Maryland schools, making any hope of a four-year college degree just a distant fantasy. On Nov. 6, however, undocumented students finally found some relief to the overwhelming college tuition when Maryland passed the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The Maryland DREAM Act grants undocumented students living in Maryland the chance to pay in-state tuition at local schools after meeting a series of qualifications, says Kristin Ford, communications director for DREAM Act advocacy organization Educating Maryland Kids. The act mimics similar federal legislation, also referred to as the DREAM Act, which Congress introduced and struck down on a national level in 2010 and 2011. Although undocumented students will not receive benefits on a federal level, a study by the University of Maryland Baltimore County estimates that the local act will help 435 Maryland students enroll in fouryear universities or community colleges per year. “Education makes the world go round,” says DREAM Act advocate, senior Marvely Molina. “In order to be successful, you need to be educated.”

While many undocumented immigrants see the DREAM Act as a victory, the daily struggles of being undocumented and “in the shadows,” as many explain, still remain.

“My mom thought it would be hard but she didn’t realize that opportunities weren’t going to be available,” says junior Jessica of her family’s life as undocumented immigrants.

“She soon realized life wouldn’t be as picture-perfect as she thought.”

According to the Obama administration, undocumented immigrants are often restricted from benefits that many citizens take for granted, like receiving a driver’s license, applying for college scholarships or obtaining a work permit. Many undocumented immigrants must also live with the constantly looming fear of deportation. “We have learned to start over,” says Jessica, “so we have come to accept that if one of us is deported, we all go. That has become our golden rule.”

Many bemoan these added challenges that undocumented immigrants face. “These are people who are honest people willing to contribute to the economy and benefit the United States,” says Spanish teacher and DREAM Act advocate Dianette Coombs.

“They want to make society good, so why are we making it so difficult for them?”

Fight for the right to learn The news that the DREAM Act had passed lit up the local immigration assistance center, CASA de Maryland, like an explosion of fireworks. Molina stood triumphantly on top of a chair and fist pumped the air in celebration. “Everyone was saying this was what they were fighting for,” remembers Molina.

When sisters Sarina and Luisa, undocumented immigrants, heard the news, they jumped around their bedroom as their mother rolled her eyes, saying the girls had lost their minds. The sisters’ joyful shouts and their mother’s true relief over the news were made possible by the months-long campaigning efforts of supporters and advocates like Molina and senior Claudia Quinonez. “We weren’t just advocating for education rights, we were advocating for human rights,” says Quinonez.

Even advocates who will not be affected by the DREAM Act, like Molina, Quinonez and senior Niveet Singh, marched in rallies and organized educational sessions in order

to achieve what they believed was right and fair. “I am not going to benefit,” says Singh, “but it is important to help others go to college.”

This importance has a monetary value as well, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which estimates that college graduates make about $19,000 more than those without college degrees. Coombs, whose classes include un- documented i m m i g r a n t s , envisions her students going to college and becoming professionals. “I don’t want my students doing trade jobs,” says Coombs. “I want them to have a career and not just make minimum wage.”

Sarina felt the same motivation to go into a professional field. “I want to study medicine,” she explains. Before the DREAM Act passed, she had only one option to achieve this goal: going back to her home country.

“Undocumented, unafraid, unapologetic” A crowd of students wearing royal blue shirts that read “I am the Maryland DREAM Act” stood behind an enor- mous sign declaring that they were “undocumented, unafraid and unapologetic.” These students, some donning graduation caps, marched through Downtown Silver Spring and eventually streamed past Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices, the governmental branch responsible for deporting undocumented immigrants. “At one point, being undocumented was taboo, but now it’s not. It’s becoming more common to hear the words ‘undocumented’ and ‘DREAMer,’ when four years ago it was not,” says Quinonez.

Before the DREAM Act, Jessica felt ostracized because of her undocumented status. Jessica immigrated to the United States on a travel visa when she was five years old. Two years later, she discovered that she was undocumented, but for a while she did not regard her lack of citizenship as anything unique.

It wasn’t until she started to get older that she began to feel more COURTESY OF CASA DE MARYLAND isolated because of her status. “I began to feel like there might not be DREAM Protesters with CASA de Maryland join together to fight for the DREAM Act. opportunities here in this country like my parents thought. I am different because I struggle more than cult to see them as anything but American.

Act is not a straight pipeline into public unimy peers,” she explains. After the DREAM With undocumented students often facversities. Students must still earn 60 credits Act passed, however, she felt more accepted ing fewer possibilities to finance their colat their local community college or obtain by her Maryland community. “I thought it legiate education, the pressure to do well in an associate’s degree before transferring to would be hard for people to accept [my sta- high school in order to secure scholarships a public, Maryland university, says Ford. tus] before the DREAM Act but over time is strong. “I felt I had to work harder if I Now that the DREAM Act has passed, I’ve come to accept that this is who I am and wanted to go to college,” says Sarina. “I had advocates have switched their attention I’m not going to fight it. I’ve learned to over- to get a scholarship.” But some, like Jessica from rallying to educating students on the come judgment,” she explains. work hard to dispel the negative stereoDREAM Act’s many conditions. CASA de The struggle to get necessary documen- types around undocumented immigrants.

Maryland is holding registration drives in tation is echoed by many undocumented “I always feel like I have to prove people which students come and receive assistance immigrants in Maryland. With seemingly wrong. I can do well on tests, I can go to uniwith their DREAM Act applications. Somefew options to gain citizenship, Sarina says versity, I can do this without documents,” times the job of an advocate is to simply she briefly considered marriage as a way to she explains. inform students that, with the DREAM Act, gain naturalization. “I heard I have to marOther students, says Coombs, are disthey have more opportunities after caps fly ry someone [to gain citizenship],” she says. heartened by their status and forgo academinto the air at high school graduation. “We “Isn’t that weird? I’m just 18!” ic success when they do not see future opwent into ESOL classes and told them they While the Maryland DREAM Act lowers portunities for themselves. “This falls into a have a chance to go to college and they were tuition rates for undocumented students, cliché but it’s the truth,” Coombs explains. shocked. They thought they didn’t have the it does not protect them from the threat of “There are some students who would give money, and we told them that the DREAM deportation, says Ford. “Neither federal up doing well in high school because they Act will help them,” says Molina. policy nor state law provides a path to citi- think, ‘Why would I work hard in high Still, even with the DREAM Act, undocuzenship,” she says. Students, Ford explains, school when college is beyond my reach?’” mented immigrants cannot benefit from the can apply for the federal program Deferred Federal and State Financial Aid program Action for Childhood Arrivals which grants that gives monetary assistance to collegeApplying for the DREAM students work permits for two years and bound students, says Ford. Many students, protects them from deportation for the same Quninoez explains, must still rely on comFilling out reams of paperwork for a passduration. petitive private scholarships to help finance port photo or bringing in stacks of identifiFear of deportation often motivates stu- cation for a driver’s permit can be strong their educations. dents to keep their undocumented status a reminders of the arduous, bureaucratic obEven as students apply for the state secret. It wasn’t until this year that Sarina stacles that the government has buttressing DREAM Act, many feel as if this recent told anyone of her lack of citizenship. “I its public, legal initiatives. The Maryland reform does not do enough to support unfelt like I had to say it to someone,” she ex- DREAM Act is no exception, with the act documented immigrants. “We need paths plains. to citizenship,” says Quninonez, “so once requiring students to pass rigorous criteria Quinonez was often shocked when she in order to qualify for the benefits. students get a degree, they can work and discovered peers who were undocumented. give back to America, which is their homeOn the check list of DREAM Act requireMany had lived in the United States for ments is a GED or high school diploma, famland and country.” years, which, Quinonez says, made it diffi- ily tax returns and high school attendance Quninonez is the editor of Spanish Page. records, says Ford. In addition, the DREAM

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Beyond a doubt Psychics, mediums and card readers cause some to ponder their futures and question their beliefs

By Mallory Rappaport At first the man was skeptical. Tarot cards don’t actually tell the future, he convinced himself. As amateur tarot card reader Nic D’ascoli dealt out the worn-out cards of his original Ryder deck, the man’s prospects began to look increasingly grim.

“This isn’t my definitive future, right?” he asked D’ascoli hopefully. D’ascoli assured him that this was just one possible future.

You can make other choices. Two weeks later the man was dead.

This sort of scene is something we’ve all heard about, or maybe seen in movies, but for some, these incidents aren’t just stories.

While senior Dylan Greer isn’t too sure what he believes when it comes to the afterlife, his mom, Konstanza Greer, certainly is. Greer is a spiritualist medium, certified by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches. She makes contact with the spirit world for a living. Greer runs her own business, Silver Spring of Light, and offers a variety of classes, workshops and regular readings.

Psychics and spiritualists like Greer have been prevalent since at least the 19th century when spiritualism began to grow a significant following. A

growing business, the psychic industry is currently valued at $2.5 billion dollars for services that encompass a large variety of metaphysical services including palm and tarot card readings, aura readings and mediumship.

How it works Greer starts her readings off with an opening prayer, asking for God’s help in establishing spiritual communication and inviting the spirit guides to join the reading. After the prayer, she goes into a meditative state, and in most readings, the spirit people arrive by the time she says, “Amen.”

Greer then proceeds to describe to the client what she sees from the spirit side of life.

Greer feels strongly that whatever message the spirit people bring, her readings offer healing and closure for many clients.

“Relatives who died get a chance to say goodbye, or if some- one was a bad parent, they try to make up for it,” she says. Greeralso claims that movies like The Sixth Sense fail to accurately dem- onstrate seeing spirits. “Hollywood misportrays talking to spirits as very creepy and spooky, but it isn’t. The spirit usually chooses to look as he or she did

when they were happiest in life, which is most often ages 25 to 40,” she says. “Talking to spirits is like talking to a regular person.”

Since Greer is a Spiritualist, a religion that upholds that spirits of the dead are able and willing to speak with the living, she attempts to prove the continuity of life—the idea that life goes on after death— through her readings. Still Greer’s method isn’t the only way psychics look into the future.

The amateur Psychic readings aren’t just for the experts. D’ascoli is a regular office worker on weekdays but an amateur tarot card reader on the side. Tarot cards leave more up to interpretation.

D’ascoli explains that his own personal deck has cards with both good and bad interpretations to them. D’ascoli has done roughly 100 readings, often for his friends and family members, producing results he claims to be “scarily accurate.” While he still thinks he has a lot to learn about tarot cards he feels that all people have the power to predict their futures. “Everyone has all the answers,” he says. “Sometimes by just closing your eyes and looking inside yourself [you] can see [your] own future.”

The fortune teller

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Smoke and incense permeates through a dingy and dimly lit store in D.C. The bulletin posted outside the door promises psychic readings for $5 each, a tempting offer for kids with a few extra dollars and nothing to lose. Psychic shops dot the streets of D.C. and Maryland suburbs.

According to sophomores Ronny Menedez and Katherine Holmcrans, these are places most people notice and identify, but never actually enter. “We were hanging out in Georgetown and the shop was just there,” explains Menendez. “I always see psychics in movies and we wanted to try it out.”

While both agreed they enjoyed

the experience, neither of the students got what they had anticipated. “I expected the psychic to be wearing spiritual-type clothing, but she was dressed normally and she was smoking,” says Holmcrans.

“She didn’t even read my palm, really,” criticizes Menendez. “She just looked at it and then told me in a monotone voice that I was stubborn, closed-hearted and rude.”

Holmcrans was more positive about her received fortunes about her love life, which have so far yet to come true.

Still, other students, like sophomore Kenny Orellana, are skeptical of the phenomenon. “It’s just a scam to take your money,” Orellana claims. “I think people are desperate for answers that no one could actually give them.”

Doubt

A number of people, like sophomore Isaiah Silvers, doubt that psychic powers even exist. “There’s no empirical evidence to prove that any of it is true,” he says.

Others, like freshmen Sarah Joyce, feel that television shows like Long Island Mediums, a TLC reality show, make what she might have considered an interesting career look ridiculous.

Greer says she doesn’t get many skeptical clients, mostly because if they’re skeptical, they’re not going to come in the first place. Greer does, however, get a few uncertain clients who always leave convinced. “I tell them to come with an open mind and when they do, I’m able to bring information that makes their jaws drop,” she boasts. D’ascoli feels readings have better results when the user is willing. “I find I can often read people better if they want to be engaged. I’ve done readings where the person is less willing and they didn’t get very many results,” he says.

Dylan isn’t sure of his own personal beliefs about the afterlife yet, but he supports his mom in her accomplishments. “I believe in my mom’s ability to communicate, and I believe in her,” he says.

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Students’ popular designs are ‘dipp’d in butter’

By Danny Alger Duffle bags in hand, Khiry Barnes and Dammar Bess stroll down Blair Boulevard. Instead of the typical school supplies or sports equipment, the two sophomores’ bags carry original name brand clothing, the product of months of hard work. Purple floral patterns, paizley bandana, tiger prints, tie dye and camouflage—the options are endless. But each shirt is united by the Dipp’d logo inside a rectangle in the center or a cursive “D” in the top right corner.

Barnes and Bess are the founders and designers of Dipp’d, a clothing brand in the same vein as Obey and Supreme. As of now, the logo is only available on shirts that go for 20 dollars each, but Barnes is confident in the growth of his company. “We’re out to rule the world,” he says.

The business Dipp’d attributes their renown to word of mouth, their Instagram account (@Dippdclothing) and free advertising that comes from people wearing the shirts. “We got people who want to rep our stuff for free,” says Barnes. The boys’ personal backgrounds also helped Dipp’d grow. Barnes and Bess moved to Maryland from Indianapolis and Miami respectively. The two ship clothes to friends in those cities and in turn receive advertising

from customers in other parts of the country.

Bess’ dad, an entrepreneur, helped the two figure out how to navigate the business aspects of Dipp’d. “My dad had a clothing business in the ‘90s called Threads.

His experience helped me out and made me a better business man,” Bess says. Barnes and Bess agree that the brand’s rise in popularity comes from a snowball effect created by getting more shirts out to more people who in turn inform others about Dipp’d.

“We’re not just doing this for the money.”

-Khiry Barnes The manufacturing side of Dipp’d is very closely tied in to its growth. When Dipp’d formed last year, Barnes and Bess created the shirts with the emulsion method, which required them to manually print designs onto the shirts. However, this strategy was expensive and as Dipp’ds popularity grew, it became inefficient. “I spent hours from five in the afternoon to three in the morning getting these shirts out for people,” says Bess. Now, Dipp’d prints shirts via manufacturer. “We pay them, they order the shirts, order the patterns and print it on for us,” Bess says. “We’ve got

it pretty professional now.”

Behind the scenes

model for Dipp’d. They use the designs and ideas from Fairey’s street art campaign to make their own clothes. Taking inspiration from other artists Barnes and Bess then synthesize their own graphics and ideas into a brand.

While Dipp’d serves as a way to express their artistic vision, Barnes and Bess have found that with growing popularity comes the pressure to change. “As soon as Dipp’d started getting out there,

to new ideas, they say they want the brand to remain their outlet for expression rather than a blind producer of customer requests. “We’re not close minded, though,” Barnes says. “If people want to get their art out or just give it to us, we’ll take it and dip it I guess,” adds Bess.

The friendship behind Dipp’d dates back to the digital art class where the two met as freshman.

Because they had both been inspired by underground street art and culture—particularly that of More than money the San Francisco bay area—Barnes and Bess decided to use their For Barnes and Bess, Dipp’d is graphics, sketches and designs to more about seeing people wearmake shirts. ing their art than The name came any financial next and was gain. “We’re not inspired by the just doing this for bay area slang the money,” says term “Dipped Barnes. “It looks in butter,” really cool having which is used something you creto describe ated yourself worn something of by other people.” very high qualDipp’d has exity. perienced popularOne artist ity while not comwho particupromising their larly inspired artistic identity, Barnes was and its creators say the street artthey are optimistic ist Shepherd about the future.

Fairey. Fairey “I think we can go ELLIE MUSGRAVE had long been really far,” says known among Dipp’d: Purchasing Dipp’d clothing is a presonl affair; Barnes and Bess. u n d e r g r o u n d Barnes and Betts almost always deliver in person.

“Right now we’re art circles but just some kids grew in popufrom Montgomery larity after developing the Obey we had everybody coming to us County trying to spread ourselves. clothing brand and designing the like ‘Hey you need to get this, We’re trying to go global…eventuObama “Hope” poster that circu- you need to get that, etcetera’” ally.” says Barnes. While they are open

C5 ADS

silverchips

December 20, 2012

December 20, 2012

The boulevard beat

Rhymes and rhythms flow from blair rappers

T

HE SILVER QUILL-SPONSORED OPEN MIC IS A time where students storm into the doors of Blair’s Media Center, eager to get a seat before the performances begin. After each mesmerizing band cover or chilling poem, it’s hard for many not to wonder: what if it was me performing up there? For a brief second, the thought of performing in front of all of your peers is, well, attractive. Soon the infamous party pooper, Mr. Doubt, comes sneaking in and the daydream of performing in front of cheering fans and flashing lights subsides. But for many up and coming Blair rappers, performing their craft comes easy and making it big is no stranger to their everyday agenda.

“Our name is Publik Theory and we’re going to be famous!” junior Josh Briggs announces into the microphone in the middle of the Media Center. Briggs and his best friend junior Ismael Oates are about to rap in front of a lively crowd of fellow Blazers at an Open Mic. Huddled behind their microphones, their faces peeking out from beneath their hoods and their aspirations for the future echoing through the room, the two rappers are in performance mode. Publik Theory, comprised of Briggs, Oates and a close-knit crew of their friends at Northwood High School, is just one of the rap acts on the local music scene.

Also eager to perform—and get famous—are seniors Brian Griffin and Shqai Fears. Decked out in their signature clothes—a tropical-patterned shirt for Griffin, who is alternatively known as “Hawaiian Brian,” and a camouflage jacket for Fears—the duo known as Havoc is also making a name for themselves in the Blair music scene.

Within this scene, there are those who rap for fun and those who rap for fame. Some underground rappers like Publik Theory and Havoc release mixtapes and EPs on file-sharing websites, hoping to generate enough attention and support to eventually make a career and money out of their love for music.

When Forbes Magazine released its list of 2012’s highest-paid musicians at the end of November, rapper and hip-hop producer Dr. Dre clinched first place with earnings of $110 million.

While Blair’s rap scene is not dealing with major money like this, its members pride themselves on a certain level of dedication and artistry. Even those with no rap career aspirations, such as sophomore Jakob Little, say that they enjoy writing, collaborating and performing. The coexistence of serious rap groups and fun-seeking freestylers proves that rap music at Blair is as diverse as its creators.

B

EFORE THERE WAS PUBLIK THEORY, THERE WERE two bored freshmen sitting in science class. Briggs and Oates first bonded when they discovered their shared interest in music. “He would beat, I would rap, and we’d switch positions,” Briggs says of their earliest freestyle sessions. “Mr. Haigh would say, ‘shut up Josh, shut up Ismael!’”

Briggs and Oates ignored the criticism and decided to officially unify as a duo, soon joining forces with their friends, juniors from Northwood, to create a new group. They called themselves Lagorrhea, which means the formation of rapid words. Briggs, however, wasn’t satisfied. “It sounds like an anal disease,” he

says. After a name change, the original lineup of Briggs, Oates, Wesley Dayley, Abel Webshet and Shemar Roy officially became Publik Theory.

The boys say their name is derived from their collective experiences as black males trying to be something other than society’s expectations. “The way I see it,” Oates explains, “Publik Theory is like a contradiction to the world.”

Havoc formed similarly, when Griffin and Fears found themselves bored on the bus to school. After freestyling together on the bus every day, the boys say they complemented each other so well that they decided to establish a partnership. “[Griffin] was coming out with a mixtape, and he was like, that could be our mixtape,” recalls Fears.

Two years, a few inches and many Hawaiian shirts later, the boys say they have matured in their rap as they aim to focus mainly on telling the audience a story through their lyrics. “It’s about pleasing the audience, giving them something to be proud of and relating to them. You want other people to feel that feeling you get when you make the music,” says Fears. Or, in freestyle form: “I blow crowds away, my nickname’s Hurricane Katrina.” Fears and Griffin say they focus primarily on figurative language like this because it deepens their music as a whole. “Puns are a big part of my rapping,” explains Griffin. He continues on with his wordplay, “For example, I might say, ‘My deliverance is lethal.

Don’t forget the weapon.’”

B

LAIR’S RAPPERS EMPHASIZE THAT, WHILE THEY think freestyling is important, inspired songwriting is also key to being successful. Members of Publik Theory say that they picked up much of their lyrical skills after they became involved in Blair’s Slam Poetry club. “It taught me how to rap,” Briggs admits, to Oates’ agreement. In addition to their progress in the club, the boys say they found their biggest inspiration in the Media Center. “I remember it like it was yesterday,” Oates recalls as he adjusts himself upright in his chair, eager to tell the story of the group’s most prized possession.

Oates says he was wandering the shelves when he felt himself drawn to one book in particular. “It just lit up,” he laughs. “It glowed.” The Wu Tang Manual gave the boys a new insight into the inner workings of what Oates sees as one of the most successful rap groups ever. “They were organized lyrically, it was like a monarchy,” says Briggs with admiration. The boys say that the book refined Publik Theory’s rap style as well as their thinking style. “It was our bible,” Oates praises.

The members of Havoc say they also took inspiration from books, especially the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s poetry anthologies. While they look up to rappers from the past, they say they are inevitably influenced by the current music scene.

Fears’ father J.R. is a professional music producer, and his family includes famous musicians such as Leroy Hutson and Bobby Womack.

The boys hope that these connections might be enough to push Havoc’s success to the next level. “I went on tour over the summer for a month and a half with my dad,”

silverchips Story by

Paris Parker-Loan Desiree Aleibar

Photos by

Melanie Sim Zeke Wapner

Art by Julia Bates

Graphic by

Hannah Weintraub

Fears recalls. Since then, he says, he has been talking with producers in the studio. Griffin says they have recorded a music video for a record label contest and hope to hear back soon.

Both groups say that their songwriting processes help them produce the best music possible. “We get a beat and everyone feeds off of it,” Briggs says of Publik Theory’s writing sessions.

“We put ourselves in the position to tell the story. Then you have the pieces of the puzzle,” he explains. The boys say that many of these puzzle pieces are extensions of their own experiences. For one of their tracks “The Samurai Song,” Publik Theory drew inspiration from their rituals of eating Ramen noodles and watching samurai movies together. Briggs says he took this a step further and imagined himself living a day in the life of a Samurai in order to write the song.

Griffin and Fears, on the other hand, say that they tend to focus solely on their real lives when writing songs. “We don’t write about what we don’t have,” says Fears, before freestyling a line to back up his point. “I’m the missing link to the game like fi, fi, fo. People say ‘you a rapper and a singer? Whoa!’”

Griffin jumps in to praise his friend. “All hail Shqai!” he says.

B

ESIDES BEING REGULARS ON THE OPEN MIC AND members of the Slam Poetry club, Publik Theory has performed at Silver Spring’s Pyramid Atlantic and the Civic Center in Downtown Silver Spring. But the rappers say they are not rushing to invest themselves in the performance arena just yet. “We need to make more music first,” Briggs and Oates agree. “Give us a little time to perfect our music craft. We really need perfection,” Briggs emphasizes.

One of Publik Theory’s drives to attain perfection, they say, is the atmosphere of competition. Publik Theory is rumored to have a rivalry with Northwood rap crew Backwards Society. “We’re cool with Spencer,” Briggs says of one Backwards Society rapper. “He makes really dope beats.” He also made a song called “[expletive] Josh,” a not-so-subtle shout out to Briggs. “I thought it was beautiful,” Briggs deadpans, exemplifying Publik Theory’s resolve to focus on music over malice. “We don’t want to be known for a simple beef. Honestly, knowing that we do have a little competition makes us work harder,” Briggs adds.

When it comes to rivalries in the rap world, Griffin isn’t getting involved. He and Fears use other rappers as motivation rather than competition.

“I listen to other rappers so I know how not to rap,” he laughs. Fears has a different outlook; he avoids listening to the radio entirely in order to get away from outside influence. “I’ll start rapping like that person I just heard,” he says. Instead of using other rappers, Fears says, he relies on his and Griffin’s combined talents. “We’re two different styles of people,” he says. “That’s what makes us go together,” Griffin adds.

W

ITHIN BOTH GROUPS, MEMBERS FEED OFF OF each other’s talents and specialties. “We’re a brotherhood bond,” says Briggs. Even in casual conversation, Oates’ love for rap shows as he jumps in with a poetic interpretation of the friend-

ship. “As a group, we are one body,” he says.

“And as individuals we are the cells that keep it moving.”

Even individual rappers such as sophomore Jakob Little say that being able to use other people’s skills is crucial. “Hip hop is about getting to know other people’s styles and creating unison,” says Little, who adds that he does not usually record his raps unless they are featured on another artist’s track. Little says that rapping as an individual may give him an advantage over large groups, although he sees advantages in group writing as well. “I can go deeper into things than most of the rappers around here,” he says. “But in a group you have a lot more space for innovation.”

For Little and other Blair solo rappers, music is primarily for fun. “Rapping is not going to be my future, but it’s nice to know I’ll always have a way to express myself,” Little says. “If I’m having a bad day, I can just write about it.” Though Little’s rapping is more casual than career, he recognizes and appreciates the efforts of the groups that are trying to make it big. “They’re definitely really respectable guys,” he says of Publik Theory and Havoc. “They’re doing big things.”

Features C5-C6

O

ATES AND BRIGGS SAY THAT THEY try to prevent themselves from getting too confident in their talent. “Around this time last year, I actually thought that we were going to be famous,” says Oates, while adjusting the black headphones hung around his neck. “Then I told myself: ‘Big Pun did it. He dropped out of high school and got famous.’ But unfortunately, I’m not Big Pun.” Both Publik Theory and Havoc value school work as well as rapping. “I like to find balance in my work. So for one hour, I may freestyle and write a couple of verses down. Then the next, I may do a little homework,” Griffin explains.

Both Publik Theory and Havoc have no plans to end their rap careers in the near future. The two groups hope to take their time to improve their rapping skills, make demos and hopefully get recognized. “This is business, this is our career,” says Fears. “We really want to take our time with the entire process. We don’t want to be no one hit wonder like Soulja Boy.” Other Blazers also enjoy the rap music scene that Blair offers. “Underground music is intricate, it has multiple layers and styles,” explains Josh Dade, a senior who listens to some of Publik Theory’s music online.

John Rose, former Blair student and rising mainstream rapper, says that he left Blair knowing that he was going to make it big in the industry. Since graduating, he has been signed to the label Hot Track Records and has had a single, “Can’t Back Down,” featured in the motion picture Bully Avengers.

Rose says he prides himself on sticking to his local roots while changing the face of the rap scene. “I’ve got to take over, kill all the fake rappers in this game. Hip hop needs a makeover,” he rhymes on his viral track “The Way Things Are.” Although Rose may be on the throes of fame, he says he still wants the best for his fellow Blair rappers. “Be humble, be true to yourself and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t make it,” Rose advises other rappers.

Josh Briggs rubs his hands together, licks his lips, and takes one dramatic breath as the a freestyle floods out. “Okay.... Okay... The last of a dying breed, but I am not a part of human anatomy. I disappear into the galaxy, my blood leaks a melody,” he rhymes.

ZEKE WAPNER

“My eyes!

My ears!

Ahh! Just so good.

So good!”

Oates belts out in disbelief while covering his eyes. The two rappers burst out in laughter, reveling in each other’s inventiveness.

Fans also appreciate the artistry Blair’s rappers put into their craft. “I like COURTESEY OF KHYRI BARNES how blunt it is,” says junior Mag- SHOW STOPPERS “Hawaiian” Brian Griffin performs at the SGR spectacular gie Sauber. (Above). Publik Theory comes together to drop beats (Below).

“They’re not afraid to say what they want to say. I think freestyle is impres- for Blazers on the Boulevard. “Pleasing all my fans, that is the assignsive.”

Despite the hope of one day impressing a major record label ment,” raps Griffin. “The that will rocket them to fame, Publik Theory and Havoc plan game needs change and I’m to continue performing the refinement.”

December 20, 2012

The boulevard beat

Rhymes and rhythms flow from blair rappers

T

HE SILVER QUILL-SPONSORED OPEN MIC IS A time where students storm into the doors of Blair’s Media Center, eager to get a seat before the performances begin. After each mesmerizing band cover or chilling poem, it’s hard for many not to wonder: what if it was me performing up there? For a brief second, the thought of performing in front of all of your peers is, well, attractive. Soon the infamous party pooper, Mr. Doubt, comes sneaking in and the daydream of performing in front of cheering fans and flashing lights subsides. But for many up and coming Blair rappers, performing their craft comes easy and making it big is no stranger to their everyday agenda.

“Our name is Publik Theory and we’re going to be famous!” junior Josh Briggs announces into the microphone in the middle of the Media Center. Briggs and his best friend junior Ismael Oates are about to rap in front of a lively crowd of fellow Blazers at an Open Mic. Huddled behind their microphones, their faces peeking out from beneath their hoods and their aspirations for the future echoing through the room, the two rappers are in performance mode. Publik Theory, comprised of Briggs, Oates and a close-knit crew of their friends at Northwood High School, is just one of the rap acts on the local music scene.

Also eager to perform—and get famous—are seniors Brian Griffin and Shqai Fears. Decked out in their signature clothes—a tropical-patterned shirt for Griffin, who is alternatively known as “Hawaiian Brian,” and a camouflage jacket for Fears—the duo known as Havoc is also making a name for themselves in the Blair music scene.

Within this scene, there are those who rap for fun and those who rap for fame. Some underground rappers like Publik Theory and Havoc release mixtapes and EPs on file-sharing websites, hoping to generate enough attention and support to eventually make a career and money out of their love for music.

When Forbes Magazine released its list of 2012’s highest-paid musicians at the end of November, rapper and hip-hop producer Dr. Dre clinched first place with earnings of $110 million.

While Blair’s rap scene is not dealing with major money like this, its members pride themselves on a certain level of dedication and artistry. Even those with no rap career aspirations, such as sophomore Jakob Little, say that they enjoy writing, collaborating and performing. The coexistence of serious rap groups and fun-seeking freestylers proves that rap music at Blair is as diverse as its creators.

B

EFORE THERE WAS PUBLIK THEORY, THERE WERE two bored freshmen sitting in science class. Briggs and Oates first bonded when they discovered their shared interest in music. “He would beat, I would rap, and we’d switch positions,” Briggs says of their earliest freestyle sessions. “Mr. Haigh would say, ‘shut up Josh, shut up Ismael!’”

Briggs and Oates ignored the criticism and decided to officially unify as a duo, soon joining forces with their friends, juniors from Northwood, to create a new group. They called themselves Lagorrhea, which means the formation of rapid words. Briggs, however, wasn’t satisfied. “It sounds like an anal disease,” he

says. After a name change, the original lineup of Briggs, Oates, Wesley Dayley, Abel Webshet and Shemar Roy officially became Publik Theory.

The boys say their name is derived from their collective experiences as black males trying to be something other than society’s expectations. “The way I see it,” Oates explains, “Publik Theory is like a contradiction to the world.”

Havoc formed similarly, when Griffin and Fears found themselves bored on the bus to school. After freestyling together on the bus every day, the boys say they complemented each other so well that they decided to establish a partnership. “[Griffin] was coming out with a mixtape, and he was like, that could be our mixtape,” recalls Fears.

Two years, a few inches and many Hawaiian shirts later, the boys say they have matured in their rap as they aim to focus mainly on telling the audience a story through their lyrics. “It’s about pleasing the audience, giving them something to be proud of and relating to them. You want other people to feel that feeling you get when you make the music,” says Fears. Or, in freestyle form: “I blow crowds away, my nickname’s Hurricane Katrina.” Fears and Griffin say they focus primarily on figurative language like this because it deepens their music as a whole. “Puns are a big part of my rapping,” explains Griffin. He continues on with his wordplay, “For example, I might say, ‘My deliverance is lethal.

Don’t forget the weapon.’”

B

LAIR’S RAPPERS EMPHASIZE THAT, WHILE THEY think freestyling is important, inspired songwriting is also key to being successful. Members of Publik Theory say that they picked up much of their lyrical skills after they became involved in Blair’s Slam Poetry club. “It taught me how to rap,” Briggs admits, to Oates’ agreement. In addition to their progress in the club, the boys say they found their biggest inspiration in the Media Center. “I remember it like it was yesterday,” Oates recalls as he adjusts himself upright in his chair, eager to tell the story of the group’s most prized possession.

Oates says he was wandering the shelves when he felt himself drawn to one book in particular. “It just lit up,” he laughs. “It glowed.” The Wu Tang Manual gave the boys a new insight into the inner workings of what Oates sees as one of the most successful rap groups ever. “They were organized lyrically, it was like a monarchy,” says Briggs with admiration. The boys say that the book refined Publik Theory’s rap style as well as their thinking style. “It was our bible,” Oates praises.

The members of Havoc say they also took inspiration from books, especially the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s poetry anthologies. While they look up to rappers from the past, they say they are inevitably influenced by the current music scene.

Fears’ father J.R. is a professional music producer, and his family includes famous musicians such as Leroy Hutson and Bobby Womack.

The boys hope that these connections might be enough to push Havoc’s success to the next level. “I went on tour over the summer for a month and a half with my dad,”

silverchips Story by

Paris Parker-Loan Desiree Aleibar

Photos by

Melanie Sim Zeke Wapner

Art by Julia Bates

Graphic by

Hannah Weintraub

Fears recalls. Since then, he says, he has been talking with producers in the studio. Griffin says they have recorded a music video for a record label contest and hope to hear back soon.

Both groups say that their songwriting processes help them produce the best music possible. “We get a beat and everyone feeds off of it,” Briggs says of Publik Theory’s writing sessions.

“We put ourselves in the position to tell the story. Then you have the pieces of the puzzle,” he explains. The boys say that many of these puzzle pieces are extensions of their own experiences. For one of their tracks “The Samurai Song,” Publik Theory drew inspiration from their rituals of eating Ramen noodles and watching samurai movies together. Briggs says he took this a step further and imagined himself living a day in the life of a Samurai in order to write the song.

Griffin and Fears, on the other hand, say that they tend to focus solely on their real lives when writing songs. “We don’t write about what we don’t have,” says Fears, before freestyling a line to back up his point. “I’m the missing link to the game like fi, fi, fo. People say ‘you a rapper and a singer? Whoa!’”

Griffin jumps in to praise his friend. “All hail Shqai!” he says.

B

ESIDES BEING REGULARS ON THE OPEN MIC AND members of the Slam Poetry club, Publik Theory has performed at Silver Spring’s Pyramid Atlantic and the Civic Center in Downtown Silver Spring. But the rappers say they are not rushing to invest themselves in the performance arena just yet. “We need to make more music first,” Briggs and Oates agree. “Give us a little time to perfect our music craft. We really need perfection,” Briggs emphasizes.

One of Publik Theory’s drives to attain perfection, they say, is the atmosphere of competition. Publik Theory is rumored to have a rivalry with Northwood rap crew Backwards Society. “We’re cool with Spencer,” Briggs says of one Backwards Society rapper. “He makes really dope beats.” He also made a song called “[expletive] Josh,” a not-so-subtle shout out to Briggs. “I thought it was beautiful,” Briggs deadpans, exemplifying Publik Theory’s resolve to focus on music over malice. “We don’t want to be known for a simple beef. Honestly, knowing that we do have a little competition makes us work harder,” Briggs adds.

When it comes to rivalries in the rap world, Griffin isn’t getting involved. He and Fears use other rappers as motivation rather than competition.

“I listen to other rappers so I know how not to rap,” he laughs. Fears has a different outlook; he avoids listening to the radio entirely in order to get away from outside influence. “I’ll start rapping like that person I just heard,” he says. Instead of using other rappers, Fears says, he relies on his and Griffin’s combined talents. “We’re two different styles of people,” he says. “That’s what makes us go together,” Griffin adds.

W

ITHIN BOTH GROUPS, MEMBERS FEED OFF OF each other’s talents and specialties. “We’re a brotherhood bond,” says Briggs. Even in casual conversation, Oates’ love for rap shows as he jumps in with a poetic interpretation of the friend-

ship. “As a group, we are one body,” he says.

“And as individuals we are the cells that keep it moving.”

Even individual rappers such as sophomore Jakob Little say that being able to use other people’s skills is crucial. “Hip hop is about getting to know other people’s styles and creating unison,” says Little, who adds that he does not usually record his raps unless they are featured on another artist’s track. Little says that rapping as an individual may give him an advantage over large groups, although he sees advantages in group writing as well. “I can go deeper into things than most of the rappers around here,” he says. “But in a group you have a lot more space for innovation.”

For Little and other Blair solo rappers, music is primarily for fun. “Rapping is not going to be my future, but it’s nice to know I’ll always have a way to express myself,” Little says. “If I’m having a bad day, I can just write about it.” Though Little’s rapping is more casual than career, he recognizes and appreciates the efforts of the groups that are trying to make it big. “They’re definitely really respectable guys,” he says of Publik Theory and Havoc. “They’re doing big things.”

Features C5-C6

O

ATES AND BRIGGS SAY THAT THEY try to prevent themselves from getting too confident in their talent. “Around this time last year, I actually thought that we were going to be famous,” says Oates, while adjusting the black headphones hung around his neck. “Then I told myself: ‘Big Pun did it. He dropped out of high school and got famous.’ But unfortunately, I’m not Big Pun.” Both Publik Theory and Havoc value school work as well as rapping. “I like to find balance in my work. So for one hour, I may freestyle and write a couple of verses down. Then the next, I may do a little homework,” Griffin explains.

Both Publik Theory and Havoc have no plans to end their rap careers in the near future. The two groups hope to take their time to improve their rapping skills, make demos and hopefully get recognized. “This is business, this is our career,” says Fears. “We really want to take our time with the entire process. We don’t want to be no one hit wonder like Soulja Boy.” Other Blazers also enjoy the rap music scene that Blair offers. “Underground music is intricate, it has multiple layers and styles,” explains Josh Dade, a senior who listens to some of Publik Theory’s music online.

John Rose, former Blair student and rising mainstream rapper, says that he left Blair knowing that he was going to make it big in the industry. Since graduating, he has been signed to the label Hot Track Records and has had a single, “Can’t Back Down,” featured in the motion picture Bully Avengers.

Rose says he prides himself on sticking to his local roots while changing the face of the rap scene. “I’ve got to take over, kill all the fake rappers in this game. Hip hop needs a makeover,” he rhymes on his viral track “The Way Things Are.” Although Rose may be on the throes of fame, he says he still wants the best for his fellow Blair rappers. “Be humble, be true to yourself and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t make it,” Rose advises other rappers.

Josh Briggs rubs his hands together, licks his lips, and takes one dramatic breath as the a freestyle floods out. “Okay.... Okay... The last of a dying breed, but I am not a part of human anatomy. I disappear into the galaxy, my blood leaks a melody,” he rhymes.

ZEKE WAPNER

“My eyes!

My ears!

Ahh! Just so good.

So good!”

Oates belts out in disbelief while covering his eyes. The two rappers burst out in laughter, reveling in each other’s inventiveness.

Fans also appreciate the artistry Blair’s rappers put into their craft. “I like COURTESEY OF KHYRI BARNES how blunt it is,” says junior Mag- SHOW STOPPERS “Hawaiian” Brian Griffin performs at the SGR spectacular gie Sauber. (Above). Publik Theory comes together to drop beats (Below).

“They’re not afraid to say what they want to say. I think freestyle is impres- for Blazers on the Boulevard. “Pleasing all my fans, that is the assignsive.”

Despite the hope of one day impressing a major record label ment,” raps Griffin. “The that will rocket them to fame, Publik Theory and Havoc plan game needs change and I’m to continue performing the refinement.”

silverchips

December 20, 2012

THEN:1959

Personal

C8

My Blair: Personal column

Christmas in Guatemala Tradition, religion and heritage

By Cindy Monge

SILVERLOGUE ARCHIVES

CHRISTMAS DRAMA Blair’s thespians club performs a production of The Mad Woman of Shiloh during their annual Christmas show.

& NOW:2012

In early December, the rain begins to fall and gives a sense of winter in a generally summery place. Winds blow, rain pours and the craving for hot chocolate grows greater among the townspeople. This is my country, Guatemala, where I spent the first eleven years of my life.

As you venture through the small towns, plazas and marketplaces, you’ll witness one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen: common areas decked with colorful tinsel, Christmas lights, fresh Easter flowers, apples and grapes. Glistening strands of white, red, green and gold tinsel are plastered around the city and street posts. Twinkling multi-colored lights shine from sunrise to sundown. Christmas ornaments decorate the yards of local houses, welcoming the Christmas season.

Throughout the month, dozens of festivities and classic traditions take over the town. Every year on December seventh, there is a typical Guatemalan ceremony called “the devil burning,” one of our most celebrated traditions. It’s a spiritual purification in which people build a devil doll out of old, useless objects and burn the devil to rid the house of impurities. As a kid, I loved to see these elaborate devil dolls catch fire.

A few days later, the week of Posadas begins, another one of my favorite traditions. The tradition of Posadas consists of creating an altar with a nativity scene which is first enacted by people carrying figures of Joseph and Mary to different houses to simulate their voyage to Jerusalem. We create a group of pilgrims that go to nine different houses every night for nine days. We sing Christmas carols and ask the homeowners if they would allow us inside. We go into the house in search of baby Jesus, who is supposed to be in one of the nine homes. In each house, the other pilgrims and I received hot chocolate and sweet bread. The Posadas end on the ninth night, Christmas Eve, when the pilgrims say, “we have finally found baby Jesus,” who is represented by a baby doll. The baby is then taken to the church where religious leaders give a ceremony in celebration of his birth.

Christmas Eve is the most special night of all, since all the fun occurs that evening. My cousins and I stand in front of the door, quickly preparing and reminding each other to have the fireworks ready. We wait in anticipation to see the clock strike midnight and run outside with overflowing bags of fireworks. We start to burn them, contributing to the mosaic of colors that light up the sky with luminescent reds, greens, whites and golds. The colors splashing on the sky seem like an artist’s paint splattering out and covering an empty canvas.

We celebrate with fireworks outside on the patio. Exchanging laughs and smiles, we light sparklers, making smoky circles in the air while the other family members are inside. Some eat delightful tamales and drink fruit punch. Inside the house some of them dance to Latin beats, others socialize, tell anecdotes of past Christmas celebration and share jokes with friends and neighbors. It almost seems as if time stops when we’re all together having a good time.

Most times on Christmas Eve, you will hear the boisterous laughs of my family members in the house, telling family stories or even just talking about those beloved memories we all cherish. Once we are done burning fireworks, we go inside the house and get together to hug and wish each other a merry Christmas. At the end of every Christmas Eve we appreciate our own special way of celebrating the holiday season and share our hopes to make next years’ Christmas even better.

COURTESY OF REGIS LEFEBURE

THESPIANS Natalie Behrends, Mia Massimino and Anabel Milton participate in one act plays.

Up and Coming DEC 22: Winter break

COURTESY OF CINDY MONGE

TRADITIONAL Cindy celebrates Guatemala’s independece at age five.

JAN 21: MLK day

JAN 14: Exams begin

COURTESY OF NYTIMES.COM

Student and Staff Awards & Honors Blair’s Latin scholars participated in the Linganore High School Saturnalium Certamen on December 8.

The Advanced Team made up of seniors Peter Adler Asch, Johnny Alderson and Adam Kadir placed first.

Blair’s Latin I, II and III teams also won in their respective categories.

Mr. Scott was profiled in a story on the Washington Post’s website on November 23. The feature focused on Scott’s use of original raps as a teaching tool in his math classes.

Junior Michelle McGhee won the SchoolJam Teen Field Reporter contest sponsored by InTune Magazine on December 1.

Junior Adrienne Kehne, co-captian of the Blair Spring Crew team, set a national record for the fastest womens age 12-18 6k erg race with a time of 22:49.7.

Blair’s It’s Academic Team finished second in the International Knowledge Master Open on December 5.

550 domestic and international high school programs competed in the event.

Senior girls’ varsity soccer captain, Cherrah Barclay, recieved an honorable mention for the All-Met girls soccer team as a defender.

Junior Neil Davey won third place in the National round of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology on December 4. Davey and his competition partner received $40,000 of scholarship money.

Then and Now and Student Awards & Honors were compiled by Josh Schmidt, Dillon Sebastian and Paris ParkerLoan.

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Silver Chips December 20, 2012

“I went in one day and I was three dollars short but they just grinned and waved it away and said ‘no don’t worry about it, never worry about it.’”

D2 -Senior Meg Lebow

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The life of a tree from sapling to centerpiece Behind every Christmas pine is a long and jolly journey

By Jenna Kanner A family packs their Grand Caravan and pulls out of their garage onto 270, approaching exit 18 at high speed. In the backseat, their children giggle and sing along to Rocking Around the Christmas Tree as their grandparents sit next to them. As the cluttered highway turns into winding roads, the family’s destination comes closer. They pull into a gravel driveway, just a short walk from a small lot of Christmas trees.

They rush toward the lot and spot their tree, eagerly starting to saw it down. They found the perfect tree… but they probably never paused to think about the ten years of growth, labor, and luck that it took the tree to turn from a sapling to their twinkling evergreen centerpiece.

Thud Christmas tree saplings are planted in the fall or the winter, depending on the cycle of the farm. “The trees are planted six inches into the ground, around the same depth as the nursery bed,” says Sterling King, owner of King’s Christmas Tree Farm in Clarksburg, Maryland.

The 18-inch, three year old tree will be transported from a nursery in Pennsylvania for just fifty cents apiece. Before they are planted in the farm with the rest of the trees, the saplings are deposited in the farm’s nursery beds, where they are protected with sawdust and sand to keep them warm. There they wait until their roots and branches are robust enough to be put into the same ground as the matured trees.

After a year or so the trees are transported from their nursery bed into the flat Maryland fields with the rest of the trees.

Profiting from trees

LEAH HAMMOND

A man with a green baseball cap, tamed white beard, and scuffed brown leather boots walks from his silver pickup truck, surrounded by a red barn, a few houses, and 300 Christmas trees. King was a dairy farmer before he decided to give up his livestock and trade them in for the calmer, greener Christmas tree farm. “I just needed a new project,” he says.

At King’s farm, the m o s t popular trees include B l u e Spruce

and Douglas fir. “People like the Spruce because it is a heavy tree, which is good for all of the ornaments people like to put on these days,” says King. The Fir, which is just as popular at King’s farm, is much flimsier than the full-bodied Spruce.

“It’s a lot of work to keep up the farm,” he says. “I have one employee that comes during the summer and [helps me] shape the trees [into Christmas tree shape] each year.”

Because saplings cost fifty cents, and the trees sell for fifty dollars or more, it seems that there is a huge profit margin. Much of the profit, though, gets lost in the cost labor.

“The biggest problem is labor; there is a lot of time tied up in the trees… I would not call it a full time job, though.”

King owns a small farm in comparison to the factory-like setting of Butlers Orchard.

At the busy Germantown farm, cars zoom in and out of the parking lot with bouncing trees hanging two or three feet off of the side of their car. With 300 trees grown on his farm, King has to do less manual labor while Butler’s Orchard has thousands of Christmas trees on its 300 acres of land. The family owned business started to grow Christmas trees in the late 1970’s, around 70 years after the first Christmas tree farm was established in 1901.

The next five years In the coming five years, the trees will blossom huge, spiny green branches until they are ready to be bought. When it is transplanted from the nursery to the field, Christmas trees are thrust five to six feet apart in the ground in order for them to grow and mature. Six to eight years later, assuming good conditions, the tree should be six or seven feet tall, the perfect size for being sold.

April showers (and fertilizer), bring May flowers (and strong Christmas trees). It is essential that fertilizer be applied, grass cut around the tree and insects are watched for to maintain a healthy tree. In November, five years after they were planted in the fields, the trees are ready to be cut down. And this is where the working gets tough.

The number of hours spent planting, fertilizing, and shearing the tree during the lifetime of a cultured Christmas tree almost equals t h e

hours of labor involved during harvest and delivery, according to Willey’s Christmas Tree Farm website.

Chopped Back, forth. Crash! The air is filled with the fresh smell of evergreens and smokey fire. Families searching for a tree walk in giggling with rosy cheeks sipping hot cocoa.

The perfect tree is different for every family: some like full, tall trees, while others appeal more to a simpler tree that frames their decorations. Shelley and Brenden, a couple from Maryland has opposing taste when it comes to picking their tree. “I like it when the tree has holes in it, so you can put in pretty ornaments; Brenden likes it when the tree has a large girth,” she says. They tease each other and laugh, their newborn sitting in the arms of their parents. “It’s our first year coming [to Butler’s]. We used to live in Oregon where you could get your tree for ten dollars. We aren’t really used to this whole fifty dollar tree thing,” he says.

Ron Crawford of Virginia traveled with his family to buy a Christmas tree on the way home from Thanksgiving. For Crawford, the tree just has to feel right. “We only really care about the look,” he says. “The kids like to pick it out and don’t like fake trees; we just need it to fit under our low ceilings.” The kids picked out their tree, eyes glittering, and raced back to the warmth of their truck, ready to get home from their long weekend.

Emanuel Ceron, junior, went out to buy a Christmas tree when he was three with his brothers and parents. He found one that he really liked, but his brother liked a different one. Ceron and his brother fought so much about it that the tree was never purchased.

“We were fighting and yelling at each other, and my parents decided just to buy neither of the trees and just get an artificial one,” he says.

Wood or plastic?

During the holiday season, the day after Thanksgiving is much anticipated because the first tree is cut down at Maryland farms and artificials are displayed at big box stores.

Artificial trees were originally invented by the Addis Brush Company in the 1930’s –a company that first manufactured toilet bowl brushes— and have become in-

creasingly more popular among consumers.

According to the Maryland Christmas Tree Association (MCTA), about 85% of fake trees are made in China. These trees are usually made with metal, plastic, and PVC, a potential lead poisoning hazard. Every year, the Christmas tree industry in the United States provides about 100,000 short-term jobs.

Many worry about their trees becoming a fire hazard in their home and end up throwing them away before leaving on winter vacation. Plastic trees are less likely to catch on fire than dried out pine needles, but the MCTA states that artificial trees overloaded with lights can be just as dangerous.

Although fire hazard may be a worrisome issue, natural Christmas trees provide environmental enrichment. According to the website of Willey’s Christmas Tree Farm, an acre of Christmas trees produces enough air daily for 18 people. Artificial trees can be more convenient, but even though around 35 million trees are cut down every year, 46 million seedlings are planted, making real Christmas trees safer for our environment and economy.

Lights, camera, Christmas

Lights twinkle and glitter around the full green tree. As people walk in green and red knit sweaters singing Christmas carols, presents lie under the Christmas tree, ready to be crinkled and torn into the next morning. For Anna Hukill, freshman, the Christmas tree brings joy. “I like how they always make me feel happy and in a holiday spirit,” she says.

For Brenden, Shelley and Crawford, the Christmas tree brings their family together.

King feels as if cultivation of the tree pays off when it is put in his living room. “The smell of the tree in my house is my favorite part, ” he says. King decorates his tree simply with bulbs and lights, and special ornaments.

No matter how people grow and change year to year, or even if they move away their holiday traditions seem to stick with them.

As lights fade, needles fall off branches, into memoand Christmas turns ries, a new cycle of Christmas ready for the trees start to grow, next generation.

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For the holidays, home is where the menu is “I’ll be home for Christmas” really codes for, “I’ll be home to go out to eat.”

By Alanna Natanson The holiday season is not all about presents. It’s about pigging out at a favorite restaurant – the kinds of restaurants where the staff asks how biology is going as they serve “the usual,” where teenagers can still find the crayon mark they made as toddlers.

These are, in short, the best places to go for the holidays.

Kefa kindness Lene Tsegaye proudly points to the collage of baby photos that cover the sunny yellow wall at Kefa Café. Tsegaye, the owner of the Silver Spring cafe, says the photos stream in from beloved customers. “Most of those kids have gone on to college by now,” she smiles.

Senior Meg Lebow is in one of those pictures. She explains that she has loved Kefa ever since she started going in elementary school.

“It’s just really homey,” she says.

“You get one of their chipped flowery mugs. It’s not like Starbucks where you get one of those paper cups with your drink marked on the side.”

Tsegaye believes in upholding the Ethiopian coffee tradition. “In Ethiopia,” says Tsegaye, “coffee is a social drink. It’s served three times a day. You sit down together, you talk. We want to bring the idea of that.”

Everything about Kefa evokes that warm comfy feeling. The cinnamon-scented air streams around the small tables along with toasty sunlight, buoyed by the humming coffee machine.

Kefa is an artist’s haven, from the mural on the outside to the paintings from local artists that hang on the walls.

Lene and her brother, Abiy, opened Kefa in 1996, after growing up in their parent’s restaurant in Ethiopia. “My brother Abiy always wanted to own a business.

So he did a ton of research, and he chose this area,” says Abeba Tsegaye, who joined her siblings in the business a few months later.

Along with cooking skills, the Tsegayes inherited their parent’s motto: treat the customer as you would want to be treated. “If we’re treated well, we also treat you the right way,” says Abeba. “We want this to be like your home.”

Lebow says that the kindness is evident. “I went in one day and I was three dollars short,” Lebow recalls. “But they just grinned and waved it away, and said, ‘no don’t worry about it, never worry about it.’ And that’s something you don’t find at a lot of places.”

It’s no surprise that Kefa’s coffee is incredible, since the coffee bean originated in Ethiopia some 1400 years ago.

Kefa serves a traditional Ethiopian coffee, rich and bitter. Arriving in a floral porcelain mug, the cafe latte’s swirls of milky foam hint at the warm coffee below.

The sandwiches also stand out.

On a wintry day, diners can bask in sundried tomatoes atop the Spring Classics sandwich.

Even after the 100th visit to Kefa, something about the small sunlit rooms and smiling staff simply never gets old.

Masses at Mark’s The only time M a r k ’ s Kitchen wouldn’t be jam-packed is after a 50-foot snowstorm. Laughter bounces off the bright walls of the Takoma Park hotspot, punctuating the clatter of banging pots and the hiss of simmering food.

Servers race by, sending the community notices flying as they greet clusters of customers at the door.

But Mark’s staff thrives on chaos. Owner Mark Choe himself is always on hand, waving and chatting with regulars, leaning down to fix tables, picking up kids he’s known forever.

The rest of the staff is equally nice, smiling and laughing invitingly even after the hundredth customer. According to sophomore Atalie Fischer, that happens all the time. “One lady always gives me extra pancakes,” she says.

Hal Shay, Mark’s Kitchen’s manager, traces the friendliness of the restaurant to the relaxed work environment. “There are no rules the staff has to follow. They are much more laid-back,” laughs Shay.

The no-rules part harkens back to the restaurant’s beginnings, when Takoma Park was the “Berkeley of the East,” according to Shay, and tofu was the most important food group. “Takoma Park has changed a bit,” says Shay. “It’s a bit more stolid.”

As the years have passed Mark’s has remained colorful. “Everything about the place is offbeat,” says Shay, “from the menu to the staff. We still are the Takoma Park of 21 years ago.”

Twenty-one years ago, Choe was ready to open a business after working for other Korean immigrants. “They can do, I can do,” Choe told the Takoma Park Gazette in October.

The flavors of Choe’s Korean and American homes both emerge in the food. Bacon and eggs go well together, but so do crispy home fries and the quiche-like mung bean pancakes. Customers can order Choe’s signature spinach tofu cakes and chocolate-y milkshake in the same breath.

That’s Choe’s trademark. “From the beginning, he was into fusion— combining Korean style with American basics,” says Shay.

Regulars are so familiar with that fusion, adds Shay, that they don’t even need to look at a menu.

“When we train new people,” Shay says, “we always start off by telling them that their customers will probably know t h e menu part b e t ter than they do.”

T h e community atmosphere sets Mark’s

apart. After Takoma Park is finished at the voting booths or Occupy D.C., the next stop is Mark’s.

Salsa for Samantha’s At Samantha’s, good Latin cooking runs in the family. Customers see it in the Salvadorian recipes, which manager Patricia Ventura says her parents handed down to her.

But it also shows, notes Ventura, in the Mexican, Cuban, Peruvian and Spanish cuisine that the University Boulevard restaurant offers. “We have a variety of dishes, so we don’t just target one type of person,” she says.

The good food starts even before the appetizer, when a cool and tangy salsa arrives at the table.

Rice and beans are a simple but decadent order coated with gooey cheese. The pupusas, a family recipe, are thick and warm, and the Mexican specialty carne asada is laden with flavor.

The variety of cuisines attracts a diverse crowd. “At the beginning, our clientele was mainly Hispanics,” Ventura recalls. “But we went from having just Hispanics to having Americans, Asians, African-Americans. It opened the door to diversity.”

Samantha’s white linen tablecloths may seem ritzy, but the upbeat Latin music and smiling staff put customers at ease. “We’re very family-oriented,” notes Ventura.

Junior Kelsey Terhune-Cotter agrees that Samantha’s is a perfect place for her family. “We can get a little loud sometimes, but they’re fine with that,” she says.

Family is important at Samantha’s; after all, the restaurant shares its name with Ventura’s younger sister. “When we first opened, she was five years old,” Ventura says.

“And now she’s a 16-year-old in high school.”

Ventura’s parents, Maria and Jorge Garcia, launched the restaurant in 2001. After working in El Salvador and the U.S., the Garcias were ready for a business of their own. “They wanted something for themselves,” says Ventura.

After a few years, the parents passed the restaurant on to Ventura and her brother, Johnny.

At Samantha’s, the customers have become close. “Many of our customers are local,” Ventura adds, “so it’s like having family away from home.”

Terhune-Cotter says she goes because of the staff. “They’re very friendly, they’re accommodating,” she comments.

Even if diners don’t know a word of Spanish, it’s easy to slide in for a Garcia family meal.

Woodside rituals Woodside Deli has been a landmark on Georgia Avenue since 1947, and it has the pictures to prove it. The dining room is covered with photos circa 1950s and 60s featuring everyone from Stalin to Marilyn Monroe.

Stars, politicians and even pinup girls cover the faded wallpaper, reflecting light onto the smooth wood tables and yards of condiments.

Junior Anabel Milton says the pictures give the place a homey feel. “The whole ambiance of the place just really reminds you of the classics of older times,” she notes.

The old-fashioned atmosphere is evident in the menu also, which

f e a tures t h e classic burgers and fries.

There’s also the egg cream, a fizzy, mysterious mix of seltzer and chocolate sauce— a trademark of the 1950s that makes Woodside unique.

Other items sug- gest the deli’s Jewish heritage. The noodlefilled matzo ball soup is thick and hot, and cheese blintzes are a classic.

Shakes are five dollars, but they’re entirely worth it. It’s a good thing that Woodside provides a spoon to go along with the glass ice cream cup overflowing with whipped cream, because the shake is so thick that it barely fits t h ro u g h t h e straw.

Customers are greeted with a smile and a “Go ahead and sit wherever.”

According to owner Paul Zlotnicki, the customer is always right. “We try to accommodate customers no matter what,” he says. “We are there to satisfy customers.”

Satisfying customers has been the goal for 65 years. Zlotnicki bought Woodside in 1988 from the late Gus Harris, a S i l v e r Spring native whose parents owned Woodside before him. “For the last ten years, it’s been my family’s operation,” Zlotnicki adds.

His children operate the Woodsides in Rockville and Germantown.

For Zlotnicki, the environment is essential to success.

“Not only do I want you to be impressed from the food point of view,” he says, “but also from the atmosphere point of view.”

Milton is impressed. “It’s just a really cute little atmosphere with a really sweet staff and really great comfort food,” she smiles.

A trip to Woodside is one delicious, comfy journey back in time.

The Silver Spring area is home to many restaurants, but not all achieve a homey feel.

Thanks to thick matzo ball soup and exotic bibimbap, cool salsa and foamy Ethiopian coffee, diners can make themselves at home during the holiday season.

ZEKE WAPNER

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December 20, 2012

Best of winter round up

by Ruth Aiken, Puck Bregstone, Peter McNally and Sarah Wilson

The new Myspace Myspace—the ad infested, bloated mess of a social network filled with people you do not want to interact with and features you do not want to use—has been transformed into a slick, (dare I say it) well designed music discovery service. But, behind this classy facade lies the bile of the Myspace’s past.

Myspace used to be the king of all things social because no one knew better. Since the introduction of Faceboook and Twitter, Myspace has become an afterthought with a dwindling community and cluttered, unappealing design.

Myspace is not looking to cut into Facebook’s and Twitter’s market share, a feat a it would undeniably fall short of. Instead, Myspace is creating a different service focused on music discovery.

The latest redesign, still in beta form is best described as a beautiful combination of other already existing services. The new Myspace at its core has the same problem as the new Hobbit film. A gorgeous looking product that instead of combining lots of different interesting aspects does a lousy job at reproducing several other existing sites or in the case of The Hobbit, movies.

Its fun to use but I had no reason to return. Sure it’s a photo and video sharing site with a wealth of music to curate and listen to but its ultimately inferior to our favorite, well established, social networks and tools.

Silver Linings Playbook

PETER MCNALLY

Sure the age difference between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence is borderline weird. Sure you can guess the ending of the movie just by watching the trailer and knowing what happens when two beautiful, A-list actors are put in a movie with a couples’ dance competition as the central plot element.

Sure you can guess the plot twist if you’ve been studying up on your Christopher Nolan movies. But somehow the mystical combination of Eagles’ football jokes, Robert DeNiro’s sweet grumblings and an honest look at mental illness and emotional disorders manages to make the two hour dramedy feel comforting, warm and meaningful.

It’s refreshing to see a dysfunctional family that has both heart and tragedy behind all the eccentrics and yelling. For those questioning the likability of Lawrence or the merits of Cooper the film makes a compelling case for their ability as artists as they gracefully play characters both likable and familiar to anyone who has watched a close one struggle with emotional challenges or experienced them personally. The value of Silver Linings comes from its ability to take the old story of odd couples and unlikely romance, put it in the context of tragedy and emotional dysfunction and say something pretty new and very real about modern love.

Santa Clause The big man in red is reported to be on schedule for what is to be his two-hundred and thirty-ninth Christmas. According to Santa’s Workshop aids close to Saint Nick, the sleigh has been modified to better withstand the 650 miles per second that it must travel in order to deliver presents to an estimated 378 million children. In addition, Santa will also be sporting a brand new super-adjustable belt to make his consumption of 5,558 tons of cookies and 5,908,893 gallons of milk more comfortable. It has also been reported that the 214,200 flying reindeer it will take to haul the sleigh’s massive cargo load, weighing in at 321,300, have been fed and are in fine health.

While the notorious Naughty or Nice list is the most classified document in modern history, a anonymous source has told Silver Chips that there is little variation in the numbers on either side of the list from year to year, an election year always mixes things up.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is ready and waiting to begin their fifty-seventh year of satellite tracking Santa’s 31-hour journey. As is usual, Santa will begin his grand tour in Australia and move from time zone to time zone with the rotation of earth. To stay tuned on his movements, go to www. noradsanta.org. thinking, “Something isn’t right here...”, writers are making big societal state-

National Zoo’s light display Zoolights seems like a marriage of two crowd-pleasing attractions: festive holiday lights and the National Zoo. The animals roam in their pens alongside electrically lit replicas of themselves, and holiday-themed activities line the pathway through the zoo.

With the National Zoo just a Metro ride away, the annual Zoolights display is nothing if not accessible. The complimentary shuttle that awaits visitors at the Woodley Park Metro stop initially seems like a welcome respite from the cold, but walking those few blocks to the zoo will spare you the bus’s indescribably awful Christmas music. Even the most fanatic of Christmasphiles cannot tolerate what sounds like the loud collective voice of a thousand demented china dolls warbling “Jingle Bells”. Resounding demands to “Turn this off!” and a busload of people cringing and covering their ears puts a damper on the holiday spirit.

The torturous shuttle ride, however, does make arrival at the glowing gates of the zoo more welcoming. Whimsical light displays add another dimension to the everyday attraction of the zoo. The life-size light-up elephant is as much of a crowd-pleaser as the real thing. Glittering “rain” that descends from the tree branches transports crowds to a tropical rainforest, even as visitors tug on scarves and mittens.

The bustling atmosphere and friendly vibe make Zoolights a fun, cheap option for a night out with friends. Still, it’s geared toward younger audiences and there’s always that lingering smell of stale animal poop.

PRESENTS

Across

by Devin Rutan and Michael Morganstein

Undead Understanding

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December 20, 2012

1- Cook in its juice 6- Parade float for Pablo 10- Pile of garbage 14- King Henry VIII procedure 15- Ancient Greek City 16- Lonely pond organism 17- Liquid present for a Corpse?

19- Classic Snack for App. Trail 20- Held on to 21- Large manor 23- Nightly disturbance for a princess 24- Tree of life?

26- Shoe gift for a paver?

28- Bargain homeless person?

32- New York Mets pitcher Dillon 33- Consumed 34- Ecological Region 37. Votes of no confidence 41- Circus structure 43- Units of wonder?

45- Voluminous spit 46- Motivation for a horse 47- Sum of parts 49- JFK. schedule info 50- International Monetary Org. 53- Doesn’t miss a puddle 55- Cheesy gift for an shakespearean actor?

November Solutions

59- Preceded drum 60- Historical section 61- Faust author 64- Crepe buyer?

68- Lite, for example 70- Kitchen gift for a therapist?

72- Dog to bone activity 73- Place at the table 74-Bird of prey 75- Lighten up on 76- Strong desires 77- Sin of Ebenezer Scrooge

Down 1- Enjoy one’s glory 2- Poker starter 3- Cut 4- Clumped together 5- Will Ferrell, for example 6- Rate parts 7- Used to be burning, as a candle 8- Nice government?

9- Thick Paper 10- Witch 11- Runaway love goal 12- See eye to eye with 13- Belonging to the Pope 18- Supports an argument 22- Before, poetically 25- St. with unicameral legislature

27- Egg developers 28- Faces the pitcher 29- Longhorn St. School 30- Food list 31- Treasure and spoils 35- Revolutionary Chairman 36- Newts on land 38- Planet Inhabitors 39- Siberian snow monster 40- Ugly duckling ending 42- Haircut 44- Cotton fabric 48- Open crop field 51- Family girl 52- Flynt who likes to dance 54- Before battle 55- Maze outline 56- Home of the Portland Trailblazers 57- Papas companions 58- Mocking sound, variation 62- Either Mr. Pham, For example 63- Lands a punch 65- Conscious whim 66- Abnormal lung crackle 67- ‘Chips piece 69- Be indebted to 71- Drink unit

Sudoku

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Devolution

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Time well spent

La Esquina Latina

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20 de diciembre de 2012

El voto Latino clave en las elecciones de noviembre Por Karen Tituana En las elecciones pasadas casi 24 millones de hispanos fueron elegibles para votar, un incremento de más de 4 millones de hispanos desde las elecciones del 2008. La comunidad hispana no sabía que iba a jugar un papel tan fundamental en las elecciones nacionales hasta la noche en que se dieron a conocer los resultados del triunfo del Presidente Obama.

El presidente Barack Obama ganó la reelección el martes 6 de noviembre gracias a los niveles casi sin precedentes de apoyo de los votantes latinos, quienes salieron a respaldarlo en grandes cantidades en vez que al candidato republicano Mitt Romney.

Una encuesta de ImpreMediaLatino Decisiones mostró que Obama había ganado el 75 por ciento de los votos latinos en todo el país, mientras que las encuestas de salida encontraron que había ganado alrededor del 70 por ciento del apoyo latino. Los republicanos van a tener que verdaderamente subsanar su relación con la comunidad latina.

El país está cada vez más diverso, con un número creciente de ciudadanos latinos. Estos cambios demográficos significarán un problema para el Partido Republicano si se mantienen en su trayectoria actual especialmente entre los votantes latinos.

Sin embargo, a raíz de las elecciones presidenciales del 2012, ha habido un largo debate sobre el fracaso del partido republicano para atraer el voto latino.

Para los latinos el tema de la

inmigración es un tema de gran importancia, así también como el tema del empleo y la economía.

Sin embargo, para muchos votantes latinos el tema de la inmigración es algo parecido a una prueba. Si un político parece tener la intención de insultar a los inmigrantes latinos

o faltarles el respeto en general, o si el partido parece estar desinteresado en ganarse el voto latino, el apoyo hacia ese partido no ocurrirá.

Eso fue lo que sucedió este año con el partido republicano y con la campaña de Romney. En estas votaciones se puede ver claramente de que los latinos se identificaron mejor con Obama en varios temas políticos y también de que se sintieron más integrados y parte de estas elecciones por la razón de que al partido demócrata le parecía importarle realmente conseguir el voto latino.

En todos los estados encuestados por Latino Decisions, la inmigración

fue un factor importante en las decisiones de los latinos. La mayoría de los electores latinos apoyan las políticas del presidente sobre el tema, aunque no haya logrado cumplir con muchas de ellas.

El Acta de Ensueño, un proyecto de ley para ayudar a los jóvenes in-

documentados, cuenta con el apoyo de una gran mayoría de votantes latinos, y muchos de e-llos estaban más entusiasmados con el presidente después de su anuncio en junio sobre la acción diferida en la cual ya no deportará a jóvenes inmigrantes indocumentados que cumplan con los requisitos requeridos.

En la cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos, también han habido cambios con la presencia de los nuevos representantes latinos. La Cámara de Representantes tendrá más congresistas hispanos que nunca cuando empiece el próximo período legislativo con

la presencia de nueve nuevos representantes latinos.Los nuevos congresistas de la Cámara de Representantes federal se sumarán a los 19 que ya pertenecían al Congreso y lograron la reelección. En total serán 23 latinos demócratas y cinco republicanos entre los 435 congresistas en la cámara alta.

Muchos de estos senadores y congresistas vienen de raíces muy humildes, lo cual los ayudará a comprender a su comunidad y posiblemente lograr cambios en el congreso para poder beneficiarlos con una reforma migratoria.

Entre los tantos latinos elegidos se encuentra el demócrata Joaquín Castro, un mexicano-americano de segunda generación oriundo de San Antonio, graduado de Harvard y hermano del alcalde de San Antonio.

Por otro lado, el republicano Ted Cruz hizo historia al convertirse en el primer latino en representar a Texas en el Senado.

Con la elección de los políticos latinos, sin duda los Estados Unidos se va adaptando poco a poco a una realidad, en la que la población de origen hispano que ya suma más de cincuenta millones de habitantes.

Estos tienen unas ganas enormes de cambiar las cosas en el congreso y finalmente han encontrado su voz.

Es difícil tratar de pronosticar las circunstancias políticas de la elección presidencial del 2016.

Cabe destacar que el voto hispano tuvo mucho efecto en el éxito electoral del presidente Obama este año ,y podría tener mucha mas influencia significativa en futuras elecciones.

Spanglish: una mezcla de dos culturas Por Yessica Somoza Cuando un inmigrante llega a los Estados Unidos, el primer obstáculo que enfrenta es el lenguaje. Debería aprender inglés pero al mismo tiempo quiere hablar español.

Para los hijos de estos inmigrantes, esta decisión es algo a lo que se enfrentan cada día. ¿Deberían ellos ser empujados a hablar sólo en inglés? En vez de escoger solo una lengua, esta generación bilingüe está comprometiéndose a escoger las dos culturas de las cuales ellos forman parte.

Ahora es más común oír a jóvenes hablar español pero con unas cuantas peculiaridades. Tal vez suena un poco extraño porque estos jóvenes están introduciendo el inglés en su español.Los jóvenes latinos que han crecido en el mismo ambiente hablan entre ellos mismos usando algo llamado “Spanglish,” una combinación de inglés

y español. Las palabras son tomadas del inglés pero dándole un sentido en español.

Por ejemplo, en vez de decir “hoy iremos al centro comercial”, mucha gente sustituye lo que debería ser llamado el “centro comercial” con la palabra “mol” derivada de la palabra en inglés “mall”.

Similarmente hay muchas otras palabras tomadas del inglés al español con el intento de formar una fusión entre las dos

como, “gugulear”, “textear” o “printear.”

Para los jóvenes que hablan un idioma en la escuela y otro en la casa, Spanglish es una forma de expresarse y de también sentirse que son parte de algo único.

A medida que esta generación de jóvenes latinos toma su lugar en el mundo, vamos a empezar a ver mucho más de esto y no sólo en conversaciones entre ellos mismos, pero con el mundo entero. Hay muchos ejemplos de la mezcla del español y el inglés pero uno de los más nuevos es el que se ve en los mensajes de texto. Las abreviaciones para palabras usadas en el mensaje en español son casi incomprensibles para alguien que no está familiarizado con este tipo de lenguaje.

Para esta generación de jóvenes latinos son una parte esencial en sus textos diarios.

Senior Selena Sánchez dice, “yo hablo en Spanglish todo el tiempo, especialmente con mi mamá. Es muy fácil y divertido.”

¿Y tú, qué PIENSAS? ¿Estas de acuerdo con los matrimonios del mismo sexo?

“Sí. Todas las personas deben tener los mismos derechos apesar de su orientación sexual.”

Elizabeth Rodriguez, Doceavo grado

“Sí. No deberían de haber reglas que impidan el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo.“ Nelson Medrano, Doceavo grado

“Sí. Yo estoy de acuerdo porque el género de una persona no debería importar en el verdadero amor “ Selena Sánchez, Doceavo grado

Una nueva imagen para empezar un nuevo año Por Claudia Quiñonez Año nuevo, vida nueva. Es decir, que lo viejo tiene que salir, para entrar al año nuevo con el pie derecho, de una manera próspera y positiva.

Los editores de la página de español hemos decido hacerle un cambio radical a nuestra página de Silver Chips: La Esquina Latina, para que nuestros lectores tengan una conexión más legítima con los escritores.

En cada ciclo, nos enfocaremos en temas de mucha importancia para nuestros estudiantes latinos, bilingües y los que están aprendiendo la lengua española.

El motivo por el cual hemos cambiado y mejorado la página es para agradar a nuestros lectores.

Somos conscientes que la página no ha tenido ningún cambio en

particular por los últimos dos años.

En este nuevo año y ciclo nos comprometemos a mejorar la página cada vez más y más para complacer a nuestros queridos lectores.

Queremos darle una nueva cara a nuestra sección para que nuestros lectores puedan deleitarse mucho más con nuestros artículos.También deseamos que puedan disfrutar y entender nuestro nuevo diseño.

Esta vez no hemos enfocado en traerles a ustedes una página que utilice el espacio de la mejor manera posible. Además, estamos incluyendo nuestra nueva versión que “¿Sabías qué”, con el fin de entretener a nuestros lectores con datos interesantes de las culturas, tradiciones de los diversos lugares del mundo.

También hemos reediseña-

do la página para hacerla más atractiva. El cambio está inspirado en la tranformación y metamorfosis de una mariposa.

Esta empieza siendo un gusano convirtiéndose en un bello insecto volador através de los cambios y trancisiones a la cuales está sometida. En el año que se nos acerca y con el impulso de mejorar, estamos ansiosos con lo que el 2013 nos tiene preparado para las páginas de La Esquina Latina.

Cada año nos proponemos una nueva meta. Nuestra meta en este nuevo año es de tener la capacidad de poder informarlos de una manera más efectiva, con los acontecimientos que pasan en Blair, y en nuestra comunidad.

Además, tenemos como objetivo exponer los temas mas importantes

en nuestra comunidad Latina.

Aparte de eso, queremos resaltar la importancia que tienen estos temas en nuestra escuela y cómo estos hechos nos afectan de una manera directa. Nuestro deber es infomarlos, pero aún más que eso, nuestro deber es educarlos acerca de los temas más sobresalientes Aparte de traerles la últimas noticias queremos divertirlos con historias que marcan de alguna manera nuestra vida diaria.

Para nosotros es importate que nuestros lectores conozcan y aprenda n de nuestras culturas.

Por medio de un diseño más profesional y con mas información relevante. Finalmente, queremos agradecerles por su apoyo e interé al leer y conocer nuestra página.

El programa “InDesign” utilizado para realizar el periódico de la escuela, está diseñado para la lengua Inglesa. Con tal propósito, Silver Chips ofrece disculpas por cualquier error gramatical que tengan las páginas de La Esquina Latina después de haber sido intensamente editadas.

Gracias.

La Esquina Latina E2

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20 de Diciembre, 2012

Maryland a la vanguardia por los soñadores

Por Claudia Quiñonez

Introducción Los estudiantes soñadores de las escuelas y universidades del estado de Maryland estaban ansiosos y preocupados desde hace muchos meses. Los votantes registrados del estado estaban decidiendo por una ley educativa que daría acceso a las universidades del estado a todos los estudiantes que no cuentan con un estatus migratorio, pagando el mismo monto que paga cualquier otro estudiante residente o ciudadano de este país.

Pasada la media noche del 6 de noviembre del 2012, vale decir ya en la madrugada del 7 de noviembre la noticia fue anunciada, el Acta del Ensueño de Maryland había ganado con el 59% de los votos.

Los soñadores, al oír esta noticia estaban eufóricos, gritaban, lloraban y saltaban de alegría…¿por qué?, por-que sus sueños de ir a la universidad estaban más cerca de hacerse una realidad. Por segunda vez, después de mucho tiempo de dilema y discusión el Acta Del Ensueño de Maryland estaba siendo aprobada nuevamente.

Fondo Histórico y Político El Acta del Sueño es una ley que ha sido presentada en el Congreso muchas veces desde el 2001. En ninguna de las oportunidades ha sido aprobada. El Acta del Sueño, es una ley que promete a los llamados “soñadores” estudiar y un camino probable hacia un estatus legal migratorio en el país.

Al Acta del Sueño no haber sido pasada a nivel federal, los distintos estados de la

¿Sabías qué?

Por Rolando Alvarenga

El primer árbol de navidad fue creado en el norte de Europa por un evangelizador llamado San Bonifacio. Cuando los primeros cristianos llegaron al norte de Europa, ellos observaron que los nativos europeos usaban un árbol para venerar a Frey, dios de la lluvia y la fertilidad.

Cuando las tradiciones cristianas empezaron a ser parte de las tradiciones en europeas, este árbol que se usaba para venerar a Frey fue talado por San Bonifacio y en su lugar el

nación han creado sus actas a nivel estatal.

En este momento, doce estados en la nación ya tienen leyes que ayudan a los estudiantes indocumentados a pagar matrículas estatales. Maryland es el único estado que ha llevado esta ley para un referéndum y también ha sido el primero en ganarla.

Ana Sol Gutiérrez, Concejal del Condado de Montgomery que representa al distrito 18 dice que “Fue una alegría enorme, sigo con un tremendo orgullo. Es un logro sumamente importante desde el punto de vista político.

Esto le envía un mensaje a los Estados Unidos de encontrar una solución al problema político y no poner barreras a los jóvenes que no tienen ninguna culpa por encontrarse en esa situación.”

Así como Ana Sol Gutiérrez, hay muchos políticos que le han dado apoyo al Acta del Ensueño desde sus inicios.

Otrosimpatizante del acta es Hans Riemer, Concejal del Condado de Montgomery, dice que: “Estoy muy orgulloso de los destacados residentes y votantes de Maryland. Se tomaron su tiempo para conocer sobre el complicado problema y se mantuvieron firmes con su decisión: queremos que todos nuestros residentes tengan la oportunidad a una educación. No vamos a crear una subclase en nuestro estado, donde nuestros jóvenes más talentosos no puedan desarrollar sus habilidades y contribuir a nuestra comunidad. Vamos a darle la oportunidad a todos de contribuir”.

Una estudiante de Blair dice “Me siento muy feliz de saber que muchos representantes del estado nos apoyan. Yo siempre supe que esta ley sería aprobada, porque tenemos muchos apoyos.”

plantó un pino para representar las costumbres cristianas.

El pino fue decorado con manzanas y velas alrededor del pino. Las manzanas simbolizaban el pecado original y las velas representaban la luz de Jesucristo como luz del mundo.

Con el tiempo las manza-

Costos Según la Concejal Ana Sol Gutiérrez , esta dice que: “tiene tantos, peros, comas, y restricciones” ya que es la única ley de todos los estados que requiere que los estudiantes vayan a una colegio comunitario por un mínimo de dos años y después se transfieran a una universidad, si así lo desean.

Cabe recalcar que es “Un paso enorme, esta ley va a dar acceso a los estudiantes que sencillamente no tenían el dinero para pagar las matrículas más altas.” Según la Universidad de Maryland, un estudiante indocumentado (aquel que no posee ningún tipo de documentación estatus legal) tiene que pagar alrededor de 28,000 dólares anuales. Con el Acta del Sueño, los estudiantes solo pagarían 8,000 dólares.

Estudiantes

Educadores por la educación Nuestra escuela, es un lugar diverso en el que personas de distintas culturas, religiones y costumbres se combinan. Muchas veces tenemos compañeros que son soñadores. La Sra. Coombs, una de las muchas maestras que está aliada de los soñadores dice estar:” muy contenta cuando la ley pasó. El día que fui a votar, vote por mis estudiantes. Es muy importante.

No quiero ver a mis niños trabajando, quiero ver a mis estudiantes en la universidad”.

La Sra. Ruopp dice también:” estar muy contenta por la victoria de los soñadores ya que he enseñado a muchos de estos estudiantes que tienen mucho talento y que solamente desean ser mejores personas… me siento muy contenta por su victoria.”

Las dos maestras concluyen que la victoria de los soñadores es algo que va a beneficiar a muchos de sus estudiantes que pensaban que no tenían ningún tipo de esperanza al terminar la escuela secundaria. La Sra. Coombs concluyó diciendo “Están dispuestos a contribuir a la economía de América, pero se lo hacemos difícil.”, esto lo dice por la dificultad que existió al estar intentando pasar el acta.

Conclusión

Los soñadores de nuestra escuela están muy felices porque finalmente podrán cumplir sus sueños.

Caro, una estudiante del doceavo, que inmigró a los Estados Unidos cuando tenía 9 años dice estar “contenta, saltaba de alegría cuando me enteré que (Acta del Sueño de Maryland) había pasado, llamé a mi tía a Nueva York para contarle la noticia”. El Acta del Sueño de Maryland les dará a los estudiantes la oportunidad de cumplir sus sueños, Caro dice que: “quiero convertirme en pediatra y ser una mejor persona”.

El acta del Ensueño de Maryland demuestra al resto de la nación que los ciudadanos del estado se preocupan por el bienestar y educación de sus estudiantes.

Saben que la educación es la mejor inversión que los ciudadanos de un país puedan obtener, de esa manera se tendrán más profesionales con estudios superiores, como por ejemplo: profesores, científicos, médicos, abogados, ingenieros y muchas otras profesiones que contribuirán al engrandecimiento de los Estados Unidos de América.

nas y las velas se transformaron en luces y esferas que en la actualidad usamos para decorar nuestros árboles navideños.

Existe una posibilidad que el primer árbol de navidad como nosotros lo conocemos en la actualidad fue usado en Alemania en

la navidad del 1605 para ambientar el frío de la navidad y expandir las costumbres cristianas. Después del siglo XVI, la tradición del árbol navideño se expandió por toda Europa.

Al continente de América llegó cuando los soldados germanos vinieron a ayudar a los soldados británicos durante la guerra de independencia contra los Estados Unidos.

Aunque los soldados alemanes no ganaron la guerra, las creencias germanas permanecieron vivas y la idea de celebrar navidad con un árbol de navidad se quedó en los Estados Unidos y desde allí la idea se expandió por toda Latinoamérica.

Felices fiestas y próspero 2013- les desea La Esquina Latina!

Silver Chips

December 20, 2012

Sports “The sport is not about glamour; we’re not there to fill the stands. Everyone is there to build character and become a better person.” -Coach Jacob Scott F3

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Winter sports teams: the 2012-2013 season preview

By Sabrina Bradford Records are current as of Dec. 18.

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OYS’ VARSITY BASKETBALL

(4-0) came into the new season with a fresh start after losing five players to graduation last year.

Despite varsity inexperience, coach Damon Pigrom said that the chemistry on the team provides the players a solid foundation going into games and has expected the team to play consistently and mature quickly. “People need to do a really good job of figuring stuff out on their own,” he said.

Although last year’s team had issues keeping control of the ball in the second half, it shows little sign of this weakness this year, as Pigrom has kept the team focused on the game during halftime.

“Halftime is a ten minute intermission, not a break,” he said.

“Last year I think we were slow to start, and we expected the other team to be slow with us.” Senior captain Justin Kung said that although the team is small, players are well-conditioned, and believes that the team will continue to progress as they improve each practice. The team has come out strong this year in all its games due to great defensive skills shown by all of the players.

COURTESY OF JACK FOSTER

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IRLS’ VARSITY BASKETBALL

(1-3) had hopes to uphold the high standards that iy established as a strong team last year even as the players have faced a tough schedule and started out slow.

Junior captain Erica Adarkwa said that strong leadership from the coaches will help the team fix problems and implement better strategies in order to compensate for the team’s small size. The team also looks to return to the playoffs after advancing to the county semifinals last year. “I expect to be a competitor within the county, and by February, be a contender for the playoffs,” says coach Erin Conley. Although the team lost seven strong seniors last year and has been struggling with defense and team chemistry, Conley is confident that the current seniors have been adequately prepared for their roles as leaders this year. She said that they plan to develop leadership with the juniors on the team.

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LAIR SWIM AND DIVE (0-2)

entered its second year as a Division 1 team with a new coach, record-holding team members, a strong boys’ team and skilled individual swimmers. Kelly Crowder, who replaced David Swaney this year as a coach, was a 4-year Division 1 swimmer at the University of Maryland. Coach Charlie Demma said Crowder is “an excellent coach for the team this year.” Junior captain Michael Thomas said he wants the team to be more dominant in Division 1 this year and recover from last season’s losing record, but so far

COURTESY OF THESPORTSFANNETWORK.COM

WINTER SPORTS Coach Damon Pigrom coaches defensive strategy to his undefeated team before their game against B-CC (Top Left). Swim and dive competes against Wootton (Top Right). Senior Alex Ortiz skates last year against the DC Stars (Middle Left).

Brendan Mayer-Marks is pinned to the mat by a teammate during practice (Middle Right). Senior Melissa Romero takes a shot from the free throw line against B-CC as she is one of the few seniors on the young team (Left).

the team has faced stiff competition; in Division 1, the team’s opponents are primarily wealthier upper-county schools, many of whose swimmers compete yearround. Despite the outcome of the first few meets, however, Demma has high expectations. “The goals this year are to get as many swimmers to qualify for Metros and States,” he said. “We want the boys to win Division 1, and we also want to stay in Division 1.”

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RESTLING COACH Jacob Scott said he aims to keep his

team (0-2) focused on postseason tournaments, despite facing a tough season this year. “We’re going to use our time wisely to keep our guys healthy, on an incline; keep them learning, motivated and excited,” said Scott. Scott said that inexperience on the team could prove to be a challenge, but said that he plans to send younger wrestlers to JV tournaments to gain experience before the postseason. Although wrestling graduated six key starters last year and is weak in upper weights this season, Scott said that the captains set a great example for the team

team and gaining only one freshman this year, Kronstadt said that hockey wants to return to the playoffs this year and aims to win the state championship. The team benefits LAIR’S ICE HOCKEY (3-1) from good team dynamic, dominant will focus on creating new defense and a strong fan base. The forechecking plays and breakteam will also experiment with outs this year to play as a more changing lines during practice and competitive team. Sophomore the games to find out who works captain Max Kronstadt said that developing new strategies will in- well together. “We want to keep our crease the team’s chances of going games interesting,” says Kronstadt.

Overall, ice hockey has experienced deeper into the playoffs after advancing to the state semifinals last a greater team dynamic this season year. “We want to get everyone to and the players have enjoyed a high improve and work as a team,” he skill level even though the games have been tougher for them. said. Despite inexperience on the

and uphold the high standards he sets.

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December 20, 2012

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December 20, 2012

Wrestling with societal misconceptions Blair wrestlers tackle rumors of eating disorders used to gain a competitive advantage

By Maya Habash There’s a meet in four days. The high school wrestler steps up on the scale, anxiously waiting for it to stop calculating and finally reveal his weight. He shivers at the electronic screen that reads 166 lbs, putting him in the middle of his weight class. For the next four days, his one and only priority is to lose those six pounds, in order to give him an advantage against his opponents.

Day one. 7 a.m.: The wrestler skips break-

it healthy. Through county regulations and understanding of healthy eating habits, the wrestlers maintain a school-appropriate wrestling atmosphere during the season.

Health conscious county

Montgomery County regulates wrestlers’ weight in order to certify a safe weight at which to wrestle. Blair varsity wrestling coach, Jake Scott, says, “The county provides doctors at Blake High School before you even try out; they test your body fat percentage and level of hydration to certify the weight you can safely wrestle at.”

Based on the wrestler ’s hydration and weight, the individual is informed how LEAH HAMMOND much weight is safe to lose.

WRESTLING Blair wrestlers focus on their health instead of Each wrestler straining their body by depriving it of food and water. can wrestle at the assigned fast. 1 p.m.: The wrestler has a protein weight class, or two above, but if the wrestler bar for lunch. 2 p.m.-6 p.m.: The wrestler loses more weight than allotted, he or she is works out with no breaks. He even gets disqualified from competing as it would be in a trash bag and jumps rope to sweat off unhealthy. These rules and regulations, Scott more weight. 7 p.m.: The wrestler skips says, are meant to prevent wrestlers from dinner. Days two through four: repeat Day losing weight unhealthily. one.

The Blair team finds that cutting weight Sounds pretty drastic. Sounds pretty is not an essential part of being on the wresunhealthy. And it also sounds pretty false. tling team. “I’m inclined to say even the Although it is not unheard of for wrescoaches don’t like when we cut weight,” tlers to go through excessive training and says senior varsity wrestler, Chuck Omwuzdieting to maintain, lose or gain weight ruike. “It’s a personal choice.” When wresfor their meets, the wrestlers at Blair keep tlers do cut weight, it’s part of a strategy to

put themselves at the top of a lower weight class which gives them a greater advantage than being at the bottom of the next one up.

That couple of pounds could be pounds of muscle, height or just plain size, and can make a huge difference when wrestling with the opponent, he says. According to the Livestrong Foundation, the original goal of cutting weight was to “lose any extra unnecessary weight that is holding you back from being the most athletic possible version of yourself.” Omwuzruike says it’s easy to cut weight, anyone can do it, and it’s just how you do it that matters.

How they keep it healthy The Blair wrestlers make sure that if they do choose to lose weight to gain an advantage, the wrestler would first have to have a reasonable time frame to lose the weight, which, according to the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, should not be more than two to three pounds per week, as this “is the best way to lose fat and keep muscle, and losing weight rapidly results in a loss of both muscle tissue and water.” The only way the body can lose more than three pounds a week is through dehydration and excessively restricted food intake. As Omwuzruike puts it, the wrestler simply must “take in less calories, drink more water, and go pretty hard at practice,” which is a healthy way to lose the weight.

Bidzimou says that losing weight is an advantage, but “if you force it, then you make your body weak.” Both Omwuzruike and captain of the wrestling team, junior Minu Bidzimou, emphasize that losing weight isn’t necessary, only a means of gaining an advantage over the opponent.

Pro-wrestlers Although Blair and Montgomery County seem to do a good job in ensuring safe eat-

ing habits, the professional realm does not.

According to Vito A. Perriello Jr., pediatrician and pioneer in the field of sports medicine, “research has consistently reported an average of five to ten pounds of weight loss and gain every week” in some professional wrestlers and other athletes requiring weight loss, which could represent a “five to ten percent level of dehydration in many of these athletes.” While the county’s minimum level of body fat is ten percent, some professional wrestlers go down to a mere five percent, says Bidzimou.

But there is more to the sport than the diet.

Wrestling teaches the athlete “discipline, respect for yourself, and respect for other people,” says Omwuzruike. “Communication is a big thing on the Blair team; we’re a family.” While the health factor of eating habits of wrestlers remains a concern in the professional realm, at the high school level, Blair wrestlers go by the motto, “Don’t make your weight like a roller coaster.”

With love

During practice, they focus on strategy and channeling the intensity to win. “I don’t want cubs, I want lions,” asserts Scott. But the bigger picture is one of support and love. “Sometimes things get heated. We butt heads, we push, but at the end of the day, we love each other,” says Omwuzruike. Scott emphasizes that the sport is about building character. “I want to see young men grow and develop into men of character and principle instead of emotion and feelings,” he says. “You’ve got to start training for fatherhood, today. This is the foundation for how you live.” In a relatively dangerous, potentially unhealthy and fairly unpopular sport, the athletes, while still focused on the win, always cheer each other on during meets.

“The sport is not about glamour; we’re not there to fill the stands. Everyone is there to build character and become a better person,” says Scott.

Back to the bunny slopes Seniors ski with Takoma Middle

By Evan Morris As tour buses full of eager skiers pull up to the Liberty Mountain Resort in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, it’s official: winter has come and the season has begun. A herd of gleeful middle school students tumble out of the bus, followed by several taller, equally gleeful high schoolers who found the club too fun to quit when they graduated the eighth grade.

While the Takoma Park Middle School Ski Club is relatively new, the idea has been around for a long time. Only recently have these clubs made their way into the school building. The Ski Club of Washington, D.C. takes 15 national and international ski trips per year. While Takoma Park’s club has a narrower range, the love of the slopes is universal.

The first shred Starting in January, the group takes weekend trips to one of three resorts: Liberty, Whitetail or Roundtop. The group spends Saturdays making the most of the cold and snowy weather on the slopes.

Seniors Julia Nolan, Tom Agger and Alex Fitzpatrick make Ski Club one of their traditions. “We’ve had crazy adventures and hilarious memories and the three of us make a great team,” Nolan laughs. From movies on the bus to games on the lift, some things never get old.

The three bonded when best friends Nolan and Fitzpatrick got to know Agger on the first long bus ride in seventh grade.

Now, those roads are some of their favorite

parts of the winter weekends as they steal the back seats from the sixth graders and settle in to watch cheesy movies for the remainder of the trip.

While the club used to be relatively small, rookie members joined the group veterans and the organization continues to expand. Instead of the origiCOURTESY OF TOM AGGER nal one bus, the 90 people now pile into three for the drive.

SKI CLUB Senior Tom Agger and his brother sophoAs the club evolved, the more Joe Agger both attended Takoma Park Middle students’ interests in it have School. Tom has been involved in ski club since 2007. also changed. “Early on, many of my friends joined and Ski Club. It was the thing to do. It was new,” of what you know; you can get worse,” AgBryan Geohring, a science teacher at the Agger remembers. ger explains. “Ski Club is not only fun, but it middle school, organizes the club and leads The liberty of the slopes was also a draw. helps you keep skills fresh.” the trips. Geohring appreciates the high “My favorite thing was the freedom,” Nolan The club’s freedom also leaves plenty of school students who continue to take part, explains. Students are allowed to roam free room for mischief. “One time, Tom, Julia and and they feel the same. “I am good friends as long as they check in with the chaperones I decided to ski off of the trail. Overall, it was with Mr. Geohring. He said he was happy every so often. As 12-year-olds, it was exhila- a really awful idea. I’m an okay skier, but not to keep having me, so I kept going,” Fitzpatrating to be set loose with friends. “We were when I am barreling downhill on unpacked rick explains. able to hang out and ski without parents or snow and there are trees everywhere. I got The cost depends on the ski package. anyone else breathing down our necks,” No- stuck and had to walk down the mountain,” Some include equipment rentals or lessons lan adds. she remembers. Despite a few bad experi- and others do not, but the full season rate ences, these adventures continued. “We eases the expense. While the cost is in the definitely still go off of the trail,” Fitzpatrick hundreds range, the season pass allows stuOff the beaten slope says. dents to go through the season without payThe otherwise boring ride on a ski lift is ing for every one-day trip.

With experience, the seniors honed their Ski Club creates many memories every skills. “As a middle schooler, improvements easily improved with a game. “Sometimes were always exciting, moving from the eas- Tom and I would pretend that he was a winter. “There are so many stories that I ier slopes to the black diamond trails,” Ag- French exchange student and we would trick can’t think of them all off the top of my ger says. The club gives everyone involved a the other people on the ski lift, including a head,” says Nolan, smiling. “We are always great way to take full advantage of the winter few people from Takoma,” Nolan recalls. the last ones running to the bus, though. Just seasons. “Skiing is one of those things that, The three would also like to sing loudly for pushing our luck to maximize our time on the slopes.” if you don’t do it one winter, you lose some anyone on the hill below to hear and enjoy.

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December 20, 2012

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December 20, 2012

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Stellar defense leads Blazers to the big win

Boys’ basketball begins season 4-0 with new defensive mentality

and taking advantage of the opportunities given to them by the Barons. Blair was continually able to B E T H E S D A pass the ball to a cutting CHEVY CHASE, Dec. teammate who were able 14– to score close to basket.

Smith-Jones credits the Once senior Julian points in the paint to the Smith-Jones began the teams calm demeanor scoring for the Blair and ability to stay patient. boys’ varsity basketball “We settled down quickteam (4-0), there was ly. We didn’t take quick no looking back as the shots, instead we waited team went on to beat until the opening,” Smiththe Bethesda-Chevy Jones says.

Chase Barons (0-3) 47 to Blair was also able to 41. Smith-Jones scored capitalize on those close the Blazers first seven shots by getting fouled points of the game and by the defense and then in the end led all players taking advantage of those with 17 of the team’s 41 shots. The Blazers were points. able to make 15 of their Keying the success of 19 foul shots including the team was the team’s all but one in the fourth great defense which quarter. held the Barons to just Clutch scoring down 17 points at halftime and the stretch was a key three air balls just in the reason that the Blazers first quarter. The team were able to keep their works hard on their lead down the stretch as defense throughout it’s the Barons rallied in the practices and has adoptfourth quarter. ed it as their forte, coach LEAH HAMMOND Canary left midDamon Pigrom tells. way through the fourth “It’s become our identity. BASKETBALL Left, senior Trey Wainwright scans the offensive opportunities available after he hit a key quarter after coming up We’re willing and able. It’sthree an ex-in the third quarter. Right, senior Julian Smith-Jones scores one of his team leading 17 points. gimpy after a three-point pectation here,” Pigrom says.

But the defense slowed down Smith-Jones believes that the slop- talked about is that the offense at the lead, which they were able shot. He returned after what was in the third quarter along with the py quarter was due to a lack of doesn’t dictate the defense. The to reduce to four. But the balanced simply a bad cramp, according to rest of the team. The Barons came focus in which the Blazers relaxed defense is our constant,” Pigrom team was able to stop the Barons Pigrom.

While there is reason to be exout strong out of halftime with due to their lead. “We relaxed be- says. Sophomore Danny Canary, there while also getting those a 9-0 run that was only ended by cause of our lead and just had a who had led the team in scoring for points back and never letting the cited about the team, based on senior Trey Wainwright’s three mental lapse,” Smith-Jones says. the first three games of the season, opposition close. The fourth quar- their undefeated start, the team -pointer in the last minute of the Smith-Jones, along with fel- struggled throughout the game ter turned into a chanting match doesn’t plan on settling down, quarter. The team strung together low senior Justin Kung (11 points) and only scored three points. between the two fan bases while according to Smith-Jones. “Going to work hard and practice hard,” turnovers and bad shots while al- were able to pick up the slack for a B-CC was able to give the Blaz- the teams battled on the court. lowing B-CC to get themselves, team lacking a star scorer. “We’re ers a scare in the fourth quarter The scoring on the Blair side of Smith-Jones says. and the crowd, back in the game. a balanced team. One thing that’s they kept fighting and scratching the ball was based on good passing

By Josh Schmidt

Barons overtake girls’ basketball in disappointing loss Lady Blazers finish with a score of 60-43 against B-CC

insideSPORTS

By Melissa Arias NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM, Dec. 14– It didn’t look good for the Blazers(1-3), when only three minutes into the game the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Barons (2-1) were already up by 7 points. From then on forward the Blazers were just playing catch-up as they fell 60-43.

Junior Erica Adarkwa, one of three captains on the team, thought the team did not start the game well. “We came out really slow.

We didn’t do what we set out to do, knew it, and did not pick it up offensively and defensively,” Adarkwa said. Consequently, the Blazers were down 21-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The lone bright spot for the Blazers was junior Maggie McClain.

Coming off of a 13-point performance against Walter Johnson, Mc-

Blair wrestlers See page F3

HILARIO MORALES

BASKETBALL Left, sophomore Liza Curcio and senior Melissa Romero wrestle with the ball from a Baron offender. Above, Curcio pushes the ball up the court to score two of the eight points she earned for the Blazers which put her second on the team in points.

Clain led the team once again in scoring with 22 points.

It was not enough however, as BCC’s hustle and teamwork proved too much to overcome. “They outhustled us. They acted like a cohesive unit,” Adarkwa explained.

Going into the third quarter down 33-20 the Blazers were unable to change up the pace. According to coach Erin Conley, their inability to make shots hurt them badly. “We had a difficult time making shots, and stopping number 44,” she said.

Number 44 was senior center NinaHaller for B-CC who finished the game with 22 points.

In the fourth quarter, once the game was all but over, the Blazers brought in underclassmen Ca-

mille Estrin and Leigh Cook. The changes were not enough to make a difference however, as the game ended 60-43.

The team is taking this as a learning experience, and will try to improve for the next games. “We need to work on coming together as a team,” Conley said. Senior Melissa Romero agreed that the team needs to work on chemistry. “We need to show that we want it, and not just want it,” she added.

The Blazers’ next home game is after break against Springbrook on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.

Wrestling team members address the stereotype surrounding their diet and exercise routines.

Blair ski club See page F3 Seniors head to the slopes with the Takoma Park Middle School ski club.