Issue7 by The Harbinger

ISSUE 7 | NOVEMBER 24, 2014

SHAWNEE MISSION EAST 7500 MISSION ROAD PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS 66208

With suicide as the third leading cause of death in youth ages 10-24, a red flag has been raised. East administration and counseling staff are reevaluating how to have a discussion with students about suicide in the school setting, in order to spread awareness and promote prevention. photo illustration by Annie Savage | stories on pages 16-17

INSIDE:

JUNIORS START YOUNG REPUBLICANS CLUB

news: page 7

MOCKINGJAY PREVIEW a&e: page 24

BEST WORKOUT GEAR

sports: page 31

2 editorial

HARBINGER STAFF FALL 2014

CO-EDITORS-INCHIEF Morgan Krakow Sophie Tulp ASSISTANT EDITORS Caroline Kohring Tommy Sherk HEAD COPY EDITOR Pauline Werner ASSISTANT HEAD COPY EDITOR Hannah Coleman ART & DESIGN EDITOR Phoebe Aguiar NEWS SECTION EDITOR Sophie Storbeck NEWS PAGE DESIGNERS Will Clough Will Brownlee SPREAD EDITOR Aidan Epstein FEATURES SECTION EDITOR Hannah Coleman FEATURES PAGE DESIGNERS Anna Dierks Caroline Heitmann Claire Pottenger COPY EDITORS Pauline Werner Sophie Tulp Morgan Krakow Hannah Coleman Tommy Sherk Audrey Danciger Caroline Kohring Sophie Storbeck Maddie Hyatt Julia Poe Susannah Mitchell Phoebe Aguiar FREELANCE PAGE DESIGNERS John Foster Maxx Lamb STAFF WRITERS Davis Finke Katharine Swindells Lauren Cole Teagan Noblit Jessica Parker Elaine Chamberlain Stella Braly Kylie Schultz Celia Hack Daniel Rinner STAFF ARTIST Yashi Wang

PHOTO EDITOR Annie Savage ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Hailey Hughes OPINION SECTION EDITOR Audrey Danciger OPINION PAGE WDESIGNERS Courtney McClelland Chloe Stanford Ellie Booton

ONLINE CONVERGENCE EDITOR John Foster ONLINE INDEPTH NEWS SECTION EDITOR Mike Thibodeau ONLINE NEWS BRIEFS SECTION EDITOR Will Clough

A&E SECTION EDITOR Audrey Danciger

ONLINE HOMEGROWN EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton

A&E PAGE DESIGNERS Yashi Wang Maddie Hyatt

ONLINE OPINION EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton

SPORTS SECTION EDITOR Will Oakley

ONLINE A&E EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton

SPORTS PAGE DESIGNERS Ellis Nepstad Michael Kraske Alex Masson STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Annika Sink Abby Hans Abby Blake Kaitlyn Stratman Haley Bell Alison Stockwell Paloma Garcia Morgan Browning Kylie Rellihan James Wooldridge Joseph Cline SMEPHOTOS Paloma Garcia EDITORIAL BOARD Sophie Tulp Morgan Krakow Pauline Werner Tommy Sherk Audrey Danciger Caroline Kohring Hannah Coleman Julia Poe Mike Thibodeau Susannah Mitchell Phoebe Aguiar Katharine Swindells ADS MANAGER Celia Hack

ONLINE SPORTS SECTION EDITORS Michael Kraske Daniel Rinner VIDEO EDITOR Matthew Bruyere PODCAST & RADIO EDITOR Leah O’Connor EASTIPEDIA EDITOR Matthew Kaplan INTERACTIVE EDITOR Mike Thibodeau HEAD WEBMASTER Jacob Milgrim APPRENTICE WEBMASTERS Katie Lamar Katie Roe LIVE BROADCAST EDITOR John Foster ASSISTANT LIVE BROADCAST EDITORS Ellis Nepstad Katie Roe

MULTIMEDIA STAFF Tommy Sherk John Foster Gabe Snyder Katie Roe Sean Overton ONLINE HEAD Leah O’Connor COPY EDITOR Matthew Kaplan Maddie Hyatt SOCIAL MEDIA ONLINE PHOTO Katharine Swindells EDITORS Tyler Keys Katie Lamar ADVISER Callie McPhail Dow Tate

ONLINE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Susannah Mitchell Julia Poe

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

PHONES OVER FRIENDS?

Letters to the editor may 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 editors’ discretion.

Urging students to put away their screens and enjoy life in the present

When our parents went to concerts, the band on stage played to a sea of lighters or signs lifted above the crowd to get their attention. Now, younger bands play to a different generation. And it’s not the same. Now, they’re confronted with a sea of camera phones. Today’s crowds have their smartphones thrust in the air, pining for a good angle for a Snapchat video or for a photo of the lead singer to post to Instagram. As students, we are in the middle of massive changes to the way people communicate and interact with their environment. According to Pew Research Center, 95 percent of teens are online, and 37 percent of us have smartphones. That’s why the Harbinger urges our generation to put down the camera, look up from our messages and experience life the way it’s meant to be lived -- not through a screen. Form a relationship with the world, instead of with a glowing 4 inch screen in your hand. Instead of recording a personal video of your favorite song, settle for the HD-quality music video on YouTube. Instead of pushing other tourists around to get a shot of the Mona Lisa, settle for the million Google Images results. Instead of holding your phone in front of your face at a Sporting KC game to catch what might become a game-winning goal, settle for the highlight reel on ESPN. And experience life in person through your own eyes. Live music, masterpieces of art, wonders of the world. These are things that existed before the Age of the Smartphone, before we felt the need to share our lives

STAFF PANEL: news event should ON CURRENT weWhat be paying attention to? EVENTS

SOPHIE TULP

MORGAN KRAKOW

PHOEBE AGUIAR

“The legal battle of Obama’s immigration plan, because it’s going to start a large debate about executive power without consent from Congress.”

with our followers, before our camera rolls became a substitute for real memories. So, Millennials, Generation Y-ers, whatever we’re called, please resist the urge. Let’s stop prioritizing documentation over enjoyment. Because if we don’t, in 10 years we’ll find ourselves with nothing to show for our prime years but Facebook albums and Instagram likes.

How do you feel about teen phone over-use?

Twitter account we should be following?

“I fee like media is a really important part of our live’s right now, but I also think we do need to take a step back from our screens.”

@AP, they give widespread news coverage and update frequently

“I think ISIS’s murder of young aid workers and journalists is horrifying and we need to take more diplomatic stance against foreign terrorism.”

“I think everyone should try to go tech-free for at least a couple hours on the weekend. It’s a proven stress reducer.”

“Buzzfeed Politics surprisingly has some great takes on what’s happening in Washington.”

“The student protests in China, because it’s a student revolt for democracy in a non-Middle Eastern country and it speaks to the power of young people.”

“I think phones are over-used but it’s hard to function without them. We probably don’t have to use them as much.”

“@NPR, because it’s shorter news and human interest stories.”

news 3

School, Local and Worldwide News Broken Down

written by Aidan Epstein

A LOOK AT RACE IN PRISON

Precautions Made for Micheal Brown Verdict A grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri is set to release a decision as to whether or not policeman Darren Wilson will be charged with the murder of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. The Jury is set to release the decision in mid-November. With this time closely approaching, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency in Ferguson. This is a precaution, due to the town’s recent history with rioting and the

strained relationship between the people of Ferguson and police department. If Wilson is not charged, a new wave of protests are expected. These protests could become violent, and this is why the troops from Missouri National Guard were deployed to Ferguson on Nov. 18. The National Guard’s job is to be a back-up to the existing police department, in case there is a problem.

Drive Brings in Around 4,000 Cans Each November, STUCO runs a can drive that collects cans and money for the Johnson County Christmas Bureau (JCCB). The JCCB provides holiday assistance for low-income families by providing them with groceries, clothing and personal care items. “It started out with a bang after the pep assembly,” student body treasurer senior Noah Marsh said. “There have been lots of donations and involvement from the school.” The success of the can drive mainly came from the competitive bracket format, according to STUCO members. Students compete with their seminar class to bring more cans than their opponent. If they do, they move to the next round. As of Nov. 18,

cheer and choir seminars are in the finals. Cheer’s seminar has brought in over a third of the total amount of cans collected throughout the whole drive. “Not to mention the proceeds MORP brings through January.” Marsh said, “It’s been good.” STUCO also incorporated a car smash for cans. This event, new this year, held after school on Nov. 14, gave students an opportunity to smash a car painted in a rival school’s colors before the football game. Student paid $1 or two cans to get a chance to hit the car. So far STUCO has collected roughly 4,000 cans and $1,000 in donations for JCCB. Members of STUCO are proud of the success of the can drive.

Chipotle to Open in Praire Village The Village Shopping Center is now officially getting a Chipotle Mexican Grille. Rumors of Chipotle coming to Prairie Village aren’t rumors anymore, the deal is done. On Nov. 5, Lega-C Properties announced that Chipotle signed a lease to occupy the empty space next to the new Starbucks. In between the Starbucks and Chipotle, there will also be a new athletic apparel store called Fitness Culture to add to the mix. If construction runs on sched-

ule, the Chipotle will be open in February, according to a statement by Kylie Stock of Lega-C made to the Prairie Village Post. It’s a shorter distance for seniors to go grab lunch during their free lunch period. “I’m really excited for the new Chipotle because I usually drive to the one on 75th and Wornall so this one will be much closer,” senior Gunnar Englund said. “It will be nice not having to rush anymore.”

Blacks make up 37% of the people arrested for drug offenses although they’re only 14% of regular drug users.

Black people make up 60% of prisoners even though they only make up 30% of the population

1 out of 3 black men can expect to go to prison in their life compared to 1 in 106 white men.

Photos of the Week right

Mr. McKinney takes the chance to hit a car with a small sledgehammer for the Can Drive on Friday Nov. 14.

photos by Hailey Hughes

above photo by Hailey Hughes

Freshman Siddharth Choudhury begins to bring out the instruments to prepare for the band and lancer dancer performance.

left

photos by Annie Savage

(left to right) Seniors Lucas Jones and Rilye Fries sign with colleges.Jones will play basketball at Eastern Illinois and Fries will swim at the University of Nebraska.

4 news

Know Your Rights written by Katharine Swindells photo illustration by Hailey Hughes

Teens should be aware of their civil rights and how to use them

recent case in Virginia has once again opened conversation on the boundaries between citizens and police officers, opening debate on whether laws can keep up with the everchanging world. A judge in Virginia Beach Circuit Court ruled that a suspect could be forced to unlock his cellphone, which contained possible evidence, because his phone used fingerprint-password protection. The Fifth Amendment protects freedom of knowledge, so the police cannot force you to tell them the passcode to your phone or technology. However, the Constitution doesn’t restrict the authorities taking DNA, such as saliva swabs and blood samples. By this logic, the judge ruled that the

What The Police Can Do

defendant could be compelled to give up his fingerprints, and allow access to the information on the phone. Whether it be this case in Virginia, the violence still happening in Ferguson or with students at East, the news is full of debate over citizens rights vs. those of the police. A poll of East seniors showed that while almost three-quarters had been in an encounter with the police in the past year, only half knew what their rights were in such a situation. Law enforcement is in place to protect the people. Yet the stats show that people, particularly teenagers, don’t know how to protect themselves against law enforcement.

“Although we want to believe that police are always working on our side, that isn’t always the case. We need to know our rights so we will not be easily taken advantage of.” Claire Ridgway, Senior

Pulled Over

• Ask to see the driver’s license, registration and insurance card. • Order you out of the vehicle and frisk for weapons if you pose a possible threat. • Search the vehicle if the stop provides probable cause for the officers to believe it contains illegal goods or evidence of a crime. • Breathalyze you with probable cause to believe you are driving under the influence. • Breathalyze underage passengers if they seem to be drunk.

Probable cause: Facts or evidence to believe you’re involved in criminal activity. Eg. slurring speech, fumbling with your license or have alcohol on your breath, gives probable cause that you have been drinking alcohol.

• If you’re being stopped for a traffic infraction they can ask for license, registration and insurance. • Frisk you for weapons if they believe you might be a threat to the officer. • Gain information such as your name and address without saying your Miranda rights. • Use your silence as evidence against you if they haven’t said Miranda. Eg. “If you’re innocent, why didn’t you say you say so at the scene of the crime?”

Miranda rights: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”

• Search your locker without a warrant or probable cause, because it is school property. • Pat you down if they think you may have a weapon. • Bring in drug-sniffing dogs at random. • In some cases they have been allowed to conduct random searches of students.

“It’s important for everyone to know what their rights are, but arguing with an officer at the contact isn’t the way to do it. If you don’t agree with it, go to the police department afterwards and talk to a supervisor. Follow the formal process that’s been established.” Eric Mieske, SRO

In School

In Your Home

• Enter your home without permission if: they have a warrant, they are chasing a criminal suspect or they think someone is in danger inside. • Tell you that they will be less harsh on offenders if you let them in without a warrant - this may or may not be true, nothing stops police from lying to you. • Leave one officer on the premises while the other goes to get a warrant.

Questioning

What Your Rights Are

Information from: Anthony Russo, Criminal Defense Attorney

criminal.lawyers.com

• Speak to them without fully opening the door. • If you are concerned about them forcing entry, you can leave through another door and greet them outside. • Remain silent, except to say “Officer, I can’t let you inside without a search warrant.” • If they have a warrant, ask to see it, and check the address, date and judge’s signature.

• Refuse to be breathalyzed, though this may lead to you being punished more harshly. • Refuse to answer questions beyond your basic information. • Refuse a search of your car. • Say you don’t consent to a body search, without physically resisting.

• To ask what you have done wrong. • To ask if you are free to leave. If you are, you can walk calmly away. If you are not, you are being arrested and they must recite your Miranda rights. • Have Miranda translated if you do not speak English. • If you are being investigated for a crime, you can inform the officer that your attorney told you to never speak to law enforcement without talking to him or her first.

• To not consent to a search of your body or car without a warrant. • Remain silent if you are a suspect in a crime. • Have a parent or guardian present if you are being questioned.

criminaldefenselawyer.com

flexyourrights.org

STARTING

YOUNG

news 5

East juniors begin a club for students who are interested in politics, specifically in relation to the Republican Party written by Davis Finke Foam exploded from the top of a sparkling juice bottle, kids cheered, and the party was in full swing. Students were eating brownies and cookies, drinking Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper. Members of the newly-founded Young Republicans Club were celebrating the success the Republican party had in the Midterm elections on Nov. 4, the previous day. The Republican party took 244 House seats and 53 Senate seats, claiming a majority in both the House and the Senate. The Democrats took 186 House seats and 44 Senate seats. Democrats had previously been in control, so this election turned the tables back to the republicans, so the club felt a party was in order. It was the club’s second meeting, and creator junior Joe McLiney was pleased with the amount of kids that attended. “We had around 30 students show up, which was what we were expecting,” McLiney said. “But we hope to get even more members and expand.” McLiney was the one who initially thought of creating the club last year. Kids didn’t really seem interested. Since the school year was almost over, he put it off. After school started, he brought it back up. Joe bounced the idea off some of his

friends in early October. He was then joined by four other junior boys, and teacher David Muhammad agreed to be the sponsor. “When they first asked me about it, I laughed,” Muhammad said. “I didn’t think they were serious. But after they convinced me that they were, I decided to go ahead and do it. I think it’s very important for kids to be able to group up and talk about whatever they want.” The four students who created the club with McLiney are juniors Baker Stradinger, Jack Johnson, Worth Blackman and Mark Ward. Johnson, Blackman and Ward serve as Vice Presidents, while Stradinger serves as the treasurer. On top of those duties, Ward is also the Secretary, and Blackman is the Promotions Officer. Their main goal is to expand the student body’s knowledge of the Republican party, and give kids an opportunity to get involved in community activities. “We want to make sure we are being productive, not just sitting around,” McLiney said. “Some guys went out and held Yoder signs on the street to get car’s attention. A couple of other guys made calls to people urging them to get out and vote.” Johnson, Ward and McLiney were some of the members who made calls to people. According to Johnson, he and the boys made around 50 calls each. Not many people answered, and most of the ones that did had already voted. “The main point is that we were getting involved,” Johnson said. “We don’t want to be a club that just meets after school, we want to get out and do stuff for the community.” The club doesn’t just help students learn about the republican party, Muhammad believes it makes them grow as individuals as well. “I think it’s very important for students to have to ability to get together and talk about politics,” Muhammad said. “It’s good for them as kids to know the differences in political parties, and to form their opinions.” Meetings are being held every Wednesday, and the club will discuss political issues going on throughout the world. According to McLiney, some of the recent topics have been ISIS, the election, Obamacare and the Keystone Pipeline. “We really want to give students the opportunity to learn about the political issues in our country,” McLiney said. When looking towards the future, McLiney and his partners hope to be popping more bottles of sparkling juice, eating more cookies and celebrating a successful Republican party.

We really want to give students the opportunity to learn about the political issues in our country -Joe McLiney

above

Members of the Young Republicans freshman Brian Christian, Keith Barry and Junior Jack Neville photo illustration by Hailey Hughes

6 news

FAIRWAY FACELIFT er and Local pool revamps to offer residents larg newer fascilities written byTeagan Noblit

airway Pool, off of Mission Road and 61st Street, is being rebuilt to accommodate more people due to increasing popularity. The pool is older than most pools in the area, it was built in 1957. The pool was designed to hold around 250 people per day, but, since 2013, the average has increased to 380 patrons per day. “In May of 2014, the voters of Fairway approved a sales tax that will be used to pay for the [cost of the pool]. Anyone who patronizes [Fairway] business are paying a half a percent sales tax,” said Nathan Nogelmeier, Director of Parks and Recreation for Fairway. The sales tax ended up raising enough money to rebuild the pool. The new amenities will include a grass terrace, two family rooms, a larger snack bar and a multipurpose room. The biggest upgrade will be the zero depth pool, which feels like walking into the ocean as it gradually deepens. In addition to the zero depth area, which is built to comply with the American Disability Act, the new pool will include a bench used for swim lessons, a toddler slide, fountains that squirt out of the ground and dumping buckets. The zero depth is the biggest upgrade to the pool and the first priority. “We will make sure that the pool itself, the zero depth area is ready to go and we will make sure the bathrooms and the showers [are ready for the summer]” Nogelmeier said. It will be big enough to host two events at once. Updates in the snack bar will be made as well like to improve the efficiency of the way the snack bar is run. Although many improvements are being made, the pool entry fee will stay the same for the summer of 2015. After this year, the fees will be evaluated and the city will decide if there needs to be an increase or decrease. A change in pricing occurs every three years. Sophomore Nora Engelken lives in Fairway and is a regular visitor to the pool. She is looking forward to the renovations. “The new setup will more enjoyable and more accessible to people with a handicap or younger children. I think it will be a lot cleaner in general,” Engelken said. Visitors of the pool are very anxious, like Engelken to see how the new pool will work since they have only seen the current version. Pool visitors would have to be around 65 or 70 years old to even remember the old pool.

THE PLANS: 4. 2. SNACK BAR 1. BABY POOL 3. MAIN POOL Expansion and expansion including will remain the extension including multi-purpose same with existing a zero depth entry room for parties lap lanes and diving and events boards

NEW locker rooms with two family rooms and new grassy area for play

MAIN ENTRANCE: The entrance to the pool is changing from its original design that had members walking through locker rooms to get in

Due to the improvements, there will need to be more people on the staff. According to Junior Lance Meng, a lifeguard at Fairway pool, the entry of the pool will also be bigger, which will require a lifeguard to be on duty to keep track of people coming in the pool. The Fairway pool staff will be increased by four people. The lifeguards will be required to go through more training for the new stands being added have to learn different techniques because of the zero depth entry. The project started a few weeks ago, but the weather is restricting the workers from staying on pace. If the winter is harsh and there is a lot of snow, then the finish date will pushed back even farther. The project could take anywhere from

six to seven months. The construction is to be finished on May 15. If the snack bar doesn’t get done, then work will continue while the rest of the pool is open. If everything stays on schedule, then the grand opening of the pool will be May 23, a week before school gets out.

pl z pedaling A

written by Morgan Krakow

mong luxury shops, towering law office buildings and world-renowned restaurants, the Country Club Plaza shopping district recently installed a new feature on its sidewalks. Bicycle racks lined with identical grey bikes are now set up at various street corners. Individual bikes offer electronic payment methods so riders can cycle across town and return them to a number of other stations when they’re finished. These new bike stations are part of a continuous effort to incorporate more active transportation, like cycling and foot traffic, within the KC metro area. The initiative to convert KC into an active transportation city began almost three years ago with 12 original bike stations in the heart of downtown. Both the Plaza and Westport’s new bike racks are Phase II of the initiative. The non-profit organization Kansas City B-Cycle, responsible for the bike sharing program, is owned by parent company BikeWalk KC and sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. According to Eric Vaughan, Operations Manager at B-Cycle, the goal was not only to offer easier access to bikes, but also improve the city’s air quality, boost local businesses and raise health standards within the city. “The overall theme here is we have a lot of big, big problems that we’re trying to deal with as a whole country, health issues; obesity, diabetes, air pollution,” Vaughan said. “And we believe there are some really simple solutions that go a really long way to answering those really complex questions.” According to Vaughan, since the bikes have been placed

around the city, riders have saved KC a total of 50,000 pounds of net carbon that would have otherwise been emitted into the atmosphere from cars. In addition, the bikes have helped riders burn over 2 million calories and travel over 50,000 miles. Blue Cross Blue Shield invested in the program because they believed that improvements in health for the entire city would mean a lowering of insurance costs around the metro. As citizens engage in more active practices, they are less likely to seek medical help for heart diseases, thus keeping costs down for everyone in the city. In addition to the environmental and health improvements, the bikes give tourists a different view of the city. Bikers statistically spend more money locally than any segment of the population. According to Vaughan, the bikes encourage tourists, who stay at hotels and visit convention centers in KC, to stop and shop around. “You jump in a taxi and you’re just whisked off to your hotel,” Vaughan said. “When you’re whisked off to your restaurant you don’t get to experience those local businesses. Your view is much more narrow of your surroundings.” The downtown stations mainly serve tourists, who account for 60 percent of total ridership. “Anytime there’s an event our stations just blow up with riders,” Vaughan said. “We can’t keep bikes in stock.” However, one of the other reasons they began Phase II was to engage more residential riders. The Plaza and Westport characteristically serve a denser population with more residents relying on short-distance transportation. And according to Vaughan, this population is at the heart of B-Cycle’s mission. “We want to get people out of cars,” Vaughan said.

how to RIDE Purchase of membership Choose a B-station bike Go bike Return the bike

news 7

KC creates more opportunities for active transportation with new bike share initiative in Westport and the Country Club Plaza photo by Katie Lamar

“Not necessarily eliminate cars altogether, but just to create a culture where the car is not your first reaction every trip, every time.” This idea seems to be working, with bikes that have only been on the Plaza for a matter of weeks already outperforming some of their older stations Downtown. B-Cycle even made the decision to keep all stations open during winter in order to serve parts of the population that paid for year-long memberships and rely on the bikes as daily transportation. For Plaza resident and East parent Scott Martin, the bikes offer enjoyable transportation and better additions to KC’s public transit system. “It’d be kind of nice if people recognized that the buses do a pretty good job with bikes.” Martin said. “So if you just want to go one way, on the city bus, it’s pretty easy to put a bike on the bus.” He and his freshman son Zane often take the public bus from his Plaza home to a downtown bike rack. Once there, they ride the bikes around places like the River Market and return the bikes to an open station when finished. The successful older bike-share stations, according to Vaughan, are encouraging future phases which include expanding to the Brookside and Waldo neighborhoods, eventually even placing stations further into Johnson and Jackson county. “We’re hoping that in the next five or six years after several more phases,” Vaughan said. “That we’ll be at that same point where you’ll be seeing bike share stations way out in Shawnee, in Overland Park and Lees Summit.”

B-Cycle details $7.50 for 24 hours 3 speed bike with a security cable, lights and a basket 24 hour, 7 day, 30 day and annual memberships

d e k c a j i H

8 columns

y a lid

opinion by Maddie Hyatt

photo illustration by Kylie Rellihan

The Christmas season begins too early, and commercializes something that would otherwise be a great celebration

19.2%

Holiday sales account for 19.2% of the retail industry’s sales

It’s not December. It’s November. It’s not even Thanksgiving. And yet Christmas preparation starts the day after Halloween. ABC Family is already advertising their “25 Days of Christmas”, department stores have already arranged their holiday displays and 94.1 KFKF is already announcing their switch to Christmas music after Thanksgiving. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. I love my family’s Christmas Eve

tradition of picking out ornaments at Halls followed by dinner at

45% 45% of U.S. consumers buy gifts online

$801

$289

$368

1985

2013 Actual spending on holiday gifts Planned spending on holiday gifts

Money families spend on Christmas gifts every year

PF Changs, I love singing with the Kansas City Symphony at their Christmas performances every year with my choir, but most of all I love that special feeling you get during the holidays that you don’t get any other time of year. It’s the anticipation leading up to Christmas that makes the holiday. What I don’t love about Christmas is that the season starts too early. Christmas comes around once a year. It’s almost like Thanksgiving doesn’t get

Christmas has become about making a profit for businesses instead of the joy of giving and spending time with family. a day anymore. Christmas preparation starts at the beginning of November, overshadowing the one day a year where you can eat multiple helpings of mashed potatoes and no one bats an eye. When people prepare in October and the start of November it takes away that warm, fuzzy Christmas feeling you get from the Christmas trees, cold weather and the Plaza lights. Decorations are one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. Driving down Mission Road in December and seeing the multicolored lights on the Village shops, driving on themed streets like Candy Cane Lane and even that house with the thousands of tacky lights and random decorations off 95th and Mission Road are all things I look forward to during the winter. But if you want to decorate for Christmas

before Thanksgiving, draw a turkey. Another big part of the early Christmas season comes from commercialization. Every year Christmas commercialization starts earlier and earlier encouraging you to buy, buy, buy. I think this puts a sort of pressure on Christmas. It has become about making a profit for businesses instead of the joy of giving and spending time with family. Many people have money constraints and constantly seeing extravagant toys they could buy for their children most likely does not help. It can also build unrealistic ideals for children and high expectations that are are unattainable for their parents. For me, this ruins the holiday spirit. It is supposed to be about giving whatever you can rather than what you can buy. Commercialization also puts a rush on the holiday. Continually seeing commercials and advertisements for Christmas makes me feel like I’m late. By mid November, after seeing advertisements since October, I feel a pressure to get on with preparation. Whether it’s buying gifts for my family, decorating, or preparing for the holiday in general. Christmas is only one day, yet we are constantly bombarded with advertisements leading up to the fact. It has turned into a three month ordeal. In order to keep the special feeling of Christmas alive people need to stop anticipating the arrival of the holiday up to almost three months early, whether it be with decorations or preparation. Christmas will come soon enough, and the days and hours of anticipation will only ruin the specialness of the holiday. It normalizes the season and that is not what the holiday is about.

Expensive

columns 9

Ticket

opinion by Alex Masson photo illustration by Morgan Browning

Though teens are often targeted for it, all drivers must be careful not to text and drive because the consequences are the same no matter the age

hen I first got my license a little over two months ago, I was under the impression that driving a gas-guzzling, aluminum coffin was going to send me six feet under if I made any mistakes at all behind the wheel. With ads left and right directed at teens against texting and driving, it’s easy to fall under the impression that teenagers are terrible drivers. This is a lie. Teen drivers have been continuously beat into submission of believing they’re terrible drivers because the constant onslaught of ads against texting and driving. In 2009, 8,800 adults ages 25 to 34 died in a fatal car accident due to distracted driving. This is out of the 36,694 drivers that the U.S. census recorded that year, which works its way out to a 18.1 percent fatality rate. Compare that to 8.1 percent fatality rate of 19-year-olds and younger, and you can see that my argument has some ground to it. But those facts are just numbers, it’s a statistic that we glance over without giving it much thought. So let’s get personal. On Oct. 15, I dropped ten grand on a little Japanese import that goes by the name of Mitsubishi Evolution X. For people who care about cars, that name means a lot, but to the average Joe, it means nothing. I could have said Toyota Camry XLE and I would have gotten the same, “Aww, dude

Different age groups report using their phones while driving

Ages 15-19 Ages 19-24

sick ride bro” reaction. The Evo X is a rally car that often competes against Subaru Imprezas and Clio Renaults on the global rally stage. It can beat riced-out Honda Civics and Mazda Miatas on the track. It’s not a Camry. Anyways, I love my car. It cost me more than half of my savings, and I didn’t just have the keys dropped into my hands by Mommy and Daddy like a handful of my friends. I actually dropped the keys into their hands. On Oct. 16, a day after I signed the contract on the Evo, my father drove his 2010 Toyota Camry through a Sprint parking lot wall, effectively ending the life of that econobox. “I thought it was in reverse,” he said after he proceeded to slam it through 12-inch cement. In reality, my father was on his phone, trying to text one of my sisters while “reversing” out of a parking spot. Now, every morning I have to hand him the keys to the love of my life, and get dropped off at school in my own car that I still have to pay insurance and gas for. This isn’t the first time texting has cost me a car, though. Before I bought my Japanese hyper car, I was gunning for a Mazda Miata, a ‘93 with the pretty pop-up lights. I searched for over five months, looking at every ad on Craigslist and listening to a car salesman’s pitch on a used Toyota Prius that

58% Texting and Driving 72% 82%

Ages 25-39 Ages 40-59

72%

Adults

Teens vs.

had 200,000 miles and was selling for $15,000. “It’s all highway miles,” I remember the crusty, 47-year-old man with a 4 o’clock shadow saying to me. I eventually lined up a deal through Craigslist with a man in Wyandotte with the perfect Miata. It wasn’t modded, it didn’t have an LS1 swapped engine in it, it didn’t need new gaskets. It was perfect. The day of the deal, a warm Saturday in July as I wanted the car ready for school, the man selling me the car smashed the front end of the cherry-red convertible into a trash can while he was texting his wife. The Miata was totaled and sent to a scrap yard later that week, and I cried the day I received the text from the 30-year-old saying that the little sports car was dead. If it wasn’t for texting and driving, I would be driving to school every day, but instead I have to give parents my car while they search for a replacement which will take God knows how long. While my stories were relatively painless compared to the nine people that die every day from distracted driving, it still shows that drivers, not just teens, need to realize that texting and driving is dangerous and can result in somebody getting seriously injured.

15%

48%

of young drivers have seen of young drivers have seen their parents texting and their parents use their driving phones while driving

Information from USA Today and AAA

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photo by Abby Blake

Native Knowledge Argentina native, Rosa Detrixhe, uses her expertise to teach Spanish classes If you’re in a Spanish-speaking country, and you hear someone sneeze once, say “Salud,” for health. If you hear them sneeze twice, say “Dinero,” for money. And if you hear them sneeze a third time, say “Amor,” for love. Rosa Detrixhe, more commonly known as Señora Detrixhe by her students, uses her Argentinian background to add to her teaching, along the typical American curriculum. She shows them, not tells them, what living in a Spanishspeaking country is like. Detrixhe grew up in Salta, Argentina. She’s the Spanish teacher with the authentic Argentinian accent, changing her double L’s to ‘sh’ type sounds. Detrixhe’s Spanish-speaking skills make teaching the grammatical side of the language much easier, so she can try to focus on more cultural topics like Latino music, cooking and more. Even though a set district curriculum makes fitting in cultural experiences hard, Detrixhe has an advantage, because she can slip in phrases and stories during lessons. “When you learn a foreign language it’s not just knowing how to use the grammar properly,” Detrixhe said. “You have to understand where the other people are coming from. Why are they thinking that way? What are their customs? When you put it all together in perspective, then you can be a true Spanish student.” Because of Detrixhe’s Argentinian background, she teaches her students things like the sayings used to say ‘OK’ in Northern Argentina versus in Mexico City, which can help students understand the language culturally and more in depth. Senior Macy Shutts had Detrixhe as a teacher when she was a freshman in Spanish 1, and has her this year, in Spanish 4. Shutts recognizes that Detrixhe really wants her to succeed in Spanish and later in life “She knows where [it’s] coming from,” Shutts said.

Detrixhe understands why certain phrases exist and why the language is the way it is. Shutts has also benefited from having Detrixhe as a teacher, because of the extra knowledge she was able to gain. “She knows all the slang words,” Shutts said. “You can kind of get more ‘Spanish Spanish’,” Shutts said. “Instead of the Americans trying to speak Spanish. You just learn the Argentinian Spanish instead of general Spanish.” Detrixhe appreciates how difficult learning a language is, especially when the class is only once a day. She had to learn English as a kid in Argentina as part of the school curriculum, and she only had foreign language classes three times a week. “I think that she appreciates education and the opportunities that it can provide for students

“I can offer my expertise, not so much in the language, but also from my experiences, my life and I can share that.”

- Detrixhe

much more than anyone else,” Spanish teacher Pamela James said. “She had to work very hard in school to succeed to be able to come to the United States to create more opportunities for herself.” Detrixhe grew up a native Spanish speaker, but she also brings cultural life experiences to the classrooms that aren’t language related. For example, she has a different attitude towards student-teacher relationships than in the United States. She saw a lot more respect in Argentina from students to teachers. “If the teacher will address to the student, that student was supposed to get up and give the an-

swer to the teacher standing up” Detrixhe said. Detrixhe also notices how the working culture is different in the U.S. Many students at East have jobs, which can sometimes lead to distraction from school work. “For us, it was homework first and homework second and homework third,” Detrixhe said. “We never worked when we were in high school. We never worked.” Detrixhe lived in Argentina until she was a senior in high school, then moved to the U.S. for a year with an exchange student program. She moved to north-central Kansas, where she met Phil Detrixhe, her persistent fellow classmate, who visited her in Argentina after her year was up, with romantic intentions. Persistent Phil married Detrixhe when she was in Argentina, working as a grade school teacher. Then they moved back to the states to visit Phil’s parents; Detrixhe thought the visit would be temporary. But it wasn’t. They stayed in the U.S., and Detrixhe went to Kansas State University to get her bachelor’s degree as an elementary school teacher, after she had kids. “I was traveling back and forth to K-State three times a week,” Detrixhe said. “So I was on the road for almost two hours [in the morning] and in the evening for almost two hours.” She then went on to get certified in teaching Spanish, kindergarten through twelfth grade, after a professor convinced her that teaching Spanish would be very easy with her background. And for the last fourteen years, Detrixhe has been teaching Spanish for the Shawnee Mission School District, at Shawnee Mission East, Shawnee Mission South, Mission Valley, and Pawnee Elementary. “I can be halfway dead and I still can be teaching Spanish,” Detrixhe said. “I can offer my expertise, not so much in the language, but also from my experiences, my life and I can share that.”

written by Celia Hack

Salta

Buenos Aires

Stud e

Fast a

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e didn’t realize that a speeding ticket would cause him to miss half of his English final. It wasn’t like he was pulled over in the morning and was late to class, it was that he was leaving early--for a court date. Three weeks earlier, on the last day before Thanksgiving break last year, junior Michael Mardikes looked at the clock on his dash he realized that to make it to school before the 7:40 a.m. bell rang it would take stepping on the gas. On any other day, going 12 over on Delmar would have not been a problem. Mardikes sped down Delmar at 37 mph, with making it to first hour on time still an obtainable goal. “I got pulled over in the East parking lot. Everyone stopped and honked too, really embarrassing,” Mardikes said. “And to make it even better, I was late to class.” High school students are new drivers, and still learning the rules of the road. Speeding tickets are one of the main effects of young people behind the wheel. School is one of the more common excuses for speeding, as well as other time-pressuring events. Mardikes, a second-year legal driver, learned his lesson the hard way; pulled over, embarrassed and a drained wallet. Senior Stephanie Wilcox experienced tears in her meeting with the police, and drove away with without a dime out of her pocket. Junior Andrew Stottle was not as fortunate, but the reduction in his bank account did not result in a reduction on his speedometer. For Mardikes, the policemen were stationed along an intersecting Delmar street. It wasn’t until he was safely parked before he noticed that the police had followed him into the sophomore lot and had parked alongside him. Although he was late to class, his teacher agreed that a $120 ticket was enough of a punishment, and he was not counted tardy. Mardikes paid double the fine to erase it from his

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record, with an additional $50 to attend the mandatory teen safety education class in Kansas City, MO. The course was run by a college student, who educated attendees on how their decisions could lead to fatal results. Mardikes believed that it was primarily to make the patron regret their violation, and to make them learn their lesson. “I had a lame story--[my ticket] was just for speeding, when other people shared theirs it was for drag racing or another guy was there because he was riding in a golf cart sitting in the bed of a pickup truck, while it was in drive,” Mardikes said. Around the same time last year, Wilcox learned her lesson--in a bit of a different way. Wilcox doesn’t enjoy driving at night, so at 11:30 p.m., getting home quickly was something to shoot for. She was unaware that she was going 11 over the speed limit signs lining Rowe Avenue. It wasn’t until she was in her own driveway that she noticed the police were following her. He told her that she had been speeding, then asked where she was headed. Wilcox replied in a shaky voice that she was currently in her own driveway and had been coming home from a friend’s house. Wilcox knew she was nervous, but she also detected uneasiness in the officer’s voice--making her believe that he was unsure of himself, giving her a slight hope of getting off the hook. “I think I also might have started crying. There may have been tears,” Wilcox said. “That was probably why he felt bad for me and let me off with a warning.” A speeding ticket wasn’t the only thing she got off the hook for that night--her parents never found out she was pulled over in the first place. Although they were home, the Wilcox’s did not notice the lights in their driveway. According to East SRO Eric Mieske, officers will begin pulling drivers over at speeds anywhere from five to 10 mph, but this

SPEED LIMIT

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illust mainly depends ratio n by on the area and the officer. Kaitl yn S “It is going to depend on the city, tratm along with the officer’s job function,” Mieske an said. “A traffic officer is more likely to pull over for a lower speed than a regular patrol officer.” Number Stottle was pulled over this past summer of Speeding Tickets on Ward Parkway. After being stopped by Teenagers Received in 2013 an officer on a bike, he was informed that he $250 had been going 12 over the limit. Not as for$225 tunate as Wilcox, Stottle was issued a $170 ticket, thereafter paying double to eliminate $200 $175 it from his record--with his own money. About a year after Mardikes, Stottle was also re$150 quired to attend a similar driver safety class, $125 although his was located a bit further north. $100 “It was sketch, on 34th and Troost,” $75 Stottle said. “The other kids were tell$50 ing stories how they had been to jail.” $25 For Mardikes, the embarrassment, $290 Speeding Speeding and the mandatory safety class was an exJuvenile Speeding Juvenile perience he would be happy to never come 1/1/2014- Minor 1/1/201311/18/2014 1/1/201412/31/2013 across again. He watches his gauge on the 11/18/2014 Speeding dash, and keeps the number close to the limMinor 1/1/2013it. Wilcox, although getting out of what Mar12/31/2013 dikes went through, still realizes she was lucky Average Cost of Tickets for that the power of tears pulled through for her, and would not want to push it any further. For Teenagers Stottle however, speeding still outweighs the Seatbelt Violation $390 ticket and attending the driving class. $10

$65.50

$60.50

Minor 2013 and 2014

Seatbelt Violation Juvenile 2013 and 2014 Texting Juvenile and Minor 2013 and 2014

Speeding Juvenile and Minor 2013 and 2014 $130.50 *Juvenile= 14-17 Years Old *Minor= 18-21 Years Old information courtesy of

Prairie Village Police Department

Lancer BLOOPERS

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Students share embarrasing stories that still haunt them

written by Morgan Krakow

Croc-a-Holic

Just Like Spongebob

SOPHOMORE

SENIOR

Grace Menninger “I used to own four pairs of Crocs. My first pair was green and then I had a blue pair and then I had a red white and blue pair. Sometimes I’d mix and match blue and green. And I had like charms. I had like flag charms, animal charms. I had the American flag. I had England’s flag for some reason. I had a couple monkeys, a lot of penguins. Definitely the penguin one was my favorite. I just kind of like, depending on what I was feeling that day I [would choose the charms]. The green ones were my favorite.”

I used to own four pairs of Crocs -Menninger

photos by Katie Lamar

Can’t Take It JUNIOR

Olivia Myers

Jack Eddy

“Here I am, in second grade, I’m walking out to recess and I’m right in front of my crush at this time. So obviously I’m a little more there, I’m little more excited. I get out there and my friend tells me, actually no, it wasn’t even my friend, it was just one of the girls in my grade and she’s like ‘I want to let you know that you have a hole in your pants.’ And I’m like ‘Are you kidding me?’ There’s a giant rip, right up the butt. Huge! You could stick your whole hand in it. There was a draft. It was horrible. But it was okay because it was during recess like all the girls in my, grade, like all the girls stood around me and someone gave me their sweatshirt to tie around my waist. It was really dramatic for second grade, but I made it through. It was super embarrassing, and I cried.”

“In fifth grade I got really sick. It turned out to be an abscess in my neck but at this point I didn’t know it was that bad. My mom was just like ‘you slept on it wrong.’ So I went to school and my neck is hurting and all of that and on top of that I’ve got this fever going you know, and I’m way over-heated and I’m not feeling good at all. And it all kind of culminates at that day when we were gonna do sex ed. And so this person comes into talk to talk to our class about puberty and pops in a little video. And the video starts up and I just blow chunks all over the floor. And of course the reaction of my class was they cracked up and they’re like ‘Oh Eddy can’t take it, and it was the most embarrassing moment of my life.”

‘I want to let you know that you have a hole in your pants.’ -Myers

I just blow chunks all over the floor. And of course the reaction of my class was they cracked up and they’re like ‘Oh Eddy can’t take it. -Eddy

below

photoessay

Senior Catherine Sabates helps with directions on the way to Neiman Elementary. Sabates and others left after their third hour. Once they’re at the school, they help set up chairs and tables before all the lunches begin. “The hardest part is finding all the kids and getting them up on stage to eat,” Sabates said. “It was our first time doing it so it was us trying to get the hang of it.”

right Junior Elisabeth Shook asks first-graders questions while they eat. It’s her favorite part of the entire day. “The questions are so simple but I like asking because their lives are so different from high-schoolers’,” Shook said. “I love talking about what they do at recess because I miss playing kickball on the Briarwood playground.”

a simple celebration photos by Annie Savage

above Senior Catherine Sabates asks kids funny questions like who they are dating. “I love asking the little kids if they have a girlfriend or a boyfriend because they think it is the coolest thing when we ask,” Sabates said. “They all react so hilariously, it’s awesome.”

SHARE volunteers spend one Monday a month giving back to schools in the Shawnee Mission School District for kids’ birthdays. The SHARE Executives provide all the SHARE Chair’s with donuts and balloons to take to schools including Neiman, Shawanoe and Apache Elementary. Every student with a birthday within the designated month is invited to sit at a separate table and each lunch with their friends and the SHARE Chairs. “We want the kids that don’t get to celebrate their birthday’s to feel special,” senior Sydney Shearer said. “I think it’s important to make every kid feel that way.”

7385 W 97th St Overland Park, KS 66212 913-648-2696

www.doctornote.net

Shawnee Mission Girls Lacrosse Fall Ball Lacrosse Conditioning and Skill Development

All high school females interested in playing lacrosse are invited to join our offseason fall workout program! Work on drills and skill development before the 2015 spring season with players and captains from the team.

Sunday Oct. 19 & 26 12pm-1:15pm Linwood Park (99th St. and Mission Rd.) $25 per player (cash or check made out to Shawnee Mission Girls Lacrosse Club)

Equipment Required: stick, mouth guard, eye protection For more information visit smgirlslacrosse.com

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opinion by Julia Poe

written by Sophie Tulp It’s East guidance counselor Becky Wiseman’s worst nightmare. That a student could be struggling and she wouldn’t know about it. That a student could choose to attempt suicide, before receiving help. It’s a concern that weighs heavily on her mind. Wiseman worries that students and staff might not report concerning behavior, and she wants to change that. She and Principal John McKinney are re-evaluating how they can start a conversation about suicide awareness and prevention in school. “It’s my biggest fear that we couldn’t reach a student before they made that decision, and give them time to reconsider and choose life,” Wiseman said. “I think in some ways people worry ‘am I making too big of a deal?’ ‘Is it really just somebody having a bad day?’ Teachers and students have that hesitation, but we need to start having this conversation in school so they know it is okay to talk address.” At Olathe Northwest High School (ONW) two weeks ago, two young women ended their lives over a span of a single weekend. The deaths rocked the communities surrounding ONW. In the aftermath, East counseling staff and administration are assessing how to better address the topic of suicide in the school setting, to open up the discussion and prevent future tragedies. At the staff meeting on Nov. 12, Wiseman urged faculty to report to her if they see anything, hear anything or even just have concerns about a student and their mental well-being. Although no specific programs have been initiated yet, the event at ONW is prompting a discussion of suicide that will be different from those in the past. Currently, the major roadblocks are finding the right forum to have the discussion, and finding the most effective way to convey the serious topic. And that means re-evaluating practices used in the past to address suicide. Wiseman’s biggest worry is finding the right way to have the conversation with students. Currently, October is set aside as Red Ribbon month, covering suicide awareness, alcohol and drug abuse and anti-bullying all at the same time. This limits the emphasis the school can place on a single topic. To Wiseman, condensing everything into one month means not taking time to appreciate each issue appropriately. “It all happens within a month period,” Wiseman said. “Do we have a discussion during that week? Is it brought up in an assembly? Is it in a curriculum type forum — health classes or psychology classes? It’s not a question of do the adults around here care, but where is a forum where this discussion can happen.” Up until recently, Wiseman says people have shied away from discussing suicide prevention or awareness, because they do not want to say the wrong thing - adding to a ‘let’s just not talk about it’ mentality. Early in her career, Wiseman was told that if you talk about suicide, you will make people who are contemplating it follow through. Now, Wiseman increasingly sees this old idea being cast aside. In her extensive school counselor training courses, she learned that current research actually disproves this old outlook, and opening up schools to address the subject more publicly. The National Institute of Mental Health says that school and community prevention programs are most effective when designed to address suicide and suicidal behavior as part of a broader focus on mental health. This means not just lecturing students about the devastating effects of suicide and therefore desensitizing them to it, but teaching coping skills in response to stress, substance abuse and even aggressive behaviors that students naturally encounter in this phase in their lives. Schools across the country are trying to incorporate these mental-health based discussions, proven to be most effective, into a conversation with their students. American School

Counselor Association member and former President of the Colorado School Counselors Association Sandy Austin deals with the after affects of suicide in her school community frequently. Recently she dealt with the loss of three students to suicide in the span of a single month. “[Following the tragedy] we went into all of the english classrooms, because we knew we could hit every single student at school that way,” Austin said. “We needed to get students to come to us before problems occurred, so we knew we had to change the culture of the school to where the students felt comfortable to come and talk to us and let us know if they were having [suicidal thoughts].” Following the traumatic events, Austin and the school initiated multiple programs and clubs with a focus on reaching out to students and showing that there is someone in the school who cares. An anonymous tip box was placed near the office, and at the end of the semester 42 students were put on 72-hour watches for their serious suicidal thoughts. Austin says the tip box lead to potentially saving those 42 lives. Another program, Believe It Or Not Someone Cares Club (BIONIC) is an example of spreading awareness and preventing suicide in a way other than a formal assembly discussion. BIONIC Club member’s are split into three teams to address the issues that the students who killed themselves suffered from, leading up to their deaths: extended Illness, death in the family and academic stress. BIONIC club member’s visit students in the hospital with gift packages, make sympathy cards and pies for students who lost loved ones, introduce new students to the school and send cards to students who are out of school sick for more than five days. BIONIC Club’s mission was — and still is — to reach as many at-risk students as possible to promote an environment where students are comfortable coming to the adults in the community for help. And it was a program that Austin says had made all the difference, even prompting teachers to tell her it is the single thing that made the school a more caring climate. Two years later, more than 700 schools worldwide have contacted Austin, in hopes of starting their own BIONIC clubs. Dr. Bill Geis, Director of Behavioral Health Research for the UMKC School of Medicine, has found that before suicide prevention is initiated in schools, only about 40 to 50 percent of students say they are willing to go for help if they feel suicidal. After prevention is initiated in schools that focuses on promoting help-seeking, up to 90 percent of students say they would get help if they find themselves in a crisis. “In our work in schools, we are trying to promote the value of self-advocacy at every age,” Dr. Geis said. “Students have to be willing to seek medical and behavioral help to fine-tune problems and to avoid the long-term effects of stress.” As the third leading cause of death in young adults aged 10 to 27, McKinney says suicide is a topic the school cannot shy away from. It is a responsibility of the staff and the administration to look out for the students who spend half of the day under their supervision. Both he and the Johnson County Crisis Center agree that children are more likely to come into contact with somebody who can help them if they are having suicidal thoughts in the school setting. “We would be irresponsible if we weren’t talking about it straight up,” McKinney said. “As we find ourselves faced with this tragedy I just think that everything that involves the students [here], this school has a responsibility to address. I don’t follow you home on the weekends and see what you are doing, but if you call me concerned or upset, I am still on the clock. I get you for four years and I don’t stop caring even if we are not in school.”

Discussing suicide and the impact it has on the East community with administrators, experts, students, parents and from a personal perspective

VISIT SMEHARBINGER.NET FOR MORE ON THE TOPIC

photo illustration by Katie Lamar

One year and 135 days ago, I tried to kill myself. Let me tell you why. When I was little, words tangled in my brain and I drowned in my own thoughts. I talked to few people, trusted fewer. I was lonely, scared. I grew up, talked more, but even in high school I felt lost in my own mind, crushed by my anxiety. One year and 135 days ago, I hated who I was. I felt small and vulnerable. In my mind, I was a weak little girl with skinned knees and a watery smile. So I got up in a daze one night, choked down half a bottle of Costco ibuprofen and fell asleep wondering whether God would have blue or green eyes. I woke up quietly, alone in my bed, wrapped in a blanket of remorse. I cried myself awake and wished I could scrape the guilt off of my skin with my fingernails. My mind was fuzzy, my limbs heavy with self-pity and exhaustion — but I was alive. My parents, asleep in their king bed one room over, were clueless. Something should have happened. I should have vomited, or at least felt drowsy. Most suicide attempts like mine end up in a trip to the ER. Instead, three hours later, I boarded a plane to Indiana for a church retreat. I’m still not sure why I survived. I tucked the secret of my suicide into my carry-on bag and vowed to tell no one. I almost entirely kept that promise, only releasing my secret into the hands of my parents and my closest friends. Until these last few weeks, I didn’t want to write this. But two weeks ago, two Olathe Northwest students committed suicide. Their deaths were spaced only two days apart. Those deaths stuck in the corners of my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about it — how those girls died, how I almost died, how anyone might die fighting against themselves. I first heard about it on Twitter. The suicides were impossible to avoid; they plagued every social media platform and local news station in the Kansas City area. When I first saw the news, I stared at my phone blankly. I replaced the girls’ names with my own. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. In every article and tweet, I read a recurring theme — no one knew these girls were suicidal. Somehow, tangled up in the daily chatter of homecoming nominations and soccer games and boyfriends, no one noticed these two girls were in enough pain to want to end everything. Even though I never met these girls, I know a part of them. I know the desperation of feeling that I’m at the end of my life. But I also know how it feels to start over again. I know how it feels to wake up after trying to end my own life, look in the mirror and actually see myself for the first time. See flaws, see beauty, see something that is worth staying alive for. I know how it feels to ask my parents to hide medications where I can’t find them, to go through three therapists before finding one that I trust. And I know how it feels to fall in love with myself for the first time. I wish those girls had felt that. I wish they had known the pain, the remorse, the poisonous damage of their actions. I wish they had known all the beauty and joy they could still experience. I wish they had lived. There isn’t enough space in this newspaper for me to properly express my condolences to the friends, the family and the community who were rocked by this loss. But I hope that in watching the Olathe Northwest community grieve the loss of their two beautiful girls, we can also start wak-

ing up to a painful reality. Suicide is everywhere. And it always comes as a surprise. There is a stereotype that suicide comes in obvious packages. But it doesn’t. The people who kill themselves are also the ones who come to school in J. Crew dresses and cheer in the front row at football games. They are the ones wearing captain armbands on the soccer field and leading the dance team at every game. They are award-winning artists and theatre kids, supportive friends and loving children. When I tell people my story, I always get the same response. A smile crumbling into shock, a hand on my arm and then that all too familiar phrase — “I never would have guessed.” That’s the thing. I hid it. I faked it. And I was successful, because even my closest friends couldn’t tell. We are surrounded by people in hiding, people like me who bury their secrets. We walk the halls at East each day, and each of us think that we are alone in our pain and anxiety and depression. We need to stop assuming. We need to stop acting like we are all alone. We need to start talking about suicide. Parents, teachers, friends — learn the signs. Notice when someone begins to pull away. Notice when they stop taking interest. Listen to the people surrounding you, and when something concerns you, confront it head on. This will be awkward. This will be painful. But in order to save the lives of those you love, you must cherish them enough to talk about suicide. Talking about suicide is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I did it. I told my parents, my friends, Tate. I asked my mom to find me a therapist, who taught me tools to realign the way I process emotions. I stopped worrying about the people who heightened my anxiety, and I slowly learned to love little pieces of myself. And I’m happy. That’s why I’m writing this. It’s for those of you who feel you are hiding this pain, who think you are at the end of your lives. I’m begging you — don’t do it. There are a million and one reasons to kill yourself. But for however many reasons you might find to end your life, I promise you there is always another reason to live. I don’t know what you will live for. But I know what I live for. I live for my mom’s chicken and rice casserole. I live for the friends who I can talk to for hours even though we live thousands of miles apart. I live for sunrises in Montreat, North Carolina and for KU basketball games. I live for my mom’s laugh, for Supernatural marathons with my dad. I live for myself, and when that’s not enough, I live for others. Believe me when I say that life is beautiful. Perhaps death made life more beautiful for me, but I know one thing — there isn’t a day that I wake up that I don’t regret trying to end my life. There’s nothing I can do to change that. So instead, I try to live with joy and courage and beauty. I am proud of how I live now. I read more and try to worry less what others think of me. I tell my friends I love them and check in on them frequently. I only spend time with the people who truly make me happy. Sometimes I’m sad. Sometimes I feel the depression trying to creep back, the hate clawing at my chest. But I haven’t thought of death in months. I’m just too happy. One year and 135 days ago, I thought my life had come to a close. Now, I know that I’m just beginning.

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opinion by Julia Poe

Discussing suicide and the impact it has on the East community with administrators, experts, students, parents and from a personal perspective

VISIT SMEHARBINGER.NET FOR MORE ON THE TOPIC

photo illustration by Katie Lamar

NOT UP FOR DEBATE

feature

According to KSHAA rules, senior Casey Owen could not debate for East after transferring from South. He now debates at the college level for Johnson County Community College instead written by Ellie Booton

ast debate: a nationally-ranked program of 100 or so students who come together and present arguments at tournaments. In other words, senior Casey Owen’s dream. So when East administrators told him his transfer prohibited him from debating at East, he emailed representatives from the Kansas State High School Activities Association in hopes of being able to compete with East’s squad. But when a student transfers schools without his family actually moving houses, KSHAA rejects a student’s eligibility to play sports for eighteen weeks because they would be viewed as a debate recruit, a strategy known as “school shopping.” “The tricky thing is that debate is co-curricular, so there’s an academic element to it,” debate teacher Trey Witt said. “So I think that’s why it’s frustrating, because if the KSHAA rules prevent you from being able to compete, that in turn kind of prevents you from being able to take the class.” Nonetheless, Witt still enrolled Casey in his class. Like the rest of his students, Casey would learn researching and examination techniques, the only difference being his inability to participate in tournaments. But Casey knew he had to compete. Reciting 400 words a minute and researching controversial topics every day was a constant in his life that he was not ready to give up. In fact, it is his passion. But without a team, Casey realized his progress was going to hit a dead end. He thought his transfer would aid him in moving forward and let him compete with the squad at East rather than SM South’s. “At South, there was an issue with people who were willing to put in as much work as I was willing to put in,” Casey said. “So I wanted to transfer to East because there would’ve been a better chance for me to do what I want in debate.”

Because of his ineligibility, Casey looked for a plan B. Since he was already registered at East, turning back was not an option. So from 6:00 p.m. to 8:50 p.m. every Wednesday night, he meets 15 other students at the Johnson County Community College (JCCC) to debate. The debate class at JCCC focuses on preparing students for a four-year university education. Through learning debate theory, debate skills and methods of becoming successful intercollegiate competitors, Casey and his classmates prepare for higher-level competitions than those of East’s. “We have individuals that debated for four years in high school, we have high school students and we have individuals who are brand-new to debate,” JCCC debate coach Justin Stanley said. Every student enrolled in the class is a member of the school’s debate squad, which is the top community college debate squad in the nation. Through September and March, they travel to Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Utah and North Carolina where they compete to defend their ranking. Not only is Owen presented more traveling opportunities he wouldn’t have otherwise, but he will also receive three college credits for the course and a sneak-peek of what his next four years might look like. “I think college debate is something that even our varsity kids work toward,” Witt said. “And he’s already doing that style of debate right now at JCCC.” And that style is something Casey hopes to advance in his next four years. Looking at the University of Kansas (KU), Casey hopes to join his brother there. Mason Owen, Casey’s older brother, debated at South for four years and now debates at KU. As Casey was entering high school, Mason did not want to force his interests on his brother, but he didn’t need to. Freshman year, Casey decided to take up debate at South on his own. “As soon as Casey joined the team,” Mason said, “I really took the initiative to try and make sure I could provide him enough resources so that he could start learning about different mechanics of argumentation that he might not receive on his own.” Despite the difficulties he’s faced caused by his transfer to East, Casey’s still been able to pursue his passion -debate. “At least I know that when I go to college I’m not going to have issues with figuring out what to do,” Owen said.

photo illustration by Hailey Bell

Quick Facts: Casey’s debate skills

Casey can recite up to 400 words per minute when debating a case

Depending on the case, Casey compiles anywhere from 30-200 pages of notes

Tournament Travels

Three farthest competitions Casey has debated at

2. 3.

1. UMKC 2. EMPORIA, KANSAS 3. CENTRAL OKLAHOMA

Debater’s Dictionary lingo used by debaters in each round

FLOWING a shorthand way of taking notes on the opponent’s argument Example: “Federal legislation is key to address [money laundering] = “fed K 2 S [$ laun]”

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feature 21

As winter weather quickly approaches, many East students are starting their yearly hibernation period: staying inside, bundled up in blankets, binging on Netflix. However, four East students are fending off these cold vibes by using the season to partake in their favorite winter traditions and activites.

EMILY CHISHOLM:GIVING BACK

While her friends are off ice skating, watching holiday movies, or buying last minute gifts, junior Emily Chisholm will spend Dec. 23 volunteering in Children’s Mercy Hospital, making sure every patient has a perfect Christmas. Chisholm is a member of the teen advisory board at Children’s. During the holiday season, many of the patients’ families don’t have the time or money to get gifts for their children. Chisholm and other volunteers set up a shop for the families so they are able to give their child a nice gift. The families pick out gifts for their children that the nurses then wrap and put in the patients’ rooms on Christmas morning. Chisholm works as a personal shopper in the store. “I take the relatives of patients or volunteers through the shop and help them pick out the best gift for their patient,” Chisholm said.“I love helping them with that.” The shop has a large selection of gifts for every kid, from toddlers to teens. The gift items include a

variety of presents like Nerf toys, makeup kits and stuffed animals. Chisholm’s favorite part of volunteering is seeing how grateful the families are for the gifts, and how much joy they bring. “The families know the holiday season means a lot for their patients,” Chisholm said. “When the patients can’t be home with their families for the holidays, it really hurts them. I just love seeing how appreciative the families really are.” One case in particular had a strong impact on Chisholm last year, making her feel like she was making a difference. “One older man started crying out of gratefulness, and it really touched me,” Chisholm said. Chisholm is excited for many things this winter, but the Children’s Mercy holiday shop is at the top of her list. “I am looking forward to just being able to give back again and make them happy. I want to help them have a better holiday season,” Chisholm said.

CHASE TETRICK AND MICK WIGGINS: MAKING MONEY After a snow day is announced, as their classmates are sound asleep, sophomores Mick Wiggins and Chase Tetrick shovel away outside, hoping the snow will stop shortly. Their jackets, jeans and stocking caps let them move freely, but don’t keep out cold as well as traditional snow wear. After ten more driveways, they decide their day’s work is done. With $100 in their pockets, the snow day was a success. Since the fifth grade, Tetrick and Wiggins have been shoveling driveways together and started their own lawn mowing business as they grew older. However, they wanted to make money in other seasons besides just spring and summer. This evolved their business into different seasonal jobs: mowing in spring and summer, raking leaves in fall, and shoveling in winter. Now, with two snow blowers, shovels, an ice melt and a trailer holding their supplies, Tetrick and Wiggins get a lot of work done in

a day, shoveling 10 to 15 driveways in around three hours. Depending on how much snow there is, the price for smaller driveways is $10 to $20 and $30 to $40 for bigger circle driveways. They like working in the mornings, from around 8-11 a.m. “The best part of shoveling driveways is obviously making money, but also helping people, usually the elderly, be able to use their driveways in the winter,” Tetrick said. After a long morning of shoveling, Tetrick and Wiggins usually go get lunch or hang out with friends. “We just stop whenever we feel like stopping,” Wiggins said, “In between jobs, we take little breaks to relax and warm up.” The boys still have some salt left over from last year, but they are planning for the winter ahead. “We haven’t really done much yet, but ideally we want to buy salt and supplies soon before the first snow, so it’s cheaper,” Wiggins said.

written by Chloe Stanford

LAUREN HUNTER: HOLIDAY TREATS

Last year, senior Lauren Hunter realized that baking was a perfect way to relieve her stress and get her mind off things. Baking is something that she enjoys, but especially during the winter season when she can make things for her friends and family. “Winter is a good time to bake because you get to use ingredients that are only good during certain seasons, like pumpkin and gingerbread,” Hunter said. Hunter usually just bakes sweets, but tries to make them as healthy as possible by using ingredients such as agave nectar, a natural sweetener made from an agave plant, instead of syrup or honey. She also uses almond butter instead of peanut butter, and dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. “I love making things for my friends, though whenever I bake at home, my family eats a lot of it,” Hunter said. Hunter’s favorite thing to bake is lemon cake. She has always been obsessed with Cafe Europa’s lemon cake, and she spent

months looking for the recipe. “I finally found a copycat recipe online, and I made it during the winter season last year,” Hunter said. To make this cake, Hunter bakes two separate lemon cakes, which are later stuck together with frosting in the middle and topped with a lemon glaze. Another delicious recipe, one of Hunter’s favorites, is her grandma’s butterscotch cookies. They have been in her family for generations. “My whole family loves them and we have to have them whenever we have a big family function, like for the holidays, and so I recently took over making them every time,” Hunter said. This holiday season, Hunter is most looking forward to baking treats such as pumpkin bread and holiday waffles, which use cinnamon roll or pumpkin bread dough as waffle batter. She is excited to baking these treats for her friends and family.

INTERSTELLAR GOES 22 a&e

espite the positive reviews, I was skeptical walking into “Interstellar.” I couldn’t imagine sitting through a three hour movie without feeling like it droned on and on. Almost every single movie I have ever seen that surpasses two and a half hours, no matter how critically acclaimed or actionpacked, always left me with the thought “Is this over yet?” And I didn’t think “Interstellar” would be an exception. I settled into my seat, slightly bitter about spending three hours of my day off inside a dark movie theatre. Little did I know, I would leave thinking only about the vastness of space and time. “Interstellar” takes place on Earth in the near future. The planet is quickly running out of resources and it’s only a matter of years before Earth will become completely uninhabitable. Dust storms rivaling the Dust Bowl from the 1930s plague farmers and their crops. Long gone is the generation of entrepreneurship and social media. Technology is plentiful and advanced, but no one can stop the impending end of the Earth. NASA Pilot and engineer-turned-farmer Joseph A. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), lives with his teenage son Tom (Timothée Chalamet), 10-year-old daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy), and father-in-law Donald (John Lithgow). He is called upon by NASA to travel into space, accompanied by Brand (Anne Hathaway). The only reason this trip is possible is because of the discovery of a wormhole that orbits Saturn. The wormhole allows them to make the thousand-year-long journey in just two years. The trip to the distant planets is the last possible effort to save mankind. The risks are high, and because of the time lapse in space, Cooper could return to Earth and everyone on the planet be extinct, including his children. If he ever returns at all. The movie follows one singular plot from two views. It follows Cooper and his comrades in space, fighting against time. Then it switches to his family growing up and living on a starving planet, falling apart before their eyes. One of the most impressive aspects about “Interstellar” was the realistic portrayal of a rather far-fetched plot. It is captivating because it makes you wonder if this is the future we are making for ourselves. It took real problems

Don’t Bother

like hunger, deforestation and over-population and made them the antagonist of the movie. It was terrifying how realistic this future Earth’s problems were. Not only did it have one of the most realistic science fiction plots I have ever seen, but the movie really did hold my attention -the entire time. And it did so in a way that wasn’t bombarding me with unnecessary plot twists or overwhelming action scenes. The emotional connection I had with the characters also made me want to keep watching. It takes great acting to get a viewer to feel a character’s emotions and the entire cast of “Interstellar” manages to do that. Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper and does an exceptional job making you fall in love with him as a fearless hero and also a loving dad. The entire movie, the viewer sits in fear, worrying he will not survive his mission and never see his family again. Murph, as young girl, is played by Mackenzie Foy. Foy portrays Murph perfectly as the daddy’s-girl, tom-boy she is. As the movie progresses, Murph, as an adult, is played by Jessica Chastain. Chastain makes you directly feel Murph’s pain of being abandoned by her father and living in a hopeless situation. Anne Hathaway plays Cooper’s partner and, as expected, portrays her beautifully. She shows how difficult it can be to choose between what your heart wants, and what is best for everyone. “Interstellar” goes above and beyond on everything. It is an exceptionally filmed movie without a dull moment, despite its lengthy time. If you have the time, “Interstellar” is definitely worth it; I guarantee you will not be disappointed. If anything you will leave determined to build a spaceship, ready to leave your friends and family behind for the sake of all mankind.

Wait Until Netflix

ABOVE BEYOND AND

New movie “Interstellar” exceeds expectations through its riveting plot and emotional connection with the characters written by Claire Pottenger photo from MCT Campus

Buy the Ticket

Go Now

written by Phoebe Aguiar

y first thought when taking a bite of my burger — juicy, flavorful and heaped with mozzarella cheese, pineapple and caramelized onions — was “Oh my god this is amazing.” Each bite was a struggle to keep everything contained in the pretzel roll and not have it end up in my lap, and it was totally worth it. This delectable burger can be found at FooDoo on Broadway Boulevard, right down the street from the Uptown Theatre. While FooDoo has big taste, it’s not a big place. There are about seven tables pressed against the walls. The restaurant is maybe the size of my living room, but every available wall, countertop and window sill is filled with Cajun and voodoo style art and trinkets. If that doesn’t create enough of an atmosphere, the music helps even more to set the mood somewhere in New Orleans. A small bar with a few stools is squished into the back corner of the already cozy space. When I visited, there were only a few other diners, yet it did not feel empty. Started by Bryan Merker and Carlos Mortera, who also own Beignet

FooDoo brings the Flavor

and The Bite in City Market, FooDoo opened five months ago. It takes familiar comfort foods such as pizza, hamburgers, pasta, sandwiches and apple pie, and puts its own special twist on them: local, organic, made from scratch and vegan. Yes, there is nothing on the menu that contains meat, dairy or any other animal product. Now, don’t stop reading just because vegan food has a reputation of being bland, obnoxious and overall just weird. At FooDoo you don’t need an explanation of what food they are trying to mimic. It serves dishes you would expect to see at any other restaurant just with substituted, sustainable ingredients. They don’t try too hard to be healthy or use never heard of before ingredients and taste combinations.

You don’t have to only eat plants or have dreads to enjoy the selection at FooDoo. It’s not hard to savor a pizza even if the cheese is made out of soy. FooDoo takes well-known dishes and tweaks them to make them vegan without trying too hard to make it healthy or change it completely. While my main course was the Big Kahuna burger, I also ordered a smoothie, the Black Tambourine. Normally I don’t enjoy drinking my food, so I don’t jump at the chance to order a smoothie. However, the lure of chocolate, raspberries, cherries, chia seeds and almond milk was something I couldn’t resist. My impulsive decision was worth it. All of my food was delivered quickly by the waitress who was accommodat-

Sustainable Substitutions

a&e 23

Kansas City, Mo. restaurant FooDoo puts a “magical” twist on common comfort foods

ing and friendly, and. I left full and satisfied with everything I had ordered. While the food and atmosphere are worth a visit, FooDoo is not cheap. It’s not exorbitantly expensive, but it’s not the dollar menu either. However, FooDoo’s prices are cheaper than the other vegan restaurants in Kansas City, like Cafe Gratitdude and Füd. My whole meal cost about $17 and for the quality of the food, ingredients and amount of food, I was willing to pay that much. I know how hard it is to make tofu taste that good. Another downfall is the limited hours that FooDoo has, as well as its location. On weekdays and even weekends Foodoo opens late and closes early, making it hard to find a time to go. And its understated sign and small size makes it easy to miss when zipping down Broadway. If you want to eat at Foodoo, it would require a certain amount of planning. While Foodoo is the stereotypical, pretentious, over-the-top vegan restaurant, its flavorful food has me asking for a second restaurant not a 20 minute drive away.

Basic staple foods can be made vegan by substituting plant-based ingredients for animal based ones. Here are some of the substitutes that FooDoo uses in their dishes

Portobello Mushrooms

Nuts

Jackfruit

Beef

Milk and Cheese

Pork

for

Traditional hamburgers are made with ground beef patties, but sliced portobello mushrooms are a low-fat alternative.

for

To cut out milk and cheese from their dishes, FooDoo uses grounded nuts like almonds and cashews as base ingredients to make creamy, dairyfree replacements

for

A common BBQ favorite is the pulled pork sandwich. FooDoo puts their own twist on it using shredded Jackfruit, a tropical Asian fruit, instead of meat.

Hit

12 a&e

Miss What to expect from new movie “Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1”

written by Yashi Wang

oviemaking is moneymaking. A two-part finale is just part of that. Fortunately, moneymaking is still catering to the audience’s desires: with an extra two hours of film (and double the profit), I hope that “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1” makes waiting another year for the finale worth it. The book seems to be challenging adaptation material. After all, it’s really less a story set on a backdrop of war than a war with other story lines running through, and you don’t often find those targeted at a young adult audience. It is much darker than the first two books of the trilogy, something not all readers appreciate. “I have read a lot of the bad reviews for this last book and I see a theme running through them all. They didn’t get their fairy tale ending and the people they liked didn’t end up the way they wanted,” wrote one Amazon reviewer. As with most adaptations, the movie must capture the book’s essence to avoid complaints from hard core fans, but still take steps to sell itself as a movie that fans may even enjoy more than the book. Here are some popularized ploys (always, the moneymaking)

I expect to see in the movie, for better or for worse.

The Love Triangle

It will ultimately make its appearance, along with its hordes of drooling fangirls. But over who? Actors Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth? Or characters Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne? It’s infuriating enough that two dynamic characters have been emphasized as love interests to the main lead, but their more important roles, especially those of Gale, have been downplayed by the films. Who is Gale meant to be? The childhood companion? The jealous suitor? The leader of rebellion? My hope is that this movie will show all of those, as well as a new, darker side that all of the characters have. In the book, “Mockingjay” shows the development of Peeta, Gale and Katniss in almost entirely separate paths. From what we’ve seen so far, I don’t anticipate nearly as much portrayal of the male leads’ development on the big screen.

Team Katniss

What’s the title? “Mockingjay.” Who’s the Mockingjay? Katniss. She is a protagonist, if not a hero, and I ex-

pect her— and Jennifer Lawrence— to present the best part of the character: not necessarily a classic heroine, but someone you can root for.

Black and White, Good vs. Evil

Hollywood tropes will never die. The book portrays an ambiguous side to war, but those nuances of war, politics, what’s right and what’s wrong may not even make it into the movie. Let’s still hope the film maintains the theme that not every act in war can be judged as right or wrong.

Censorship

Torture, avoxes, prostitution, mutations — they have all avoided mention so far. Apparently, “Mockingjay” is PG13. Remember seeing 6-year-olds in the theaters for “The Hunger Games?” They were never supposed to be there. This isn’t a series for the faint-hearted, or for kindergartners. Let’s think back to the very basic premise of the first book: kids killing each other for the entertainment of society. There will be blood. There will be fun. There will be war and gore and character deaths and God knows what else. The Capitol and its cruelty have been downplayed so much in the previous movies that viewers don’t get a grasp of it at all.

Cast

In “Catching Fire”, Jena Malone (Johanna Mason) and Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair) caught eyes in their scenes, whether entertaining or sobering. I expect excellent performances and a significant role in “Mockingjay” from both. Philip Seymour Hoffman, praised for his acting for Plutarch Heavensbee, will make a posthumous appearance in this movie. Accomplished actress Julianne Moore is appearing as double-sided character Alma Coin, someone I look forward to seeing in action. Natalie Dormer, impressive in drama series “The Tudors” and “Game of Thrones,” will take on the very different role of a gritty, intrepid director.

Ending

I wouldn’t mind a dramatic cliffhanger to lead toward the next movie. Considering previous two part movies and reviews from movie previewers, “Part 1” will be all buildup for a climax in “Part 2.” I do hope that screenwriters will have written “Part 2” a much better ending than the hopeless stab at ambiguity Suzanne Collins created, my least favorite page of the book.

photo from MCT Campus

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ATHLETE of the FALL

Lancer Football

KYLE BALL

“Great night to be a Lancer! #nutcup #ontothesemis”

Jack Tyler

Q: How do you think you’ve played this season? A: I think I’ve gotten a lot better from last year and teams have had to prepare even more [to play against] me. My goal was to get better and I feel like I achieved that. How has the team played? Awesome. Everyone believes in what our coaches tell us and we give everything we can and that’s part of why we are so successful. We also have set a ton of records this year and have made history so there’s a lot to be proud of. How do you want to leave your legacy at East? I want people to have been influenced by me and hopefully I am a role model for the underclassmen on and off the field. How are you a leader on and off the field? I try and lead by example, just how I act and treat others. Along with how I’m involved in multiple sports, just letting kids know that it is possible to do more than one and still be a good student at the same time. What’s your mentality when you’re playing? Just to do my job and everything I can to help my teammates and I win and also not to stop until the whistle blows.

11-0 and we’re not done yet! #dbacks

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AN UNUSUAL

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written by Courtney McClelland

photo by Annie Savage

CURLING: A Beginner’s Guide

Curling has become one of his favorite activities since junior Kyle Baker discovered it five years ago

n the first day of school, junior Kyle Baker’s teacher asks him, “What activities do you participate in?” “I curl,” Kyle responds. “What’s curling? Is that like lifting weights?” snaps a friend. “No, it’s like shuffleboard on ice,” Kyle says, secretly grimacing at the question. This conversation isn’t new for Kyle, it’s just a part of his day-to-day life. Since seventh grade Kyle has been curling. Five years ago, a family friend introduced Kyle and his father, Don Baker, to curling and they have been playing ever since. Curling requires players to slide a heavy granite stone across a sheet of ice, towards the target area, or “house.” Each team is made up of four players; Kyle’s team includes him, his father and two family friends. Baker’s role on the team is the skip, similar to a team captain. “I call the shots that we take,” Kyle said. “Then I look at the ice and what other teams are doing so that I can judge the shots.” Curling with his father is what makes Kyle’s team so unique. Though the two sometimes get in disagreements, both Kyle and his father agree that curling together makes the sport even more enjoyable. “Curling is a fun activity because it’s something that we can do together and both enjoy,” Don said. Kyle believes curling with his father serves as an advantage to him. “It would definitely be different if I didn’t do it with my dad because we both play off of each other well,” Kyle said, “We can communicate well without having to say every word. We both know what we are talking about and what each others thinking.” Don believes that while curling with his son doesn’t make it any harder, it also isn’t any easier. “Sometimes we are more likely to get in disagreements just because we’re family,” Don said, “but I think it’s worth

it because playing with Kyle is so fun.” According to Kyle, the two never get in heated arguments, but occasionally disagree over a shot the team should take. Kyle believes curling is mostly a game of strategy: trying to get the strategic elements to coincide with the physical elements. “It’s difficult for me because it’s a very strategic sport and then you also have the physical aspect of it,” Kyle said, “You have to be thinking where you want [the stone] to go but then you actually have to execute it.” Even though curling is one of Kyle’s favorite activities, it wasn’t always so fun for him. “When I was just starting out I saw everyone doing really good shots and I was just lucky if I made it to the house, which is the in play zone essentially,” Kyle said. Even though curling was difficult at first, Kyle stuck with it because he was motivated after seeing more advanced players. He plans on continuing curling through high school, and hopes it remains a lifelong activity for him. While some people aren’t sure if curling is lifting weights or something related to ice skating, Kyle’s friends have embraced his unique hobby. Junior George Colby first heard about Kyle curling after seeing a video on The Harbinger last year. “I didn’t think it was weird, I actually thought it was pretty cool,” Colby said. Kyle has proven to be a success in his curling career. Over the summer he and his team attended bonspiels, or curling tournaments, in Texas, California and one in Kansas City, where their team placed third overall. Bonspiels occur throughout the year, on many different weekends. While the bonspiels can take up a lot of time, Baker says they are the best part about the sport. Whether Baker is arguing over a missed shot with his father, or laughing at a bonspiel in California, curling will always be one of Kyle’s favorite activities.

THE GOAL

In each “end” of a game, both teams send a total of eight stones towards the bull’s-eye. At the end’s conclusion, only one team gets a point — the one who has a stone closest to the center of the bull’s-eye curling stones are made of granite, and must be between 38 and 44 pounds in weight

THE HARD PART The game gets its name from the tendency of the stones to “curl” on their path to the target, hence the four team members coordinating efforts to reduce the friction that causes the stone to stray from a straight path

2 1 2

the sheet: the playing surface, a sheet of ice, usually about 150 by 15 feet long the targets are called “houses” and the center of the house is called the “button”

photo by Annie Savage

photoessay 29 far left Baker “throws” the stone for the ice into the “house.” Each teammate takes turns either throwing the stone or “sweeping.” Sweeping is when a team member pushes the broom back and forth in front of the stone to help it keep moving.

right Baker arranges the stones into numerical order. Each team takes turns back and forth sending their stones down the ice. Baker is the youngest and only curler that is in high school.

photo by Hailey Hughes

READY, AIM,CURL

photo by Annie Savage

photo by James Wooldridge

Junior Kyle Baker spends his Sundays at Line Creek Community Center curling. So far in his curling career, Baker has competed in two competitions alongside of his dad. Baker and his dad enjoy coming up with strategies and executing them. “In curling, your strategic abilities are just as vital to the teams success as your physical abilities,” Baker said. “Not only do I need to constantly improve my throwing, sweeping and form, but I also have to constantly adapt my analytical outlook toward the game.” below Baker high fives his dad after a good play. “I enjoy curling with my dad because it is something we both like and can do together,” Baker said. “I think it has positively impacted our relationship.”

CONGRATULATIONS EAST JOURNALISM STUDENTS ON YOUR RECENT AWARDS! 2014 National Scholastic Press Association Awards 2014 NSPA Newspaper Pacemaker Winners For Publications:

Pacemaker The Harbinger, Shawnee Mission East, Andrew McKittrick, Katie Knight, editors

Best of Show for Newspaper Tabloid (17+ pages) – The Harbinger, 1st Place Best of Show for Publication Website (large school) – Harbinger Online, 5th Place Best of Show for Yearbook (325+ pages) – Hauberk, 10th place 2014 NSPA Newspaper Pacemaker Winners For Individuals:

National Sports Story of the Year – Julia Poe, 3rd Place National Feature Story of the Year – Julia Poe, Honorable Mention National Diversity Story of the Year – Afton Apodaca, Honorable Mention National Design of the Year: Newsmagazine Cover – Sophie Tulp, Morgan Krakow, 1st Place National Design of the Year: Newspaper Page/Spread – Phoebe Aguiar, Caroline Kohring, 4th Place National Design of the Year: Infographic – Andrew McKittrick, Phoebe Aguiar, Honorable Mention National Picture of the Year: Feature Picture – Maxx Lamb, 2nd Place National Write Off Contest Results – Fall 2014 NSPA Convention Superior – Julia Poe, Sports Writing Superior – Olivia Seabaugh, Yearbook Student Life Photography Excellent – Katharine Chester, First Year Photo Honorable Mention – Katharine Swindells, News Editing/Headline Writing Honorable Mention – Aidan Epstein, Review Writing

2014 COLUMBIA SCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS

National General Feature of the Year – Pauline Werner, 1st Place for “Making the Change” National Personality Profile of the Year – Julia Poe, 1st Place for “There for Each Other” National Page One (Cover) Design of the Year – Morgan Krakow & Sophie Tulp, 3rd Place for “*Names Withheld” National Sports Page Design of the Year – Tommy Sherk, 3rd Place for “Fueling the Feud” National Photo Illustration of the Year – Annie Savage, Honorable Mention for “Social Breakdown” National Sports Feature of the Year – Maxx Lamb, Honorable Mention for “Broken Belles” 2014 National Federation of Press Women Awards National News Story of the Year – Julia Poe, 2nd Place for “Identity Withheld” National Review of the Year – Julia Poe, 3rd Place for “Westport Coffeehouse Delivers Quirky, Delicious Experience”