Issue 8

Harbinger the

DEC. 15, 2008

space available East is turning to open enrollment next year due to a lower number of students in the district // ANDREWGOBLE

She was still in shock when she reported the news to the faculty.

Advisory Council Member and English teacher Laura Beachy’s e-mail explanation reported the district superintendent’s latest decisions from the latest meeting. Just like always. She e-mailed it to the entire staff, just like always. She got replies, just like always. Usually, she would receive some thank you notes and one or two comments on the latest updates.

When she read them though, something was different.

This time, few people could believe the news: East would now be open to any student in the district.

Open enrollment, a policy dormant at East since 1999, will mean that any student

in the Shawnee Mission School District will be qualified to transfer into East. Unlike the past 10 years, they won’t need to enroll in the Signature Programs, International Baccalaureate or Legal Studies, to make the switch. “[Superintendent Gene Johnson] just mentioned that the high schools were all going to be open to transfers because in the district the numbers are low enough,” Beachy said.

East was one of the last schools to open up, along with West and Northwest.

Principal Dr. Karl Krawitz attributes the new policy mostly to the Signature Programs. He said it started with the idea that the district couldn’t offer every program at every school.

// CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO

// PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MEGSHACKELFORD AND TYLERROSTE

ISSUE 8 / SHAWNEE MISSION EAST / PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS

// CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO

OPINION: Being Jewish during Christmas >PAGE 6 FEATURES: “Cocaine” energy drink >PAGE 8 SPREAD: Vegetarianism is healthy >PAGE 12-13

Krawitz accepts 28 for his leadership class

PAGE 2 NEWS / DEC. 15, 2008

// ANNABERNARD

OPENING

DOORS

// CCCrEIdenberg

After ten years of closed enrollment, East changes policies to allow transfers within district // CONTINUEDFROMPAGEONE “The best way to afford the opportunity for students, other than a formal application processwas to open up the enrollment,” Krawitz said.

Krawitz thinks the number of students coming to East will not be a cause for concern. He describes his total transfer estimate like “finding a needle in the haystack,” but says the biggest student numbers might come from private schools.

“It’s not cheap to attend Rockhurst, Miege or Pembroke,” Krawitz said. “And since they all tend to draw kids from our attendance area, I would tend to think we could see an increase, just because of economics.”

The district’s projected enrollment numbers for next year are almost 100 over those of this year, but the incoming freshman class who has 83 more students than the outgoing senior class, factors in to that also.

The head counselors of the other schools predict a sizable amount of students leaving their schools to come to East. North counselor John Stone predicts at least 20 kids will be transferring out, not including those from middle schools who will be able to decide this year.

“It’s always concerning when you lose good students who would have gone to North, but we were already losing strong students to the IB program,” Stone said.

The Board of Education’s East President, Donna Bysfield, thinks that the timing of the change will keep numbers down.

Keys to open enrollment Number of applicants so far: 24 Deadline for applications: Feb. 1 Other schools with open enrollment within district: North and South Fee to transfer: None if within district

“High school kids, for the most part, are not transferring a whole lot at this point,” Bysfield said.

Senior Jessie Light transferred to East through IB. At the time, it was the only way she could get into East from the North district.

“I still would have done IB but I think it’s great to have an option to not be forced into something that you might not to excel at,” Light said.

Krawitz doesn’t think the enrollment will cause a spike in total student numbers. This year, East’s enrollment is around 1850 students, nearly 250 less than in 2004-05.

The deadline for applying to East is Feb. 1, 2009.

Krawitz thinks that’s the only time the administration will get a real feel of how many people are coming. So far, there have been 15 applications approved by the district. Transfer requests are approved mainly on the basis of GPA, which generally must be over 2.0, and behavior issues.

With the construction taking up room in the building, Krawitz expects more room next year for any transfers and says that the district would not allow for a capacity limit unless it interfered with the student-toteacher ratio in the Special Needs department .

He also thinks there could be some movement out of the school to negate any large moves in. Last year, East had 34 students transfer in and 106 transfer out.

“If we start to see some equity of movement,” Krawitz said. “We’ll be okay.”

Open vs. Closed Enrollment

Open enrollment refers to the the policy in which students within the district are free to attend the school upon approval of their application, whereas with closed enrollment students are only able to transfer schools under specific circumstances, such as IB. // GENEJOHNSON

Principal Dr. Karl Krawitz will be teaching a course next semester called ‘Personal Leadership.’ Twenty-eight students that applied were accepted after Krawitz reviewed their applications.

In the application, students described their strengths, weaknesses and goals for the future. These applications will help Krawitz put the students into groups when they work as teams. “[The application] gives me an understanding so I know where [the students] can work together cooperatively,” Krawitz said. “Because people have various strengths, it’s good that a team recognizes a strength that everybody brings to the table.”

This class focuses on giving students life skills and abilities they’ll need in the future, like organization, problem-solving and responsibility. Additionally, the class includes training and certification through the ‘Stephen Covey Seven Habits for Highly Effective People’ course. According to Krawitz, only about 200 kids in the country get certified yearly.

“It’s a program that’s taught nationally pretty much at the corporate world level to executives and leaders of corporations and organizations across the world,” Krawitz said. “It’s unique from the standpoint that takes an individual and raises their ability to see their own expectations and takes them to a whole different level.”

According to Covey’s Web site, Covey was one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans, and his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” had sold over one million copies. The seven habits of his program include be proactive, begin with the end in mind and creative cooperation.

Krawitz wants to give every type of student a chance to take his class. In order to qualify for the course, students had to be a junior or a senior. The application also recommended that students be interested in preparing for the future, eager to participate in intellectual discussions and willing not to make excuses. Krawitz said these traits will help the students think about their beliefs and the beliefs of others, and will help the students consider everyone’s point of view.

“I always felt that there was more to school than reading and writing and arithmetic,” Krawitz said. “I don’t want that to sound like it’s a negative thing, but … I’ve found people who possess some of these skills and attributes in leadership, but maybe you don’t have the academic know-how on the same level as some other students.”

Krawitz created the course several years ago and has since taught it at each school he worked at as an administrator, and was certified in teaching Covey’s program. Over the years, he has compiled new resources and new activities that add to the class. According to Krawitz, this year’s class is shaping up to be one of his best.

“I wanted to take the class because I’d seen [Krawitz] is a really good leader at our school,” junior Parker Heying, one of the students accepted to the class, said. “This is the first time a principal has taught a class. He just seems like a really good guy with some good advice.”

The class involves students breaking into teams and working under different scenarios. These scenarios include working in a city hall, planning a tour for a band, working as a corporation creating a new product and working on an assembly line trying to figure out the best procedure from a given set of clues. The students will have to decide who can aid them with the problem and how the students are going to communicate with the people that will help them. In April, the class may go to William Jewell College’s Tucker Leadership Confidence Course, where they will undergo a variety of physical challenges relating to leadership. The physical challenges include high and low ropes courses, as well as relevant discussion.

Students in the class will learn and discuss the leadership skills of people like William Bennis, Rudy Giuliani and even President Barack Obama. They will also read articles from Executive Excellence and Personal Excellence, leadership magazines that are only available to those involved in Covey’s program.

Heying hopes that Krawtiz can teach him how to be a successful leader, and Krawitz hopes that his class will fill up every year. He expects word-of-mouth to get potential students interested in taking his course in later semesters.

“It’s not what most people are going to think a regular type of class or class on leadership’s about,” Krawitz said. “They’re going to be exposed to… some of the most outstanding people in the world who provide insights, and you just can’t go out and buy this stuff anywhere.”

PAGE 3 NEWS / ISSUE EIGHT

Texting troubles

briefs There will be no school due to winter break beginning Dec. 20 and runs through Jan. 4.

Students will return to school on Monday, Jan. 5 with a seven-period day schedule.

The Link Crew “Cookies, Cocoa and Cram” finals study session will be meeting today after school from 2:45 to 4 p.m. in the library. Freshmen are invited to enjoy treats and receive aid in preparation for finals.

First semester exams are this week. The schedule for finals is as follows: *First Hour Final: 7:40-9:10 a.m.

Passing Period: 9:10-9:20 a.m.

Hours 2-7: 9:20 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. *Second Hour Final: 9:20-10:50 a.m.

Passing Period: 10:50-11:00 a.m.

Third Hour Final: 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Lunch: 12:30-1:10 p.m.

Buses Leave: 1:17 p.m. *Fourth Hour Final: 9:20-10:50 a.m.

Passing Period: 10:50-11:00 a.m.

Fifth Hour Final: 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Lunch: 12:30-1:10 p.m.

Buses Leave: 1:17 p.m. *Sixth Hour Final: 9:20-10:50 a.m.

Passing Period: 10:50-11:00 a.m.

Seventh Hour Final: 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Lunch: 12:30-1:10 p.m.

Buses Leave: 1:17 p.m. *Teachers will be available from 7:209:10 a.m. for tutoring and make-up exams. *Students must arrive by 9:15 a.m. *Buses will run on an altered schedule.

The Frequent Fridays for second semester, which take place in the Little Theater on Fridays at 3 p.m. are as follows: Nathan Klein.......................... Jan. 9 Jordan Holsinger................... Jan. 16 Grace Haun............................ Jan. 23 Michael Grace........................ Jan. 20 Wraye Sewell......................... Feb. 6 Alison Meagher-Manson..... March 6 Alec Hyries............................. March 27 Griffin MacDonald................. April 27 The KSHAA non-practice dates are from Dec. 23-26. No school sponsored athletic teams can practice during this time.

Krawitz calls it his “biggest problem in 35 years”

tunity to students allowing them to use phones...but they are taking advantage of being allowed to carry around phones and using them during class periods.”

This year East decided to stray away from confiscating cell phones. Records show last year around 1012 phones were collected a day. It became a problem as students visited the office to retrieve their phone, causing staff to search for a phone that may have become lost or damaged in a pile of papers or a desk drawer.

To prevent the hassle, the rule changed to a teacher’s write up instead of collecting phones.

“In the past we’ve dealt // PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MAXSTITT with issues regarding to this // TAYLORHAVILAND with no problems,” Krawitz said.

As junior Jake Fleming pushes through According to Krawitz, cell phones were the third floor hallway he feels his pocket vi- never as big of a problem at other schools brate and he quickly reaches for his phone. that he has worked at as they are at East, so Instinctively he looks around for a teacher, prevention during class was rarely an issue. but remembers East’s rule allowing phone He hopes that texting will eventually stop in use in hallways and in the lunchroom. Af- class. ter his quick text, he slips the phone into “It may just be a fad, but for now there rehis pocket and walks into his English class- ally is not much more we can do,” Krawitz room. said.

Later in class Fleming feels the short viSpanish teacher Linda Longoria thinks bration on his thigh and he slips the phone that texting is the new form of communicaout of his pocket, his eyes slowly drift down- tion and that it will not be going away for a wards, but he is not falling asleep. The phone long time. secretly hidden, it was almost impossible for “Kids will always be texting there’s no the teacher to notice with her back turned as way to stop it unless every kid stops using she wrote on the whiteboard. He quickly hits their cell phone,” Longoria said. a couple keys and returns to his notes.

She believes that texting during class isn’t “I know it’s a distraction but I know when the only problem with cell phones.

I shouldn’t be using my phone so if it’s really “Besides being a distraction cell phones affecting me academically I can stop,” Flem- can be used to aid students or allow them to ing said. cheat during tests by texting other student,” Fleming is not alone. After working in Longoria said. schools for 35 years Dr. Karl Krawitz has nevMany phones now have Internet access, er seen problems like cell phones at East. calculators and large memory capability, al“I have never been to any school where lowing students to store information that can students didn’t respond to a new rule posi- also be used to cheat. tively,” Krawitz said. “We provided an oppor“Students using phones doesn’t just affect

them academically, it’s a matter of common courtesy,” Krawitz said. “Teachers work hard to help our students learn and when a student ignores this to use their phones it’s disrespectful.”

Cell phones were not the first electronic Shawnee Mission School District struggled to implement rules for. Krawitz remembers when tapes and headsets first were brought into schools and the district allowed their use as long as it did not disturb others. But electronics first became a problem when students began using pagers in class. The district’s only rules were that they needed to remain on vibrate and a student could not leave class for a page.

“Many kids don’t even realize this is a problem because cell phones have become such a large part of everyday life, Krawitz said. “Kids don’t realize that it’s disrespectful to text while others are talking even if it’s within your family. Responding has almost become an instinct and sometimes you may not notice that you have been responding to a text unless it is brought to your attention.”

District policy also says that to remove a student from school, a parent must contact attendance or provide their child with a note for removal from school, not a text to their child’s phone.

“For years our district has had policies on contacting the school for the removal of a student and cell phones should not change this,” Krawitz said. “If a parent needs to pull a child out of class they need to contact the school and we will deal with the situation whether it means sending a note to the student, or pulling them out of class.”

Fleming believes allowing parents to contact a student in class should be allowed, “If there is a family emergency I want to know from my mom or dad, I don’t want a sheet of paper telling me what happened,” Fleming said. “I realize that it is rude to be using a phone in class, but we have put such a negative view of texting that it’s almost a crime. I don’t see what the problem is, if you aren’t distracting others than it shouldn’t be a big deal,” Fleming said.

New handheld science equipment provide easier ways to conduct labs // DAVIDHENDERSON

A recent grant by the East foundation has given the science department a key tool for the science students.

The Vernier Labquest was recently given to the science department as a part of a grant that gave twenty-eight Labquests to the department at an estimated $35,000. The final decision was made by teacher Steve Appier and the head of the science department Cole Ogdon.

“We had the decision to make between a Pasco version and the Labquest, and ultimately decided on the Labquest due to its versatility, and the fact that it is supposedly more reliable than the Pasco version,” Ogdon said.

The Labquest, which can calculate a number of different things through the use of a system of probes, has greatly increased the ease of experiments as well as calculations that take place in labs.

“The beauty of this is that we can have students do work at their lab tables and they don’t have to be sitting at

a station with the computer hooked up and the software hooked up, which can be very limiting,” Ogdon said. “This way they can actually take the hand-held at the table and do the experiment right at the table.”

The Labquest is used mainly in the Chemistry classes and can help read data such as temperature, conductivity, voltage and the potential hydrogen. It also can also help students with graphs through the touch screen that has made the Venier stand out to other competitors such as the Pasco.

“It’s also a computer in itself,” Ogdon said, “It can do graphing, all kinds of statistical analysis, and you can also hook it up to the computer if you want to print something out or do something else with the information, like put it in a graph.”

The ease of the Labquest and the fact that it is an interesting piece of equipment also has students interested

in the uses.

“I used it a couple of time in labs,” junior Alex Cox said.

“I think its pretty cool how you can switch the mode to find out different data.”

The Labquest claims to be “the technology to excel,” having a color touch screen, built in temperature sensors and a microphone.

“There are hundreds, literally hundreds, of experiments that we can use these for,” Ogdon said.

To record data, one must find the right probe to measure it, set the desired mode and then use the probe to record the data. The Labquest can then help you graph the data or help analyze it.

The department currently has 10 probes that can help measure data, but the potential for measuring hundreds of different things is also there.

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Finals start

T O M M O R O W

Kevin Euston

6955 Tomahawk Rd. Prairie Village, KS 66208 Tel (913) 262-6737 Fax (913) 262-1405

Finals start Tomorrow!

Prairie Village, KS 66208 Tel (913) 262-6737

Sunseekers The Ultimate Tannery

8827 Roe (913) 649-4433

Under New Ownership

December & January Special Free Lotion Shot Friday $10 off spray tan $5 Sunday For shampoo and $8 student eye brow wax call: 913-406-4706

NEW POSSIBILITIES

PAGE 5 EDITORIAL / ISSUE EIGHT

To ensure that all students can attend the best school for them, East should follow other district high schools and open up

Popped collars and high test scores.

Outside perceptions of East as an elitist school that have only been perpetuated by our policy of closed enrollment.

But beginning next year, East will offer open enrollment to students within the Shawnee Mission School District.

East, one of three remaining high school in the district with a closed enrollment policy, has had its doors closed to transfers for the last nine years because of excessive enrollment. East will now accept transfers of students from other schools within the district and students who live within the district, but attend private schools.

This policy change can only benefit East as it will allow for enhanced academic competition and ease the transition among schools in order to participate in specialized programs offered at the various high schools.

If a particular high school fits the needs of an individual best, the student ought to be allowed to transfer into the school. For East, the Legal Studies program may fit that student, but under current policy it is less accessible due to East’s closed enrollment.

The snob perception of East, mocked by schools such as Rockhurst and Blue Valley North at varsity basketball games, could be alleviated with this transition. Having open enrollment would allow for a more diverse populous which would promote newer, more diverse experiences and ideas that we have not had because of closed enrollment.

The opportunity for academic competition accompanying the change to open enrollment would be a great advantage to achieving students. Students would be pushed harder to get higher grades, which would increase East’s prestige as an academically motivated school. As is the case with Rockhurst, in which students across state lines attend in order to participate in their successful athletic programs, students may be more encouraged to attend East for our successes in academics.

In addition to academic competition within the school, district-wide competition would be promoted with this change. As a school with traditionally higher standardized and college entry test scores, East is a more desirable school for academics.

As East would draw more students in with open enrollment, other schools within the district will compensate by increasing focus on academic rigor, theoretically raising test scores district-wide.

The selective process and requirements for transferring during closed enrollment, which limited transfers to International Baccalaureate program and few other circumstances, will now be lifted.

According to principal Dr. Karl Krawitz, this fluid transition will be made possible by families not having to fill out as much paper work upon transferring. Previously, students needed to apply via a lengthy application process requiring signatures from many parties.

Now under open enrollment, the hope is that this pro-

Harbinger

cess will be simplified by eliminating parts to it. Students should be able to attend the school that best fits their needs, be it East’s Legal Studies or North’s pre-med program, and this change in policy will make this process much more fluid.

A worry associated with this transition is the future of the IB program.

East attendee Elizabeth Braeuel was permitted to attend East, despite living in the North district under the agreement she would participate IB program.

After a few days of school, she realized the IB program wasn’t for her, quit the program and was told she needed to attend another school.

Situations like Braeuel’s, who said she had every intention of doing the program and was encouraged to because she had friends at East, will be avoided under the policy change. Students wishing to come to East will not be forced to participate in the IB program in order to attend.

Additionally, the change will reveal more realistic enrollment numbers in the IB program, students who truly are invested in the program, only increasing the program’s prestige.

Similar to Braeul’s situation, students may wish to come to East in order to remain with friends. Students, such as those from Indian Hills Middle School, who have established friendships with people who attend East, but will have to go to North because of their address, will now have the opportunity to attend East with their friends.

With the number of students rising with the policy change, space issues might arise, but according to Krawitz, space will not be an issue. When expansion because of construction and new areas closed during construction reopen, East will have plenty of space.

In addition, Krawitz expects the number of transfers to be minimal, with only 24 applicants so far before the Feb. 1 deadline. Though the district has not set a definite limit to the number of transfers, Krawitz expects a cap on enrollment to be unnecessary due to the small number of transfers.

Another reason Krawitz believes students may come to East is because of our recent economic troubles. Due to these struggles, money has become a factor in family decisions for education. Of the 24 applicants, nine will be transferring from private schools to what would have been their high school. Parents may be encouraged to transfer their children in order to defer costs of private school towards things such as college or other items that may have become harder to afford.

But while transfer students may come, it won’t have a great change to spatial issues and will only be beneficial due to the academic competition and the increased diversity promoted by the change.

ND

// TAYLORHAVILA

WELCOME

1 9 0 ote FOR AGAINST ABSENT

The majority opinion of the Harbinger Editorial Board

Want to have your opinion heard? write a letter to the Harbinger Editorial Board

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Letters may be edited for clarity, libel, length and mechanics.

They may also be accepted or rejected at the editor’s discretion.

the

a publication of shawnee mission east highschool 7500 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208

dec.15, 2008 issue 8, vol. 50

The Harbinger is a student-run publication. The contents and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent the Shawnee Mission East or SMSD faculty, or administration.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/ STEPHENNICHOLS

ASSISTANT EDITORS/

NEWS PAGE EDITORS/ SARAHMCKITTRICK MADDYBAILEY

BERNADETTEMYERS PAIGECORNWELL

OPINION SECTION EDITOR/

ART AND DESIGN EDITOR/

OPINION PAGE EDITOR/

MEGSHACKELFORD

HEAD COPY EDITOR/ TIMSHEDOR

NEWS SECTION EDITOR/ MICHAELSTOLLE

MACTAMBLYN JOESERNETT

EDITORIAL EDITOR/ ANNIESGROI

FEATURES SECTION EDITOR/ MELISSAMCKITTRICK

FEATURES PAGE EDITORS/ CONORTWIBELL DAVIDHENDERSON

FREELANCE PAGE EDITOR/

SPREAD SECTION EDITOR/

MACKENZIEWYLIE SARAHLUBY

ASSISTANT SPREAD EDITOR/

TAYLORHAVILAND

PHOEBEUNTERMAN

DUNCANMCHENRY

A&E EDITOR/

JEFFRUTHERFORD

A&E PAGE EDITOR/ RACHELBIRKENMEIER

MIXED PAGE EDITOR/ AUBREYLEITER

SPORTS SECTION EDITOR/ SAMLOGAN

SPORTS PAGE EDITORS/ CAMSMITH ANDREWGOBLE

ONLINE EDITOR/ ASSISTANT ONLINE EDITOR/ ELIZABETHMCGRANAHAN

ONLINE SECTION EDITOR/ CAMILLEKARRO

PHOTO EDITOR/ TYLERROSTE

ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR/ MACKENZIEWYLIE

PHOTOGRAPHERS/ CHLOEFISCHGRUND MAXSTITT

KATIEEAST PATRICKMAYFIELD DANIELSTEWART CCCREIDENBERG ANDYALLEN

COPY EDITORS/ SAMKOVZAN KEVINSIMPSON ANNIESGROI

EDITORIAL BOARD/ STEPHENNICHOLS BERNADETTEMYERS PAIGECORNWELL MACTAMBLYN ANNIESGROI SAMLOGAN GRIFFINBUR MICHAELSTOLLE MELISSAMCKITTRICK TIMSHEDOR

STAFF WRITERS/ LOGANHELEY KATHLEENIRELAND LANDONMCDONALD GRIFFINBUR BOBMARTIN JORDANPFEIFFER

STAFF ARTISTS/ DANIELSTEWART TAYLORHAVILAND NICKLUCAS

ADS/BUSINESS MANAGER/ ANNABERNARD

ASSISTANT ADS/BUSINESS MANAGER/ KATHLEENIRELAND

CIRCULATION MANAGER/ SARAHMCKITTRICK

ADVISER/ DOWTATE

// PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MACKENZIEWYLIE

PAGE 6 OPINION / DEC. 15, 2008

NOT SO ‘JEW’BILANT Being Jewish can be hard during the overwhelming magic of the Christmas season

// PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MACKENZIEWYLIE

an opinion of

/ PHOEBEUNTERMAN

ings, lights, garlands, ornaments, carols, poinsettias, inflatable Santas, light-up manger scenes and of course the Hannah Montana Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree Holiday Singing Doll.

Hanukkah is a holiday you can do in five items or less. Menorah, candles, dreidel, gelt and latkes. We don’t even have claim over lights, though Hanukkah is said to be the festival of them.

I’m not saying Hanukkah hasn’t been commercialized just like Christmas has.

Target sells both a Christmas and Hanukkah decorating kit, though the one for Christmas

“”

In the month of December, amidst boughs of holly, chestnuts roasting on an open fire and ABC Family’s “25 Days of Christmas,” it’s easy for a Jew to despondently spin his or her dreidel and wish for more.

More drama. More hype. More stuff.

A fat, jolly, magical mascot who says, “Ho, ho ho,” and gives to all who’ve been good.

Instead, Jews must turn to Hanukkah Hero Judah Maccabee, who purged the temple at Mt. Zion of Hellenistic cult paraphernalia, but still takes second to Santa, whose name has over 13 million more hits on Google.

The overpowering presence of Christmas often makes it hard to get excited about Hanukkah. After all, it’s the Christmas season, when the Christmas spirit is all around and Christmas carols on Star 102 that have been playing since Halloween spread Christmas cheer for all to hear.

Christmas has Hanukkah beat, quantitatively speaking, in just about everything.

Take movies, for example. Try and name five Hanukkah movies. And The Rugrats Hanukkah Special doesn’t count—it was on TV. As for Christmas movies, there are so many that each year, I’m convinced every Christmas-related plot line’s already been used. Then comes Fred Claus, the story of Santa’s estranged older brother.

And then there’s the stuff. Christmas trees, Christmas cookies, Christmas stock-

been questioned about their existence, there is no Hanukkah fairy in place of Santa, no Hanukkah bush in place of a Christmas tree.

These are just fabrications created in an effort to equate the two holidays. You don’t get eight times as many presents as Christmas just because Hanukkah has eight nights.

Though that’s not a bad idea…

And just as I’ve learned to not expect Santa to come down the chimney on Christmas Eve, I’ve learned not to expect Hanukkah to meet the colossal expectations set by Christmas.

I’m part of a religion where on the holiest day of the year, we go to services and fast all day. Not exactly an Easter egg hunt.

Hanukkah follows the typical pattern of Jewish holidays. Said best by musicians Sean Altman and Rob Tannenbaum of the band What I Like about Jew, “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat.”

To me, that’s the spirit of Hanukkah. There isn’t anything magical about it, and sure, it will always fall in Christmas’s shadow if measured by the number of ornaments on the tree or stockings filled by Santa on

After all, it’s the Christmas season, when the Christmas spirit is all around and Christmas carols on Star 102 that have been playing since Halloween spread Christmas cheer for all to hear. has 40 pieces and Hanukkah’s has 16. And Jewish kids get the same iPods and XBOXes Christian kids do, except they’re not from Santa and they’re not under the tree.

For two holidays of conflicting religions, they do have similarities. For one, they’re both in celebration of miracles. A little over 150 years after the oil lasted eight days, immaculate conception gave way to baby Jesus. And with both holidays, the true meaning’s become shrouded

by Black Friday sales and presents.

But Hanukkah is not just the Jewish Christmas. Though I’ve // MACKENZIEWYLIE

2.

H A KK

1.

U N A

H

P O T S ’ E the

B E O

PH

3

Christmas Eve. But despite this, there is one advantage Hanukkah undoubtedly has over Christmas. Even if most Jews spend the holiday trying to ignore Christmas and be satisfied with Hanukkah, they have eight days and eight nights to do it.

Imagine what Santa could do with that much time.

DREIDEL

“Playing dreidel is fun because if you play with money, You can rob your Jewish relatives blind,”

3.

S M E the

ITHANUKKAH GLASSES

“These glasses are the best thing that ever happened to Hanukkah. And if they challenged Christmas stockings to a duel, they would win.

When you look through them, all Christmas lights become Hanukkah lights”

the MENORAH

“Each night of Hanukkah, you light one more candle on the menorah. This is my menorah that used to be my Dad’s.”

20 1

PAGE 7 HEALTH & FITNESS / ISSUE EIGHT

Worst Foods in America from EAT THIS>NOT THAT

Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing

These “starters” may in fact taste phenomenal but great tastes comes at a great, great price.

5 9 13 17

2,900 calories, 182 g fat, 240 g carbs

Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza

This pizza is the calorie equivalent of eating 18 slices of a thin crust cheese pizza from Domino’s.

2,310 calories, 162 g fat, 123 g carbs

Chili’s Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

Would you eat a Big Mac for dessert?

How about three? That’s the calorie equivalent of this decadent dish.

1,600 calories, 78 g fat, 215 g carbs

2 6 10 14 18

On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef

Don’t let the word “salad” fool you.

Just because it has something green in it doesn’t mean it’s a solid choice.

1,450 calories, 102 g fat, 78 g carbs

Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger

The term “Turkey Burger” often implies a healthy choice. But that is certainly not the case with this sandwich.

1,145 calories, 71 g fat, 56 g carbs

The importance of... from the World’s Healthiest Foods

OLIVE OIL Potential for…

-Protection against Heart Disease -Ability to lower blood pressure -Anti-Inflammatory benefits BLUEBERRIES Potential for...

-Improved vision -Promotion of gastrointestinal health -Protection against ovarian and colon cancer ALMONDS Potential for...

-Protection against diabetes -Protection against cardiovascular disease -Lowers risk of weight gain

Chili’s Awesome Blossom

3 7 11 15 19

On the Border Stacked Border Nachos

The Best Foods

4 8 12 16 20

Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce

Just like the cheese fries, these appetizers provide you with more than a meal’s worth of calories.

These nachos may have more calories than the “Blossom,”but less fat makes it the better choice.

Carbs may be good before a big race but this pasta dish satisfies your calories for an entire day.

On the Border Dos XX Fish Tacos with Rice and Beans

Chili’s Honey Chipotle Crispers with Chipotle Sauce

P.F. Chang’s Pork Lo Mein

2,710 calories, 203 g fat, 194 g carbs

2,740 calories, 166 g fat, 191 g carbs

2,430 calories, 128 g fat, 207 g carbs

Fish, that has to be healthy...right?

Wrong. A dozen crunchy tacos from Taco Bell would give you fewer calories.

These are glorified chicken strips that have an extra layer of bread crumbs that soak up all the grease.

The fat content in this dish alone provides more than 1,100 calories.

1,820 calories, 127 g fat, 95 g carbs

Bob Evans Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed Pancakes

Lonestar 20 oz T-bone

Carl’s Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger

2,100 calories, 130 g fat, 169 g carbs

Five Eggs McMuffins yield the same caloric cost as these sugar-stuffed flapjacks.

1,540 calories, 77 g fat, 198 g carbs

Quizno’s Chicken Carbonara (large)

2,900 calories, 182 g fat, 240 g carbs

Add a baked potato and Lonestar’s Signature Lettuce Wedge, and this is a 2,700 meal.

This may not be a local establishment but when your outside of the Sunflower state, watch your choices.

Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni ’n’ Cheese

Chipotle Mexican Grilled Chicken Burrito

1,540 calories, 124 g fat,

A big homemade sandwich would most likely provide you with less than a third of this sandwich’s calories.

It is the equivalent of downing one and a half boxes of Kraft mac ’n’ cheese.

Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie (whole pie)

Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo’d Power Smoothie (30 fl oz)

1,510 calories, 82 g fat, 106 g carbs

This meaty “pastry” may be tremendously addictive and small in size but it packs a big, caloric punch.

1,020 calories, 64 g fat, 86 g carbs

1,210 calories, 62 g fat,

1,520 calories, 111 g fat

America is the fattest country in the world.

Many have heard that before, but it is something that all Americans should pay attention to. The most recent statistics show that over 30 percent of Americans are clinically obese. And the six percent lead we have over second place Mexico indicates the United States wants to hold on to the top spot.

While a heath and fitness page in the Harbinger won’t solve the country’s problems with obesity, it should help people in our school and community improve their health with just a few simple pieces of information.

We have compiled data from various sources that are both quality and reliable. The book “Eat This, Not That” by David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health, is a wonderful source. It truly is the “no-diet weight loss solution.” Over 250 pages contain some of the best nutrition information available and the facts are presented in an easy to read, understand-

who to read

Three guys that can keep you up to speed in the health and fitness world LOREN CORDAIN/Paleo Diet

Cordain received his Ph.D. in Health from the University of Utah in 1981, and has been a professor at Colorado State University since 1982.

Cordain is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading experts on the natural human diet of our Stone Age ancestors. His research into the health benefits of Stone Age Diets for contemporary people has appeared in the world’s top scientific journals. Cordain’s articles, store and contact information can be found on the paleodiet.com.

able way.

Lorain Cordain, John Berardi and Eric Cressey are just a few of the trustworthy sources around the country for dependable nutritional and fitness related articles. Cordain, Berardi, and Cressey all have a number of books and their articles appear regularly on their respective websites.

Another common “problem” that Americans often find is a lack of time or resources to take care of their work out. But it doesn’t take the experience of a professional athlete to create a simple workout. In fact, it doesn’t even take a gym membership.

We’ve provided a sample home workout that takes nothing more than a milk carton and a little creativity.

With just a little knowledge, creativity, and determination Americans can begin to lower the obesity number, and ,yes, that may mean making that large milkshake a small.

JOHN BERARDI/Science Link Berardi’s philosophy is simple: people from all walks of life, from soccer

stars to soccer coaches to soccer moms, should have access to the most recent developments in health, exercise, and nutrient science.

Berardi Science Link, Inc. have one purpose: to take the latest in advanced nutrition research and teach it to others in a way that doesn’t take an advanced degree to figure out.

Visit johnberardi.com for more information. Articles are there for all to read and a number of products for whatever your interest may be.

Blueberries

Of all the fruit you can eat, blueberries may be the absolute best. Whether you’re getting them raw, tossed into cereal, or mixed in fruit salad or a smoothie, blueberries pack more fiber, vitamins, and minerals per ounce than any other fruit in the produce aisle

Tomatoes

Broccoli

This fleshy green should be at the top of your list when it comes to vegetables. It’s rich with a healthy supply of iron, calcium, fiber, and vitamin C, meaning it’s good for the circulatory system, bones, and fighting colds.

Almonds

High in protein, fiber, and vitamin E, almonds are great for your heart, digestive system, and skin. Also, they’re also loaded with healthy unsaturated fats.

Beef

It’s not only high in musclebuilding amino acids, it’s also a powerhouse of iron and zinc, which aid circulatory health. In fact, beef is so nutrient-dense that a three-ounce serving supplies more than 10 percent of your recommended daily intake of a number of nutrients, including protein, selenium, phosphorus, niacin, and riboflavin

Homeworkout with Robb Wolf (Biochemist and Owner of Crossfit NorCal Strength and Conditioning)

// CCCREIDENBERG

No matter the level of experience. No matter the amount of equipment. This at home workout is a good one for all people.

Rounds of 10,9,8...1 Milk Jug Kettlebell Swing >>>START They key to the start

ERIC CRESSEY/Cressey Performance

Eric ity with locations in Hudson and Framingham, Massachusetts.

Cressey has helped athletes at all levels - from youth sports to the professional and Olympic ranks - achieve their highest levels of performance in a variety of sports. Cressey Performance has rapidly established itself as a go-to high performance facility among Boston athletes.

Articles by Eric Cressey can be found on ericcressey.com. Cressey is young but has already proven himself as trainer and health expert.

Salmon is an excellent source of protein. A three-ounce cooked serving contains 20 grams, making it ideal for building muscle and trimming fat. Besides helping stimulate your metabolism three to four times more than carbs or fat, protein is the absolute best food for helping fill you up.

This powerful antioxidant, which comes from the pigment that 1,107 calories, 44 g fat, 113 g carbs gives tomatoes their red color, Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips from McDonald’s w/Ranch may actually help fight off a number of diseases The only thing “premium” about these and ailments--most important for men, prostate strips is the caloric price you pay. Add cancer. Numerous studies show that men who have fries and a drink to top 1,500 calories. the most tomatoes and tomato-based products in 830 calories, 55 g fat, 48 g carbs their diet are less likely to develop prostate problems than men who rarely eat the stuff.

WHAT to eat, HOW to work, WHO to read // JEFFRUTHERFORD

// morguefile.com // findarticles.com

Salmon

This is certainly a favorite, and not the worst choice you can make. Be aware of the add-ons, those are the killers.

More like a milk shake. It contains as much sugar as two pints of Ben and Jerry’s Butter Pecan ice cream.

900 calories, 10 g fat, 183 g carbs

from MEN’S FITNESS

Push-ups

position is a flat back, eyes forward and knees slightly bent.

Your arms should be relaxed from your shoulders to your wrists.

>>>START Just like the swing, back straight. Your head should also be in line with your body.

>>>MIDPOINT Your arms should continue to stay relax as your lower body does all the driving.

>>>FINISH Finish the exercise with your hands above your head.

At the end of the move allow your hands to swing back to the start position.

>>>MID and FINISH Continue the exercise with your body still straight in line. Your level of fitness will determine the depth of your push-up. It can range from your arms stopping at 90 degrees or until your chin is to the floor.

Over Dose

PAGE 8 FEATURES / DEC. 15, 2008

Energy drink sparks controversy because of drug-related connotation

// MEGSHACKELFORD One shiny, red can has caused a two-year whirlwind of controversy for an uprising beverage company. All because of its name: Cocaine. The name is scrawled up the 8.4 fluid ounce energy drink in a font resembling a white powder.

Due to this and its “Legal Alternative” logo, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a warning letter to the manufacturer and pulled it off the market for eight months in 2007.

In spite of the rumors that the drink is potentially harmful to health, that the FDA bans it and that stores won’t sell it, Cocaine inventor and Redux Beverages’ co-founder, James Kirby, has made a few changes to the drink in order to comply with the FDA. It’s back on the market.

Despite the name and the 280 mg. of caffeine, which is the equivalent of three espresso servings, it doesn’t discourage sophomore Ian Exline from drinking it. In fact, he finds the red-colored, cherry scented drink tastier than Red Bull.

“We got it from Mr. Bulky’s for my Homecoming after party,” Exline said.

“I drank about four and was shot with adrenaline. But when I got the crash I hit the wall and seriously couldn’t get off the couch.

You feel as tired as can be.”

Cocaine is available in three different types: Original, Free and Mild. The Original contains the Japanese root wasabi, which is used in sushi, as a base. It gives off a an extremely spicy flavor that Exline says, “causes a burning sensation in the throat.”

According to the Science and Biomedical Information about Real Wasabi, the root is alleged to be useful against osteoporosis, arthritis and allergies as well. While the Free version is sugar and calorie free, the Mild version doesn’t contain the wasabi heat.

As far as taste, sophomore Austin Miller prefers the Mild drink, but if he would want more energy, he would get the Original. He doesn’t drink Cocaine on a regular basis, in fact he doesn’t even drink a lot of caffeine.

“Occasionally it’s nice to drink,” Miller said. “I think it’s worth it. I like the taste, it’s similar to Red Bull but maybe a bit more concentrated.”

According to Kirby, the drink does not contain high fructose corn syrup. Instead, it contains the sugar, dextrose, which doesn’t cause a heavy sugar crash, nor does it make the body work as hard to work it off. It contains 750 mg. of Taurine, which is an amino acid that helps prevent heart palpitations and the caffeine jitters. Kirby came up with the drink’s formula himself, knowing it met regulations, and worked with his chemists on it.

“I would say our drink is one of the most healthy energy drinks out there,” Kirby said. “It only has 70 calories, Red Bull has something around 120. It only has 18 grams of sugar when Coke has 39-40. This is why the U.S. Navy Seals have named us their official energy drink and they’re beginning to work with us on a full ad campaign.”

Adrienne Baxter, a registered dietician and clinical instructor at KUMed School of Allied Health claims Cocaine is not a nutritionist pick.

“I would encourage people to substitute this drink with milk, water and possibly juices,” Baxter said. “I do understand the role of alertness these drinks give to teens through test taking and so forth. [So] I would give the drink a limit for one per day.”

Baxter considers the high caffeine content no controversy since it presents no long-term effects to consumers. Although, she wouldn’t recommend it to a patient with coronary heart disease who has been advised to limit caffeine.

“All of the other ingredients are either stimulants, like the South American additive Guarana,” she said, “or they are added proteins like L-Carnitine.”

When the FDA came across the beverage in 2007, it wasn’t because they were concerned about its ingredients; their eyebrows were raised about its name.

The name that 43 year-old software developer, Kirby, came up with one night after finally going back to the drawing board of product names.

“I thought, Cocaine,” Kirby said. “That’s it.

Right then I saw the controversy, the media, and the free press. I knew it was a fine line to walk from the beginning but that’s the kind of person I am. I like to see how far we can get to the edge before we fall off. [The name] was an epiphany.”

It was an epiphany that sold Redux $1.5 million worth of Cocaine internationally in the first three months, according to Forbes Magazine.

Then on Valentine’s Day in 2007, members of the FDA came and interrogated Kirby for five hours about changing the name of the beverage. Since it was Kirby’s first endeavor in the beverage business, he agreed to pull it off shelves for eight months. Once they began to sell it again, the logo “the legal alternative” was removed and the name was replaced with a blank spot that read, “insert name here.” Then over this past summer, the FDA sent Redux another warning letter complaining about the white powdery look of the font.

“Since when is the FDA the font police?”

Kirby said. “It’s about the safety of the food you’re consuming. They said it looked like you could chop it up with a razor blade or a credit card. I simply wanted a 1970’s soda shop theme, didn’t want to promote drug use.

I thought it would be a funny name people would like. There’s such a fine line between promoting drugs and a [energy] drink.”

According to Devin Koontz, a public affairs specialist for the FDA at the Denver District office, since dietary supplements like Cocaine aren’t subject to approval, they can be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Cocaine came under their radar because they had heard it about it from paying attention to word of mouth.

“We viewed it as a street drug alternative,” Koontz said. “Their logo said

// ANDYALLEN

so and the labeling resembled a white powder. They were implying their product was substantially similar. I personally don’t care enough about it, but I do think it is a marketing scheme.”

Kirby says that now that his beverage is back on the market, they’re ready to fight back. He has set up a legal fund online where the public can make donations to Redux.

The money is strictly spent for lawyers, and for fighting the FDA in the future.

“We’re ready to fight back,” he said. “Is their next step to go through and remove ‘cocaine’ from the dictionary? What’s the difference? I don’t want kids spending money on actual cocaine, I want them spending it on my drink.”

Miller doesn’t find the provocative name or the high caffeine content problematic since the drink is legal.

“It would be a problem if people were drinking just that,” he said. “But I don’t see a real issue with it. It’s not converging people to do drugs. It’s just the name of a product.”

According to Kirby, distributors are nervous to carry his product since the FDA has intimidated them. Most distributors can choose whether they want to carry the product, and 7–Eleven did just that.

They sent Redux a letter explaining they didn’t want to sell Cocaine because it could ruin their image. According to Kirby, their corporate headquarters didn’t want to stir up controversy. That’s why Kirby says it’s harder to find a big distributor like 7-Eleven, so the drink is easier to find in smaller or local businesses like Mr. Bulky’s, or it can be ordered on Redux’s Web site, drinkcocaine. com.

At the end of the day, Kirby just wants people to accept the product.

“There more important things out there people need to be worrying about than an energy drink called ‘cocaine,’” he said.

“We just want to sell energy drinks, not be wrapped up in lawsuits.”

All because of one name.

PAGE 9 FEATURES / ISSUE EIGHT

Where there’s Jane, there’s Sophomore masters the art of Poi and experiments with her hair

// NIRTOBER

// KATHLEENIRELAND

SOPHOMORE Jane Turner practices Poi in her front yard. Poi was created many years ago as a means for Maori people to increase strength and flexibility in their hands and arms and to also help with coordination. // MACKENZIEWYLIE

Supports The Dancing Lions Tamblyn

Rogers

Johnson

Wassamer

Cox

Heying

Penner

Creidenberg

Busey

Chertoff

11 Mac Tamblyn 1 Matt Creidenberg 8 Alex Cox 10 Will Chertoff 7 Parker Heying 3 Brian Rogers 5 Jacob Johnson 6 Nick Wassmer 4 Will Penner 9 Zach Busey

Sophomore Jane Turner has been practicing and performing the art of Poi since just this past summer but has been watching her 21-year-old sister, Abby Turner, perform for the past two and a half years. Poi, along with her blue spiked hair and a love for uplifting smile signs, has helped to set Jane Turner apart.

It began with two rugby socks filled with tennis balls.

They were a gift from Abby at the beginning of summer.

They were to help her practice moves before she was ready to move onto fire.

“With practice Pois it’s okay to hit yourself,” Jane said.

“You can do it with fire but it’s a harsher lesson.”

One now-faded scar came about from scolding 18 inch long metal Poi chains that got wrapped around her wrists.

Another from hitting herself in the face with the lit Pois resulted in burnt off eyebrows.

Jane has learned some moves from watching her sister who got involved because one of her close friends was as well. But most of her skills are self taught, like her current struggle with the behind the back weave. Her sister does help to point out techniques she might be doing wrong for constructive criticism.

The fire creates a more dramatic effect than plain practice Pois do. Jane demonstrates her skills to the public for money sometimes but mainly for their entertainment. She tries to perform in busy areas like the Plaza and at First Fridays with the largest audiences. On a given night she might get $30 which is split amongst the other performers with her. It helps to cover the cost of fuel and the $50 required for each Kevlar wick every six months.

“It’s not as much about the money as it is about making others happy and making them say, ‘Wow that’s really cool!’,” Jane said.

She trains with her practice pois wherever she can, in her back yard, during First Fridays, and even on the courtyard during lunch. Poi isn’t in season during the winter months so the aerobics floor at the YMCA becomes the ideal spot for practicing new moves.

“I like how the mirrored walls help me see what I’m doing wrong so I can correct any mistakes,” Jane said.

She must be aware at all times where the ball ends are going, to prevent injury, and anyone who has seen Jane knows she has another distraction to be aware of. Her hair.

Her sister’s left-over hair bleach inspired eight-year-old Jane’s first hair experiment. White patches streaking her naturally brunette hair helped identify her amongst the other third graders at Belinder Elementary. Seventh grade was a step up with her anime style haircut and magenta chops.

Freshman year was the first year she ever dyed all of her hair blue. Semi-permanent blue hair dye from Sally Beauty Supply does the trick every three weeks or so. But liberty spikes are what attract people’s attention from the other side of the hall.

She uses a combination of Aqua Net hair spray and Elmer’s glue to hold the spikes in place. It washes out but the concoction also takes some of the dye out with it.

“I know you can use egg whites too, and I know some people with longer hair even have to use wood glue to hold everything up, but I’ve never had to do that,” Jane said.

Three fluffed pillows on every side of her head are vital sleeping aides, with her face down in the middle to keep the shape intact.

Riding to school becomes a much more uncomfortable ordeal for Jane with spikes towering nine inches above her head. In the passenger seat, she forces her head down and to one side every morning on her ride to school. But school calls for a constant pin-straight position.

“It makes it hard to snooze in class, but it’s awesome for your posture,” Jane said.

She washes her spikes out whenever she performs Poi, at risk of the hair spray catching on fire and being unable to move.

Jeans, a cotton shirt, and a bandana with her hair in a ponytail prepares her for a routine.

“I want people to be happy and I hope they smile,” Jane said. “But whenever people react badly all I can think is, ‘I win,’ because being angry helps no one.”

Breaking tradition

// TYLERROSTE

PAGE 10 FEATURES / DEC. 15, 2008

East sophomore dreads the holiday season // TIMSHEDOR

There’s nothing better than a white Christmas.

An ideal holiday season with a living-room-ready American pine, a quiet Turkey dinner with the family and long time to catch up on sleep lost from finals during Winter break.

But for sophomore Susie McClannahan, the holidays hardly make an impression. The season carols in a low-key for the McClannahan household.

There’s the classic mishaps and disasters, as well as quirks that no family would be without.

Amongst allergies, obnoxious family and untimely birthdays, McClannahan experiences a sub-par Christmas every year “I’m not a holiday-excited person,” McClannahan said. “I’m just like, ‘Holiday. Great.’ ” Complications start a week before the big 25, when mother Cindy celebrates her birthday. Susie’s birthday arrives five days later, a mere two days before Christmas.

“A lot of people overlook your birthday when it’s that close to Christmas,” mother Cindy McClannahan said. “But her birthday takes priority over mine.”

The family does their best to keep the dates as separate as possible, but trying to keep the days distinct is like dark but plugged-in string lights: everyone wants a bright time, but there’s always a few burnt bulbs.

Both Susie and Cindy have had their fair share of dark filaments. One year, Cindy received a Christmas card from her aunt one year, with a hasty “And a happy birthday, too!” scrawled inside.

Another year, father John McClannahan forgot about the importance of the 23rd. He knew the day was a celebration, but simply assumed Christmas came two days early. He went on to change all the hotel reservations and travel plans for the family road trip to Iowa to make it by the 23rd deadline. It wasn’t too inconvienent, but Susie’s birthday had taken a back seat and was plowed by Christmas.

“She’s at least fortunate that she doesn’t have finals on her birthday, and that’s kind of an advantage, but a disadvantage because [the date] is so close to Christmas,” Cindy said. “I always had finals on my birthday.”

Forgotten or not, Susie’s birthday is never much fun. She spends most of her Christmas day picking up birthday remnants and Christmas wrappers in her room.

“I really wish my birthday was in the summer because then we could use the outdoor pool,” Susie said. “I had a half-birthday party once in the beginning of summer, and that was a really fun.”

The room never reaches its full-messy potential, as the McClannahan clan has made a pact to never exchange gifts at Christmas outside their immediate families, bypassing the frenetic and stressful holiday “spirit.”

But they still meet together on holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, and it always makes for entertaining family memories.

A few Christmases ago, 11-year-old cousin Will had a need for speed and set the treadmill at 10 mph, only to fly off the back end and collide with a chest.

Once again, no one was severely hurt, but that didn’t stop a few giggles.

And last Memorial Day 12-year-old cousin Matt caught his foot in the backyard pool’s bottom ladder rung. Uncle Sam ruined his cell phone and leather wallet in a daring Baywatch save, but no one was hurt

beyond a few boo-boos.

“It looked really funny, but then I saw he was hurt,” Susie said. “So I was trying not to laugh because he’s hurt but it’s hilarious. Disasters like that seem to happen a lot.”

They’ll meet and dine over the traditional Thanksgiving feast or Christmas meal, but with a slight twist. They swap ham for turkey for Susie, a selfdubbed “picky” eater who would rather eat ham than mashed potatoes, green beans and pumpkin pie, and her brothers.

At the classic “big-kids” table and “littlekids” table, an unwritten American tradition, Susie always gets stuck with the little McClannahans playing Mario Kart or babysitting ADHDdriven cousin Ben. “It’s not the most exciting thing to be spending time off with 13-year-old boys,” Susie said. “They’ll get huge egos and they’re like ‘Oh, we’re so good at Mario Kart,’ but they really suck so I’ll just beat them.”

When it’s just the Prairie Village McClannahans for Christmas, the family sparsely decorates. Susie is allergic to fresh pine, so the family has always used a fake tree for ornaments.

Even waking up is a drag, as Susie fights to sleep in against the will of the twins who can’t open presents until everyone’s present. She’s never made it to 10 a.m. “[If I could change one thing about Christmas] I would sleep with my door locked for when my brothers come in in the morning,” Susie said. “I would have so you can’t open presents so everyone can sleep. Because that’s what Winter Break is for.”

What’s on her list this year? A pair of sound isolation headphones.

the low-down on the

Let-down McClannahan explains why the holidays always disappoint her

easter

Reality Check: “For Easter, I used to go Easter egg hunting with my brothers, but we’re past that age. Now it’s just there. My parents were just like, ‘You guys are old enough to know there’s no such thing as the Easter bunny.’ It ended that holiday.”

fourth of july

Boredom and Hazards:“I used to really love Fourth of July, but then we have to sit outside for hours until the fireworks start to happen and sitting out there with two younger brothers for an hour or so is just kind of annoying. And then when I see all the smoke afterward I feel bad because we were destroying the environment while I watched these fireworks.”

valentine’s day

Commercialization: “[Valentine’s Day] is actually the holiday I’m least fond of. It’s just commercialized and pointless.”

The reel

Inside MTV’s Made: Survivalist Amanda and Natalie look at a treasure map designed by their Made coach, Erik. The two are trained to live in the wilderness, but, after various training sessions, Erik decides that Natalie isn’t ready to go to Alaska.

Amanda goes to Alaska by herself and joins the group. The transition seems to be smooth until Amanda gets in trouble for washing her hair in the stream with shampoo. Her punishment is having to carry the group’s trash for four days. After the incident, she breaks down on camera.

Amanda celebrates her 19th birthday after learning from her Made coach that she will have to lead the entire group to their final destination.

Amanda and Olivia Curran pose by a glacier during the sea kayaking portion of the trip.

MADE

// GRIFFINBUR

Just three days before the trip started, Olivia Curran got a call.

“Will you sign papers allowing MTV to use footage of you?”

Curran, a 2007 graduate, heard a while back that her backpacking group might be filmed. It was a trip to Alaska with Wilderness Ventures - probably for educational TV. But Amanda Potestato, MTV’s “MADE” candidate, wanted to become a survivalist. So, the station enlisted them for Potestato’s final test. 10 days of backpacking in the Talkeetna Mountains and10 days of kayaking in the Prince William Sound.

“MADE,” according to MTV, helps “…kids just like you accomplish anything they set their minds to.” Wilderness Ventures had been contacted because of their reputation as a backpacking group.

They stumbled into the airport on July 20. They spent the morning discussing what the MTV girl would be like. Curran’s expectations were low. She’d been backpacking since eighth grade, and knew her way around. A tyro might slow down the group.

“I expected her to be ridiculous,” Curran said. “MTV definitely tried to portray her as this sheltered Michigan girl.”

She did look like MTV wanted her to. But Potestato was friendly and enthusiastic. She seemed like she wanted to be there.

Curran and Potestato quickly connected. Staying in the same tent, they chatted and bonded over what they had in common: sororities, crushes on the camera crew, and “girlygirl” things.

“At home, I’m really different and more like [Amanda], so I kind of understood her,” Curran said.

As the trip progressed, MTV’s presence didn’t change much. The crew made suggestions but weren’t over-thetop.

“The film crew were such nice guys,” Curran said. “They were really into backpacking and tried to stay out of our way.”

But their presence wasn’t entirely unnoticeable. At one point, Potestato washed her hair upstream from the group’s drinking water. They were all muddy, tired and thirsty. And the shampoo was biodegradable. Overall, a minor slip-up.

But the crew made a point of informing the group leaders and MTV provided a punishment carrying the group’s trash f o r four days. After

that point, she cracked, breaking down on camera. Curran says this was intentional on the crew’s part.

“They definitely tried to provide some drama for the show,” Curran said.

Interviews were another problem. The crew would ask for other group members’ opinion of Potestato, then only use certain sections.

“I said like, ‘she’s doing great, she’s really learning but she could maybe improve on this one thing’ and they would only use the negative part,” Curran said.

It wasn’t a big deal, she said, because the group knew the truth, but it was interesting to see how reality shows worked.

“We learned a lot about them,” Curran said. “The camera guys told us that some shows, like The Biggest Loser, have writers and stuff.”

They also got a look at how reality was bent to fit the show. The first trip scene of the show was actually filmed the last day of the trip. Conversations were rephrased according to the crew and shot again.

But soon, the novelty of the cameras wore off. They became just another part of the trip.

While the backpacking itself was the same as usual, Curran feels like it was misrepresented. The show spent 40 minutes on Potestato’s training and only about 10 on the actual trip. The physical and especially mental difficulty of the trip wasn’t on the show the way it was on the trip.

The issue of personal growth, Curran says, was also ignored. Potestato had grown from being concerned with her appearance to the well-being of the other campers.

“Amanda learned that it was okay to get messy. For the first week she put on makeup every day, but by the end she was concerned with how she could help the group.”

“That’s like the whole point of these [trips,] to get to know your true self,” Curran said. “MTV didn’t really focus on that.”

But overall, the trip was worth the experience because of the team aspect, Curran said.

“Watching someone grow as a result of the group…was amazing,” Curran said. “I’m so glad I got to experience that.”

// PHOTOS COURTESY OF OLIVIA CURRAN

// COURTESYOFOLIVIACURRAN

While participating in a survival wilderness adventure, an East alum went on MTV and helped someone get...

PAGE 11 FEATURES / ISSUE EIGHT

East alum Olivia Curran (third from left) watches as Amanda reacts to her MADE coach showing up at the campsite. Curran was interviewed and shown with Amanda, who was on MADE: I want to be a survivalist. //MTV.COM

PAGE 12 SPREAD / DEC. 15, 2008

A flexible balance Students take a more lenient approach to vegetarianism by following a flexitarian diet // LOGANHELEY

Chicken or tofu? Hamburger or veggie burger? Why not both?

More and more people are finding that the secret to being a successful vegetarian is eating meat. This new branch of vegetarianism is called “flexitarianism.”

Dawn Jackson Blatner, a certified dietician and author of the book “The Flexitarian Diet,” calls flexitarians “casual vegetarians” because they follow a vegetarian lifestyle without missing out on the Thanksgiving turkey.

“A flexitarian is someone who is aiming to live a more vegetarian lifestyle, but is not giving up meat completely,” Blatner said.

Juniors Maddy Rich and Emily Halter have both discovered the flexitarian path. Halter eats chicken about once or twice a week and has seafood about once a month. Maddy eats eggs nearly every day and has chicken about four or five times a year. Both would be considered “expert flexitarians” under Blatner’s definition because they have five or more meatless days a week.

In sixth grade, Halter did a project on pigs, one of her favorite animals when she was 12-years-old. Her uncle had bought a pig one summer that her sister and she played with all season. Since then she has stayed away from pork and was a vegetarian throughout middle school. Her mom doesn’t eat beef very often and she rarely cooks with it, but her dad is a big time meat eater.

“For me I don’t think it really has to do with an animal’s rights type of thing but I just really don’t like meat,” Halter said. “Eating beef and heavy meat makes me feel really gross and it makes me really sick actually.”

According to Blatner, about 2.5 percent of Americans are vegetarians. She also said that about two-thirds of people that call themselves vegetarians are actually flexitarians.

Flexitarians aren’t just your average omnivore. Blatner says there are distinct differences between the two.

“ T h e

Vegetarian groups • Flexitarian:

Flexitarians are vegetarians who eat white meat and seafood occasionally such as chicken or shrimp. They may also eat eggs and dairy.

• Vegetarian:

Vegetarians eat no meat, including poultry and fish. They eat eggs and dairy products.

• Lacto Vegetarian:

Lacto vegetarians eat no meat or eggs. They do eat dairy products.

• Ovo Vegetarian:

Ovo vegetarians eat no meat or dairy. They do eat eggs.

• Vegan:

Vegans are the strictest vegetarians. Vegans don’t eat any animal-derived foods, including gelatin, honey and beeswax.

They also avoid using products made from fur or leather. // http://kidshealth.org

number one difference here is that every day a flexitarian wakes up, they are aiming to have a vegetarian style eating day,” Blatner said.

“So it’s not someone waking up and accidentally having a bean burrito for lunch or accidentally having cheese pizza for dinner. A flexitarian is waking up every day with the intent or the plan to have a more vegetarian lifestyle.”

Maddy was 11-years-old and spending Thanksgiving at her grandparent’s cottage when she started considering a more vegetarian diet. She discussed her eating habits with her uncle and her cousin who are both vegetarians.

“I think I decided I wanted to try something new and I’ve just stuck with it,” Maddy said.

But chicken and eggs have remained the exception for Maddy. Her mother Kim Rich recalls a time when Maddy said she “didn’t want to eat anything with a face.” Chicken slipped through that crack though. Kim said it had to do with chicken nuggets from McDonald’s.

“She kind of grew up eating chicken nuggets at McDonald’s,” Kim said. “And when you look at a chicken nugget it doesn’t look like that ever used to be part of something else. When you eat steak you can sometimes see blood come out of it. Chicken nuggets are really pretty bland and nondescript.”

Blatner said she knows the trend is growing. In 2003, the American Dialect Society nominated and approved the word “flexitarian” as the most useful word in the English language.

Blatner said she has just noticed the word being used in interviews and in magazines in the last 12 months. She said the flexitarian trend is growing because it has positive health benefits.

“We know that flexitarians weigh 15 percent less than people who eat meat,” Blatner said. “That means that the average woman in America is 165 pounds, so if she was a flexitarian she would weigh 25 pounds less.”

Blatner said that being a flexitarian decreases the chance of getting heart disease, diabetes and cancer, but increases life expectancy. Other reasons she said people are becoming flexitarian are for the environment and for monetary reasons.

“You leave less of a carbon footprint when you eat a plant-based diet like a flexitarian diet,” Blatner said. “It [also] tends to actually be good for your wallet because meat is a very expensive item on a grocery list.”

Health problems due to her diet haven’t been a problem for Maddy. She runs cross-country, track and plays on the basketball team. She said that her diet has not affected her performance negatively.

“I keep up well and there isn’t really a difference,” Maddy said.

“I’ve never been more tired than anyone else on [the team].”

Maddy also feels that the school cafeteria does a good job providing options for her. She used to take protein squares and eat spoonfuls of peanut butter, but now she only takes a multivitamin.

Vegetarians can, at times, feel like they are missing out on “social meats,” according to Blatner. Items like hot dogs at baseball games and turkeys on Thanksgiving can make pure vegetarians feel left out of festivities.

“It is very difficult for people to stick 100 percent on a vegetarian plan, mostly because of social reasons,” Blatner said. “A flexitarian is really this nice compromise of being able to enjoy all these social meats, but still most of the time aiming to be a vegetarian.”

Sophomore Maddie Bavley is one of those people who found it too hard to be a complete vegetarian. She tried being a vegetarian for a short amount of time in elementary school, but found taking meat completely off her menu was too hard for her.

“It’s kind of hard because if you’re going out [to eat] meat is a stronghold [at restaurants] and it [being a vegetarian] can be a nuisance sometimes,” Bavley said.

Access t o // MAC v e g e t a r i a n KENZ IEWY food and a love LIE for certain meats can be a downside for straight vegetarians, according to sophomore Prarthana Dalal. She grew up a vegetarian, but can see where some vegetarians can struggle with meatless diet.

“I think for some people if they like some form o they’ve had for a long time and then just never eati hard thing,” Dalal said. “In that case a flexitarian d best way to go. Instead of being a strict vegetarian y the flexibility of being a flexitarian and having the able to eat that [social meats].”

Following a flexitarian diet also helps fam vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Blatner’s book, “ Diet,” provides guidelines on how to make every r and without meat for “mixed” households.

“Flexitarianism really… unites families again idea that you can have some meatless days and t with meat,” Blatner said.

Blatner said being a vegetarian or a flexitarian i as it used to be. Vegetarian options are sold rig vegetarian items in supermarkets across the coun says about 90 percent of all restaurants offer vegeta Now vegetarians don’t have to feel left out as th into the Christmas ham. Because flexitarians can and choose to not eat it too.

PAGE 13 SPREAD / ISSUE EIGHT

The top 10

Health restaurants in Kansas City These restaurants have been selected by VegKC.com as having great menus for vegetarians. Many of them are also consistently some of the best restaurants in the city.

1 2 3 4 5 //

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JOL

SSA ALY

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of meat and ing it might be a diet would be the you could utilize e choice of being

milies that have “The Flexitarian recipe with meat

because of this then some days

is not as difficult ght next to nonntry and Blatner arian options. heir family dives have their meat

Why not to eat meat • Help the poor.

More than 760 million tons of grain are fed to farmed animals so that people can eat meat. This grain could be instead used to help feed people in need.

• Stop animal cruelty.

On some factory farms, thousands of animals are crammed together into dirty confinement systems.

These animals are never allowed to live a natural life.

• Clean the environment.

A recent United Nations report found that eating meat causes almost 40 percent more pollution than all cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world combined.

• Avoid heart disease.

For meat eaters, the risk of heart disease is 50 percent higher than for vegetarians. Many doctors recommend a vegan diet for preventing heart disease.

• Lose weight.

Vegetarianism is a proven weight loss diet. A vegetarian diet is the only one that takes weight off and keeps it off. // http://getactive.peta.org

6 7 8 9

Mixx

4855 Main Street Kansas City, MO 64112 www.mixxingitup.com

The Blue Koi

1803 W. 39th Street Kansas City, MO 64111 (816)-561-5003

Eden Alley

707 W. 47th Street Kansas City, MO 64112 www.edenalley.com

Whole Foods

7401 W. 91st Street Overland Park, KS 66212 www.wholefoodsmarket.com

Bluebird Bistro

1700 Summit Street Kansas City, MO 64108 www.kansascitymenus.com/bluebirdbistro

Café Seed

2932 Cherry Street Kansas City, MO 64108 www.cafeseed.com

Jerusalem Café

431 Westport Road Kansas City, MO 64111 www.jerusalembakery.com

Saigon 39

1806 1/2 W. 39th Street Kansas City, MO 64111 (816)-531-4447

Genghis Khan Grill

3906 Bell Street Kansas City, MO 64111 www.genghiskhankc.com

10 Blue Nile Café

20 E 5th Street Kansas City, MO 64106 www.KCBlueNileCafe.com // http://www.vegkansascity.com

PAGE 14 FEATURES / DEC. 15, 2008

Culturaldivide // CAMILLEKARRO

She walks down Mission Road to East and remembers walking outside her boarding school every morning for the assembly. Wearing her uniform, a red checked chudidar with white canvas shoes, she sang the school song and watched the orange and green flag rise above her class of 60. She remembered her hair ribbons because she didn’t want to pay her class leader the small punishment fee.

Senior Anne Johnson was raised in southern India and still speaks Tamil among her family. A sophomore when she arrived at East in March 2007, Johnson worked with her counselor to graduate early.

“She is very focused and goal-oriented,” counselor Terry Archer said. “She has thought through what she wants to do and what she wants to become.”

Although she is still a year behind where she would have been academically in India, Johnson is now debating on whether to continue her studies in the Midwest or to attend college in her home country.

“I want to go to India to do my college,” Johnson said. “But I’m already like behind in India because I would be in college there [now.]”

The decision is more than just academic. She is deciding where she wants to live, what kind of culture she wants to be a part of, and whether being near to her family is a priority.

Familiar with both American and Indian customs, Johnson’s cultural views are a fusion of filtered content from both her homes. True, she hopes to marry an Indian man in collaboration with her family’s wishes, but she thinks the traditions of arranged marriage and dowries for the groom are outdated. Although she didn’t mind the uniforms required by her school in India, she enjoys the freedom to wear jeans and shorter skirts. She does well at East, but she thrives in India’s strict environment.

“We don’t go out on the weekends [in India],” Johnson said. “We focus on our studies during the week and spend time with our families on the weekends.”

Accustomed to a strict environment, Johnson was surprised at East’s laid back structure. In India, the June to March school year consists of three terms with midterm exams for each. There is also a half-year and end-year exam. Each student takes the same classes and tests for the same subjects: English, math, biology, physical science, zoology, chemistry, history, geography.

“We study a lot,” Johnson said. “We automatically know the whole test because we know [the information] is going to be on the exam…I don’t even have to study here.”

According to Johnson, other than the English she spoke at

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Senior must choose between returning to India or going to college in the United States

both schools, the two have nothing in common.

“I was like what is this school,” Johnson said. “Like blue passes. You know, we don’t do that.”

They also don’t take standardized tests or date to their parent’s knowledge. Surnames are rare and scooters and bicycles are the standard for student transportation.

Anne Sheryl Victoria Johnson came from India known as Sherryl Victoria. Here, she’s called Anne Johnson. She was often called Anne in boarding school, so the shift was easy.

“My name kinda disappeared,” Johnson said. “We have so many Annes here, I was the only one there.”

Although she doesn’t miss her name, Johnson misses her neighbors who were like family. Their families would exchange food and talk every day after eating. Here, she feels as if she hardly has neighbors and misses the family functions and weddings.

Johnson also misses the homemade food, even in restaurants, but she still gets it at home in Kansas.

“My mom makes good chicken curry and we eat a lot of rice,” Johnson said. “In India, we have very tasty cookies…you can get them here too in Indian shops.”

But she didn’t come across the Atlantic to buy cookies that are made back home. Her mother, a registered nurse, was offered a job and free residence in the states. After Johnson’s father died in a mining accident in India, they decided to make the move.

Speaking of her father’s life, Johnson smiles in remembrance and laughs.

“He’s like so caring,” Johnson said. She remembers how he restricted travel because he wanted to protect her and her brother from sickness.

He didn’t want them to suffer adverse effects from change in climate and water. “Even if he [took] us to our native place, [he’d] carry water from here in big cans for like ten days or a month or something, and then there [he’d] heat it everyday and then give it to us.”

Johnson now lives with her mother and brother who is a junior at East. In India she played shuttle and regional games at the boarding school she attended. Here, she does what any all-American kid would – watches television, listens to music, and fights with her brother. She also draws a lot.

Johnson enjoys and excels in math and biology and hopes to graduate from dentistry school. Her mom told her that was a field for success, but she can’t tell her where to go to find it.

“I think she’s going to be very successful,” Archer said. “She’s very determined.”

Johnson feels confident in the quality of education in both India and America. She spent 11th grade in boarding school, a French institution run by Catholic nuns from India. But she knows that attending dentistry school in India would add an extra year of credit transfers to the nine standard years. She is considering UMKC’s six-year program, but knows that wherever she goes, she will remember where home is.

D

PAGE 15 FEATURES / ISSUE EIGHT

keeping the

// PAIGECORNWELL

avid Muhammad knows the stereotype.

He has heard it from his students. He sees it in the news.

Muhammad doesn’t fit the stereotype. He is black, not middle-eastern. He wears a red and yellow track jacket instead of a turban.

He speaks English instead of Arabic.

“Islam is not a cultural thing or a racial thing,” Muhamamad said. “It is a global thing.”

Muhammad is Muslim, a follower of the religion of Islam. Islam, which has the second largest religious following in the world, and is based on five pillars of faith. Islam means “one who submits himself to God.” He is also a teacher at East, a school that is over 90 percent white. He hears about the extremists who strike in the name of Muhammad’s religion, like those involved in the Mumbai attacks. Or Al-Qaeda. Or Sept. 11.

But he knows they don’t truly reflect his religion, what he calls a “religion of peace.”

He knows the stereotype. And he works to break it.

His father was raised Christian, but converted when he was 18-years-old, among many others during the 1960-70s rise of the Nation of Islam. In 1975, he transitioned to orthodox Islam.

He married a Christian woman, so Muhammad was raised with a balance of the two religions. He didn’t receive presents for Christmas, but did for Kwanzaa, a nonreligious holiday for African-Americans. His parents tried to raise him with moral values and a choice, never forcing him to choose one religion over the other.

“I’m lucky that my parents were very balanced,” Muhammad said.

His faith was tested when he went to college at Emporia State University. His father wasn’t there to wake him up for morning prayer. His parents weren’t waiting to make him feel guilty for doing something immoral. And even some who told him they were Muslim were drinking and having premarital sex.

“It really tested my faith, and I never had a moment where I strayed away, Muhammad said, “But I won’t say I wasn’t tested. One of the best parts of college was that my faith strengthened.”

This is his first year of teaching. On the first day of school, he told his students that he was Muslim, and his prayer rug and Koran sit on a shelf above textbooks and his college diploma. He can’t take time during school to make his prayers, but sometimes his students see him after school praying to make up the prayers he didn’t do while teaching. If a student has a question about Islam, he’ll answer it.

“I have to be careful, I can’t let this be my pulpit,” Muhammad said. “You have to respect other people’s beliefs.”

Muhammad knows the stereotype, but hasn’t experienced anything severe first hand. He has experienced little issues, though. Little issues like when he and his father were coming back from Chicago and were told they were on some type of list, which was why they were having trouble getting their tickets. Or the look he got when he was going through the security checks and someone pulled out his prayer rug.

He thinks one reason he hasn’t been the victim of extreme prejudice is because he doesn’t fit the stereotype of what a Muslim may be. He is what he calls a “double whammy” of two minorities, both black and

FAITH

Social studies teacher beats stereotypes about his religion

TEACHER David Muhammad prays after school on his traditional prayer rug.

Muhammad is a follower of the Islamic faith.

// MACKENZIEWYLIE

Muslim.

“I have two obstacles to overcome,” Muhammad said. “I don’t think people here are used to seeing an African-American teacher, but in other ways, I’ve embraced it, because it’s my identity. I think some of my students respond to me differently, because I am a minority male and appreciate my different views.”

Muhammad hears the misconceptions about his religion, “little comments,” occasionally at East from his students, but he knows that it isn’t entirely their fault that they have these false views.

“Some of it is that they haven’t been educated, and they don’t want to be educated,” Muhammad said. “There is also some fault on the people who call themselves Muslim and go against Islam.”

He sees those going against Islam in the news. The recent Mumbai attacks have been attributed to a Pakistani Islamic extremist group; the war in Iraq has been called a “holy war.”

“Extremism is not mainstream,” Muhammad said. “It is a balance. Kids have to inform themselves, but also the Muslim community needs to do a better job of showing what a good Muslim is. There has to be a double effort.”

Muhammad believes that there is much

more that plays into the groups of suicide bombers of terrorist groups who say they are doing their work in the name of Allah.

“It’s sad,” Muhammad said. “A lot of [extremists] are uneducated and poor, and have been growing up in a culture with no hope.

Then some guy, supposedly a religious figure, motivates them by thinking that they can die for something greater than themselves and then pull out verses from the Koran, out of context, and think “oh I can do this and get a reward.”

He knows some see the pictures of the women in burkas, completely covered except for their hands and eyes, and associate that with Islam. In some countries such as Iran, it is illegal for women to not wear a hijab, a head scarf.

“There are Muslim women who are oppressed, and those who are, it’s not their fault,” Muhammad said. “It is their society misinterpreting the religion.”

Muhammad’s fiancee wears a head scarf.

He has never seen her hair. They are engaged and have set the wedding date, Aug. 1, 2009.

But he has never seen her hair.

The Koran says that Muslims can marry anyone who is Muslim, Christian or Jewish, according to Muhammad. And he didn’t consider it a requirement that she wear a head scarf.

“There’s beauty in that,” Muhammad said.

“But for a man to say that a woman has to do that is hypocritical, because we don’t have to cover anything.”

They met at a religious conference where she gave a seminar about Islam and poetry.

She lived in Indiana, so they talked online and on the phone for a year before they met in person again.

“In Islam, dating is different,” Muhammad said. “From the get-go, there was the thought that I could potentially marry her.”

She now lives in St. Louis, but will move here with him once they are married. She too is a practicing Muslim, and she chose to wear a hijab.

“You look at some countries and the people are forced [in the religion], but in the Koran it says that there is no compulsion in religion,” Muhammad said. “If you are told to believe something, then it is not faith.”

A compass points out which way is northwest in room 317. Muhammad is supposed to use the sun to find which way is northwest, but in this windowless classroom, a compass is the next best thing. It’s pointing which way to face when praying.

It’s pointing to Mecca. Muhammad takes out his prayer rug off of the shelf. It’s time to face Mecca again.

{

the page about the holidays

1

2

GET CRAFTY

// MADDYBAILEY

ALL WRAPPED UP

Get together with family and friends for a White Elephant gift exchange! Gifts brought should be suitable for anyone in the group, but also completely random. They should be wrapped in a fashion to disguise what they might be. Let’s say you bought a mood ring—wrap it in a giant box. Gift giver identities should be anonymous as well. Players take turns choosing and opening a gift, or, instead of opening one, they can 'steal' a previously opened gift. This forces the person to choose a new one or steal a gift from someone else.

7 ICE, ICE BABY Slide on over to Crown Center Ice Terrace or The Ice at Park Place to enjoy a spin around the ice rink. Both charge six dollars for admission plus three dollars for skate rentals. Remember to skate at your own risk!

6

LEND A HAND

Volunteer at a soup kitchen! You can earn more service hours and help feed the homeless during the busy holiday season. Grace and Holy Trinity Church holds a soup kitchen over the holidays.

get in the spirit by making a playlist of holiday songs by either...

CLASSIC SINGERS

MUSICIANS OF TODAY

-This Christmas- Chris Brown -The Christmas Shoes- NewSong -Christmas Don’t Be Late- Alvin and the Chipmunks -All I Want for Christmas Is You- Mariah Carey -Let It Snow, Let it Snow, Let It Snow- Michael Buble -Mistletoe- Colbie Callait -Christmas (Baby please come home)- U2 -Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree- Miley Cyrus -Where Are You Christmas- Faith Hill -Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays- NSYNC

Make a fleece blanket. Buy two sheets of fleece material (found at Hobby Lobby or Michaels), each 1 and 1/2 by 1 and 1/2 yards.

Choose a pattern you like and a color to match. Simply cut 3-inch deep slits around the edges of both sheets, creating fringe.

Then, use the fringe to tie the two sheets together, creating a double-layer, cozy blanket!

4

CRAVE COOKIES

Invite 12 friends for a gathering of delicious cookie-eating. Each friend will bring three-dozen homemade cookies and go home with a three-dozen assortment. Pig out and chat over cookies. Also, make sure to save at least one half of your cookies for your family… or maybe just one third.

You’re never too old to watch some classic holiday movies— A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and The Snowman.

STOCKING STUFFERS e

f a giftcards-starbucks, itunes b chapstick c purell hand sanitizer d flashdrive e silly putty or playdough

h

f candy cane

c

i

g playing cards h tic-tacs or gum i post-its in cool shapes

3

KEEP WARM

SEVEN THINGS TO DO ON WINTER BREAK HOLIDAY 5CLASSICS

HOLIDAY JINGLE

-Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas- Frank Sinatra -Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town- Bruce Springsteen -Wonderful Christmastime- Paul McCartney -Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree- Brenda Lee -Sleigh Ride- Ella Fitzgerald -Run Run Rudolph- Chuck Berry -What Christmas Means to Me- Stevie Wonder -Little Saint Nick- The Beach Boys -White Christmas- Bing Crosby -Holly Jolly Christmas- Burl Ives

Holiday crafts could either be an excuse to “bond” with your younger siblings or it could become your “homemade gift” for your grandparents. Either way it’s a fun way to get in the holiday spirit! Some basic crafts are paper snowflakes, popsicle-stick reindeer, Styrofoam snowmen, or paint dull light bulbs for ornaments.

// DANSTEWART

{MIXED

PAGE 16 MIXED / DEC. 15, 2008

g

a

d b

// ALLPHOTOSBY CHLOEFISCHGRUND

WORD OF THE ISSUE from The Daily Candy Lexicon: Words That Don’t Exist but Should {holiback girls} n. Women who are infamous for regifting (Grandma went all holiback girl, trying to gift me the very same bath soaps I gave her last year.)

PAGE 17 A&E / ISSUE EIGHT // CELEBRITYWONDER.COM

Nerdfighters UNITE

Sophomore discusses beneficial impact of brotherly support on YouTube//BOBMARTIN

Re-vamping

Vampires

‘Twilight’ brings life to the best selling book series //AUBREYLEITER

Arriving over two hours early in my ‘Edward Cullen’s Been Bringing Sexy Back Since 1901’ shirt, I eagerly waited for the midnight showing of “Twilight” to begin. But I’ll admit I was nervous. I thought this was going to be one of those movies where it is so bad it ruins the book for you. Thankfully, it wasn’t.

The movie was just as enchanting and exciting as the book. It made $70.5 million in the opening weekend, and set the record for biggest premiere of a movie directed by a female. Any fan of “Twilight” should see it, most likely, more than once.

Catherine Hardwicke’s film “Twilight” is the movie version of Stephenie Meyer’s hugely famous novel about 17-year-old Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) who risks everything by falling in love with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). It is your typical love story with a minor twist: Cullen is a vampire, he doesn’t age and he has to be especially careful to not kill her. Okay, major twist.

Since I have read the books, I absolutely loved the movie. And I think most fans of the “Twilight” saga will too. It may be appealing to the fan base, but for someone who hasn’t read “Twilight”, it won’t be as lovable.

For example, Bella being a klutz is well known throughout the novels. So when she trips over tree stumps and slips on her front porch during the movie, someone who has read the book would see the humor in that. In contrast, someone who hasn’t is going to be confused on why they kept adding in such details.

“So the lion fell in love with the lamb.”

“What a stupid lamb.”

“What a sick, masochistic lion.”

This conversation between Bella and Edward had an enormous impact on readers when reading the book, and when it was said during the movie the reaction was just as significant. Two of my best friends sitting next to me started bawling their eyes out and part of the theatre started clapping. But again, someone who hasn’t read the books is going to be a bit flustered because lions and lambs aren’t part of the storyline.

Some parts of the movie were so random. During one of the most intense scenes, Bella is having flashbacks and then randomly in the middle of them, it shows a deer running through a forest. I couldn’t help but to laugh at this point, but I stopped immediately when I received evil glares from everyone sitting around me. I even got called a ‘mood ruiner.’

In the novel, Stephenie Meyer makes the character of Edward Cullen to be so beautiful and breath-taking that it seems it would be impossible to find someone to play him. Or at least, do it well. Even though Pattinson was named one of 2008’s “Sexiest Men” by People magazine, it’s still an understatement to say there was a lot riding on his shoulders. But with his

crooked smiles, messy hair and pale skin, he does a great job of portraying the Edward that girls have been waiting for.

The reaction of all of the girls in the theatre when we first see Edward is like an audible earthquake. I can honestly say probably every girl’s heart dropped while a sigh of happiness came out of their mouth. It was like they just saw God (well in their minds, they might just have).

In the first scene that Pattinson speaks, I was worried because it was obvious he was trying to cover up his British accent. But throughout the movie, he definitely grew on me. He was very good in the biology class scene, the first scene the couple was in together, where his facial expressions make Bella think she smells bad but he is really just trying to resist her tempting scent.

Also, he is hilarious. Simple one-liners like, “I had an adrenaline rush, it’s very common, you can google it,” would have the whole theatre laughing. He really played it off well, and was an excellent choice for the part.

When I found out the Kristin Stewart was playing the part of Bella, I was disappointed. I’m not sure why, but when I had pictured Bella, it wasn’t anything like her. But I was wrong; Stewart also did a great job of playing her part. She did an amazing job of acting when the venom was rushing through her skin after being bit. She was solid throughout the movie, but this scene was definitely her strong point.

Throughout this review, I have only mentioned the audience of girls. Maybe that would be because there was a massive total of four guys in the theatre. But guys with a sensitive side would probably enjoy this, or any guy who finds vampire romances interesting. It should apply to a wide variety of audiences because it’s filled with the romance of Bella and Edward, the comedy that only “Twilight” readers would understand, action sequences when the vampires fight and the drama spread throughout.

After seeing it once, I kept wanting to see it again. I ended up seeing it a total of three times and it’s having an effect on people just as expected. My friend is seriously in denial about vampires, she “knows” they exist and plans on marrying one. Yeah, good luck with that one.

The movie did not ruin the book, if anything it helped it. It will encourage people to read the rest of the series, the ‘Bumper Sticker’ application on Facebook basically has a theme now and it’s becoming one of the biggest phenomenons of the decade. It may even pass Harry Potter.

|

STAR SCALE | |Stay home |

| Rental at best |

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Brotherhood isn’t usually something that can be expressed through four minute Youtube videos, but over the course of 2007, John and Hank Green made it work. In their project titled “Brotherhood 2.0”, they took turns uploading videos for each other every day for the course of a year. The brothers covered everything from daily ramblings to what’s going on in their lives. What started out as a creative way for the two to bond, has become much more. A movement, even, that brought the two to Kansas City on Nov. 17.

One major drawback to their videos is the far-from-average life the brothers live. John authors young adult novels, and his most recent, “Paper Towns,” debuted at number five on the New York Times best seller list. His brother Hank is the founder of EcoGeek, a blog devoted to finding solutions to current environmental problems, and a part-time musician. This is a big part of their stage show.

East’s own library did its part to get the word around of the event, giving out a few John Green books, including his first novel, “Looking for Alaska,” for free, assuming a student was interested in attending.

As the project progressed, more people took notice. It wasn’t the average Youtube idiot parade, but something deep and intellectual while still funny and entertaining. John and Hank were easy to relate to, and their daily videos were as good as anything on T.V. It really was a brotherhood playing out right in front of our very eyes. The two soon took notice of their following and found a category that they and all their fans could fall under, Nerdfighters, which they define as “someone made of awesome.”

The Nerdfighters are certainly a devoted bunch too. They know all the inside jokes, they’ve read all the books and made much of Brotherhood 2.0 possible, such as the 2007 “Project for Awesome.” On Dec. 17, 2007, hundreds of Nerdfighters posted videos on Youtube promoting a charity of their choice and telling why it was an important cause. The day was a total success, proving what kind of power John and Hank had behind them, and what kind of people would be showing up for their future tour dates.

That’s why on Nov. 17 it was no surprise that the Nerdfighters lined up as early as 3 p.m. at the Johnson County Central Resource Library, eagerly anticipating the event at 6 p.m. Many carried stacks of all of John’s books. Digital cameras and camcorders were everywhere, and the nervous giggles and laughter surrounding the waiting line made it obvious that many of these people had just been dying for this day to come. Libraries don’t often see this much traffic on an average Monday afternoon, but this one was different; these people were here for something that they just couldn’t find anywhere else on a Monday.

As the line grew thicker and thicker, library staff began letting people know that if their name wasn’t on the registration list (a Facebook event for the tour stop), they may not make it in.

When the doors finally swung open, the room’s 130 person capacity filled within minutes, and many were left to stand.

Sophomore Katy Westhoff was one of the first in line.

“I really like the fact that there’s a group of people on the Internet, especially on a Web site known for its stupid videos, where people are allowed to be smart, and be reasonable, logical and clever,” said Westhoff. “And when I saw them in person, they didn’t disappoint. I was expecting something completely different, but it wasn’t like that at all.”

John and Hank took the stage about ten minutes later. While the Johnson County Library cheered on, live feeds of the event were broadcast to Hays and Wichita, along with many watching on the Blog TV web site. The hour and a half was far more than a “meet and greet with the author”. Hank performed several of his songs he wrote during the series, including “Helen Hunt” and the Nerdfighter favorite “Accio Deathly Hallows”, an ode to the last Harry Potter book. John read multiple excerpts from Paper Towns and explained a lot about what goes into his writing and how he’s motivated, creating a even balance between the fun and serious sides of “Nerdfighteria”.

While Kansas City is merely a small chapter in the novel-like story of John and Hank’s lives over the last year, they don’t appear to be letting up. Hank recently started a small record company, DFTBA Records, with friend Alan Lastufka, which he released his debut album “So Jokes” on in November. Meanwhile John will soon be writing the screen play for a film version of Paper Towns and begin preliminary work on his next novel, which he is notorious for taking long amounts of time to finish.

|Worth seeing |

|Instant Classic

PAGE 18 A&E / DEC. 15, 2008

KANYE’S

// PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHEN NICHOLS

‘HEARTBREAK’ In a dramatic departure from his old style, West gets lonely on “808s and Heartbreaks” // STEPHENNICHOLS

Kanye West is a changed man.

The swagger of his previous albums, the incendiary comments (see: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”) and the splashy fashion sense has all faded with the release of his newest album “808s and Heartbreak.”

Instead of pink polos, he’s wearing pleated-grey suits. His previous success with powerful beats and invigorating lyrics has been shoved aside for sometimes a minimalistic, but always melancholy, attempt at making music.

West has reinvented himself and the result is a daring album that rewards the listeners who give it a chance. This isn’t rap anymore. West, for now, has switched to digitally enhanced crooning.

He sounds distant and beat-up, like he just lost the fight of his life.

And that very well might be true. In the last year alone, West has endured the death of his mother and a split with his fiancé. If this album is any indication of what West has been going through, it’s been a dark couple of months.

The beats filled with heavy undertones like “Jesus Walks” or the electric wake-up of “Good Morning” have disappeared.

Now, West utilizes two gadgets to perfection: one, the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, an early ‘80s drum machine and the other, an Auto Tune, a digital voice modifier that corrects off-pitch notes.

Coupled together with West’s new solemn demeanor, this album doesn’t linger on the success of his previous albums, collectively called his “college” albums because of names

such as “The College Dropout” and ”Graduation.” Through the strippeddown beats and heart-wrenched crooning, West has stumbled upon a universal truth of higher education: you can’t stay in college forever.

And if West has truly graduated from past albums, then the real world he has entered is a cold, disheartened place. Opener “Say You Will” is a sprawling reinvention of West’s music. He sounds like he’s been moping around an empty house, and coupled with some metallic blips reminiscent of an eternal game of Pong, it comes together with tormented perfection.

West does no rapping in this new album, period. While Lil Wayne’s voice cracks his way through his guest appearance on “See You in My Nightmares,” Young Jeezy offers the only true-spitted verse on the album on “Heartless,” a strippeddown banger that slots West into a T-Pain role. That is, if TPain started writing emo poetry on Friday nights.

West is drawing comparisons to T-Pain more and more because of this album’s style, but the differences are substantial. West isn’t dancing around like T-Pain, who is enjoying his superstardom. They both use the same Auto Tune effect and although that’s similar, West seems to be getting more out of it, especially on tracks such as “Paranoid” and “See You in My Nightmares.”

Probably the best example is “Coldest Winter,” a track

rumored to be about his mother. It samples an old Tears for Fears track and the vocal range would normally be way out of West’s range. But thanks to Auto Tune, it’s spot on.

The only pitfall on the album is “Pinocchio Story,” a live track recorded at a concert in Singapore. Where in the rest of the album, West finds a balance between heartbreak and sparse, but captivating beats; he’s just wallowing in self-pity here. “I just wanna be a real boy,” West warbles amongst shrill screams.

It’s a poor ending to an overall solid album by West. This was a project that had serious potential to be a career killer, but putting his faith in ‘80s technology and Auto Tune has paid off for an artist who has done his heartbreak justice.

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The Killers experiment, get mixed results Las Vegas band scales back the guitars on new album and embrace synths for a space sound //JOESERNETT

The Killers new album “Day & Age” is new and different. They pushed their sound almost to its limit and lost their defining tone The bar was set high for the release of this album after The Killers debut album in 2004, “Hot Fuss.” The album sold 2,500,000 copies in its first year.

But this new album is their most experimental to date. The band tried more spaceysynth like sounds and put in several new instruments.

The opening song, “Losing Touch,” starts off with rippling guitar parts and horns that set it far apart from their previous efforts which were mostly synthesizer and guitar parts. “Day & Age” is very synth heavy compared to their previous efforts, and the listeners are able to find Caribbean-style steel drums in the end of “I Can’t Stay;” also in the same song is a saxophone riff that makes a jazzy feel.

The addition of the saxophone really helps this song along and shows a depth of musicianship that the Killers have never reached before.

Previous to this album, the band stuck to what they knew: guitar, bass, drums, and

synth. Now they are exploring. They slowed things down a bit, pushed synth to the forefront of their sound, and incorporated new instruments they have never had before.

Overall the album does well, but doesn’t live up to that of “Hot Fuss.” They started off with a bang in “Losing Touch,” but following after this song was their single “Human,” that asks the question “Are we human, or are we dancer?” “Human” does not show the band’s best efforts. The song is overly repetitive and seems to get redundant after the first minute.

But the band is able to pull off a similar sound with more success in “This is Your Life.” The song has many of the same qualities as “Human,” heavy synth, drums throughout the song, and a washed out guitar line here and there.

The theatrics of the songs in this album are quite impressive. During “Spaceman” there is a feeling of freely floating through space, with leader singer Brandon Flower’s voice in the background and spacey sounding guitar lines. “Joy Ride” has the feeling of taking a nice easy drive to cool down. A catchy bass line intro, and a funk style guitar riff give a cool jazzy feeling, and this is

STAR SCALE | |Broken record|

|Borrow at best|

topped off by a saxophone which pops up several times in the song.

But no songs match that of “A Dustland Fairytale,” which speaks of a land where the good girls die. Lyrically this is Flower’s best song; “Castles in the sky sit stranded/ Vandalized/ The draw bridge is closen.” Then the song is topped off with a great orchestral ending that leaves us all wanting mor.

A comparable difference from this album to their others is the way that guitar player Dave Keuning, takes more of a backseat to let the synth play out more. In all their albums before they did use synth, but it seemed as though guitar and bass also had a dominant role. Whatever happened to songs like “All These Things That I’ve Done,” with those catchy guitar lines that stick in your head for days?

The last four songs on the album all seem to be the Killers’ attempt at creating a ballad.

Well, to be honest, they weren’t good.

All four songs, “I Can’t Say,” “Neon Tiger,” “The World We Live In,” and “Goodnight, Travel Well,” all lack that Killers sound we loved in “Hot Fuss” and “Sam’s Town.” The songs lack a point of interest and all sound very similar; spacey and washed out, with

|Worth buying |

Flowers repeating a verse or two. Don’t get me wrong I like a good ballad every now and again, but those four songs in a row just bores me.

One of few complaints from this album is how Brandon Flowers takes a different spin on his vocals. In many songs he is shaky sounding, which is something he has done before, but maybe in excess this time. At some points when he sings and hits his high notes he comes across almost as a whiney tone.

Another draw back, specifically in one song, is a sense of redundancy. The conclusion of “I Can’t Stay” seems to be a repeating lull, with no clear climate or point of interest.

The same verse is repeated three times near the end of the song which then seems to simply disappear into silence.

All around though “Day & Age” is a decent album, and shows a new diversity the Killers have created. This also shows what The Killers can really do if they push themselves and their sound.

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PAGE 19 A&E / ISSUE EIGHT

// LANDONMCDONLAD

Movies don’t get much more ambitious than Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York.” This is a film that attempts to take on the cosmic vagaries of life, death and everything in between, all in the space of a scant two hour running time.

The fact that this brilliant, often frustrating movie comes so close to meeting its lofty goals is a testament to the talent of its visionary director/ screenwriter and the abilities of its often beleaguered cast. Simply put, this surreal mindbender is one of the noblest failures imaginable. It will probably reward multiple viewings on DVD. Kaufman, whose talent has been previously showcased in “Being John Malkovitch” and the delicate masterpiece “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” takes to the director’s chair for the first time here. The tragi-comic story of Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a failed community theater chief who finds out that he’s dying of an unspecified illness and uses his recently earned genius grant money to mount an epic play based on his life and the people that filled it.

The idea sounds like an act of desperate narcissism, but Caden’s motives are far more sympathetic. He’s just trying to make sense out of his life through the only medium he knows. The play is conceived within a labyrinthine warehouse, a place where Caden orders his crew to assemble a gargantuan model of New York City for his characters to act and interact within. As his time on Earth grows shorter and the production gets more hectic, Caden slips further and further into the private hell of existential angst.

If “Eternal Sunshine” was about being

young and in love, “Synecdoche” is about growing old with death. As Caden scripts and casts his play, the line between reality and fantasy blurs and the writer and his characters rapidly age and switch roles to the point where the film’s muddled timeline seems as complex and elusive as the meaning of life itself.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the more talented and versatile actors working in the business today, plunges into the role of sadsack Caden with the grim gusto of a performer who knows he’s being asked to play the unplayable. The endlessly complicated character of Caden seems almost too much for one actor to successfully portray in the constraining length of a single film.

But Hoffman struggles valiantly and actually pulls off the seemingly impossible. He successfully catches every high and low in this man’s life, like when he falls in love with spunky box office worker Hazel (Samantha Morton) shortly after his philandering wife Adele (Catherine Keener) leaves him or when Caden must come to grips with the painful truth that his lost daughter Olive was a victim of child pornography in Europe.

If this was a more conventional or accessible movie, Hoffman would definitely be looking at an Oscar nomination.

Another performance of note comes from a brief appearance by Robin Weigert as Caden’s daughter Olive when she’s grown up. The audience learns that Olive turned to stripping and lesbianism after her childhood trauma and blames her dad for everything, including the fact that she’s now dying of AIDS. In a heart-wrenching hospital scene, Caden begs his daughter’s forgiveness only moments before the inevitable. Keep your eye on the rose tattoos for one of the most emotionally devastating visuals I’ve seen in years. Weigert plays the scene with a righteous, ruined furor that defies any traditional description.

Despite all the praise included above, the movie isn’t perfect by any means and often gets infuriatingly languid in its pacing, delaying important scenes or pointlessly returning to minor characters that have changed beyond all recognition. This is a film that either needed to be a lot shorter or significantly longer. As it is, it seems a bit cluttered and unbalanced, not unlike the harried mental state of its main character.

The assembly of the miniature New York drags terribly in places and certain things, like a graphic off-screen suicide, seem extremely arbitrary and inconsequential to the work as a whole. It certainly never approaches the subtle beauty of “Eternal

Sunshine,” a film I consider to be Kaufman’s only work of complete genius.

Another problem stems from the character of Sammy (Tom Noonan), a mysterious stranger that claims to have stalked Caden for the better part of twenty years and demands to be cast as Caden’s double. This vaguely sinister character, like Tyler Durden in “Fight Club,” appears multiple times in the film before his formal introduction and may well be an extension of Caden’s own troubled psyche. Sounds like an interesting idea and all, but Sammy’s storyline is criminally underutilized by the script and underplayed by Noonan to the point where the audience barely cares who the hell he really is.

The film is full of Kaufman’s signature theme, one that underscores the monotony of daily routine with a mix of surreal whimsy. But the visuals here are much darker here than in any of his previous works. The dreamlike visions of “Adaptation” and “Eternal Sunshine” are replaced with those of a particularly gonzo nightmare, like a cancer patient being eaten away by the disease to the point where he must be buried in a child’s coffin or Caden’s unexplained malady, one that causes terrible seizures and lime green excrement.

Many movies have been made about the rigors of the creative process, from David Cronenberg’s trippy version of “Naked Lunch” to Stephen King’s harrowing author’s nightmare “Misery,” but “Synecdoche, New York” deserves additional points for the fact that the finished product of Caden’s play remains largely unseen. This allows the audience to draw their own conclusions about the film’s purposefully ambiguous ending. I personally thought it was perfect, a fitting finale to a flawed masterpiece.

For a film so visually stimulating, “Synecdoche, New York” is most effective in what it chooses not to show. The entire film revolves around Caden’s tireless, often frantic attempts to cast and construct his last mad dream, never taking any real heed to show what exactly, if anything, ever comes of it. For Kaufman and company, it’s all in the process, the creative life of the mind. That’s the truth behind all art.

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STAR SCALE | |Stay home |

| Rental at best |

|Worth seeing |

|Instant Classic

PAGE 20 A&E / DEC. 15, 2008

?

WHAT TYPE OF MOVIE IS

NOBEL SON Landon lays out the possibilities

Possibility one: Kidnapping drama

The plot of “Nobel Son” kicks off with the kidnapping of Professor Michaelson’s son Barkley, an opening that makes the audience think they’re in for a substandard abduction caper in the tradition of “Firewall” or “Don’t Say A Word.”

Possibility two: Slapstick comedy Between the horndog antics of Professor Michaelson and his band of busty interns and the MiniCooper mall chase, “Nobel Son” suddenly seems like the tortured spawn of Woody Allen and the entire cast of “The Italian Job.”

Possibility three: Gruesome murder mystery But for a comedy, this thing sure is bloody. The amputated thumb in the opening scene comes to mind, as do the constant beatings, bludgeonings and random acts of cannibalism. Only the viewer will feel more pain then the characters.

Possibility four: Amateur hour indie Bottomline: “Nobel Son” is an absolutely hopeless mismatch of genres, one that reeks of newbie’s desperation on the part of its young director, Randall Miller.

Better luck next time, kid.

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NOT SO ‘NOBEL’ INTENTIONS

//CELEBRITYWONDER.COM

Newest film led by Alan Rickman just can’t seem to make up its mind // LANDONMcDONALD

“Nobel Son” can’t quite decide what it wants to be when it grows up. Will it be a taut kidnapping drama with occasional spurts of dark humor? Will it be a slapstick comedy with speeding Mini-Coopers and outrageous heist schemes? How about a gruesome murder mystery, complete with severed thumbs and a strange fixation with the merits of cannibalism? Are you confused yet? Well, so was I when I was leaving the theater, nursing a pulsing headache and a wounded ego.

Movies like this juvenile speed trip tend to have that effect on people.

If noted crime novelist Elmore Leonard and hyperactive director Quentin Tarantino had gotten together and written a script when they were in elementary school, they would have produced something a lot like “Nobel Son.” This movie loves to substitute style for substance, music for meaningful dialogue and endless quick-cut montages for effective storytelling. It’s the battle cry of the cocksure amateur; something that the creator obviously thinks will seem edgy and cool but comes across only as stale and overblown cinematic drivel, chronic junk food for the mind.

The premise could have worked in different hands. It all starts when Professor Eli Michaelson (the excellent Alan Rickman), a smug chauvinist of a chemistry professor, wins the Nobel Prize and jets off to Stockholm with his wife Sarah (Mary Steenburgen) to claim his prize. Soon after their departure, their grad-student and cannibalism-obsessed son Barkley (Bryan Greenberg) is kidnapped by Thaddeus (Shawn Hatosy), a lone psychopath who claims to be Barkley’s longlost half brother. He wants to hold Barkley ransom for two million dollars, the same amount their father is about to receive as prize money in Stockholm.

Bonding over a shared hatred of their unsupportive father, Thaddeus and Barkley soon become partners and a grand heist involving mall cops and Mini-Coopers is planned and executed with all the cutesy, disguise-heavy whiz-bang of yet another “Ocean’s 11” sequel. But the two soon predictably fall for the same girl, the mentally disturbed beatnik City Hall (Eliza Dushku), and quickly find themselves the bitterest of enemies, each struggling to stake their claim to the mon The performances of this movie are nearly all clumsy and unintentionally amusing. Hatosy is especially funny whenever he tries to act like a bad-ass. I’ve seen more threatening looks from a prepubescent ballerina. The usually enjoyable

| Rental at best |

Danny DeVito appears briefly, but his obsessive compulsive neighbor character isn’t given anything remotely interesting to say or do. The only stand-out here is Alan Rickman, whose presence in this trash heap of a film I will never understand.

Rickman, so regally sardonic as Snape in the “Harry Potter” series and Judge Turpin in “Sweeney Todd,” is one of the finest British character actors currently working on stage and in film. Whenever he appears onscreen and hisses biting commentary at the hapless actors around him, “Nobel Son” becomes briefly acceptable, even entertaining at points. But his screen-time is all too brief and the film soon sinks back into turgid mediocrity.

When did it become common practice for every self-proclaimed “indie” film to boast a soundtrack that sounds like a poorly remixed club track from the early 90s? The pulsating beats of bad techno drowned out much of the film’s dialogue and made the already convoluted kidnapping plot seem even harder to follow.

Also, I have absolutely no problem with violence in movies, but “Nobel Son” features strange forays into bloody mayhem, like the lurid opening that features a conscious man’s thumb being severed in loving close-up. Scenes like these appear wholly out of place given the rest of the movie’s tone and seem to me to be nothing more than futile attempts to make the audience sit up and take notice. But sound and fury count signify nothing without some degree of coherancy.

“Nobel Son” is also one of those annoying films with a runtime that seems to go on for about twenty extra minutes after every possible conflict has been resolved. My guess is that the writers had to struggle to make it over the ninety minute mark with their derivative script, one that borrows significant chunks from far better movies, like DeVito’s own “Ruthless People” and last year’s underrated mini-masterpiece “The Lookout.”

All in all, not even Rickman’s prodigious comedic talent can save “Nobel Son” from becoming an unoriginal, puerile, thoroughly exasperating waste of time and money. It’s certainly not the worst thing in theaters right now, but it’s far from an enjoyable night at the movies. I’d give it two thumbs down, but I’m kind of afraid to expose those to anyone after watching that amputation scene.

Yeesh.

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PAGE 21 SPORTS / ISSUE EIGHT

// SARAHMCKITTRICK

the 80-160 range where Maggie’s sugar level needs to be to remain healthy. Similar experiences have occurred many times for Maggie, who has played sports her entire life, but they don’t stop her from competing.

“Diabetes is a part of me, but it doesn’t control me,” she said.

Diabetes is a disease where the body doesn’t use insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar and starches into energy the body needs.

High school sports provide a challenge for diabetics.

Two East athletes who have diabetes, Maggie and sophomore Emily Goering, constantly have to struggle against their blood sugar while exercising. Unlike other athletes who can solely focus on the game, the two must always be aware of their blood sugar number so they don’t push themselves too hard.

For Maggie, her two sports, freshmen basketball and JV drill team, are very different, but both still affect her blood sugar. With drill team, Maggie doesn’t feel the effect as much, although she might feel a little extra tired after dancing constantly for four minutes.

Basketball is a different story. The constant moving and running is harder for Maggie, although she usually decides to push through if her number is border line. Maggie’ blood sugar number gets low about once a practice, and she will just sit out for a couple of minutes and have a juice to raise her blood sugar. However, Maggie’s coach, Kristy Mader, told her at the beginning of the season to sit out if her number was getting low and take as much time as she needs, which she greatly appreciated.

“It was really nice because I’ve had a couple of coaches in the past that would get mad at me,” Mader said.

Mader first saw Maggie had diabetes from her physical, and then heard from varsity head coach Rick Rhoades, but has never had a diabetic athlete on her team.

Although Mader knows Maggie could need help and is there if she needs it, she says Maggie is usually pretty independent about dealing with her diabetes on her own and knows her limits very well.

“I can tell when something’s up because she starts to slow down, but by then she’s already taken herself out before I need to say anything,” Mader said.

Goering also feels the effects of her diabetes during both volleyball practice and games. Like Maggie, she might step out of a drill to drink juice or eat a piece of candy to get her blood sugar back up. Despite regulating her sugar level carefully, Goering can still experience low blood sugar levels during games and start to feel sick.

“It’s a really weird feeling,” Goering said. “I get very shaky and my reaction time is slowed a lot. I feel really out of it.”

Although both Maggie and Goering have diabetes now, their paths to the disease were very different.

Each of Goering’s parents had diabetes, and when she // MACKENZIEWYLIE was 12, her parents noticed she was having increased thirst and unusual sleepiness, common Type 1: People with Type 1 diabetes prosymptoms of diabetes. They duce very little or no insulin. Their insulin checked her blood sugar and levels must be checked daily. then took her to the hospital, where they diagnosed her with Type 2: People with Type 2 diabetes the disease. merely can’t use their insulin effectively.

“I didn’t know much about Most can handle this with little to no daily it,” Goering said. “I knew you had to give yourself shots but medical intervention.

IKE

gTHESP

htin Fig

As she pulled through the water, freshman Maggie Thomas felt her hands tremble and realized she needed to get out of the water fast. She started shaking and felt dizzy as she climbed out of the Homestead pool during swim practice. The combination of exercising and diabetes left her barely able to walk to the guard shack and turned her skin pale even in the hot summer sun.

“I called my mom and she started to panic,” Maggie said. “She told me to go right to the snack bar and demand… food.”

At the snack bar, Maggie quickly got a Snickers bar and the sudden rush of sugar caused her to blood sugar to go up again to its normal level. Diabetes is a disease where the body doesn’t use insulin properly.

Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar and starches into energy the body needs. Practicing for summer swim team had caused her blood sugar to drop to 24, way below

East athletes deal with diabetes on and off the court, being careful to regulate their blood sugar

THE FACTS

ABOUT DIABETES

At least 170 million people in the world have some form of diabetes, compared to 30 million in 1985 Loss of coordination, touch sensitivity and tingling in toes, feet, legs or arms may be symptoms of diabetes.

THE TYPES

//

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

that’s pretty much it.”

The first signs of Maggie’ diabetes came when she was driving home from Minnesota with her family when she was four. In a span of seven hours, Maggie had to go to the bathroom nine times without drinking or eating anything. Her mom, Kitty Thomas, recognized the signs of the disease and immediately took her to Children’s Mercy Hospital to get her tested.

“I felt like the whole world was changing,” Kitty said.

“Everything was altered.”

There, the doctors did several tests to check her blood sugar, many which Maggie doesn’t remember. Like her mom guessed, she had diabetes. The doctors gave her books and movies about the disease and tried to explain it to her, but it didn’t make much sense to a four-year-old.

Even though the family wasn’t very educated about the disease, the doctor said that as long as they managed it, Maggie could do anything.

Comfort came for the family as they recognized more and more people had the disease and were able to live normal lives.

“We found out that the Minnesota’s quarterback had diabetes and played in the NFL,” Kitty said. “That gave us great hope.”

As she learned to cope with diabetes, the biggest difference Maggie saw was in her athletics and realizing that she couldn’t go constantly.

“My mom would run along the sidelines with a juice box that she would make me chug so I could get my sugar up,” Maggie said.

How Maggie dealt with her diabetes was changed forever on Nov. 4, 2004. On that day she got her first “pump” which connects to her body. Before her insulin pump, Maggie would have to stick herself 4 or 5 times a day to test her blood sugar and her diet was strictly regulated. She also had to calculate equations and ratios for the amount of food she could eat, quite a nuisance for a 10-year-old. Now, her pump automatically matches the insulin given to the body to what’s needed, instead of injecting insulin through shots.

“It’s all about finding the middle ground, a balance,” she said.

Goering, who also uses the pump, agrees, saying it’s much easier for sports because it keeps the blood sugar sustained. Before her pump, Maggie would have to leave the game and give herself a shot if she felt low, but now she can just have a juice box that picks up her blood sugar in 5-10 minutes.

Even with new technology for diabetics like the pump, diabetes can still be a hassle for an athlete like Maggie and Goering. Maggie constantly has to wonder if she can keep going through drills and if when she’s tired it’s her diabetes acting up. The hardest part for her is explaining to people who don’t know she has the disease.

“I don’t want people to think I’m sitting out because I just don’t want to play, it’s because of my diabetes,” Maggie said.

Freshmen Molly Jennings, a friend of Maggie’s since they were two, is a basketball teammate, and has seen her go through it all. The two went to the same elementary school and have played soccer together for years. When Maggie gets all of the attention for feeling sick with her diabetes, Jennings is the friend who tells people that she will be fine because she knows Maggie hates the attention.

“She’s usually really tough about it and tries to finish the exercises before sitting out,” Jennings said.

Despite the hardships diabetes can cause for athletes, Karen Gentry, spokeswomen for the American Diabetes Association, says that exercise is good for them.

Exercising causes the blood sugar levels to lower to a more normal level. Gentry also said exercise can also reduce the risks of complications for diabetics such as damage to the retina, nervous system and kidney.

Although exercise is beneficial in controlling diabetes, Gentry says it’s important for athletes to talk to their doctors.

“Kids with diabetes shouldn’t have to play sports any differently,” Gentry said. “They just need a plan of action.”

PAGE 22 SPORTS / DEC. 15, 2008

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Despite previous setbacks, junior is...

dancing to the

// JORDANPFEIFFER

Varsity wasn’t even a thought.

All junior Margaret Peterson wanted to do was make the team, and compete at the JV level. But as soon as she got her score back from the tryout and found out she made varsity drill team, her whole dancing career changed.

As a freshman, Peterson didn’t think much of trying out for drill team. She loved to dance, but she just wanted to do it for fun.

Peterson had been dancing ballet since age four, as well as hip-hop and jazz at the Jody Phillips Dance Company, perfecting steps and harder movements. But the drive to do competitive dance still wasn’t there for her.

Sophomore year, Peterson decided she was ready to take the plunge and give East’s drill team a try. But not being as prepared as some of the other girls were, who had already had prior experience being on JV drill team the year before, Peterson was cut.

“After being cut sophomore year, I wasn’t struck as if I had to quit dancing,” Peterson said.

“I just kept working harder, and danced on a competition team to get myself to the level I needed to be.”

She learned from the mistakes that she had made during her past tryouts, including the dance steps that she messed up, and built on to what she had learned. Peterson began working harder everyday, getting into the dance studio as much as possible and spending close to 10 hours a week dancing.

Going into the junior year of tryouts, Peterson knew what to expect. She had been working hard, setting small goals for herself, and after not making drill team the year before had given her a new sense of motivation.

“I was really hoping just to make JV,” Peterson said. “Everyone told me that you usually don’t make varsity if you hadn’t been on JV so I was really shocked.”

Excitement was an overwhelming feeling for Peterson once she knew she had made the drill team. But according to head coach Kristin Anderson, doing the little things; such as working on technical steps, as well as focusing on meshing in with the overall dance routine is something that

CIRCULATION SENSATION?

Although players and makers think ionic necklaces increase performance, there is still some speculation

she feels Peterson does well.

“The team as a whole is a cohesive group,” // ANDYALLEN Anderson said.

“But Margaret fit // CONORTWIBELL right in, right away When sophomore Jackson Brett road, is there a chance that scientific to wear the Phiten brand necklaces, or even though she puts on his ionic necklace, he can and/or medical evidence will be found any other brand with the MLB logo on had not been on immediately feel his body becoming to support these products? Yes, but as of them,” Jackson said. drill team, which Brett expected to wear his Ionic more comfortable. His body feels re- now, there is no evidence to prove they can be very hard.” actually work.” necklace during baseball season, but energized, and simply better.

Senior captain But Jackson is still convinced that come spring, he was shocked to hear he As he runs onto the baseball field, Johanna Cook he knows he will have an advantage. the technology in the necklaces really couldn’t. feels that Peterson “It’s against the rules to play with any His necklace will use its ionic balance does work. had impressed the “Once you put one on, you don’t jewelry, so we have a no jewelry policy technology to make his blood flow drill team coaches faster, and in turn, will relieve stress want to take it off because you just tell for games and practices,” head baseball since their first coach Tim Jarrell said. and fatigue. Jackson’s father, George that it is working,” Jackson said. couple of preBrett Bros ionic necklaces claim to The nervous system needs millions Brett, owns a baseball company with his tryout clinics, by brothers named Brett Bros. His company of ions per second, so if there is no really make your blood flow faster, but showing just how created their own ionic necklaces, which surplus amount of ions in the body, Nelson says that it’s all about whether good she could help to restore important ion balance the body’s metabolism will begin to the wearer strongly believes that the be. She felt that and improve concentration and focus. function below optimum, which leads necklace will work. her work ethic and “It’s like when we give patients a According to Trion-Z, a company that to stiffness and fatigue. Pro athletes, attitude would be has their own line of Ionic equipment, such as baseball players try to receive sugar pill, and tell them that it is an a great attribute to ionic technology is the transfer of a surplus amount of ions by drinking expensive headache pill,” Nelson said. bring to the team. positive and negative ions. When beverages with electrolytes in them, “It’s all about the fact that they think its “Margaret is a the human body absorbs too many such as Gatorade. But the electrolytes going to work, just like the necklaces, great asset because positive ions from everyday activities, give too high of a does of ions, which if someone wearing it thinks that it will she is very trained work, they begin to believe it actually more negative ions are necessary to quickly move to the bladder. from her studio counteract the huge amount of positive Phiten was the first major company to does work.” dance,” Cook said. ions. Research shows that having an come out with these types of necklaces, “She has a lot of excess of positive ions in the body leads and this is where Brett got the idea for experience and to fatigue, loss of concentration and his own line of ionic necklaces. At first, brings a technical general muscle and joint aches.

Jackson would wear both the Brett Bros element to the When ion balance is changed inside and Phiten necklaces at the same time, team.” the human body, protection against but Jackson now only wears the Brett Cook believes harmful microbes is lost. The loss of Bros necklaces.

How They Work: that just the this protection creates many chronic “I wear my dad’s necklaces Ionic necklaces reduce the amount of posipreparation for conditions ranging from migraines, to and not the Phiten anymore tive ions in the human body and open up the ion the drill team high blood pressure. The only way to because I like to represent my channels to provide a surplus amount of negative audition could open the ion channels is to provide a dad’s company,” Jackson said. ions to counteract the overpowering positive ions. have been the surplus amount of ions.

Whenever Jackson is around Too many positive ions lead to fatigue stress, difference between “As of right now, there is no scientific the team with his dad, a former and ionic necklaces use their technology to Peterson making or medical data to support that these Hall of Fame third baseman for relieve this stress and fatigue. it her junior year. types of necklaces do work,” Dr. Michael the Royals, players are always

Cook believes that Nelson said. “ There is somewhat of a asking him for the necklaces. the mental side is // SkinMarvel.com placebo effect that is associated with “The Royals players always ask me just as hard as the the necklaces, the power of suggestion for my dad’s necklaces, but most have physical, which is pertinent in this case. Now, down the contracts with the MLBPA, they have is one of the main things Peterson has improved. styles, as well as a showmanship team according to Anderson. after school at a dance studio “She seemed a award for hip-hop. They look to After raising funds all season and work on the routines there,” lot more confident and prepared Peterson said. “Right now, we’re capitalize on those awards this long through many different this season,” Cook said. “I didn’t not having too many practices year, and Peterson feels that they fund raisers, the team is able to witness her tryout, because we will do very well this year. after school, but I’m sure that they showcase its talent at the national aren’t allowed to, but I think that will start to pick up as we get closer “We’ve already gone through level. The girls have already begun could have made an impression our jazz routine multiple times,” practicing and will compete this to nationals.” and difference during the coaches Peterson said. “Were hopefully season in both jazz and hip-hop The team has done well the decision.” past couple years, getting third in starting our hip hop routine soon, competitions, just as they have Drill Team Nationals, are set hip-hop, fourth in jazz and fifth in but we still have a lot of time to done the past two years. for springtime in Orlando, and is prepare before March.” team performance category, where “If we feel that we need more one of the biggest highlights for they competed against all dance practice time, we all get together most of the girls on varsity drill

PAGE 23 SPORTS / ISSUE EIGHT

Leading the boys’ team into a new season, we scout the veterans

Starting Hardwood... on the

// MACKENZIEWYLIE

12

14

MARCUS WEBB SENIOR

GUARD

Making a transition from the gridiron to the hardwood, Webb brings with him two years of experience and a bruiser mentality he’s picked up on the footballl field.

Webb’s brother and ‘06 graduate, Garrett, was a member of the state runners-up team that same year as J.D. Christie’s second-hand man. Marcus has the potential to lead this team in a similar fashion if he’s able to play the way he did last season when he racked up Sunflower League Honorable Mention awards.

WINN CLARK SENIOR

GUARD/ FORWARD

SENIOR

CENTER

Only averaging four points a game last season, Slaughter more than tripled that number in the first game against South, putting in 21 against a team with a future Division 1 player on its roster. Jack will need to step up as the team’s big man at just six-foot-four in a league of centers that are even taller. Expect Slaughter to be big on all facets of the stat sheet on a team in which scoring is evenly spread.

the rest of the roster 10 11 RYAN OLANDER 21 SCOTT KENNEDY

JUNIOR FORWARD Having JV experience, Kennedy comes to the varsity team stacked with senior leadership.

His ball-handling and ability to get to the basket will be strengths in a fast-paced game.

Kennedy has the potential to be a leader of the team his senior year, making this his season to prove himself on the court.

//

YLIE

ZIEW

KEN MAC

JUNIOR

GUARD

Despite being plagued with knee injuries, Olander has been a team player since his promotion to the JV squad his freshman year. Though not as effective on the scoring end, Olander is one of the strongest defenders on the team.

CHARLIE LUDINGTON SENIOR

GUARD

The sharpshooter of the team, Ludington will be clutch in big games when crucial points are needed. As a junior he dropped seven 3-pointers against Lawrence High and averaged seven points per game. He’s proved himself to be one of the most deadly shooters in the city and in the season-opener against South put in nine points, setting a trend for even scoring throughout the lineup.

// MACKENZIEWYLIE

// TAYLERPHILLIPS

24

JACK SLAUGHTER

22

Balancing an International Baccalaureate education with leading this team, Clark will take the position of ‘08 graduate Mike McRoberts as the role player. He recieved similar Sunflower League awards as Webb did last season and can do even better if he can perform as the scorer and motivator on the court. Clark’s experience will be key in late-game situations in which his versatility as a point guard and a forward will come in to play for the offensive and defensive sides of the court.

// MACKENZIEWYLIE

34

// MACKENZIEWYLIE

// DANSTEWART

CURRAN DARLING SENIOR

FORWARD

The quarterback of the football team, Darling comes to the court fresh off a commitment to Villanova University to high jump. As the forward, Curran can use his vertical to boost his stats under the basket. He proved to be an excellent team with Slaughter in grabbing rebounds and extending possessions for the Lancer offense in the season-opener Dec. 5.

CHASE LUCAS

SENIOR FORWARD A strong senior coming off the bench, Lucas will present himself as a power in the paint for grabbing rebounds and being a compliment to Darling and Slaughter down low.

30

JOHNNY DELGADO

SENIOR GUARD/ FORWARD Strong with the ball, Delgado can bring a relief to Ludington and Webb when fresh guard play is needed off the bench.

C

SHAWN HAIR

13th SEASON

COACH

As his brother B.J. enters his second season as the head coach at SM North, our Coach Hair enters his 13th at East, hoping to continue a winning trend from the last three years in which the team has averaged over 17 wins a season. Though his teams have never won a state championship, Hair has sported teams that rank with the best of them, and this year’s squad can do just that.

33 ROBBY MORIARTY 42 BLAKE SPENCER SOPHOMORE FORWARD AsafreshmanonJV,Moriartyplayed in big games against Rockhurst and South last season. A standout on the JV this season, Robby can be a key to the bench on varsity.

JUNIOR

CENTER

A transfer from the Kansas City Christian School, Spencer brings height to the JV and varsity squads down low in the post. He can bring strength to the paint and has the ability to make moves from the block to get to the bucket.

PAGE 24 PHOTO ESSAY / DEC. 15, 2008

SPREADING THE MUSIC

On Nov. 25, the men’s choir visited over 10 schools on the annual Chipotle Tour, singing for the students and staff while also promoting East choir LEFT: Seniors Kyle Sitomer and Jack Brugger eat with the men’s choir during lunch break at Chipotle.The group performed at schools from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a break in-between for lunch, completing the annual “Chipotle Tour”. // MACKENZIEWYLIE FAR LEFT: Juniors Kaevan Tavakolinia, Jake Parelman, Beck Johnson, and Cody Rutledge sing the song “Silhouettes” with the choir while waiting in line at Chipotle on 91st Street and Metcalf Avenue. “It was tons of fun [singing for the workers],” said Parelman. “The workers are always glad to have us but at first they are a little weirded out.” // MACKENZIEWYLIE FAR LEFT ABOVE: Senior Andrew Sweeney asks students at Tomahawk Elementary School, “Who likes to have fun?”. He spoke at each school on the tour and explained that many choir members can play sports have lots of fun. // TYLERROSTE RIGHT: Choir instructor Ken Foley directs the men’s choir during their first performance at Westwood View Elementary School. The choir began each performance with the East song along “Happy Together” by the Turtles and “Silhouettes.” At each performance a member from the choir who attended that school would stand up and explain what activities he did at East and how choir had affected them. “ We had a ball and we were always well- recieved by the schools,” Foley said. “It’s a great way to let kids know choir isn’t just something for girls, and that it can be a lot of fun.” // TYLERROSTE