Issue 7

THE

HARBINGER

issue seven december 4 2006

Shawnee Mission East 7500 Mission Rd. Prairie Village, KS 66208

LEARNING TO COPE Two students deal with their parents’ cancer diagnosis. page 7

17 DAYS TO

WINTER BREAK

photo by samantha ludington

HATS FOR HOPE NAHS students make and sell hats to raise money for the American Cancer Society. page 8

After losing the school’s all-time leading scorer, two upperclassmen are ready to lead the

NEXT GENERATION.

page 2 [news]

photo by Samantha Ludington

Above: Senior Joe Demarco drizzles sauce to decorate a plate. The restaurant is scheduled to open to the public next year. Right: Junior Candalyze Harris sprinkles ingredients on soup.

Last Friday, construction started on the east wing of Broadmoor Technical Center for the restaurant that will most likely be named “Chef Garden.”

The restaurant will be open to the public next school year, and will be run by the students in the Culinary Arts program at Broadmoor. The purpose of the facility will be to help young chefs grow and gain experience in cooking for a real restaurant.

On Nov. 15, Culinary Arts teacher Bob Brassard and the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation organized a fundraiser luncheon at the American Restaurant to raise awareness about the Culinary Arts program at Broadmoor, and showcase the cooking skills of the students in the class. The 50 architects and administrators who attended the luncheon made donations to the program.

The idea for the restaurant first came about five years ago, when Brassard included the idea in the five-year plan he presented to the school district. Just a few years later, the district granted Brassard’s request, a facility that will cost around $2.5 million.

“We’ll be one of the three or four schools in the nation that has this type of facility,” Brassard said. “Our facility is going to be better than the one at Johnson County Community College.”

One of the restaurant’s main features will be a kitchen that is fully equipped with the very best cookware.

“The equipment will be state of the art,” Brassard said. “They’re going to have everything they need to be successful.”

As big a benefit as the kitchen may be, senior Culinary Arts student Joe DeMarco

by [hannah cosgrove]

with...

Terry Wright Case

believes that a greater advantage comes Former volleyball from elsewhere. coach Terry Wright II “Everyone says that the biggest gift will was sentenced Nov. be the kitchen,” he said. “I think the biggest 17 to 13.5 years in jail gift is Bob Brassard. He has an amazing for sex crimes involvway of making everything work.” ing two former playBrassard’s ability to make things work ers, one of whom is has earned his program six national now his wife. Wright finalists in the past six years, making was convicted of inBroadmoor’s one of the top Culinary Arts decent sexual liberties, rape, and having schools in the country. consensual but unlawful relations in Au“As a teacher, I have a good gust. Wright had been a volleyball coach understanding of what they need to do in at East for eight years before resigning a competition,” Brassard said. “I tell them last year. they need to be comfortable with their dish, and have a game plan like any sport. That philosophy has worked really well with the students.”

B R I E F S Brassard’s class cooks for parents, administration and the general public Music Concerts on the first Wednesday and Thursday of every month, and often cooks for the other Choir Dec. 7 classes at Broadmoor.

Band Dec. 12 “They cooked breakfast for my class one Orchestra Dec. 14 morning,” senior Jake Chaney said. “They All concerts will be held made us biscuits and gravy, pancakes and in the auditorium at 7 p.m. eggs. It was really good.”

The restaurant is expected to be finished Finals Schedule around December of next year, and will The finals schedule for the week of likely be open three to four nights a week.

“I’m just thankful that the students will Dec. 18-21 has been changed. The new have it,” Brassard said. “My hope is that schedule is: Monday: they will take advantage of the facility.”

7:40-9:10 First hour exam Since it won’t be possible to open during 9:20- 2:40 Second thru seventh school hours, it will probably be taken as a Tuesday: night class.

9:20-10:50 Second hour exam “They [the underclassmen] will have 10 11-12:30 Third hour exam times the advantage we had,” senior Nick Wednesday: Young said. “It’s going to be really nice, I 9:20-10:50 Fourth hour exam wish I was a sophomore right now.”

11-12:30 Fifth hour exam Thursday: 9:20-10:50 Sixth hour exam 11-12:30 Seventh hour exam

A Decrease in Homework It’s 9 p.m. and sophomore Emily Atchison is just getting home. Her afternoon was spent at dance class and only now is she starting her homework. While scanning her planner she spots multiple worksheets and endless math problems. She concludes that her night will be filled with busywork.

“In some classes I receive a ton of busy work,” Atchison said. “It’s hard to get everything done with so many extra-curriculars which take time. It’s even harder knowing that you aren’t learning anything with unnecessary assignments.”

Unproductive busywork is something that Principal Susan Swift is trying to eliminate. At a recent staff meeting the faculty discussed ways to reduce the amount of busy work. Using the district’s homework philosophy which states: “Teachers should assign meaningful homework which fosters lesson enrichment, application, review and the practice of skill.” Swift is asking the teachers to reflect on the amount homework they are giving to students.

“I want homework to be meaningful,” Swift

new

Photo courtesy of Greg Peters

by [mike hake]

What’s

NEWS

Photo by Francis Lafferty

Dishing it Out

Construction starts on restaurant at Broadmoor to help students gain skills in culinary arts

whats

with...

Dr. Swift working to eliminate “busy work”

said. “I don’t want teachers to feel that they have to give homework. It should be an extension of the lesson.”

Swift has shared her philosophy with the teachers and hopes that they apply the district’s policy on homework in their class.

Senior Nick Lundgren feels that his homework could be reduced by at least one-third by cutting out busy work.

“There is too much busy work given in some classes, in my case math,” Lundgren said. “I would much rather learn something new than do an endless amount of problems over material that I already understand.”

But Spanish teacher Sheryl Chamberlain says that in certain courses, such as a foreign language, repetition and practice are key. She believes that it takes 72 times for a new word to be embedded into the human brain.

“While I do not like to give busy work, the repetition is essential in mastering a foreign language,” Chamberlain said.

the [harbinger]

Late Start There will be a late start on Wednesday. School starts at 9:40.

In the past, math teacher Rick Royer has used the “30 minute rule” in his Algebra 2 classes. His philosophy is that homework should never take more than 30 minutes. So after a student had worked for one-half an hour, they could stop. This year, a schedule change switched him from Algebra 2 to Calculus BC, 3 and he believes that these concepts take longer to understand.

“I don’t think teachers mean to give busy work because they think their homework is essential,” Royer said.

While many would agree that busy work is unimportant, sophomore Lucy O’Connor feels differently.

“I like busy work,” O’Connor said. “Not only is it really easy, but it’s a good way to boost a grade.”

For the future, Dr. Swift hopes students will see meaning in their homework assignments.

“I want teachers to reflect on their practice and I am confident that they will come up with the best solution to make homework meaningful to the students,” Swift said.

page 3 [editorial]

HARBINGER staff

After reading your column in the November 13th issue of the Harbinger regarding students taking classes they will never need, I had to take a minute to reflect back upon my days as a high school student at East. I used to be just as frustrated as you were with classes that I thought were pointless and boring.

Take English, for instance. Aspiring to be an engineer, I couldn’t help but wonder on a seemingly daily basis how reading such dull and boring books as Crime and Punishment and Huckleberry Fin would ever do me good in the future. I mean, come on, what is a novel about a man dealing with his guilt over a heinous crime or a young boy coming to grips with racism in the South ever have to do with finding the maximum lift coefficient of an aircraft wing? For that matter, what good would writing do for me ? After all, when I got to college and started work on my bachelors degree, I was delighted to find that I wouldn’t have to take any English or literature courses ever again. Aren’t engineers too busy with formulas and punching numbers into their calculators to do any of that nonsense?

The truth of the matter is this: taking classes, regardless of whether or not they seem relevant to what you are interested in, are critical in all professions and work environments. An engineer or scientist having a broad understanding of the Classics is just as important as a journalist having a broad understanding of physics.

A journalist cannot be competitive if he can’t cover a story about a recent scientific breakthrough, and an engineer can’t get a contract if he can’t effectively articulate his work.

So in short, while physics and calculus might seem like a drag now, just remember that knowing these subjects will give you the tools you need to be competitive in the business world and will make you a more well-rounded person in general.

Besides, physics is supposed to be “phun.”

Good luck.

-Stephen McKim Sophomore in Aerospace Engineering Iowa State University

STRESS .

How to

create less

. .

.

Create a To-DoList and accomplish one task at a time. Eliminate the less important.

If you feel like you need a break, take it. 10 minutes, two days, a week.

Whatever you need to do to refresh yourself, do it.

Just when you are about to freak out ask yourself, “Is this situation really worth stressing about?” Chances are the answer is no.

Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, several times very slowly.

info courtesy of www.mayoclinic.com

art by ren li

the

the

Letter to Editor

Too many activities leave Lancers in a...

Juggling act

Winter Break is supposed to be just that: a break. The idea behind holiday breaks is to give students time to spend with their families, to give them a reprieve from the stressful routine of school five days a week, and to allow their brains to recharge for more learning. Yet in the world we live, where kids start thinking about college in eighth grade, and people can’t even turn their cell phones off in church, we just can’t seem to take a break.

Nobody these days seems to want to take time off. With so many extracurricular responsibilities along with stacks of homework every night, it’s hard to find the time to take a breather.

There are only 24 hours in the day, and to waste time has become the ultimate sin. Yet, somehow, furiously working on homework until midnight is seen as time well spent. Homework is certainly important, but your mental health and stability are too.

It’s important to realize that while efficiency and time management are good things, there should always remain a place in our lives to let it all sink in.

We can have a calendar packed-full of useful and necessary activities, but if we don’t take time to relax, we’ll just drift along, unable to make the most out of each event. Weight lifters must stretch their muscle to get stronger, and we must stretch our brains to get smarter.

However, even weight lifters must allow their muscles a chance to heal. The easiest way for our minds to heal is to stay well rested and utilize the time we’re given to take a break.

You wouldn’t want to take two finals back to back, with no time in between would you? That 10-minute break gives you a chance to reload and get ready for your next test. In life you also need breaks to help reduce stress; stress can cause you both mental and physical difficulties both now and later in life. It is a serious issue which requires serious

management.

According to Reuters Health 1/3 of kids say they feel “stressed-out” on a daily basis. Some adults might look at that comment and say that kids are just complaining and that they don’t know what it’s like in the real world, but that doesn’t mean that stress is a normal thing. Learning to deal with stress and not to overwork yourself is a lesson that should be taught in every school across the nation. Unfortunately, the prevailing attitude that stress is just part of the job description of being a teenager seems unlikely to yield to stress-management education.

Somewhere along the line the desire to fill every moment with something “useful” manifested itself in society.

There’s nothing more un-American than doing nothing. Every which way we turn we’re bombarded with items and events to fill our time, if it’s not homework, it’s soccer practice, if we’re not doing anything, we’re obviously either wasting our time or doing something “wrong.” We’ve latched on to this idea so much that we have been turned into workhorses hell bent on making every moment count.

We should all make this winter break count.

Instead of filling every second, try and have some unscheduled down time.

Time when there is literally nothing you have to do. It can be quite the liberating experience. According to the Mayo Clinic, stress reduction is key to living a healthy lifestyle. They suggest that when you need a break, take one! Go for a walk, take a nap, sit around, watch TV, read a book, do nothing! Just do something that won’t get your heart rate up, even if it’s for a few minutes. Take winter break back for what it’s meant to be, a time to relax without the stress of life bearing down on us, you may be surprised how you feel when life starts up again.

orial and opinion editorial and opinion editorial and opinion editorial and opinion editorial and opinion editorial and opinion editorial and opinion editorial and

Editor-in-Chief AMANDA ALLISON Assistant Editors PETER GOEHAUSEN LAURA NELSON

Art/Design Editors DEREK MARTIN ELLIE WEED Head Copy Editor HALLIE MCCORMICK

Photo Editor SAMANTHA LUDINGTON Assistant Photo Editor KATIE WOODS News Section Editor PAIGE CORNWELL News Page Editor BERNADETTE MYERS

Copy Editors TOM GROTEWOHL LAURA NELSON SYLVIA SHANK HALLIE MCCORMICK PETER GOEHAUSEN ADRIENNE WOOD LIBBY NACHMAN AMANDA ALLISON

Op/Ed Section Editor RUTH STARK Opinion Page Editor RONAN MCGHIE CLARE JORDAN Features Section Editor SARA STEINWART Features Page Editors JENN SUNDERLAND RACHEL MAYFIELD Spread Editor LIBBY NACHMAN Assistant Spread Editor STEPHEN NICHOLS Mixed Editor MEG SHACKELFORD A&E Section Editor KATIE JONES A&E Page Editors JOHNNY MCGUIRE JOEY SOPTIC Sports Section Editor CLARK GOBLE Sports Page Editors JAYNE SHELTON NICK RATLIFF

Staff Writers JENN SUNDERLAND HANNA COSGROVE MICHAEL HAKE DANIEL HEADY ALLY HEISDORFFER ERIN MORRISSEY NORA SALLE ADRIENNE WOOD NATHAN YAFFE FOSTER TIDWELL Ads/Business RACHEL BIRKENMEIER Circulation DAVIN PHILLIPS Photographers KAREN BOOMER ABBA GOEHAUSEN JENNY HOWARD FRANCES LAFFERTY PATRICK MAYFIELD TAYLER PHILLIPS KELSEY STABENOW RACHEL WOOLDRIDGE Advisor C. DOW TATE

The Harbinger is a student-run publication.

Please bring Letters to the Editor to Room 521 or e-mail it to smeharbinger@gmail.com

The majority opinion of the Harbinger Editorial Board Each issue the 12 members of the board choose a topic and a member writes the editorial. Before being published a consensus is made and the results are published here.

New Finals Schedule

C

Finals this year will extend over four days, instead of three.

Monday, Dec. 18- Thurs. Dec. 21. Our first final will be Monday followed by shortened hours 2-7. Exams for hours 2 and 3 will be Tuesday, Exams for hours 4 and 5 will be Wed. and hour 6 and 7 finals will be Friday. We will all get to leave school by 12:30 on the last three days of finals. This leaves us time to study, watch T.V. eat or do whatever we want.

Sounds like a better plan than past years.

page 4 [opinion]

What is a stroke?

Blurred

stroke occurs when a blood vessel that brings 1. Aoxygen and nutrients to the brain bursts or is clogged by a blood clot or some other mass.

Memories

of this rupture or blockage, part of the 2. Because brain doesn’t get the blood and oxygen it needs. of oxygen, nerve cells in the affected area 3. Deprived of the brain can’t work and die within minutes.

Sophomore student tries to cope with the consequences of her mother’s stroke an opinion of

­ The other day, my mom asked me how I was doing in Mr. Pulsinelli’s class. Stunned, I replied, “Fine.” I would have told her about the vocabulary words Paige Cornwell I was supposed to memorize and the problem I was having coming up with a thesis statement for my paper, but her question caught me off guard: My mom remembered the name of my English teacher.

For the past four years, she hasn’t been able to remember the name of any of my teachers. Ever. Not since she had a stroke.

I wish I could start this with “I remember it like it was yesterday.” But I can’t. I remember small details about the day my mom went to the hospital, like that she had been working in her garden before she drove off in our burgundy suburban.

We hadn’t bought the gray one yet. I remember that before the stroke my mom always smiled, even when she was feeling like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She did it so her children wouldn’t be scared. I remember that day she didn’t smile. And I remember the color of the walls in the hospital room. “Depressing beige.”

But I don’t remember the big details. I don’t even remember the exact date, or why I didn’t go with her to the hospital, but I think it was because she thought she would be home in a few hours, and didn’t want to bother us.

I do know that she went on a day after Halloween, because she was home that night, feeling sick with what she thought was the flu. At the time, her heart was beating irregularly, but that was something she was used to. And I know it happened before Christmas, because I remember how hard it was for her to decorate the tree.

So today could be the four year anniversary of the day that my sharp, athletic, 51-year-old mother went to Saint Joseph Hospital, and, during a series of heart attacks that occurred because she had a hereditary heart problem that made her heart beat too fast, she had a stroke.

At the hospital, it was hard to see the person who I thought was capable of anything reduced to a frail body drowning in a hospital sheet. The person who walked with such confidence now relying on a walker and a cane. My mom, my anchor, now slurring her words and having me read everything for her because her sight was so bad.

Then, after two weeks, she walked through the front door of our house, still using a walker and not knowing my full name.

That was four years ago and I’m still waiting for the mom I knew before the stroke to come home.

On the outside, my mom doesn’t look like she had a brain attack. She isn’t hunched over a walker, and is able to control her right side, which isn’t what I always thought a stroke victim would look like. She is able to drive at night now, and can even

work in her garden again. ­­ And I’m still getting used to calling her “mom” again, instead of “Nancy,” because she used to not be able to comprehend that she was “mom.”

But the effects are still there. And I’m forced to see it every day.

In public, it’s hard. I often wonder if the person she is talking to actually knows what she is saying, or get frustrated because she usually talks slow to make sure she is saying the right words. I guess no one else understands stroke talk, a language I am fluent in. And I think maybe I am the only person who notices the slurring and the way she will get distracted and start talking about one thing when she was talking about something completely different.

But then I see the impatient glances. And I hear the remarks of my classmates who tell me their parents think my mom is “a little off.”

And I laugh.

Because laughing it off is easier than telling the truth. That she acts that way because of a stroke, something that shouldn’t have to happen to anyone. But I don’t tell them that. Because it’s easier to laugh.

And I hate myself for it. I feel as if I am betraying my mom; that I should be explaining to everyone what happened to her, because it’s stressful for her to explain it herself. I try to shake it off, because I shouldn’t care. But I do. Because the public doesn’t see my mom the way I see her.

At home, it’s not as bad. The familiarity of the house helps my mom to remember things, like the pictures we have of our vacations prior to the stroke. I leave post-it notes for her, usually two, just in case, about what time to wake me up or what my cell phone number is. I finish her sentences for her. I reassure her that I know exactly what she means whenever she gets frustrated with how she is saying something, I help her to remember what she was talking about when she loses her train of thought.

I’m proud of her. She is remembering things again. Like the name of my English teacher. But I wish everyone could see how my mother is improving.

And I wish, when I see the impatient glances of people talking to my mom, that they could see her tears. The tears when a computer tech came to our house to fix my laptop and my mom had no idea what he was talking about. She was just learning how to use a computer before the stroke, but is still afraid to try it now because she is afraid she won’t understand it. Or the time when she watched a family video from six years ago, and remembered how she used to be. Sharp, athletic and young.

I wish they could see my tears, too.

The tears that come when I remember that day four years ago when my mom went away, changing my life. The tears that come with the emotional roller coaster that is a stroke.

The tears that come when I realize my mom isn’t coming home.

the [harbinger]

4.

And when nerve cells can’t work, the part of the body they control can’t work either. The devastating effects of a severe stroke are often permanent Source: American Heart Association

What are the after effects of a stroke?

Emotions

Strokes can damage parts of the brain that are responsible for senses and movement. This can result in mood swings and depression.

Awarness

Victims of a stroke often lose mobility or feeling in an arm or leg. If a stroke affects one side of the brain, often times victims may forget or ignore their weaker side. This is called neglect.

Perception

Senses used in perception can also be affected by a stoke. This may cause a stroke survivor to not recognize and understand objejcts

Hearing & Speech

A storke usually doesnt cause hearing loss, but it can affect a persons ability to understand speech. They may also have problems articulating their thoughts. Strokes can also affect muscles used in alking, which can make speech difficult to understand.

Eating

Stroke survivors often suffeer from dysphagia.

This happens when muscles on one side of the mouth are weak, or lack feeling.

Thinking

Damage to the brain can affect both long and short term memories. Thismakes it difficult to plan out and carry out a simple task.

Muscle Control

Brain injury from stroke sometimes causes muscles to involuntarily contract (shorten or flex) when trying to move limbs, creating stiffness and tightness.

Source: American Heart Association, Stroke Association

an opinion of

the Foster Tidwell

TRUE

page 5 {opinion]

problem

Teen drinking requires education, not prohibition

Our country’s view toward alcohol consumption by teens is illogical, idealistic and altogether unhealthy. The problem is that the government’s primary approach toward controlling alcohol has been to establish a drinking age of 21. We are constantly bombarded with the message that drinking under this age is immoral and dangerous.

But the abstinence-only message dangerously overlooks the reality that older teens do, in fact, drink. By holding the drinking age so high, the government magnifies the threats posed by alcohol. Our stubborn insistence that teens don’t drink inflicts greater damage upon them by depriving them of an education in responsible drinking, as well as by forcing them to drink out of the reach of adult influence.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not understating the threats posed by alcohol. It is a dangerous, mind-altering substance that inflicts heavy damage on society. And like any dangerous activity, the quickest and most effective method of dealing with it would be to do away with it completely: prohibition. The same logic would favor a government ban on all fast food in order to curb our nation’s equally alarming obesity epidemic.

But the government doesn’t place a ban on greasy burgers and artery-clogging french fries; instead, they advocate moderation and education empowering individuals to make healthy choices for themselves.

The same should be true with the manner in which teenage alcohol consumption is regulated. Unfortunately, however, this is not the case. The government doesn’t approach the issue of teen alcohol consumption from any perspective other than that of blind insistence on the 21 limit. But this arbitrary limit just doesn’t make sense.

At the age of 18, I’m allowed to vote, to sign a contract and to be executed for a crime. I’m considered an adult by almost every area of the law. Why am I still treated as a child in regard to alcohol? It isn’t as if the law prohibits me from making other potentially damaging decisions: I can smoke cigarettes, get a tattoo and gamble away my money. I’m obviously an adult, but I still can’t have a drink.

On my 18th birthday, I’m also required to register with Selective Service. Against my will, I could be dropped into the streets of Baghdad with my gun pointed at the enemy. In

a split second, I may have to decide whether or not to shoot. If the government really doesn’t feel that I am mature enough to make a decision for myself about having a drink, then their requiring me to make this immeasurably more difficult decision— this decision between life and death—seems disgustingly ignorant.

The most effective way of bringing teen drinking and the risks it carries under control in America would be to follow the example of the majority of the world and lower our drinking age to 18. Doing so would make drinking safer for older teens—who are drinking illegally anyway—by allowing them to drink in safer environments that are under increased supervision by authorities.

For example, if teens are drinking at a house party and someone passes out, fellow partygoers are reluctant to notify proper authorities for fear of legal repercussions. However, if the teens are legally drinking, no one has to worry about being arrested.

The chances of medical help being summoned skyrocket.

You can’t dispute the fact that if older teens are committed to drinking, they will find a way to do so. All that outlawing their drinking does is force them to go to greater—and often more dangerous— measures in order to secure their alcohol. Instead of ordering a drink in a bar, teens find themselves in the rougher, impoverished neighborhoods of the inner city, either trying out their fake IDs in shady back alley liquor stores or paying some homeless guy to buy them a bottle.

Is this really favorable to a scenario in which teens are allowed to drink legally in safe environments? Clearly it’s not. Prohibiting alcohol doesn’t shield teens from drinking dangers; it merely forces them to drink further away from the influence of adults.

The true problem isn’t that teens drink. The problem is that our society’s adamant insistence on the cutoff age of 21 has created an environment in which the vast majority of teen drinking is irresponsible drinking.

Powerful Pocket Guide for Guys an opinion of

What guys need to know about girls What do girls really want in a guy? What is the most unattractive quality in a guy?

“Someone who remembers the little things, someone who makes you laugh and smile and someone you can be yours a female, sometimes I feel bad for self around.” sophomore, Allie Marquis our opposing sex. Often, girls are moody, confusing, indecisive and frustrating. Being overly dramatic almost all of the time What is so fun about shopping just is one of our hallmarks. Let me assure you for the heck of it? it is unintentional. It comes with the territory. Nevertheless, I thought guys deserved “Girls shopping is like guys playing a little insight into the inner-workings of the sports, it’s just a fun way to spend spare time. Finding the perfect shirt to wear out female mind.

Consider the following Q&A your per- that night is worth the effort of a day at the sonal pocket guide to girls. Female Psych mall.”

101, if you will. I hope the result of your sophomore, Paige Kuklenski

A

Ruth Stark

reading is so that the next time the girl(s) in your life leave you bummed and baffled, you might have an idea as to why, and hopefully you will respond accordingly.

“Stupidity. If a guy is dumb, you can’t have a conversation with him, thus taking away the basis of attraction.” senior Katy Renfro

What’s “too much attention?”

“I had a boyfriend over the summer who called five times a day, wanted to hang out 24/7, called my ouse really late when I wouldn’t answer my cell phone and wanted to talk for hours at 2 a.m....way too much attention! freshman Nicole Luby

Dec. 4, 2006

Why do girls tell their moms everything?

“A lot of it is so that you get an opinion from someone who has already been through everything you’re going through.” freshman Ellie Kessinger

Why do girls take relationships more seriously?

“Girls take relationships more seriously than guys do, so you don’t want to pick the wrong guy when you could have a guy who wants a serious relationship like you.” junior Mackenzie Payne

‘Tis the season?

page 6 [opinion]

Americans must learn to give and help at all times of the year, not just during the ‘Season of Giving’

an opinion of

Nathan Yaffe We all know it’s the season of giving; that definition for December isn’t really up for debate. And somewhere in the backs of our minds we hear the coo of our consciences telling us that, in addition to giving presents to our family, we ought to at least think about the people who don’t have the means to partake in the lavish gifts and excessive holiday food.

After all, there’s no reason everyone shouldn’t be able to enjoy the same celebrations. Rich or poor, nearly 80 percent of the nation identifies with a religion in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Even non-believers like myself mostly get into the holiday spirit because let’s face it—it’s fun. It’s one of my favorite times of year.

But we also have to face the facts: the feeling of festivity we associate with this holiday season only exists for those of us who can afford it.

One could hope that a season so steeped in religious tradition would encourage people to heed the various religious cues encouraging us to share our wealth with those who don’t have any. For atheists and fundamentalists alike, basic morality suggests that we should live in keeping with the ideals of charity and compassion towards our fellow man. And most people would say they at least attempt to live up to those principles.

But the reality is we don’t. Not during the season of giving, not during our daily lives. Not the religious people, not the secular ones.

In fact, hardly anybody lives in keeping with those principles, including the people we would expect to be most serious about them. For example, two psychologists conducted a study with a group of graduate students at Princeton’s Theological Seminary School that tested the extent to which they lived up to the religious principles they advocate. The study was inspired by the parable of the

Good Samaritan.

If you recall, the parable tells of a man who’s been beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. First a priest and then a Levite—“worthy, pious men”—see the man but pass by on the other side of the road. The only person to help him is a Samaritan, a member of a despised minority.

In the study, the psychologists broke the grads into two subgroups and individually asked them to prepare a short talk on the Good Samaritan before sending them to a nearby building to present it. While walking to the presentation, each student encountered a man slumped down in an alley, eyes closed, coughing and groaning in pain. One group had been told, “Oh, you’re late. They were expecting you a few minutes ago.” The other group was told, “You have a few minutes to spare, but you might as well head over now.”

At the conclusion of the study, the psychologists asked people to guess which of the students fulfilled the role of the Good Samaritan by assisting the man they encountered. Respondents guessed that almost all the students would have stopped, regardless of lateness, especially because they were just reminded of the significance of compassion by reading the parable. After all, it only makes sense.

Except for one thing: the opposite happened.

Of the group that thought they were early, 63 percent stopped. Of the group that was told they were late, less than 10 percent stopped to help.

There’s a certain amount of irony in the fact that people who’ve entered the ministry specifically to help people—people about to give a talk on the biblical importance of compassion—only cared about a dying man when it fit into their schedule.

Yet there’s more to it than that. We not only don’t want to be inconvenienced by giving, but we’re more comfortable dropping a coin in the Salvation Army bucket than we are stooping down and getting our hands dirty with someone who’s in the midst of distress.

When we bend over to help that man and feel the hot breath of need on our cheek, we can’t go on pretending these problems are remote. The realization that they’re right next-door and all around us is difficult to swallow for a population that thinks of itself as different from the rest of the world. Sure, we say, there are starving people with corrupt governments and indifferent general publics, but that doesn’t happen in America…does it?

We like to tell ourselves it doesn’t. And when we’re forced to acknowledge that it does we like it to be brief and unobtrusive.

And even then, we like to focus on the fact that we’re good people for giving rather

than the fact that the person we’re giving to is a real person who’s actually suffering.

We’re eager to buy Power Rangers for our Franklin Center children, but we’re not interested in talking about what their lives are like for the other 30 days in December when we’re not throwing presents at them.

Yet those are the days when their families struggle to find food and clothing. Those are the days when they live through the ugliness of poverty.

And those are the days that would be more relevant to the Good Samaritan.

Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan in response to a lawyer’s question about achieving eternal life, and it’s one of only two times that Jesus is asked about eternal life in all of Luke’s Gospel. The other person who asks is a young, rich ruler. Jesus tells him that to inherit eternal life, he must give away all his possessions—at which point he leaves disappointed.

Americans are a blend of that ruler and those Princeton students.

Like the students, most of us say we’re religious; even if we aren’t we share many of the same values their religions espouse.

And like the ruler, we have wealth to spare.

Every day, we metaphorically stumble across that gagging man slumped in an alleyway over and over. We stumble across him in our living rooms when we watch the evening news. We see him on the homepage of CNN.com when we log on to the Internet. We can’t read the front page of the newspaper without practically tripping over his body. The single mom on Oprah with three kids working two full-time jobs trying to make ends meet. The father in New Orleans who wakes up every morning alone and spends his day putting up new walls so someday his family can move back in. The examples are everywhere.

But damned if we aren’t always hurrying to that next lecture with no time to stop and help him out. Damned if we don’t always have a dozen good reasons to be spending our energy on something else.

Yes, we’ll always open our wallets for a good cause. We’re happy throwing a coin or two to the bright-eyed volunteer outside Best Buy as we hustle in to get dad the latest $100 Blackberry accessory. After all, it’s comfortable and convenient.

But when we come face to face with someone who’s sputtering in the gutter, that bubble of comfort and convenience starts to disappear. Like the priest and the Levite, we don’t want to soil ourselves. The problem is, that’s the point of the parable: you have to get down in the gutter with that man as he struggles for life. If we’re not willing to get a little bit dirty, we’ll never get anywhere.

the [harbinger]

Bystander mentality I read about the study referenced in the column in Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent book, The Tipping Point.

In that book, Gladwell tells another story about an event that took place in New York in the 1960s.

A woman named Kitty Genovese was chased by an assailant and attacked three times over the course of half an hour. The interesting thing about the case is that it took place in broad daylight in the middle of the street.

Naturally, a number of her neighbors witnessed the event. In fact, 38 neighbors saw most or all of it. During that half hour, none of those 38 witnesses picked up the telephone to call the police.

Gladwell argues that they didn’t call because they all assumed that one of the other 38 people would do so first.

It’s not an unreasonable assumption.

It’s also a telling one. The fact of the matter is we all have the potential to encounter that same sort of “bystander problem,” as two New York psychologists aptly named the witnesses’ behavior. When we assume that someone else will be there—or should be there—to help, we’re just as happy leaving the responsibility to them.

The problem is, though, that currently everyone is leaving the problems to someone else, and when that happens, it means that there are a lot of problems with no one addressing them.

In subsequent experiments conducted by the two psychologists, they found that people were much more likely to call the police to report a situation if they were the only ones witnessing it.

That’s why I think it’s more important what we do when we come face-to-face with these problems in a way we can’t ignore. At that point, everything is between us, the person in need and our own sense of right and wrong.

When we find ourselves in that situation, there are no excuses. It’s all about what we do, and no can influence that other than ourselves.

Give your time Charities in Kansas City are always in need of volunteers. As the holidays approach and you want to help out, here are some places to do it.

• Amigos: Even if you can’t go to South or Central America, the outreach program still need volunteers at the central office to help with logistics, mailing and sorting so others can.

Time: four hours a month Volunteers needed: 20 Contact: P. O. Box 6182. Leawood, KS 66206

(913) 677-4722 • National MS Society: Assist the Mid America Chapter by helping with data entry and research projects. It’s perfect for teens who are computer savvy and comfortable surfing the Internet.

Time: 10 hours a month Volunteers needed: Contact: 5442 Martway. Mission, KS 66205.

(913) 432-3927 •Literacy Kansas City: Put together mailings, help in the library, and taking charge of special projects.

Time: 2 hours a week Volunteers needed: many Contact: (816) 333-9332 source: www.volunteermatch.org

Facing cancer

page 7 [features]

Students experience having parents with a life-threatening disease. by [laura nelson]

steroids, Sigler wrestled with aching bones, overwhelming exhaustion and the thought that cancer still may reappear.

“Knowing that, after all the pain and trouble Mom had gone through to have her breast reconstructed, she was just getting both of them cut off anyway made everything seem futile,” Claire said. “Having [cancer] again and wondering if this cycle would ever break was so hard on her. And hearing her so downtrodden about cancer terrified me–scared me more than anything– because she’s usually perseverant and positive.”

Sigler found it hard to endure intense nausea, which felt like “perpetual morning sickness,” and constant worries about her family.

“When you have cancer, you’re always worrying,” Sigler said. “Worrying about your family and your kids. Are they going to be OK? Worrying about whether you’re going to die. Worrying if you’re going to be incapacitated, and not be able to take care of yourself. You worry… about cancer and chemo… like Senior Kelby Polfer and her mother, Barb, look at Christmas tree ornaments. Barb was diagnosed with breast cancer you do about anything unknown.” in August and undergoes chemotherapy treatments once every three weeks.

Chemo’s effects soon became fundraiser in Polfer’s honor at the annual scrimmage night. too familiar to Sigler. The physical effects, Connor said, “Having family and friends with us and supporting us include feeling exhausted, and sometimes “brains feel… made all the difference in the world,” Kelby said. “Knowing like everything is moving more sluggishly.” The most visible that other people are there has really helped. Our family has and best-known effect of chemo is hair loss. Doctors use a positive attitude, saying that we’ll get through it together.” chemotherapy drugs to kill cancerous cells, but hair, a fragile Connor has a close interaction with the patients and their cell type, disappears as well. families just after their diagnoses, and she said the support of “Many women lose all their hair, including scalp, lashes, the family matters more than anything. eyebrows, everything, everywhere,” Connor said. “They’re “Reactions after a diagnosis vary a great deal for a patient,” completely bald. Often, hair makes a woman feel pretty, feel Connor said. “But supporting him or her through it is what feminine. So losing it all is pretty devastating.” matters. I saw a woman … who had six family members Kelby couldn’t believe it when her mother started to with her – her mom, her dad, her step mom – I can’t even change. She lost her hair andwent bald around the house. She remember who else. And she was beaming. It made all the slept for hours. Days. Kelby couldn’t stand to see it happen. difference in the world to her.”

“Everything about [my mom’s] diagnosis was very hard,” That support is what the Siglers try to achieve during Kelby said, rubbing the pink breast cancer band on her wrist. treatments. Carmen, Claire’ 36-year-old sister, drives Sigler “But the hardest part was definitely the wig thing, and just to her appointments. Robert, Claire’s dad, memorizes blood seeing her really tired all the time… She’s always been a go- count and files all the paperwork. But Sigler said Claire has getter, really energetic, always working on something, never made some of the most important contributions. having nothing to do… and now she’s sometimes too tired to “Claire has been phenomenal,” Sigler said. “When I had even get out of bed.” surgery, she would get up every morning and help me change Polfer’s cancer didn’t seem threatening, but it was slow- my bandages, which I wore for about 30 days, and she helped growing and stubborn. me with the drains I wore that dealt with fluids. When I went “My cancer is stage II - it has spread to my sentinel lymph to chemo, she’d take me to my treatments and stay with me.” nodes as well,” Polfer said. “That means I must have six Sigler also sought support from Shambhala Mountain months of chemo and six weeks of radiation. If the cancer Center in Colorado, where she attended a retreat for women comes back within five years, it will be incurable.” with cancer. Buddhist monks, a yoga trainer and oncologists The fear of her mother dying terrified Kelby, and she taught new strategies to deal with cancer’s stresses. pulled closer to the support of her family and friends.

“What I loved was the camaraderie of other women, and “Freshman year I wasn’t very close to my parents, but my being able to share what you’re going through,” Sigler said. relationship with them now is probably not like any normal “When you deal with everyday life at home, you don’t get to teenager’s,” Kelby said. “Now I have a completely different talk about [cancer] or address all the issues that come up, but outlook on life – I realize how valuable your family really is. we were able to talk about our concerns and our fears and After my dad’s cancer, I really realized how much my parents what’s going on in all of our lives.” mean to me, and what it would be like if I ever lost one of Sigler’s support group extends to a group of East parents. them. I don’t think teenagers really realize this, but that’s one She sees their friendship as a way to continue with everyday thing I’ve been fortunate to learn early.” life without dwelling on cancer.

And Kelby said that they couldn’t have done it without “When you have cancer, your relationships get better outside help. Senior Ashlan Fischer’s mother organizes a with your immediate family, and friends have all been really three-night dinner sign-up when Polfer has chemotherapy. supportive and kind,” Sigler said. “That’s one of the blessings The squad wore pink T-shirts to a game to support breast of having [cancer]. It gives you a chance to interact with cancer awareness, and the basketball team held a cancer people and be thankful to have them in your life.”

photo by Frances Lafferty

The creak of her father opening her bedroom door woke senior Kelby Polfer one morning in August. Her dad, Kent, walked across the room and sat heavily on the end of her bed.

Kelby. Your mom has breast cancer.

She wasn’t even surprised. The Polfers had been “halfexpecting” a diagnosis. Kelby’s grandmother went through cancer 18 years ago, and after Kelby’s mother, Barb, had two mammograms, an MRI and a biopsy within two months, the family was almost positive.

But the knowledge that Polfer might have cancer didn’t make the diagnosis easier for Kelby. Nothing, not even the worrying they had done could make it more manageable.

Not even her father’s brief brush with prostate cancer her sophomore year.

When Kent was diagnosed, doctors removed a tumor on a gland just below his bladder, then life slipped on. Kelby started junior year and made varsity cheerleading for the second time. Went to parties, went to dances, went to school.

Finished junior year. Cancer was briefer - easier.

But the Polfers were facing cancer again. And Kelby knew this time, it wouldn’t be brief.

“The diagnosis was awful,” Kelby said. “Even though Dad had already been through cancer, a million things were running through my mind. And even though I didn’t have to keep wondering what would happen… everything was overwhelming. I just kept thinking about how different everything was going to be.”

Now, Kelby watches her mother, head bald from chemotherapy, sleep for three days at a time. Now, she fears that some day, she will have cancer, too. Now, she knows that a parent dying is a possibility – that family isn’t permanent.

Now, Kelby must deal with a life-threatening disease and its mental and physical effects on her mother and family, like so many other teenagers whose families face cancer on a daily basis.

••• When junior Claire Sigler heard her mother’s breast and lymph node cancer diagnosis in November 2005, she wasn’t afraid because it was cancer. She was afraid because, five years ago, she’d heard it all before.

“When it happens twice, you wonder if it will happen again and again, like a never-ending cycle,” Claire said. “It makes it all more disheartening and harder. Mom was so much more depressed about having cancer come back after she thought [everything] was over.”

The first time Sigler was diagnosed, Kansas City Cancer Center doctors didn’t think her cancer was serious enough to warrant chemotherapy – just a mastectomy. Like Kent Polfer’s brush with prostate cancer, Sigler’s first encounter with breast cancer was brief.

But the surgery wasn’t the end. Five years later, cancer developed in the remaining tissue of her left breast and spread to lymph nodes around her left shoulder. In March, she had a mastectomy, and now has undergone chemo. But after radiation, there is no guarantee that cancer won’t return.

“Some women have a much higher chance of cancer occurring more than once,” Carol Connor, MD, said. “If you look at a woman that has a grandmother with ovarian cancer, a mother with breast cancer, and two sisters who have it too, then that woman has what we call a ‘family history,’ and she’s much more at risk for cancer again.”

Connor, a surgical breast specialist for the University of Kansas Medical Center, removes tumors from the breasts of 30-40 women each month. After surgery, she passes on data to oncologists for the patient’s specialized treatment program.

The first treatment, chemotherapy, involves heavy dosages of drugs that kill growing body cells. The choice to use chemo, Connor said, depends on the chance that cancer will return and spread to another part of the body.

During 12 physically exhausting weeks of drugs and

Dec. 4, 2006

a whole new world

page 9 [features]

Southeast China

teacher plans to move to Hong Kong to complete Master’s Degree

Hong Kong Island by [ellie weed]

“I’ve got a couple of things to tell you guys before you get started. First, your book covers need to be printed and finished by Friday, if you can please. And the other thing is… I am… not coming back next semester. I turned in my resignation yesterday. I am actually going to Hong Kong to take pictures for my Masters project.

This was a really hard decision, but I know this is a once-ina-lifetime experience, so you guys are my last semester.”

Everyone sitting around their computers in Commercial Art stop fidgeting, as they were supposed to have done a few minutes ago, and turn towards the center drawing board where art teacher Catherine Seigel is sitting.

One student begins to cry, and another breaks the silence.

“Wow, that is so amazing,” a senior says.

It has not been an easy decision. She has loved every minute of teaching here.

“At the end of every semester, I always think to myself, oh my gosh I don’t want to go to next semester, they’ll never be able to be as good as this group I just had, but then they always

a r e .

N o w University of I ’ l l Hong Kong have a whole group to look back on and I know that I’ll never have a group as good as all of the ones I’ve had combined.”

Seigel has gone back and forth a thousand times, but realizes that this is a chance you can’t pass up.

“It’ll be a big change of pace,” she said. “I’ll be living in Hong Kong, with no paycheck, taking pictures for five months.”

After finding out that a semester-long leave of absence wouldn’t be an option, resigning was her only option. Seigel is doing everything she can to get a good teacher to take her place next semester, one that already knows the programs used and the style of the East Art Department.

“I get antsy really easily,” she said. “In the past I’ve done something for five or so years, and then change and do

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Dec. 4, 2006

something else. I’ve been here for four years, so it was time for me to change it up.”

Even though she will be halfway around the world, she will be staying in contact with painting teacher Cortney Dougherty, and together they will set up a blog so that students can keep in contact with Seigel.

“Seigel has made such a huge impact on everything I’ve done in high school,” senior Will Anderson said. “I’m going to art school next year and will probably be doing a lot of the same things we’ve been doing in commercial art, and I can’t imagine how advanced I will be because of my experience.”

Anderson, among 12 other students, will still be spending the 10 days in Italy with Seigel as originally planned for the NAHS trip this June- Seigel will be getting back a little over a week before they leave.

“I’ll be back just before second semester finals, so I’ll pop in and say hi, or say goodbye I guess it would be for the seniors,” she said.

DON’T FORGET late start on

Wednesday be at school at 9:40 a.m.

GO LANCERS!

page 10 [features]

playing with

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‘NUMB3RS’

Math teacher Brock Wenciker works as activity writer for CBS show

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WHAT IS ‘NUMB3RS?’

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• “NUMB3RS” is a drama about an FBI agent and his mathematician brother, who helps him solve his cases through mathematical principles.

• The math activities that Wenciker writes are based on the math used in the show, and usually take 5-15 minutes to finish.

• The activities are available on the show’s activity website, www.weallusematheveryday.com, on Saturdays. The show airs on Friday at 9 p.m. CST. source: CBS News 2

photo by Rachael Wooldridge

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by [tom grotewohl]

Violent criminals, grizzly murders and highspeed chases – these aren’t exclusive to just the new James Bond film but also to the genius mathematician in the CBS television series “NUMB3RS.” The show, which is the most watched show in the 9 p.m. time slot on Friday nights, centers around an FBI agent and his mathematician brother who use actual math formulas and models to solve crimes.

Teacher Brock Wenciker, an avid fan of the show and a mathematician himself, has had the chance to explore both his love of math and of the television series. Beginning with the third season, Wenciker joined eight other mathematicians across the country as part of the program “We All Use Math Everyday” in coordination with Texas Instruments and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. He wrote an activity that impressed the program, and he was soon asked to join. The program, which is now has over 39,000 registered members, allows math teachers to register on its website and download activities utilizing the math used in the television series to help them teach their students. Wenciker and his three-person team, along with two other such teams, are responsible for creating activities that coordinate with each episode of the show.

“We find out what math an episode will be using a couple weeks ahead of time when CBS sends us a logline, and then, before the show airs, the other two members of my team and I have to research and put together an activity before the airing of the episode,” Wenciker said. “It’s great because it gives me a chance to learn new mathematical models that I probably wouldn’t have heard of otherwise.”

Wenciker first became involved with the We All Use Math Everyday program after the second season of “NUMB3RS.” He and his team were responsible for developing activities

that correspond to activities in both the third season and, later, the first season.

“Usually we’re given a little over two weeks before an episode airs to prepare an activity,” Wenciker said. “We create new scenarios that aren’t related to the shows, but they use the same core math.”

For instance, in the “NUMB3RS” episode “The Mole,” Charlie, the mathematician brother, helps the FBI analyze a hit-and-run accident involving a woman and a car. To better understand the situation, Charlie examines the mechanics of walking, stating, “When you walk, it’s really a series of little circles rotating inside a larger circle. The heel orbiting backwards then forward past the knee is a small circle within a larger circle of walking.”

Wenciker and his team took this concept of cycloids and developed it into an exercise about the path of a bicycle wheel.

“We usually try to use the math in a more practical manner than the show does,” Wenciker said. “Sometimes the show stretches the applications of the math, but it’s still the same core math.”

Senior Sam Speer, a student in Wenciker’s Calculus AB class, finds the activities helpful in understanding difficult mathematical concepts.

“We did one about the paths of satellites that really helped me out,” Speer said. “I didn’t really understand implicit differentiation before, but afterwards I kind of knew what I was doing.”

In nearly all math classes around Shawnee Mission East, walls are adorned with posters displaying the slogan “We All Use Math Everyday.” Wenciker and his team have worked hard to publicize the program to expand its user base across all of North American and even internationally.

“The program is a great way to combine television and math,” Wenciker said. “We all know kids love watching TV, but most of them don’t love math. When students hear phrases like ‘multi-attribute compositional models’ and ‘elementary traffic flow,’ they flinch. Hopefully by linking math with popular television shows, we can change this.”

Wenciker plans to continue working for the program into the fourth season.

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page 11 [features]

Up In Smoke Popularity of hookahs on the rise with teens by [erin morrissey] When Senior Nick Boehm brought home his hookah, he didn’t try to hide it. Although he is only 17—one year younger than the legal age to purchase a tobacco smoking device—he wasn’t worried about his parents’ reaction. He walked right up to his mom, the ornately decorated gold and green water pipe in hand, and said, quite proudly, “Look what I got.” According to Boehm, she wasn’t angry; she was indifferent.

He called a few friends to come over, and the “Hookah Session” tradition was born.

One night a week, Boehm’s friends hang out in his room, sitting on the floor. They laugh and talk as they inhale and exhale gigantic, billowing clouds of flavored smoke.

Boehm’s hookah purchase comes as part of the rising trend in hookah smoking among young adults in America, as described by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Some upperclassmen at East have joined the craze. Whether smoking at a friend’s house or at a hookah bar, they have adopted this possibly unhealthy hobby.

Although a current trend, hookah actually originated with the introduction of tobacco in India hundreds of years ago. A hookah is a large, free-standing water pipe with one or more hoses stemming from the base.

Smokers fill the bowl on top with flavored tobacco and cover it with foil. They top it off with a burning coal, which ignites the tobacco and provides a thick, sweet-smelling smoke.

Some students who smoke hookah didn’t smoke cigarettes before they used hookah; they say they started smoking because of the relaxing, social aspect.

“I have never smoked a cigarette in my life,” Boehm said. “Hookah is different because I feel like it’s healthier. The water filters the smoke, and it’s pure tobacco without all the chemicals.”

According to Samira Asma from the CDC Office of Tobacco, hookah is at least as harmful as cigarette smoke. She says this is not a commonly known fact.

“There is a widespread misconception that hookah is less harmful than smoking cigarettes,” Asma said.

“However, it is at least as toxic as cigarette smoke, containing high levels of toxic compounds like carbon monoxide, heavy metals, and cancer-causing chemicals.”

All About Hookahs - The hookah (also known as Nirgile, Shisha, Sheesha, Hookah, HubbleBubble, Hubbly-Bbubbly, Qalya and Goza) is a smoking apparatus or water pipe that originated with the introduction of tobacco in India.

- Hookah tobacco is available in a variety of flavors ranging from mango and grape to cappuccino and anise.

- Hookah smoking is typically practiced in groups with the same mouthpiece passed from person to person.

- A wide variety of hookahs are available ranging from bowls made of ornate brass to those made of coconut shells or clay.

- A typical modern hookah is composed of a tray, metal body, glass bottle and a flexible connecting tube with a mouthpiece.

- To use the hookah, tobacco is placed on the tray situated on the glass bottle half filled with water. The tube stemming from the tray is submerged under water and the tobacco is burnt directly by a piece of lit charcoal. The smoke passes through the water before being inhaled through the long flexible tube connected to the mouthpiece.

Although Boehm is only 17, he was able to purchase his hookah with little trouble.

However, hookahs, as well as any other smoking apparatus, are only supposed to be sold to those 18 and older. They are sold at headshops such as 7th Heaven and Cooper’s, as well as specialty stores such as Jerusalem Bakery at 43rd and State Line.

They range from $20 to $150, depending upon size and the intricacy of decoration.

“I started smoking hookah because a friend of mine, Biff LaPawn*, has one that her uncle brought her from Israel,” senior Jordan Botts said. “I was interested to try it, and I really liked it.”

For those smokers who do not want to own a hookah, there are hookah cafes.

“I like having my own hookah because I can do it whenever I want,” LaPawn said.

“But sometimes it’s nice to get out and go to the hookah bar.”

Over the past 10 years, there has been a surge of hookah bars and cafes in the United States, especially on or near college campuses. Jerusalem Café in Westport is one such place. The first floor is a normal restaurant, but upstairs is a hookah bar.

Patrons 18 and older with I.D. can pay $5 to $15 to use a hookah with the tobacco flavor of their choice. The fee varies depending on the number of smokers and the number of coals they burn.

“The hookah bar is a nice, relaxing place to smoke with friends,” senior Will Becker said. “It’s a good place to go early in the evening on a weekend, before your night gets started.”

However, others do not enjoy the atmosphere of the hookah bar. Senior Will Anderson feels as though Jerusalem Café can be too crowded; he prefers the more laidback feel of smoking at home.

“The hookah bar is really busy and makes everyone feel like they’re obligated to smoke,” Anderson said. “When you’re at somebody’s house, you can choose whether or not to participate.”

Regardless of the chosen smoking venue, the flavor of tobacco is always up for debate. Jerusalem Café offers upwards of 15 different flavors of the syrupy leaves.

Tobacco for home use is available for purchase at most stores where hookahs are sold.

Popular flavors range from strawberry to lavender to coffee. And, as senior Bradley Hocevar contends, it’s an important decision.

“I like combining the flavors sometimes,” Hocevar said. “My favorite is mixing mango and rose.”

Hookah smokers can sometimes obtain a “buzz,” which is a light-headed, airy sense after smoking for an extended period of time. This buzz comes from nicotine, which produces a mildly euphoric state of being.

“It’s less of a body high, but it’s more of a head rush,” Anderson said. “It’s pleasant, like being under a warm blanket.”

According to Asma, hookah smokers typically only smoke in social situations, whereas cigarette smokers are more likely to smoke on their own. Because smokers are not using as frequently, many feel as though it is not as negative.

“I guess it’s as bad as cigars,” senior Will Shteamer said. “But the benefits, like buzzing and socializing, outweigh the risks.”

According to the CDC, smoking hookah increases the risk of developing lung and oral cancers. Because hoses are shared, there is also the risk of transmitting viruses such as herpes.

“On a smaller scale, if one person has a cold, and they share a hose, the cold virus could be transferred to other smokers,” Asma said.

Hookah smoke comes with other risks similar to those of cigarette smoke, including birth defects in pregnant women and cancer from secondhand smoke. Even with all these risks, Boehm says he will continue to smoke hookah.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Boehm said. “There are a lot of things that are much worse for you than smoking hookah every once in a while.”

Dec. 4, 2006

~Girl Scout honor

page 12 [spread]

Athletic

Appetites Boys’ Swimming

Sports teams follow proper nutrition in daily lives and during team dinners by [hallie mccormick]

Girls’ Basketball

Girls’ basketball has a team dinner the night before their games. All the girls come to a designated team member’s house to eat laThe boys’ swim team has sagna, pasta, Caesar salads and brownies. a “Carbo Load” a night or “It’s a chance to get to know players on two before a meet at a teamyour team in an off the court setting,” girls mate’s house. Designated famibasketball coach Rick Rhodes said. The lies bring alfrado, marinara and better the team chemistry the better the lasagna pastas, Caesar salad and team. In the long run of a season I think sometimes cake to the Carbo Load. [the dinner] helps.”

The excess carbs are stored away and add Several families are assigned to excess energy for intense races. either bring main courses, sides or “Once in awhile we have team breakfasts dessert. There is an unofficial gathafter practices,” junior Brad Crist said. “Afterering at Firstwatch for breakfast on wards we sometimes stay at the house and play Saturday mornings. Outside of video games and watch TV.” team gatherings, “we have lots During the rest of the week, the team puts presof Goodcents and Juice Stop,” sure on themselves individually to have a good diet varsity player Emmy Hartduring swim season. They mostly try to stay away men said. from fatty meats and eat lots of vegetables to have a balanced meal to make sure that nothing slows their swimming down. information courtesy of nutritionist Sally Brown

Before you compete...

these foods are good to get you fueled for your sport Drinking 16 to 20 ounces of a sports drink and eating a Cliff bar before your race will give you the key nutrients you need to compete well: fluids and carbohydrates. Keep glycogen stores (sugar stores) up by refueling during the day.

the perfect

breakfast

We’ve heard it time and time again – it’s important to eat breakfast.

In addition to starting your metabolism, a fast breakfast of peanut butter on whole grain toast, a banana and fat free milk will provide protein, carbohydrates and fiber. The protein will keep you alert and thinking during the day, while the calcium and whey proteins from the milk keep you healthy.

Peanut butter is quick to eat and will satisfy you over the day, so you won’t be hungry in the morning. Also, a good breakfast prevents you from overeating mid-afternoon or evening.

the [harbinger]

dishing up the

PERFEC

With obesity on the rise, good look at different ways to sta O

by [amanda allison]

ne-pound Chipotle burritos. Hen House Chinese food. Nachos, candy and Starbucks Frappacinos. And then there are those deadly sweet Otis Spunkenmeyer cookies from the cafeteria.

When it comes to nutrition at East, it’s all about taste. Then convenience. And then maybe what’s on the food label.

“People know what we should be eating,” junior Daniel Kurz said.

“But we just don’t. We don’t pay attention to the food pyramid.”

According to a study released last month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, the number of overweight adolescents has tripled since the 1980s. The same study also revealed that while active teens should be consuming 1,900-2,500 calories per day, most far exceed that.

Take for instance one Barbacoa burrito from Chipotle. According to the Center for Science for Public Interest, because Chipotle does not publicize their nutrition information, this one-pound meal hits in at 1,300 calories and three-quarters of a day’s worth of saturated fat.

“It’s repulsive….but then it tastes so good,” senior Sheriden Crowley said, who eats at Chipotle a few times per month. “You would think though that [a burrito] has some nutritional value because they have so much. But they’re just so big. And it makes me want to eat more.”

But sometimes it’s not just the amount of food that can be a detriment to adolescent health; the way in which teens eat can also contribute to poor nutrition.

For East students in a hurry—going from school, to work to prac-

the perfect

lunch

Those Otis Spunkmeyer’s are tempting. But a good, healthy lunch of a lean meat sandwich, raw veggies, fresh fruit, yogurt and crackers is very important to keep you healthy from exposure to viruses at school.

These foods will provide protein, carbohydrates, Vitamins A and C and phytonutrients. They will also supply enough calories to prevent a famished feeling and also overeating after school or in the evening.

tices “ regu befo sand I’ll h S the M Mile they fathe choo “ my d sam Whe heal A dow getti reco get a nutr fect thes

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page 13 [spread]

CT PLATE

d nutrition is key. Take a ay healthy and keep fit.

s—snacking is the way to go.

“It’s hard with my work schedule because I can’t eat dinner on a ular schedule,” senior Rachel Pisciotta said. “I try to eat something ore I go to work, which is really early, like 4:30, and I usually eat a dwich or just get something quick. When I get home around 9:30, have cereal. It’s all definitely snacking though in the evenings.”

Some families though make it a priority to have dinner together, like McGonigles. While junior Molly McGonigle and her brother, senior es McGonigle, eat out at places like Chipotle and Arby’s, most nights y eat a home-cooked meal prepared by their parents. Because their er is on the high protein Atkins diet though, the two are allowed to ose how nutritious to make their dinner.

“We usually have an option,” Molly said. “Instead of say, potatoes, dad will also have made ground up cauliflower—which tastes the me as potatoes—so if you want to go healthy for the night, you can. en I have the option, probably about 45 percent of time I will choose lthier option.”

And it is in that 45 percent of the time that most teens do try to drink wn that one glass of milk per day or have at least one fresh fruit. But ing a B on a Calc test falls higher on the priority list than getting the ommended dose of vitamin B, or A or C. And so, to make it simple to at least some nutrition—at least before the events that count—local ritionist from Bodyfuel Sally Berry Brown has organized four “permeals.” And while nutritional needs do vary from person to person, se four plates are simple to make and even easy to eat on the go.

he perfect

est prep

A type of fat that may increase your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, which may increase your risk of heart disease. They come primarily from animal products such as meat and dairy products.

SNACKS

Excessive sodium intake can increase your risk for high blood pressure. A potassium rich diet can counteract some of sodium’s effects on blood pressure.

on-the-go

for a quick, healthy snack, try some of these

Popcorn tossed with parmesan cheese.

Trail mix: combine a mixture of different nuts, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, pretzels, chex, and a few chocolate chips.

Fresh fruit wedges, such as apples, with peanut butter or sliced cheese.

One ounce cashews, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds or peanuts.

The non-digestible carbohydrates of foods found in grain products, fruits, vegetables, and legumes (such as dry beans and peas) that may promote regularity and as part of a healthy diet may decrease your risk for some diseases.

English muffin half toasted with one tablespoon peanut butter.

Reading Use this guide to find out what is in your favorite foods

Right

Nutrition Facts Serving Size 1 cup Serving Per Container 14 Amount Per Serving

Calories From Fat 150

Calories 350

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 35g Saturated Fat

54% 6g

2%

Cholesterol Sodium 77mg Total Carbohydrate

30%

Dietary Fiber Sugars 0g Protein 4g

3g

4% 13g

4% 15%

Vitamin C 0% Vitamin A 9% Iron 8% Calcium 4% * Percent Daily Values is based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie information courtesy of nutrition.gov needs.

The percentage of the daily values found in a specific serving of a food and based on the Daily Value recommendations for key nutrients, and for a 2000 calorie diet. %DVs help you determine if a serving of food is high or low in a nutrient.

A group of compounds that play an important role in vision, bone growth, reproduction, cell division. Vitamin A helps regulate the immune system, which helps prevent or fight off infections by making white blood cells.

A mineral needed by the body to maintain bone health; good sources of calcium in foods include dairy products, such as fat free or low fat milk, yogurt, and cheeses.

information courtesy of nutritionist Sally Brown

Before a big test, such as the SAT or ACT, eating right is important so that you can do your best. For dinner the night before, salmon, roasted vegetables with wild rice and fresh fruit supply the brain with important nutrients: protein and omega 3 fatty acids.

This meal also is low in calories so you can sleep well without indigestion. For breakfast the day of the test, an omelet, a slice of whole grain toast and an orange supply the proteins and carbohydrates needed to increase alertness through test time. The vitamin C, vitamin A, betacarotene and phytonutrients help decrease stress during the test.

Foods to avoid: high sugar or low protein breakfast, which can decrease alertness and increase sleepiness during the test.

the perfect

dance snack

You don’t want to look bloated in your Prom pictures. At the same time, you don’t want to be starving during them and then gorge yourself at dinner.

Eating a light snack of grapes, cheese and crackers or yogurt, fruit and crackers will provide about 200 to 300 calories with a small amount of protein. This is just enough so you won’t be starving, but will still have room for dinner. Also, they won’t produce gas, which could cause bloating during pictures.

all information courtesy of nutritionist Sally Brown Dec. 4, 2006

all photos by karen boomer

page 14 [features]

Wonderful

1. RSVP- in the village 2. Curious Sofa- in the village 3.Stoney Brooke- in the village 4. Anthropologie- at the plaza 5. Urban Outfitters- at the plaza

the [harbinger]

To see in theaters: 1. The Holiday: in theaters December 8 Starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet.

2. Unaccompanied Minors: in theaters December 8 Starring Wilmer Valderrama.

To rent:

1. Elf 2. White Christmas 3. It’s a Wonderful Life 4. A Christmas Story 5. Christmas Vacation --> <-Back Fwd

URL: http://www.gifts.com

The website that helps with gift ideas

The holidays are a big part of the winter season, and let’s be honest, gift giving is a big part. Everyone wants to give the perfect present, but sometimes they just don’t know what it is. There is now a website you can fill out a survey of the person you are shopping for. The website takes this information and gives ideas for a present within the price range specified and where to go to purchase the gift.

>

With the cold weather, your skin can definitely take a beating. Aveeno body lotion not only is a reasonable price but keeps skin moisturized and soft for hours.

Winter is here and it’s time to replace your summery cotton sheets with warm and fuzzy flannel sheets. They are a sure bet to keep cozy on those cold winter nights. Try these Dunloe flannel sheets. You can find them at Macy’s or JCPennys for $15.60.

Movies to watch this winter

>

Be on the look out at the following stores for fun ornaments

Craving soft hands?

Aveeno body lotion

$1.99 at any drugstore

$6.95 at any drugstore

BURTS BEES

by [rachel mayfield and clare jordan]

Flannel sheets

No one likes chapped lips. They are painful and not a pretty sight. Try using Burts Bees to keep your lips looking healthy and supple.

WINTER

some helpful advice to make your winter wonderful

page 15 [features]

senior Paul Akers makes a hobby out of welding metal

in

high school

by [nora salle] Photos by Katie Woods

Senior Paul Akers stopped to watch the demonstration at the Shawnee Indian Festival. A tall long-bearded blacksmith clanking hot metal into tent stakes and hooks stood before him, hammer in hand.

Akers wanted to try. So he did.

Two years ago Akers made a tent stake, the first of many blacksmithing projects.

Since then, Akers has excelled in blacksmithing, now his favorite hobby, and works with a professional blacksmith.

“I had worked with wood and jewelry, and when I saw the demonstration I wanted to try out a new type of art form,” Akers said.

Akers’ blacksmithing career began when he got his first tool, a torch. He got it as a Christmas present sophomore year, a couple of months after Akers saw the demonstration.

“I went with my parents to pick up the torch when I got it,” Akers said.

Although Akers didn’t unwrap the torch as a big surprise, it was exciting. Akers made BBQ utensils, silver wear and hooks. He was on his way to becoming blacksmith.

This torch was the first of around 75 tools Akers has accumulated. He keeps them in a wooden playhouse in his backyard that he converted into a workshop.

Today Akers has made around 50 blacksmithing art projects, his first big accomplishment: a cage spiral, his favorite: a rose. He works with a professional artist blacksmith, George Rosis, and helps him with commission work.

Akers first met Rosis in Esptine Hardware downtown, where the two got to talking.

“He came up to me and he offered me to go by his house and look at the shop he had there,” Akers said.

Since, Akers and Rosis have developed a working relationship and when Rosis needs and extra hand he calls on Akers..

“George just calls me and tells me what he needs help with,” Akers said.

Even though the need for blacksmiths is becoming less and less, people like Rosis and Akers work the trade.

“I do it because it is fun swinging a hammer, but I also love teaching it,” Akers said.

Akers, an Eagle Scout, teaches blacksmithing skills to boy scouts at Camp Naish in Bonner springs during the summer.

“At the camp I teach a class that includes safety, demonstrations, and hands-on work,” Akers said.

Akers works on his blacksmithing as much as he can, but with school and an after school job, he only ends up working on his favorite hobby about twice a month.

Akers doesn’t make projects for the money, he has never sold a piece for more than $60.

“I don’t plan on making blacksmithing a profession,” Akers said. “I know I wouldn’t make enough money, but I like doing it as a hobby and I plan on keeping this hobby for as long as I can.”

Originally built by his dad to be a playhouse, Akers works in his workroom.

Akers melts metal in a fire to mold it into a belt buckle. By turning the lever, air is pushed underneath the coals to increase the size of the fire.

campaigning for a cure by [rachel birkenmier]

Freshman Margaret Peterson walked into the Kansas capital building in March 2006. She was there for a purpose: her deceit cousin, Alexis. Peterson clutched the pamphlets chock full of information. She re-read them until she could recite them by memory. She’d made it this far. There was no turning back.

Peterson walked into the hallway, and waited as her family members and supporters talked to the representatives. A few minutes later, they walked out of the courtroom, heads hung low. All the judge had told them was, “We’ll get back to you.”

Peterson’s heart sank. She knew what she had to do, not only for herself, but also for Alexis.

Alexis died of a disease called Medium Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD). It is a very rare, deadly disease. For a child to be born with MCADD, both parents must be carriers. That’s just what happened to Alexis Knapton, Peterson’s 8-year-old cousin. Neither Alexis’ mom nor her dad knew that they were MCADD carriers, because it is only detectable through newborn screening. In Kansas, there are very few diseases a newborn baby must be screened for, and MCADD is not one of them.

Alexis lived for 8 years. On March 6, 2003, she came down with the flu, which sparked her illness. She was sent to the emergency room, and on March 9, Alexis was taken off of life support and pronounced dead.

When Peterson found out about her cousin’s death, she was only in fifth grade.

“I was shocked when I found out,” she said. “But I didn’t

after cousin’s death, freshman Margaret Peterson is dedicated to curing MCADD

know anything about MCADD.” Since that day, Peterson has become interested in learning more about the disease that took her cousin’s life. In her eighth grade communications class, Peterson had the opportunity to learn more about the disease.

“As soon as I found out about the assignment, I knew exactly want I wanted to write about, and that was newborn screening,” Peterson said.

Since Alexis’ death, her grandmother and mom have worked to pass a newborn screening law. Passing the law would make MCADD testing mandatory during newborn screening. When Peterson discovered this, she was thrilled.

Her mother and grandmother asked her if she’d help them, and she said yes.

Peterson researched everything she could about newborn screening to prepare for their campaigning. She read books, pamphlets and Internet resources. Although there were not many to be found, Peterson managed to find just enough to get her going. But after she finished her eighth grade paper, she kept researching, furthering her knowledge of MCADD. In March, Peterson, along with Alexis’ mom and a group of family and other supporters, went to Topeka. The March of Dimes, one of the group’s sponsors, also came. The March of Dimes helped compile pamphlets with information about newborn screening and MCADD, hoping to persuade representatives to pass a Newborn Screening law. All the months they worked and researched, all the money The March of Dimes had provided: everything came down to this

campaign.

They set up a table in the capital building, decked with pamphlets. Peterson, along her aunt, stood by the table answering people’s questions.

“Even though I wasn’t allowed to actually go talk to the representatives, I was able to tell people about MCADD and Alexis,” Peterson said. “It felt good to let people know about our cause.”

The group went to the representatives’ offices, mailboxes and secretaries to leave pamphlets hoping the representatives would look at them.

A week after their campaigning, after the testimony of whether or not to pass the bill, Peterson heard that the representatives decided not to pass the bill.

“I was really upset that Kansas didn’t pass the law,” Peterson said. “I know there was probably a good reason why they decided not to pass the law, and what we asked them to do was a lot but they could have done something at least to promote it or make people aware of MCADD.” Peterson even wrote a letter to Oprah, hoping to get publicity for MCADD and raise awareness. She has yet to receive a response.

Although the first attempt at passing the bill failed, Peterson and the rest of the supporters will return this March.

“We’re going to come up with a new plan of action and more information to persuade them,” Peterson said. “We hope that we can get the word out there that MCADD is a deadly disease, and everyone should know about it.”

page 16 [features]

Once admitted, seniors make an photo illustration by jenny howard

earlyescape

With college searching over and easy schedules, seniors succumb to senioritis by [sylvia shank]

S

enior Kortney Jones sticks her keys in the ignition. It’s 11:20 a.m. She’s done for the day and going home.

This year, 16 percent of the senior class leaves after fourth or fifth hour, according to the counseling office. They go to work through the OJT, or on-thejob-training program, attend evening classes at JCCC, or go to Broadmoor to take specialized classes such as cooking or computer programming. Senior Megan Auld leaves after fifth hour for OJT. She knows she’s going to KU next year, and OJT lets her take it easy while earning money for college next year. Many students leaving for OJT and JCCC classes have selfrecognized senioritis. The requirement for the OJT program is that students work ten hours a week at a job outside of school. Auld works at Salty Iguana, a Mexican restaurant in Corinth.

“I think anybody should take it easy senior year,” she said. “You’ve worked up to it in your entire high school career.”

Senior Blair Slapper was promised admission into the University of Nebraska-Lincoln last November. She’s going on a soccer scholarship.

Slapper isn’t stressed about the application process, so she’s chosen to focus her time working at West Lake Hardware and playing soccer, rather than on schoolwork. She enjoyed marketing class last year, and in order to take marketing II, must participate in OJT. As a result, she leaves after fifth hour each day.

After committing to Nebraska, “it’s so much easier.” She waits until the last minute to do her homework- “usually first hour” and is late to school at least once a week.

“I always have those days where I roll out of bed and I’m like ‘Oh! Whoops.’”

It’s not in the dictionary, but it is in the vocabulary of every high school senior. And while the slacking doesn’t usually start until seniors receive their letters of acceptance in early April, anyone going to KU or K-State knows the requirements. For some of them, senioritis starts earlier. Slapper’s knowledge (since junior year) of where she was going to college left her free to pursue her interests in marketing class. She’s saving the money she earns for spring break and

spending money in college.

Most seniors applying in-state know that their acceptance is virtually guaranteed. The admissions requirements for all six in-state schools are the same.

Students need either a 21 on the ACT, a spot in the top 1/3 of their class, or a 2.0 GPA. Requirements are easier within the state to encourage Kansans to attend college. Admissions director Lisa Pinamonti Kress advocates KU’s admissions requirements.

“They aren’t very difficult to meet,” she said.

She feels; however, that students must be able to meet them to succeed at KU. Kress acknowledges senioritis, but feels it doesn’t affect everyone.

“It’s different for every student, but I know that a lot of students continue to challenge themselves.”

Senior Kortney Jones leaves after fourth hour each day. She takes Comp 1, an English class, at JCCC. Overall, she has six fewer hours of class each week than if she stayed at East all day. She spends her extra time hanging with friends, volunteering through the SHARE program and getting to bed at a decent hour. Next year, Jones is going to either Arizona State or KU. She’s chosen them because she has an older sister at each school. Jones knows she will be accepted by both schools. There’s no pressure on her at this point and she admits to senioritis, which she defines as laziness and worrying less about tests and homework.

“But also, it’s just us being ready to leave high school,” Jones said.

As a SHARE exec, Jones misses a lot of school for various community service projects. Knowing she’s already eligible for both schools has decreased academic stress. She knows if she doesn’t get straight As, a thing she’s tried for in the past, she’ll be OK. Instead of having to wait until second semester to dream of graduation, freedom and a perfect spring break on a beach in Mexico, Slapper, Auld, Jones and others can quit stressing as soon as their application is in the mail. They’ve all met one or more of the three requirements. Along with the 75 other seniors who leave early each day, they take comfort in knowing their acceptance into a Kansas school is virtually guaranteed.

Go Lancer Basketball!

Recycle Your Harbingers

loose-leaf teas + bubble teas + delicious foods 4111 Pennsylvania Kansas City, MO 64111

the [harbinger]

10 1

Top

holiday

displays

Candy Cane Lane

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

see

to

d e x i m

page 17 [mixed]

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The house on Falmouth

photo by katie woods

The Plaza lights

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Crown Center (Mayor’s Christmas Tree)

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Longview Lake Park

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The Marriott

Christmas Card Lane

Finding the Right Temperature

Shawnee Mission Park

My classroom is too hot. My classroom is too cold. Or, as senior Sam Morse put it, “Sometimes I feel like I’m in the Sahara Desert; other times I feel like I’m up in Canada somewhere.” The complaints about the temperature of the school are nearly endless.

On the Nov. 26th the auditorium was 64 degrees Fahrenheit. A few floors up, however, room 521 was a blistering 79 degrees in comparison. So what makes room temperature just right?

“The school is divided up into different sections each with their own heating and cooling systems,” custodian Mike Webb said. “The auditorium and gym have their own, but other parts of the school are grouped into sections. If teachers have a problem with the temperature they just need to call up to have it changed, although certain rooms have their own individual ventilation systems.”

Rooms may feel too hot or too cold depending on how large or small they are and what position in the school they are. Rooms near the outside region of the school may not be as well insulated and therefore be cooler, whereas rooms in the middle of the school are insulated much better. Likewise, massive rooms like the auditorium have much more space to heat than a classroom. Dividing the school’s heating system up into sections attempts to fix this, but it isn’t always perfect.

Room 521, 79 degrees

Room 411, 68 degrees

Room 309, 66 degrees

Auditorium, 64 degrees

0

30

40

50

Library, 65 degrees

60

70

80

Room 519, 67 degrees

photo by rachel wooldridge

what you didn’t know about... Ha Dinh I watch the Style Channel all the time. I like the fashion because it has to do with art, which I’m interested in also. Favorites are Look for Less and Fashion Police.

I’m really interested in Impressionists, especially Degas. I’ve been taking art classes every year.

Right now I’m working on a hat for NAHS, embellishing it with buttons. I also make a lot of collages with clothes and fashion. I plan on going into advertising which I think is a creative field.

Dec. 4, 2006

10

92nd Place and Mission

photos by rachel wooldridge

by [tom grotewohl]

page 18 [a&e]

Light Grenades

Explodes

on the scene

Incubus’ new CD rocks another new sound by [joey soptic] If there is one thing to be expected with Incubus besides their hard-hitting power chords and ear-splitting drums--it’s the irrefutable change that comes with each new CD. This is something you would expect to cease by the time a band has reached their sixth studio album. but with Incubus, this is definitely not the case.

Their sound varies from every single song to the next.

This unexpected diversity of the songs and the innovation of each new song makes “Light Grenades” the nature of each new song a complete mystery For those who are fans of the classic, “Aqueous Transmission,” a strange but very well-made song played using a Ko-Kyu, an Asian guitar-like instrument, there is also an outlandish song like “Transmission” added to this new album. Named “Quicksand,” it opens as the CD’s first track and seems to set the mood, however strange it may be, for the rest of the CD. It has a very echoing, electronic and sometimes sullen sound to it, making me wonder why I was absolutely loving the song thus far. Lead singer Brandon Boyd’s smooth vocals tear through the electronic haze of the song. All the while, the presence of didgeridoo and synthesizers carry right into the first true song in the CD, “A Kiss To Send Us Off.” It isn’t until this second song that you get your first taste of guitar work, where a misleading clean guitar quickly leads to a hammering interlude; personally a little too metalsounding for my taste. It is this kind of jump from mellow to metal and back that is my only real complaint about the CD. Though it is instrumentally a very stellar album, the harsh changes in songs sometimes is disappointing because I found the more mellow parts to be the better ones.

A new

“Dig” is one of the best songs on the CD. All parts in the song seem to flow together perfectly. Boyd belts out some of the band’s most heartfelt vocals: “Sing this song, remind me that we will always have each other, when everything else is gone.” The airy tone to the song fits as well with the lyrics as any other song on the CD. This song shows how jawdropping a few of their others, such as “A Kiss To Send Us Off,” could have been, if they had turned off a sliver of the power that they put into parts of it.

The first song to get any press or radio time was the potent “Anna Molly.” The forceful guitar riffs and drums actually fit very well together in this song. There is no real drastic jump from one level to another.

It is a perfect example of how avoiding those sudden bursts of energy can make the song seem to flow better.

Two more songs to point out are “Oil and Water,” and “Diamonds and Coal.”

Initially, you can guess that they both have some kind of correlation. After listening to them both you realize that you were right. Both songs have essentially the same guitar, bass and drum parts in the verses of the songs.

A strange idea of how to tie two songs together, but the rest of the songs are so very different that you would hardly notice it if you weren’t looking for it.

Another oddity to point out in “Light Grenades,” is how a song like “Rogues,” which can only be described as chaotic, is followed by an acoustic finger-picking guitar song, “Paper Shoes.” When the very nimble drums join the lone guitar,

In‘consider’ate

Comedy photo from www.movieweb.com

by [katie jones]

I

became a diehard fan of screenwriters Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy as soon as the credits rolled in Waiting for Guffman. So when I found out the two were releasing a new comedy this year, I was all but counting down the days. However, the new ‘For Your Consideration’ wasn’t quite up to par with my expectations.

The film, which ditches the past mockumentary

photo from www.enjoyincubus.com they almost seem out of place, but the further into the song it goes, the more the drums seem to fit in. The vocal harmonies match up with the rest of the song and tie it all together.

With the exception of a couple ugly ducklings, “Light Grenades” is a perfect example of how being experimental with your music can lead to something spectacular and unexpected. While Incubus is always changing their style, the likelihood for them to produce an admirable CD stays constant.

‘For Your Consideration’ is quick-witted, but too bitter

format of Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind in favor of a less-improvised comedy, doesn’t fail to amuse -- Guest and Co.’s jabs at the movie industry are often as quick-witted as you’d expect. But even though For Your Consideration has plenty of great one-liner jokes and a brilliantly comedic cast, it’s just too mean. The characters from Levy and Guest’s last few films are often foolish and stacked with satire, but they’re never lacking at least a few redeeming qualities.

However, I’d have to think hard to come up with one nice thing to say about any of the characters in this film, with the exception of Callie Web (Parker Posey’s) hair. Furthermore, the mockumentaries’ affectionate satire is replaced by a more biting kind in this new comedy.

‘Consideration’ is a film within a film. It begins with director Jay Berman (Guest, doing the Jewish thing) and his film, Home for Purim, a family drama about a young woman’s return home to a dying mother. The mother in question is played by Marilyn Hack (Catherine O’Hara), a washed-up aging actress who is best known for playing a blind prostitute in another film. The father, played by Victor Allan Miller (Harry Shearer), sees his role as a chance to escape his typecasting as Irv the Footlong Weiner in

tube spots. As the filming continues, a rumor leaks from the Internet about possible Oscar nominations for Harry, Marilyn, and another cast member, Callie Webb (Parker Posey). Jealousy brews in the award-season buzz, and the greedy, no-name actors begin to fight for spotlights and fame. Courteously, of course.

Even though the film’s tone brought me close to cursing the whole damn movie industry, Guest’s usual cast performed as well as ever. I’ve always been impressed with the group’s improvisation ability—it makes the dialogue seem truer to real life, and often more comical. And while ‘Consideration’ wasn’t as funny as some of Guest and Levy’s other films, it was still stuffed with snappy, sidesplitting dialogue. But even though the cast acted well, I didn’t feel especially connected to any of them. Throughout the whole film, I had hardly a morsel of concern for any of the characters’ wellbeing. The script simply didn’t allow much time to relate or get attached to any of them.

By the end of this new comedy, the only emotion I felt for most of the characters was bitter pity. I didn’t care if they were disappointed, or excited, or nervous. Oh sure, I laughed, but even as the fame-obsessed Marilyn Hack fell into a deep depression, I was thinking ‘serves you right!’

~GirlThe Scout honorDec. 12 DeVotchka and My Brightest Diamond, The Bottleneck, Today • Hybrid, Just Off Broadway Theatre, Thurs.-Sun. • Gogol Bordello, Bottleneck, the [harbinger]

Be a guitar hero

New Guitar Hero II has challenging songs and is addicting by [clark goble]

I took three guitar lessons the summer after freshman year. Needless to say, they were the last guitar lessons I will ever take.

And I absolutely loved Guitar Hero II. Playing the plastic controller/guitar that comes with the game is more fun than playing a real guitar may be but delivers similar results. The game is loaded with over forty songs that can easily allow you to play this game for dozens of hours without thinking about it.

But the game definitely requires you to think.

It’s essentially Dance Dance Revolution in your hands as you hold down the five “frets”, or different colored buttons, and “strum” on a piece of plastic. As the colored buttons scroll down the screen, the player must strum and hold the correct fret for the note to played. Think about rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time at ultra-speed and you get an idea of what you’re trying to do in this game. Doing anything wrong results in a missed note.

Knowing this information from reading the instructions, I throw Guitar Hero II into the soon-tobe-worthless PS2s disc tray not expecting to be very successful. I head to “Quick Play” and play about thirtyfive seconds of a song before failing due to a lack of correct notes. Next time, it took me forty-five seconds to fail.

The third time became the thirty-eighth time, and I was obsessed. I came home one Saturday night at 11:45, started up Guitar Hero II, and next time I looked at the clock, it was 1:42.

I was immersed in the game’s career mode, where you create a band and play at different gigs across the country.

My newly created band, the Leo Nunez Experience, named after a certain Royals’ relief pitcher, was on their way to the top of the music world. I couldn’t let the rocker

in me down, so I beat the mode and fell asleep just after 3 a.m. It’s a game you can’t stop playing until your hands hurt, which is what made me get some ice before heading off to bed.

Sore hands are a little too common, however.

Some of the chords require Stretch Armstrong fingers to pull off correctly, especially on the Hard and Expert modes. By the end of an eightminute song, such as Lynyrd Skynard’s “Free Bird”, your fingers will burn. Ache. Make you want to cut them off. But is it all worth it?

It sure is.

One, it’s much, much easier than playing a guitar will ever be, not to say that being a good guitar player doesn’t help you in this game. Two, nailing the solo on “Sweet Child O’Mine” is one of the top three video game moments of my life, along with a Killtrocity in Halo 2 and winning a game of Madden with a kicker at QB. That’s a high class, but the moment deserves it.

The only real problem I can see is the lack of many things to do after completing the career mode. Sure, you can play multiplayer, but that requires a separate guitar that costs $40. It would also be cool if there was a way to implement the other elements of a band into the game, like the drums or the lead vocals. Maybe that’s a year away.

All in all, Guitar Hero II, although priced at a steep $79 for game and guitar, is definitely the best game you don’t play with a regular controller. I will warn you, this game can get addicting.

photo by patrick mayfield

page 19 [a&e]

How much does music affect you?

Students wear clothes that help define who they are and make them feel comfortable. Every person is influenced by something, whether it be music, homelife or their peers. Two such students, Abby Weltner and Mike Schepers, were surveyed on their favorite music to listen too.

Seniors Claire Ryan and Will Anderson took a guess at what types of music both students listen to from their appearance.

Both Ryan and Anderson’s guesses were close to Weltner and Schepers’ actual taste in music. This experiment helps demonstrate the correlation between clothing and music preference.

photo by patrick mayfield

by [john mcguire]

Her Music

His Music

• Rascal Flatts • John Mayer • Gavin DeGraw • Earth Wind & Fire • Tyler Hilton

• Ghost Mice • Defiance Ohio • Born Against • Against Me • I Object

What others think

What others think

She looks like she listens to today’s popular music like The Fray or Tyler Hilton.

He looks like he’s into the indie-punk genre . The kind of music that not many people have heard of.

-Claire Ryan, Senior

Abby Weltner, Sophomore

photo by patrick mayfield

An experiment on musics influence on your clothing

-Will Anderson, Senior

Mike Schepers, Sophomore

Deftones, Uptown Theater, 12/18 • Cowboy Mouth, Voodoo Lounge, 12/21 • Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Kemper Arena, 12/26 • Kelley Hunt, Uptown Theater, 12 Dec. 4, 2006

page 20 [sports]

EYES

on the by [daniel heady]

Last season ended on a bittersweet note. The Lancers made it to the state championship finals.

And lost. In the last 30 seconds. A season that had been marked by fans lining up 3 hours before game time, beating rival South three time and being led by a 4-year starter who later went on to sign D-I scholarship. But at the end of the season, when that final buzzer sounded the scoreboard read 53-51, in favor of Wichita Northwest, and many questions arouse about next years team. Who was going to lead the team without JD? Who was going to step up for the lancers?

And can they ever get back to the state championship game?

Despite all the questions and changes this season is the same as any season for coach Hair.

“Our goal is always the same,” Hair said, “We want to win it all” That goal resonates with the players; every team member has their eyes on the prize.

“Obviously we want to get back to state and prove that last year was no fluke” senior Ross Simpson said, “we have all been working hard in the off season and everyone’s is excited to get playing.”

Every player who was not in a fall sport did fall conditioning which is geared at getting the players ready to play before the season starts.

“I think that our conditioning really gives us a head start on our season” senior Bryan Nelson said, “we can spend more time on actual practice as opposed to trying to get in shape.”

The fall sports however did take a toll on the Lancers.

PRIZE

The boys’ basketball team may not have won it all last year, but they are ready to rebound, get back to the state final and claim the title Here’s some teams that will be a threat to East’s championship run

Wichita Northwest- The coaches pick for

Senior Reid Robson is out with a high ankle sprang, and senior Colin Hertel and junior Terrance Thomas are both coming off injuries from football. Although Hertel is expected to be back in early to mid January and Robson is expected to be ready in the second or third week of December injuries are still going to take a toll on the team.

“I think the injuries are going to set us back a little, Simpson said, “but that is just another reason why our conditioning is so important.”

Coach Hair feels the same way, “Our offense doesn’t differ from year to year, but we need guys to step up.”

Because of junior Michael McRoberts’s play at the end of the season he is going to be looked at as a major offensive factor.

“McRoberts really played well down the stretch, we really need him to step up this year” Coach Hair said.

Another key factor is the senior team leadership.

“Simpson is really going to need to step up as a senior,” Hair said, “we saw flashes of what Bobby Miller can do last year, all those guys are going to have to step up in order for us to succeed.”

But the final piece of the puzzle that may be the deciding factor of this season is the team chemistry.

“I’ve never been on a team that has all hung out together on the weekends,” Simpson said. “I think that our chemistry will help us get through the injuries and it will make it easier for us overall.”

“We have for the most part all played together since 7th grade,” Nelson said, “Its easier because we all know how the other person is going to play and where they are

the state title, the Grizzlies were the team that sent the Lancers home in the final last year.

Junior Chris Harper, the tournament MVP, returns.

SM West- Senior David Leonard may have been on the losing end of a football state championship, but he and the rest of the Vikings are eager to get back to the state tournament.

Leonard is a second-team preseason All-State selection.

Olathe East-Senior shooting guard Blake Bales leads the Hawks. He is a streaky shooter who can also create off the bounce. If he gets hot, the Hawks can hang with any team in the state. going to be on the court. That may be the key to our season.”

The Lancers expectations are high this year and their goals are even higher, but that is no problem for coach Hair, he welcomes the challenge.

“If you don’t set your goals high enough you will never achieve them.”

meet the TEAM

Here are the eleven varsity players who will have the biggest impact on this year’s results. While finishing second in state last year was nice, their eyes are on this year’s final game

bobby MILLER

6’3”-forward

I’m the team threat behind the threepoint line.

#21 • senior

5’9”-guard

“

”

#50 • senior

colin HERTEL

5’8”-guard

“

I think I can add some outside shooting and provide some defense. I also want to win state.

#33 • junior

#24 • senior

“

#20 • senior

”

6’0”- guard

ben MCNAMARA

”

“

terrance THOMAS

“

”

5’10”-guard

role is to bring energy to the floor “ “ My and m ake plays. ”

6’2”-forward

I provide a spark off the bench, especially down in the paint.

6’3”-forward

“

marcus WEBB

I come off the bench and play good defense. Also, possibly make some shots.

winn CLARK

”

”

6’0”- guard

“

ross SIMPSON

I make some shots.

the [harbinger]

mike MCROBERTS

I just want to improve on the success I had last year and make the team better.

”

”

reid ROBSON

5’11- guard

“

As the point guard I’m just going to try and find the open guys, make sure we are in the game.

#11 • senior

#12 • senior

My role is to play good defense and do the little things right.

photos by samantha ludington

#15 • senior

#12 • sophomore

#14 • sophomore

I’m just going to try and go out there and make the tough plays and try and make everyone around me better.

tom WATSON

6’2”- center

#10 • junior

“

6’6- center

”

bryan NELSON

I definitely see myself as taking the leadership role... anything less than a state championship is a failure to me.

”

Losing a legend

an opinion of

J.D. Christie was the greatest basketball player to ever play at East.

There are his memorable moments and peter goehausen stats to back that up. Like the time his sophomore year when he hit the game winning shot and free-throw against rival South, or the other time his sophomore year when he flushed a two handed dunk as time expired in a win over Rockhurst, or time his senior when he nearly tore down the backboard on an alley-oop dunk against Olathe East.

But after four years of exciting plays, breaking records and leading East to state for the first time in 13 years, J.D. Christie is gone.

After losing Christie and finishing their best season in school history, it would be hard to imagine topping last season in year I A.C. Although the Christie is gone, the Lancers will have a more successful season than last year for three reasons: the monkey is off their back, the offense will be spread out more evenly and the emergence of a new star, junior Michael McRoberts.

1. The monkey is off their back- Entering his eleventh season at East, Coach Hair has coached two of school’s alltime leading scorers, five D-I college basketball players and won 126 games (59 in the past four seasons) but has only made it to the state tournament once.

the SCHEDULE

Friday, Dec. 8- @ SM West Thursday, Dec. 14- Hy-Vee Shootout @ Avila College vs. LS North-

After being blown-out in the last two Hy-Vee Shootouts against Raytown South, East’s annual game at Avila shouldn’t be as difficult. Lee Summit North lost two D-I players from last season. However, this will be East’s chance to show the metro area that their team does exist without J.D. Christie as the game will be televised on Metro Sports.

Friday, Dec. 15- Olathe NW Thursday, Dec. 21- @ SMNW Friday, Jan. 5- SM WestWest will be East’s biggest competition after going to the state tournament last year.

This should be the first time that East’s roster is at full-strength as senior guard Colin Hertel is expected to return. This may not be the last time the Lancers see West: they might be at the state tournament in March.

Tuesday, Jan. 9- Lawrence

Although the all-time leading scorer is gone, basketball life may not be so bad

It’s not that he hasn’t been close- East was one game away from state the previous two seasons before last- but he just had not been able to win that final game, or get the “monkey” off his back. Something had always conveniently gone wrong; such as blowing a seven-point lead with 30 seconds left or one of his star players getting ejected three years ago.

But now that Christie helped him get to state- the one thing he had never been able to accomplish in his previous nine years- the pressure of winning the Sub-state final should be the easy part. However, now that getting to state is accomplished, it is time for the reigning KC Star coach of the year to show he can win the whole thing.

2. Ball distribution- Last season Christie attempted some 299 shots, which is 30 more than the top three returning scorers (senior Bryan Nelson, senior Ross Simpson and McRoberts) took combined, but only hit 41 percent of those shots compared to Nelson, Simpson and McRoberts combining to shoot 51 percent. The fact of the matter is, no matter how good Christie’s numbers say he was, he did insist on shooting the ball. A lot. The result was when Christie struggled- so did East. Christie’s two lowest point totals were 12 and 13 against Leavenworth and Olathe South- both were East losses.

This season, although they do lose over 40 percent of their scoring, the team will finally get to look beyond feeding the ball to Christie and letting him be the one- man show. It will be the first time possibly ever that Hair will have a balanced one-two scoring combination in Nelson and McRoberts, who averaged nine and thirteen points per game in the state tournament. McRoberts, the quicker and less-selfish Christie, has the ability to create his own shot and/or find the open

page 21 [sports]

man. The 6’5” Nelson, who scored six of his nine points in the finals off offensive rebounds, could be the best big man Hair has coached since ’01 graduate Adam Jones.

To compliment them on the offensive side will be senior guard Ross Simpson, who was more than likely to pass the ball off in his first two seasons instead of shooting, (Simpson took one shot in the state final). But when he has shot the ball, he has shown potential to be a scorer. He led East with 19-points last season in a win over Rockhurst.

3. The Magic- To this day “Magic” McRoberts still blames himself for losing the state championships. With seven seconds left McRoberts was stripped of the ball which eventually led to the game winning free-throws.

But before he gave up the final turnover he scored 14 second-half points, led East to an eight point fourth quarter comeback and hit the Lancers only three to tie the game with five minutes in the game. (I hate to break it to you Mike, but East would have lost by 15 points without you.) After playing for eleven years McRoberts, has a high basketball IQ, in other words you won’t see him taking NBA-like threes in the first quarter of the state championship like Christie, and is not short on confidence to lead this team back to the state finals.

As he puts it, what makes him good is his ability to play any position on the court and score from anywhere. McRoberts, normally a small forward, started at point guard last Friday against South.

Whether or not the Lancers will succeed in year I A.C. will ultimately depend on how long it takes for the team to realize that Christie is actually gone. But the emergence of McRoberts and Nelson should make the transition much easier for Hair’s boys.

A quick glance at the boys’ season with a few key games highlighted

Friday, Jan. 12- @ Lawrence Free State Saturday, Jan. 13- Olathe North Thursday, Jan. 18- Saturday, Jan.20- @ McPherson Tournament Friday, Jan. 26, @ RockhurstEast will have a chance to take their fourth straight victory over their cross-state rival, which would be a first in the series. If Rockhurst senior guard Conner Teahan, a D-I prospect, catches fire, reaching number four may not come as easy against Coach Hair’s Alma Mater. But, if East can shut him down like they did last year ( five points) it should be a walk in the park.

Tuesday, Jan. 30- SM North Tuesday, Feb. 6- @ Olathe SouthFriday, Feb. 9- SMNW Tuesday, Feb. 13- @ Leavenworth Friday, Feb. 16- @ SM North

Tuesday, Feb. 20- Olathe East Aside from West, Olathe East will be the Lancer’s second toughest game of the season. Olathe East features deadly sharp shooter Blake Bales, who will be one of the top players in the Sunflower Conference.

Friday, Feb. 23- @ SM South Wednesday, Feb. 28- Sub-state Semifinals Friday, March 2- Sub-state Championship Wednesday, March 7- State Quarters Friday, March 9- State Semis Saturday, March 10- State Championship Junior Michael McRoberts and Coach Hair still think about the game that got away last March, and there wouldn’t be a better way to revenge that loss with a win this March. Look for defending state champion Wichita Northwest to be back at White Auditorium as they return their best player junior Chris Harper. As McRoberts put it best, “ I am hungry for revenge.”

_________________ creative

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Dec. 4, 2006

Go Lancer Basketball!

page 22 [features]

Dealing with injuries and workouts, girls are showing some sports are

Not just for boys Freshman girl joins wrestling team

On the blue and black mats in the wrestling room, the guys strip down to their underwear, pull on their shorts and t-shirts and lace up their wrestling shoes. The boys’ locker room connects to the wrestling room, so they get dressed there. Down the hall, freshman Samantha Johnson puts on blue athletic shorts and a white t-shirt. She grabs her water bottle and walks down the hall to the blue doors kept locked from the outside.

She knocks. Thirty seconds later, Coach Chip Ufford opens the door from inside. The guys are done changing. Johnson, the only girl on the wrestling team, can come in now.

“It’s odd the way it captured me,” she said. The intensity, the workouts, and how hard you have to push yourself. “I like a challenge.”

It all started when, as a joke, a friend of Johnson’s said she was trying out for wrestling. The sarcastic statement got Johnson thinking. She wanted to get involved at East, and here seemed an opportunity. She went to the first meeting, where Coach Ufford spoke of hard work and sticking together as a team. Johnson was sold.

When, during a family dinner, her daughter announced that she wanted to wrestle, Kim Johnson was “a little surprised.” She worries Johnson will get hurt because of stories she’s heard about wrestlers who had their noses broken or teeth knocked out. She’s concerned, but SHE hasn’t let her fear get in the way of supporting her daughter.

“I will come to every match,” Kim said. “It shows real strength and confidence for her to do this. It’s a little different from what everyone else does. I wouldn’t do it!” Hearing about her daughter’s practices, she’s learning to appreciate wrestling as more than just a physical sport.

“It’s about technique.”

Johnson is the only girl on the team, and though she wears a bra instead of a jock strap, when Johnson gets down on the mat, she feels the same as anyone else on the team.

“It’s not sexual, like most people would say,” she said. Instead, Johnson uses the analogy of basketball when describing wrestling. “In basketball, it’s continuous. You have to run up and down the court and back to the other side. In wrestling, you start in this position and you switch over.” And then, like a turnover, it can flip in a second.

Johnson grew up fighting with her two brothers. While she does get intimidated by some of the 220-pound wrestlers during practice, she won’t have to wrestle them competitively because they are in a heavier weight division. Hers is 145 pounds.

The big wrestlers may be intimidating

to Johnson, but what really makes her nervous is pleasing the coaches. Being the only girl on the team, she feels she has something to prove.

“I just wanna make the coaches proud,” she said. “That they have this girl on the team and even if she isn’t the best, she is trying her best.” Whether she’s knocking her partner down or dieting to make her desired weight division, she works her hardest.

To reach her 145 pound weight limit, Johnson is cutting back on junk food and focusing on fruits, vegetables and protein. In her first match, she’ll wrestle eight rounds, most likely against a boy. Being so new to the sport, she thinks she doesn’t yet know enough to compete. She’s scared.

“Who wouldn’t be?” she said. “We have only been practicing for a week.”

Ufford appreciates Johnson’s willingness to jump into a male-dominated sport, but he doesn’t go easier on her than the other boys. In his seven years of coaching, he’s seen half a dozen girls wrestle. He recognizes that men are naturally stronger because they have more testosterone. Still, “She’s strong,” he says of Johnson. Other than strength, Ufford sees no difference between Johnson and the other boys on the team.

“She says that it’s tough, just like every other guy on the team. And just like every other guy, she’s gonna be sore the next day.”

Before attempting to throw junior Vaughn English down on the mat during warm-up drills, Johnson reaches over and pats him on the shoulder. It’s a friendly gesture before an aggressive match. Coach blows the whistle.

The two stand facing one another.

“One!” Ufford shouts. Johnson is down on one knee. “Two!” Johnson grabs English’s knees and pushes his neck sideways with her hand. “Three!” Wham.

With a twist of her arms, she finishes the move. English is down.

“I really wouldn’t have expected a girl to wrestle as good as she does,” English said.

“But she definately knows what she’s doing.”

During the daily two to three hour practices, Johnson runs, jump-ropes, does push-ups and forces guys onto their backs. Looking back on her first practice, she remembers the first dose of pain. “’O God.’ That’s what I was thinking.” But the dieting, the sprints and the crunches are all worth it to Johnson. She’s found a niche and a way to be involved. At the end of practice, she pulls out her mouth guard and places it in its case. 50 push ups, Two miles, and 18 sweaty matches later, she’s still happy. After all, she likes a challenge.

photo by karen boomer

by [sylvia shank]

Junior Alex Surface junior coach Bobby Miller Jr. go through drills at powderpuff practice.

Girls battle injuries in powderpuff by [meg shackelford]

Junior Kylie Brewer doesn’t remember falling to the ground. She remembers hearing something pop. At her first powder puff practice, Brewer was preparing to tackle junior Elise Shea, who was running with the ball, when junior Alex Surface sprinted full speed into her.

Hitting the ground, Brewer laughed at first until she realized she couldn’t get up.

“Surface completely blindsided her,” junior Pat Grindinger, one of the coaches said. “It was a big hit. She tried to sit up but she went back down. That’s when people started going over because they assumed something was wrong.”

The practice was ended and junior Sarah Jones’ father, Dr. Lowry Jones, came to Brewer’s aid. Feeling her collarbone, he told her it was broken.

Meanwhile, one of Brewer’s good friends, junior Alicia Anderson, was socializing on the opposite side of the field. She wasn’t sure what happened at first. After hearing that Brewer was crying and couldn’t get up, she went over to help.

“We were all really shocked,” Anderson said.

“Alex [Surface] was too. I don’t think she knew what to do at first. She was scared to go and talk to Kylie because she didn’t know if she was mad or not. But she ended up going and sitting by her.”

The next day, Surface brought Brewer three magazines, a teddy bear, lots of candy and a card.

“I felt so bad,” Surface said. “I still can’t believe it happened.”

Dr. Jones made a sling out of a t-shirt for Brewer. He also gave her a pain medication that “set her for the night.”

“We have been taking a few more precautions,” Grindinger said. “Especially with putting girls in positions, we made it clear from the beginning that if you’re not trying in the game, or aren’t going 100%, then you’ll get hurt.”

This wasn’t the first time that powder puff has gotten rougher than expected.

Last year, a bunch of juniors tackled senior Caroline Goehausen when she had the ball.

She screamed and cried as people piled on top of her. Everyone thought she broke a bone so they called an ambulance. The game was ended then, and the score was tied. Luckily, she didn’t break any bones.

“I hope to actually finish a game without someone being sent to the hospital this year,” senior Weslyn Thoms said.

the [harbinger]

This is Thoms’ second year playing, and she says the rivalry between the juniors and seniors is pretty intense.

“Girls are so catty that when the game gets playing it can get pretty crazy,” she said.

Thoms remembers last year’s seniors making “unnecessary” comments such as, “We’re not going to have any mercy on you, we’ll beat you.”

Since powder puff runs the risk of injuries, girls basketball players are not allowed to participate. According to senior Rachel Kaegi, Coach Rhoades doesn’t want them to be “irresponsible” by playing because it could ruin their chances of winning and having a strong team.

“The basketball team needs all the players it can get,” Kaegi said. “I would definitely play if I could, but I would rather be in shape and do well in basketball than play one game of powder puff.”

Since the incident this year, the number of girls that come has been cut in half. Usually the coaches were able to pick girls for the positions, but now they put in whoever shows up. Junior coach Bobby Miller Jr. thinks that a lot of the girls will show up for the game on Dec. 17, just not the practices.

“The first practice we had about a 60 person turn-out,” Miller said. “But the last couple practices we’ve had about 11 if we’re lucky. The girls told us a lot of them don’t come because it isn’t fun anymore, but practice isn’t supposed to be fun.”

The coaches are going to discuss in the next week if there even will be a game or not. Miller is hoping there will be, “It’s just because of a lack of showing up on the girls’ part,” he said.

The senior team has also had an issue with turnout. The word just hasn’t gotten out quick enough.

“We decided at the last minute when the practices were going to be,” senior coach Drew Robinson said.

It was recommended by Dr. Jones that Brewer should not participate in any activities for the rest of the year. It isn’t sports that will be interfering with this, but her job at The Fairytale Ballet.

Brewer now describes powder puff as being over-rated. “It’s so rough that I don’t even think it’s worth it,” Brewer said. “Especially since it’s a bunch of girls playing tackle football with no pads. It seems like something happens every year.”

5

minutes with...

page 23 [sports]

Samantha Kirkwood

On deciding to go out for bowling last year

“I wanted to get to know more people. I also want to try to get on a college team.

I’m trying to get on KU’s team. To get on the team, I have to raise a cerain amount of money and then I can try out.”

On her best score all-time

“My best score ever is a 288. I bowled it three years ago in one of my outside bowling leagues. I bowl in three different leagues as well as bowling for East.”

On bowling tryouts

“They look at your score, but they also look at if you bowl consistantly.”

On how bowling tournaments work

“Whoever is the first [ranked] person on each team bowls and the second [ranked] person bowls with you.”

On how often she bowls

“I bowl two to three times a week. We have a match once or twice a week, I also take time on one of the off days and practice by myself.”

4

1 2

reasons why...

wrestling is the most strenuous sport

Running at practice

Wrestlers have to run three laps around the school, an estimated mile and one third, every single practice to get in shape.

Length of Matches Each match has three two minute periods. This can get very tiring over the course of a tournament. Getting slammed and thrown around for nine minutes can take it’s toll.

3 4

No timeouts or stoppages There are no stoppages or timeouts in the match other than between the periods.Just nonstop wrestling for three minutes and then a one minute break.

It’s wrestling You have another guy your same weight or maybe a little bit bigger than you trying to slam you and pin you on the mat.

:03...... :02......:01...... things you won’t see at...

Costumes: Although it was a tradition three years ago to dress up as Santa, The Easter Bunny and a Chicken, the district recently outlawed wearing costumes Booing: The infamous Rule 52 prohibits booing, but encourages positive displays of appreciation. Senior leaders are looking to create more clever cheers beyond the typical “Air ball!” and “You suck!”

Losses: The Lancer basketball team looks to have a great season this year, and is in the running for the state title, losses (as always) will certainly be a rarity.

photo by Taylor Phillips

A basketball game

players

Luke Tanner- Senior- Swimming- Tanner is looking to show that he deserves his scholarship to USC, and another State Swimmer of the Year award, with a great senior season. Tanner, most importantly wil help the Lancers try to win a third straight state championship. They will get strong competition from Olathe East and Blue Valley North.

Drew Robinson - Senior - Wrestling - Robinson is going into the season ranked number one in his weight class. He leads a Lancer team that placed ninth in state competition as a team last year.

The Lancers next meet is at the SM Northwest Invitational.

Dec. 4, 2006

game

FRIDAY

Boys’ varsity basketball @ SM West- The Lancers are going into the season looking to surprise people. With the graduation of all-time leading scorer J.D. Christie, the scoring load and team leadership role falls on junior Michael McRoberts, who averaged 13.2 points per game in the state tournament last year. The team will face a tough early test in the Vikings, who return the majority of a team who defeated the Lancers once last year. If the Lancers can get past the Vikings, they will have an easy road leading up to the huge rivalry game versus Rockhurst Jan. 26.

compiled by nick ratliff

page 24 [photo essay]

The VanBuren Boys, a team of junior boys, battled the Indians, a team of boys from SM North in a 4:15 Sunday afternoon game. The VanBuren Boys prevailed and won 11-3 over the Indians. One of the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s star player, junior Charlie Ogden dribbles down the field. Ogden played on the varsity soccer team this fall. There are KSHAA rules which limit the number of players from a high school team that can play on a team together in the off season. photo by samantha ludington Below right: juniors Mark Barnett, Alex Anderson, and David Webb, members of the VanBuren Boys watch the game as they wait to sub into the game. photo by samantha ludington Below: Junior Daniel Altieri, member of Ayo for Yayo, a team of junior boys all from East except for two boys from SM North, dribbles down the field as his teammates look on. photo by samantha ludington

Indoor

Intensity

A big difference between indoor and outdoor soccer is the use of walls around the perimeter of the field. if the ball is kicked above the walls then the referee blows the whistle and the team that did not kick the ball gets a free kick. Above, junior Derek Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Grady, who plays for Ayo for Yayo, protects the ball against the wall from the opposing team. photo by samantha ludington

Students keep their love of soccer going through the cold weather in indoor soccer leagues the [harbinger]