Issue 16

HARBINGER Erin Kelly

Dan Tilden

TRIVIAL Pursuit Categories’ loss comes after undefeated season

Stephen McKim Staff Writer

How many Friday the 13ths are in one year?

What Winston Salem North Carolina’s donut corporation second quarter profit rose 50%?

What is the tallest mountain in the continental United Grant Calcara States?

At first glance, these questions seem random and irrelevant. It is those very elements that attract people who like to use their knowledge of random facts to compete Cynthia Wise against other teams district wide.

Competing in one of their toughest competitions this year, the Categories team went up against second highest ranked Shawnee Mission South at the regional championship Categories tourMatt Speise nament.

Making Categories history, the two teams went into double overtime and two sudden death rounds. After completing the regular season undefeated, East lost 26-25 in a very close competition.

“We obviously wanted to win, but we didErin Kelly n’t,” senior M a t h e w S p e i s e said. “It is definitely motivation to do better next year.”

Despite the upset of coming so close to winning the regional championship, the team has many strengths in the form of talented players Reed Williams that helped t h e m become undefeated during the regular and post season games.

The team John Solter gets its

tion and logical guessing,” said Paris. “You don’t have to know everything, but making logical guesses is important.”

His enthusiasm toward the game is based on his love for bits of information and idea behind knowing trivia.

Categories Quiz

Ask your friends these questions and test their ability to be on the Categories team!

• Spell “ptomaine,” as in the poison.

• What was the title of the Sinclair Lewis novel about a preacher who succumbed to the dark side?

• What is the Shakespeare play about twins who are washed up on the shore of Illyria?

• Name, from east to west, the states stretching from Pensacola to San Diego (excluding Florida and California).

ANSWERS: p-t-o-m-a-i-n-e; Elmer Gantry ;Twelfth Night; Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona

Jack Spangler

strength from Speise and senior J o h n S o l t e r. In eighth grade, Speise won the state competition in the National Geography Bee, giving him the background in geography that has helped the team in past games.

“He knows the random rivers outside of Pittsburgh; and he knows the tallest mountain in the continental U.S.,” senior Categories player C y n t h i a W i s e said. “I asked him how he does it, and he said, ‘Oh, I saw a map long ago…’”

Solter has also been a strong influence on the Categories team’s success this year. He is an avid reader, reading books about international crime, like The Merger, alongside books about individual people, like Life is Good. Solter’s diverse reading background has given him a large pool of knowledge that has been very advantageous to competing in categories.

“I get the impression that [Solter] has read so many books, and has been to so many movies that he has taken in so many facts,” Speise said. “He is really strong all over.”

In the championship game, Solter was responsible for 16 of the team’s 25 points. Both Speise’s and Solter’s foundation of success in categories has been reading and absorbing information in school.

“What people read and learn is where they get all of their information to answer the questions,” Speise said. “It is pretty much knowledge, and about just anything.”

It is the love for knowledge and the idea behind knowing trivia that attracted government teacher Nick Paris to coach categories more than 16 years ago.

Ever since he decided to coach, Paris meets with the team every Monday during the season to practice. To make the practices seem more like the real game, the team practices with buzzers and buzz in when they want to answer a question. Paris acts as mediator by giving questions, and coaches the team on techniques to answer questions the team might not know.

“I try to coach them on anticipa-

“It is thinking that connects bits of information together to be able to create a superstructure in [your] mind to come to conclusions,” Paris said. “It’s just not the trivial info, it is the synthesis that makes it fun.”

Despite the loss of the championship, the team members enjoy playing the game and just having fun.

“Just being able to demonstrate the factoids that you remember [is fun],” Solter said. “When you come out with some random fact, there is generally an eye roll about it. It is interesting to know all of this little stuff.”

Shawnee Mission East Issue 16 Mar. 11, 2003

Pay-to-play policy is possible solution to budget problems Heather Bartlett Staff Writer Faced with a strong possibility of yet another round of budget cuts, the Shawnee Mission school district must find a way to make the necessary cuts in programs and services to meet state demands.

A likely solution to these serious financial problems is implementing pay to participate in not only high school sports, but all other extracurricular activities as well. The idea of such has caused a ripple effect in much of the student body. Junior gymnast and track runner J i l l J u d d does not believe that the idea of a pay-to-play policy is a good one.

"There have always been school-sponsored activities. As much as I love doing it, I'm not going to pay to play sports," Judd said.

According to a recent letter sent home with students, in addition to a reduction of two million dollars in administrative costs, reductions have included middle and high school staffing and eliminating elementary school counseling and foreign language programs. Reductions in the number of nurses and reading teachers above district guideline limits would be implemented. The district is also thinking of reducing supplies and service budgets, reducing educational aides, and closing two elementary schools.

The goal of this effort was to achieve a total reduction between seven and eight million dollars. According to Principal A n g e l o C o c o l i s, it is just speculation at this point.

"It could happen. This is the second round of budget cuts. Lawrence has already started charging for sports and activities.

This is the second time the state has put us in this mess. Some activities may be put on the chopping block. You never know what will happen," Cocolis said.

Some, like junior tennis player I r e n e K a g r a m a n o v a, think the school district should not make students pay to represent the school.

"I think budget cuts are going to make people not want to play for the school and just join leagues outside of school where they have better competition," Kagramanova said.

Teacher L a r r y C o l b u r n is taking a different approach to the recently proposed solution. Colburn thinks this to be a good idea and that there is nothing wrong with it.

He suggests having booster clubs for students who might not be able to pay the fees.

Junior gymnast and drill team member E l i z a b e t h S o u t h e r l a n d believes that for a small price, it might be a good thing to charge participants, if it is the only way to keep a sport going.

"I think the students understand the dilemma that we are in currently. No one is trying to take away from the students," Cocolis said.

News page 2

Nelson Stauffer, school closings

In the GENES

Work gives student experience in genetic engineering Gordon Culver Subscriptions Manager Summer jobs can be very hard to find. There are lots of people wh o are looking for a limited number of lifeguarding, tennis or golf pro shop or ice cream store jobs. Few people look at more intellectual and academic jobs. Sophomore N e l s o n S t a u f f e r found one of these.

Last summer, Stauffer worked at KU Medical Center for Dr. A l l e n G o d w i n in the physiology department.

Stauffer received the opportunity to work with the gene homeobox c-13, which regulates tail growth and hair growth in mammals. This job was found for Stauffer by Dr. Fisher, another doctor at the medical center.

“We worked with mice most of the time. I was never allowed to enter the mouse house, but I got to do a lot of fun and involved work on the project,” Stauffer said.

The main theme of the project was extracting comparable genes to the homeobox gene from other animals and implanted them in the mice. In other words ,they took a gene from one animal and put it into a mouse. This usually resulted in hair loss in the mice or complete baldness. There were also tail defects and sometimes a complete lack of a tail.

Stauffer was never allowed to work with the multitude of mice while they were in the mouse house because of insurance reasons with the project, but he did get to work with them in the lab itself. He was highly involved in the project, getting to take part in almost all of its phases. He even got the chance to create his own bacteria.

The project was a very complicated process that involved a great deal of work and experience. Stauffer

was by far the youngest member of the team. There was one other high school senior and the rest were professional doctors and lab researchers.

“I really enjoyed the experience. It was probably one of the best things that I have ever done. Even though I only got paid minimum wage, it was great. I would have done it even if I didn’t get paid. I really hope to continue the project,” Stauffer said.

This project is scheduled to continue through this next summer. Stauffer hope he gets the opportunity to work on this project again this summer. If Stauffer does not get the opportunity to work on this project with Dr. Goodwin, he hopes that he will be able to work with Dr. Fisher. If he works with Dr. Fisher he will be working with folding proteins, which will be a completely different challenge.

Stauffer enjoyed his job over the summer a great deal. He would never trade it for a higher paying, more popular job that would never give him the rewarding feeling he has gotten out of this job.

School closings proposed to save district money Courtney Condron Copy Editor Decreased enrollment has resulted in four elementary school being prospects to close.

Arrowhead, West Antioch, Roeland Park and Katherine Carpenter are the four elementary schools with the lowest enrollment, all projected to have 200 or fewer students in the 2003-2004 school year.

In addition to the shrinking enrollment, the district’s shrinking budget has caused fifteen elementary school to close since 1974.

Closing these four schools would save $1 to 2 million next year.

At the School Board Meeting on February 24, a plan was proposed to combine each of these schools with another elementary school.

This would increase class size, eliminate approximately nineteen jobs and eliminate the costs of operating the buildings.

“I felt that the district’s mind was made up about closing the schools long before the school board meeting. It seemed to me that they don’t

have all of the factors of costs accounted for,” L o r i O l s e n, whose daughter is a fifth-grader at Katherine Carpenter, said.

There are some disadvantages to these closings. Some fear that many students would leave the district all together if they were sent to larger schools. Others are worried about programs such as the Behavior Disorder Program at Katherine Carpenter, which actually adds fifty students to their enrollment. Plus, there is concern over children’s safety as they will have to go farther to a different school.

Other advantages to closing these schools would be that there would be no need to purchase additional equipment, excess equipment will be used elsewhere in the district, and the need to replace equipment in the immediate future will decrease.

The elementary school in the East area with the lowest enrollment is Somerset, which currently has 257 students.

However, there are no plans to do anything to affect Somerset.

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Opinion

staff editorials, letter to the editor

page 4

Piracy as a consumer tool

staff editorials Education lonely in D.C.

Composition of School Funding 7.3 % Federal

Enough. Enough with weapons inspectors who are performing their duties. Enough with Iraqi governmental officials who are ordering the destruction of missiles. Enough with a government 43.2 % that doesn’t care, that will not understand. It’s budget time. Just in Local and 49.5 % Intermediate case the nature of the proposed plans hasn’t gotten around, here State they are.

Not surprisingly the real winner of these proposals is the Department of Defense. This agency will receive a grand total of 379.9 billion dollars in 2004. With a total budget of 782.2 billion Source: dollars, that leaves the Department of Defense with 48.57 percent National Department of Education of all federal spending. Education in contrast will receive a boost of 2.8 billion dollars from 20032004, bringing their percentage of the national budget to 6.78 percent. Finally, Homeland Security will grow by 1.3 percent.

The following agencies will take hits (see if any of these surprise you): Medicaid– down 2.462 billion dollars, the Social Security Agency – 3.337 billion dollars, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – 1.2 billion dollars. No? How about the Department of Justice, which will drop from receiving 18.3 billion dollars to 17.7 billion dollars, or the Environmental Protection Agency which will lose 300 million dollars. The fact that this proposed budget shows no respect for the preservation of the environment, our civil liberties, or the little health coverage nearly 40 million of our citizens have is not the point.

Education is. There is something incredibly backward about districts going under and then receiving substantial federal aid. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of total school funding provided by the federal government is 7.3 percent. The rest is completely covered by state and local and intermediate funding. With schools closing, teachers being fired and budgets being slashed, maybe this is a sign that the federal government is not doing enough.

No one is suggesting that the federal government should take away the little remaining input the states have, but perhaps it should do more to ensure that all schools are fiscally sound. If ten percent of the money we use on Defense were given to Education, Education resources would grow by 72 percent. This money could be used to keep teachers teaching, keep schools from closing and perhaps even bring in a broader range of people by increasing the inappropriate salary teachers receive.

If education falters, a nation loses its ability to adapt and prosper. It’s as simple as that.

All of these figures are open to the public at www.whitehouse.gov.

For thousands of years the word piracy was defined as “an act of robbery on the high seas.” Now it is defined as “the unauthorized use of another’s production, invention or conception, especially in infringement of a copyright.”

It is absurd how people who copy overpriced and bug-filled software off the internet are now called the same thing as bandits who loot ships and kill their crews.

People who pirate software and music can be sued in civil court for up to $150,000, imprisoned for up to 5 years and fined $250,000 per copyright infringement. This is ridiculous. Windows XP costs $200, while many necessary programs, such as MS Word, cost well over $150. Many people cannot afford to spend several hundred dollars on software to upgrade their computer, and they shouldn’t have to when they can download software from file sharing programs and FTP servers.

Some people argue that software piracy hurts the program developers. Copying software off the internet doesn’t harm programmers, the rich CEOs do. If they wouldn’t price their company’s software so high, then per-

haps people would buy software instead of downloading it off Kazaa.

CEO’s shouldn’t blame their software company’s troubles on software piracy when many people are starting to use free, legal, open-source shareware programs.

Linux is a shareware operating system used by a growing number of computer users who probably would have used Windows. Still, Windows blames software piracy, not Linux and Unix for its troubles.

America’s economic system is capitalism. In capitalism, strong businesses thrive and weak ones perish. If Microsoft and other software companies cannot adjust to the loss of customers due to file sharing, then it is their fault, not the fault of the people who refuse to pay ridiculous prices for software that makes the executives, not the programmers, rich.

Capitalism is what made the executives rich, so perhaps they should be capitalist and lower the prices and increase the quality of their products, instead of being corporate socialists relying on “anti-piracy” legislation and whining when they loose money to file sharing.

Both staff editorials were supported unanimously by the Editorial Board.

letter to the editor Get the facts or get off the soap box Lately I have wondered about this whole war on terror and war with Iraq. I personally can say that I am neither pro-war or anti-war. I have no opinion. This is not due to the fact that I do not care, it is due to the fact that I am too naive on the subject.

Almost all of what I know about this war is directly related to biased news sources. Too many journals and weekly news programs are only describing the facts that they want people to hear. Everyone knows that this is not a new thing, it has been going on since communication began.

This is not the true purpose of my letter. The purpose of this letter is to speak out against the many anti-war protestors. No, do not get me wrong, protesting is a great thing and has made many changes in this world. It is also great to stand up for what you believe in. Though it is my opinion that about half of all these protestors really have no basis of information that can back up their protest. While on the other hand the other half is well educated on the subject. In their mind they are doing the right thing, this is great. What I am trying to say is that if you are against the war with Iraq, know why you have this standpoint. Do not protest just because it is the hippie thing to do or because your best friend doesn’t want the war. Make your own opinion with facts to back yourself up. Political standpoints are great to have, but are only worthwhile when they are educated decisions that you believe to be just.

Thanks for listening, Will Pendleton, Junior

HARBINGER The Harbinger is a bi-weekly publication of Shawnee Mission East High School •7500 Mission Road • room 416 • Prairie Village, Kansas • 66208 • 913.993.6688 E d i t o r : David Lucas A s s i s t a n t E d i t o r s :Katie Whitson Andrew Wagner C o p y E d i t o r s : Courtney Condron Grant Calcara Katie Wiley Lindsey Melvin Dianne Smith Nate Milburn A r t a n d D e s i g n E d i t o r : Annie Harrigan A s s i s t a n t A r t a n d D e s i g n E d i t o r : Matt Goehausen

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Mr. Rogers 1928-2003

Annie Harrigan Design Editor Ben Huntley C o n t e s t C o o r d i n a t o r : Dianne Smith S t a f f W r i t e r s : Andy Heintz Owen Morris Ray Mallory Joe West Stephen McKim Paul Thompson Elizabeth Tshudy S t a f f A r t i s t s : Ben Huntley Cynthia Goldman Tom Woodward Barrett Emke S t a f f P h o t o g r a p h e r s : Meg Stewart Tierney Weed Joanna Cross Pat Menihan E d i t o r i a l B o a r d : David Lucas, Katie Whitson, Andrew Wagner, Ben Proffer, Andrew Finnerty, Annie Harrigan, Ben Huntley, Alex Abnos, Anne Steadman, Katie Wiley

One last change.

Thank you, neighbor.

Mission Statement: The mission of The Harbinger is to entertain, enlighten and above all educate readers about SM East, the community, the nation, and the world. It seeks to be a forum for student opinion and knowledge.

The Harbinger is not an expression of the Shawnee Mission District. All content is the responsibility of the student staff.

Letters & Columns: Looking for a forum to voice opinions? If something in this issue of The Harbinger sparks an interest or if there is some pressing issue that needs to be investigated, please respond. The Harbinger welcomes guest columns and letters to the editor. All editorials are subject to editing, and publication of any letters is left to the editor’s discretion. Please submit letters to The Harbinger in Room 416 or send peices to eatate@smsd.org.

The future of the space program, reality TV craze

Reality TV gets

down

and

Real-life programming plagued by depravity, depleted morals Reality TV is so popular that it's being talked about on the Senate floor.

Georgia Senator Z e l l M i l l e r recently gave an impassioned speech to the Senate blasting CBS's proDavid Vranicar posed reality TV series, page editor which would be a real life "Beverly Hillbillies," transplanting a rural family from their home to a posh Beverly Hills residence.

"CBS, the once proud and honorable broadcasting company. . .it seems has become just another money grubber," said Miller, adding that CBS was trading "bigotry for big bucks . . .pure and simple." He called CBS chief executive L e s l i e M o o n v e s "a man who obviously believes that network television is an ethics-free zone and it is acceptable for big profits to always come ahead of good taste."

It is surprising to me, though, that Sen. Miller is so averse to the "hillbilly" theme.

This is hardly the worst that reality TV has had to offer.

ABC's "Are You Hot" is a show designed for people from all corners of the country to compete for the title of sexiest person in America, unabashedly proclaiming, "Talent, personality and strategy were not required, just physical beauty and innate sexiness."

Viewing people being judged solely on "beauty and innate sexiness" is apparently more ethical than showing the lifestyle of a poor family living in an affluent area.

Shows like "Temptation Island" and "Love Cruise" are set up "for love, betrayal and intimate affairs," making Fox's realitybased line-up almost entirely based on sex.

The exceptions are shows like "World's Wildest Police Video" and "When Animals Attack," showing up-close accounts of drunken ex-military personnel terrorizing city streets with tanks and people getting dismembered by members of the animal kingdom. The debauchery and violence glorified on these shows seem to meet Sen. Miller's standards of approval, however.

Miller objects to a family voluntarily being subjected to the horrors of living in a Beverly Hills mansion and being given a healthy allowance to live off of in exchange for letting cameras trail their every move.

But he doesn't see anything wrong with people lying down in a tub with 400 live rats or eating blended pig guts and cow tongues as seen on "Fear Factor."

The reason that shows exposing people to ridiculous and often disgusting situations are tolerated weekly by tens of millions of Americans is because those on the shows are never forced to do anything. They volunteered to participate and could quit at anytime, just like the proposed "hillbilly"

Opinion page 5

dirty

family.

Other reality shows make the proposed CBS plot look like family programming.

Miller's complaints

shouldn't be directed at CBS or Moonves for suggesting an idea that would capture tens of millions of viewers in a recreation of one if not the most successful show of all time.

Miller's real problem is with America's insatiable appetite for lowbrow reality TV, not the voluntary stint of a rural family in Beverly Hills.

art by Annie Harrigan

Manned space flight must continue W h e n the Colu m b i a broke apart on a clear February morning, it left behind not only Libby Nelson debris scattered across news editor three states but a question that ranged much further: should the disaster on the Columbia be allowed to happen again, or is manned space flight too dangerous to be continued?

This question is not new. It was asked after a deadly fire on Apollo 1 in 1967, asked after the Challenger exploded on takeoff in 1986, asked every time that people realized the vulnerability of human life on a shuttle. Each time the answer was the same: despite

the risks, humans must continue to travel in space.

The answer is still the same.

Manned space missions must continue, and the only rationale for stopping them should be the discovery of a more practical and reliable alternative. And although it has been aggressively promoted in the month since the Columbia explosion, that alternative is not unmanned space flight.

It is impossible, given current technology, to replace human beings with robots and probes.

Machines cannot yet think and make decisions like human beings.

Robots cannot repair themselves.

They cannot react to an unexpected change in conditions. This could easily lead to costly loss of equipment. In a situation like the Apollo 13 astronauts faced, robots could not fix the problem. The machinery aboard would be lost.

Repairs like those made aboard NASA’s Skylab required humans, first to discover the problem, then to improvise repairs. Robots may be infinitesimally precise, but they cannot improvise.

Unmanned space travel has had costly failures in the past.

When communications failed, NASA lost two of the probes that landed on Mars in 1999. The Hubble space telescope had a defective mirror when it was launched in 1990, which was finally replaced three years later.

Humans, not robots, completed the repairs.

It is true that the loss of machinery is still preferable to the loss of human life. Danger is undeniable in space travel.

Astronauts are fully aware of the danger they face during each voyage, and yet they continue to go.

Astronauts and their families have

argued forcefully for the continuation of manned space flight over the past month. In a joint statement made the day after the shuttle exploded, the families said that “the bold exploration of space must go on.” The people who stand to lose the most from space travel still fervently believe that it should be continued.

But the risks that space travel poses to humans are often exaggerated. Since the Columbia’s first flight and the beginning of the space shuttle program in 1981, 113 shuttle missions have been launched. Only two have not returned. The urge to lower the danger and protect the astronauts has a by-product: a drive for better and better technology to prevent accidents. In the years immediately after the Challenger exploded, over 400 improvements were made to the space shuttles.

Abandonment of manned space flight would also mean abandonment of the International Space Station, which was launched only two years ago and cost billions of dollars. Astronauts aboard are conducting a study dealing with bone deterioration in low gravity; its results could help to provide a cure for osteoporosis.

Medical studies like these require human presence and have valuable applications on Earth.

The space shuttle has been grounded in the month since the Columbia explosion, but the time will come when it returns to space.

And when it does, it must be with humans aboard. Humans who are perhaps not as precise as robots, but with the ability to improvise, the willingness to take risks – abilities essential to every space mission.

Features page 6

Eating dIsorders

Surviving the struggle: A local student deals with the pressures of bulimia Anne Steadman Circulation Manager This girl is one of strength. As self-conscious as she may be, when she walks down the hallways of East, she seems confident, self-aware, and vibrant. Very few know the secret she is hiding: her life has been taken over by a disorder called bulimia that starves her of her real image.

A blob. That is what Sara* called herself. A blob that walked around, thinking of herself as nothing but skin and fat, every pound weighing down her every step. But the truth was, she wasn’t even more than 12 pounds overweight.

Bulimia is a mental disorder. It distorts the image of what the victims see of themselves. Even if he or she is healthy or even under her normal weight, in their minds their are fat, regardless of what they weigh or what other people tell them.

Sara knew she had a problem, but the disorder made her obsessive. She was constantly obsessing about her image, and comparing herself to every girl she saw, especially her sister, who Sara thought was perfect.

“My sister is perfect,” Sara said. “She is 5’7”and a size four. Guys’ jaws drop when they see her. I was so jealous, and looking at her compared to me was, and still is, unbearable.”

After dieting for a year, Sara decided desperate times called for desperate measures. She decided that eating and then throwing up her food would be a good way to lose weight fast, without completely starving herself as anorexics do. She figured as long as she ate, she would feel like she was paying attention to her health, regardless of whether or not she threw it up. But vomiting after eating every meal was not any better than starvation if there was never any food in her stomach.

“I would eat like a normal person when I was around other people,” she said. “But I would always make myself throw it up, even if I had to wait a couple of hours for the right chance. I didn’t want food in my stomach, period.”

It’s hard to imagine someone being able to vomit after every meal still keep it secret from everyone around them.

But Sara had an elaborate plan devised of how she would do it.

“It was all basically a system,” she said. “So my parents wouldn’t know I was throwing up, I would turn on the bathwater and pretend I was taking a shower. Or I would say I was scrubbing my flip-flops and cleaning them. Other times I would just wait until the time was right — when Mom and Dad left home.”

If she couldn’t hide it at the moment, she would simply leave her house and drive somewhere.

“I would go to a public place or even a restaurant or a gas station. That’s how desperate I was.”

After having the disorder for a few months, Sara’s body began to take on a strange shape. Instead of losing weight all over, only her stomach was getting smaller.

“Since nothing really stayed in my stomach, it was flat and small. Overall, everything else stayed the same. If anything, it was getting worse,” she said.

After hiding her secret for so long, Sara began to feel bad that no one knew about it. And her physical condition was worsening also. She was constantly tired and couldn’t stand up straight because of the pain in her stomach.

She decided to tell her sister.

“My sister was really serious about it,” she said. “She threatened to follow me everywhere. She watched me really closely and I knew I couldn’t hide it from her. If anyone had to be my therapist, it would be only her. She was my role model, and I listened to her.”

In time, Sara started to overcome her obsessions with the help of her sister. She did have relapses, however, which are common with the disorder. But Sara recovered with little help — she is incredibly self-disciplined. Bulimics often need professional therapy and sometimes even hospitalization. Recovering on their own or with little help is rare, as bulimia is a very powerful mental disorder.

Now, almost eight months after she told her sister, Sara admits that a couple times, she has had the urge to get food out of her system because of a gross feeling.

“Sometimes it will just happen; you just don’t want in in your stomach.”

This behavior can be dangerous, but Sara and her family and friends know they can trust her. They know that if the problem starts to become serious again, they won’t hesitate to tell her parents and send her to therapy. But she doesn’t want to go through that. She wants to get to her desirable weight with practical, healthy ways of losing calories, because healthiness is important.

So even though Sara’s image is still somewhat distorted and sometimes her eyes flash with jealousy at those who she thinks are better looking, she know she has something that most of them don’t: an incredible strength to fight back at whatever tries to bring her down.

*Names have been changed in this article to protect privacy.

Bulimia and anorexia:

They’re closer than you think A survey was administered to 136 female students of varying classes at Shawnee Mission East.

49%

of female students feel

self-conscious about their weight.

63%

Tom Woodward Staff Artist of female students at SM

East wish that they were thinner, looked better, or weighed less.

57%

of female students have

No Pressure 36%

Media 55%

been, or know someone who has been diagnosed with an eating disorder.

36%

of female students sur-

Friends 31% Family 27%

veyed purposely skipped a meal of purposely vomited a meal due to concerns over their weight.

Female students participating in this survey were also asked where the pressure to look better comes from, if anywhere at all.

Features

writer’s workshop, peace breakfast

page 7

Students Write to Learn, Also For Fun Libby Brickson a&e editor The environment: comfortable, relaxed and fun. The goal: be creative, confident and overall better writers. The outcome: confidence, creative writing skills and a stronger sense of self. The class: Writer’s Workshop.

Students laugh and listen as the teacher reads a work about a bad day.

A very bad day and all this entails a speeding ticket, a Saturday school and a break up with a boyfriend. This narrative puts a comical tone on an everyday subject. The teacher finishes and asks, “And who wrote this?” A girl in the back raises her hand slowly. The class congratulates her as they briefly discuss the piece. The teacher sits in front of them, no among them. They laugh and talk. It may not sound like a typical classroom but learning is definitely occurring.

“This class rocks,” junior J o e H a u g h said. “Mrs. Schwieker gives us interesting topics to write on, then we get to hear how everyone writes on it some people use humor, but some get really deep and personal.”

And many agree, the class does rock. S u s i e S c h w i e k e r, the teacher of the class describes the environment as open and very nurturing. As a class, it needs to be.

“I believe in telling people what they do right,” Schwieker said.

Students papers are read aloud, an occurrence not many uneasy high school students would want to face.

The general consensus is that the students love this class, with a good environment, fun learning and an encouraging teacher. The class’s interesting format makes for a unique learning experience.

Recently on a friday students participated in Haiku reading. The poems were simple and very funny. Others just didn’t make sense and some were really serious. The haikus were a simple way for the students to express themselves.

Don’t be misled: the class isn’t just for good writers or even just for people who enjoy writing.

“Even people who don’t consider themselves good writers would like

the class because you can put your opinion into things and there is no limit on what can you write.” senior C h r i s t i n e M a x w e l l said.

All studens taking the class, when asked if they would reccommend it, they all answered yes.

“Go for it, because it lets you unleash your ideas in a peaceful way,” senior S a m S t e p p said.

There isn’t a lot of pressure; the goals of the class are simple. Become more comfortable as a writer, be more creative and the list goes on. Even though the class does have grades, the grades are based off of participation and effort.

“I really want to see people love writing and become better writers,” Mrs. Schwieker said. “I want to see people start to open up in their writing and see there confidence grow.”

The class is definitely a different way to learn. On a Friday when the students were reading haikus, they were being entertained by the interesting poems and still be learning at the same time. But whether it is learning or just fun, students get a lot out of this class.

“I really like the lack of homework and humorous atmosphere.” senior J e n n a H o o v e r said.

Senior J a m e s M c n o w n has gained better knowledge of his writing skills and confidence to express himself, while senior B r i t t a n y W h i t e learned not to be afraid of what she writes. So the results vary, but are all positive.

“It gives you a chance to express feelings and emotions that you wouldn’t be able to express any other way but writing.” Mcnown said.

At the end of the class the bell rings and the students continue to discuss the pieces. The class comes to a close and the students prepare for the next day, which will be similar to the day before. Fun, exciting and rewarding. The class is popular and spots are filling up fast. Sign up soon.

Your time may be running out.

Students Gather for Peace, Chocolate Milk Lindsey Melvin copy editor Two years ago, present seniors S a m S t e p p, P e t e r W e t z e l, and A n d r e w W a g n e r decided it would be fun to have breakfast before school on Fridays for whoever wanted to come. After a few meetings, these students thought it would be a cool idea to make it stand for something.

And before talk of War with Iraq, even before 9-11, peace was the issue chosen highest in priority. This breakfast, which started with only a few students, is still going strong with a usual turnout of over 20 kids. Now, with all the talk of war with Iraq, the peace issue is as relevant as ever.

“I’m very happy that so many students show support and care enough to get up early on Friday morning,” said Stepp.

They meet every other Friday at 7am across from the Environmental Ed room in the hall of the third floor.

A blanket is spread across the floor, people are eating doughnuts and drinking chocolate milk, an American flag with a peace sign is draped over the lockers, and the Neil Young album “Freedom” is playing in the background.

It’s not just about students hanging out and having a good time. It’s about students wanting to make a difference in their school.

The breakfast is a place to belong for students with

similar views. Friends can join together.

“War with Iraq may not be much of a threat to East “It’s easier to support a cause if you know there are students, but it is a threat to the principles America more people out there,” said Stepp. stands for,” said freshman C o r i n n e S t a n l e y.

Besides wanting to raise people’s consciousness Whether it means white ribbons pinned to their of the war with Iraq and provide a solid sup- clothes or posters reading “Peace is Patriotic” and “War port group, they also are constantly trying is Not the Answer” taped in the hall window during the to find other solutions, besides war. breakfast, some students will do whatever it takes to proStepp urged whoever wanted to, to mote peace throughout the halls of SME. sign a letter he had written to President Bush. In it, Stepp “encourages the continued use of the UN weapons inspectors The Harbinger presents: in Iraq” and “hopes for a peaceful solution to our nation’s foreign policy (tapes accepted) issues.” He stresses that we are We will be accepting music mixes in comTake entries to the “youth of America” and that pact disk or tape cassette form — compact the box located “we hope to grow in a world disks are preferred, but format will have no bearing in the final rankings. without war.” right inside the The following categories will be judged: The breakfasters believe door in The Bling-Bling Mix that peace, their ultimate goal, Best Party Mix Room 416.

Best Sunday Afternoon Mix can be achieved. They start Contest Ends Best Rainy Day Mix with something that seems Best Make-out Mix April 11th. small, like the breakfast, in Best Road-trip Mix We can not guarantee an attempt influence a Best Afterschool Mix entries will be returned, so Best Chill Mix major portion of SM East make yourself a copy.

Prizes will be awarded for each category. in a positive way, and then in effect, maybe even influence part of the world.

To them, the thought of war poses more problems than one.

The Harbinger’s Mix CD Contest.

A &pageE8

The Simpsons

Katie Whitson Assistant Editor It all began in the late 80s when The Tracey Ullman Show began featuring mini-cartoons of a blonde-skinned four-fingered family with fish eyes, a risqué lifestyle and an untamable humor to boot.

Since January of 1990, idiot boxes everywhere have radiated with the loveable quips and infamous dynamics of each character residing in Springfield.

Created by director Matt Groening, the Simpsons recently celebrated their 300th episode on Feb. 16, making it the longest-running primetime animated series and most celebrities featured in an animated series, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

With so many years behind the show, it would be expected that the wit and absurdity that make the foundation for what the Simpsons have grown so notorious for to become any longer ineffectual at best, but with already more than 13 years behind them, Groening and his talented writers have still managed to keep their creative juices flowing. This particular episode, entitled “Barting Over” involves special guests Tony Hawk, Blink 182 and Jane Kaczmarek from "Malcolm in the Middle", and lampoons the Kennedy Center Honors, Furbies, TV show “Perfect strangers,” Butterfinger, Michael Jackson and a slew of other things. As it opens, Bart and Lisa discover an old commercial promoting a DNA patch that improves baby's breath.

When Bart discovers that all of the money that was supposed to go into his College Fund was evidently all spent, he sues his parents for emancipation to live in his own flat. At his new bachelor pad, Bard discovers that there is a miniature skate park above his own abode where he meets pro-skater Tony Hawk courted by the melodious accompaniment of Blink 182.

Bart becomes infatuated with skateboarding as Homer makes several attempts to win him back, all of which are muffled until Homer actually competes in a skateboarding competition with Hawk and wins, still Bart explains that all he ever wanted from Homer was his respect. In the end, Homer’s accomplishment is dually noted by an ad manager and lands a spot in an ad for a product that helps hair growth and impotence while at the same time causes loss of scalp and genitals.

Special Thanks to John Jenkins

College Fit

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A&E

Old School review Grant Calcara Copy Editor

O

ld School may not be the greatest piece of cinema to hit the silver screen, but Saturday Night Live alum W i l l F e r r e l l ’ s performance makes it a must-see comedy.

The story centers around three thirty year L u k e W i l s o n), Beanie (V Vince olds: Mitch (L V a u g h n) and Frank (FF e r r e l l). Mitch finds that his wife has been cheating on him, so he moves into a small house just outside a college campus. Pressured by his married friends to turn the place into a party pad, the trio soon forms a social club composed of social misfits of all ages in an attempt to regain the fun and glory of their college days.

The out of control parties, featuring cameos from S n o o p D o g g and W a r r e n G, soon draw the attention of the dean (JJ e r e m y P i v e n) who seeks to shut down the newly-formed organization. The film puts a sort of modern twist on the classic “Animal House.”

Ferrell’s antics make movie fans remi-

page 9

nisce about the days of J o h n B e l u s h i’s Bluto Blutarsky.

The story line of “Old School” is not as solid as its more well-known predecessor, but the comedy almost certainly is. The movie comes off as a series of loosely-tied skits each hysterically funny and all reflect Ferrell’s sketch comedy background. This would be trouble for a movie without three great performances.

Ferrell is hilarious at every turn- whether he plays the outgoing (and alcoholic) Frank the Tank or the awkward and timid husband. Wilson, who plays the main character, fades into the straight man role as Ferrell shines with his style of physical comedy, including a solo streaking scene that’s interrupted by his wife and her friends.

Vaughn is sharp as well, playing the sarcastic and dry mastermind behind the fraternity. His deadpan monologues about the necessity of the fraternity and the rigors of the pledge process are done perfectly.

“Old School” falls into the same category as “Dumb and Dumber” and “Happy Gilmore.” It’s the kind of comedy which requires “Old School” creates a comedy monument little thinking but creates massive standing alongside greats like “Animal House.” laughter.

Fraternity

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W est Coast Swing Dance Lessons start Sunday March 2nd at 1:00pm, and Wednesday, March 5th at 7:00 pm. Our clubhouse is located at

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913-307-0364 Prairie Village, KS 913-362-7200

Sports page 10

John Stonner, gender games

Coach John Stonner looks to lead the baseball and football teams in addition to teaching. Working all of this into his schedule is all a part of his

Juggling Act

Liz Tschudy Staff Writer You wouldn’t expect football, baseball and teaching to have anything in common.

J o h n S t o n n e r isn’t one of these people though. He has a love for teaching and for coaching baseball and football.

Stonner has coached sports for the last seventeen years. He has coached at Center, California Trail, Olathe East, and Rockhurst. For the past two years he has been the defensive coordinator for the football team and JV baseball coach at SM East.

He replaced T o d d D a i n as head varsity football coach this winter. This fall he also became the varsity baseball coach.

It was easy for Stonner to take the two coaching jobs.

“I believe in the kids here at this school and their ability,” he said.

Teaching computer applications is another priority of his. He plans on dividing school, baseball and football into three different areas. During the day, he will focus on teaching and at the end of the day coaching will become his focus.

“Coaching is teaching, it’s just in a different environment,” he said.

This will be Stonner’s first job as head varsity coach. He plans to bring changes to the programs and a “positive attitude and a belief that the best thing in the world is to be a Lancer.”

Many players were relieved that their new coach will be someone who has been with the program.

“We have two good seasons and Stonner’s going to keep it going with his energy and positive attitude,” junior Jeff Spradley said.

Stonner’s head coaching skills will be put to the test quickly with the CALLIN’THE SHOTS: Head coach John Stonner points out possibilities for this season to JV coach Todd baseball season just beginning.

McAtee at baseball tryous.

Photo by Meg Stewart Players seem excited for the new coach and season.

“Stonner will bring a new sense of hope were narrowed down to seven and then Green said.

With the great amount of enthusiasm that might help us bounce back from pre- three. One of the remaining three was John Stonner, defensive coordinator for and energy SM East fans and players will vious years,” junior Drew Severns said. the SM East football team. no longer have to worry about the teams A total of 26 applicants had applied for and their coach.

“He will continue to build on what the open position. Some came from as far as Florida and Michigan. Applications Todd has started,” athletic director Lane

Boys and Girls: should they be coached differently?

Amy Woodsmall Guest Writer When J i m R i c k e r first came to Shawnee Mission East six years ago, he became the varsity soccer coach for both the boys and girls. Having never coached girls at this high level, he was a little unsure of how to approach the game.

He had minimal trouble getting the boys started in the fall, pushing them to their mental and physical limits and imposing demands he had experienced himself with college soccer. When spring rolled around and it was time to start the girls’ season, he had to think over his coaching strategy.

Would the same tactics work with them, or should he be slightly more relaxed in his expectations?

He decided to try the same methods and see what results he got. He stood for little mental hesitation on the field and expected the same game speed as he had expected with the boys. If he had run the boys for 45 minutes per practice in the fall, he ran the girls for 45 minutes in the spring. If it had rained in the fall, the boys would have a rigorous fitness session for two hours. If it rained in the spring, the girls would be inside running as well. Ricker changed little about his coaching habits and ran the girls’ team in the same manner that he had run the boys’. Same practices, same game strategies, same treatment. Ever since, he has stuck to his original decision.

Three state championships later for the girls’ soccer team, he decided he had made the right decision.

“There just really aren’t many differences in the way that I coach the boys and girls,” Ricker said. “I expect just as much from both teams, and I place high standards on them. Either way, my job is to coach a soccer team. It doesn’t matter to me whether they’re boys or girls.”

Whether or not girls should be coached differently from boys has been a long-standing debate. Because of emotional differences, particularly in the teen years, and altered physical development, some have argued that the two should be coached based on these emotional and physical differences. Others see no advantage in having two different styles of coaching. Either way, one can’t escape the fact that there are differences in boys and girls that may need to be dealt with as a coach.

Mentally, Ricker challenges both teams and pushes them in practice to prepare for games.

Occassionally, he has some tears to deal with from the girls, but that doesn’t keep him from maintaining his expectations.

“Last year, [varsity girls’ soccer team] had a couple emotional breakdowns,” Ricker said. “Actually, we had several, but that’s okay, it happens. It doesn’t change my way of coaching. We got over it and moved on.”

In his experience, he has found that girls are more emotional than boys. Acceptance, he says, is the main reason for this difference. Boys and girls look for different ways of being accepted which translates, on the field, to emotional differences in the two.

“Girls tend to be more emotional in the way they perceive what I say to them on the field,” Ricker said. “To them, it’s very important that I accept them first as a person, then as a player.

Therefore, they sometimes take my criticism to mean that I don’t like them, and they get upset. With boys, it’s the opposite. They strive to be accepted as a player, so they take everything I say as moving towards that acceptance.”

While he understands the emotional differences, he doesn’t change his coaching tactics. He isn’t any easier on the girls, and his discipline definitely doesn’t change from fall to spring.

“Complaining is an example of how my treatment of the players doesn’t change,” Ricker said. “If one of my players comes up and whines about someone shoving them on the field, I tell them to suck it up. I don’t want them playing dirty, but you have to be aggressive, whether you’re a boy or girl, to

play this game. If they don’t like it, there’s one answer: the bench.”

Varsity track coach Bill Boley doesn’t see many differences in coaching boys and girls either. His workouts are identical, the same 200 meter dashes, the same mile runs, the same 50 meter sprints. When Boley steps out on the track, he’s out there to make real runners out of the athletes. His standards are the same for anybody wanting his coaching expertise.

“If the workout for the day was eight 200 meter dashes, for example, I would have the runners run the same number of times, regardless of who they were,” Boley said.

“The only diference would be the time, the boys running it in 25 to 28 seconds whereas the girls would be running it in 31to 34 seconds.”

When it comes down to coaching styles and techniques, there aren’t many significant differences. A sport comes with the same rules, same techniques, and same basic concepts whether a girl is playing it or a boy.

“A game doesn’t change when a girl decides to play it,” Ricker said. “Therefore, coaching shouldn’t change either. Sports aren’t a requirement, so they aren’t specially fitted for either boys or girls. They’re extra-curricrular activities with the goal to succeed. That goal can’t be achieved if the game is conformed to the player, rather the player has to conform to the game. Sports are tough. Athletes, whether boys or girls, can accept that and move forward.”

Sports

Baseball column

page 11

Saving Baseball: A practical approach for reclaiming the spotlight If you don’t care about baseball, stop reading now. For the remaining five readers, I will unveil a plan to save Major Paul Thompson League Baseball from Staff Writer the bottomless depths of the American Basketball Association and the XFL. The game can be catapulted back into the spotlight if the powers that control baseball take a stand against money-grubbing owners and players’ representative, Donald Fehr. The competitive equilibrium of the game is so slanted that casual fans have been alienated and are uninterested in the game that used to be America’s favorite sport. The next generation of sports fans are likely to drift away from baseball if the commissioner doesn’t take control of baseball’s glaring problems.

The most pertinent change would be to follow the NFL’s lead and institute salary caps and revenue sharing. A salary cap

would put a lid on the spending of owners and create a more competitive balance.

Revenue sharing would allow small market teams such as the hometown Royals and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to actually have money to meet the salary cap. Large market teams would have to put money into a pot to be dispersed evenly between each franchise. This action would allow for more parody in the league and give every team a chance to lure free agents and resign their current marquee players.

But most of all, a salary cap and revenue sharing would stop the Yankee’s from compiling a payroll of $160 million when the payroll of teams like the Royals hovers at $40 million.

Opposition to this plan claims revenue sharing would be robbing large market teams in a “Robin Hood” type format.

However, installing revenue sharing and a salary cap would only make everyone more prosperous. It would even out the teetertotter by giving the money of the rich to the poor.

Look at the NFL: almost every stadium is packed and the league signed television deals with FOX, CBS, ABC and ESPN for monstrous sums of money. Baseball needs to capitalize on the success of the NFL’s salary cap and make a bold move to create more parody.

Many have also argued that creating a salary cap and a revenue sharing system would put teams with a payroll well over the cap already at a major disadvantage.

Teams with huge payrolls would be forced to dismantle whole teams just to get under the salary cap. To solve this problem, the league could draft a rule allowing teams to go over the cap if they are using the money to resign a player who has played his entire career with a franchise. This way, teams could reward their homegrown stars handsomely for the players’ loyalty. The rule would encourage players to finish their careers in the town where they started and let fans grow attached to their favorite stars without worrying about losing them to free agency.

The reason a change hasn’t already been made is because the players association refuses to agree to any significant alterations to the current system, which favors the players. Despite frequent rifts from the team owners, they have agreed to a bogus bargaining agreement in order to put off another possible strike.

The owners are the only ones who can right the ship; they just need to stand firm and let the players go on strike next time.

One thing the players can’t afford is to get back in the public’s doghouse reminiscent of the strike in 1994.

Without any changes, the game that used to characterize America will crash and burn, pushing fans away by slowing eliminating the number of teams with a realistic chance to win the World Series. The game of baseball shouldn’t be about bargaining agreements and player strikes; it should be about a competitive balance, hope during spring training, hot dogs, foul balls, and having fun watching baseball again.

Photo Essay page 12

ROTC Mapping Things Out: Freshman Phillip Combs draws the map for his team.

Preparing the map correctly is important in orienteering in order for the team to reach their correct destinations.

Checkkpoints: Freshman Jake Cohen reaches the correct checkpoint and marks his team’’s card, ready to move on to their next stop.

Out Woods of the

District ROTC members learn orienteering skills to navigate their way around Monkey Mountain.

Hiking: Phillip Combs, junior Jenny Larose and senior Kelsey Karlostrom take abreak and walk to their next destination. The course, located at Monkey Mountain, was designed primarily for orienteering groups. All photos by Tierney Weed

Lost: All four teammates are confused to which direction their nexe checkpoint is. Surrounded by woods and and empty fields, they must find their own way using only their map.