Issue 8

issue 8 / december 12, 2005 / shawnee mission east / 7500 mission road prairie village, kansas

BackintheDay THE STUDENTS. THE CLOTHING. THE RULES. THE MONEY. From the cost of a parking pass to the length of boys’ basketball shorts, The Harbinger looks at our Lancer past and how our school has changed see page 7 for story by joey soptic

page 2 / news / the harbinger

After a house fire a student’s family is having to deal with the

Destr u ction Falling through: The upper story floor of the Walden’s home fell through.

by rachel mayfield Driving home from school, junior Eric Waldon laughed to himself as he looked down his street and saw his Dad’s car parked next to two cop cars.

“I thought my Dad had gotten a ticket for speeding or something,” Waldon said.

The three cars were blocking the road and he wasn’t able to get around them. He turned the car around to come in through the other end of the street. As he pulled up to his house he was met by some of his neighbors who were the first to tell him what had happened.

A fire had started in the attic of his house earlier that day, around 1 or 1:30 p.m., and burnt the roof and spread downward into the kitchen and family room. The fire was stopped before it could do anymore damage.

A Prairie Village mailman on his route spotted the fire. He saw the smoke rising from the house and immediately called the police to report the fire. He ran to a neighbor’s house that was close by to try to get the Waldon’s cell phone numbers. Unfortunately she didn’t know any of the Waldon’s numbers either.

Knowing that the kids had attended Briarwood Elementary School, they called the school looking for the Waldon’s contact information. They explained the situation to the school secretary, Cathy Gaar, who called Robin Waldon and told her what had happened.

“I was just thinking, oh this is horrible and I was dreading calling her,” Gaar said. “But you have to do what you have to do.”

N News Briefs B

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Ceiling holes: The Walden’s ceiling is no longer intact after the fire destrucphoto by emily rappold tion.

Robin was in The Jones Store shopping when she received the phone call. She quickly drove home in a panic, not knowing what to expect.

“I was shocked, I couldn’t believe it,” Robin Waldon said. “I went home as fast as I could and once I saw everything, I just broke down.”

Freshman Clark Waldon had gone with some friends to Juice Stop after school. When he called his Mom, she told him that there had been a fire at the house. Once he realized she was serious, he didn’t know how to react.

“When she first told me, I thought she was joking,” Clark said. “It didn’t even really hit me until I actually got to the house and saw what happened.”

None of the rooms caught fire but everything inside has to be cleaned from the smoke damage which can take a long time. The policemen told the Waldons to go into the house and put together a few possessions.

Quickly putting some clothes together, they also took some items that they didn’t want to leave behind. Eric is a big Raiders fan so he took the Raiders flags hanging around his room. Because Clark is big on music, he brought his guitar, some cds, and his iPod. Reed, who is also a music fan, brought his iPod and piano music.

The Waldon’s are very thankful that the overall damage to the house isn’t as bad as it could have been.

Ernie Waldon had just finished the basement and now it is ruined. The investigators went in and found that the fire was caused by a problem with a light fixture in the attic.

“It was a really humbling experience,” Robin said.

Franklin Center The Spanish National Honors Society sponsored Franklin Center project is Tuesday. 3rd hour classrooms sponsoring a child will throw a party with gifts and food. Classes have been raising money for their sponsored underpriveldged child.

“I’ve learned a lot about all the cleaning and procedures the insurance company has to go through when there is a fire.”

They are currently staying at a hotel. They decided to rent a house in Mission Hills and they moved in Friday.

“The drive to the hotel is really inconvient but I don’t mind it too much,” Eric said. “Not having a computer to do homework on makes it hard to get some assignments done.”

The Waldons were originally told that they will be out of their house for at least four months but now, it will take six to seven months before they get back in their house.

“When I found out we were going to be out of our house longer, I was just mad,” Clark said. “That’s the rest of the school year not being able to stay at my house.”

Since the Waldons have been going through a tough situation, their family is trying to help in whatever way they can. Robin’s sister, Mary Clarke, bought the Waldons a Christmas tree, thinking that they might not have time to buy one.

“It was a good feeling to know they will have some kind of home spirit in their new temporary home,” Mary said. “Since they don’t have much right now, this was something that they could all share together.”

Semster Exam Schedule Monday, Dec. 19 : 1st hour final - 7:40-9:10 2nd hour final - 9:20-10:50 Lunch - 10:50 - 11:40 3rd hour final - 11:40-1:10 Tuesday, Dec 20: 4th hour final - 9:10-10:50 Lunch - 10:50-11:40 5th hour final - 11:40-1:10 Wednesday, Dec 21: 6th hour final - 9:10-10:50 Lunch - 10:50-11:40 7th hour final - 11:40-1:10

photos by emily rappold

Choir concert There will be a choir concert at East on Thursday at 7 p.m. It will be held in the East auditorim.

This is the final concert for the semster.

Share packages pick up Share packages will be ready to pick up on Tuesday and Wednesday. Check the lists posted in the hallway to see who recieves a package.

issue 8 / december 12, 2005 / news / page 3

From Coach to Teacher

Varsity volleyball coach Terry Wright retires from coaching to pursue teaching

by amanda allison & kristen crawford It was a career of firsts: the first East volleyball all American, the first Sunflower League Championship and the first trip to State since 1982. For varsity volleyball coach Terri Wright, his career of East firsts ended on November 11, with his resignation.

“Terry Wright did a fabulous job,” athletic director Lane Green said. “In high school, it’s not about winning and losing, but he really elevated the program and he did a fantastic job rebuilding the team.”

Coach Wright’s ten years coaching career changed paths when he decided to go back to school in order to get his teaching degree.

“I had been planning on resigning two seasons ago

but with eight seniors who graduated last year, I felt bad resigning during their last year,” Coach Wright said.

Wright, who is currently attending Johnson County Community College and then Kansas University in the spring, wishes to teach history and hopes to coach again.

With the acceptance of Wright’s resignation came a plethora of differing rumors revolving around the reasons behind his resignation.

“I know there a lot of rumors about our volleyball coach,” Green said. “In my 11 years as athletic director, I have seen hundreds of rumors about coaches, the vast majority of which are false.”

Wright, who was aware of the rumors that began to surface, didn’t pay attention to any of them.

“There will always be rumors,” said Wright. “Stuff like

that never bothered me as long as my family and my players know the truth.”

With the rumors behind them, the search for a new volleyball coach is underway.

“We have a couple of people who have voiced interests,” said Green. “After the holiday break we will post on the district website that a job has opened and then we will begin taking applications,” While the search for a coach is preparing to take start the expectations for finding a good one is high. However, the players will miss their coach.

“He is the greatest coach to come through East,” varsity volleyball player Alex Surface said. “He has done what he needed to do here, and it is good that he is moving on. We are all proud of him.”

page 4 / opinion / the harbinger issue 1 / september 6, 2005

Generation

Procrastination an opinion of michelle sprehe

Four years of high school, five days a week, three hours of homework a night and this is what I have learned — how to procrastinate. Now that it’s my senior year, my motivation to do well academically is lacking.

Instead of studying, I find myself sitting at my desk trying to teach myself how to write with my left hand. After all, being ambidextrous will help me more in life than knowing the quadratic formula, right? If I’m not scribbling the ABC’s on paper like I did in first grade, then I’m practicing my cursive by writing the lyrics to the song that has been stuck in my head all day. I mean, pretty cursive has got to be more important than learning about the periodic table.

But now I’m ready to do something other than creatively avoid my schoolwork.

I am fully capable of coming home at 3 p.m. each day and immediately starting my homework. If I were to do that, I could easily be done by 7 p.m., perfect timing to see my beloved shows such as “Medium” and “ER.” But alas, I usually take a nap on my couch, or I am easily distracted by the large box in my living room. I dance with “Ellen” almost every day at 3 p.m. I cry with “Oprah” and laugh with “Gilmore Girls” at 4 p.m. If only I were strong enough to unglue myself from the screen.

The vicious disease, senioritis, has hit me hard, but it was not a surprise attack. It started with a few late assignments, which turned in to missing assignments, which turned into lowered grades and angry parents. I plummeted down the dark path of slacker-dom. I started not reading the assigned texts, not studying for tests and quizzes, neglecting to do my homework and stalling.

I’ve become accustomed to waiting until the last minute. Last year, I took a lengthy personality test online where I spent half an hour reading sample situations and trying to decide if my personality is more like the fake online personalities of Emily or Melissa; Rachel or Julia. After all that, the results pegged me as the type of person who might find somewhat of a “thrill” out of getting things done at the last minute. I realize that this is true every time I breathe a sigh of relief after finishing a project at midnight that is due the next day.

Now with my lax school schedule, I have learned that I can make up

Symptoms of senioritis showing since the beginning of high school

for not doing last night’s homework by doing it in other classes. However, my productiveness in each of those classes is slowly going down. I’ve also come up with several mottos such as: “I’ll do it later,” “It can wait” and “It’s not that important.”

The hours roll by and still no progress has been made. If I’m not sitting at my desk trying to teach myself new tricks, I’m on the computer surfing the web, chatting online, playing the guitar or pickin’ on my banjo.

I know that I cannot be the only person who procrastinates. I urge the freshmen and sophomores to take hold of their lives and change their habits before it is too late, and they too are victims of senioritis.

When you get home and have the option of plopping down on the couch with a snack and turning on the TV, or starting that English paper or math homework, choose the latter.

The sooner you get done with your homework, the sooner you can sleep or do whatever you want, or so my mom tells me.

As for the juniors, there is still hope, but for most, it may already be too late. Though it may be hard, you can still change your habits and straighten out to prepare for senior year.

As I’m writing this it’s 4:20 p.m., past my nap time. I have an urge to turn to the television, but maybe today I can be strong, maybe today I can stop procrastinating and start on my new improved self. Nah. I’ll work on that later.

Bred to be cheaters an opinion of jayne shelton be the one working at 7-11.

East students are desperate, especially when their future and their college is on the line.

In elementary school, I made As because my neighbor down the street would give me $20 for it. And in middle school, I was still making all As. In eighth grade, I was pulled out of class and asked about my college plans. Since I was only 13, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do for college.

When I came to East and realized the academic competition here, the highest in the district, I became a little worried about my solid A record. Everyone here was thinking of college, thinking of success, thinking of their future. And for most, that included an Ivy League acceptance letter at the end of the high school road. This drove them. They needed their grades to be good; they needed all the extra circulars they could get. They worked like crazy, thinking, eating and sleeping college. The mindset is easily developed that you cannot fail because if you fail, you end up at an online college at nights while you work days at 7-11.

Sometimes this desire to achieve is not as inspirational as you might think. Sometimes I think I have to get this assignment in. I must get some points for interpreting all the two letter words like ‘mo and ‘de from Huck Finn. And if I don’t get those points, my grade will come down, and I might

Maybe this wouldn’t happen, but I still might have to stay in Kansas for college, stranding myself here forever. I know that all that matters is letter on the paper, so why not use that to my advantage?

The fact I might fail my future on this assignment is stuck in my head. We are taught that the only way to succeed is to have a high GPA and get into a good college. There is pressure to get into the best colleges and, in my case, to get away from Kansas. This desperation for good grades and GPA causes people to do anything to get it, like cheat. The school system puts more emphasis on the grade than the knowledge and in turn breeds us to be cheaters.

Each semester, I look at my grades and see the average As and Bs; but then I see the graphs and essays I wrote for those grades, they all look completely new. It is like a ‘deja vu’ situation. It seems like I have seen it before, but I can’t really remember it. All I really remember from graphing it was the illiterate handwriting of the person I copied from.

I probably read over the homework I had copied before the test, only to forget it all in the next couple hours. But it isn’t important that I can’t remember anything that happened in 1984 or begin to write a geometric proof (I had to look those up), what matters is that I got a good grade.

Sometimes it is just laziness that causes me to cheat, but sometimes it honestly isn’t. I, like everyone else, am preparing to write my college applications complete with sports, clubs and community service. So when I get a chance to study late at night after practice, when I am still sweaty and drained of my energy, I do some homework but

East encourages cheating by putting emphasis on grades and not knowledge then I hit the wall. I can no longer keep my eyes open. I barely have the energy to brush my teeth, so I am left with the problem of trying to finish my cosine graphs. This is when I try to do them during my first hours the next day.

But when I don’t have them done and there is five minutes left in second hour my friend’s answers start looking pretty good. I get my friend’s homework, and I copy it down right then. The teacher might see me, but I know it isn’t a big deal.

They will probably look the other way.

Teachers don’t take cheating as seriously as other teachers. Some understand that students have millions of things to do, and busy work is at the bottom of that list. Some tell you to ask your neighbor for help because they aren’t available for extra help most of the time. Most teachers are on the “don’t ask don’t tell” basis. If they see you copying, they tell you to put it away but don’t condemn the action.

Some teachers are condoning copying to students just so that we can be punished for it by others.

Teachers forget to tell us that can be successful without going to an Ivy League school. They never tell us that late work can be turned in for less points, but still for points.

Even taxes can be turned in late, why not chemistry?

Our school system is flawed, like any and every other system out there. It teaches us to get the grade rather than get the information. There is no surprise there, but what we need to do is realize the world will still turn if we don’t get our homework in. Forgetting about an assignment once in a while is unavoidable, but if you can, try doing the homework. You never know when someone will ask you about the first writers of Puritan literature.

issue 6 / december 12, 2005 / opinion / page 5

issue 1 / september 6, 2005

Kansas’ socially conservative population hinders progress an opinion of foster tidwell

Forget tornadoes, Osama bin Laden and the bird flu.

The real threat to Kansas exists in the form of our highly conservative politicians and a constituency that has time and time again failed to see past the facade of Republican values.

The real issue is ignorance.

Our state school board – you guessed it, predominately conservative – made history this past month by altering the state science curriculum in order to de-emphasize the teaching of the theory of evolution and allow for supernatural explanations to be given for natural phenomenon. The changes essentially make room for religion in our public schools.

Forget the fact that evolution is overwhelmingly accepted as the theory of human origin by the global scientific community. Forget that whole insignificant principle of the separation of church and state. Forget the fact that your high school diploma now has less value in the eyes of colleges because they assume you’ve been taught pseudoscience.

Just forget it. Now that religion has a place in public education, it’s a good idea to take your science texts right on down to the used bookstore and trade them in for a beautiful leather-bound Bible. I mean if you dish out some extra cash, you may even be able to get the illustrated version.

Remember though, it’s cheating if you use it on your biology test.

All that matters now in Kansas is having a closed mind and an unshakeable faith in Jesus Christ.

If you fail to comprehend the gravity – yes, we still have gravity in Kansas – of the situation, consider the fact that a move so blatantly favoring conservative Christians made Kansas the laughingstock of America – a nation so conservative that it elected George W. Bush. Twice.

But the changes in the science standards to reflect the views of one religious group are just a manifestation of the greater issue; the cancer afflicting not only Kansas, but much

Securing

of America: ignorance.

Ignorance is what ultimately proves the downfall of civilizations. It represses thought, hindering technological, social and cultural development. Ignorance brings out the worst and suppresses the best in men.

It takes ignorance to vote for politicians and school board members who place their own religious convictions above the welfare of Kansas students, who are more scared of Janet Jackson’s right breast than they are of global warming and who publicly champion the ideals of individual freedom and inalienable rights while supporting acts of legislation such as the Patriot Act, which erode our fundamental freedoms and grind away at our First Amendment rights.

But ignorance is just what the Republican Party, who has dominated Kansas politics for generations, has come to depend on. They haul in their votes by grabbing poor and middle class Americans by the balls, playing off their deepest fears to gain election. If you vote for us, your presidential father will protect you from terrorism. Your rights? Well shucks, losing your rights isn’t nearly as scary as OSAMA BIN LADEN (scream, run, duck for cover)! See, comparatively, your rights seem rather inconsequential. Hell, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh.

A good portion of Republican candidates also espouse a host of conservative Christian values in an attempt to capitalize on the omnipresent American fear of being issued a one-way ticket to hell. For example, most conservatives don’t really take the time to consider both sides of the abortion debate. The minister tells them abortion is evil, and everyone knows that evil people languish in hell. Of course they are going to vote for the Republican candidate so vehemently opposed to abortion. Doing otherwise would be tantamount to pouring water on the burning bush, blowing their nose in the bible and taking communion with malt liquor all at the same time. The same goes for other “touchy issues” such as gay rights.

It’s as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Fear always springs from ignorance.”

Along with stirring up fear, ignorance creates a stagnant society in which no progress is made. Unfortunately, this is

Our Insecurities

the current path on which Kansas is blindly wandering as a result of our predominately narrow-minded and socially conservative – dare I say Republican? – population.

There’s only one thing we can do to restore dignity and put Kansas back on its feet. We need to start using our heads.

Kansans are seen as the apotheosis of the ignorant American trapped in the palm of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, this classification is fairly accurate. Many of us make the decision on whom to vote for based solely on a cursory judgment of the candidates’ morals.

Pro-life, check. Homophobic, check. Prays in public, double check.

It blows my mind that people fail to see past this show.

The Republicans have learned that no matter how they really feel about any of the key religious issues, all they have to do is tell the people what they want to hear. Obviously this is politics, and every party plays the deception game with voters to some degree, but the Republicans are more effective in that they intelligently pick the issues they feel will dig deep into the ignorant voter’s conscience.

And in Kansas, we are the ignorant voters.

This is what needs to change.

We need to begin by studying the candidates’ histories and closely examining their voting records in order to get the real picture of who they are and what positions they will take on important issues when push comes to shove and there isn’t a television camera focused on them.

And for God’s, sake we need to stop concerning ourselves over how “Christian” candidates play themselves off as. This has so little to do with the effectiveness of a politician, and there is just no way to obtain a truly accurate picture. Voting on this criterion is similar to ordering products from shady companies whose advertisements show up in your junk email folder. It’s just not smart.

Only when we screw our heads back on and really start thinking before we head to the polls can we elect leaders who will drive Kansas forward. If not, we will continue electing conservatives who tell us just what we want to hear, providing us with warm milk and rubbing our tummies as we complacently exist in a state of ignorance.

People should feel connected by the fact that everyone is sometimes insecure

an opinion of libby nachman

I admit it: I am insecure. I lack confidence. I’m afraid of 95 percent of the people I talk to, including people I have class with every day, my teachers and anyone I don’t know.

As a part of my insecurity, I feel like everyone else is completely satisfied with themselves and has the confidence of Donald Trump (actually, this is me trying to be humorous but maybe I can think of something better).

But then I realized that everyone is insecure. From the kids who sit alone at lunch, solitarily eating their sandwich with their eyes down, to the person surrounded by 20 friends but is too afraid to go over and sit with the loner because they think it will make them look bad; we all have insecurities.

According to Wikipedia, “A person who is insecure lacks confidence in their own value and capability ... Insecurity is not an objective evaluation of one’s ability but an emotional interpretation.”

That’s the reason everyone needs assurances from others that they are not worthless and ugly and stupid and lame. In the emotional state that many high schoolers are in, they are not capable of objectively making this decision on their own. Every comment made, every facial reaction, every hand gesture is run though the emotional filter first, changing the interpretation and true meaning.

Last year in Chemistry, we had a quiz that was put up on the overhead. I was in the back, so I couldn’t see. I hadn’t heard my teacher offer seats in the front to anyone who couldn’t see, so I sat there, waiting until the quiz was over so I could approach him and ask for the overhead. I didn’t want to interrupt the quiz , especially after we had already been working for five minutes.

Timidly, I raised my hand when he asked for the quizzes to be passed up and tried to

explain that I hadn’t been able to see. My teacher began to get angry, and I was so humiliated to be yelled at in front of the entire class.

In this class, I was too insecure to talk to the teacher. In others, I’m too afraid to even talk to other people who sit near me. I’ll sit in class, take notes, listen to the teacher and not say a single word.

There are kids like that in every class, I’m sure. What they’d like, what I’d like, would be for someone to take notice, say hi. Everyone has something interesting to say if only they would be comfortable enough to take a chance and say it.

I hear snatches of conversation in the hall and see the posts on Xanga, where people express their feelings of worthlessness, their belief that everyone else is better and smarter and nicer and cooler.

That makes me wonder even more. If everyone is insecure and knows what insecurity feels like, than why don’t they change how they interact with people? I know that I am insecure about talking to people, so sometimes, when I see someone with the same scared expression that I often wear, I’ll go over and say hey, how are you? People need to learn from their insecurities and use that knowledge to help others with their own insecurities.

I want that person who is surrounded by friends and sees the friendless person to get up and go sit with them, or better yet, invite them to sit with the group.

But it can be even simpler than inviting someone to sit at a table during lunch. When passing someone in a hallway, I always avert my eyes, look at them briefly to figure out if I know them and then kinda do the half-smile thing.

The same thing happens to me. I’ll look over at the person, recognize them and be ready to smile, but all they do is stare straight ahead, eyes unblinking, mouth unsmiling.

Something as small as a smile can make a big difference.

As teenagers, we need to come to terms with our insecurity and channel it towards security. If people are comfortable with themselves, they can use it to help others feel comfortable with themselves. Someday, maybe even I won’t be insecure.

page 6 / editorial / the harbinger To the staff of the Eastonian,

letter to the editor

First of all, allow me to congratulate your efforts. It is my belief that every high school in this free-speaking nation should have a strong underground publication, specifically to afford students a forum of open expression, social criticism, satirical wit and the mobilization of change. As young people perceiving a world where you have little control, you are bound – even required – to have an opinion about your surroundings. You also deserve the right to speak your opinion. This is what the First Amendment has afforded you. I tip my hat to you for attempting to embody that right.

However, I happened upon a copy of the Eastonian earlier this year, and I must say – as it is my Constitutional right to do so – that I found nothing more than four of five pages of locker room humor and elementary experimentation with swear words. This edition of the Eastonian I read was not smart or innovative. It showed no hope for change, nor did it offer a single solution for any problems it listed. Instead the Eastonian reeked of explicit sexual content, overt drug references and good old fashion dirty language. It was a regurgitation of the same crude jokes and middle fingers I witness every day in the hallways. The Eastonian I read, in my opinion, is not a publication worth fighting for. However, it could be.

I challenge Mr. Wilder to look at who penned the Eastonian’s evolution “into mindless vulgarity and slander.” Mr. Wilder blames the Shawnee Mission East administration for leading the Eastonian into such a spiral, however, the content of the Eastonian has been, and always will be, based entirely on a deliberate choice by those involved in its publication. The Eastonian appears (at this point) to serve two purposes: to shock readers with “mindless vulgarity” and to throw stones of “slander” at authority. These are the purposes the Eastonian has chosen to uphold and I, for one, completely support the administration’s choice to take action against the paper. I am surprised that you are surprised at the response you received.

The Eastonian has the potential to be a great underground paper. In fact, Shawnee Mission East needs a strong independent publication. Like I said before, this is your time in life to begin crafting the voice by which you will greet and shape your world.

However, it is your choice if you will use your efforts to promote change or to promote yourself. The hallways of SME, like any other school in America, quake with the angst and curiosity in young people exploring their emotions and opinions about life. Who will be the courageous few to carve out a fresh voice that will lead all of us to see something new, something bold, something we ourselves have not the capacity to view without your gift of vision? We have seen what the Eastonian has to offer, and we are still waiting for that courageous voice to speak to and for us.

Out of Control

Administrative action necessary to keep fans safe

The basketball season has officially Another step to avoid future problems is started: two games are past, including our the inclusion of more officers at the game. home opener. With the excitement building According to the SROs there are normally six around our own team, issues have also arisen. police officers at every game. At the South Basketball provides a unique setting for games opener two of the six were our own SROs. This with all of the participants and fans clamoring obviously was not enough of a persuasion around much closer to each other in a single to have the fans keep self-control. To ensure gym. Judging from the issues that arose from more order at other high-profile games an the season opener Dec. 2 at Shawnee Mission increase in the number of present officers South, there are some changes that need to be could be an idea. Granted, that means more made to ensure the best possibly money to pay for the overtime, season for everyone involved. but it would be worth it. the issue Accusations have arisen Ultimately, however, the Changes need to be made by both the administrathat during the game East fans responsibility for the incident tion and the students in were disrespectful during the and the prevention of more terms of behavior and national anthem and damaged incidents falls on the fans crowd control at basketthe South bleachers, jumping themselves. It can be hard ball games to ensure the up and down. The most to not get caught up in the safety of fans in attendance. serious incident occurred after excitement of a game, but the game, when numerous this is not an excuse for East fans rushed the court the problems that arose. In and were later engaged in response, the administration confrontations and fights with has wisely given the rowdy fans South students. This cannot a choice: keep it under control continue in future games. or face the consequences.

Perhaps the easiest change These consequences range 2 absent would be to ensure that any from a ban on costumes to venue used for games are school suspensions or a capable of holding the game safely. The incident complete ban on students from future games. at the South game is a prime example of the Though seemingly drastic, the importance of having a proper place to play. administration is taking the best steps they can Due to construction at Shawnee Mission South, in trying to prevent any future incidents that all attendees were forced to exit through the disrupt the enjoyment. Students, therefore, same small opening. During such a heated and need to take into account the results of future anticipated game, tensions were bound to run actions. Bringing about a ban on students high: shoving all the people through the same would not only ruin the experience for many opening only compounded the problems and fans, but put a damper on the teams that rely helped lead to the incidents that occurred. The on fan support. This needs to be considered resluting problems should have been anticipated next time fans feel like rushing the court. when considering the layout of the gym. In a These incidents at South were certainly smart move, a relocation of all games at South problems that need to be prevented. Though the during the construction is being considered. administration and district could improve future But this is a problem to be considered at games on their own accord, the responsibility all venues: evaluate the appopriateness falls on the students and their ability to keep of a gym when considering games. their emotions and spirits under control.

Thank you, Kevin Still Instructional Aide

verdict

9 0

harbinger editor-in-chief annie fuhrman

news editor sara steinwart

center spread editor laura nelson

photo editor linda howard

assistant editors amanda allison evan favreau

news page editors melissa lem rachel mayfield

center spread assistant editor jenn sunderland

assistant photo editor samantha ludington

art & design editor ian mcfarland

opinion editor cay fogel

mixed editor libby nachman

ads/buisness kristen crawford claire marston

head copy editor bryan dykman

opinion page editor clare jordan editorial editor foster tidwell features editor ellie weed features page editors katie jones hallie mccormick sylvia shank

a&e editor derek martin

circulation davin phillips

a&e page editor kevin grunwald sports editor peter goehausen sports page editors bobby miller ben whitsitt

Letters to the editor should be sent to room 521 or smeharbinger@gmail.com.

Letters may be edited for clarity, length, libel and mechanics and accepted or rejected at the editor’s discretion.

copy editors amanda allison bryan dykman evan favreau annie fuhrman laura nelson sara steinwart jenn sunderland ellie weed

staff writers joe demarco clark goble ally heidorffer jayne shelton joey soptic michelle sprehe photographers katie james frances lafferty emily rappold kelsey stabenow katie woods advisor dow tate

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.

issue 8 / december 12, 2005 / features / page 7

East: Past and Present How East has changed over the past decades...

I

by joey soptic

t might be hard to imagine how much East has changed from the classes of the past. There are been cosmetic changes and social changes. The most basic change has been in who the students actually are: in the ‘70s, East was comprised of only sophomores, juniors and seniors. Although it was still a good-sized school without the freshman class, freshman were still at either Indian Hills or Meadowbrook Junior High (now Mission Valley). But the changes certainly don’t stop there...

The very muttering of the term brings to mind one of the large distinctions students think of when they draw the line between public and private schools. Forget freedom of expression! Past students had a much stiffer dress code that called for a one-day suspension if violated. Students didn’t even consider wearing short skirts, sagging pants, displaying boxers or showing-off their waistlines.

Jeans were prohibited (except on Fridays), leaving khakis or Corduroys the only decision boys had to make in the morning. Girls on the other hand, couldn’t wear pants at all. They had to stock their school wardrobes with long skirts or a dresses every single day.

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Sports were different in those days too. Basketball players wore shorts that many girls nowadays would wear because of the length. Swimmers or “Tankmen,” as they were sometimes known as, wore no goggles in their swimming and battled the chlorine with unguarded eyes. The SME wrestlers were known as the “Matmen,” tennis players were the “Netmen” and sometimes the basketball team was referred to as the “Roundballers.”

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Sometimes students who smoked and had a few free minutes to spare would run down to the present-day outdoor environmental lab and light up. Back then, this area was designated as the “Smoking Lounge.” Smoking risks weren’t as well known, so students over 18 were allowed to use this area for this purpose.

Once a year on a Friday, the school would hold the “Sock Hop,” a dance and could be considered the equivalent to MORP. Students dressed up however crazy they felt necessary, and came to dance the night away.

Like MORP, it raised money for StuCo. Students competed for the “Best 50s Dancer” and for other nominations, such as “The Greasiest Couple” from the movie “Grease.”

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On the bumper of a car in the East lot you could find a parking lot pass. The cost for one of these was only 25 cents!

Fast-forward three decades later, and the price has increased by $59.75! Any violators were ticket $1 for any parking offenses.

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page 8 / features / the harbinger

evolution of

the

revolution

dance dance

‘DDR’ takes gaming to a whole new level by katie jones

Thinking about the piles of work still yet to be done, a stressed senior Casper Hu needs to let off some steam. And a game of Dance Dance Revolution always does the trick. As the game loads on his Xbox, Hu’s stressful to-do list starts to fade.

As he scans various techno songs, his mind starts to relax.

When he starts pounding his stocking-feet into the pad with the bass beats of “Last Message,” Casper Hu becomes totally immersed in the music.

“It’s basically just like watching TV or any other hobby,” Hu said. “When you do something you like doing, you just naturally relax. So I just go home and I play DDR. . . . It’s just what I do when I want to hang out.”

DDR is a music video game series played worldwide in arcades, PS2s and Xboxs. There are other gaming programs like DDR around the globe, but DDR has become the most popular in the U.S. People like Hu can use it as a get away, just like a book, a movie, or playing on line. In the game, a player must move his or her feet to a set pattern, stepping in time to the general rhythm or beat of a song. During normal game play, arrows scroll upwards from the bottom of the screen and pass over stationary, transparent arrows near the top. There are four levels of difficulty: beginner, light, standard, and heavy. Even though it takes a lot of practice to hone one’s DDR skill and complete the heavy levels with accuracy, hardcore players aren’t fazed by the difficulty of passing a heavy level.

It’s a way to have fun and let go.

“You might not think that dancing in a square is all that, but you can do more with it than you think, and it makes it more fun…like doing tricks and moving your upper body and stuff,” said senior Zwee Nelson.

For example, senior Brian Speise even does “doubles”, which is putting two mats together and playing with eight arrows, not just four. This way, the player has to move around

to touch all the arrows.

As Nelson dances to a slightly Middle Eastern pop song, she twirls her wrists and waves her hips while she pounds the DDR mat with her feet.

Tricks or no tricks, Nelson agrees that DDR is a good way to get away from it all.

“I remember last year at finals, I would play DDR just to totally de-stress myself from the whole test thing,” senior Nelson said. “I mean I don’t go to the gym or anything, so DDR is like my cardio workout and exercise always relaxes you. And since you have to put all your concentration into the song, you just forget about everything else. Plus, just winning at the end of the song feels really good.”

However, Nelson says people don’t believe how difficult DDR can be until they play. But she also feels that no one can understand the totally concentrated, relaxed feeling of what some may call “The Zone”, or the point when one is on the beat and concentrating so hard on the rhythm that one forgets everything else, until they try dancing for themselves.

Senior Doug Kelly, an experienced DDR player, feels similarly: DDR isn’t a big competition. It’s just a way to have fun and relax.

“You do it because you love the music, you do it for the beat, you do it because you love the game,” he said.

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Leaving the states during finals Junior Jackie Mares travels to India for IB Essay by sara steinwart

Spending 15 hours on a plane, paying $2,000 in plane tickets, missing 7 days of school and all of finals for one essay. This is what Junior Jackie Mares is doing in order to write her IB extended essay. She will be traveling half way across the world to India in order to research her topic of Hinduism.

The extended essay is the final IB paper that ranges from 3,500 to 4,000 words. There are pre set subjects and students are allowed to pick topics from them “The extended essay is about eight pages that require lots of research and quotations,” English 12 IB teacher Susie Schweiker said.

While in India Mares will be staying with a Aparna Mehru, a debate friend’s family in a small town outside of New Dehli.

Mehru’s family is very involved in politics and Mares hopes to be able to use their insight to uncover questions that she has about Hinduism.

“A major part of the Indian culture is the caste system,” Mares said, “It is supposedly not in existence, but I believe that it is not extinct, just faded.”

The caste system is the way that order is kept within India. There are different castes, or levels, of society that people belong to due to birth. People stay within these castes through marriage all the way until death.

Mares hopes to be able to use her stay in the under developed Northern India to see any remnants of the thought

to be extinct system.

“There have been a great increase in the number of people choosing to practice the Hindi faith in the past 10 years, and I want to find out why,” Mares said.

In India Mares will be able to contact many of Mehru’s teenage cousins and other family members. She hopes to be able to talk to the younger population and see what is so attractive about the Hindi faith. Mehru’s family gave the children a choice of what religion to practice and they all chose Hinduism. Mares wants to know why.

“I know that there are other reasons besides their parents’ beliefs why teens choose to follow the Hindi faith,” Mares said, “I want to see what attracts people to this religion.”

Having this first hand experience with people practicing the Hindi faith will help her have first hand resources for her essay. These face-to-face interviews will give her a jump on her research.

“By having first hand sources, I will be able to have direct references in my paper,” Mares said. “This will strengthen my point a lot.”

Mares is very interested in religion in general, and choosing a Eastern Religion for her extended essay topic seemed natural.

Mares will be leaving on Dec. 18 and returning on Jan. 10.

She has to reschedule all of her finals. Some of them she will be able to do before she leaves, but there are a few that she will do after.

T

N “It will be tough SE B to get all of my finals A done, but this trip is worth it,” Mares said.

Mares family had a gathering over Thanksgiving because of her uncle’s death. She feels that this is a perfect time for her to miss Christmas because she just had such a large family gathering this year.

As a whole Mares’ family is very supportive of her trip.

Her dad just keeps telling her how awesome of a time she has going to have, but her mother is having difficulty accepting that she is traveling such a long distance.

“My mom keeps telling me that I am going to be half way around the world, while she is stuck here missing me,” Mares said.

Mares is really looking forward to seeing a different way of life in India. She has never seen that type of poverty and feels it will be very difficult to be able to resist giving them money and trying to help them. However, if you help one of the beggars in India you will be bombarded by many more.

“Seeing this type of poverty is something that everyone should experience in life,” Mares said. “It will be such a humbling experience.”

Final Frustration by ally heisdorffer

Peter Spitsnogle Junior Peter Spitsnogle has always taken a mixture of standard and honors classes. With finals coming around, this year is no different than any other and the stress is starting to pile up on Spitsnogle as he prepares for mid terms.

Spitsnogle usually starts preparing for his finals around a week before they hit, giving him enough time to properly study for each class. With some of his classes being harder than others, such as American History AP and Calculus AB, he tries to devote more time to the subjects that he doesn’t feel quite as prepared. As the time for finals approaches, Spitsnogle begins to study more and more. Jamming in all possible subjects each night previous to testing, Spitsnogle feels that cramming, to some extent is necessary.

“I cram for certain subjects, but I don’t forget it,” Spitsnogle says. “The only

Molly Rice Instead of pulling all-nighters and downing more cups of coffee than a camel could, junior Molly Rice spends the time she would studying for finals watching TV or hanging out with friends. In fact, Rice has done minimal studying for finals since freshman year.

“If you don’t know it, you’re not going to learn it the night before,” Rice said.

“You should learn when [the teachers] teach.” The only studying Rice does is memorization work such as vocabulary or formulas.

Rice never starts studying any more than a few days before finals and that studying is done mainly through review packets she receives in class. Instead of

going straight home on those half days, Rice takes the time to go out to lunch, watch TV and rest. If needed, she will start studying late in the evening for the following final. Many of her friends feel the same about studying for finals so she gets to hang out with them as well.

The homework load the week prior to finals also lessens for Rice giving her more time to relax before finals as well.

Although she still has some homework, she takes the extra time to do other things she would rather be doing during the week.

Finals week isn’t much different for Rice compared to any other tests she might take during the week. She studies for all the same and feels stressed for any test she may take.

“I always get a little stressed before

issue 8 / december 12, 2005 / features / page 9

Three students share study techniques that work for them

problem with cramming is that sometimes you get nervous and forget.”

Spitsnogle doesn’t devote much time to studying for tests during the week as long as he understands the overall concepts.

Finals, though he feels much differently about since they could change his grade by a whole letter.

“The stress can kill you, but you just kind of have to deal,” Spitsnogle says.

“Some stress is necessary to work better.”

This year Spitsnogle is planning on limiting some of that stress by studying earlier. With more material to cover, Spitsnogle doesn’t feel completely solid on some subjects. Although several hours of studying are necessary for him to succeed, he always takes breaks when they are necessary.

“When you get tired, get up and do something else for a bit because you don’t help yourself by trying to study while nodding off,” Spitsnogle said.

Although some of his exams are going to be difficult, he does have a nice little

break in the week for two choir finals because he is a member of both Choraliers and Chambers. Those two finals take him about 15 minutes each and the material is extremely easy for Spitsnogle.

Besides studying for finals extensively, Spitsnogle also balances a job after school and on the weekends.

“It’s hard because I go to work from 4: 00-10:00 p.m. and I don’t get home until around 10:45 p.m.,” Spitsnogle said.

Because Spitsnogle gets home from work so late, he doesn’t feel like studying on those nights unless it’s necessary. If he feels like he must study, he stays up until all hours of the morning trying to cram in as much information as possible.

“You don’t need as much asleep as you think you do,” Spitsnogle said.

Although finals are right around the corner, Spitsnogle is taking this time to relax and soak up as much as he can during his class time before he has to really start digging into finals.

tests in general because it could bring my grade down if I don’t do well,” Rice said.

Although she doesn’t spend time studying for finals, she is still concerned about her grade. Rice has maintained a C or higher in all of her classes since freshman year and this is what is expected of her at home.

“My parents would care if I did badly in a class and didn’t try to study at all for a final; otherwise it doesn’t really matter,” Rice said.

Finals week is just something else to get through for Rice. Even though her studying is minimal, she still works hard to maintain an average grade in all of her classes.

“A final is just like any other test I might have to take,” Rice said.

Mare Bayless Senior Mare Bayless spends around five to ten hours preparing for each subject for finals, depending on how strong she feels in the class. Although she takes several hours to prepare for each final, she doesn’t waste any of that time cramming the night before a test. Bayless starts studying around a week and a half to two weeks prior to finals.

“I think ahead enough so I don’t have to stay up all night,” Bayless said. “I take my time and don’t stay up too late. I usually go to bed around 10:30 p.m.”

Bayless spends several hours preparing not just for finals, but any other test she might take. Because finals are 20 percent of her grade, she does take a little more time with some subjects, but on average she aims to study just as much for regular tests as she would for a final.

Being in IB, Bayless takes her subjects

seriously and feels strongly in almost all of her classes.

“I’m not taking anything for granted, but most of my grades are solid enough that they won’t be affected too much by finals,” Bayless said.

The finals for IB are basically the same as any other final. Most classes are in multiple choice format, with a few exceptions like Government and English.

“There are a lot of differences between IB and standard classes, but finals isn’t one of them,” Bayless said.

Because Bayless is spending so much time studying for her finals, she won’t be able to go horseback riding as often, which she does usually for three hours every day after school, if there isn’t a conflict. Bayless also works at the stables where she rides, but she claims that they are flexible which helps with her busy schedule.

Besides not being able to go horseback riding as often, Bayless will be very stressed the weekend before testing. She is scheduled to have a college interview

and she will also be helping out as a volunteer at the therapeutic writing center. Because of this she will have to cut back on hours at the barn and make sure she still has enough time to study as much as possible.

Although Bayless is spending a lot of time studying for her finals, she makes sure she breaks up her studying time so she won’t get too bored. She starts studying for a class she’s excited about, then eases herself into a harder subject.

Bayless always switches up the class she’s studying for each hour to help give her a break from a topic.

Bayless is planning on treating this year like any other and starting to study a week and half before finals. Although she feels like her grade is strong in most classes, she still wants to make sure she gets the A grade.

“I just don’t want to take any chances,” Bayless said.

AR

of Kansas City

SHOPPING by laura nelson

Vintage: Boomerang (the Garage)

Colorful tutus, vinyl herringbone chairs, Jacqueline Kennedy dresses, Boy Scout uniforms: Boomerang has it all. Located at 39th and Terrace Street, between State Line Road and Southwest Trafficway, in a bohemian part of Kansas City. It’s seconds away from inexpensive restaurants, coffee and other interesting stores and offers a unique selection of ‘40s-‘70s vintage clothing, furniture and collectables. And all this crammed into two linoleum-tiled rooms.

Boomerang’s accessory selection includes bracelets, necklaces, sunglasses, purses and wigs, with prices starting at $4.

Bead necklaces, fake “bling” with painted dollar signs and multicolored plastic rings are displayed on racks next to cat-eye sequined glasses and dreadlock wigs.

Boomerang is the perfect place to find the most original Halloween costume, the funkiest MORP outfit, the prettiest vintage prom dress.

The proprietors are friendly, knowledgeable about their merchandise and able locate whatever you are looking for, even with hundreds of items in stock at once. Turnover at the store is quick – come back a week later and that embroidered

bowling jacket might be gone.

If Boomerang doesn’t carry what you’re looking for, Revue, a store with primarily women’s vintage clothing, is next door and other vintage and resale stores are nearby: Bblaze, a men and women’s streetware supplier and Annie’s, almost new children’s clothes, line 39th St. as well.

Boutique: Lulu’s

At Lulu’s Boutique, finding this season’s skinny fit Ralph Lauren polo, Lacoste bowling shoes or even a full-length beaded formal dress is simple. With a small selection of vintage clothing and many cheap purses, clothes and shoes, it’s the perfect place to find fashionable designer clothes for resale prices.

Sweaters and blazers from DKNY, Bebe, Abercrombie and Fitch and J. Crew run from $12-$45, some with tags still in, all gently used and clean. Seven for all mankind jeans, American Eagle khakis and corduroys from GAP all cost between $8 and $12. Shoes still in boxes and wrappers, skirts still with the extra button attached – all merchandise is in quality condition for affordable prices.

While those who work at Lulu’s aren’t particularly friendly or helpful, talking on cell phones while shelving, returning items and ringing up customers, they work

photo by emily rappold

BEST

Downtown destination in a general rule However, the increasingly po suburb-dweller art, unique an dining experien The Crossr surrounding 18 several blocks, galleries and sm first Friday of e stay open from range from pho to pottery, jewe printed posters functional, like more traditiona Many of the and drinks, al has been scale

here’s the scoop on where to shop, where to eat and what to do

NIG

In a small un sketchy buildin as the lead sin lyrics into a mic and the eclectic the music in a s adorned by old back, a concess snacks. After t the crowd and t back out to the Main Street rock concerts.

DIN

Fast Food:

In a buildin classroom, Tow Two jukeboxes feeling of a road counter are pac feel. Town Topi three locations Baltimore Ave a The no-nons pickle-covered ($1.90, $2.10) ri restaurant’s ‘re than they come Retro jewelry: Necklaces, bracelets and charms inspired by retro fashions fresh, the choco are common at Boomerang. The price of a necklace ranges from $4-$22, flavor and the are served, and with large plastic beaded necklaces costing around $7.50. photo by Katie Mon.-Fri. after 3 James Town Topic’s quickly. Items are returned to the racks boutiques: Encore Too, at 5903 Woodson smoke may h and to the hot pink walls quickly for easier Rd, and Uptown Monkey Bottoms, at experience to b 5906 W 59th Terr., which both offer many shopping.

At 6017 Johnson Dr., Lulu’s is only vintage and modern clothing options at blocks away from two other resale resale prices.

RTS & ENTERTAINMENT by annie fuhrman

is not usually a recreational Kansas City. The suburbs, as e, usually have more going on. e Crossroads district and the opular First Fridays have given the rs an opportunity to find fresh local nd funky shopping and interesting nces. roads district, roughly the areas 8th and Main St. in all directions for is the hot spot for one-of-a-kind art mall, locally owned shops. On the every month the galleries and shops m 7-10 p.m.. The gallery offerings otographs, paintings and sculpture, elry and old-fashioned hand-made s. Some of the pieces for sale are e furniture or dishes, while some are al decorative pieces. e galleries offer complimentary food lthough the complimentary wine ed back due to underage patrons

partaking of the hospitality. At the gallery owner’s discretion, performances by live bands or even one-act plays are put on.

The clothing stores are locally owned carrying merchandise far from normal mall-fare. Birdies specializes in underwear—some handmade by the artist and owner—and Spool carries original screened t-shirts, dresses and jackets.

There are even interior decorating and accessories stores, like Black Bamboo and Aesthetica, which have a wide variety of fine china, furniture and mechanical toys. In between galleries there are many small cafes and coffee shops, including Coffee Girls and Mildred’s. Since admission to the galleries is free, money can be conserved for food and shopping.

The crowd on the cold winter nights was significantly smaller than during the warmer months. But still, lines formed outside some of the more popular galleries, and some street musicians braved the cold. At First Fridays, you can buy, or just browse. Go and experience the artwork and the atmosphere, and enjoy being part of the urban scene in our somewhat suburban town.

GHTLIFE by jenn sunderland

nderground room in an only slightly ng in Westport, about 100 teens listen nger of local band “Noir” screams crophone. This is Main Street Cafe, c group of high schoolers sway to small room lined with couches and d photographs and paintings. In the sions stand offers coffee, soda and the show, band members mingle in the night ends as the crowd trickles streets.

Cafe is home to more than just The mood changed and the lights

turned back on Friday for Salsa Night and again on Saturday when Main Street hosted the Couture Fair, a show of 30 local artists and designers complete with acoustic music. In the past, Main Street Cafe has hosted other events like breakdancing lessons, poetry readings and art shows.

“We try to attract a different crowd with each event,” Director Denise Clark said.

All of the events, however, are catered towards teens. The cafe is alcohol and drug free, a safe environment for high-schoolers to have fun. Run by a non-profit organization and supported by volunteer staff, Main Street Cafe is faith based but open to anybody.

Next up on the cafe’s schedule is a concert on

crossroads

When First Fridays come around, some of the open galleries and stores include these.

Christopher Elbow: these beautiful chocolates are works of art in themselves.

Covered in delicately thin stripes, swirled with raspberry cream toppings, they’re as delicious as they are beautiful. But watch out: the price is a bite.

Archival Designs: This gallery sells pieces of pottery (plates, bowls, serving platters, and mugs) that are beautifully crafted and very functional. Each dish had unique patterns and textures, and was very reasonably priced. The best part of this gallery is the building: basically a garage, the same place where all the pieces were made.

Dec. 17 with local punk rock bands. Each event costs $5. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and shows start at 8 p.m. Though they plan to take a break over the holidays, Main Street will be back in action with a New Year’s Eve Bash on Dec. 31 with four local bands ranging in genre from indie to R&B to folk rock.

Besides hosting concerts and events, the club also includes Main Street Clothing and Stuff, a vintage clothing store where they sell new and used clothes. Staff members design much of the clothing and open the store during events.

Main Street Cafe is located at 3953 Walnut, Kansas City, MO.

district

Aesthetica: This store is very small, and filled with delicate merchandise. Because it gets very crowded, it is nerve wracking to walk through and try not to break anything. At the back of the store, however, is the reward for making it through the labyrinth of tables: a whole display of funky toys. They are a delight for parents and kids. Also, look forward to beautiful gift-wrapping of any purchase.

Black Bamboo: The Asian influence on the furniture and china sold in this store gives it a very interesting and clean look.

While all of the pieces are beautiful, they are expensive and not exactly the most functional things you could find.

upcoming events

Sat., Dec. 17: Rock (pop punk, emo, screamo) PM Today The Farewell Here I Come Falling

Sat., Dec. 17: New Year’s Bash! Rock (funk, R & B, folk rock) Aurora Give Me Sound The Tide Girls in Diners

courtesy of mainstreetcafe.org

NING

by laura nelson

: Town Topic

ng roughly half the size of an East wn Topic is distinctly a ‘50s relic. s and twirly bar stools create the dside café, and the grill, tables and cked together for a crowded, homey ic is a Kansas City institution, with in the area: 2021 Broadway St, 1900 and 6018 Johnson Dr. sense waitresses serves onion and hamburgers and cheeseburgers ight to the table, can recognize the egulars’ and rings up orders faster e in. The fries ($1.85) are crisp and olate shakes ($2.10) thick and full of burgers juicy. Breakfast and lunch d double hamburgers are 99 cents 3 p.m. ’s floors may be dusty and cigarette hang in the air, but it’s not an be missed.

Nice Dinner: Blue Koi

For those who think that Oriental food is oversweet and served with tasteless rice, think again.

Blue Koi breaks stereotypes.

An exotic restaurant with a unique atmosphere, friendly service and authentic Oriental food, Blue Koi offers something delicious for even the most hesitant diners. Entrées, available on rice, noodles or in a soup, are large, vegetarian-friendly and perfect for anyone, with both spicy and bland dishes available. Crispy Tofu with Spicy Awesome Sauce ($4.75) is a must-have for vegetarians, and Ants on a Tree ($9), Ginger Basil Chicken on Noodles ($9.00) and Braised Pork with Shitake Mushroom on Rice ($9.00) are excellent choices for meat lovers.

It takes roughly 15 minutes for food to arrive, and all seats are close to the kitchen, giving chance after chance to see what others have ordered. The service is friendly and the atmosphere is authentic, with no hokey music or fake Chinese decorations to be seen.

Located at 1803 W. 39th St. and Bell St , Blue Koi is also only seconds away from Vietnamese, Italian

and Mexican restaurants for a broad selection – the wait can run close to an hour for a table.

Coffee Shop: Hi Hat

First a gas station, now a coffee shop, Hi Hat serves mocha, hot chocolate, coffee and chai tea with flair. With only one table, a tiny counter and two chairs, it’s difficult to find sitting room, but the cozy atmosphere and delicious drinks make the squeeze worthwhile.

Drinks are labor intensive: with choices like the Mona Lisa, full of whipped cream and four shots of espresso ($3.45, $3.55), and the Bam Bam ($2.50, $2.80), buying to drinking can take up to five minutes. But the employees are efficient and friendly, offering advice on what drinks to buy for those new to Hi Hat and chatting with returning customers while making beverages as fast as they can.

Artsy circle cutouts on the

photo by katie james

ceiling and a peaked chalet roof outside make this coffee shop cute and trendy. Sitting at the base of The Pembroke Hill school, it’s often full of school kids, but the drinks and friendly employees are worth squeezing through the crowds.

page 12 / features / the harbinger

Bored until boarding school Phelps Boarding School Junior passes time before attending a new school by davin philips Junior Will Montague sits at home, the light of the TV screen shining on his face as he plays his X-Box 360.

He’s been doing it for hours. All his friends are sitting in classes, doing homework and studying. Though Montague is at home, he is not sick and he is not skipping.

He’s waiting to be sent to boarding school.

For the past two months Montague has had feelings that of his parents would send him to boarding school, and he was right. Montague had D’s in all his core classes this year and his behavior had become intolerable to his parents.

Three weeks ago Montague stopped coming to school. He dropped all his classes and was no longer an East student. His parents told him he was going to boarding school.

“It’s the middle of junior year, what about friends?”

Montague argued. “It’s not going to be easy to make new ones.”

His parents had made their decision, and arguing with them didn’t help his case.

“It was a last resort for Will. We’ve gotten him tutors before and saw no improvement,” mother Laurie Montague said.

Montague’s parents have hired Mia Steen, a Special Need Education Consultant to find a boarding school for Montague and to track his progress at the chosen school. She has done research on different boarding schools in the Northeast that are available and has attempted to choose schools that match Montague’s wants. Out of a list of ten boarding schools to

choose from, he has narrowed it down to Phelps School in Pennsylvania and Christ Church in Virginia. They both offer tennis and golf, and they have snowboarding and skiing mountains close by. The classes are smaller and have fewer people, which Montague hopes will allow him to get to know more people better.

Montague hopes to know which school he’ll be going to in one month.

For now he just waits.

Montague spends his days playing video games and his nights watching TV. In three weeks he’s finished two X-Box 360 games, “Gun” and “True Crime Streets”. To Montague, being stuck at home all day is better than school, but has become extremely boring. Waking up at one in the afternoon and going to bed at 2 a.m. has twisted his schedule.

“School used to be the way I knew what day it was,” Montague said. “Two days until Friday so it must be Wednesday, but now I don’t know.”

Most boarding schools don’t accept students during the middle of the school year. So as an alternative Montague might have to spend a few weeks at Second Chance, which is a wilderness camp aimed at working through behavioral and family issues.

For now, Montague has resigned himself to waiting, and looking forward to changing his life.

“It will be better,” Montague said. “Hopefully I’ll have better grades, go to college and have a better life.”

Daily Schedule

Rising Bell Breakfast Room Inspection Classes Break Classes Lunch Classes Tutorial Activites and Sports Optional Time Dinner Evening Study In Dorm Lights Out

7:00 am 7:30 am 8:00-8:30 am 8:30-10:40 am 10:40-11:00 am 11:00 -12:25 pm 12:30 pm 1:20- 2:45 pm 2:50-3:30 pm 3:45-5:00 pm 5:00-6:30 pm 6:30 pm 7:30-9:00 pm 9:45 pm 10:30 pm

* Phelps, an all-boys school near Philadelphia, is one of two boarding schools Montague may be attending next semester.

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issue 8 / december 12, 2005 / mixed / page 13

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today - Sudoku Now, I’m not saying that crosswords are totally out.

But what is SO much cooler? Sudoku. That amazing Japanese (or is it Chinese?) number game that no one can pronounce. Is it Soo-doh-koo? Suh-dock-oo?

Sood-oh-kuh? The possibilities are limitless, unlike the position of the numbers. Solving a Sudoku puzzle makes one feel so much more, well, smarter, like that kid in math who always gets 100 percent on the tests.

Obviously since it involves numbers, it’s perfectly relevant to math. Duh.

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tomorrow - 3D puzzles No longer will number or letter puzzles be cool.

3D puzzles will be making their way into our lives. The newspaper will have cut-out pieces and the library will start providing scissors to cut them out. Instead of the scritch-scratch of pencils filling in crosswords and Sudokus, it’ll be the snip-snip of scissors and then the ooey-gooey of the glue used to hold the pieces together. What is it? The Eiffel Tower?

Big Ben? The whole world? No one knows what this magical puzzle will hold!

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WHAT KIND OF FRUIT ARE YOU? Is a pickle a fruit? Sweet, sour in its own little way.

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Fifth hour, choir. You’re with so many people and so much diversity you get a little bit of everything.

WHAT BAND IS AMAZING?

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Coheed and Cambria. I really like the rhythm and the singer.

They try and steal our souls when we’re young, when our flesh is still malleable, our faces not yet hardened into FAVORITE SCHOOL SUPPLY? Probably the binder. speciously fragile exteriors. They figure that we won’t notice this slowly forming void. It’s as if the only way to maintain daily syntony is to force us into an archetypal monotony. Maybe they’re right.

They felt this pain once too. Their bodies once stretched and shifted, collapsed, just to hide the fact that they too were becoming empty. In our failed attempts to identify the origins photo by frances lafferty of this pain we fall back on ancillary reasons such as mere growing pains of puberty, morphing us into the conventional man and woman who infect our society. But who are we to claim our essence and ours alone.

Want to see your original comic, story, poem or Do we not belong to the society we have been born into and designed by? No, our souls are not ours, they never were. We artwork in The Harbinger? E-mail it to never created them; they were created for us when we were too young to realize that we would always be molded. We strive to be smeharbinger@gmail.com or different but we are all the same-in our efforts to change, to grow, we become one-molded by the same things. They can have my soul, and bring it by room 521. perhaps they already do. I didn’t create it; in fact, I’m repulsed by this foreign grotesque being that possesses my body like a parasite forcing me to sacrifice myself to become acceptable. I don’t want those false approbations proclaimed by society in order to steal me from myself. I watch my soul as it is drained from me. I welcome the pain that, in acknowledging, I am finally free from the invisible shackles known as freedom.

page 14 / a&e / the harbinger

Beck changes it up for remix by joe demarco “Guerolito.” That is what Beck is calling his new soon to be released CD, marking the end of his world tour. “Guerolito” is a remix of his last CD “Guero”, which was originally released last March. “Guerolito” features an eclectic line-up of artists handpicked by Beck to create “Guero”’s multi-dimensional twin. “Guerolito” features a cast of top remixers such as the Beastie Boy’s Adrock, and Octet.

I’m not usually a fan of remixes because they are usually the artist’s original song with some kind of sappy techno loops added to them. However Beck does a nice job not falling into these loops.

The album begins with the song E-Pro. A rough and distorted guitar plays over a line of congas and other tribal sounding drums, with Beck laying his traditional vocals and lyrics

over the whole thing. When I first started listening to this CD, my immediate reaction was “I can’t believe I have to listen to tribal drums mixed with guitars for the next 70 minutes.” But “Guerolito”’s unique sound slowly grew on me over time as I replayed it.

I listened to “Guero” after his new “Guerolito.”

As much as I like his original “Guero,” some of these remixes are big improvements over the original songs, such as “Broken Drum” and “Heaven Hammer.”

From the first riff of the opening track and debut single E-pro, it’s evident Beck’s musical talents are unique, unlike any artist I have ever heard. For example, “Black Tambourine” sounds like tribal drums gone cool and “Hell Yes” is a 21st century funk. These improvements demonstrate Beck’s sense of style that few other artists possess. GRADE: A

photo courtasy of rollingstone.com

issue 8 / december 12, 2005 / a&e / page 15

Brand: Hippie Jeans Style: ‘Tattoo’ Stretch Jeans Make a stylish statement in stretch denim, dolled up with print details and a scattering of silver-tone studs down the left leg. The shiny studs are sure to catch that special someone’s attention. These trendy jeans have a low-rise waist and are boot-cut, meaning they look great with boots.

Wear these with a flirty, shiny top to enhance the silver studs on the leg and heels. Because they have a longer leg, wearing these jeans makes you look like your legs are long and slender, like a model.

Price: $78 Where: Nordstrom B.P. Department

I dream of The Harbinger takes a look at the latest in jean fashion

by missy lem

Brand: Abercrombie and Fitch Style: Ezra Fitch Premium Denim If you’re one of those people who has been wondering what Ezra Fitch is since it came out last year, here’s your answer: it’s just a more expensive line of regular Abercrombie and Fitch. These jeans have a unique style that resemble sailor’s pants.

They fit loosely so that you can actually breathe in your jeans, for once.

They come in a light and dark wash and— gasp—aren’t destroyed!

They’re preppy jeans so try wearing a polo shirt with them and your preppiest shoes, too.

Price: $148 Where: Abercrombie and Fitch

Brand: Abercrombie and Fitch Style: ‘Destroyed Emma’ Welcome to the wonderful world of Abercrombie and Fitch where very few pairs from their denim collection come without holes, including these jeans.

They come in almost all washes, and the excessive distressing makes these jeans look like they went through a blender, but hey, they’re brand new! They’re super-lowrise waist and boot-cut. If you’re planning on buying any jeans from Abercrombie, try a size smaller than usual, they tend to run a tad large. They may look ridiculous if you try to dress them up, so wear them casually, maybe with a nice vintage tee. Beware of the Abercrombie jeans, however, they have the tendency to rip and tear at any time.

Price: $79.50 W h e r e : Abercrombie and Fitch

Brand: Blue Cult Style: ‘Kate’ Five Pocket Stretch Jeans These designer jeans are a stretch-denim essential with distressing and bleached creases for a well-worn look. The waist is low rise and they flare at the leg. The stretch-denim fabric fit snug and shows off your curves.

If you are self-conscious about your body, steer away from these because of the close fitting style.

The stretch-denim made the jeans very comfortable and easy to move around in. Since these jeans have a closer fitting style, try one size larger than you usually wear.

Price: $152 Where: Nordstrom t.b.d.

Department

Brand: Mavi Style: “Annie” These jeans are a stretch-denim. They have a flower embellishment on the bottom of the leg and on the back pocket to add a girlish flare to you style. The pant leg is flared and the jeans sit low on the waist. There is also distressing on the front pocket, making it seem like you’ve had these jeans forever.

You will fool everyone into thinking that they’re vintage! Try wearing these with a solid colored shirt so not to take away from the detailing on the pants. Although they are cute, they might not be worth the price. If you really like these, take a pair of your old jeans and sew a patch of your choice onto the pant leg.

The result: instant embellished jeans for $5 and ten minutes.

Price: $79 Where: Nordstrom B.P. Department

photos by kelsey stabenow

Brand: 7 For All Mankind Style: Flare Stretch Jeans These jeans are made by the popular denim company, 7 For All Mankind. The stretch denim shows its dark side with a chic black wash, faded, frayed and destroyed for an added edge. It has a low-rise waist, but seems a little high in the back and is flared at the leg. These jeans would fit those with a larger backside the best. You can dress up the jeans with a flirty, sparkly top and heels or dress them down with a t-shirt and tennis shoes.

If the only way that you can pay for these jeans is to sell your left leg, then don’t buy these, not only because you wouldn’t be able to wear the jeans without the leg, but also because you can find this style of denim at most chain stores for a lost less money.

Price: $187 Where: Nordstrom t.b.d.

Department

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The NeXt BOX page 16 / a&e / the harbinger

by clark goble

I walked by EB Games in Mission Mall the other day and noticed there was a football game on the display TV. What football game was being played at 5:30 on a Tuesday night?

A closer look revealed that it was a Colts-Eagles game. I heard Peyton Manning changing the play at the line and the Philly crowd booing him.

As I moved closer to the screen, a sleek, silver controller slammed into my thigh and I realized something: this was no football game.

It was a video game.

That’s when I decided I had to buy the Xbox 360.

The Xbox 360 is the newest Microsoft video game system to hit the market. It isn’t just a video game system, however. It also is capable of playing DVDs, reading JPEG files from your digital camera or even taking music from a burned CD and setting it as the background music.

Those features come at a price. Microsoft has issued two systems for release: a “core” system that will play all current 360 games, priced at $299, and a “full” system with a hard-drive, capable of playing 200+ old Xbox games and even previewing upcoming movies, priced at $399.

The ability to play old Xbox games lets Halo 2 fans purchase the full system without fear their beloved game won’t work. The online atmosphere has always been intense for Xbox gamers, especially in Halo, and Microsoft only increased that intensity with Xbox Live Silver and Gold.

While you cannot play games against buddies across the world with Silver, you can edit your online profile and access the Xbox Live Marketplace, where you can download new content for your games. You will also be able to participate in “free-play” sessions where you can play online for a limited amount of time. Gamers can upgrade to Xbox Live Gold if they desire to play online full-time or create clans.

The “launch” games include best sellers Madden 2006, FIFA 2006 and Perfect Dark Zero, played online, making trash talk as much a part of the game as slamming on the 360’s buttons.

The controller has been modified from bulky black to a light silver.

Picking up the old one feels like carrying a brick after playing with the new controller.

Newest system scores high with hot features

Also, Microsoft has issued a wireless controller that requires no other peripherals to operate. Switch it on, and the 360 recognizes it. No more wires means that snake pit of cords from the Xbox will be gone and the space between you and the machine will be filled with good nothingness.

The black and white buttons have been moved from the annoying “below the other buttons” position and up above the two triggers. They are very similar to the L1 and R1 buttons on the PS2. I really appreciate not having to scrunch my thumb to throw to a receiver or throw a grenade.

Thank you, Microsoft.

The changes to the controller are not the only thing Microsoft has done.

The silver system looks like an hourglass when standing upright, and looks great compared to the other 23 jet-black entertainment systems in my basement. I will have no problem finding my 360 among the confusion of my basement floor.

This machine may not even deserve to be sitting on the floor. It has eight times as much memory as the original Xbox. If I were a betting man, I would bet that it is much more powerful than my PC. Unfortunately, it probably costs the same as the Gateway 2000 I currently own. It took me about seven waiting lists and three trips to Best Buy to even pre-order my 360. For the inconvenience, they allowed me to play the 360, and two actual games, Madden 2006 and Call of Duty 2, for thirty minutes each. They tried to sucker me into ordering the “core” version because they had more of them in stock, but I was no fool. The full system is a much better deal and I would recommend shelling out the extra Ben Franklin for it.

The lack of available 360s could be a factor in whether you could buy it for someone as a gift or receive one. Some have been sold on Ebay for $850. Microsoft has recalled a few systems because of reported glitches.

For the most part, Microsoft has done a lot of good with the 360.

Although the launch games won’t have a Halo-type impact on the industry, they will get the job done. The new features make the 360 a must-buy, but that doesn’t mean you should buy it when it becomes readily available.

If you don’t have the dough, wait a while until the costs drops and then purchase one.

One thing’s for sure though, the 360 is the best system to hit the market ever. Buy it with confidence. Grade- A-

issue 8 / december 12, 2005 / sports / page 17

Football’s not just for the boys an opinion of peter goehausen I am going to be honest. Coming into last weekend, I had been somewhat of a male chauvinist.

And not when it comes down to everything, just primarily in athletics.

The lone memory of a female athletic event I have is from the 1998 World Cup, when the US beat China in the finals. Forward Brandi Chastain hit the game winning penalty kicking. Afterwards, she infamously ripped off her shirt exposing her sports bra to an entire continent (I’m still not sure whether it was the sports bra or the goal that burned a memory in my mind.)

Aside from that memorable moment, female athletics just haven’t done it for me. Something about pulling up for layups instead of dunks, hugging after a rough foul and a lack of intensity is just boring.

I honestly didn’t think my opinion on the matter would change, and it didn’t until I decided to go watch my first ever girl vs. girl Powder Puff football game.

Instead of watching the Chiefs play one of their biggest

divisional games of the season, I went to go watch girls butcher one of the greatest sports

created.

Though the game was filled with botched plays, fumbles and penalties, it was highlighted by some Ray Lewis-like hits and long touchdown runs.

At first, opting to watch the girls was a big mistake after consecutive fumbles, and my perspective on the whole subject did not change until mid-way through the first half.

The senior team ran a toss right to running back Stephanie Anderson and before she could gain yards she was LAID OUT by junior corner tackle and linebacker Carolyn Gray.

It was one of the hardest (not biggest) hits I have ever seen.

Following that play, the game only got better.

After a short touchdown by the seniors, junior Natasha “Tomlinson” Howell took a toss right (seemed to be a theme with the half back toss) and used her 4.4 second 40-yard dash speed (though it might be closer to 5.2 seconds, it was 4.4 relative to the competition) to run over a senior tackler and dash to about an 80-yard touchdown.

The game’s final play was another NFL caliber hit by Gray as she knocked out senior Caroline Goehausen. After the hit the junior defenders and fellow senior teammates took a

Powder Puff game changes one fan’s opinion

note from Nintendo’s “NFL Blitz” and piled on top of the back forcing her to be carried out on a stretcher.

Though the game lacked several things such as whistles, officiating, experienced coaches and trainers, the girls competing in the Powder Puff game gave me a whole new level of respect for their gender.

Instead of the girls kissing after the play, tackling with two hands and giggling like I would have expected, they brought all of the intensity they had. The post-play punching and pinching made the battle even that more intense as some of the girls out there flat out were pissed off by the time the game was over. It showed me a side of women I hadn’t seen first hand that often, athleticism and an intensity for their sport.

So when that Sunday game was over and I had missed a fourth of the Chiefs game was I angry? Not one bit, there is no need to watch those money-hungry animals hit one another like “girls”(yes, I still am a diehard Chiefs fan) when I can watch a group of angry girls knock each other out as if it were a death match.

Once the people in charge do make the necessary changes, I will have an even bigger love for the game of Powder Puff.

page 18 / sports / the harbinger

High Expectations After last year’s success, living up to the hype might take a toll on the boy’s swim team

Champs: Senior Brandon Barnds swims during practice. He is one of seven seniors to return to the team. photo by Samantha Luddington

by bobby miller

A

fter winning the state championship last season and having all core members returning, one might think that swim team would give themselves a break, but the Lancer team has another view.

“Someone else is out there doing what we are,” senior John Cook said. “So we have to keep up with them. We don’t want to lose this year.”

The boys opened their title defense by beating a young Olathe East squad and they will host the Shawnee Mission East Invitational today.

The team is trying to not become complacent by their success and is finding motivation in different ways. With the entire school and everyone in the league thinking that East is a sure thing to win state, it also brings pressure for the players.

Expectations Coming into the season the Lancers were picked by every newspaper to win the Sunflower League saying that with the

talent returning they should be a sure thing. The athletes know that they are picked to win, but they try to keep it in the back of their minds.

“When we go to competitions everyone just thinks that we will dominate,” Cook said. “So there is pressure because we can’t slip up because everyone is watching.

To avoid a let down Coach Wiley Wright has made sure that everyone has kept a level head. During a practice when the state championship came up in conversation the coach quickly shot it down and told the team that they were not ready for the state championship yet.

This season the practices have been tougher than last.

During practices after warming up they have to complete three sets of 10, 100 yard swims. During the first set the team has 15 seconds of break, the second set they have 10 seconds of break and the last set they only have five seconds.

“There is so much competition in the team,” senior Brandon Barnds said. “There is no time to slack off or someone will take your spot.”

With pressure coming from inside the team and outside of

it as well the swimmers when competing at a meet just try to focus on what they work on during practices.

“You just have to trust everything that you do during practice.” Cook said, “We have extremely competitive practices so we just translate the competition in practices to the competition in meets.”

College Bound And if winning state wasn’t enough motivation to swim some seniors on the team are looking to impress college coaches. Seniors Cook, Kevin Reene, and Brandon Barnds are all looking at the next level. Barnds who is looking to swim at Washington & Lee in Lexington, Virginia said that his junior year was the biggest time to make his mark.

“During the summer I usually slack off a little bit,” Barnds said. “But if I wanted to go to Washington & Lee I knew I couldn’t.”

With many of the seniors looking to swim at the next level they have set a tone for many younger swimmers to have the mindset that they can swim at the next level if they try hard enough.

“Before our class I can only think of one swimmer in college.”Barnds said, “Now that our class is coming through we have changed the mindset that you can swim in college.”

Future With the seniors graduating, the team might not have as high of expectations as this year from outside the team, but them will be set on continuing the winning tradition.

issue 8 / december 12 2005 / sports / page 19

Cracking Down by peter goehausen Though the Lancers’ fans may have helped cheer on the boys basketball team to a victory over South on Dec. 2, some of their actions during and after the game are being questioned for their appropriateness. Now the administration is cracking down on the behavior of the Lancer students.

During the South game, East fans were accused of being disrespectful during the signing of the National Anthem and towards the South drill team, using profane chants and for storming the floor after the 30 point victory, which later led to fighting between the two schools.

“This is the worst experience I have had as an athletic director in my 11 years,” East athletic director Lane Green said.

The consequences the crowd faces for their actions include not allowing seniors to dress up in costumes, which has been a long time East tradition for senior boys.

Also, students who are disruptive during the singing of the National Anthem will face a school suspension and a suspension from the remainder of this season’s basketball games. If the student section storms the court again, there is the possibility that they will be banned from games, including the game against cross-state rival Rockhurst.

Behavior issues at the game began when “a couple of hecklers” started making noise during the national anthem, which was sung by associate principal Ron Mersch’s daughter. Though Green said he believes only ten or so students were making noise, the quiet environment made it very clear to hear.

“I am sure there was more than one person in the gym who has lost someone

in a war. I just wonder how they felt about that,” Green said. “You have to honor our country.”

Following the anthem, students were credited with starting many “inappropriate” chants. There were cheers using profane language directed at the officials and chants that reflected negatively on the opposing school. Some of those were targeted directly at South senior Ryan Jehle.

“According to the KSHSAA, we’re not even supposed to allow you to yell ‘air ball’ at the opposing team,” associate principal Steve Loe said. “Nothing but positive chants toward your team are permitted.”

Though the administration was upset with the first two actions taken by East students, their biggest concern about the game was the “Duke Jumping” and the storming of the court.

“Our student safety is the number one concern,” Loe said. “We’re not trying to get anyone in trouble or have blanket security, we just want everyone safe.”

The “Duke Jumping,” is where students jump up and down prior to tip-off. The bleachers are not meant to hold that much force, Green said. The bleachers, which suffered damage from the section, are simply made out of plastic seating, nuts and bolts.

Following the 30 point victory, the entire East crowd stormed towards the center of the court to congratulate the players and the coaches on the big win.

According to Green, there are multiple concerns when it comes to storming the court. These include having students getting trampled, players getting injured after being trampled and, when it comes to storming the court at an away game, fighting taking place

Administration to impose new regulations following bad conduct in the South game

Enthusiastic fans: (From left) Seniors J.W. Vanderloo, Brett Condie, Kelly Zumbehl and Tim Curtis cheer on the Lancers at South. Though these fans were not responsible for bad conduct, the Lancers fans are under scrutiny for their conduct in the game. photo by linda howard between the crowds.

Five years ago, East beat Shawnee Mission West in a sub-state game on a running jumper as the time expired. After hitting the shot, then senior Mike Kerby was mobbed by his peers. Kerby, who was at the bottom of the pile, came out minutes later scared for his life, according to Green.

A similar but more severe event happened in Arizona when an athlete tore a corded artery, resulting in being handicapped from the waist down.

“Good people do stupid things when they are in a mob,” Green said.

Though Green said he was very thankful their were no television cameras their

to record the scene and tarnish the East reputation, video cameras might become a necessity for the games. To help control the storming of the court, the administration has considered leaving a camera on during the post game and finding which students are responsible for storming the court. Other solutions they are introducing are “beefing up the number of supervisors,” banning students from games for infractions and asking senior students to help supervise.

But according to Green, even though the reputation of the school may have been hurt in the South game, if the students conduct themselves well in the next game, all can be forgotten.

The Week Ahead What to watch for in Lancer Athletics

By Peter Goehausen

MONDAY 12/12

Girls Basketball @ SM South

After losing their opening game in close fashion to Shawnee Mission Northwest, the girls basketball team is hoping to continue in their rebuilding efforts in a game against South tonight. The Lady Lancers had a four point lead in the fourth quarter, after trailing by 11 at half, but let the lead slip in overtime. Rhoades blamed the inexperienced fouls on the loss. Junior transfer Rachel Kaegi led the scoring for East with 12 points including two three-pointer’s. The key to tonight game will be Danna Olsen, who put up 20 points in the Raiders opening game.

Boys Swimming; SM East Invitational

After dominating their season-opening meet at Olathe East, the Lancers will seem to just get better every week. Olathe East was supposed to be their top competition this season, but it may turn out differently after the Lancers blew the Eagles out of the water in the meet on December 3rd. Todays meet will feature most of the Lancers Sunflower League competition. Junior Luke Tanner is one of the swimmers who has already qualified for state in the head-to-head meet against Olathe East.

FRIDAY 12/16

Boys Basketball @ Olathe Northwest

Friday’s game at Olathe Northwest should be a cake walk for the number one team in 6A Kansas. ONW, in its third year of existence, has yet to have winning record. This season they are 1-1 with a win against Southwest Charter. The Lancers will hopefully take control of this one early and save some energy for Saturday’s non-conference battle against Raytown South.

SATURDAY 12/17

GAME OF THE WEEK-Boys Basketball vs. Raytown South @ HyVee Shootout In what will be one of the best non-conference games of the season, the Lancers will take on Raytown South in the annual HyVee Shootout. South returns 6’8” junior forward George Goode, who is currently the 44th ranked player in the rivals.com recruiting service for the class of 2007. After being defeated by the Cardinals twice last season, East is looking for revenge in the game that will take place at Avila College.

Raytown South is one of the most athletic teams East will face all season and should be a great showing of how East could fare in conference play, which resumes after the winter break.

FRIDAY 12/16-12/17

Wrestling @ JOCO Classic

Though the star wrestler and coach from a year ago are gone, not all was lost as the team started off their season 3-2 in the East Kansas Duals. This weekend’s Classic could be the hardest competition the Lancers will face all season. photo by linda howard

page 20 / photo essay / the harbinger

COACHING THE GIRLS: Junior coach Dillon Goins goes over a play with juniors Sydney Pemberton and Taja Loren. photo by Olivia Curran

TOUCHDOWN: Senior coach Tyler Smith raises his arms up in the air when the seniors score their first touchdown. The end score was tied 7-7 when the game was called. photo by Megan Koch

CHEERS: Senior Morgan Miller cheers from the sideline before the game starts. photo by Linda Howard

Powderpuff Gets Rough Junior and Senior girls compete in the annual Powderpuff game

MAKING THE TACKLE: Senior McKenzie Kelly tackles junior Tess Hedrick. The Powderpuff game lasted for about an hour and a half before it was called off by a parent when a senior girl got sent to the hospital. photo by Emily Darling PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Senior Katie Seitz runs as fast as she can to avoid being tackled during a Sunday practice. The senior girls had three Sunday practices leading up to the game, which consisted of several tackling drills and running through offensive plays. photo by Linda Howard